Pop of Color

The other day I completed my bi-annual closet swap ritual, where the outgoing season's clothes are wistfully stashed in a large Tupperware bin in the basement, and the incoming season's clothes are shaken out and re-hung in the closet, ready to report for duty.  This year, this project made me realize two things:

1) The whole summer came and went, and I pretty much stuck to the same rotation of utilitarian skirts and shorts, and most of my cutest, most summery sundresses never even saw the light of day.  How did that happen???

and 2) Whereas in the summer my wardrobe features all hues of lavender, turquoise, white, buttery yellow and soft red, in the winter, my whole closet is black, brown, and gray.  Snore.

Exhibit A.  Apparently I think that winter = funeral. Hello, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I believe that my wardrobe evolved to look this way through a mixture of New England pragmatism, mom-based desperation (when you are covered in peanut butter moments after getting dressed no matter what you wear, it is hard to want to branch out beyond the basics), and a genuine dislike of cold weather which makes me want to approach it by shrouding myself in all things dark.  However, yesterday, with all of this gray and brown staring me in the face, I realized that it is time for a change.  Having accepted and embraced the fact that we choose to make our home in snowy New England, I want to rise up to meet the cold weather with brights that elevate my mood.  And my son, lover of all things Elmo, will surely be more responsive to a mom clad in Muppet-esque red than in funereal black, right?  Sometimes, just adding a drop of color is enough to change your whole day. 

I'm not in an closet-overhauling place at the moment, but I do have a bit of birthday loot on hand for a couple of new pieces, and so I vow that with that and any future opportunities to grow my winter wardrobe, I will steer away from the black and from the tan, and add a pop of color to my life.  I turned to polyvore to make myself a little inspirational collage, and just looking at it makes me smile.

What do you do to keep the winter blahs at bay?