The Skirt and the Loft

So, today I am wearing one of my favorite skirts. It is a plaid skirt that I purchased at The Loft a little over a year ago. I put it on this morning and realized it is just too big to continue wearing (I didn't realize before now because I actually don't wear skirts that often, only when I am certain I am having a rest day for exercise, since who wants to struggle in and out of tights during a lunch break while still sweaty from a work out). So, I found myself getting pretty sad about having to stop wearing this skirt, and I realized there is a very good reason for this.

This skirt has particular sentimental value for me.... see, I remember the shopping trip pretty clearly. My sister was here visiting (we were about to do the Denver Rock and Roll Half) and she wanted to go shopping at the outlet stores down the road from my house. So, we go down there and she was all "let's go into The Loft" and I was all "oh, I don't know.. they won't have anything in there that will fit me" and she looked at me kind of funny and was all "no, really, let's go in". So I did. So, while we are in there, she sees me admiring this plaid skirt and she's all "try it on" and I'm all "no, it won't fit, it only goes up to a fourteen" and she gets real firm and matter-of-fact like and goes "try. it. on." Now, I am the fourth of four total sisters, so when an older sister tells me to do something, it's pretty ingrained in me to just do it. So, I tried it on. And it fit. And I really liked it.

I wore it to work the next day to many compliments. So, I am a bit sad about having to stop wearing it, but I really must, because I could seriously be in a genuine I-see-London-I-see-France kind of situation here! And while that certainly may be desirable in the confines of one's own private home, it is certainly not while at work!

So, I took a picture and I am putting it up here, so we can all agree on how damn cute I look in this skirt, and then I can let it go and put it on the top shelf of my closet with my other fourteens*.

And yes, those are purple tights I am wearing with the skirt (you might not be able to tell from the picture), and they are what prompted me to wear this skirt today in the first place, since I saw them at Target and bought them knowing that all my tights are also too big, and I thought the purple ones would be really cool with this skirt. I might do this more often, post clothes and outfits, since this whole business of shopping in regular stores and buying regular clothes and actually developing a sense of "style" based on what I like to wear and not on what will fit on my body is a rather new thing for me, and posts like this help me sometimes.

*Don't even start with me on saving bigger clothes, I don't want to hear it. I haven't saved anything above a 16, and I only save things that I really feel like I might want to wear again should I get that big again, like jeans and work slacks (well, and this skirt). I have plenty of room in my closet and as I sometimes remind my husband, if I want to use my closet space to indulge in this particular neurosis, I will and I don't see how it is any worse than the way he uses his closet space, that being storing ten tons of hiking equipment.