on shopping and diy haircuts

In what sometimes feels a little like a "former life" to me, but was in fact only four or five years ago, I  had a hobby. I loved to shop.  I had fear of being caught out of the style loop.  My "hobby" involved a weekly or sometimes twice weekly visit to my local giant shopping centre (in our Wollongong days).  Clothes, clothes, more clothes, and often shoes. I loved to shop. Though I would not say I had a full blown shopping addiction, I do think I had a subtle form of it. There was no credit card debt racked up and I did it within our means (mostly), but I think the hidden cost in all this was the disgruntled little kid's that had been dragged around the shops all day, as well as the wasted savings. Clothes that were designed to be disposable and were often discarded at the end of the season. I never stopped to think about how wasteful and unsustainable this really was. It had become one of the most important things in my life. My main source of recreation, and the more I shopped the more I felt like shopping. It was what most people I knew did. It was "normal". But I do believe it was filling some kind of void.

a leisurely day of shopping while on holidays - at least I still have the dress

We moved to Canberra. The shopping was good and I embraced it. I devoured fashion magazines. Sales catalogues warranted a sit down and cup of coffee. But one day I stumbled on this book (saying something about my mindset at the time) at one of those discounted store displays. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but it was a huge eye opener for me. It talked about getting connected with your food by visiting farmers markets and growing your own food.

So I found a local farmers market and began taking the family out every Sunday morning. We would come home every Sunday lunch time and we would break open the local sourdough and olives and I would cook with the beautiful fresh vegetables, the likes of which I had never tasted before. I'd always enjoyed cooking, but there is nothing like cooking with exceptional ingredients.

It wasn't long before I started my own vegie garden in the tiny backyard of our unit. I began making bread and most of the kid's snacks. I learned about the dangers of processed foods and stopped buying low fat anything. It was all this that pushed us into the direction of wanting to have a little land. To be able to grown vegetables and fruit trees. Some space for the kid's to run around outside. Not too long afterwards we purchased our acre and I think you know the rest of the story.

I am no longer what I would consider "in fashion". I rarely shop in new shops anymore and I think I've been to a big shopping centre once in the past twelve months. I still love clothes but now most of my clothes shopping is done in op shops, and I have plans for sewing up some summer clothes for myself. My wardrobe is a little challenging right now, during the breastfeeding phase, but I'm learning not to equate worth with fashionable-ness. When you ignore that hunger to acquire "stuff", it slowly goes away, leaving you with freedom in your life to be yourself.

And yes, I cut my own hair last week in a moment of vanity induced desperation. My hair had thinned so much after I had Violet, and it was just too hard to get to the hairdresser. But it's not too bad. Just don't mind the extra make up I popped on for the benefit of Photo Booth.

And the void I mentioned before? I think my void has been filled by a simpler approach to life. Less things, a little more work, but satisfaction in the creativity of cooking, learning to sew, knit and garden.