Style is what brought a lot of us here. Life is what keeps us coming back.
Wardrobe Oxygen has always been about more than clothes. Since 2005, this space has been where I share what’s on my mind: the things I’m reading, thinking about, and navigating as a woman in midlife. That means perimenopause, aging parents, kids becoming adults, civic life, cultural moments worth paying attention to, and the occasional strong opinion about something that has nothing to do with fashion (though really, fashion is political…).
Every weekend you’ll find my Weekend Reads roundup: a curated mix of articles, essays, and links worth your time. And scattered throughout you’ll find longer personal essays when something is worth saying at length.
This is the less-polished corner of the site. It’s where I write like myself, think out loud, and trust that the women reading this are navigating a lot of the same terrain. Pull up a chair, I’m so glad you’re here!
This morning I didn’t set an alarm. I woke up, did some sun salutations, and went to the community garden to pick cabbage for the side dish we’re taking to my cousin’s house for Thanksgiving. They say that cabbage is sweetest after the first frost, and the whole garden was covered with sparkles. We walked…
This week I worked on being kinder to myself and more realistic. It’s still hard. When you’ve dreamed of doing something for years and have so many ideas in your head AND you’ve spent the past two decades working your ass off always more than 40 hours a week… well, it’s an hourly struggle to…
I had such big dreams for my first week as a full-time blogger. Oh I’ll still wake up at 5:30 every morning so I can have some Me Time. I’ll do sun salutations, meditate, Morning Pages. I’ll sip coffee and stare out the window at the woods and plot out my perfectly organized day. I…
Since I informed you that I went full-time blogging, a lot of you asked how I make money with the links on this blog. You deserve to know, not just for reading this blog, but all blogs and actually a large percentage of all types of websites. When I went to an affiliate conference this…
Growing up, I was the queen of giving up. Teachers would get so frustrated with me because I would get great grades… when I turned in my assignments. When I attended class. I was so afraid I’d do a bad job I wouldn’t do any job at all. I quit many jobs when the going…
When I got engaged, I was 27 and a size 12. Karl bought me a ring in a size 8 which fit perfectly in November 2002 when he proposed, but was a bit snug in the warmer months when hands swell. When I got engaged, I went on a diet. Actually, I went on a…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated Hurricane Harvey is, “one of the largest disasters America has ever faced.” Earlier this week, FEMA Administrator Brock Long estimated that over 30,000 people will need shelter, and some 450,000 may qualify for federal flood victim assistance. It is hard in times like this to know the best…
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that specializes in civil rights and public interest litigation. It was founded in 1971 in Montgomery, Alabama as a civil rights law firm. In 1979, the Southern Poverty Law Center began filing civil suits for monetary damages on behalf of the victims of…
I remember when the Ross-Simons catalog would come in the mail. I would grab it before anyone else in the family and head up to my room where I’d circle with a ballpoint pen all the items I would buy when I was an adult. Oh, the cocktail rings! if I could have afforded what…