Fashion
I am not a fashionista by any means. I describe my style as, “Did Serena wear that outfit last Tueday? Hard to say.” But I often get compliments (from friends and strangers alike – basically everyone but my mom, who thinks I need to “wear more colors!”) on my general “look,” and I think it’s because I tend to gravitate towards classic items, and I try to always look put together even when we’re just hanging by the pool with the kids or running errands. Note that “put together” does not mean fancy – it means “I won’t be embarrassed if we run into one of Jeremy’s MANY acquaintances while we’re at Costco” – insert eyeroll emoji).
Part of simplifying my life is making getting dressed EASY, and I am a big believer in having a set of capsule wardrobes that work for different occasions. Here I am trying on a silly hat at Fortnum & Mason in London. Note that we are on our way to the airport, hence the Tumi cross-body, ankle length lightweight duster, and comfy leggings. I have many variations of this outfit for travel days (minus the hat!).
I happen to be an overbuyer (I will post about this at some point), but you really don’t have to be in order to create a wardrobe that makes your life EASIER (see above about how no one will be able to tell if you wore this outfit last week). One of the criticisms I do get (thanks, mom) is that all of my clothes look very similar because I wear a lot of neutrals, but this makes my life easy. I have capsule wardrobes for work, weekends, travel, gym time, pool time – I could go on. But I will say that when I get dressed or am packing for a trip, I do NOT change outfits fifteen times and end up with half my closet on the floor. My entire wardrobe is basically grab-and-go without decision fatigue, and that is a super important part of me getting things done.