Style file

I recently signed up for an in-home clothing/style consultation as part of one of those 50% off Groupon-type deals. This is incredibly exciting to me as I've been wanting to do something like this for ages, but just couldn't justify the expense. Anyway, I decided to write down a list of style likes and dislikes to maximize my 90-minute appointment. No use spending time telling them No Thanks on peasant skirts and wedges...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

LIKES
wool plaid skirts (above knee, esp with tights and boots)
wool in general
boots, boots, boots
wingtip inspired footwear (e.g. platform heels)
leather (esp camel-color)
argyle!
stripes
wrap shirts and dresses
minimal jewelry
New England prep (sometimes meets British punk)
neutrals, orange, blue, red, yellow
jackets and cardigans
tailored shapes
jeans
v-neck
t-shirts under jackets and cardigans
patent leather
mary janes
stylish shoes okay for longer walks
penny loafers

PARTICULAR ABOUT
prints (graphic preferred, some floral okay)

DISLIKE
skirts cut on a bias
peasants skirts
most purple, many pinks, many greens, most pastels
wedge heels
flowy
hippyish
bedazzled
crew neck
elastic hem/hip shirts
many florals
overt polyester
Uggs except as slippers
hoodies except to the gym
patchwork leather
matchy-matchy
heart-shapes

My husband also has 2 kids

While from the title it may look like Ray has 2 other children, what I mean to say is...my husband has the same general life situation as I do, and yet he doesn't seem prone to dropping 8 balls a day. He works full-time, he has a 4-year-old and a baby, and yet, he remembers what's in the fridge, what resources are available to fix a problem, what appointments he has each day. Me...not so much.

I've always be an organized, on-time kind of person. I've always kept a calendar, but often didn't need to refer to it even when it was chocked full of plans. I also used to remember my list of to-dos without much trouble. I'd write them down, but generally they'd percolate in my head until I could check them off. No longer.

In the past few weeks, I've "no showed" for 2 appointments. This is surprising and embarrassing. I am NOT a no-show kind of person, at all! My present to-do list is so long, that I can't keep track of even half of it. At most I can think of 3 or 4 things that are the most pressing, and then occasionally one of the other 41 things will drift randomly in my head. I am lucky if I'm near a piece of paper to write it down in that moment, because a moment is all it takes before it's out of consciousness for another few weeks.

I guess I have to attribute this to lack of sleep (please, Baby, sleep through the night SOON), 2 kids, several big-push deadlines in the last 4 months, and the general stress of graduate studies. But again, is this really any different from my husband? We trade off nights with the baby, he has lots of stressful changes at work, and to be honest, he does most of our cooking and all of our laundry. I guess I pick up the other household stuff -- general errands, projects and household upkeep -- but still.

I guess the problem is really that my working memory capacity has shrunk, but my need for it has increased exponentially. Regardless, I've got to work out a new system for things. Maybe a talking calendar or flashing to do list. Something!