so... i live in small town with no clothing stores. and then if i go to where i used to live 10 minutes away, there is a walmart & a few places to shop for clothes. we have no target. no malls. no GAP. no starbucks.
and somehow.... i am still alive. :)
it's a 30 minute drive to get to those things and really that is no biggie at all.
what i do have in my halfway biggish town that is 10 minutes from my house is Dress Barn.
i hardly ever go there. and then when i do.... i always find stuff! it's tricky. there is a lot to navigate that is too "mature woman" for me. and there is a lot of.... ruffles where there shouldn't be? and denim jackets with rhinestones. in a bad way. and racks and racks FULL of mom jeans.
but i am telling you... it's worth a peek if you have time to shop with no children.
so today i will walk you though my shopping experience at the Dress Barn (moo)
(WHO named that store???? it's HORRID!)
i tried on this one. it looks like it's coral zebra stripey fabic but it's actually seperate little layers of fabric. too bulky on my curvy frame. and looked too old on me.
when i shop... i am committed. i bring in A TON of clothes to the dressing room and try on ANYTHING i may remotely like. i find this method to be productive when trying to shop without children. maximizing my time. if you don't like shopping for clothes... you definitely don't want to go with me. i fully admit that i take forever.
they didn't have this one in my size. sad face. i liked it a lot and would've probably gotten it...it's classic. but i would need a strapless bra and that is not a favorite of mine... but may still be worth it.
not my size in this one either. boo. it looks so comfy!
not my size. but i know it would be too low cut and too much focus on the hips for me with that v-ncek.
maxi dresses are always teetering on the line of cute and Mrs. Roper. this one expecially. a good maxi dress is hard to find if you are not a long skinny stick lady.
but if you are then i bet you'd look amazing in that! you should also get a huge black sun hat. and send me a picture.
this is a nice churchy dress. it was not red it was orangey. so orangey that i actually didn't even try it on. i took it in but just couldn't do that color on me.... i knew i wouldn't want to look at it against my skin.
now THIS one.... i loved. the color is off in the website photo. it looked like this:
bright mint green...yellow, orange, and corally pinks. with little birds all over it. i loved it! but in the end decided it was too dressey for my life. i have no where to wear it...my friends don't get married any more... i go no where that requires this.
bummer.
funny story: one time (not yesterday) i was shopping and had an over zealous store employee trying to help me find something to buy. (dislike) i came out with a dress on and she was arranging me (touching me a lot) straighting and moving the belt and said "oh honey if you just need to get some Spanx and you will look great" and i said quietly "i am wearing spanx now"
ha.
i did not buy that dress.
this was my favorite. orange dress...just the right shade of orange....with cream lace on top. i think it is an AWESOME dress!
the photo looks pink but it's orange.
it didn't fit quite right. :(
i am considering ordering it in two sizes & trying again in case it was that ONE dress that wasn't sewn right.
this one i thought was really sweet. kelly green underneath with white lace on top with that sweet little belt! very flattering cut with the pleats facing inward. (would that be called an inverted pleat? did i just make up a new term? let's say yes) LIKE!
this one is crazy bright yellow but i thought it looked good! i think with brown cowboy boots... chunky necklace... denim jacket....yes!
much better maxi dress. slimming lines. a bit more coverage up top.... probably a cardigan to top it off. thumbs up on this one too.
this one was the best for my needs. it is a deep corally hot pink color not red like it appears.
my first coral dress of my life!
does it say "mother of high school graduate class of 2013"??
that is the look i am going for.
a cute cardi (of course)... wedge sandal... pretty necklace.... shave my legs.... :)
YEP! i think it will work!
let's party.
all of these dresses are their website. (dressbarn.com)
i appreciate the affordability there compared to lots of places.
they are having a sale with dresses. (buy two save $10 i think?)
i really don't ever buy anything else there...it IS the DRESS BARN ya know?
dress barn did not pay me to post any of this.
i am not even going to link it because i don't want you to be confused.
i don't even know the girl who helped me check out today.
i just thought i would share with you that dress barn (moo) is not that bad.
i mean... it has lots of stuff that is just NOT for me... but there is good stuff in there too.
i am having lunch with mr. duerksen today. hubba hubba.
this has been a recurring theme in my life this year.
i would like to stand in front of that wall. the cake looks a little... cardboard-ey. but if i had to eat cake while stood in front of that beautiful wall...i would do it.
well.... i did it! it is hard to believe that i actually have done 13.1 miles. but it's TRUE!!
whoop whoop!
let me recap the weekend as it went down.
on friday, mr. duerksen left with four of my kids for a bball tournament out of town. so to begin my girls weekend i got a full 24 hours ALONE. um...yeah...that rocked! then...craig accidentally took my car keys so i couldn't even leave my house and you know what? it was such a blessing. i HAD to stay home and just be alone. ahhhhhh.
i did laundry, cleaned the chicken's box and watched crazy stupid, Love. (i love that movie!)
