Editor’s Letter: Welcome to 2015!

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas and New Year period was relaxing and enjoyable.

After a super-busy 2014, I decided to take a go-slow for a couple of weeks over the holiday season to re-coup and re-group before hitting 2015 full-steam-ahead. I spent Christmas at home in Sydney, and flew down to Melbourne for New Years to ring in the new year with friends. No longer operating retail stores as I used to, 2014/2015 was the first season in over a decade that I did not have to work right through the frantic and exhausting Christmas period. I really felt that “school holiday” feeling!

I enjoyed sleep-ins, reading, brainstorming for 2015, a couple of days at the beach and working around the home. With time on my hands, I couldn’t help but do a little contemplation and reflection. Whilst I am not one for new year’s resolutions, I have decreed 2015 to be the year I finish my renovations (I WILL get a new kitchen!) and I’m also going to take up a new fitness-based hobby. (I’m thinking “ballet bodies” to strengthen, stretch and tone – if anyone has feedback or ideas, please comment below!)

Lastly, by way of fresh beginnings, has anyone heard of Japanese de-cluttering expert Marie Kondo? A celebrity in her own right, Kondo has changed the lives of thousands of people with her theory of only owning items that spark “real joy.” Whilst drastic in that way only the Japanese seem to master, Kondo prescribes re-gifting, donating or throwing out any item that you no longer derive any joy from owning. Translated to wardrobes, this means getting rid of the worn out, the ill-fitting, the never-worn, the sentimental et cetera.

Most of the time, these “how to clear out your wardrobe” regimes are designed to impel the reader to splurge on a whole new series of items based on season or trend. Kondo’s theory is different in that it is about recognising what you actually love owning/wearing, and eliminating everything else. Any new purchases are made strictly with this philosophy in mind.

Kondo’s theory goes to the crux of why so many of us have bursting wardrobes but “never anything to wear”. It’s not that we are not buying enough, it’s that we are not buying correctly. And we’re not recognising when to shed that old skin and refine.

I pondered my own wardrobe and pretty quickly I realised why lately, getting dressed had become a chore and a bore: It was filled with garments that no longer reflected my tastes, my lifestyle or what I truly loved to wear. ie, countless “bargain” items that were bought on a whim and never worn; carefully-considered favourites that had seen better days; splurges that I had to “get my money’s worth out of” and way too many shoes and garments that no longer fitted.

So for 2015, I have decided to *gasp* re-define (or at least better understand) my own personal style in an effort to a) create a wardrobe of desired options b) enjoy getting dressed c) feel great in what I am wearing every day. It is a work in progress! I’ll be writing stories around this topic and invite anyone here who is bored with their look and sick of their wardrobe to join in.

Before signing off, I do also want to thank everyone very sincerely for their support of Breakfast with Audrey over the past year. We have some very loyal readers who visit the site daily, often leaving comments and feedback, all of which are highly appreciated! To all of the new readers, thank you so much for coming on board and I hope to continue to see you back here well into the future.

If anyone has feedback or an idea you would like to pass on, please feel free to contact me at any time (details below.) Your comments are invaluable in helping me to provide stories that are interesting, inspiring and useful!

Hoping everyone has a great 2015!

Warmly,

Vanessa xx