This is what inspires me, right now…
It’s an old piece of advice – grab a stack of magazines, a pair of scissors, and start snipping out all of the things that you see that you love. Glom them all together, and look for unifying themes and motifs upon which you might be able to build a wardrobe.
Fashion designers are legendary for having a wall of their atelier covered with photographs, snippets of fabric and trim, and anything else that might help both inspire and focus them as they put together their collections. Is there any reason that this wouldn’t work just as well for us? (keeping with yesterday’s theme of thinking the way a designer thinks in order to curate our closets in the way a boutique is curated).
I don’t like to call these mood boards – because that seems too temporary. But Style, or Inspiration, definitely!
The joy of computers and the internet are that you can build one of these for yourself in almost any art software, or in PowerPoint, and then tweak it whenever you wish. If, for example, I EVER fall out of love with Humphrey Bogart (which AIN’T gonna happen…) I could just remove his image from this collage and replace it with something else.
Pinterest is an interesting site that could take the place of this, so long as you are really really picky about what you pin to a particular board. Often, I see Pinterest boards that look like someone just pinned every pretty thing that they saw, and thus the board lacks a definite style or point of view.
This would be an interesting filter through which I might check any possible purchases – would anything that I buy fit in, and make sense, if I added a photograph of it to this collage?
Please let me close with a general public service announcement: GET A SHINGLES VACCINATION, if you have any possible way of doing so. I have, for this entire week, been staying with and caring for a most loved person in my life, who is suffering. There’s no other word for it; the pain is horrendous. If you can avoid this, please, as a friend, I beg you to do so.
love all around,
Janice
Shingles is awful, I had it several years ago, am now vaccinated and wish I had been back then. In addition to the pain, which is bad enough, there is also the possibility of nerve damage if you get it on your face. I have scars and am very lucky that my eyes weren't effected
Love your collage and the idea of doing one for my current wardrobe to see if a new piece would fit in. Can I ask which app you used? Pinterest doesn't give the same at-a-glance effect that you've achieved with your board.
Laura, you're right about the shingles. I had them on my face and in my eye. Fortunately, it was diagnosed early and I had no permanent damage to my eye and only a small scar on my forehead. It's a nasty virus! I got the vaccination as soon as I could.
I used PowerPoint. You can paste images into a "slide", change the size, rearrange, drag and drop etc., and then save it as a JPG and use it other places. I do most of my blogging images in PowerPoint!
Thanks for all of the advice, Janice…I did not know there was a vaccination for shingles…I will check into it. Also, it has been a very long time since I did one of these boards…might be fun to do right now…thanks for the inspiration…I hope the pain is more manageable for your loved one by now.
I asked my doctor about the shingles vaccine and she said right now they're only recommending for people over 65. :-( Le monsieur had shingles (and then Bell's Palsy, facial nerve damage) a few years ago and I got to see firsthand the agony of it. I'd get a vaccine in a heartbeat if I could.
My insurance didn't cover it, but when I told the doctor what was going on, he gave me the vaccine and I just had to pay for it. Sigh… I feel like it's worth it, if only to assure others that I'm safe while in this caregiving capacity.
The vaccine is now available at most pharmacies (CVS, Rite Aid, even Ralph's pharmacy in southern California)–and you don't have to be 65 to get the shot. Insurance doesn't cover the cost until 65, and the . the cost of the vaccine is well worth the assurance of avoiding a debilitating and painful illness. I also had a bout of shingles and it was truly awful. Please, get yourself vaccinated–shingles can affect all adults, no matter your age.
Some insurance policies cover shingles shots — it pays to check. Not sure if mine did because I am between 60 and 65 or not, but I got the shot and it cost me nothing. My doctor told me to do it now; she has seen many people wait until they are 65, believing it will be cheaper on Medicare, but in fact it is one of the few things which is not. Mary
Hi! I've been reading/lurking for a while but thought I'd speak up today for a change. Your comments about Pinterest are a good observation. It's easy to get a jumble of things because it's so easy to pin things. When I was working on a bit of a wardrobe makeover, I started with a pinterest board that was pretty much anything that appealed to me. I used it as a way to try to work out which of the newer style elements that I liked and wanted to incorporate. I started to see a theme after a while. Then I could refine that down to the pieces that would work for my lifestyle and would work together in a wardrobe. I used some of the things I learned reading your blog to help make final choices. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Still a work in progress but with focus.
