Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The art of Fabulous-ness

Last week I checked out a book from the library called Freakin' Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally Be Better than Everyone Else  written by Clinton Kelly.  You know him, everyone's favorite co-host of  What Not to Wear.  He is fabulous so taking advice from him seemed like a good idea.  I also have this weird love and appreciation of gay men (I spent almost my entire early- to mid-twenties trying to date them but have since learned how to love them without LOVING them if you know what I mean). 

The book was fun to read (I skimmed it while we were watching a movie) and there were a couple of gems ("Every car trip goes faster when you sing" and did you know that woman's sleeves can be any length from three-quarter length to standard and be appropriate?).  The How to Speak section left a little to be desired (I was hoping for suggestions on what to say at a tea party or how to console someone who has just lost a loved one but I got the difference between further and farther) but I was entertained.


But the book got me thinking. The subtitle of the book is "How to dress, speak, behave, eat, drink, entertain, decorate, and generally be better than everyone else." I like all of those things--speaking, eating, drinking etc but the part that gets me is that Clinton is telling us that the way to fabulous-ness is to be better than everyone else.  I think we are often urged in this culture to build our self esteem by comparing ourselves to others.  That seems unhealthy to me (and leads me to compare myself to girls who are next to me at the gym--trying to decipher if their ankles are skinnier than mine).  It seems to me that the way to real fabulous-ness is to not to be better than everyone else but rather to appreciate and learn from the fabulous-ness in others.  

So Clinton Kelly, I will take what I can learn from your book (Dress up a little to go to the dentist) but I will not try to be more fabulous than everyone else--I'm just going to try to be my own fabulous self and try to not compare myself to the girl next to me at the gym with incredibly skinny ankles. 
**Another section that should have been covered in the book is how to respond to comments left on your blog. Do you respond to all of them? What do you say? Until I find a book that does instruct one on what to do I will just tell you that I love your comments.  Thank you for leaving them.  I read them and think about them and the hubbs and I talk about them. Even if I am still waiting for some of you to post your melancholy playlists so I can copy them...ahemmmm Marcey...I'm looking at you.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting book. I try to reply to most of the comments on my blog, although I don't get around to it all of the time.

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  2. I can't believe I didn't see that you posted it...I'll be honest it's rare that I go back and check on comments that I leave. Heck let's face it it's rare that I do anything not directly related to school these days.

    So you should feel especially delighted that I've put together this list for you (it's the middle of midterms, but I figured, if it's already 2:30 in the morning I might as well push it to 3, right?)

    In special order

    sometimes the blues is just a passing bird - the tallest man on earth
    fistful of love - anthony and the johnsons
    pictures of you – the cure
    bright star (spoken word) - bright star soundtrack (but you MUST see this movie first!)
    something to hold on to - allie moss
    it's five o'clock - aphrodite's child
    farmer chords - benjamin gibbard
    books written for girls – camera obscura
    beacon hill - damien jurado
    backwards walk** -frightened rabbit
    going back home - jbm (actually the whole album is pretty amazing)
    the face - kings of leon
    fake empire - the national
    i have nothing - noah and the whale
    are we there yet - ingrid michaelson
    hold my hand as i'm lowered - noah and the whale
    how it ends - devotchka
    there she still remains - pete molinari
    little shadow – the yeah yeah yeahs
    god willin' and the creek don't rise - ray lamontagne and the pariah dogs
    long-distance lullaby - stornoway
    leave me in the dark - keri noble
    ballerina - leona naess
    clean getaway - maria taylor
    if i go i’m going – gregory alan isakov

    **there are swears**

    some of them are just downright depressing and some are just mellow.

    enjoy!

    -m

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  3. Truer words! It is so easy to be lured into that horrible mindset. I have to remind myself all too often not to compare myself to others. Thanks for sharing!

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