Sweet Sixteen

I took this picture a little over a week ago, with a mixture of pleasure and exasperation.  The pants I'm wearing here are ones that I bought some time in the fall.

I love them - they are pretty much wrinkle-proof, comfortable, dressy, and they fit my waist and thighs more proportionately than most pants.  Plus, they were a size smaller than my other pants when I bought them.  Every time I put them on and saw the number on the tag, I smiled.

As you can see though, the waistband is starting to get to the "needs to be 'altered' with a safety pin" stage.  They slip down to my hips, which wouldn't be bad except the hems hit the ground if the waistband is at my hips...  

More and more of my original pants are getting to the humorously large point, and this pair of pants tells me something important that I need to remember: don't buy a bunch of clothes at once!  I stopped on my way home today to do some impromptu clothes shopping, and did something I haven't done in many many moons: walked straight to the "normal" side of the store.  As it turns out, the normal side has sizes all the way up to 18, so it wasn't the moral victory I'd hoped for, but I did grab three pairs of pants and three shirts and headed to the dressing room.  One pair was the exact style pictured above, except one size smaller.

Time for a flashback!

During the fall of my sophomore year at Penn State, my mom came to visit and took me clothes shopping.  None of the pants I tried on were fitting right, and I pitched a fit when she grabbed a pair that were size 16.  I think I cried when I realized that they fit.  Considering it was over fifteen years ago and I still remember that particular shopping trip, you can rest assured that it made a major impression.

...and back to the present!

All of the pants I tried on today were 16's.  One pair - sadly, the much-needed khakis - was comically "sausage casing" tight.  Another pair of Dockers were tight, but not ridiculously so.  I have a few sweaters and other hip-length tops that'll work with them.  And the third pair were the dress pants I was thrilled to find.  Putting on a pair of 16's that fit gave me flashbacks to the college shopping trip, and turned me into every cliché woman in a diet food commercial who zips up a pair of pants triumphantly and dances in front of the mirror.

It.  Was.  Awesome!

Sixteen is way smaller than the 20's and 22's I started with, but also nowhere near my goal.  Of course, I never did make a solid number goal, either by size or weight.  When I said I wanted to shop in the normal section of the store, I didn't realize that the normal section has expanded to such large sizes.  I think I'd look awesome in a 12.  That's average and normal these days, right?  Maybe that's a good 2014 goal.

Anyway, that's the latest on my progress.  It's wonderful to see results, even though getting to this point has been long and slow.  And as long as progress continues in the same direction, I'll be patient getting there.

...and I won't buy more than two pairs of pants at the same time!