Thing To Do Today: gussy yourself up.

 Yes, track suits are comfortable, but, come on...why not give the world a treat? Gussy yourself up a bit!

You don't need to wear to wear six-inch stilettos, but a bit of lipstick will brighten the heart of both wearer and viewer. A string of beads will add a pop of brightness. Ties may nowadays be seldom worn, and braces* may be associated with weddings and bankers, but a cheerful sock or two will add cheer to almost any occasion.

So go on. Put on something without holes in it. Perhaps even have a wash, first. Show everyone how bright and beautiful you are.

Give the world a treat!

Thing To Do Today: gussy yourself up. No one is sure how this expression originated. Some point to the word gusset, a bit of fabric sewed into clothes to make them fit better, but the majority favour a derivation from the name Augustus. In 1900 a gussie in Australia and America was a weak or effeminate man, but something must have happened somewhere because by the 1930s gussy was being used in America to mean dressed-up - or, usually, too dressed-up.

Then in the 1940s the tennis player 'Gorgeous Gussie' Moran appeared at Wimbledon wearing frilly knickers (and a skirt short enough to allow glimpses of them) and to be gussied up became something to be celebrated.

Hurray!

*I think in America what an English person calls braces are known as suspenders (but take care, because in Britain suspenders are a belt with dangly bits for holding up stockings...stocking as in nylons...

...I do wish sometimes that Britain and America shared a common language!).