I did it!

I pressed my "courage" button after the funeral, and decided to go into a store that does NOT carry women's sizes! And I had my Mom with me... I can't think of a better way to lose my "regular size" virginity - to Ann Taylor! (okay - AT Outlet, but same difference...)! The funeral was this morning. It was beautiful and hard... very nice reception following where people were able to share their thoughts. Tonight we're going to the beach house to toast Michael at Sunset... he loved watching beautiful sunsets, so the family and closest friends will all be together to share that, which I am looking forward very much to.

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Anywhoo... on to my AT adventure. Just north of where we're staying is a set of Prime Outlets... and I saw the Ann Taylor sign, among others on my drive down. We never seem to have time to stop, so I decided to go there today. Mom came with me, and we drove north and had a few hours to just have a nice chat - and some nice silence - together. Went in, and felt a lot out of my league... My first (internal) response was "that salesgirl probably is thinking what is that girl doing here?!?!?" (Mean Sarah visited for a few seconds)... but, I soldiered on, kicked mean sarah to the curb, and headed straight back to the clearance section (you know me, love a bargain) and started pulling shirts and pants off the rack. I tried on 4 pairs of size 16 pants... the good news is that they all zippered and fit. However, they were a bit snug or cut kind of funny, and the one pair I liked that looked okay was too dressy for non-work and too casual for work, so I passed on it. I did, however, end up with a delightful blue wrap dress (size 18, BUT is a wrap and goes tight - plus if I ever needed a bit more room, could "grow/shrink" with it), a great blouse for work (size L!) and 4 tank tops which I got in XL, even though the L's fit - I just like them a tad bit looser around the hips, and these were SO comfy... I also got a really cute navy blue skirt (size XL), which folds on the waist, and is that really soft cotton material. Not quite t-shirt, but also not sweatpants material. Light, comfy, wonderful! If they had a L, I would have gotten that - but they didn't and I LOVED it, and for $10, I wasn't going to pass on it. In fact, I'm going to wear it and one of the tank tops to the beach tonight, and will have Mom take a picture of me to share with ya'll... The best part of the whole experience was that there were clothes in bigger sizes than I am wearing right now. YAY! Such a fun, good feeling. I'm glad I did this today, with my Mom. She was a great cheerleader, but honest too (i.e. told me when the pants truly looked bad). I think I might just be ready to try a few other "new" stores come fall. So... for those of you bandster folks who have overcome this little issue, where is your favorite place to shop now?