In weeks like this when I am a motivational vortex for some reason I cannot fathom, the best way I find to be productive is if I have a stack of meetings scheduled. That way I�m forced to do something instead of surfing the web or writing journal entries.

This week was looking relatively good on that front as I had several meetings across the second half of the week. Except that so far two of the three have been postponed so that now I�ll end up with Wednesday and Thursday spent beating back procrastination, and Friday in wall to wall meetings.

Motivational problems aside, it�s been a pretty good week to date. Particularly when it comes to fashion and appearance.

I�m not sure if it�s the new hair or simply the fact that it�s properly wintry now, so all the winter clothes can come out to play, but I�ve been having a good fashion week.

Interestingly, all the women in the office have noticed and commented on my hair immediately. But so far not one single man in the office has noticed that I�ve had about a foot of hair cut off, though I do keep getting �something�s different but I don�t know what it is� looks in the hall.

Yesterday I also got complemented on my outfit twice and my shoes three times. I had been pleased with my outfit when I left the house, but not expecting reactions from other people. It was in greys and blacks and quite professional, but there was a little bit of a girlie girl edge to it that I liked. It also had the bonus of featuring a skirt that I bought at the Barneys Warehouse sale simply because I liked the colour and it was only $25, though I hadn�t been convinced by the fit or overall style. Yesterday was the first time I pulled it out to wear it, and as it turns out it was a winner. The cut and general style was much better than I remembered, and it was complimented twice � once by one of the girls in the office and once by a girl in a store. I really like it when I buy things I�m not 100% convinced about and they turn out to be really successful.

Yes, you did see mention of a store up there even though I�m not meant to be shopping. Due to the complete absence of motivation yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk at lunch time and blow out the proverbial cobwebs instead of sitting at my desk staring at the screen for too long and giving myself a headache. I ended up browsing in a few stores and being good about not buying anything, until I came to the store of a very girlie designer where I discovered they had new winter shoes in. Great shoes. So I bought one pair and resisted buying any others. The one pair was just (barely) within my budget, so I didn�t even feel hugely guilty about it. And they�re great shoes. And the girl in the store complimented both my skirt and the shoes I took off to try on the new ones.

I purchasing these shoes I realised something about myself. A scant five or six years ago I was not a shoe person and I resented having to pay anything over $100 for a pair of shoes, especially if they were for work. I�d own two pairs of work shoes that I would wear beyond smelly shoe death and then drag myself out to replace them, reluctantly. I�m not sure when I became a shoe person, though I credit the influence of a friend at my old office who I looked up to not only sartorially but also in terms of career, but quickly enough I went from owning 5 pairs of shoes to owning 50 (or 60, or perhaps even 70).

And now, 5 or so years down the track, I discovered yesterday that I now regard paying anything up to $300 for a pair of shoes as normal and reasonable. I don�t even think about buying shoes at that price. Shoes costing up to $150 are now a bargain. Shoes over $300 I have to think seriously about and only buy very occasionally. Is this a case of change of sensibility, or merely increase in income?

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Veering off the fashion tack for a moment, an update on the sandwich wars is in order, as there have been significant developments this week. On Monday Upmarket Sandwich place announced that it has introduced a full service sandwich bar to go with their already great pre-made baguettes. Today a sign went up at Downmarket Sushi place saying �Coming Soon: Juice Bar�. It was only a matter of time.