Shopping Woes

I know there are a few out there who don’t, but I think it’s fair to say that most women enjoy shopping.  Clothes, household items, groceries (by yourself, that is), birthday shopping, Christmas shopping – it’s all pretty fun.  I will admit though that clothes shopping for myself, especially recently, has been extremely frustrating.  I am trying to just get by with what I have for now, until I get closer to my goal weight, which will actually solve a lot of my issues and the basis for this post.  But the problem will still exist overall.  Some of you reading this will have no clue that this problem even existed, but hopefully some of you can relate and share in my annoyance (and sometimes straight up anger).

I have A LOT of scarves.  You know why?  They always fit!  I’m always drawn to them in stores because I know I can buy one without going through the heartache of it not fitting.  Clothes are starting to fit a little better and I wouldn’t be too hung up on the size that fits, but I am.  I am, because the clothes I want to wear, the ones I want to create a wardrobe of decent, well-made, classic items that will last a long time…don’t come in my size.  At least, not yet.  I could name at least half a dozen stores that I would love to shop at, if I could.  Now, I obviously don’t walk around naked and I do have some nice clothes that do fit the size I am now.  I’ve learned over many years of being an “in-between size,” (more on that in a minute) what stores carry things that work for me.  When I cleaned out my closet recently, 90% of my clothes were from Old Navy.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Old Navy is a great store and I probably WOULD be naked if it didn’t exist.  They have sizes above a 14 AND talls, which is great.  But….I want to spread the love. 

So the “in-between” size.  I feel like I’ve always been on this cusp.  Needing that size that is right between kids/juniors, juniors/women’s and women’s/plus-size.  I hate the term “plus-size” by the way.  Why must it be a distinction?  That’s another discussion.  Right now, I am right on that line of being able to shop at my “goal stores” and staying with my usuals.  I would love to shop at cute little boutiques, or some fun etsy shops, or even at an actual store and not online, where “extended sizes” are offered.  But, if I want a cute shirt that is one size bigger than what they have in the store, or maybe is a few inches longer, I have no choice but to start the scavenger hunt online.  There are SO many more choices out there than there used to be, but it’s still tough.  Especially when I don’t want to wear an oversized (“flowy” as they are always described) shirt with pants that are always too big in my butt and legs in order to fit my waist. 

So this post may come off as whiney, and maybe it is a little.  It has been a huge source of frustration for me over the past few weeks.  I know I am working on getting into the size that I would be more comfortable with, but it’s not going to happen tomorrow.  I can’t decide if that’s motivating or just annoying.  So until I can shop in those stores, I’ll stick to workout clothes and the three other outfits I have that fit “okay.”  I look forward to a “My Favorite Boutiques” post someday.  Maybe in the meantime, I need to open something that caters to me and my “in-between” friends out there.