The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Why does no one ever talk about the road going in the other direction?  How about the one where good intentions get their just due?  Why did intentions get such a bad reputation?  I have tons of intentions everyday - I may not always make the transition from intention to action, but doesn't each action begin life as a thought, an intention?  (Today I intended to watch "The Exes" marathon on TV Land.  Okay, fine I didn't really but at least it assisted me fulfilling my other intention of taking a sweet, sweet nap.  Oh, and please don't actually tell anyone I watched that TV show .... what we do in the privacy of our own homes can be quite embarrassing when exposed to the world.)

But seriously, where is the class/lesson/book/lecture where they teach you how to make a plan and actually follow through with it?  Where you turn your good intentions into good actions?    It seems as if so much in life is about either completion or maintenance, yet we live in a world where so much is left by the wayside.  Half completed home projects, lost weight gained back, relationships left to whither and die on the vine.   We seem to be over committed, too afraid to commit to anything at all or too lazy to just get things done.  Whatever our issue we seem to end up not being very productive at all. 

 

Who is ready to move their intentions to actions?  Who is ready to move their life forward and actually make it look more like the one we feel we should be living? While I never took the class, at The Learning Annex or elsewhere, I am going to attempt to muddle through and act in ways that enhance my life.  A while back I found a list of those items I deemed as important to include in my daily life, and they are as follows:

*family

*the arts

*love

*the written word

*laughter

Not sure how old the list was, but it rings as true today as I am sure it did when first written and I am using it as my Good Intentions check list .... upward and onward.

 

(Sorry no outfit today, but I simply must post a picture of the amazing $4.00 Gap jean jacket I scored at Goodwill last week - I fully intend to wear this again, again and again as the weather warms.)



Winter cocoon.

Who doesn't love a resurrection?  How lucky are we that each time we are visited by a snowstorm, we are also visited by the opportunity to crawl out of the cocoon winter has built around us.  Most people can only complain about the winter weather, but while it can be inconvenient at times it can also be a wonderful reminder to us about rebirth.  We live in a world where we can continually reinvent ourselves and come out better on the other side of our own personal winters.  Working in a career you despise? You can always move onto another.   Hit a rough patch within a friendship or romance?  Change your approach, and you can resurrect the relationship.  Stuck in the house for a day or so as a snowstorm rages? Dig yourself out of the snow cocoon and head back out into the world.  I slipped into my boots a few days ago and did just that when I ventured into my town's new Goodwill store  (what a better place to witness resurrection than giving second hand items a new home?)  I was rewarded for my efforts with the most wonderful faux fur jacket.

It is soft, snuggly and so warm and the moment I saw it I fell in love.  Images of outfit after outfit flashed through my mind, and I knew at least one of them would involve fuchsia and something sheer - I love the juxtaposition of the thick fur and sheer.  I love the contrast between the neutral brown & black with the shock of the fuchsia.

I feel excited at the possibilities as I have new additions to my closet, and feel excited thinking about what existing clothing items I can breathe new life into when I pair them with the new items.  If I can reinvent others parts of my life, why would my wardrobe be any different?  Now just add a pair of faded jeans and a gold satchel and I am ready to go - and I don't even mind if my footwear must veer into boot territory. 

(Jacket, top, jeans and satchel: Target.  Scarf: ?, but I am sure you could find one at many, many different stores.)

What is your leopard jacket?  What will inspire you to climb out of your cocoon ....

I'm a classically trained dancer.

Okay I'm not really, but since I began working the local Arts Center recently I wear almost nothing but ballet flats - and not so secretly wish I actually was heading to dance class after work.  This has been quite a change, on the footwear and the employment front - I went from personal banker & high heels, to retail associate & ballet flats. Why I made this change perhaps will be explored in a future post, but for now all I will say is I am glad I was able to leave the stress and stupidity behind.  (Also, can you believe I worked at a bank?! )  Anyways, I was paging through an art book at work and was stopped cold by Matisse' "Dance" and his unapologetic use of saturated color. 

 





Later as I was browsing my closet I came upon one of my favorite maxi skirts, which is almost the same color as the exuberant prancing gentlemen in Mattise's painting.  Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist, only a retail associate, to run with it and create my very own "Dance" ensemble.

 

With inspiration as grand as Matisse the work was almost already complete - just grab a skirt and necklace from Forever 21, a denim shirt and ballet flats from Target and run with it.