Clothes shopping

Clothes shopping...not the bane of our existence, but something we (Cap and I) do not enjoy and tend to do rarely. Because of this, we don't have a system in place for it.

Cap is going away this week, a mostly business research trip to Japan. (This is a whole other blog post, but it is striking how academics must scramble to fund their own work...I guess it's related to their not 'working for the Man', so to speak, but in truth, any work they do while in the employ of a college/university...that school gets ownership of the work, in one way or another.)

Anyway, a clothes shopping expedition was in order. I can sometimes do this online (my preferred mode), but he needs shoes, among other things, so off we went to a local mall yesterday evening, two active boys in tow. (The family that clothes shops together, survives together :-)

Did you know Doc Martens are now, for the most part, made in China? We learned that yesterday. He didn't like the couple of styles he saw, shoes were not bought.

We entered a Gap Kids, which we do maybe once a year or two. One of Cap's Japanese colleagues, when asked what she might like brought to her from the States, had requested "light, cotton clothes" for her 2yo son. We found a cute outfit for him, plus bathing suits for our kids and a sale shirt for Sag. The bathing suits were not on sale, but hard to deny.

The mall was pretty crowded, but not completely insufferable. I think this was because we were all there together. I tend to space out in malls and tend to find the whole mall shopping experience very unpleasant. It was grounding to be there with Cap and the kids. It helped, too, that we were on a specific mission and that we had less than 90 minutes till the mall closed.

I have had good luck at the Land's End shop at Sears in the past, and we did again, last night. A lot of stuff was on sale and they have very basic, comfortable pieces. He found exactly what he needed, plus a nice blue shirt, and it didn't break the bank.

I found something, too! I've been on the look out for some new jeans since two faithful pairs bit the dust in the last few weeks. My body is in a transitional place. I want to take off some weight and am teetering on doing so, but it's going slower than I initially thought. So I don't really want to buy new jeans for my current shape, but don't want to commit to buying in a smaller size...'cause, you know, you never know.

Then, last night, there they were. Skirts made of a cotton jersey fabric with some stretch with a 'soft' waist that will deal with my transitions just fine, thank you very much. I hesitated a little because of the length of the skirt. I've never been a fan of my 'athletic' calves. But, I had a moment. Something let go, and I embraced the years of comfort these skirts would likely bring.

They are not Goodwill cheap, by any means, but at $24 a pop (on sale), they work for me. (I got one in brown and one in black.)