Don't Wear Pajamas to the Grocery Store

I like to think that I am one of those "always be fancy" people that are always well-dressed, even if it's just a pair of nice jeans and a t-shirt. But the fact of the matter is, I'm a giant scrub. I let my hair get greasy and don't like to wear make-up and I will find myself wearing ratty old Star Wars shirts and sweat pants more often than I would like to admit. So whenever I dress up, or am looking very polished, I usually get lots of compliments (I still have yet to pull off a messy-cute look). You would think all this praise would motivate me to dress nicer, yet it never does. However; a recent happening made me think about this a little more than usual.

I was feeling very good and decided to wear a skirt to the fabric store. One of my favorite skirts, in fact. It is a vintage red circle skirt with white ric-rac trim and has sweet lace edging the bottom. I wore it with a white button-down shirt and wore a bow in my hair. As I was walking into the store, I heard someone shouting at me, so I turned around. It was the mother of an old friend. She thought my outfit was super cute and asked if I would let her take a picture, so I said sure, and then we chatted a bit before going on our merry way. And it made me think, what if I had been wearing my usual outfit? I wonder if she even would have recognized me in dirty sweats and a grubby pull-over. And if she did, she certainly would not have asked to take a picture. 

So, while subscribing to the school of thought that wearing pajama pants to the grocery stores is abhorrent, I myself partake in it. Hypocritical, I know. Anyway I am hoping to change myself in that respect and model the very behavior that I expect out of other people.

Any situations that motivate you to be better dressed?