Monday, September 04, 2006

What Not To Wear

I have watched the TLC show "What Not To Wear" a few times, and I'm waiting for the moment when I am caught unaware to appear on the show. I definitely would qualify as a candidate. Out at the Fairmount Campgrounds, there are usually four or five distinct groups that are camping together. The other groups seem to have women wearing cute tops with matching shorts, painted toenails and makeup. Our group tends to wear t-shirts and gym shorts, and I'm doing good to shower each day we are out there. Okay, maybe I am in my own group, but I fit in best with the others that do camp with us.

My casual wear is heavy on the t-shirts, shorts, jeans, and cotton capris, and I'm okay with that. When I have time to relax, I want to be comfortable. I would like to beef up my out on the town wear - events when my casual clothes are either to sportsy or "mom-like," and my work clothes are too stuffy. My out on the town wear would probably be acceptable to wear to work, so if I did purchase some new clothes, my work attire would be beefed up, too.

A couple of posts ago, I talked about a potential $400 bonus I could receive if I have perfect attendance at work from tomorrow until fall break. I've decided how I am going to spend some of that money - I am going to purchase some clothing that I can feel stylish in at either work or out on the town (I don't know how else to phrase the out on the town events, but you know what I mean - out to eat on the weekends, a day out of town shopping, going to the movies, etc.) The major barrier to me getting new clothes is usually the cost factor, but that is not the case - now my major barrier is that I am like a tweener when it comes to clothes. I went through a similar stage when I was 11 and 12. I was too old and big to wear cutsie matching sets that only went up to size 14 girls, but the size 3 womens clothes were a little big and looked way too old for me. I remember finding a shirt and skirt set at a resale shop, and I wore that skirt set every other week to church my entire 6th grade year. On the off week, I wore a dress of my mom's that looked way too old for me. When I entered into my 7th grade year, I was really sucking it in to fit in the skirt, but I still couldn't find age appropriate clothes. This was before the time of Old Navy - it was Penneys, Meis, and Sears. I'm in a similar phase now. As I enter the 30's, I am finding that Old Navy and Gap and the like are fine for some things - jeans, basic tees, the annual 4th of July t-shirt; I even really like their dress pants. But their out on the town wear just seems a little young for me. My main issue is with the low rise pants. I have graduated from the waist up to your chin pants, but my pants cannot fall more than inch below the belly button, or I feel like they are going to fall off. I hate the feeling of bending down and feeling most of my backside visible. I also don't like shirts that are too revealing - either by showing the stomach, bra straps, or other parts of the female anatomy. However, at the other end of the spectrum, I am not ready for Sag Harbor pant suits and other brands that are more targeted for the generation ahead of me. When I wandered into J.C. Penney on Friday, I didn't know what section to go to. To the left was for the working older woman (not me) straight ahead and then left was for the petites (not me) to the right was more casual womens clothes (could be me - I did see a few things), and then straight and to the right was for the teens or twenties. I exited the store empty handed for me and with 3 $2.97 clearance summer shirts for Anna next summer, and I headed down to Christopher & Banks. I hesitated to go into the store, not only because of the connotation the store carries for me as being for women older than me, but I was dressed in a ratty pair of jeans and a black t-shirt - I felt kind of like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" when she is trying to spend the wad of cash and they look down on her in one of the stores. However, I made my way in, and I was pleasantly surpised at what I found. I LIKE CHRISTOPHER AND BANKS! I am almost scared to admit this in print for fear of being made fun of by other more stylish people my age, but I found several tops that I really liked. I cannot wear their pants, because they do come up to my chin, but I walked away with a skirt, a sleeveless shirt (I know there is a name but I can't remember,) a sweater, and a very comfortable button down shirt that is made of a material that starts with an "ly." Major barrier for me shopping at Christopher and Banks - it is pretty expensive. I spent all of my birthday money (yes, I had it since July) on just those few items. So back to the original thought - when/if I get my bonus, I am heading back to C&B to check out their fall wardrobe, and if you see Jason and I at Applebees on a Friday night in November, you will think to yourself "Wow, now that is a stylish couple sitting over there." Oh yeah, because Jason doesn't have a problem finding clothes - men just need to look clean and have a nice pair of jeans and a shirt and they look good.

