Fashion: you may be one who worships the Italian Gods of design, Gucci, Armani, and Versace, and reads Vogue in the bathtub before bed. You may care about how you present yourself and like the warm fuzzy feeling you get from strolling the hallways of school looking the best out of all your friends. You may get a quickened heart rate from a well-spotted discount pair of Steve Madden slouch boots. Or you may think buying shoes is just a materialistic effort to boost confidence and self esteem. You may prefer comfort over style. You have no tolerance for teenage girls gushing over new Ugg boots or "needing" to go to A&F to buy more skinny jeans. Regardless of the category you fall into, you must admit that fashion is a part of society, whether it be good or bad.

Personally, I fall in the middle. I scowl at the prospect of spending thousands on anything designer, yet find myself wanting to look nice. I don't read Teen Vogue but I do notice Emma Pillsbury's adorable wardrobe on Glee and covet a shopping spree to Anthropologie. For me, fashion is a way of expressing myself and I want to be very sure I get the right message across -- I'm not a fussy girly girl who loves shopping and piles on the makeup, but I do need a little prep work before I leave the house. I like to look decent, be clean, and have a few nice dresses and skirts (preferably plaids or prints) in my wardrobe.

Now we so often say or think "no judgement" on appearances and we think that is a positive mental thing we are working on there. But, whether we like it or not, we do judge. We judge subconciously and consciously. I, even though I don't like judging people when I don't know who they really are, DO in fact notice whether that girl who just walked by had a manicure. I notice the Ugg, North Face, and Abercrombie clad gang of teenage girls that walk past. I think a certain way about the college student in dreads and hemp pants, just like I think a certain way about the middle-aged lady who just walked past giving off a distinct smell of perfume, probably purchased at Nordstrom. We do this every day and it gives us a relatively accurate measure of the person -- who they are, what they like, where they shop, whether they try to fit in or stand out, make a statement or blend in with the crowd, how much money they have, how much money they spend.

So while we try to keep an unbiased view of someone until we know them, appearance does count. But just keep in mind that while it gives us information, appearances AREN'T everything. There are a lot more important things in life. People can and do surprise you all the time.