Shopping is good.

Need I say more? I love shopping for new clothes! Well, on a good day. Sometimes you go shopping and it seems that everything you put on your body makes you look like either a bloated cow or an alien with the weirdest body known to man. But yesterday was a good day. Too good, in fact. I blew my entire budget on the first store! And I had allowed myself a good sized budget.

Let me start at the beginning. So, I've been in a great relationship for a couple of years now and we moved in together one year ago. I got comfortable. And what does that mean? It means I gained weight. A lot. When I met Jonathan, I was a size 2. Lately, I've still been squeezing into my size 4 pants but have been so determined that I was going to lose weight that I only bought about 4 pairs of work pants and held onto everything else. I faced the facts last weekend and decided to clean out the closet. I'm the type of person that accumulates a ton of stuff and doesn't throw anything out for a long time. Plus, the waist growth factor. So, I filled 2 garbage bags of clothes that didn't fit and/or were just not that cute anymore (the "What was I thinking?" clothes) to give away and then I have 2 bags of clothes that don't fit, but if I would buckle down and lose 20 pounds, I would have a cute, practically new wardrobe! Hell, if I just lost about 10 pounds, a lot of it would fit again! Those are now in the back of my closet. Unfortunately, this purging left me with very little to wear. Mostly t-shirts, 2 non-work skirts and a couple of shirts that were work appropriate, but most were a little on the young side. Oh, and those couple of size 4 pants that actually do still fit (I'm always an inbetween sizer).

So, now I have 2 issues: I need clothes that fit and I need a more "adult" wardrobe. I've been trying to get into this adult wardrobe routine for a couple of years now...but the funky early 20s style (and cheaper price) keeps calling my name. So, I have either boring work clothes or "going out" clothes...which I am doing less and less and now I find myself looking toward my more adult work clothes when I go out. I need something that will work for the office and for dinner with the girls.

White House Black Market was apparently my answer. Granted I bought about 15 things in just black and white (and one pair of grey capris) but they are staples! I now have staples! A feat in and of itself because every time I set out to get wardrobe staples, I end up with a bag of trendy. Everything I bought yesterday I can wear to work, family functions, dinners, dates with Jonathan, etc. Plus, a couple of the things I still had left hanging in my closet will mix with them very nicely. Problem: even with everything being on sale, the 5% off the great sales lady gave me and my $50 off coupon, I blew my budget. I knew I would, but I couldn't help it! And, I still didn't have new work pants. I had bought a pair of black and a pair of grey capris, but I hate doing laundry so I needed more pants. I had a $30 off coupon for Express so I bought 3 pairs of work pants (LOVE the Editor...too bad the short sizes are never on sale!) in neutral colors: brown, grey and a faux denim (still work appropriate since it's not actual "jeans").

I bit the bullet. I went up a size, which is depressing. But, I still felt like I looked totally fab in everything, which is great! And, now I am very happy with the direction my wardrobe is going. Now as for my belly flab...