Stereotypical

Showing the stereotypical female obsession with clothes and prerequisite hatred of all of the clothes I currently own, I broke down and purchased some new pieces. Since I apparently don't dress poorly enough that anyone's nominated me for "What not to Wear," I wasn't scraping my wardrobe and starting over because that kind of money just doesn't exist. I decided that I needed a few easy pieces that could be combined with what I own.



Enter Athleta. I'd never heard of this place before and if you click the link, you'll see that it is primarily yoga clothing, but is part of the same conglomerate as the Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. I typically avoid Old Navy because I've rarely found things there that I like. I haven't been in the Gap in years (bad jeans in college soured me on them). And well, Banana Republic always seemed to snobby. (Oddly for a true-blue Jersey girl, I have a definite dislike for the mall and mall-type stores). I found Athleta through another blogger and mostly because she posted pics of several items that she was considering buying and they looked really cute. The clothes are certainly pricier than what I'm used to (I typically just shop at Kohl's when I have my 30% off coupon), but were darn cute. The descriptions also sounded like just what I want... easy to wear, easy to care for, doesn't wrinkle much.



I have a strategy when I shop. In the store, I walk through at least once just looking. I pick out things that I like, but immediately put them back. After walking through once, I walk through again, this time gathering things to try on. If I pick up the same thing on the second time as the first time through, that's usually a good sign. I'll try stuff on, reject most of it. Do a third and sometimes fourth walk through. A second dressing room visit, and then leave with a couple of items. Even with this system, I still end up with clothes I hardly wear once I see them at home, but it works for me. I do very poorly shopping, especially for clothing, with other people. I like sticking to my strategy.



And so I haven't purchased clothing out of a catalog or online in a looooooong time. I was very worried about ordering stuff that might not fit. I employed my strategy. I looked through Athleta's entire site and bookmarked the things I liked. Several days later, I went back to the site and did a second look through (ignoring my bookmarks) and picked out what I liked. The things that I picked on the second time that I had bookmarked (there were 4), I considered and considered and considered, and then finally clicked purchase.



Even though shipping was supposed to be USPS, it arrived via UPS much quicker than I expected. Friday night I had a fashion show for Kevin and got his opinion on my picks. I was thrilled that everything fit and was as cute as could be expected. (I say as could be expected because the models are all super skinny and tall, and well, I don't fit that.) When ordering I was torn between which size to order and went with the smaller sizes because several reviews suggested the clothes ran a little big. Here's links to what I got: Cassidy Dress, Durango Dress, Nusa Rollover Skirt, Pencil Skirt, and Yama Sweater Vest.



I can't wait to wear my new duds to school on Thursday. (Yay for long holiday weekend and no class on Tuesday!!)