Resolutions

So let's review 2011...225 exercise classes (given how permanently exhausted I feel I really thought it would have been more often than 4 times a week. According to Debs and Megan it's scary that I counted my classes!!); 13 surf lessons (amazing), 1 broken friendship (over it; it is what it is), one great saunter - 32 miles around Manhattan, never again, I'm still growing out the resulting bruised toe nail- 6 dates (is that all? 1 with a guy who's name I cannot recall, 1 with Al, 1 with John, 1 with David & 2 with Clinton...hmm yup 6, that's really quite pitiful, perhaps I gave up too easily; 6 haircuts and one lost lust object (I plan to post separately on this). All in all not too bad, score for the year 7 out of 10, a definite improvement on 2010, but room for improvement.

So here are my resolutions for 2012...

1) F**k it

It's not pretty, but it rolls off the tongue. This is my mantra for 2012. Generally speaking I worry too much about what people think. I really need to stop, because let's face it, no-one is really paying attention to what I'm doing/wearing/how much I weigh etc so why do *I* care?.

2) Surf

Basically do more of it. 'Nuff said. I'm already on track to beat 2011's paltry 13 sessions having gone out on New Years Day already and I'm out on the water again tomorrow. Yay!! I'm excited to become more adept at paddling into my own waves and generally becoming a more accomplished surfer. I'm also thrilled to have made a couple of acquaintances who texted me to let me know they were going out tomorrow and asked me to join them, so here's to making new friends too. Hopefully this will be an easy resolution to keep assuming I have the money to pay for lessons*

3) Work out

Keep up the good work from 2011. I've been to the gym 5 times already this week and was pleasantly surprised to find my classes weren't crammed to the rafters with too many new years resolution types. Sure, there were a few newbies, but no more than half a dozen per class so far. After exercising regularly and eating normal sized meals over the last few days I already feel a lot less Bratwurst like in my jeans than I did this time last week. Phew!!

4) Write

I want to develop the discipline to write more often in 2012 whether it's updating my blog, emailing my friends or writing a novel. I really have no purpose, but I love it, it makes me feel good, it gives me a new perspective on life, it's a good thing, but after a long day at the office it's hard to sit down and write. Despite 225 exercises classes implying the contrary, I am, at the heart of my being, a lazy person who will laze on my futon watching any old shite on TV if the opportunity prevents itself, so I've set myself a challenge of writing for at least 30minutes a day.

5) Don't buy any new clothes in the first 3 months of the year

Now let me ask you something...does it technically count as breaking the resolution if you buy something new to replace several somethings you've returned, afterall you've spent the money already, so.....it's like free clothes right? Technically I didn't spend any money. What's that you say? It counts? Dammit!!! Okay, well it looks like I've failed with this resolution 5 days into the new year then having just ordered a pair of patent low wedge Cole Haan shoes to go with the 'Ruched Glyph dress' I bought online in early December from Anthropologie, but I am waiting on being credited for returning 4 pairs of knee high boots and 2 pairs of shoes.


I do love my ruched glyph dress, although I admit it lacks hanger appeal, but I have to concur with the reviews on Anthropologie and say that good lord it is flattering on. It's a bum hugger though and about 4 inches shorter than I'd typically wear, hitting me at mid thigh, so it's taking some getting used to, but I plan to keep it as I feel I need to mix it up a bit in the old wardrobe department since I do have a tendency to be one of those women who finds a style and sticks with it and before you know it the years have gone by, you're still wearing the same styles and you're friends have banded together and collectively written off to "What Not To Wear" to see if they can get you the sartorial help you so desperately need.

God forbid that should happen, so a new frock it is.

I tried the dress on with thick black tights and heels as soon as I got home and ooopsie, strumpet central. Heels were definitely not the way to go, not unless I was after a job as a night club hostess. I decided that flat-ish boots were the way to de-sluttify it, so ever since I bought the dress I've been on the hunt for the perfect pair of boots to wear with. It's harder than you might imagine, especially if you have very specific ideas of what you are looking for as I did. I wanted leather boots that came to about an inch below my knee, didn't gape at the top of the shaft. I hate it when they gape and give the boots a welly-like (rainboot) appearance. I was also looking for a pair with a wedge heel, although as it turned out I had to compromise on that since all the wedge heeled boots were clearly meant for the more statuesque female since the ones I tried all had a very tall shaft and looked like over the knee boots on me, despite the fact that Zappos lets you select based on material, heel type, heel height, shaft height and shaft circumference they were all too long and it's not a great look when you are petite, but not whippet thin. "That's how they wear them these days," said my mother, clearly tiring that I'd tried on umpteen boots in Century 21 and not been happy with a single pair. Thank you for your input mother, but I beg to bloody differ.

I finally found the perfect pair from.....well come closer so I can whisper the name of the store I'm a bit embarrassed about it. Closer!! So don't tell anyone, but I bought them from...Easy Spirit. Yup, the store that sells comfortable, and often ugly, shoes for women of a certain age. I spotted them when I was in the store with my mother and pondered them for a few days, before taking the plunge and ordering them online. God forbid I should inconvenience myself by walking to the store approximately 4 blocks from my apartment. Anyway I say perfect, but they are not really, but they're probably the best pair I've tried so far and get rave reviews on the site from women with an average age of 65!! So here I am, aged 40 and already reduced to buying comfortable shoes from Easy Spirit...sob!! This feels like a low point in my life!!

I tried the dress on again with the boots this morning. I still love the dress, but have decided there is no way in hell I am wearing it to work without a substantial sized cardigan over it, since as I said total bum hugger and there may well be talk, plus once you get to my age you do sometimes worry that maybe you are coming across as if you are trying too hard. Mutton dressed as lamb and all that. My f**k it mantra will only carry me so far if I am not comfortable in my clothing. Anyway I'm not *totally* sure on the boots. They are probably the best ones I have tried on and they fit well and are as comfy as you'd expect boots made for retirees to be, but.......hmmmm. I think I might just have to get used to them, being a virgin to all this boot wearing business and all. I've never owned a pair of knee high boots before so this is all new to me and maybe I just need to get used to it, but I kind of miss not showing off my skinny ankles. If there's one thing to be said for having muscular calves - 11 years of ballet dancing plus genetics et voila - it's that your ankles look teensy by comparison and I don't like them being covered up, which is where the Cole Haan low wedges come into the story. Perhaps the low wedges will work better. I'm probably going to keep the boots too though since they were on sale.

*Rumor has it that 65 people will be laid off on Monday. Crap!!