Friday, April 11, 2014

What's a 37 Year Old to Do?

I'm almost thirty-seven years old. I can tell you I look every bit of 37, but the problem is that I feel 26. Some days 19. And occasionally 8 and a half (8 year olds do that you know...add the half).

Its not that I'm out of touch with reality....I think its my severe case of optimism. Some people have told me that my optimism can be annoying. I need to be realistic they say. I feel like I am realistic...optimistically realistic.

I guess I'd just rather believe that everything will turn out right...and be wrong
than believe everything will turn out wrong and be right.

Anyway, yesterday I optimistically set out on a shopping trip. I was prepared. I watched 2 full seasons of What Not to Wear. I'm down 17 pounds. Not one baby was in the car with me. I was ready to buy some duds (duds? wow I really am 37) and things were looking good until...

I got to my first store, Dillards, and something bizarre happened. Once an all-star -practically - professional shopper...I found myself confused. I was walking around in circles.

I didn't know where to go, what to buy. I didn't know what my style was anymore. Where does a 37 year old shop? The last time I went shopping for non-maternity clothes I was 33, which is practically 29 and I could shop anywhere.

I left Dillard's with nothing. I was too overwhelmed in there. So I moved onto one of my staple stores, The Limited. All the clothes in there were business-y and surely I would have no use for them. Where was the "babies are gonna get yogurt and poop all over you section?"

I tried on 3 tops and bought them all. I can wear them when we go out as a family...even if I have yogurt and poop on me, at least I will look like I tried.

Next...
Ann Taylor. They had some okay...maybe 40 year old woman kinda things, but no sales and my budget was slim.

Next...American Eagle. I SHOULD BE ASHAMED! No one over 25 should be shopping in that store, but I was looking for these ribbed tank tops I used to buy. They didn't have them. Imagine that... they didn't have an item they had 5 YEARS ago. I should sue.

Banana Republic.
More business clothes. Where do people wear these clothes? Work. Hmmm...no thanks.
I did buy a pair of skinny jeans. The lady who worked there told me they were too tight and brought me another size. Funny, I didn't ASK her if they were tight.
So I tried on the bigger pair and she told me to go with the smaller ones. OHHH-Kaaaay.
Now I realize skinny jeans bring up issues of age appropriateness, but I did buy them in Banana Republic, so I'm guessing I'm good.

New York and Co.
Okay, two types of shorts in there. Old lady and way too short to feel like somebody's mother.

Next...
Chico's

Oh I did. I have NEVER gone into Chico's in my life. I felt like they had nice older lady things and Blanche from the Golden Girls would have had a field day. I bought a pair of capris. I'm ashamed.

*One plus about Chico's is their sizing. The sizes are 00 to 3. A 00 is a size 4, 0.5 is a 6, 0 is an 8. Heavenly. Nothing better than buying pants in a 00! Woohoo.

Express
Another staple store.
Well it used to be.
No mom clothes. Where is the mommy store??? The Gap I guess. No Gap in this mall, so I at least looked around. Short skirts, tight dresses, itty bitty shorts. I bought 2 t-shirts and a pair of capris.

Last
Forever 21
The 21 in the title didn't deter me. The 21 doesn't stand for an age...it stands for the number of hours it would take to look through all their clothes. Wow!!! Overwhelm me why don't you? I felt dazed and confused like at Dillard's, but worse. I found myself running through just looking at things on ended caps. I got a sweater, and 2 shirts.

Recap:
I ended up getting 1 pair of jeans, 2 capris, 1 sweater, and 7 shirts.

I was exhausted and stressed. Who knew being 37 was so complicated? I still don't know what my style is, but I'm happy for what I got AND the sizes I bought the clothes in. Yay for losing weight, yay for being 37, and yay for me getting out of the house baby free.....
OPTIMISM.

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