Still hooked on cellophane

How did I end up with so many clothes? I don't feel like I buy clothing excessively, but I have a huge collection of shirts. And my skirt collection just keeps growing. I think it's mostly that I've bought/been given more clothes than usual this summer. But some of it came from Plato's Closet (a second-hand store), some of it was on sale, and I really needed new jeans. So it's not totally ridiculous, but I think it might be time to do another sweep through my closet to find things to give away. I know there are shirts I'll never wear again, what with the new acquisitions, and some of it must still be nice enough to be given away in good conscience. I also have a few pairs of shoes that could stand to go because I haven't worn them in years.

But, um, because I'm feeling silly, I want to share my favourite new acquisitions. Bear with me here, please.

Shoes! I am not even going to say how much these cost (they came from Macy's), but my grandmother bought them for me because she bought new stuff for my sister. Aren't they great?

The two best Plato's Closet finds. $6 each, yo. I really wish there were a Plato's Closet in Salem - I love that store and I think Annie, at least, could also do well there.

Speaking of Plato's Closet, when I bought the shirts I also saw some really awesome shoes. Now, you may or may not know this, but my definition of awesome when it comes to shoes generally means either kind of old-fashioned, plaid, or spectacularly ugly. The awesome shoes I saw at Plato's Closet fit the last category - they looked like they were made of an old lady's drapes. I really wanted them, but they were a little too big, massively impractical, and $16, which is a lot for second-hand shoes. So I passed. But it was a close thing.

And, hey, while I'm posting pictures, remember how I took a picture of the picture of my host family? (that was an awkward sentence) Well, I did the same thing with the professionally taken JSP closing ceremony picture, which has us in our kimono (or western formal wear, for those who passed on kimono), and am sharing for anyone who's never seen it. What's crazy is that I own that kimono, with every part included (down to the shoes and bag, which match each other). It's very neatly packed up at the moment, because I have no use for it in my daily life, but still. I own that. I own that and the outer kimono is 50 years old. The rest, with the possible exception of the obi, which is beautiful, is newer.

So, yeah, it's not amazing quality here because it's a picture of a picture, but if you hadn't seen it before, that was my JSP group, with the teachers and peer leaders and random TIU staff because any occasion in Japan is a good time for every official even remotely associated to show up. I'm not really sure how I ended up in the front like that (I guess I am pretty short), but I did.

I post a lot of pictures on my blog, don't I? I just like including media - I feel like it adds something.