Rainbow Life

I was walking into Starbucks this morning when a woman stopped me and made a comment about my boots. I'm wearing purple/plum colored Uggs today. She said something like- "I always see people with different colored Uggs on and I like the way they look. But I never do it....".

I was just surprised. Suprised she said something like it was a big deal to have purple shoes. You know how long it took me to pick out something to wear on my feet today? As short as opening the closet and grabbing these boots. I'm wearing black, which I don't usually do, so I didn't go for the black boots. They were right next to each other- black and purple. I always choose the "color". Actually, when I got the black, the only reason I did, was because back in the day, they only came in black, brown or sand. I don't ever want anything in the beige or brown family, but I wanted this particular style of Uggs, so black was my only choice.

My newest coat is a raspberry color, which I was wearing today, with my purple boots. I have a lot of coats- I never get rid of anything. I think only one is black and I never wear it. I got it at Burlington Coat Factory just after college maybe, for my first post-college job. I keep it in case of a funeral or something. Every other coat is in color- hot pink faux fur, blue-green wool, light blue, green, teal, red, purple satin shiny, and more. Colors pique my interest. Make me happy. Put a spring in my step.

I just find it interesting that there are people who are afraid of color. For anything. Like the fashion police are going to jail them or something. We have this problem at work when people assume they have to have all white, eggshell or beige lampshades "just in case I change my color scheme". Most people are never changing the colors they naturally gravitate towards. Like if you're a beige person, you're never having the light bulb moment to switch over to hot pink. Or jewel tones. If you love jewel tones, you're most likely not switching to pastels. If you did, I'd be very surprised.

A customer came in to get a lampshade. She looked way cooler than her worry about a beige lampshade. She is in her late forties, was wearing jeans and boots, and funky bracelets in colors. I thought she'd be a fun customer- just by looking at her. Instead, she told me she got paint colors to exactly match each color in her oriental rug to match with the lampshade, chairs, couch, etc. I just stared. I told her that no one is taking her lampshade off to match it to the carpet to see if the colors are exact matches. I couldn't even believe she went to the trouble of getting paint swatches. If it's in the same color family, you're good. But no. She couldn't make a decision, she had to call her husband to get his input, and then she opted for eggshell. It's like a non-color. It might as well be invisible. Yes, there is decorating where you want the shade to be invisible, I know. I just don't get it or why you'd come to me to do that. For her, my point is, she was too afraid of doing it "wrong" so she opted for safe.

Another woman was in my store when this all went down. We were talking about opting for safe over taking a risk, just with color. She said she thinks it's a confidence thing. I can get on board with that. I definitely know that people care what other people think. I just find it odd, when you're over thirty, that just wearing or buying something for your home, in a color other than neutral would rock your world so hard. These seem like such minor decisions. It's one thing to LIKE neutral colors like beige, brown, tan, gray, etc - I get when there is a certain look with neutrals that someone is going for. It's another thing to be afraid because you feel like it's a big risk somehow. I even understand not wanting to feel like you threw away a lot of money. Maybe you don't want to have to second guess on a teal couch because it's over a thousand dollars and you don't have that to waste. But I got my purple Uggs for fifty-six dollars when The Find first opened. I don't consider that a huge investment to try a color if you think you might like it.

Aren't we supposed to have barren fields of fcuks (thanks for that one LaurenPetro) by the time we pass thirty? Are plum covered feet really going to make that much of an adverse difference? They might make you really happy. If so, then why would you even care if someone else thought they looked weird or whatever you're afraid of people thinking. When I had pink hair, a lady came into my store and said- "I would love that but I could never pull it off!". Why not? You only live once, right? If it's not dangerous, you can't get fired from your job, or arrested, then buy the purple shoes. Or get the pink hair. You'll feel better. We think people think about what we're doing or wearing WAY more than they actually do. I'll never tell you to get the beige lampshade though.

**Speaking of hair- I just got the best hair dryer. Don, my hairdresser of like twenty years, told me to get a Sam Villa dryer. So that's why I did. Now, my hair is probably down to my bra strap, and I'm drying it with this dryer in four to five minutes. I'm not exaggerating. I always take Don's hair advice- especially since my last dryer lasted me eleven years. And I don't know if it's just my imagination but I feel my hair looks smoother after using it too. This is the one you want- https://www.samvilla.com/products/hair-dryers/professional-ionic-hair-dryer - Read the reviews- they're all really good. I think I read it has the best rating of all the ionic hair dryers. It's really light too.

I first tried blue.

Then I did pink mixed with my highlights.