The Second Thing I Did

One of the things that sealed the deal for me as far as blogging "for real this time" is how inspired other bloggers were, particularly the ones whose posts left me saying, "Huh, that's a lot like me." I also really came to think of them as experts, people who knew enough about what they were talking about to do it for a full- or part-time living... or even for no money at all, just intense personal satisfaction. As I dipped my toe into the blogosphere, many of my commutes and errand car rides were spent thinking: What am I an expert on? What do I have to say that people will want to hear? Who's going to be inspired by me? Those are big questions, and I will freely admit that I don't know the answers to the last two. The first one was tricky, too...

But I got there.

I am not an expert in anything. One of the things I like about myself is that I know a little about a lot of things. It has served me well as a teacher and clearly was my ticket to play for a chance at big bucks on "America's Favorite Quiz Show" so I am pretty cool with my varied number of and depth to which I can engage with my passions. What that makes hard, though, is to even come close to positioning myself as someone who can comfortably communicate the nuances of a particular topic. I thought a lot about what I know and what I list as my hobbies and things that begin to set me apart. It's not an epic list: teaching, cooking, gardening, chickens, living in an old farmhouse in Vermont, being married to an exterminator, wanting to learn how to fix stuff, wanting to fit into my old jeans...

Ready for the big reveal? Yeah, it's just as you suspected: I'm an expert on Kate, so that's what I'm going to blog about. Lucky for you that you will get to read about chickens, vegetarian food, teaching, sheep, exterminating spouses (well, spouses who exterminate...), living in and caring for old farmhouses, and fitting into old jeans. That won't be all, I assure you, but they are the topics most likely to appear on this blog. If you don't want to read it, you certainly don't have to, but I am going to try like the devil to keep you here.

And I know I have already talked a bit about my weight and how I'm trying to wrestle back into some dungarees from days of yore, but before you go so far as to think that this is going to be a "weight loss journey" all I have to say is, Drop. Your. Sword. As I believe I am positioned to prove--and might already have done so, depending on who you are--I will talk about more than just getting back into my jeans. This all being said, the "second thing I did" does have to do with tipping the scale back in my favor, so I need to mention it in brief and instead of telling you about it, I'll just share a snippet from a recent Facebook IM chat with my mom:

That ought to put things into perspective a bit. Weight loss will likely be one of the last things I talk about, but it is what got me here, so I have to give it some snaps. If you want to read this blog to see my silly new outfits, get some recipes that you may or may not ever cook, hear funny and charming stories about my life as a teacher, hear not-so-charming stories about what it's like to live in a 140 year-old house on top of a mountain in the dead of winter and with sheep you would eat if you weren't a vegetarian...

Then this is the blog for you.

The First Thing I Did

I told you I was going on a lifestyle purge a couple of posts ago and that's just what I did. I shouldn't make it sound like it's done, though; it's an on-going state of affairs.

A great article in Forbes came across my Zite newsfeed this morning that was perhaps more telling than I wanted it to be, but revealed some truths that I was ready to have a chat with. The article features expertise by Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner and the table that Forbes featured (on page 2 of the article, screen-grabbed below) had my number right off the bat.

I took the Golden Ratio to heart this past week, bringing five bags to Goodwill (it's all I could fit in my sweet little Audi) and getting another one ready for a delivery this week. I also have a bag of things put aside that my mom might like, but they'll be bounding down the GW Parkway if she doesn't take the bait. While some items went into the bags without a second thought, it was a little--okay a lot--sad to get rid of some of the others. The symbolism associated with certain pieces of clothing is pretty startling once you begin to make "Keep" and "Go" piles. There were clothes from days gone by, waistlines gone by, eras of both my deep and recent pasts that show the passage of time... It was a walk down Memory Lane, through a living museum of the past 10 or so years of my life. A lot has happened in that decade and still I needed to show it the door.

The clothes that were too small initially felt disappointing to me, like I had failed or zigged when I should have zagged. Over time, I have accepted my shape and that is a bit of what got me into this predicament opportunity for renewal. My body is a super healthy and strong place and I absolutely enjoy inhabiting it. In fact, I don't have far to go to get back to "fighting weight," which is a blessing in and of itself. What I do need to remember is that I owe this body the confidence that time has chipped away and that's what I'm after getting back.

It started at Old Navy, which is adjacent (by Vermont standards) to the Goodwill that happily accepted the clothes and shoes that I sent to someone who could use them more than I can. If I'm sticking to Dr. Baumgartner's theories, since I had gotten rid of four bags, I could take one home, right?

Pardon the handwashing PSA
in the top right corner. I was in my
classroom doing some work when
the inspiration for this post hit.

Oh. My. Science. Did I take a bag home! Pulling a bit of inspiration from not one, but two Corals & Cognacs posts, I pulled together what I am calling a baby step down the Yellow Brick Road toward a more stylistically fabulous place. It will likely look like nothing much to you, but I am stoked to be wearing pants--skinny jeans, no less--with a zipper and playing around once again with print and pattern. I am also loving the look of not wearing boots with skinny jeans/leggings, which is another rabbit hole I had fallen down.

Fun print socks are too cute to hide
under riding boots, dontcha think?

