File: Car, Art, Shopping

Yesterday was spent as a battle with auto loans. Bank of America literally gave me 7 different phone numbers which I spent the majority of the afternoon calling. Boo hiss. We decided to go with the financing at the dealership anyway, just because they seem like the easiest and least amount of paperwork. The rate is pretty good, too.

Got a call this morning: our car is in! Woo hoo! I got insurance--Geico was very nice, the process was blissfully simple, and their rates were low ($418.00 every 6 months to insure both of us). Matt and I are going to pick up our new car today, which is a great way to celebrate our Post Valentine's Day Date Day. I want to name the car Cupid. Matt's very much against that. Boo hiss. Perhaps the car won't get a name at all. We're going to celebrate our new found car freedom by going to dinner.

Heather said this to me last week--new job, new car; I'm getting to restart my life. She might be right. I'm scared and excited. In an effort to help me figure out who I am, I've decided to relook at my wardrobe. 4 years working in the ultra-casual office scene has made my wardrobe a little out of date. My new company is also casual, but I want at least some semblance of a style. I went to the library yesterday (before all the auto loan drama) and checked out a bunch of books on image. Those who know me won't be surprised when I say I've finished all of them already. (My comeback: they're nonfiction with big type-- they're easy. Also, this is the best way to procrastinate--instead of reading the 20 books that are currently sitting in my office for the book contest I'm judging.)

My Thoughts:
Beyond Business Casual. Perfect if you're over 50 and want to dress like it. Set in question and answer format, the book is meant to be a dialogue, but it's obvious author Ann Marie Sabath hates business casual. There's an entire chapter and a whole appendix that talks about the trend of business casual leaving the modern office. Also has a section devoted to what to wear for videoconferencing, which made me wonder how often the average office worker is attending videoconferences. I worked for an Internet video company and only attended one, ever. I got one tip out of the 207 page book: Fabrics considered business professional material are wool gabardine, silk, cotton and oxford (for shirts). For those not informed, the author makes a point to mention that hair scrunchies should never, ever, be worn in the office. Or, in my opinion, at any other time later than 1995.

Real Style. Wow. Sam Saboura's fun and to the point book is awesome. I feel like I learned so much and now have an idea about things. I actually got excited about the prospect of cleaning out my closet, going through it and reorganizing everything, donating what I don't wear. He gave some great tips on basics, body shapes, tailoring, and definitions on fashion. I now know what a pencil skirt is--and how to wear it. I really like this book and am considering buying it just to have in my personal library. Even if I don't, I'm going to redo my wardrobe based on his basics--shopping will be a breeze with this book in my purse.

What Should I Wear? Dressing For All Occasions. I picked up this book because Wendy Wasserstein, who just passed away and was one of my all-time favorite writers, had a quote on the back telling me this is a great book. But when I think fashion, Wendy Wasserstein isn't the first woman role model that pops into my head. Unfortunately for me, this is another book for the over 50 crowd. I liked the way it was organized (by season and the basics needed) and it had pretty pictures that inspired me in two ways: what I could wear and what I would never wear. It was a good supplement to Real Style because the pictures gave me the ability to see what Saboura was talking about (his book is all illustrations), but I'm definitely not the target audience for this one. Nevertheless, I'm planning on taking the basics they've listed for each season and adding them to my basics to buy list, which I think will help as I work to update my wardrobe in every season.

Before You Put That On. I liked this one, too. Lloyd Boston is the fashion consultant for the Today show and a whole bunch of other places. His style is breezy and fun. His book takes the year day by day and gives fashion advice from great designers as well. It's a coffee table sized book which will make it a pain to tote around (if only it was smaller), but has given me some great tips. He puts together outfits in ways I wouldn't have thought of and gave me courage to try new things. He also has a basics list--I'm planning on compiling into one major list and posting. Today's tip: "Be your own fashion editor. Study the red carpet looks but don't mimic them." He goes on to talk about how it's important to choose a style/color that you like but to not lose your own style because you want to look like Halle Berry.

These three are going to be open as I attempt to organize the beast that is my closet, also known as Narnia. More on that as it happens, hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

I also read these two books:

How to Gain The Professional Edge: Achieve the Personal & Professional Image You Want. I liked this book and would recommend it, especially to bright creatives who want their outward appearance to match their inward one. I expected a professional makeover kind of book, like what you need to know to dress well in the office. Author Susan Morem goes much further than that talking about how a person needs to appear to make it in the modern workplace. It's more than just clothes, it's also about details and attitude. A well-timed smile remains the best accessory. Also, if you're taking a client out to dinner, ask him/her what he or she likes to eat, provide a few restaurant choices, make a reservation, show up early because you're the host, don't drink too much (or at all if the client isn't drinking) and pay the bill. Those kind of tips made sense and helped remind me that image is more than just how you look. For tips on how you look, she provides a nifty color characteristics chart on page 108. I wore a red suit for my last interview, apparently that got the message across that I'm assertive. If I wore the dark brown which I had thought about, I would have been seen as conservative, but paired with a pink shirt, approachable. It's fun. Two favorite pieces of advice: 1) Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the one you want. 2)Think about your goals for the day and dress accordingly.

Nice Girls Don't Get The Corner Office 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. Yeah, um, okay. Maybe it's having been the president of the Women's Studies Club in high school. Maybe it's growing up in the household I did, where my dad told me I could do anything. Or maybe it's just me. This book had a lot of empowerment techniques, but not all that much that really applied to me. I picked it up because I had heard so much about it but found, like reading The Rules, the advice in it wasn't something that I could really appreciate. There's lots of business tips here and there are some mistakes I make (I'm too concerned with hurting others' feelings), but a lot of it just doesn't ring true to me. I'm not willing to step over anyone or anything in my path to get what I want. I am willing to stand up for myself and be clear about my goals, but that's something I've been putting to use for a very, very long time. I could see how author Lois P. Frankel's advice may help a woman who's always felt held-back because of her gender. That woman just isn't me.

Wow, I just went over a lot of books. In my defense, did you really think for even a minute that I could a write a book publishing/book review blog without mentioning what I'm reading "for fun" in my personal one?

On the writing end, Matt introduced me to a great web-based program called Writerly. It's like MSWord, but it's all on the web, in a non-searchable format. We've been writing collaboratively again. It's wonderful. I've been needing to write creatively for so long but have felt so tired and uninspired. I'm really proud of what we've started working on, and we're working in a format that's different for me. I'm finally excited about writing again.

Maybe this is the start of something new for me.

**Hooray, it's 5pm. Time to get ready to meet Matt and go pick up Cupid.**