Seven on the Dot

Hey, it's seven o'clock on the dot as I begin typing in here.

I left my friend's early so I could go home and buy cereal, Kashi GoLean, before the market closed tonight. "I just want to be alone," to quote Greta Garbo.

All these projects swirl in my head for the apartment.

One: send the hangers to Mom's to store, take the off-season clothes out of the closet, and store them in the under bed box. I'm envious because Delia had a custom closet built in Christopher's bedroom. When I move out [likely NOT in 2009, after all], I will paint the new closet and organize the clear plastic storage bins in it, and arrange the clothes from light to dark according to item and season.

A goal for 2009 is to stop wearing the faded jeans to work, even though I only wore them with a purple cardigan or a black wool sweater and ankle boots. I saw a neat, dark pair on the J. Jill web site that I will buy in January to wear to work instead. It's a funny thing about jeans: I'm not convinced I look good in them, though I'm certain other people look good in them.

The clothes project is one I work on now. I donate a beige linen shirt to the Salvation Army, or salvage it by wearing a black turtleneck under it, because I was shot in it for a photo and I looked washed out. Beige near my face isn't a good look. It's an ongoing tenet that "classic" colors anybody can wear are beige, navy, black and brown, yet Winters don't look good in beige and brown, only Autumns do. Years ago I used to wear neutrals; however, I feel that makes me look boring, unapproachable, and "all-business" when I want to convey a modern sense of style, not some kind of traditional suiting.

This all sounds, OK, it sounds like a treatise or a lesson plan, doesn't it? Well, 2009 is here and I ushered it in with good cheer last night, and today I went to a friend's for her traditional New Year's Day dinner party, and now I've come home on a burst of wanting to conquer the world, starting with my apartment and branching out into publishing and beyond.

A couple months ago I bought the first issue of Boho, an eco-fashion magazine. That's where I found the Audrey Hepburn quote about fashion, which you can read in Joyful Music by searching within the blog for Audrey Hepburn.

Would like to paint the living room some kind of light blue while I'm on this apartment project. I will do that in July if I'm still living here then. I'm considering some Benjamin Moore swatches I brought home from the hardware store. It could be the color Old Pickup Blue, possibly. I'll see if I can get a painter to do it for less than $400. First the landlord has to repair the ceiling whose paint is peeling.

Life has a funny way of working out.

I'm not sure what the future will bring.

Yet I accept that I can't predict what's to happen.

I can only move forward even though my next habitat is unknown now, the where and when.

Tonight I wanted to be alone, and so I left Zoe's early. I'm reviewing what's in store for the next two weeks. I wanted to be clear on things. I typed up my "Goals 2009" sheet to place in my goals binder to review in the coming months.

This sounds like lather to me: nice, not essential. I've been writing in here about quotidian realities. I'll maybe post photos of this apartment here after I've painted the living room. One truth: I don't want to take money out of the emergency fund to be able to move into a new rental in July, so I stay here. I'm writing this out loud as I type and who knows, maybe when June comes my circumstances will be different and I'll kiss this apartment goodbye.

Am I the only one obsessed with clothes, with organizing things, with work projects like painting and writing a second book?

I'm going to end this blog entry right here before it sounds like lather: nice, not essential.

Happy New Year!