June 27th, 2018

 Looks like I went shopping again and I must have been in a blue mood.  I don't actually know if that's a real thing for anyone else, but I have noticed that when I shop for clothes I tend to come home with things in the same colour palette and it's different each time. This time it was blue.  But it's been grey, green, pink, black, orange...with me one never knows.  Even I don't know until I get home with my purchases and get them all washed and ironed and suddenly it dawns on me that everything is the same colour.  How weird is that?

Stranger still is that I didn't start out that morning intending to buy any clothes. Seriously, I didn't.  I went to the store to look for undies.  The lingerie section is at the back of the store.  Clever merchandizing.  I had to pass by all these other lovely things to get to what I was seeking. And, especially difficult for me, I had to walk past the clearance sections.  It's like catnip to a cat. Honestly. I have a problem.  Maybe I need a 12-step program. 

I thought, what's the harm in looking?  Odds are good that I won't find anything anyway.  For things to be on clearance they must check a number of boxes  1) out of season 2) out of style and of course, 3) nobody else wanted it.  Add to that, I have a difficult body to fit.  I can hear you saying, "Don't we all" and you are right.  Most everyone has that "thing" that we must work around when choosing our clothes.  And since I shop exclusively at an outlet store to begin with (and then the clearance rack on top of that) I am beginning in a difficult spot.  

But there are several things to keep in mind.  First Florida really only has two seasons, February and the rest of the year.  Ok that is a slight exaggeration, but in all honesty, the majority of the year we are all wearing warm weather clothes so the seasonal aspect is really kind of  a non-issue.   Secondly, I don't care one iota about being in or out of style.  Oh sure, sometimes it's fun to participate in a trend  but for the most part, I lean toward classics. Timeless clothes that are easily updated by changing one item.  Also, I truly do not care (and generally do not even know) what the current style is.  Lastly, just because someone else didn't want it doesn't mean that nobody wanted it.  I have found some of my absolute favourite items on the clearance racks.  It takes some sorting through to be fair but it can be worth it in the end.

And of course, because I am starting in a difficult spot and because my body looks as if it were created out of spare parts which makes it very hard to fit,  I have very low expectations.  In other words, I start out assuming that I will find nothing.  I mean not one thing.  Sometimes, not even anything I want to try on.  Or okay, I will try it, but I begin at knowing it will either not fit, or not look good, or just not suit my life.  So it's relatively safe for me to look through the store.

Or so I thought.

This was a day when all of the shopping planets were in perfect alignment.  It was an extremely rare occasion for me.  For one thing, it wasn't crowded.  I love that.  I didn't have to wait for a changing room even once.  Plus, there weren't hordes of people crowding the aisles and vying for the same item.  Then, the most amazing part of all, Every single thing I tried on fit and looked good and was comfortable and, holy cow, it's the clearance rack of an outlet store for heaven's sakes!  The price was right!  Oh me oh my!  This almost never happens.

I was giddy with the possibility of choice.

But before I even decide which of these items I am going to purchase, first I have to justify, in my head, the purchase at all.  This is a process people.  As it so happens, unfortunately, I recently splashed a little bleach onto my favourite pair of baggy yellow shorts.  I love those shorts.  Comfy, baggy intentionally, definitely beachy and a soft baby yellow colour.  But the bleach spots, well, it has demoted them from favourite overall to favourite scrub the floors or work in the yard shorts.  Absolutely nothing I would wear to work at the musem or to teach or out to dinner or well anywhere out in public, except maybe the beach :)    Then I had another clothing tragedy when other favoured pair of shorts tangled with some thorny shrubbery and now have a tear in them.  Again, demoted shorts.  I am not ready to just throw them away.  We all need a few pieces of junky clothes for junky work (which is what I should have been wearing while doing yardwork instead of a good pair of shorts, right?)

So in my head I'm thinking that I can reasonably allow myself two pair of shorts to replace those.  (the tops I didn't even try to justify)  Ok I'm there.  Just two.  Just two?  Dang.   How does anyone make these sorts of decisions?  I usually don't have to actually decide by myself.  For ten years, in Colorado, I shopped with my friend Marsha.  She was the one who was key to making a decision.  Once we moved here, generally I shopped with my sister.  Both of them are kind and honest.  Invaluable. If I am forced through circumstance to shop for clothes by myself, normally, I buy the ONE thing that fits, is reasonably priced and doesn't look horrible.  Very low standards I know but it makes shopping by myself easier. However,  this time, I actually found so very many things I liked, that fit and were a fair price!  This is unprecedented!  Unheard of!  Woohoo!  Enough celebrating.   I hd to make an actual choice on my own.

Part of what determined my choice was out of practicality.  What other things do I have in my closet that I can wear each piece with.   I do love separates for that reason. Exponentially increasing my wardrobe.   The next questions I asked myself was,  "What things will I get the most use out of".   The rest of it was just whimsy.  What mood was I in at that moment.  Which is how I ended up replacing two ruined pair of shorts with one pair of capri's and one skort.  Wait?  What?  Not shorts?  Nope. Variety is, afterall, the spice of life.  Apparently that applies to wardrobe choices too.

And after all this, I'm just tickled to bits with my choices.  How did I do?  What do you think?