Last night a group of us went to the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center for Kramer's 25th birthday. I suppose he wanted to go all out and make it a classy affair. I believe we succeeded.  Addison and I got ready at Kati's apartment.  In the midst of attempting to make ourselves look glamorous, Kati mentioned (or perhaps I asked her...) that she had clothes she didn't need anymore and was thinking of donating.  Since she was aware of my clothes project, she generously gave me the clothes she didn't want anymore. Because I haven't bought anything for the past month, and will not for the next 11 months, receiving used clothes (especially from the Kati's lavish closet) was overly exciting. I think that when I'm done with this project that I might only just buy used clothes. It's much better for the environment too!

Overall, the classy night out was heaps of fun. I also can firmly say that going to the orchestra and sitting in the 2nd row (only due to the fact that we were students being placed in unoccupied seats) was definitely one of the top 10 best things I've ever experienced in my life. They played Mozart symphonies and we were so close you could see the facial expressions of all the musicians. The 25 year old violin soloist was so phenomenal, I even got emotional watching and hearing him play.  It was experiences like going to the orchestra that made me so grateful that God gave me the ability to hear and see, which is something I take for granted daily.

Tonight, in the midst of writing a paper for class I clumsly knocked my laptop over and well...

First Day of Spring!

First day in a long time of absolute gorgeous weather. Of course, Sarah and I decided to take advantage of such a beautiful day.  We both had a few errands to run and instead of driving, we decided to ride bikes to every place we had to go.  Sarah wanted to get sunglasses so we biked to Ross.  I'll admit, I definitely look through their clothes and saw a few sundresses that were super cheap. But, I refrained myself from reaching a point where I would feel new clothes withdraw and managed to walk away unscathed (how dramatic..). Currently, I've been trying to remove myself from the temptation to buy new clothes (or not even place myself in any such situation). Hopefully as this project further progresses, I'll have developed the ability to window shop and not feel a thing.

Happy 2 weeks! I went to upstate NY for an awards ceremony this weekend. I told some people there about this project and even the people I deemed to be already living a simplistic life thought that going without new clothes for 1 year is going to be challenging.  I remain optimistic...but perhaps it's because it's only been 2 weeks (which I know for sure I have gone that long without buying clothes without even realizing it).

Jenn came to visit me after work today. She's not buying any new clothes for 1 year either and her outfit was still super hip. She dressed in layers and it was unique with how she put her outfit together. It gave me more ideas to figure out how to make new outfits with the clothes I already have.

I tried to see if she wanted to trade clothes with me sometime. Since we both won't have new clothes for a year, I thought it would be advantageous to switch some of our outfits with each other when we start to get tired with what we have. I hope she'll want to because I always admire what she wears.

It's been one week since I started this project!

Though I'm striving to live a simplistic life, I still think it's important to support small businesses or even help "fuel the economy" during these economic times. Granted, not splurging on clothes has definitely helped in my savings department, (and it's always good to save) I've been racking my brain to come up with ways to help the economy and still stay true to living a simple life. Suggestions?