Working part-time has it’s perks. Okay, there’s a lot of perks at my job, I won’t lie…but my favorite by far is having Fridays off. Yes, almost every week. Sometimes I’ll work from home or go in for a couple of hours on a Friday, but generally, that’s rare. Anyway, I love having my Fridays free! It’s the best because I can do all of those things that can only be done during the workweek. You know, like going to the bank, the post office, the auto repair shop and stuff like that. I always feel productive and have even begun to do my laundry on Friday mornings before I leave the house so I start off on the most productive foot.

This past Friday, before Labor Day weekend, I was in search of a new purse. My beloved Target purse of the most perfect color (a shade greener/lighter than the “Tiffany Blue”, just like my bedroom walls) had begun to fall apart last week and after losing my wallet inside the lining of the thing I knew it was time to move on. It’s heartbreaking, a tried and true handbag is a friend you take along with you no matter what adventure you’re on. *Sigh* It was time and so I headed to my local Ross (Dress for Less).

The first thing they have inside the doors is about 3-4 aisles of purses and bags. I of course wanted the same color bag I currently had, but knowing better than to even hope for that I browsed my way through their selection. Mostly black bags, mostly huge bags, mostly handled ones…I like an adjustable cross-body bag so I can use my arms for, you know, arm things. This narrowed my picks down quite a bit and I eventually gave up on my search for the day.

However, I did peruse the dresses and shoes and Whoa! I walked out with a bunch of stuff! I walked out with a new pair of Roxy boots (grey, woven, canvas-ish material), 5 dresses (priced $7-$22 each), bamboo cutting boards and a new pair of headphones. What? I know! It’s nuts! I walked into the fitting room with 7 dresses and all but two were fabulous! The other two were fine, I even text a pic of one particularly hot one to a friend who said I had to get it, but it would have required altering and thus more money and time spent. Boo!

I realized after I got home to hang up my purchases that these dresses would never have made off the rack due to their labeled sizes, let alone past the fitting room quality check portion of my routine had it been a year ago. I never would have chosen the clingy, the short, the brightly colored or the Big Bold Stripes I had on this particular day. And I chose all of these wonderful things on my own. No cheering friend outside the fitting room asking me to model what I tried on. No one to talk me into a style I wouldn’t normally pick for myself . This was a very different experience…and I loved it!

I am so happy with what I bought that I cannot wait to wear them all! I even considered wearing them to hang out with the puggyman, but black teggings + pug hair = a mess! Ha-ha! They shed like mofo’s! It’s their double coat, but I still love them all! But I do have the No Lose conference this coming weekend and surely there’ll be plenty of occasions to wear some of my new goodies there.

The $7 dress was a surprise. It’s satiny and stretchy and clingy and short and surprisingly comfortable. I made sure to bend over to make sure the thing wouldn’t split in two if I was sitting or dancing and it passed the test. Ha-ha! The print is certainly fun:

Who said fatties shouldn’t wear stripes? And this was a 2x!

This last one is the one I put back as the bust was way too big, but super cute, none the less. This was a 24.
For the record, I’m generally a size 28, weigh around 300+ lbs and am 5’4″

Not once did I consider my age or my size when trying on or buying these dresses. I had fun, even on my own, and just went with what felt right. I am so glad that I did. It was a bit surreal at the end of the day, but I did go to a different Ross with a friend a couple of days later and found a good little purse to carry my necessities until I track down the perfect aqua bag. 🙂