Leah is incredibly good at helping make a person look like --and maybe even become-- the best…read moreversion of themselves. My theory is that it is some kind of magic.
The first neat trick Leah has is that she's able to make hard truths easy to hear. My guess is this is done through some combination of a genuine love for her fellow humans, a design-centric mind that can see a path beyond whatever mess is presented, and a true Southern charm that is dependent on the previous qualities mentioned.
When I showed Leah my 15+ identical, well-worn dresses in different colors that I bought at a store called REI that you might be familiar with for their sporting equipment, she did not say, "Oh, honey." She said something more like, "REI is a great store, and they are great at a lot of things...but your day-to-day wardrobe? I just think you deserve nicer things."
"I just think you deserve nicer things." And I'm paraphrasing that, but how devastatingly beautiful are those words, in this context?
Well, the truth is that Leah was right: I deserved better than most of the clothes I owned...I just hadn't known that before she showed me how to be kinder to myself. We tossed out all the clothes that I bought two sizes too big to try to hide in, along with all 15+ of those identical, well-worn REI dresses.
And then...there was nothing left in my closet..
So the next neat trick was: it's not just that Leah was right, but I managed to believe that she was right. I *did* deserve nicer things! And I couldn't wear those other things ever again, now that I knew that they weren't being very kind to me. And so, right there on the spot, perhaps emboldened, I managed to ask her to do a nice thing for me.
"Leah, thank you so much for helping me with my closet, but there's not much left. Is there any way you could make the time to help me this afternoon?" And with that, she showed me that she thought I did deserve nice things through her actions in a pretty extreme way, by rearranging her whole day and helping me in my time of need.
So all of that was very nice for my internal self, feelings blah blah blah, but for those of you looking for the other kind of magic, the kind you can see with your eyes -- some Cirque de Soleil meets Houdini visual trickery happened in that (well-curated, calm) dressing room. It was the best experience I've ever had in a store, and I don't even understand how she did it. But somehow, Leah curated a dressing room with a ton of clothes that fit me just right. From jeans to sweaters, all of these clothes that I didn't know how to wear with my (oh, have I not mentioned this yet? possibly slightly not-model proportioned) physique pretty much all looked great. I bought a lot of stuff, and it made me feel great.
Even more magical? The receipts were cheaper than shopping my old ways, per item.
The grand finale though is all about the audience. My husband loves everything, though I still have to admit that I think he's better than I could ever deserve. My coworkers are a tougher crowd, always trying to fix everything, it is the nature of our work, but even they were impressed:
"You've lost weight. I can tell. Good job." (Hint: I did not actually lose weight.)
"I love that dress, you're totally channeling Victoria Beckham."
"Did you go shopping? You've looked so great this whole week!"
"You look great today!"
"Love your boots!"
"Did you get taller?"
Anyways, it is past my bedtime, but I wanted to share the details of my lovely, very nice experience...if you are reading this and feeling bummed whenever you look at your closet...you probably also deserve something a little bit nicer. And Leah can help you figure out what that is. :)