i'm getting it together. (really!)

i can't believe it. fall is here. officially. i know because i just bought a pair of boots and i took my old ones in to be resoled. i'm looking for long woolen socks and leggings and tights. i'm trying to figure out what i want to wear when it gets cold. what my winter coat is going to be when i don't have to dress up for the swing set. stuff like that. all i know is, i can't stand looking like anyone else when i get dressed. i mean, hey. like the song sammy davis jr. made famous goes -- i gotta be me/i gotta be me/what else can i be but what i am?

let's face it -- when you're an unemployed superstar on a budget like i am, having a strong sense of personal style is of the utmost importance.

i've decided that this winter, i'm going to look like a cross between a runaway slave circa 1850 and a snow bunny -- the animal, not the swinging 60's ski chick. when i get undressed, i want to look like a burlesque dancer from the 30's. hm. i'm going to need some victorian boots to pull it off. and stockings with garters. maybe a corset. actually, i'm not so sure about those.

don't worry. there'll be plenty of pictures to show the world exactly what that looks like. my digital camera is starting to like me.

we'll all be turning our clocks back by the end of the month. the weather is changing, my closet is getting revamped, thanks to space bags, the salvation army and h&m. and me, the lifelong packrat? well, i'm throwing things away like the last survivor on a leaky lifeboat. i want to get rid of all the junk, all the clutter. i want everything scrubbed down and cleaned up, from my hallway closets to the pores in my t zone. i don't know what's come over me. i really don't.

what i want to know is, where did the time go?

all of this leaves me scrambling to reassess my goals and priorities so i can shift gears and end the year on some kind of a high note. i'd love for it to be a peal of laughter and not a scream of hysteria. so here's my deal. instead of going nuts with lists and deadlines and freaking out about what i want and what i haven't done and everything inbetween, i want three things by the end of the year. just three things, three simple things to make me happy by january 1st. not much to ask, right? (riiiiiight.....)

1. get my room organized: closet, office armoire, storage area under my bed, all of it. usually it happens in bits and pieces, in stages, here and there, or so much gets done every season. i want to wipe the whole thing out. pow, just like that.
   
2. get all of my reciepts together for 2005 -- and make any donations/purchases that i can afford before the end of the year, like donating all my old books and clothes to the salvation army for a tax write off. or better yet, finally getting that printer/scanner/copier/fax machine i really need. that way, i can file in january right away and get my tax return back as soon as possible. God knows i need it.
   
3. get my body back, once and for all. i've already worked off 25 lbs. since last summer -- and i've kept it off. believe it or not, i've got another 15 lbs. to go. i want to do it as a christmas present to myself. if i lost five pounds every month until the end of the year, i could pull it off.

if i can pull this off by the end of december -- and get that unbelievably smokin' chocolate suede vintage cowgirl pantsuit that i found in chelsea, of course -- i will officially be deliriously high on some kind of newfangled happiness that will keep me floating all the way through spring. and i won't pummel myself not one bit for whatever else i did or didn't pull off all year long. i won't even care. i mean it this time! (really.)