New Shoes!

About a week after I posted my 'rules' for this challenge (including the one where items won or given to me is acceptable) I actually won a new pair of Nike ID shoes!!  For September at my Orange Theory Fitness studio, we had a bingo card full of random tasks to fill up as much as we could.  An example would be 'take Alycia's class' or 'complete the DriTri'.  For every row of 'bingo' we got a ticket into a raffle.  I filled up almost my whole card and to my great shock...I won the grand prize!!

I actually picked out and ordered my shoes the day of my eye surgery and they just arrived today.  I'm so excited as they look exactly like I pictured AND they fit and are super comfy!!  These will be my studio shoes and the other pair I've been wearing will be set aside for distance running only (outside).

Super cute and totally on theme, right?

Catching up on donations

I wasn't sure how much I'd like 'blogging' about the items I donate but I think it's a good idea.  It's keeping me on track because it turns out that it is really easy to forget about this as life goes on!  I know that it's not the most interesting subject matter, so going forward I will try to condense as much as possible and only take pictures of items that might be unique (once I've finished the current collection).

On the 'buy nothing new' front, I faced a challenge last week.  While traveling to Florida for work,  I did a few workouts in a local Orange Theory Fitness studio.  They had some OTF branded gear different from what they have at my home studio and I was really tempted. I even considered making an 'excuse' that it was OK since I was traveling, but then realized that was really stupid.  I don't NEED anything.  Temptation averted!

Donation #18 & 19: Two baseball hats.  I bought the Napali coast one after our epic kayaking adventure and as much as I loved that trip, I've never worn this hat.  I have memories...I don't need the hat.  The other hat is left over from my days in retail at Polo Ralph Lauren.  It's a minimum of 20 years old and it also doesn't get worn.

Donations 20 - 23: Three t-shirts...in a pile.  Nothing interesting about these except maybe that purple wall behind them.  That's the accent wall in my office/guest room.  Fabulous color, isn't it? :-)

Donation 24: workout pants.  Bought these from Fabletics because they had a drawstring (key feature for workout pants for me) but they are just way too heavy-weight for indoor workouts but not suited to outdoor running in the wet Oregon winters.

More Donations

My eye is healing well.  It actually seems to be faster this time around, but I think that's because this time, I know how to do the drops better so that half of it doesn't run into my nasal passages.  More medicine in the eye where it belongs means that it works as it should.  Duh.  Anyway, I'm glad its going well because tomorrow I'm traveling for work and that dry (and pressurized) environment on the airplane would have been torture a week ago.

Today I'm doing some 'catch up' on my donations.  I'd pulled the items from my wardrobe already, but today I took the photos and boxed it up.  We'll drop the donations off this afternoon.  I also took photos of my items for the upcoming week since I'll be on the road.

Item #12:  An O'Neil rash guard that I bought for either a Hawaii trip or a kayaking adventure that I never wore.  What a waste.

Item #13: Black cowl neck sweater dress from Madewell.  Wore this twice.  Cute but too much volume in the middle for me and a tad too short for work-comfort.  Plus, now that I work on the second floor of our building, it's way warmer than the first floor so I can't imagine ever being comfortable in something this bulky again.













Item #14: Reebok tank.  Cute, but not comfortable in the OTF environment.

















Item #15: Polka dot silk scarf.  Also cute, but too big...there was just way too much material in this scarf for my style.  This one still has the tags on it.
















Item #16; Mini Cooper T.  This one is going into the rag pile.  I love this t and it's gotten a TON of wear, but I bought it in Nov of 2003 and it looks it.  It's getting a new hole every time it goes into the laundry.  Farewell faithful t.  I'll miss you!













And because I'll be in travel mode all day tomorrow:

Item #17: Truckette bag/purse by Queen Bee (local company).  I used this bag for 5 or 6 years...every day.  It's really worn on the bottom and the material is bubbling and coming apart on the cover flap above the flowers.  I replaced it with a similar one a couple of weeks go, so it's time to send this one to goodwill.  Great bag...another item that I'll miss!

On the Mend!

Donations 7 & 8:

Donations 9, 10 and 11 are a striped t like the one pictured above but in navy, a bathing suit and a pair of New Balance Minimus shoes.  I'll take more pictures going forward but while the T is cute, no one needs to see an old bathing suit or beaten up shoes!

My eye is healing.  Slowly but surely.  The first few days were pretty brutal as expected but I'm back at work today and doing pretty well, It's still gross looking and will likely remain so for a few weeks.  I'm hoping that at my doctor's appt tomorrow, I get to reduce the number of times per day that I need to put in drops.  Four is a lot and kind of a pain in the butt.

