Friday, August 31, 2012

Sporty Spice

Abe and I went on a date this evening to Kohl's.  Armed with my 20% off coupon I had several items I was looking for.  All of a sudden Clark has outgrown just about every article of clothing he owns.  How did I miss that happening?
Abe and I were also in need of a few new things.  But as I've said before, I hate shopping.  I lack vision.

 I get very easily overwhelmed in big clothing departments, trying to pick out the clothes that are right for me.  It is paralyzing to me to have so many things to look at and try to find the needles in the haystacks.  I know I don't have a very well defined sense of style so that makes it even worse.  I am swayed by the trends, but I'm afraid it's always a year or two later than everyone else.  When I go shopping I usually end up wandering the aisles in despair and just want to go home and get in my jammies. 

I know I'd be an idiot to pay full price for anything at Kohls. They want me to think I'm getting a killer deal because it's 50% off!  Wow!!!  Except that if a shirt is originally marked at $38.00 and it's 50% off, then the shirt is still going to cost me $19.00.  That's not actually that great of a deal.  And just about EVERYTHING is on sale.  So besides being overstimulated by all the colors, shapes, and fabrics, my brain gets exhausted from all the math!!  I homeschool my children-- I get sick of doing math!  JUST PUT THE PRICE YOU WANT ON THE TAG!!!

Another style issue I've encountered is my insistence on wearing my tennis shoes every day.  Oh, sure, I'll put on my black sandals for fancy occasions, but since Cannon's pregnancy, I mostly stick with my tennis shoes.  I'm on my feet all day and I need to feel comfortable.  So even if I buy more stylish shirts and pants, I'm not going to give up my tennis shoes.  The contrast between my clothes and shoes makes me look even more clueless than I actually am.

As I aimlessly rummaged through the clearance racks this evening, trying to find shirts that spoke to me, I piled lots of "possibilities" in the cart.  Bless Abe's heart, he tried to help, but it wasn't going well.  I headed to the dressing room and even Abe, who usually says everything looks great on me, admitted that nothing was that great.  One shirt he said looked like it was covered in bird seed.  Another looked like lizard skin.  Dang, the night was going to be a bust.

But rather than making a beeline for my jammies at home, I was relieved to discover the plain, solid colored t-shirt rack. 
Did I sell myself short by purchasing 7 different colored t-shirts?
Perhaps.
But they were cute (relatively) and I felt comfortable in them.  I felt like me.  Dare I say I felt sporty?  Yes, I did.  I felt sporty.  I still have no idea what my clothing style is or should be.  But for the next few months it will be sporty.  And these shirts won't clash at all with my old running shoes.

2 comments:

camfox said...

This is SO me Betsy. I detest clothes shopping for myself. Nathan comes with me, and I try on a thousand things and nothing works. A few months ago I (we) found one top that somewhat worked, and so I got like seven of them.

I want to see a picture of your sporty tops! You look great, by the way. I am so happy for you. What an inspiration you are.

Gabrielle Kim said...

Two words: online shopping. The math is done for you in the cart, and you can usually double up on coupons. I will never go back to regular shopping. I do that too, multiple colors of the same thing. Isn't consistency a virtue? Well it should be!