Victory In Our Time

I have found the perfect pair of jeans. Real jeans, not just my beloved Old Navy Rockstar jeggings, which are still wonderful, particularly for $15 and everyone should have a pair, but they need to be washed too often to keep their shape (I find mine get baggy at the knees after one wearing and it annoys me). So after many an online order and in-store try on experience (and I HAAAATE trying on jeans; I don't know why, but I hate trying on jeans more than anything in the world and it is why I never have any that fit me), I have found them.

The Banana Republic Skinny Jean. Indigo. Size 25/0r. The only thing that would be better is if they came in longs, but Banana doesn't make longs for jeans below a size 4 which doesn't make any sense because tall people can have small waists/hips and "long" just means they throw 3 inches onto the inseam and why can't you do that on a size 0? And it's not like they're out of stock, they just don't make them. But it doesn't matter- short just means I don't need to cuff them with heels or flats and they're 40% if you order online and $58 isn't too bad for jeans that make you smile inside when you put them on. (Also, such is the power of modeling that I see that picture and think I want the whole outfit, but then I look closer and realize her blazer has a popped collar which is ridiculous and those shoes are ugly and the sweater is way chunkier than I like to wear, and yet still, my eyes are saying "you need all of those things!". Go marketing.).

So that was today's victory. That and only buying the jeans and not anything else my eyes got confused about wanting. I've been slowly weeding through my closet. I did a big clean out when I went back to work after having Cora. I took out everything that didn't fit. Knowing I wasn't getting pregnant again and didn't need the transitional clothes made it easier to say goodbye to things that would have annoyed me to re-buy in the future. Then I went back through and pulled out everything I hadn't worn since we moved here. That was a bit more painful. I have some beautiful clothes that I wore a lot at the firm and just never do at the SEC. Different culture, different version of me I guess, but while my closet is generous for a 1940's house, there is definitely no room for something I last wore in 2011. I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight when my maternity leave ended, so that also helped with the clean out- I felt like I was back to myself and would pretty much stay there.

But then I kept going to barre and discovered yoga and my body has changed again. I'm roughly the same weight, maybe a few pounds lighter, but I'm leaner and stronger and suddenly nothing that was supposed to be fitted fit at all. I'm a 0 now, full stop, which has never been true before, and the only things I owned that fit were workout leggings and a bunch of shift dresses. Luckily both are very much in style and easy to obtain, but then it got freezing and shift dresses and tights are no match for 30 degrees in a government office that inexplicably turns the A/C (A/C!!) on midday and I've been searching for pants ever since. Why can't I find work pants that I can wear with closed-toed boots? I have found lots of ankle pants and skinny pants, I even bought two pairs that will look great with heels and flats in the spring, but the whole point was that I was FREEZING and I need to be able to wear my closed toe low heel booties under the pants and you can't do that with skinnies. What do people wear in cold climates? Is there a magical way to wear ankle pants with boots or booties that I don't know about yet? Do stores up north sell more varieties of pants than the ones down south? It's been a genuine mystery to me for weeks. I actually just started wearing jeans to work with my tall boots and when no one said anything I kept doing it. But I only had one pair of jeans, so that wasn't a perfect solution either. But now I don't need one because this is Texas and it's back up to 68 today and Landon's running around in shorts and a sleeveless basketball shirt and suddenly the whole Great Pants Hunt of 2015 feels less urgent and the houndstooth skinny ankle pants I saw at Banana seem a lot less frivolous and a lot more necessary.

Speaking of clothes, I went to the mall for the first time in forever this morning (in search of the jeans/pants) and saw the Sunshine collection at Gymboree and nearly died. Cora needs ALL of those things. It was good I didn't have a coupon and thus forced myself to move on. But look at this:

It says "you are my sunshine" and SHE IS! There's a ton of other adorable stuff too. I need it to go on sale asap. Unfortunately Cora's getting closer to seasonally syncing up with Claire's old clothes- not that I don't still love most of Claire's old clothes, but it was fun to have the excuse to buy new things when they were off by 6 months (Claire was a June baby; Cora's November). The Sunshine collection may have to be a final fling.

And finally, back to me and while we're on the topic of clothes fitting, I asked my local moms facebook page for a good place to get a bra fitting (I know mine don't fit, mostly because they're 3 years old and all stretched out, but also because maybe they just never fit) and someone linked to this youtube video, and even though the woman doing it takes 5x too long to convey the basic essential information it was still tremendously helpful, as were the links she put in the description at the bottom. Just like she accused, I am TOTALLY wearing the wrong size bra. Like way wrong (36C corrected to 32D, what?!). And I ordered one in the right size from Nordstrom (after Christmas sale!) and it's amazing! A whole new world has opened up before me. So now I have one pair of jeans and one bra that fits. Oh, and shoes, because they always do. Not quite work appropriate yet, but it's a start.