Because my eye cannot take 'stimulus' like breezes, heat, cold or the sun, I've been staying indoors. I've also been going pretty stir-crazy since I went from almost daily exercise to none.  On Sunday I managed to walk on our treadmill in the garage (with no fan on me) for about 2 miles and then I lifted some light upper body weights.  After that, we thought that maybe a walk in an indoor mall would do me good as well.  My husband and I headed to one of two enclosed malls in our area and prepared to fight the crowds to 'walk the mall circuit' a bit.  It was really weird to be walking past all these stores and all this clothing and know that I can't even buy one little thing.  I didn't really want to but it felt weird knowing that I couldn't even if I did.  I think that speaks to my consumerism tendencies and it partly explains how I managed to amass such a huge wardrobe when I worked in retail and was in these places every single day.  I mean, to say "I'm not going to buy anything" and then never go into a store, open a catalog or browse the internet is easy.  There is no temptation.  It's like saying I'm only going to eat healthy food when living on a ranch where there is only healthy food in the fridge and you don't have a car or anything within walking distance.  The hard part would be to continue to expose myself to temptation and still not buy.  I'm not ready for that yet, but I suspect that might have to be a part of my plans this year just to say that I could do it.  Of course, there was a Tesla store in the mall...I would have been happy to go in there and buy something...a car is not part of my wardrobe, right!?

Anyway, this past weekend I did pull out all of my fall/winter clothing and packed away the few things I have that are just too summery (shorts, a few sundresses, sandals).  I will be in FL next week, but I have enough light weight things to cover me and I did keep one pair of shorts out to take along. It was much nicer to get ready for work with a freshened wardrobe this morning...even if there was nothing truly new...just things I'd missed seeing all summer.  Nothing like pulling on a pair of pretty tall black boots to make a girl feel good about herself!

I also came across the bin of clothing that doesn't fit me.  I was shocked at how full it is...  I will really need to make my final weight decision soon if I plan to keep these clothes.  Otherwise, I'll run out of things to donate much faster than I had anticipated!  I'm so close too...maybe 10 lbs...

Fix that eyeball!

Item #5: jeans.  I'd bought these to tide me over when I'd gained a little too much weight to be comfortable in my favorite jeans.  Now these are too big again so they are going to goodwill.  I'm also posting Item #6 now since I won't be able to do much involving my eyes this afternoon or tomorrow.  Item #6 is a hoodie from Nike.  I bought this at a Sports Authority store-closing sale without even trying it on.  It fits, but I don't like it.  Too stiff, too thick and the arms are too long and have thumb-holes.  I hate thumb-holes in my sleeves!

Today is my eye surgery.  I'm having the pterygium in my right eye removed later this afternoon. This means that this evening and most of the day tomorrow, I'll be on the couch doing my best not to tear my hair out or gouge out my eyes.  The surgery involves the cutting of the damaged tissue off my eyeball and then replacing it by gluing in (yes, glue!) a piece of non-damaged material from up under my eyelid.  I don't remember it being all that painful when I had my left eye done in May, but I do remember how incredibly irritating it was.  If you know what it feels like when a strand of hair pokes you in the eye, then imagine that from multiple hairs and constantly, and you get the idea of what I'll be dealing with.  I can't wait! *eyeroll*...or don't...'cause that hurts like a son-of-a-b!  Then I get to spend the next month or so with a zombie-looking eye and people looking at me funny.

Big sigh.  Knowing that the end result will be stable vision and the ability to get updated prescription glasses (and maybe contacts) will get me through the next week.  That and knowing that this is eye #2 and I don't have a third!  *wink*...or not...that hurts like a son-of-a-b, too!

Think lubricating thoughts for me...will you?

Oct 4, Donation number 4.

Quick post today because I don't have much to say but I've to a ton to do!  Today I am finally giving up my leopard print jacket.  I really wanted a leopard printed jacket or coat of some type (preferably vintage) so I shopped for ages on ebay and other sites.  I ended up settling on this one but when I got it, it was a major disappointment.  It's too big and the arms are cropped so it looks weird.  The color is also really wrong on me...I think I need a much richer colored leopard print because this one, with my silver hair, washes me out and makes me look like a grandma that's been hiding in a basement for years.  I swear that I could smell moth balls when looking at my reflection.

For now, I'll stick to my leopard print flats.  Yay for fall! (most people celebrate the return of the pumpkin spice latte...me?  it's my leopard print flats!)  Woo hoo!

Nutritional Impact

How does nutrition have anything to do with minimalism?  Well, when it comes to the need to 'Find Freedom'...freedom from food obsession is high on my list of priorities.  That said, getting to a healthy, stable weight will also be key in wardrobe maintenance.

More than 5 years ago, I 'went paleo' permanently.  Before you roll your eyes or snort at my choice of diet, hear me out.  Trust that I will not go into details, rules or dogma here.  Let's just say that the last 5 years have been a journey of self-discovery that began with the paleo diet.  When I decided to drop grains, legumes, seed oils and processed food from my diet, I started really paying attention to how I felt and how my body reacted.  A few months down the road, I discovered the Whole30 and did my first 30 day challenge (which is super strict paleo, for anyone not interested in following the link).  The intent of Whole30 is to kind of detox your body (without weird drinks or starving yourself) of traditionally problematic foods, and then systematically re-introduce eliminated foods to determine how your body deals with each of them.  I did multiple Whole30's over the years with varying levels of success on those controlled reintroduction periods.  The end result was that, over time, I've figured out what things my body does well on, what things are worth 'splurging' on and what things I never really care to eat again.  I also know what things I need to avoid if I want to lose weight mostly because I cannot control myself around those foods.  I have learned that I can get to my current weight (10 lbs up from my lowest) without too much effort by just being my normal active self and eating consistently well and that if I want to go lower, I have to track and restrict my intake.

