They Don't Call 'Em Skinny Jeans for Nothing...

Gabe and I are looking forward to our first night away (New Years Eve) since Baby Boy # 3 was born last December. As a nursing baby, and a major momma's boy, it just hasn't worked out for us to get away overnight until now. We aren't going far, just down to N'ville to go out to eat (PF Changs...our fav) and to a concert at the Ryman Auditorium.Our hotel is within walking distance of the concert, but with rain in the forecast we may end up looking like drowned rats. Anyway, this little event is turning out to cause big drama for me. Since I have decided to stay at home, shopping trips "for the heck of it" which had always been frequent for me, are now an extremely rare treat, so when my husband said, let's get new outfits for New Years Eve, I was very excited at the prospect of getting to shop! 


Well, my first mistake was tagging along with him on a quick trip (as in on his lunch break) to khol's, where he walked right in, picked out a shirt, tried it on, (it fit him perfectly and looked amazing of course) and he then picked up a pair of jeans (without trying them on mind you) and was off to the checkout. When I asked him how he knew the jeans would fit...he said simply, "Because they are my size." Now I ask you...why the heck can't shopping for women's jeans be that easy? Between different designers, styles, cuts, and stores, it is impossible for me to walk in a store and say "That's my size, I'll take them." The entire ordeal may have taken a whopping 30 minutes for him. Well, if it was that easy for him, surely it would be for me...right? WRONG. With the big boys away visiting grandparents, the baby and I set off on a quest for me to find something for me to wear for our big night out. After turning up with nothing at TJ Maxx, I reluctantly hit the mall. I don't know when the last time I bought something for myself at the mall was. Oh yes I do....maternity clothes at motherhood over a year ago. Fashions have evolved since my last non maternity shopping...and now include... dumm ta da dummmm.... THE SKINNY JEAN. Now I have seen these things worn by LOTS of my friends, young, old and in between and they look GREAT in them. Why not me? So I walk in to a store and pick out a pair "in my size..." (they actually had a petite pair...I'm only 5'0 mind you) and proceed to the dressing room. The first thing that strikes me is that I had to put them on like panty hose. Now mind you, I stopped wearing panty hose, oh, at least 15 years ago, for a reason. They are totally tight and constricting and confining. I'm noticing some similarities here. After I finally worked them up and got them buttoned, I realized that once again, you can't trust a label. With regular jeans that are too long (even petite jeans are typically about 3 inches too long), they just go over my feet and I end up walking on them. Since these things were suctioned around my ankles the extra material just bunched and balled up in places I didn't even know I had.I swear I think the baby was even laughing. I couldn't peel the dang things off fast enough. Of course the very nice sales chick is on the other side of the door saying "How'd those work for ya?" Umm...not even sure how to respond to that. Needless to say, I have a new found respect for all of my friends who pull off the skinny jean with style, because I looked down right ridiculous in them. I'm back off to the mall today in search of a nice pair of wide leg trouser jeans.Do they still make those? I think those will suit me much better. I will also be returning the top I bought after regretting it when I returned home. In other words, our 6 hour shopping trip was for nothing. Well, not really. I enjoyed being out of the house and "free" from being on a time table. That was nice! Oh, and on the upside, just heard on the Today Show that the "new look" for 2011 is going to be the "Pajama Look." No Joke! Now that's more my style!