Old Navy happened to be having its giant, post-holiday sale, so I scored big. The "Free Your Mind" tank was a couple of bucks and it reminded me that, when you do it right, you can pull things from workout (or, in my case, slouch) wear and mix them with more structured pieces. To that end, I have a new rule: at least one zip up, denim, button down, or other such garment needs to be at play in every outfit I wear. My pre-teaching life was ruled by suits and somehow everything always fit. A button is more than just a way to keep you from spilling out, it's also a barometer of what your hips and thighs are up to. And Shakira said it, not me: Hips don't lie. The mystery of waking up in a world where nothing fits was clearly caused by a one-size-fits-all phase that lasted, like, way too long. No more! Purge the thought! Free your mind!

The closet space that the old clothes purge freed up is nothing to sneeze at and I also unwittingly rolled back the stones of a few tombs, finding some long-buried items that I resurrected for a second life. Closet shopping--especially with clear eyes and a fresh mission--is almost better than store shopping. Almost. I will take and share pictures of some other concoctions as they play out. I am excited to start playing with clothing again and being confident to try new and different looks.

Phew! That's the first thing I did. It was much more fun than the second thing...

The Real Reason

Get ready for a whole lot of truthiness and the potential for some serious inner monologing. I'm going to tell you why I came into blogging. It's not very original. You might say it lacks for the earth-shattering glamour that makes for the best origin stories, but and nonetheless, it's what I've got.

The story goes a little something like this... Coupled with what you read in my last post, I had gotten a subscription to Redbook in the fall and noticed that they were highlighting a lot of pretty normal women who opened up their entire worlds in direct and indirect ways by blogging. The "I can do this, right? I've so got this?" energy bubbled up when I read what these ladies were doing and how they had positioned themselves as experts in a particular life-and-style category. One blog really inspired me: Corals & Cognacs, written by Hallie Wilson. Hallie's content and tone made blogging seem to be both serious work and ridiculous fun. In the process, she made me really think about myself and the life I had come to lead... wearing only yoga pants, shape-shifting jersey separates, and chunky cardis.

To say I have struggled with my weight isn't accurate. I don't struggle with it; it beats my ass into submission on the regular and within the past two or three years, I had really let it kick me while I was down. I quit smoking, got married, and started teaching all about five years ago. There's nothing like a steady relationship, a steady job, and a decrease in metabolic rate mega-star nicotine to help you snuggle right down into a squishy, forgiving rut of cozy clothes with no zippers. In fact, I had so gotten used to eschewing a lot of the personal style that my pre-elastic life prided itself on that, when I tried to pull myself out of the rut and into my old jeans, well... When I got home, they were gone and all that was left was this:

Kate, 

We love you, which is why you need to know that it's not you, it's us. We just don't fit together any more. We used to hang out so much and hit the town all of the time, but now all you seem to want to do is hang out on the couch with Yoga Pants. Like, that's cool and everything and they're super nice, but we have places to go and people to see. If you ever want to come back and hang out, we'll be here. Take care of yourself, okay?

Love,
~Your size 10 Luckys

You might not know what it's like when, seemingly out of nowhere, your jeans break up with you. But I do. It's really painful and the kind of wake-up call you need to get yourself, as Cher would say, snapped out of it. Indeed, all happened in the weeks before New Year's, but that's just pure coincidence.

I'm doing a lifestyle purge, and you're coming with me.

Year End, Year Begin

I didn't make a Facebook movie and, if I had, I wouldn't dream of making you watch it. That's not my style. (You're putting your life in a blog and you're claiming modesty? Interesting...) Any way, I did just scroll through my year and, before I tell you what's coming up in 2015, here's what happened in 2014...

The winter was, as winter is, long and cold. We had an extra lot of snow in January and February, so I have essentially Men In Black mind-erasered it.

Fast forward to May, when I finished my Master of Education degree. I had started it back in 2008, so it was pretty fantastic to get that sucker in the bag. It has freed up a bunch of time for other things, but more about that later.

My mom and stepdad got married in June and I also ran my second 5K. Those were both fun ways to spend the day. I will definitely do the 5K again and hope my parents can continue with their marathon. They seem to be having a pretty good time so far!

The rest of the summer I spent working, both at home and at school, mini-farming, gardening, and getting ready for my second year teaching fifth and sixth grade. I got really into networking and professional development (sort of for the first time, sort of again) and was able to be a part of some choice activities and events that I detailed in the blog I keep for my classroom:

Create Make Learn conference & media coverage for student work
Fun & games at the E21 Conference

I tried my hand at professional blogging a bit more seriously and felt like I had a certain knack, but could never find time when I had ideas and ideas when I had time. That's an excuse... I thought I was past it, but it turned out that it would take a few more months.

In October, I got a call from a nice lady in Culver City, Calif., who told me that, at long last, I was being called up from the contestant pool to compete on Jeopardy! and would be featured in an upcoming Teachers Tournament. Having auditioned almost two years ago, I figured that this particular (and Number One) item on my Bucket List was going to remain not in my bucket. Once again, though, the universe gave me a big ol' sloppy kiss straight out of nowhere. Universe! Where have you been? Yes, I will totally make out with you!

It would be about two months from the Jeopardy! call that Andy and I would find ourselves soaking up the SoCal sun and leaving behind a particularly gnarly Vermont blizzard to boot. Additional blogging (for my students) about the Jeopardy! experience and reading what some of the other teachers (got to love English majors, amiright?) had written about our Bucket List co-adventure, made me get once-and-for-all serious about maintaining a blog.

My mom agreed with me and, as many of you know, there's nothing like unbridled parental support to make you feel like you've so got this. And here I am.