Shopping nirvana

25 September 2008

I had a day yesterday that was absolute heaven. My friend, Geralin Thomas, who among other things does wardrobe consulting, is in town for the annual conference of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. She came in a day early, arriving at 8 a.m. yesterday morning, to see me and to do some wardrobe organizing and enhancing.

Oh. My. God. Was it fun! We started in my closet, where she took a look at everything. We donated a bunch of stuff (she held my feet to the fire and said I could keep only four pairs of khaki pants and two khaki capris) and then organized what’s left by type and color. Then—and here’s the best part—she wrote down what I needed to buy to complete outfits. Seems I had a lot of separates that require some glue (or perhaps mortar) to hold them together.

Then we went shopping. And I mean power shopping. Geralin’s really good at this. Where I’m overwhelmed by the choices and paralyzed by indecision, she hones in on just what we’re looking for from our list. I’m telling you, it was heaven. Because she did such a great job of selecting what to try on, I tried on very little that wasn’t terrific.

I ended up buying a silk twinset, a merino cardigan and a sequined cardigan, something like five tops, two jackets, a belt, earrings, two pins and four pairs of shoes! And two of the pairs of shoes are neither black nor brown. And three are patent leather!

Oh and we went to Knitty Couture, the wonderful yarn store, where Geralin picked out the color of Rowan Cocoon I bought to make a Kim Hargreaves sweater called Valiant. (She picked a color called, Cloud, a pretty light blue.) And she picked out two colors of Cascade 220 (colors 8229 & 8234) yarn for me to make a reversible brioche hat, which I’ll learn to make at a Knitty Couture class.

After our day of shopping, we met up with the fabulous Aby Garvey for a fun and delicious dinner at Mosaic, a tapas restaurant in the loft district in St. Louis. Here’s a picture of us after dinner:

Geralin Thomas, me, and Aby Garvey

I can’t thank Geralin enough. I feel a little like Eliza Doolittle—at the end of the movie, of course!

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Comments

That does sound fun! And, it completely avoided the part of shopping I truly detest, the overwhelm of looking at and trying on all the crap.

Shannon Wilkinson September 26, 2008 10:34 AM

Janine:

I remember you talking about this while you were here in Portland. Sounds like a fabulous day! I haven’t used a wardrobe consultant before, but I spent last weekend putting away summer clothes, pulling out winter ones, going through everything and getting rid of stuff I don’t wear anymore. Now I’m excited to wear all my old “new” winter clothes.

Michelle

Michelle Rafter November 9, 2008 03:49 PM

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About Janine

Hello! I’m Janine Adams — a certified professional organizer based in St. Louis, and the creator of Peace of Mind Organizing®.

I love order, harmony + beauty, but I believe that the way that you feel about yourself and your home is what truly matters.

If you’re ready to de­clutter with a purpose and add more ease to your life, you’ve found the right blog — and you’ve found the right company.

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