A life of discovery

I have a different definition of luxury clothing than stylists.

Mind you, I'm a coach who teaches you how to dress, I don't style you from top to toe, so that might be why.

Here are some of my luxury items.

Fluorescent pink and purple Life Jacket (Costco $44.95) which enables me the luxury of floating in the lake, early in the morning before other people turn up. I bob up and down like a brightly colored buoy. Big fun! It also allows me to stare at the mountain across from me and remember how…

I’m at the lake again. Sheer & utter bliss. My dog and I both need water to play in, sunshine, and strangers to admire us (I’m wearing the most amazing caftan by Prima Dona Studios). 

At Idylwood Park, there’s a sign that says:

“Don’t feed the ducks because it causes overcrowding for nutrition and pollution.”

Are you feeding the ducks in your wardrobe? 

Here’s what I mean by that: Are you overcrowding certain categories? 

Do a quick life circle, segmented into the activities, and then do a …

So you know how they say “physician, heal thyself?”

I was walking Joule (Frenchie) at the dog park, looked down at what I was wearing and thought, if a client sees me right now, I'm running in the other direction. 

Ah...oops.

I had forgotten my mantra. Dress for Your Vision, no matter the circumstances? What the heck had I been thinking? 

After all, it was a client of mine who told me:

"My husband just asked where I was going, because I looked like a badass."

"What did you tell him?"

"Now…

I'm a weather which.

This means I have finally worked out after half a century that I am affected by the weather. Duh. 

Most people are - in my case, too many grey days make me a little weepy, emotional, depressed and as gloomy as the sky outside (I live in Seattle).

However, if the sun breaks through, it hits me like a shot of tequila.

And I've worked out that sunshine + ocean = a huge burst of creativity.

I also think four seasons is three too many.

Knowing which “which” you are is really, really im…

A few months ago I had the privilege of going to Hawaii. Some people understood why I was going before I had my vaccination… and believe me, it was a long thought-out decision where my husband and I consulted several professionals, but I can get depression bad and I needed the sunshine desperately. 

Anyhoo...,I promise the following has to do with your vision and the life that you want to create.

If you want a short cut - scroll down to the next bold sentence. 

We had a hilarious time getting…

One of the ways I sidestepped the reality of 2020 was to throw a lot of energy, time and money into a relaunch.

I’d stepped away from The Happy Wardrobe in 2019 due to my annual Seattle slump, which sent me in another direction for a while. But just before Covid became a thing, I’d made it to Arizona and sunshine kickstarted me back to my love of clothes and the women who wear them.

Relaunch! New website, looking into virtual assistants for accountability (knowing the slump would hit once the …

On my vision board (yes, I'm hugely pro these, reach out if you want help creating one, they are a ton of fun) are the words "inspire and be inspired."

The podcast I created called Conversations About Closets With My Closest 1000 Friends has been blowing my mind. So far I have had conversations with 40 incredible women. Most of the time we are laughing, but there's a few like Mahtab's and Cindy's where I've cried. I started off awkwardly. I need to go back and edit out a few "Can you hear me? I…

Dear Shonda Rhimes, 

I wanted to say thank you.

The world has been extremely stressful and very strange for a long time now. But thanks to you I have discovered a happy place I can go when things become overwhelming.

 That's not to say that my life isn't wonderful, I'm safe, loved, grateful and surrounded by SAD lights. I do wish I wasn't in Seattle, but it's an 18 hour plane ride and two weeks in solitary confinement in a hotel if I wanted to go to NZ to see my family and some sunshine, so t…

In the 70's, when I was nine, my family went to Te Puke for Christmas.

Te Puke is about three hours from Auckland, where I lived and back then, I think it was famous for kiwifruit. Yes, it is kiwifruit, they are not called Kiwis - that what you call people from NZ, FYI. 

My auntie Jeannie lived there and it was her turn to host. I got to sleep in the caravan parked by the house, which was super cool, though I probably had to share with my younger brother.

It was a really good year for Christm…

I'm lousy at group events. 

I mean the ones where there are many people in a room (this goes for parties as well) and the idea is to mingle. With business ones, the intention is to "network," you know, find out what others do so you can collaborate or refer, or hire each other. It's efficient but I get tired super fast so leave early or hide in the kitchen (if it's a party). It's just as tiring online. I like people as individuals and I don't mind speaking to a crowd, but interacting with a lot…