"Cher's main thrill in life is a makeover. It gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos."

Every once in a while an urge comes over me to make changes, de-clutter and over all clean up things in my life. Maybe it's because we've turned the corner into a new season (even though so far Spring in San Francisco is looking awfully stormy)...I suppose it isn't called "Spring Cleaning" for nothing. Thus far I've cleaned out about half of the clothes out of my closet, donating it all to Good Will and I've been diligently attempting to unsubscribe to every e-newsletter I don't even open up when it appears in my inbox. Don't worry...I'm keeping Gilt Groupe, Zoe Report, Daily Candy (SF only) and a few concert calendars. You know. The important ones.

Something else that comes with the new season: a mini makeover. I've been thinking recently about changing my "look" since I haven't in a while. This is saying a lot, coming from someone who used to change her hair (brunette, blonde, short, long, bangs, no bangs) so much that she looks different in almost every picture taken of her up until 8 months ago. So I bit the bullet and cut off about 6-8 inches of what had become long stringy hair into a cute bob (thanks Ron!) a la Jessica Alba, Jennifer Aniston and (my new favorite model) Arizona Muse. Hmm, maybe I should update my blog caricature now....

Anyway, since deciding to give myself a mini makeover, I was reminded of some of my favorite movies that also include makeovers.

Clueless

New stoner girl Tai gets a "total Betty" makeover courtesy of her new BFFs Cher and Dion, landing her a new boyfriend (after a teeny bit of heart ache) and a fantastic new vocabulary. Cher had an excellent point when she told Tai she should read at least one non-school book a week!

She's All That

Artsy Laney goes glam in order to win Prom Queen (even though she doesn't know about that part) which only proves that any time your potential new boyfriend's Oscar winning little sister asks you to trust her, you should probably just do it.

Mean Girls

Home-schooled transplant from the African wild Cady becomes "plastic" who wears pink on Wednesdays and whenever she wears flip flops and Army pants, you better wear flip flops and Army pants, too.

Jawbreaker

How do you get a nerdy girl who knows you've accidentally killed your best friend to keep her mouth shut? Change her name from Fern to Violette, giver her a makeover and make her part of the in-crowd.

Grease

Good girl Sandy goes from ribbons and poodle skirts to leather, cigarettes and teased hair in order to win the heart of the bad boy who stole her heart over the summer.

The Devil Wears Prada

Intellectual Andy goes from shabby and practical to fierce and uber stylish (don't you wish you had access to the Runway closet too?) in order to give her the confidence boost she needs to keep her job and make her way up the corporate ladder.

Now that I want to spend the entire rainy weekend inside with a movie marathon of all these movies, I should probably add a few more productive "spring cleaning" tasks to my list. New goals: clean out my closet (again), organize my junk drawers (no, the "s" at the end is not a typo) and get rid of music I hate from my iPod. Seem doable, right? I think so!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Dion, "Clueless"

"I can do affordable fashion. I mean, I know where all the sales are."

A few years ago I made a rule for myself: if you haven't worn something in over 6 months, you need to get rid of it! Being the somewhat typical Virgo that I am, I have been pretty good at sticking to that rule.

And hey, who doesn't use getting rid of things as an excuse to buy new stuff?!

Recently a dear friend decided that it would be a fun idea to host a fashion swap party. Coincidentally, I had just done my regular cleaning out of my closet the day before the email invite came! Basically the gist of the event would be that everyone goes through their closets (clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, etc) and rather than bringing everything over to Good Will, as per usual, we'd all get together for cocktails and the opportunity to "shop" in each others' closets. Whatever is left over would be donated to Good Will or Salvation Army. A particular item of clothing that you've had for years and are bored with now, may be exactly the thing someone else is looking for. You may have been eying a beautiful cocktail dress your friend wore to a wedding last summer, and now that she's done with it, it can be yours!

Now, I'm not necessarily the biggest clothes "borrower", but as someone who is constantly purging her wardrobe, it is good to know that if there's ever a possibility you'd want to wear something again, you know where it went.

And you never know...what if one of the girls shows up with an old Marc Jacobs handbag that you drooled over a few years back?!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Isla Fisher, "Confessions of a Shopaholic"