Just a word on the magic bullet - we tried the seven second salsa tonight. I had a little taste of competition at Lances grocery store getting the ingredients. It was me against an older man - who can get the produce bag opened first. He grabbed his first off the reel, so I was at a disadvantage at the start, but I read the "this way open" instruction first, so then we were tied. We rubbed it between the fingers, we picked at it, then finally, a split second before he did, mine opened! I dumped the two jalapeno peppers in, tossed them in the cart, and I was off before he knew what hit him. Anyway, back to the salsa - mixed reviews. I would like to try someone's real salsa recipe because I didn't like the taste of the one in the magic bullet handbook. It was way too heavy on the jalapeno and not heavy enough on the tomato. I remember salsa being red, and ours was a pinkish orange. However, it was very handy dumping in the ingredients without chopping, and it blended it very quickly. I'm not sure if the magic bullet is capable of producing salsa that is chunky because it purees things so quickly - so if you like the consistency of The Hacienda salsa, you would like the consistency of the salsa the magic bullet produces.

Triathlon Training Update - heavy training weekend. Friday I took off because we took my parents to the Melting Pot for their 40th wedding anniversary - excellent restaurant, if this post wasn't so long I would blog more about it. Saturday, we ran 60 minutes, which translated into 5.6 miles. Sunday, I ran 60 minutes, which translated into somewhere between 5 and 6 miles. Today, we biked 30 minutes (7 miles) and ran 30 minutes (just over 3 miles.) Three more official training days until the big day.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok- are you talking about me ..."shirt matching shorts, painted toe nails, makeup..." ? Did you also notice that I wore the SAME shirt 3 days in a row and my polish was chipped!

You are so naturally beautiful Deb! You don't need makeup thats for sure-

Christopher and Banks I can agree- just steer clear of the embroidered kitty shirts- that just doesn't seem like you : ) . - Shannon

September 04, 2006 9:38 PM  
Blogger Keetha Broyles said...

Yes, Deb - - - - John and Beaulah Heavilin are my parents. You may console them the next time you run into them. :-)

September 04, 2006 10:02 PM  
Blogger Kelley said...

I love C.J. Banks (plus size version) and Andrea wears alot of Christopher and Banks. I think we are both stylish, so there you go. Although I agree with Shannon about the embroidered kitty (or any other animal) shirts. Be choosy. :)

September 05, 2006 7:44 AM  
Blogger Jaena said...

I see things in C&B that I like too, but I never buy there because it seems expensive. Then again, I don't really need "professional" clothes anymore since I am at home all day.

I will get you a salsa recipe, Deb. i think my parents have one.

September 05, 2006 10:25 AM  
Blogger Jaena said...

I can't find you email address...found this site that has tons of info about triathlons: TriathaNewbie.com Have you seen it? it recommended carbs for supper the night before the race as well as for breakfast the day of the race.

September 05, 2006 12:35 PM  
Blogger Toevs said...

I am right there with you in that in between phase. It is an awful place to be. Too young to be old, too old to be young...

Hey, I have a great salsa recipe to share with you! It comes all the way from California. :-)

September 16, 2006 7:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post...I am in the SAME BOAT. I laughed about the skirt/shirt set because I also was in that boat, except mine was a jean skirt that I wore every single Sunday and just rotated between two shirts (a summer one and a winter one). I, too, was sucking it in my fourth year of wearing the skirt, so my mom made me a dress. Very nice of her, but you can imagine how fashionable those huge white collars were on a 7th grader. Not so much. Anyway, thanks for a good laugh--I enjoy your writing! :)

September 16, 2006 7:53 PM  

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