AH-HA! Moments

Yesterday I went shopping and was very successful in my quest to expand my wardrobe. I found some fantastic bargains at Dress Barn and Christopher & Banks. One thing that I am still grappling with after losing weight is not seeing myself as 100 lbs heavier as I look at clothes and decide what to try on.

An example of that was yesterday when we were at Dress Barn and there was a really cute shirt that kind of bubbled at the bottom. I wasnt sure about it because normally I dont like anything that makes my waist look bigger than it is. I tried it on and thought "woah! really cute!" and bought it even though it wasnt on sale. And it goes really cute with a cream faux leather jacket that I bought yesterday (another piece not on sale- Ha! but those were the only two things that werent on sale that I bought yesterday).

That night my sister came over. Joelyn is getting planning on getting married this summer and I am going to be her matron of honor and only attendant besides my niece who is going to be flowergirl. Nice thing about that is I can get a dress that looks good on me, or borrow a dress, etc because we just have to worry about one person.

Well we started talking about dresses for me and my mom mentioned that I should try on the dress my sister wore when she stood up in my wedding. I thought "no way is that gonna fit, but what the heck". Now recently my sister passed down to me a bunch of her old clothes that either didnt fit anymore because she is smaller than her pre-pregnancy size or that she didnt wear anymore so I know (mentally) that I am smaller but I remembered her as so much smaller than me...

I went upstairs to the closet where the dresses are and pulled three dresses: the bridesmaid dress, a dress that I wore to Homecoming in High School and a dress that my sister wore to something...dont remember what.

The "dont remember" dress didnt fit. Way to tight in the chest-Ha! My old Homecoming dress fit wonderfully. I plan on taking that one home to wear another time. My sisters Bridesmaid dress ALMOST fit. The top went on fine, and the skirt fit and zipped with the exception of the top inch. It was a revelation for me. It was a size 13-14 (and altered) which my mom explained that that was a "Juniors" size and not a Misses size. So to even be close to fitting was shocking for all of us.

Then my sister went and pulled out her old Prom dress. It is a beautiful light yellow color. She absolutely loved that dress and thought it would be fun for me to try on. Guess what? It fit. Zipped no problem. Was a tad tight around the waist but nothing that a little toning couldnt handle.

Those few experiences for me yesterday were Ah-Ha moments. All this time I knew I was getting smaller- obvious from the clothing sizes that fit now...but once I tried on my sisters old clothes, I could put my memories from when she wore them into perspective according to my size now.

Now I am actually excited to buy a Bridesmaid dress for the wedding (we ruled out using the ones we have). I wont be the "Big Gal" in the pictures anymore.

Life is grand and my self image- she is a-changing. I knew it was going to take a while. I was overweight all my life, but the new me- the skinny one that was always inside me- is starting to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.

Tip of the day: When eating popcorn use chop sticks. It not only keeps your fingers clean, but keeps you from eating it too quickly. You will fill up faster when you do.