I was talking to Pam yesterday about “school clothes” and “going out clothes”. Pam recently bought a pair of Bettina Liano jeans which she had altered and had planned to pick it up at Bondi yesterday afternoon… upon asking her whether she’d wear it to class anytime soon I was taken aback when she answered me with a sharp “no”, followed by “it’s just school”. This got me thinking about how I live my life. Now I want to make it clear that I’m not judging Pam, I love the girl to bits, but I suppose after my dad’s near death experience a few months ago… the way I live life has drastically changed.

My parents never really bought me a lot of clothes or gave me a lot of money to buy my own clothes until a few years ago. Growing up, they spent more money on our extensive travels and educating us kids in some of the best schools than buying us an excess amount of cute outfits. I can’t speak for my siblings but whenever my parents would take me out shopping for new threads I’d always end up wearing the new clothes right away… I’d always be so eager to strut my stuff! Up to this day I still wear my new shoes to bed and “display” all my new clothes around my room for hours before putting them away. Now, I have to point out that out of my twelve years of primary and secondary schooling, I only had two years of which I WASN’T required to wear a school uniform (GO DRAGONS!)… so that’s another reason why my parents never really had to worry about buying us the hippest clothing. As this was so, I never really had clothes that I labeled as “going out clothes” and “school clothes”. My wardrobe was just so limited that I didn’t have that much of a choice!

Even now that that I have amassed SIX closets-full of clothes AND a suitcase of winter coats and sweaters in Sydney ALONE… (omg I am so going to hell for being so materialistic!) I still haven’t really categorized my clothes. I wear what I want when I feel like it. And why shouldn’t I?

After my dad’s near-death-experience earlier this year… I decided that I’d make the most of each and everyday. SO since I have returned to Sydney, I have been waking up earlier… going to church more… meeting up with friends more… staying in touch with lost friends more… STUDYING MORE (ha!, this has yet to be executed “correctly”)… telling my boyfriend and my family that I love them more… essentially, I’m TRYING to be a nicer person. (And let me tell you, this whole “My Name Is Earl” thing is a lot harder than you think!). So with this life makeover, I have decided to take care of myself more. This includes working out more, eating better and caring more about my appearance in a non-superficial way. Non-superficial you ask? Well, non-superficial in that I want to treat everyday as a celebration of life… I mean, just think… WHAT IF you kept some of your best clothes aside “for a special occasion” but died before you got to wear them out? It’d just be a waste!

So I say if you’ve labeled your clothes as “going out clothes” and “school clothes” or wear what you want, when you want... or whatever else… I say, “the true ornament of any person is virtue, not clothes or jewels." (Anonymous)