Let me clarify that I don't care what anyone else eats.  I don't avoid whole food groups on principle, but there are foods that just don't make me feel great and they are last on my list of priority.  In summary, I avoid grains (oddly enough, wheat is the least problematic for me and corn is the worst), legumes including soy, seed/grain oils and dairy protein (specifically, casein).  I also try to avoid all forms of sugar, but that's mostly because of empty calories and cravings...not because I cannot digest it.  I also eat very little processed food and only items with ingredients I recognize.  We really make so many things from scratch and we cook from home a lot.  My meals are predominantly vegetables, fruit and high quality meats.  I compliment this with healthy forms of fat, nuts (only as a condiment...not as a snack!) and occasional seeds.  None of this is due to allergies, so I do the best I can and I try not to be 'that person' when we are eating out or when I'm traveling.

I don't understand why some people have such hate for the paleo diet and are constantly posting articles about how some fossil human had grains in their teeth so the paleo diet is bunk.  I also don't understand how anyone can say that any one diet is perfect for everyone.  I've seen how others do great on soy or corn and I know how badly my body reacts to those things...so clearly we are not all the same.  There is no ONE diet just like there is no ONE religion.  To each their own.  Let me do my thing and I'll let you do yours.  Disclaimer - I know when I first discovered paleo and Whole30 I was so super excited about how awesome they both made me feel that I wanted to share that with everyone.  I still think this way but I've long since given up on my evangelism.  I apologize to those I may have accosted back in those days! ;-)  We must all be patient with recent converts to any new way of eating as they tend to go overboard.

All of this matters partly because I feel like my way of eating has finally given me freedom from food obsession which was a big issue with me, prior to discovering paleo/Whole30.  It wasn't uncommon for me to eat an entire half-gallon of Breyer's Mint Chip ice cream in one sitting.  Or an entire box of Kraft Mac & Cheese mixed with canned corn.  Or an entire 3 ft baguette with margarine...  This also matters because I have two size ranges of clothing in my wardrobe.  I have my current size range in my active wardrobe.  I have the sizes I would wear if I were 10 lbs smaller packed away in a couple of big Rubbermaid bins (mostly bottoms, but some dresses and fitted tops, too).  Before this year is out, I need to decide where I want to live in terms of weight because I cannot keep two wardrobes.  Giving away 1 item per day will eventually necessitate that I eliminate one of these size ranges.  I need to decide which one it will be before that day arrives.  Am I happy with where I am and the amount of effort I need (or don't need) to put in to live here?  Or am I willing to give it a final push down to the weight I'd rather be and then put in the effort needed to stay there?  This is the decision that must be made in the very near future.

Today's donation: This is a dot tank from Banana Republic that I've maybe worn once.  Instead of giving this to Goodwill, I will be sending it to ThredUp.  ThredUp is an online consignment store that I've used in the past.  Not only have I given them lots of things, but I've bought a few favorites from them as well.  I like using them because then I know that the item will go to someone who really wants and will wear it.  They are very selective about what they'll accept, so not everything I give away can go this route.  BR items that are current and in like new condition certainly can though!

Wardrobe Donations Begin

I started my challenge yesterday, October 1st.  No more buying things to wear.  None.

Early last week my husband bought a Patagonia Nano Puff hooded jacket.  I really liked it and felt it would be a great grab and go jacket all winter (our winters are mild and wet), so I ordered one online for me (well before Oct 1).  Thinking that I was being smart, I ordered an XS men's version from last year for $124 instead of the original $250, directly from Patagonia.  Today we went to REI to look at backpacking gear.  While there, I found the men's jacket and tried it on in a small (they had no xs) to see if it would fit.  It will be perfect in the shoulders, arms and chest...but waaayyy too tight in the hips.  I won't even be able to zip it.  :-(  Oh well, guess I'll just ship it back when it arrives.   Rick suggested just going ahead and getting the women's version...even if it's full price.  Yeah, great idea except that I can't buy anything anymore.  When I pointed that out, I could tell that he felt a little sorry for me (even if just briefly!).  Well, now he sees what this challenge will mean!

No biggie though - later today I stumbled upon a fleece lined hard-shell jacket I bought on a whim last year and it'll serve the exact same purpose.  I'd totally forgotten that I had it and it's one of my favorites!  And, as a bonus, it actually fits me.  This is why I need to get rid of more clothing...favorites in hiding.  We can't have that!

Yesterday I pulled a light weight orange sweater out of my closet to donate. I bought it for our trip to Maui and wore it there, but I've not worn it since.  I saw it in the front of my closet all summer long and never once pulled it on.  Time for it to go to someone who will appreciate it.

Today I selected a white tech t that I've never even worn.  Such a shame.
















I also plan to pull out a few things in advance to cover my give-aways for Wed - Fri when I'll be recovering from eye surgery.  I doubt I'll want to even look at my closet then!

Let the purging begin.