Miss Furrow Dreams of Botox

Hello!

these days I don't get many chances to take photos, since I spend most of my time sitting in front of the computer. But there is the webcam, so I can take photos – due to the limited camera-angle, the images are not about the usual objects such as nature, city, shopwindows and the construction site across the street but about me, sitting or standing in front of the computer.

And that's when I see the furrow between my eyebrows which sits at exactly the same place like my mothers furrow: left from the bridge of my nose. Everyone keeps saying "Paula! Excuse me!! This furrow is nothing, it's hardly noticeable". But it is there.

When I read, the furrow deepens. When I think (what I do a lot), it deepens even more. And when I watch a disturbing scene in a movie, it deepens even more. That's when Mr Paula nudges me and warns me not to create the furrow. Don't get him wrong: I asked him to tell me when he notices me furrowing, because I try to avoid using those muscles that produce it.

So, here I am, with some alternatives at hand:

One would be to stop thinking, reading and talking. And no more disturbing movies.

Or – The best alternative to Botox: I could expand my skin with my fingers, gently, so I won't create other, new furrows with my fingers.

The effect lasts zero seconds after the treatment. But it feels nice to relax the muscle from the eyebrow.

Or I could accept, that I am my mother's daughter and that I inherited this furrow left of the bridge of the nose. As you can tell, I am not there, not yet. No acceptance so far.

And then there is Botox. I admit, the sensation of a 100% relaxed muscle is something I wish to experience once in my life. I once experienced a facial massage where the woman massaged my forehead in a way that totally relaxed all muscles. Heavenly!

I feel the tension of my muscles working inwards – when my muscles are tight, so are my emotions. It also works the other way round: The tension from the inside also shows on the outside (=furrows). How I wish to relax! Especially this one little forrow above my nose. Compared to other people, my muscle tension is always high. I don't mind the furrows above my eyebrows, because they are "friendly" furrows. It's this nasty, little, mean furrow ... (I guess while thinking about it, it already grows!)

Botox is affordable, so to say not the Kelly bag among purses. And it is not like it would be forever - not like a tatoo. Is it addictive? I don't think so. I once tried botox for my armpits, because the sweat stains annoyed me (hot summer+bicycle ride = no good!). I did it once and that was it. The effect lasted only for 2.5 months. So I thought it was not worth it.

But does it take courage to try it in the face? Would the 3-4 months feel like an eternity (because that's how long the Botox lasts) if the result looks awful? Must stop thinking about this. Now! I already feel my furrow deepening.

What if I just need better glasses?

The Confidence Rive Gauche Provides

When it comes to Blue and Black, a certain iconic design comes to my mind: Rive Gauche by YSL. Back in the late 1970's the perfume bottle had a fixed place on my mother's dressing table. Her hair was black and glossy, the floor-length chiffone gowns lifted like sails, when she moved. I can't remember the scent, but the design intrigued me. And it still does.

YSL took a quite bold move back then, when he combined black and blue. Actually so very bold, it provides me with plenty of confidence today – not only to combine black and blue but also to pick hotpants. On a not-casual-friday but foggy, overcast monday.

Maybe you grew up in a region, where black/blue was considered as normal as beige/blue or black/white. Not around here!

Some say blue and black is a no-no. Others say hotpants past 30 are a no-no.

This is the ring I am wearing.

The tights are Wolford Velvet de Luxe 66

My legs actually have the same circumference.

The webcame prefers to take them out of proportion as soon as I take a step.

Two colleagues recognized my blue hotpants (H&M SS 2009). I could be their mother. They have the shorts sitting in their closet. A few weeks ago I overheard an elderly couple talking pejoratively about what they saw in the Tommy Hilfiger shop windows: mannequins wearing hotpants and opaque tights. Very much to my surprise, this combo not only works for teenagers but also for their mothers and other women around 40, even better when combined it with a fluffy, hooded duvet-vest.

Have fun!

EDIT:
Patti from Not Dead Yet Style hosts the Visible Monday-project.
Luckily, my Rive Gauche-moment happened on a Monday, so I joined them!

Thrift, Anti-Consumerism ... What's going on?

Having surfed through parts of the blogsphere during the past 2 years, I arrived at a point where I feel as if there are only to approaches towards consumerism "available" in the blogsphere:

1. the anti-consumerism that comes with de-cluttering and thrift on the one side
2. the compulsive consumerism that comes with shopping and often also returning the shopped goods.

Another step towards a clutter free home

Both approaches are time-consuming: it takes time to de-clutter and it takes time to shop and return goods. Shopping and dealing around with stuff (returning, feeling unsure, visiting another shop/website) feels like a waste of time to me. I rather spend the limited time I have with creating an evironment with less, not with more.

You can tell, I don't take it easy. Bloggers may attract other bloggers of the same kind. I would love to meet bloggers who don't care about shopping/fashion/no-shopping, clutter or de-clutter but focus on other aspects in life. If you are one of them, please leave me a comment! I would love to follow your blog.

Pictured above you see a part of the clothes I delivered at the facility for homeless, led by the church. The only take clothes you could wash in a washing machine. So cotton is more than welcome! Do you remember the red sweater? Here it goes! Mr Paula parted from some brownish sweaters, his pile actually outclassed my lousy pile of 2 mere sweaters.

What a long way away from shopping I find myself today ...

No doubt, my anti-consumerism against fashion is triggered by full closets and drawers, but mainly it comes from an profound feeling of having arrived at a point of abolute no-neediness. We have so much and we have enough. Plus: inflation is rising like crazy and I have to admit: shopping is no fun, when the price for a standard v-neck cashmere sweater went up by 18% within the past 10 months.

Maybe my resentment to shopping, especially fashion-shopping it has to do with the cashmere sweaters I bought last winter – they filled a gap and seemed to have shut the door towards consumerism.
[EDIT: I choose Cashemre, because it's the only wool you get in 100% quality in the shops, merino and lambswool is always mixed with synthetic fibres, the SA say it's to reduce the pilling. Aha.]
Also I choose to wear those 2 sweaters at least 2, 3 times a week. They are never too cool, never too warm, just perfect. Which means I need less alternatives to choose from. Plus: I figured out, nothing flatters me more than a starched white shirt. Which means I can let go plenty of T-shirts and I won't buy any new T-Shirts, because there are those 3 white shirts hanging in my closet, waiting to flatter me.

Maybe my resentment comes from the pair of diamond studs I have bought earlier this year, they will hopefully last and maintain their value – something you could not say about clothes you get to buy today. It's not just me, even our friends are somehow afraid of spending money, because we know/feel the quality we will receive in return will be nothing like the quality you used to get for your money 10, 15 years back. This is actually quite sad.

Don' get me wrong, there are still plenty of things, I would love to own:

• a white balance lense cap for my SLR camera
• an altimeter for ski-mountaineering
• a black cashmere cardigan.
• ...
  

Black cashmere seems to be out of fashion these days. Cashmere cardigans, too. I am patient. I can wait. I had been waiting over a decade for the return of the flats (ballerinas etc). When they appeared on the fashion radar a few years ago, I bought 3 pairs. Because they will leave the fashion radar (actually have already left). Too bad I was not ready for the black cashmere cardigan when it was around the last time. But it will come around again. No doubt!

The trees behind the house are de-cluttering like crazy these days:

I don't recall a past autumn-season that came with leaves like that! Usually the snow surprises the trees and their leaves have no time to turn yellow/red/brown. Not this year!