How it all began

It all started after I looked in my closet one day and felt crushed.

Literally.

I had SO MUCH STUFF in there that I almost rendered myself dizzy thinking of all my wardrobe choices.  Yeah, yeah, cry me a river, right?  First world problems and all that.  I hear ya.  I know loads of women who would kill to be in my situation.  But when one feels Catholic guilt coming a-knockin' when one just thinks of one's clothing options - especially when one is a lapsed Catholic and had given up guilt for Lent anyway - then you know something's gotta give.

But to backtrack just a scosh: my hoarding acquisitive nature really snowballed when I started following fashion blogs.  No, I am not blaming all the wonderful ladies who've inspired my inner fashionista.  I'm simply saying they were the catalyst to my vast wardrobe. 

You see, I hadn't yet figured out that I didn't need to dupe the looks EXACTLY; that I could - and should - use them more as starting points to develop my own sense of style.  Enter Pinterest stage right a few months later and this, coupled with a steady diet of fashion blogs, made for a very potent combination.

In well-meaning ignorance, then, I clicked on links and purchased every item that made up a look I pinned.

And I pinned a LOT of looks (512 and counting, to be exact).

Feel free to insert eye rolls and comprehension-dawning groans here.

Yes, I ended up with an obscene credit card debt.  Yes, I developed a rather curious relationship with my UPS driver (whose name escapes me but who I can probably easily identify from a police lineup, we see each other that much).  Yes, I was running out of room in a decent-sized walk-in closet.  And yes, I knew I had a problem and I needed saving from myself.


So I made a vow, one that allows me my indulgences but reins in my propensity for excess:  for every fashion blogger's look that I pinned, I had to promise to try to dupe it with what I already had in my own closet.  No more spending; just more conceptualizing. 

Of course, all this epiphanizing (yes, I know that's not a word) is useless if I don't have a way to keep me honest.  So that, my friends, is how a blog is born.