I Love New York

I came into the city on Sunday afternoon and have been thoroughly enjoying myself ever since!  I spent the afternoon with Catherine, and we had a great time gabbing and catching up.  We have so much in common that I am convinced that we must be related; I just haven't figured out exactly how yet.  Catherine generously lent me some of her fabulous dresses, and I will put them to good use.
     

After my closet raiding experience, I was in full shopping mode.  While I didn't want to go crazy, I was excited to be able to fit into clothing smaller than 22W.  I decided that I would avoid the plus sizes altogether but wasn't sure how successful I would be in that endeavor.  I started at Bloomingdale's, and things didn't look all that promising.  So many options were unavailable in larger misses sizes, and other items were entirely too small.  Then I saw a Lafayette 148 jacket that I liked and bought... in a MISSES 16.  Granted, it is small right now, but the 18 would have looked ridiculous once I lose another 10-20 lbs (and I would have had to either junk it or spend a small fortune in alterations).  I also bought two bathing suits for next season and two pairs of shoes.  I also bought an Eileen Fisher dress for next month's Spain trip along with two Ralph Lauren shirts.  Oh, and everything was on sale.
      

The saleswoman who helped me with the jacket was super helpful.  She even found one tunic that she wanted me to try (it was a 20 misses)- she said that she knew it would be way too big but that she could call the tailor to alter it if I liked it.  What- me, something could actually be too BIG on me.  I think I blushed!  I didn't bother trying on the tunic, but boy I felt good.  In addition to the Eileen Fisher I wound up buying, I tried on a cute summery number in an XL, and it was gigantic.  The L was small in the chest, but ladies, the XL was too big.  I understand that Eileen Fisher is roomy, but let me have my moment.
       

Before I left Bloomie's I went upstairs to check out the larger sizes.  The first thing I noticed was that so little was on sale.  The same styles were available in both misses and plus sizes, but the larger sizes were still selling for the original price.  YIKES!  The second thing was that I no longer view myself as plus sized.  While I could have purchased a few things in that department, why would I?  I'd rather buy fun items that I can grow into rather than buying items that I will invariably grow out of before I even get a chance to wear some of them.
      

Today I visited Saks but only bought one pair of shoes.  I wanted to buy some clothes, but even with the discounts I have trouble spending a lot of money on transitional clothing.  I also walked town to Lord & Taylor.  I bought one pair of size 14 jeans that I can wear next year (won't that be great) along with a super soft, super comfy and super cheap sweater for this winter.
       

I won't bother posting pics of the clothing now- most of it will wind up on the blog at some point.  I would like to show y'all my shoes though, but blogger is being a pain.  More pics to come, but this is one pair:)

  

  
In addition to shopping, I have been seeing old friends for dinner.  After my visit with Catherine I stopped by my favorite Thai restaurant with Kenny and another couple.  The guys have seen me recently, so the fact that I have been losing weight isn't news to them.  I hadn't been to the restaurant since last year though, and the waiter almost didn't recognize me.  He said that it sounded like me but that I had lost so much weight that he didn't think it WAS me.  I gave him a big hug- what  a nice guy!  Last night my girlfriend and I met at Aquagrill, which happens to be one of my favorite seafood restaurants in the city.  We had not seen each other since September 2010, and I was really interested to see what she would say (she is about 5'2" and a size 2).  She said NOTHING.  We have known each other since we were 7 and have been good friends since we were 10.  She. Said. Nothing.  She complimented me on my hair and on a few other things, and then... nothing.  We wound up chatting about children and whether Kenny and I were going to try.  I told her that I didn't want to try until I lost weight, because I am not at a healthy weight to carry a child.  She looked at me and finally said that I had lost soooo much weight since we were last together and couldn't believe that I still wanted to lose 75 lbs before getting pregnant.  I know she just didn't know how to say something earlier in the evening, and it was nice to have her notice in the end (especially because really skinny people, it seems to me, don't understand that not all fat is created equal).  Now I am getting ready for my final dinner in the city before heading to the beach tomorrow morning!  Have a good week, all!