Let's not talk about the fact that I've been MIA for several months okay? Shhh... Really let's just not talk about it and move on. You forgive me? Okay great... now that's out of the way... I did want to discuss why I decided to come back.
When I first started this blog, I wasn't shopping for a year. That was my slant. "Great dress." Gee thanks, I've had it since senior year of college. "That shirt is awesome!" I totally dug through my friends piles of clothes before they sent them to Goodwill. I was that person. Then, my year was up. I learned a lot. I realized how much I expressed my emotions through shopping (bad Alyson). I learned how to cope with life without shopping (kick ass Alyson). But most importantly, I made some very sincere friends. They aren't the friends that you have because of proximity and physical closeness. These are the friends that you have because of the simplest form of similar interests, they make you laugh, of course, you genuinely care about them (which is how I feel about all my friends). This is why I want to continue blogging. But what to blog about?
Things I don't want to blog about:
-designer collections I will never be able to afford.
-shoes that I can't walk in.
-the stuff that people email me asking to blog about
-details about my job (that and I can't... seriously, its why I have a disclaimer)
-how much I love Forever 21 (b/c I don't love F21, ack!)
-what I wear every. single. day.
Things I do want to blog about (and most likely you don't want to read):
-excel functions and pivot tables (looooove)
-Cheez-Its
-Frozen pizza
-my super awesome talented hottie boyfriend (okay you do maybe want to read about that)
-how awful traffic is
-how awful winter is
-soup
-how I can't stand the competitiveness between bloggers
Things I do want to blog about (and you'd like too):
-my thrift store finds
-crafting
-product reviews
-recipes
-funny stories from my life
-some outfits, not all
-finances
-being a professional who is also a creative person
-the importance of knowing the conditions of the places where you buy stuff
-cool stuff I find on the internet
-people doing cool things
-my own personal struggles in life
-women's issues
-cool places I go
-books
So where does this leave me? Well, if you follow my blog because you think I have a great pouty blogger face, then just stop it! That is just one thing I don't enjoy anymore. I don't enjoy sharing my outfits everyday. I like what I wear, and I get enough satisfaction from that. I may still share an outfit or two that I'm particularly proud of; an awesome thrift score, great boots, an awesome outfit, etc. But this lady's days of setting up my tripod and avoiding people is over. There are a lot of reasons. They all come down to, sometimes I just don't care, and that is okay. It really is okay to sleep in an extra 20 minutes, not wash your hair, put on black pants and a cardigan, and walk out the door.
I do love thrifting. I love it a lot. I'm also a huge thrifting advocate and I tell everyone they should do it. I invite people to come thrifting with me all the time, but I tend to be a tiny bit maniacal about it. I have a method, I go a little crazy, and then I wish my hands (always wash your hands and your purchases). Over half of my clothes were previously owned by someone else, and I'm not grossed out about that.
I am incredibly passionate about my job. If you remember the year of no shopping then you were also here for the, "Oh shit, I got laid off." You may have been also here for the "I got a job!". I honestly couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. I love my job. I love the people I work with and I love the bigger picture of working where I do. More importantly, I actually love straddling the line of being professional but also appropriately showcasing my sense of style and creativity.
I miss writing. I miss writing clever remarks. I miss being informative and passionate about what I write about. A girl can only obsess over jeggings for so long. There is a myriad of social issues related to the fashion industry and to women that I want to talk about. I want to challenge myself, and research things that are hard so that I can express how I'm coping with that. I'm incredibly passionate about buying things that do not come from poor sweat shop-like conditions. Working in fashion manufacturing makes you realize that not every place that makes clothing is a sweat shop, but not every business cares about the cost of human lives.
What do you think? Can I do this? Well, I'm going to do this. Thanks for sticking with me. I promise nothing terrible happened. I wasn't sick... I was just sick and tired and unmotivated. I hope that this new structure will elevate my desire.
