Sunday nights around 8pm during the regular TV season, you can find me sitting at home crying. Almost like clockwork. I admit it. It’s true. I would turn on the TV and watch “Extreme Makeover – Home Edition”. The stories are so touching that, generally, before they’re even 5 minutes into the show, I am crying. Sometimes I’d call FavCus#1 and we’d cry our little Sprint minutes away.

Here’s a confession – I have a ‘slight’ addiction to Extreme Makeover Home Edition. And “Clean Sweep”. And um, “Clean House”. And who can forget “What Not to Wear.” There are a few others but you get the picture.

“Hi, my name is Jackie and I’m a makeover-aholic.”

Yep – addicted to “makeover” shows. Now you know my dirty little secret (well, one of them at least). For me, it’s about so much more than giving someone a new house, helping them clear out their clutter, or figuring out what their personal style is. What gets me about those shows is that the makeover goes deep – much deeper than the new wardrobe, deeper than reducing the clutter in your house.

For me, it’s about showing people that they have the tools within themselves to live their best life and that it doesn’t require them to compromise who they are. Showing them that they truly have the power to make changes that will support them in living the life they envision in their heads, in being happy in their skin, the home, their lives. That to me is a beautiful thang. The clothes and furnishings are all bonsu.

I think I’m going to start working on my very own personal “Makeover”. I want to feel more of “me” truly reflected in my home, in my furnishings. I want the house to reflect the authenticity I seek. To be open, warm, comforting, inviting, relaxed, with just the right amount of “Umph!”. This should be interesting for a couple of reasons – doing the makeover while working with an even more limited budget than before and deciding how much to do when my ultimate goal is to move in a few short months. A friend said to me that I shouldn’t even worry with the “home makeover” since I want to move (not sure if I’m going to sell the house or rent it. *shrug*). I understand why she said that, it used to be my mindset. USED TO BE. The reason I would do it now is simple – to show myself some love, to give the best of me to ME. To stop living with my life on hold, waiting until “it” happened(whatever “it” may be). Postponing really living. Because I don’t know when the move will take place (or where I’ll relocate), I need to live fully inside the life I have right now and that includes these four walls. And needless to say, starting now gives me a longer time period to work with rather than waiting until I’m ready to move and trying to cram it all into an abbreviated timeframe. So…I’m making a list and checking it twice. We’ll see how it goes.

Same “Makeover” concept goes for the wardrobe. When “What Not to Wear” first started coming on, I laughed and told my girls that I was going to nominate myself. They laughed at me, saying I didn’t dress bad enough to be on that show. (Does not dressing “bad enough” mean I do dress “bad”? Moving on…). I’m telling you, for $5000 of clothes I don’t have to pay for? I could.

It’s been a minute since I plunked down a chunk of change for clothes and since I’m not working, I really haven’t added much to the wardrobe. I told myself that, once I was working again, I’d do the shopping spree thing. But the truth is, I need to dress “me” now because while I don’t have a ‘Corporate America” type job, I am in the business of ME. I am my own calling card so to speak. We all are. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hanging out with my friends and stumbled upon great networking possibilities. Don’t want to get caught in your round-da-house casual clothes on those occasions. It doesn’t mean I need or want to be run around town dripping in Dolce & Gabana every day or Manolo Blahniks or some other high-heeled, high-priced stilettos everyday. It just means that I’m not roaming around town looking like I don’t belong to anybody either, none of that worn-and-torn look. Besides, I’m saving those stiletto moments for other occasions. *wink*

Home makeover or clothing/hair/makeup makeover – you have to start with what you have, the barebones, the frame…of the house and you. You have to know what works for you, what lights up your soul, opens your heart, brings you peace, energizes you, makes you feel loved, valued, appreciated…what makes you feel pretty. Bottom line, it’s about working with what you have, accenting the best of that, and having your home and your look reflect who you really are. Let’s see how this plays out shall we?

Enjoy your weekend!

Live DELICIOUSLY!

*~* QUOTABLES *~*

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.” ~ Marguerite Gardiner Blessington

“Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.” ~ Kahlil Gibran