Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lent: Day 1

Yesterday was the Fattest of Tuesdays. Today is Lent: Day 1.

To answer your initial questions--

1) No, I am not Catholic.
2) I have observed Lent about five times in my life and will continue from this point on
2b) because I find it good for the soul to take something out of my life that I tend to rely on or become spoiled by.
3) I am giving up dresses (buying, not wearing) and Target.
4) Last year I gave up Target and saved hundreds of dollars.
5) No, I cannot keep that hundreds of dollars and buy 46 Target dresses when Lent is over.
5b) The money saved will go to paying off some debt and saving for the future.

You need know to a couple of things about me. I. Love. Target. I. Love. Dresses. Subsequently, I love buying dresses at Target and on Target.com. I may or may not have talked to complete strangers in the return lane at the store about how they should get a Target debit card so they, too, can get free shipping and returns on all items...including but not limited to dresses. 

In my defense, I wear dresses to work. I work at a design school that has a Fashion Design Department. Also, I love Ross and House of Stella (in the Cool Springs area in Middle Tennessee); I spread around my dress-buying love. But have you ever scrolled through the clearance dresses on Target.com? Have you checked out the latest guest designer, Prabal Gurung?

Okay--I fully admit I have a problem. I also fully admit that
I. am. spoiled.
No, blessed. Let's use "blessed."

And that's part of this challenge because sometimes I forget this truth. And my seemingly-silly self-denial won't be easy. I mean, Prabal Gurung's dress line just came out this week. I won't get to grab one in clearance in the coming weeks (if they even last that long). And I'm going to miss my Target dates with my mom. And the thrill of the big reveal of wearing a new dress for the first time: I'm going to miss that as well. But though these things bring me happiness, they aren't my sole source. Here's to 46 days of Publix, Kroger, and the same (beautiful...and lots of them, really) dresses.

I. am. blessed.

Here's to 46 days of that.

 Prabal Gurung design--so you know what I'm missing out on 

 got this number at Ross last week--just in the nick of time

a design by Kaitlyn Phillips, O'More College of Design graduate,
and my grandmother, who had beautiful dresses

Target clearance

 I even wear dresses with jeans.

another Target clearance dress