Have a wardrobe that reflects who I am and makes me feel good

I have a lot of good daily options. And even more 5 pounds from now. I’m just saying.

I kind of need one more going out outfit – or to figure out some outfits with the pieces I have.

But if these were the clothes I needed for all year, I’d feel pretty good about it. Tragically, the seasons change and my cold weather wardrobe is pretty sad.

Will dust the goal off in the fall!

wardrobe revamp until I lose some weight. Meanwhile life goes on.

So it’s just depressing to see it here. Closing it and moving it to the hold page.

The reality is a have some nice winter stuff – and some of it is just about 5-6 pounds too small.

Leaving that sad story aside, the new boots rock. I’m thinking I need a pair of cowboy boots for everyday wear – for the park and wetter days out and so on.

The new warm jacket and rain jacket are great. Loving them. And the new tweed skirt is perfect.

In other good news, I finally went to zafu again and ran their jeans finder. All of my expensive jeans have holes in and I was not going to drop big money on something that needed to be altered for the whole waist / hips issue again. So since the jeans that came up as best fit were affordable (Levi 529 – curvy jeans). I just went online and ordered them. And yes! They fit much better through the waist. I got 2 sizes and both will work – though the smaller one even better a few pounds farther down. So thank god, I can go out without knee holes now.

It would really be nice to have a few new sweaters – but I can make due for now without.

In my shopping travels, I’ve tried on various jean options. I have 2 pairs of these fabulous David Kahn jeans which actually almost fit me perfectly right away and once I have the waist taken in, are just great. But so damn expensive!

So I was looking for alternatives because I wear jeans pretty much constantly once the weather gets colder. But, you know what? Trying to find jeans that work is depressing. I don’t have the time to keep schlepping the chum around everywhere and it’s not like he’s any good out shopping.

So I say screw it. I ordered 2 more pairs of the David Kahn jeans: one in the basic blue I already have and one in a color that appears to be purplish – to which I say, “We’ll see.” But if cute, will make the chum very happy.

Actually this trip I did several weeks ago – motivated largely by a $25 dollar off coupon for J.Jill. Their clothes can be a bit too “flowy artsy woman in touch with her aging” for me – but when I go in to the store and try things on, they usually have some nice things. I especially like their necklines and, since I am officially banned from t-shirt necks and turtle necks, I have to be more discriminating.

• 1 basic brown shirt with a great neckline – scoopy, but not too scoopy
• 1 super cute short-sleeved sweater (great orange color)
• 3 of the pictured sweater (green and 2 different blues. These just rock. You look like you’ve carefully layered and are so put together, but it’s just one piece. It’s warm but thin. I’m trying to move away from super bulky sweaters so I don’t look, um, super bulky. I might have to buy more of these when they go on sale later in the year, because you know the chum is going to stain them.

Also went to Ann Taylor and got my concession to the tunic trend – a really pretty burgundy tunic-y sweater thing – but it’s tighter around the waist so doesn’t fall over the hips – emphasizing skinny waist. Anyway – have already worn it out twice and shown gratuitous cleavage! Very cute with pants.

So I went to the mall with the husband and the chum. The idea was that we were buying some warmer things for him as I hear rumors it actually gets cold in Maine this time of year(ha!) but I ended up getting more than he did.

My only goal was to buy some boots. All the fashion guides say that boots are the thing to wear with skirts in colder weather especially for those of us with a larger leg. And that innovations have been made in boot fit- in other words, that you can get them on over your larger leg.

Well, I’m here to tell you that the boot search will have to be carried on in a much larger store. Did the damn boots zip up? Have any boots in my life ever zipped up? Do I apparently have calves so large as to stun and appall all in the shoe store? Apparently so.

But managed to keep from crying, despite coming up against much long-standing body loathing.

But at Eddie Bauer (where I have learned not to even try on anything below the waist as they are not designing for my shape) I found many good tops on sale.

What is up with their sizing? I know America is getting fatter – but really! My husband is 6’3” and not skinny. He’s athletically built – broad shoulders and all. This man swims in a large shirt. And I’m 5’9” and curvy as hell – and I’m a small? Really? Who exactly is a large, if not us? What do women who are 5’3” wear? Apparently not clothes from Eddie Bauer!

• 3 tank tops (brown, purple, and rose)
• 3 basic long sleeved shirts (brown, rose, and 1 green with lace on the neck)
• 2 sweaters as in the picture (light blue and green)
• 1 heavier sweater (brown)
• 1 sweater with cute embroidery around the neck (brown). The husband was a bit appalled by this one – could be a bit grandma-ly but I think it looks more vintage and, as he said, it is the only thing I own like it.

A pretty good haul of daily chum-friendly wear – which I needed badly. Most of my older winter wear is trashed from too much washing due to chum ooze.

Also stopped at Ann Taylor Loft and got a great pair of vaguely green tweed pants. They need to be taken in at the waist but, really, finding good pants is such a dramatic challenge for me that a small alteration is nothing at all.

The reality is that I have to make an effort not to have only green clothing. All this brown is nice right now and very flattering, but I have to make an effort to get other colors as well.

Went through all my summer clothes – most of which never came out last summer due to recent arrival o’ the chum. Harsh purging ensued with supportive comments from the husband.

• Short sundresses and skirts
• Too short shorts
• Too short t-shirts
• Tanks with bra insets (talk about ineffective!)
• Grey tops and other poor color choices
• Anything that clearly said, “I’m a teacher” or “I’m a bimbo” or “I’m crunchy”

Of course, this kind of purging left me with some big gaps – especially in over 85 degree wear. I also have an ongoing issue with warm weather shirts that are nicer than tees or tanks – just never find them – or look for them.

• copper metallic tee
• copper metallic knit tank
• laser cut black skirt
• white knit top – very vavavoom
• brown beaded top (as they said on WNTW – look at you, participating in a trend!)
• brown & white heels – so cute
• cool mom green sneakers
• brown heeled sandals
• white & yellow heels
• 3 pairs of longer shorts like the one pair I have that actually look good on me now (hopefully will work)
• 2 basic tees – but v neck, not crew
• brown purse
• fabulous mod green purse

Fear the visa bill!!!!!!

Also – took in 3 skirts and my much loved green linen dress to be taken in – should make them much more usable.

Oh! And I gave in to reality and bought 2 shapers for my hell-hips. Already found that some of my skirts that I felt were a bit questionable fit well – with flow!

Leaving the chum with my step-mom and dad (gulp) for a few hours. Husband has a 20% off everything card at Macy’s.

Really, we need to shop for him – the poor man has only 1 pair of pants that fit and his summer work shirts are all falling to pieces. This is what happens when you lose weight!

But I’m hoping we’ll have enough time left to get some things for me. My summer wardrobe is very minimal. Tragically so.

Nothing fits. I know – lucky me to have lost the mega-pregnancy pounds but seriously, nothing fits.

I now remember that 2 years ago, right before the weeding I was at this exact same place – where nothing was fitting and I thought that I needed to start getting new stuff – then I got pregnant and gained nearly 90 pounds…..

So now nothing fits and a lot of stuff is really beat up.

Plus, very little that I own reflects who I am anymore. I’ve purged most of the retro-hippy flowy, the teacher jumpers, and the oh-my-god I’m so overweight, don’t look at me stuff.

Now I have hardly anything at all. Argh!