Holiday Clothes

A couple of weekends ago, I had to tackle one of the things I have been dreading the most.  I had to try on my holiday clothes to see what fits, what doesn’t and, subsequently, work out what I need for the rapidly approaching holiday with the “London Family” and the glamorous ladies thereof.  I loathe clothes shopping at the best of times but holiday clothes are even worse.  I would rather stick hot pins in my eyes than go clothes shopping.  There’s just something, to me, about holiday clothes that just makes my heart sink. 

 It was bloody awful.  The weight that I’ve put on since September last year has had a dramatic impact on what is now available to me to pack and I’m not in the best financial position to be buying loads of new clothes.  The rather lovely cotton capri trousers that I took on holiday last year would have been quite uncomfortable to wear this year.  They did fit but they were tight and there is no way I would have felt remotely confident wearing them so they’re staying behind. 

Then, it was time to try the tops on.  When I put on weight, it goes straight to two places – my stomach and my chest.  I’ve always liked clothes to be loose and quite baggy.  Granted, I know this makes me look like a sack of potatoes tied up in the middle but I’m just not a fan of really close fitting clothes.  Seeing the stretch across my chest of some of my tops drastically reduced my options in that department. 

To be fair, a day or so before I started trying on the clothes, I was talking with Jill and one of her sisters and we were saying that we would all have to be buying kaftans for this holiday.  We’re all feeling that we’ve put weight on but I would definitely look like a sack of potatoes if I wore a kaftan, whereas these ladies would rock a bin bag!

Jill and I did a quick trip to Primark to see what they had.  Jill is lucky that she’s petite and slim so can pretty much pick up whatever takes her fancy in there.  Not so much for me.  I’m tall and wide.  Not the best combination for clothes shopping for a girl.  I did pick up a pair of loose trousers with a paisley type pattern on them.  This is very unusual for me too as I generally tend to stick to black, white or navy when it comes to trousers.  However, they were the princely sum of £7 so I decided to take a punt.  I’ve got plain coloured tops to wear with them so I can make an outfit of them.  I felt quite brave putting them in my basket.  That was the sum total of my shopping on Saturday, apart from a new candle for the living room.  Hopefully, by the time I get on holiday, I’ll still feel brave enough to take them out of the suitcase!  Thankfully, having been so restrained whilst out shopping, I didn’t have the guilt of spending money to deal with when I got home.  That was a relief because I was feeling pretty rotten about myself as it was that I’d even had to go shopping in the first place.

I have to admit that the only saving grace of having put this weight on and having reduced options for holiday clothes is that it will now be a lot easier to pack.  I’ll have far less decisions to make and I can get it done far quicker than last year.  As my Mum keeps telling me, “take the positives out of the situation” although I think this one may be stretching it a little far.  Just like my clothes!