CHEAP THRILLS

Hi to all my Gal Pals,

Well, the summer is just about over and for some of you it’s back to work. For me, as each season passes I feel myself getting a little older. As I get older I really feel those problems that come with aging. As Aunty Acid says “My body is a temple….an ancient, crumbling, probably cursed or haunted temple”. Memory recall is the worst! Case in point, on our ride home from the cottage a week ago Sunday I told my sister I had an appointment with Dr. Hutchinson, my pulmonologist. Three days later on the day of my appointment I could not remember his name and had to look it up on “Mychart”. Why couldn’t I remember his name three days later? When it comes to memory I have a lot of “WHY” questions. One “Why” question I have always been interested in and it continues to fascinate me is why music influences recall of long term memories? I love to listen to the oldies, especially songs from my teenage years. Some oldies bring a smile to my face and I say “I love that song!” while others evoke somewhat of an emotional response because they remind me of a dance club I used to go to or a person who was special to me. What I want to know is “Why” do certain songs cause such a visceral response in me that I literally find myself in a flashback to a specific time and place. As a teenager I listened to hundreds of songs so “Why” do a handful of songs cause this visceral reaction? For me these songs include Peter and Gordon’s “World Without Love” and Merrilee Rush’s “Angel of the Morning”. In these flashbacks I can tell you everything about very specific moments in time including the names of the people I was with even though I have not seen them for over 50 years! It is like I am reliving the whole sensory experience! “Why” can I not remember the names of some of the people I worked with for several years before retirement or my doctors’ names or remember what I did last week but if I hear one of these “flashback” songs I can remember every detail about a 50 year old occurrence?

I was never sure if others had these flashback experiences when they heard certain songs until I did some research and found out that, supposedly, most people do. I decided to do a search on the internet to see if someone could explain this phenomena to me. Memory recall was my favorite topic in neuropsych and all my psych friends will understand it when I say I say I am a Luria nerd and I still pull out his book about the brain for nighttime reading. There is not a lot of research on this topic but the articles I did find describe this type of memory as “like stepping into a time machine”. Different parts of the brain work together to create this type of memory which involves processing auditory, emotional, sensory and episodic information simultaneously. Music has a way of generating emotions which tie into memory. These visceral memories stimulated by music often come from certain times in our lives (psychologists call this time the ‘reminiscence bump’) and typically occur during our teens and early twenties. The lyrics of music during our teen years enhanced the good times and helped us survive the bad times. Our teenage years were quite emotional for most of us and the music we listened to became part of our memories as did the sensory experience of the environment at the time. So when you hear specific songs they act as a retrieval cue for these emotionally driven flashback memories and you get to be a teenager again for a short period of time. Take it while you can get it!

Well, enough about aging, let’s talk fashion. I usually do a short segment on garden design but I decided to do 4 outfits instead because I found so many great deals. The title of this blog is “Cheap Thrills” because I get excited when I find a bargain. That is why in each picture I am doing my “happy dance” as I sing along to the oldies. I am on a retirement budget so I rarely buy something expensive to wear when there are so many cute clothes out there that will hide my belly and won’t break the bank. Hiding my belly is the priority. My belly must be like Aunty Acid’s belly which she describes this way “I started belly dancing today. It was so easy, no effort at all! I just gave a little shake and my belly danced all on its own”. Each of the pieces I am highlighting in this blog cost $40 or less. Under each picture I will tell you how much each piece cost and where I got it. So let’s get started.

Here I am doing my happy dance because of the deal I got on this poncho. I saw this beautiful white poncho in May while looking through Chico’s flyer. The price was $109 which was way too much for me. So I waited to see if it might end up on the sale rack. Well, at the beginning of July, Chico’s had a one day, on-line sale and there it was for $25! My 5% membership discount offset the tax and the shipping was free. Such a deal! I am wearing it with my turquoise Jams which are my favorite summer pants which is why I have them in several colors. The outfit looks great with my turquoise flip-flops. The accessories really complement the look (see below).

The outfit has kind of a beach vibe so I paired it with the fish necklace and bracelet that reflects this look. The green and turquoise colors of the jewelry look great with the outfit and the turquoise sunglasses finish off a fabulous look.

I think I am singing along with a song from the movie “Grease” in this picture. This beautiful lacy cover-up was a steal at $27. I bought it at Petals and Twigs in New Lenox. It is a gift store in a Victorian house owned by Trinity Services and the profits benefit people with disabilities. I paired it with a white top and my yellow Jams (I do love my Jams!). The outfit looks great with my white sandals with a 1” stacked heal. You can use any color accessories when you use yellow as a base color (see below).

When you are wearing an outfit that contains a lot of the same color you have to bring in other colors to offset it. I felt that a necklace would get lost with this outfit so I chose a green flower pin instead. The yellow flower earrings go so perfectly with the flower pin. The bangles allowed me to bring in the orange color of the watch. One of the rings contains 5 green peridot stones and the other contains an opaque yellow quartz stone. Together they compliment the outfit beautifully.

I am doing my happy dance in this picture because this cover-up was inexpensive on one of Chico’s on-line sales. At the end of July Chico’s had another one day sale and this wrap was originally $109 marked down to $39 and then I get 5% off because I have a membership. What I love about this wrap are the different patterns and textures of the material. It has a button and loop in front to keep it closed. Underneath it I am wearing a sleeveless navy blue top and I have paired it with white pants. My sandals are white and navy blue as are my other accessories (see below).

My ring, bracelet and necklace all have the same navy beads and the necklace, earrings and the other ring all have faux pearls. I wore a silver watch because of the silver in the necklace.

I think I have a classic rock song playing in my head in this picture. I am overly exuberant in this picture because I love this shirt dress! When it is hot and humid outside this is the kind of dress you want to reach for. It is 100% polyester and is so lightweight. It has side pockets and drop sleeves. I don’t typically buy dresses anymore but this is what I call a “throw-on” dress. If you need to run out for something at the last minute, you can just throw on this dress. I love it because you can dress it up or dress it down. It was 50% off at the Beach House in Saugatuck and cost me only $40. What a deal!

Because the dress is such a neutral color I felt that I should pair it with similar neutral colors. The earrings are made of wood and match the dress perfectly. The gold and cream color bracelet goes so well with the taupe and cream color of the scarf as does the taupe ring and watch band. The watch is made of rose gold and the other ring is made of yellow gold and rose gold.

First, I am so proud of myself that I got this blog out this month. I was on vacation for two weeks so I did not think there was a chance in hell that I would get it out in time (I am known for being late). Secondly, and speaking of vacations I am happy to say that I did not gain a pound over the two weeks even though I had 2 banana splits, a chocolatte ice cream sundae, 6 chocolate covered caramels and a half pound of bakery cookies. My liver doctor would kill me if he found out! The only thing I can figure is it was a combination of power walking during my power shopping, walking up 73 stairs from the beach to the top of the cliff and not much in the way of snacking between or after meals. See, power shopping is good for your health! When I am home I tend to snack the most in front of the TV but we do not have TV reception at the cottage so I am busy doing other things like reading, jigsaw puzzles and playing games on my iPAD. When I’m at home I tend to eat a light diet described by Aunty Acid as “…I eat by dayLIGHT, I eat by moonLIGHT and sometime I eat by refrigerator Light”.

Well, hopefully I will get my blog out on time next month. So until then remember “God loves you and so do I”.