by Heather Plett | Mar 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’m not very good at dressing myself. Oh I’m fairly competent at pulling on pants and doing up my bra strap, but when it comes to picking clothes that actually look good on me and make me feel like a well-dressed, confident woman, I fall a little short in the skills department. I know what I like, but what I like and what looks good on my lumpy body are usually two different things. (Ah yes – if your psychoanalysis skills are intact, you’ve zeroed in on the problem – I’m not too fond of my overly-accentuated curves or my hang-to-the-waistline never-wear-button-up-tops boobs. So I avoid stores that remind me of that particular inadequacy. Sigh.)
I tend to dress for the lowest common denominator. 1.) Is it cheap? 2.) Does it fit? 3.) Is it a little less likely to make me look like a lumpy elephant or Dolly Parton’s saggy, less surgically modified twin than the other stuff on the rack? Lately, since we’ve been living with one income for most of the last 6 years (and kids grow out of clothes way too fast), number 1 criteria has trumped the others – it’s gotta be cheap. Approximately 75% of my clothes have come from second-hand stores, a fact that mortifies my fashion-conscious teenage daughter. (But it’s not all bad – I have lots of scarves collected from the various countries I’ve visited, so I almost always throw on a splash of colour to draw the eye away from the worn-out not-very-trendy threads underneath.)
Now I find myself in a dilemma. As you might have guessed, this “communicator of the year” thing is kind of a big deal for me – a career milestone, you might say. They’re going to present me with the award at a schwanky “gala luncheon” in a fancy hotel ballroom. This is the kind of place that will be filled with confident, accomplished business people, mostly dressed in power suits and shiny shoes. I don’t think many of them will show up in the shoes they just bought for $5.99 at Value Village (they’re great shoes, by the way!), or the blazer that has the sleeves rolled up to cover the hole in the cuff.
Since this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day, and I want to make the most of my “moment in the sun”, I want to treat myself to some new threads that make me feel good and look at least a little like what you’d expect the “communicator of the year” to look like. No, I don’t want to dress like them (I’m not a power suit and high heels kinda gal), I just want something that suits me and makes me look smart and feel confident (though still unique and a little bit funky).
So…. HELP! I need a personal shopper! I am SO not good at buying clothes for myself! I don’t even know where to begin. Usually I just rush into a store when I need something, grab whatever fits my lowest-common-denominator criteria, and rush out again (or stop for cheesecake if I find nothing and the shopping experience made me miserable – go ahead and psychoanalyze!) I wandered around at lunch time yesterday, and the racks of clothes just sort of overwhelmed me. I don’t know what colours look good on me (with the exception of turquoise – EVERYBODY always tells me I look good in turquoise), I don’t know what’s a good style for my body type, I don’t know where to shop, and I don’t know how to match tops with bottoms.
Anybody have any advice? Or a free Saturday afternoon to drag me to a store and pick something out for me?
by Heather Plett | Mar 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
This morning, I feel the warm glow of gratitude after a comfy and relaxed weekend. Some of the things I am grateful for:
– A fun little Facebook chat with a friend who traveled to Ethiopia with me
– Coming to work on Monday morning knowing that I actually LIKE coming to work
– Hosting a lovely, relaxed evening with some easy, comfortable friends
– Having a basement family room that finally feels complete and livable again (and actually looks good too!)
– Watching my healthy, happy girls play soccer
– Enjoying smoked salmon that was caught by a friend on the west coast
– Hosting another visitor from Africa in our home
– Getting the chance to meet another incredible, strong and wise African woman (who made history by becoming the first woman to run her organization, in the first African country to elect a woman president)
– Watching my daughter’s eyes light up as she runs to get her book to show our African guest the piece she just read about Liberia’s (and Africa’s) first woman president
– Going grocery shopping and not having to worry whether I can afford to pay for it
– Going to the gym on Monday morning after a week away (traveling) and realizing that I am not a failure – I didn’t let myself sleep in, even though it would have been easy to
– Listening to Maddie giggle as she gets teased by her uncle
– Munching on Cadbury mini eggs with my kids
– Recognizing the honour it has been to stand on the shoulders of people who have mentored me
by Heather Plett | Feb 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
The thing about having kids is – they keep you humble. If, for example, you should come home one evening and say “hey – guess what? I just found out I’ve won the Communicator of the Year award for our province!” they will have a delightful way of turning to you with a look that says “yeah, so what?” And then, while you stand there waiting for the overflowing accolades and the hugs of approval, they will proceed to say, “ummm… Mom, it’s really not that impressive. I mean really – how many communicators do we know? One! So if nobody really knows any communicators and they pick you to be the best one, well that’s not really that much of an honour, is it?”