P.S. I can't make this thing show my updated profile – will fix it eventually but it's Paula, not just P. :)
Vaccinations for shingles in my state/plan are free if you are 60 plus. My husband got one at Walgreens; I just turned 60 so I need to go in.
I love your blogs.
Re the shingles pain. It may be beneficial to try OPSITE – ask for at a pharmacists – Its like cling film sheets , approx. 10cms sq.. Apply carefully to painful areas – over the nerve path usually – use like wallpaper and smooth out any wrinkles to keep air out. Lap sheets over each other if necessary. I've seen it used effectively in hospital.
Hope it works for your patient.
Morwenna in UK
Post irony 2 for 2. Just got over the latest post shingles nerve damage pain flare up. They only happen about once a decade, thank goodness, and always after a long stretch of stress and not taking proper care of myself.
So yes, by all means, if you can avoid getting shingles in the first place, do so!
Out of curiosity, I searched for information to see if the vaccine would be good for someone like me. I didn't think so and neither does the Mayo Clinic.
"Although there's hope that the vaccine will reduce your risk of severe, lingering pain after shingles (postherpetic neuralgia), studies haven't yet found strong evidence of that effect."
I got my shingles shot this week. I learned from a friend that has RA, if your doctor writes you a prescription, your insurance will usually cover the cost of the shot, even if you aren't 60 which she wasn't at the time she got her vaccination.
Search "cimetidine shingles" if your friend isn't already taking it. It's OTC in the US, and the generic is very frugal – I'm not sure if the brand name, Tagament, is frugal or not. But check for interactions with drugs they're already taking: http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php
Hello, I too am over 60, May 6 I have 61 years. With great delight I read about the 333 project I want to take part! You can imagine How much I dressed, because not only buying but she sews. Help me please! where do I start. Recently it's warmer and I brought a large amount of clothes from the cellar and I exchange. How much for this is God! I live in Bonn, Germany, but the origin of the Polish. I know the English language very poorly. It helps me to automatic translation. Sorry for the mistakes, but I hope, you understand me.
Isabella
Isabella – your English is fine. What's important is that you're joining us here/
If you inspired just one person to get the shingles vaccine, you have done a great thing.
I noted in your April 7th posting that you mentioned you were in a "care-giving mode" and looked at this post to see what was going on in your life.
As it happens, I am in my third month of dealing with shingles. I also recommend that people get the vaccine sooner rather than later … no matter that the shingles vaccine is recommended for those over 65 years of age. People can get shingles at any time of life. My doctor advised me to get the vaccine at the pharmacy. And, yes it is expensive but so is dealing with shingles.
Fortunately, I have a naturally high pain threshold and my shingles appeared on the right half of my torso. I have managed to miss only one day of work, but it was tough. (Yes, I was on very strong pain killers at the time.) No one has yet mentioned how very, very tired one is after the worse of the pain is gone. This exhaustion lingers. I recommend as much rest as possible.
After recovery from shingles, it is still useful to get the vaccine. I have heard that it is wise to wait from three months to nine months after the recovery. The vaccine does not ensure that you won't get shingles, but it very much mitigates the severity of the outbreak.
If the pain lingers for more than a month, there are other options for treatment. One is a medicine that is used for seizures. I decided to wait longer to see if the pain would begin to subside naturally, and it did so.
Best wishes for a quick recovery for your husband (I am making an assumption).
Susan in WA
65? CDC recommends 60, though the vaccine itself is okayed for 50+. I received it at age 60, in my doc's office, but had to sign a waiver saying I would pay for it in the event my insurance didn't ( they did, they pay all immunizations, but I guess that's unusual). My husband's doc told him to get the shot at the pharmacy; too expensive for him to keep on hand, I guess. But, I talked to someone else just last week too young to have gotten the vaccine who'd gotten shingles, and is just miserable. Get the vaccine.
Late comment… but if your patient is still in pain, consider finding an INTERVENTIONAL pain management specialist. This doctor can do a nerve block or put cortisone around the root of the nerve to help with the pain. Insurance generally covers.