:)
saturday morning i put on my favorite shirt to bring good vibes my way.... ha!
my friends picked me up since i had no car. and we took off for our road trip! as usual... talk talk talk all the way there.
we picked up our packets with our bib inside it and shopped the expo a little. i bought sporty sunglasses...you know i needed them after all that fashion wear all winter. i hate the way the sport sunglasses look. so much. but i can wear them with my hat so it was needed.
they had this wall with the names of all of the people who died in the OKC bombing. the people the race was honoring. the first 168 bib numbers were given to them. it was emotional.
one of the best parts of marathon training is getting "CARB LOAD" the week of the race. and believe me... i did.
we went back to our hotel and right to bed. our wake up time was 4:00 AM. oy veh. i slept terrible as expected and leaped out of bed at the alarm. my roommate was pretty surprised by that. :)
we geared up with all our running stuff...gummy energy chews, wipes, kleenex, money (? we didn't know??), body glide, hair ties, hats, sunglasses, our bib numbers, ipods, phones and layers. we waited in the cool air for 35 minutes for the "every 15 minutes" shuttle that was suppised to be there at 4:30. blah.
then headed to a sunrise service at The Survivor Tree. again... emotional.
it's hard to see but that is because it was completely dark outside...it was 5:30 AM. we sang worship songs... Bless the Lord Oh My Soul and Amazing Grace were too hard to even sing. i was too choked up. i just closed my eyes and listened.
the pastor read from Jesus Calling and it was just so appropriate.
we made a stop at gear check.
(use gear check if you do a race... super easy and convenient)
we made one last pit stop... porta potties....gross.
then we found our pace group and waited. with 10,000 other people. they had 168 seconds of silence for those who died in OKC. i cried. and prayed. i was getting VERY nervous with all the unknowns... can i do this? am i safe? what if i get hurt? what if i fall? you know... all that stuff that Satan loves to put in your mind when big things are happening. i texted craig and kimberlee. i needed one last boost of love before i took off. they gave it to me. :)
some of my friends are conscience of their time when they run. these were free tattoos you could put on to know your pace. i was not remotely interested. i can only do what i can do at that moment. not anyone else's time.
the gun went off and we stood still for a looooong time because we were SO far back in the line 14 minutes after the gun went off we crossed the start line and began our first half marathon!
and it was fun!
there was loud music. people in their driveways all along the way. some had water... some had beer.... donuts... signs... all SO SWEET!
then the hills began. geez louise. there were so many hills on this course. we didn't train for that. but we did it. i mean come on....LOOK AT THAT HILL!!!
and that wasn't even the bad hill that everyone told us about.
the sun was coming up as we came through this tunnel. it was beautiful light... i wished i had my big camera. (and that i was not running... ha)
firefighters were all through the race. which made me tear up every time we came up on them. they were sweating like crazy walking with all that gear on... what amazing men!
we ran right past the capital building. that was really cool. and the sun was just behind it... GORGEOUS.
we hit the halfway mark and decided on taking a picture. try # 1 try #2 we were honestly smiling.
i repeated to myself so many times "God's spirit is with you" "present your body as worship" and "Glorify God with your body"
i made it 9.5 miles before walking!! that is AMAZING. i had never run more than 8 miles before that... so i had my personal best that day.
around mile 11 i was feeling a little delirious. and i said to my friend "have you seen Taledega Nights?" and i quoted this line.
i know i know. ricky bobby and carl naughton jr. are complete blasphermors through that entire movie. but... i quoted it because as i was dragging and weak..
i said "well....i am picturing my jesus in running shorts and nike frees...running beside me"
we giggled a bit and decided Jesus probably would have been way faster than me.
i walked a bit, ran a bit, walked a bit and then at mile 12 an older man on the sides controlling traffic, looking like morgan freeman, leaned in towards me and did a quiet clapping and said quietly
"let's go. let's go. run. you can do it. let's go"
and it was so quiet that i just listened to him.
i ran.
and suddenly there was the finish line way up ahead!!
i turned to my friend and said "i am so glad you made me do this! THANK YOU so much!"
i meant it. it was such an awesome morning!
i took out my headphones and took it all in. people were all cheering and screaming for the runners. it was so cool. big races are such a positive atmosphere! every runner feels like a rockstar.
and there i was. done. THIRTEEN MILES. 2:46:48 it's not fast but i don't care one single bit. i did it. (nice glasses.....)
after we caught our breath, regrouped, ate oranges, bagels and bananas to refuel, we headed to the memorial again.
MANY people ran for those they lost in the OKC bombing. the memorial had all kinds of sites like this.
we made it to the shuttles.
i was beginning to feel sick.
then i got sick.
and i was miserable.
my body was in full-on-freak-out mode.
it was not pretty.
my friends let me sleep for awhile and after an hour and a half i was better.
i rallied.
i ate a quick lunch and then it was time for massage.
it's what we do. we run hard and then we go to the spa. the best way to run a race. period.
then dinner and a DELICIOUS drink to celebrate! i am so proud of all of us!!
we trained hard for months. with 15 kids between the four of us...and all of our jobs...and busy lives...
