My Fashion Confession

I am not skilled at putting together cute clothes. If you've ever seen me with a cute outfit, the odds are that 1) Chris put it together or 2) I bought the whole outfit off the rack and took a picture of how to put it back together. 

In fact, when forced to put together my own outfits, I have the most success doing this:
 1) Find one thing I actually want to wear
 2) Try to find something that I would NEVER put together with it
 3) Find shoes/heels to match

For the most part this does in fact work and usually gets me the most compliments. 

One of the major benefits of going through all this cancer/surgery stuff is that it has been acceptable to wear sweat suits 24/7. My first one was a gift from my sister's mother in law. (Thanks Cathy!) And I love it. It is an actual breast cancer/survivor jogging suit. 

It is soft. It has elastic. It is pink. It sparkles. It comes as a matched set. And it has pockets on the inside. This is actually really important because after surgery, this is a convenient place to put the drain tubes and bulbs. They are safe and out of sight. Tip for breast surgery patients: you'll need a few zip up sweatshirts. And if the pockets are only on the outside, wear the jacket inside out. Also my friend, Tiffini suggested a front-zip sports bra which is also very handy the first few days post-surgery. My plastic surgeon was impressed that I had one with me at the hospital and even asked where I bought it.

Back to the sweatsuits. A few nights before my surgery, I tried on the pink one. Chris and my sister noted with a laugh that this could be a problem. There needed to be an end-date to wearing these. Otherwise, I might never wear anything else. I knew I would need motivation.

And motivation came in the form of my wonderful sister-in-law, Brenda. She stayed with us 2 1/2 weeks after my surgery. She asked what she could do to help and I told her that I really needed help with my wardrobe and closet. A few days later, I tried on every single thing I had. We got rid of anything that didn't fit, was worn out or outdated. She paired up tops and skirts. She found belts and shoes to match. It was amazing. We got rid of 3 large garbage bags. And I felt like I actually had more clothes. A few favorite Brenda-isms:

• "Those pants zip up in the front? Take them off. Never wear pants that zip up in the front."
• "You need to wear the scarf. The scarf doesn't wear you."
• "If you are chesty, v-necks and scoop necks are your friend."
  

If you are good at doing this—offer to help a friend. Especially after any kind of surgery that changes a woman's perception of herself. I felt amazing and ready to go back to work. Thank you Brenda!

We leave Tuesday for Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, for Jude's appointment with Dr. Paul Lipkin. He sounds amazing - check out his bio here: https://www.kennedykrieger.org/patient-care/faculty-staff/paul-lipkin He was hand picked for us by a wonderful pediatrician in Omaha. 

And with that I'm so grateful for the following:
1) That my best sweatsuit will be perfect for the plane (sorry Brenda)
2) That we have maxed our family deductible for the year so this shouldn't be costly (emphasis on shouldn't)
3) That our appointment was not in the middle storm Sandy 
4) That we voted early since we will be traveling on election day
5) That we have great friends and family helping us with Lucy while we are gone

My poem:

Clothes
Cluttered, messy
A fresh perspective
Two hours, two women
Style