Dressing Room Adventures

The stars aligned last weekend and I finally made my second SOLO trip to the mall in 16 months.  Yes, two trips in 16 months.  Don't be too jealous now.  I decided to start with a little blast from the past and ventured into The Limited...I don't know about you but I used to shop there all the time in high school and college.  It was on the go-to list.  Then the store in the mall near my house closed and I guess I moved on.  I seriously had not been in there in 10 years probably and it's one of those stores were everything is perpetually 40% off so I decided to take a peek.  I ended up trying on a few things and they had some potential.  Here is their version of black jeggings with a black and gold lace top that looked better on the hanger than on me:

 

Next I tried this tank and sweater combo that basically just emphasized the perma-baby bump I am blessed with:

 

 

Finally I tried this striped sweater, which I did end up buying.  It comes in 3 different color combos and I love the relaxed fit and the lightweight knit for TX weather:

 

I left the jeggings behind because I couldn't get past the strange chemical smell they were emitting and all I could think of was spontaneously bursting into flame while wearing them, but fit-wise and price-wise they were a decent buy.

Next I snuck into J.Crew, specifically to drool over the Biennial Hobo (oh Santa, please work with me on this one):

 

While I was there I tried on the Frenchie sweater and toothpick cords in charcoal gray.  Love love love.  I had low expectations for the cords, given that I tried them on last year and pretty much ran out of the dressing room screaming.  Apparently someone at J.Crew finally saw the light and added more stretch, thinned out the corduroy, and removed the awful ankle zippers for this year's version.  White ankle socks aide, these are super cute with ballet flats or tucked into boots.  Love them in the burgundy color too.  Unfortunately both the cords and sweater are $98 so I had to put them back and hope for a sale...

 



I saved my splurging for Anthropologie.  As usual I could have gone totally nuts in there and come home to divorce papers, so I only picked up this sweater dress for a few upcoming functions.  Not sure if I'm going to wear it with tights, boots, or bare legs like the model.  Thoughts?

 

 

Does anyone else get as excited as I do for two hours alone at the mall these days?  How are all these other moms doing hair and make-up and showing up in cute outfits every day at school pick-up/drop-off while I am trying to remember if I put deoderant on or not?  And did I mention that they have 3 children and I have one?