Moving forward

My recent post about discovering my style at this late stage in life has given me more energy than I had thought to have. For some reason I needed a label for myself to feel OK. And my label is Simple Bohemian. I explained the meanings of the label in the other blog post. But now I am showing how I've chosen to display it.

I can't/won't wear skinny jeans. I'd love to have a pair of straight leg jeans but I won't be happy with them till I have shrunk my big belly some. Hence, damned exercises for the stomach and a more stringent diet. So far I have been doing the easiest things to stay good with my blood sugar. But I love soups and I'm looking at some good recipes to help me maintain. I wish mom were here. She made the best soups.

Anyway, so many things have crystalized lately.The election has allowed be to ponder my liberal, feminist leanings. Having been in a relationship with a super controlling person, I'm over the idea of being controlled by anyone other than
myself. And I don't think any man should be allowed

to make any laws concerning women's bodies. And the thought of some of the candidates' opinions scares me to death. And I am an advocate for peace. I am not a hippie. But that 20% boho part of me says the testosterone levels in men have a lot to do with the wars and nasty rhetoric we have been hearing from men in the last 100 years or so. I'll let it go at that and just say that there are some beliefs that have caused just as much turmoil.

I do find myself in the position of trying to interpret the fashion side of simple boho. So back to jeans. I'm fat. In the belly especially. I have read and heard a lot about how that is very bad for the heart. I am also in terrible shape and have had real trouble making myself begin to exercise. In short. I just don't do it. I've been walking a little bit more. But my honey has recommended more shopping. Wait! What? Yep. That's what he said. Go to the mall and walk. Go to big stores and walk. Do anything to get moving. He is such a sweetheart that he doesn't even complain when I purchase things on my "walking"

trips. So I started to go to the mall yesterday. I had to return an item to a store nearby and then to the mall. But it was raining and cold and the mall was packed. I think I'll be going during the week in the mornings. That way there will be fewer folks to fight.

I have to mention the items I have pictured here. The top two tops were bought at Steinmart. I went on a whim to look for end of summer things when I found the first one. I have stated that I don't like the Missoni look and so when I found the top top, I thought hard about it. It has a lot of the zigzags that I am not fond of. But the overall look is, to me, boho. And I was so excited to find it. The minute I had walked into the store I saw

many items in the mustard color of the second top. I got a floral with mustard background. It was a little short and shrank a bit. So I'm not wearing it right now. I'm looking for some fabric to add to it at the hem and on the sleeves. Then I found the other top, again at Steinmart. I don't know why the mustard color gets me going but it does.

I hadn't intended to get into the leopard print. For the most part I don't care for animal prints and I see them overdone often. But the shoes are both comfortable and in style and cute. So I jumped on them. Thereby I opened a door. We'll see what happens.

I went to T J Maxx. For a long time I had stayed away from there because they didn't have much in the way of plus sizes. When I went there I found the bag by Le Sac. With a peace sign. And in leather. With woven handles. And did I mention with a peace sign? Love blossomed in the space of about 1/10 of a second. My Hippie instincts took over and the bag went into my shopping cart and my spirits hit the roof and I was on my way to a non-drug induced nirvana. Hippie bag, leather, peace sign. YES!!!

I've seen lots of recommendations for questions to be answered in blogs. One of the questions is "Who do you dress for?" And I am going to answer that one here. I dress for me. There was a time that if I wasn't wearing jewelry it meant I was depressed. For some reason wearing jewelry while depressed was not right. There was a time when I tried to wear clothing to attract male attention. There have been many times that I dressed trying to be in style. But then I found out that the people I was trying to impress with my style either didn't care, didn't understand my interpretation of style, or weren't drawn to me for other reasons. I couldn't fit in. Like when I was in college and wanted to get into a sorority. Didn't happen. But it wasn't my clothing. It was me. I just didn't fit.

So I dress for me. Now, my love says I am beautiful no matter if I have on makeup, fancy clothes, jewelry, or what. He has no sense of current style and could care less. And he wants me to be happy.
I'm happy when I dress for me. When I get up in the morning I will wear my favorite clothes no matter what my plan is for the day. I'm retired so no work clothing. And if I'm going to do something dirty or maybe paint, I'll change. Then I'll change back. It makes me happy to wear pretty things. It makes me even happier to have pretty things I haven't broken the bank to pay for. And I'm going to share that world with you.