Getting a little defensive at their bucket of cold water on your previously swollen and rapidly shrinking head, you’ll say something like “yeah, but still – the best one in the WHOLE PROVINCE!” And they’ll just keep pouring with, “oh sure, it’s cool and all, but if you were the best SOCCER PLAYER in the province, then THAT would be something to brag about! You’re not exactly the David Beckham of the communications world now, are you?”
Harrumph. Perhaps I should have picked a career my kids could marvel at. But then again, I’m pretty sure David Beckham’s kids roll their eyes at him now and then too.
by Heather Plett | Feb 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
After losing two teeth in fairly quick succession, Maddie proclaimed, with great delight “I’m gonna get some BLING from the tooth fairy!”
Before I arrived home from work, she’d told her sister “I’m gonna fool mom and see if the tooth fairy is real. I’ll keep my mouth closed all evening so she won’t see that I’ve lost a tooth, and if there’s money under my pillow in the morning, I’ll KNOW it’s not mom and the tooth fairy is real!” Yeah, whatever – she didn’t last 2 seconds from the time I walked in the door. 🙂
Photo compliments of her big sister Julie, one of the budding photographers in this house.
by Heather Plett | Feb 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
I sat at the back of the church at a little table reserved for the charity of his choice. I didn’t know him well. My only contact had been a few shared meals and his annual visits when he’d picked up brochures for his Christmas charity drive. Oh how he loved to collect donations for people living with hunger! Every year, he’d sit at a table in the mall, and thousands of dollars would roll in because everyone knew that if this was an organization Randall believed in, it was worth supporting.
I didn’t even think to bring kleenex, and mostly, I didn’t need one. I listened to the obituary and the tributes, and was deeply moved by his children’s and grandchildren’s memories of him, but it made me smile more than cry. He loved sports, he knew everyone in the community, and over the span of his life, he’d volunteered for approximately 100 organizations (ours being particularly close to his heart). He was instrumental in starting a water co-op and a sugarbeet museum, and he’d served on the town council. He was well loved.
I didn’t need a kleenex until they wheeled the casket to the church foyer where I was sitting and the family filed out on the way to the graveyard. I didn’t need it until the moment – just before they closed the casket – when I saw his wife of 60 years nearly crumble to the floor as she leaned in to press her face against his just one more time. After 60 years of living with his enthusiasm, his vibrant energy, and his commitment to life and a myriad of worthy causes, she will wake up in a bed tomorrow morning all alone.
I left the church feeling sad and a little lonely. It seemed only fitting that the snow had begun to blow and the stark prairies were made even more stark by their melancholy lack of colour or sunlight. The tears began to flow again as I sat and gazed at the breathtaking yet painful and lonely beauty of the prairies that I love.
(If you want to see a few more of my prairie winter pictures, check out the slideshow here.)
by Heather Plett | Feb 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
- Nikki is back home in the fold – safely returned from her week-long exchange trip to Quebec. She had a lovely time, and only let on to being homesick once. She’s happy to be speaking English again, though she said by the end of a week living with a French family, she was actually starting to think in French.
- Speaking of French, with Maddie being our third and final child to enter French Immersion school, I am fast becoming the only family member not fluent in French. I keep thinking I should learn it some day, but languages just don’t come easily for me, so I get a little overwhelmed with the brain-work I’d have to put into it.
- Facebook is a truly wierd world to be in. Some days I enjoy it (like when I get to interact with my daughter in Quebec, send her silly videos that her dad and I take, and then check out the pictures she and her friends post after the trip), but some days I just find it awkward and strange. Like… do I really want to be “friends” with that guy that I barely said two words to in high school? And should I or should I not be “friends” with staff-members who have to report to me? What about my daughters’ friends? And don’t even get me started about those people who collect “friends” like a high school popularity contest!
- One of my co-workers became a dad last week – to a wee tiny 1.7 lb very premature baby. So far, he’s doing well, but I know they’ll have a rocky road ahead of them.
- I’m glad I have a husband who stays on top of things – like the fact that Maddie needed valentines cards for the school party. I’m pretty bad at keeping my OWN life organized, let alone the lives of my children!
- Speaking of my husband, his vast knowledge of Louis Riel facts just won him a t-shirt from CBC radio.
