Forward March - Monthly Favorites

March has been a great month for me. I'm making progress on my health, finally, after what feels like forever. I'm working on getting back into a routine so that I can prep for my return to work. To be perfectly honest, these past months have been more about what my body is doing rather than my makeup or beauty. I swear, I did some work on my eyebrows and felt like I cut down a national forest. Here's some of my lifesavers this month.

1. Planner - Now I had every intention on making a bullet journal. I had a layout planned out and colored pens HOWEVER comma, one of my side effects is shaking like a chihuahua, so the lines came out terrible and I couldn't stand it so I bought a different one. I figured with it only being March, I can get away with a couple blank months. This one is one I've had before and it's the best because it's pretty, has plenty of space to write on and tabs! Easy organization never hurt anyone.

2. Lip Balm - with Spring coming in and some bouts of dry mouth, my lips have taken some damage and because my siblings are awesome, I have a nifty little 3 pack of medcated Blistex. One to keep on me, one for my bag, and an extra for whichever I lose first because let's be honest. One or more of them will disappear at some point....not proud of it, but it's the truth.

3. Clinique Moisturizer - So with everything happening I needed to start working on skincare and I feel that I'm going to for some time. The meds I'm on are strong and I've seen the toll it's taken on my skin and whatnot. I bought a mini size version of this moisturizer from Ulta on a whim because my mom said to. She's trusted Clinique for years and for good reason. Using even just a little bit of this has worked wonders on my face which has started to feel like sandpaper. So hearing that the 21 Days of Beauty is on right now is great because the entire kit that this moisturizer comes in has an intro set that will be on sale. So my calendar and alarm are set so I can get on this sale and not feel guilty about it.

4. Water bottle - with all the medications I'm on, I am drinking a lot more water than I had even before I got sick. I've had a lot of dry mouth from the illness, the allergies making me sleeping with my mouth open. So I found a water bottle, on clearance, that has a nifty filter so I can fill it with water from the tap rather than buying bottled. It's also a whole liter so there's my drinking goal.

5. Good RX - I had seen the commercials but never really gave it much thought until my mom gave it a shot while in line at the pharmacy. Literally no sign up, no info other than a zip code for the pharmacy list and up popped a coupon for my most expensive medication. On top of that, they also have a free app so what ever happens to me now, you know I'm gonna be lookin for discounts.

Looking at now, it seems that this seems simple and it is. Simple becomes staple and we gotta start somewhere. I feel like I have as clean a slate as I'm going to get.

On A Scale of 1 - Even, I Can't Even

This past weekend I can't begin to tell you how excited I was. My boyfriend, knowing the nerd I am, decided we should go to a sing-a-long movie viewing of Pitch Perfect. Talk about aca-awesome. Not to mention it's our first trip of the year so it makes up for the few bad days I've already had. That night was nice, we ate, we drank, I sang my heart out and quoted nearly every word as did the rest of the room. Come to think of it I'll probably have a post about it a little later but for now.....

So the next day was just easy. Window shopped and did a little actual shopping, a little more than I should have, but then I ran into these at Forever 21. Stopped me dead in my tracks and now here we are.

My first initial thought was, "Is this some kind of joke?" I hoped and prayed it wasn't just on the plus size end and thankfully it wasn't. But honestly, how appealing are these? When did this become a thing and me apparently not get the memo?? They had a manikin or two dressed up in them where they tried to make it work and I give them kudos for trying but the only time I like wearing pants with an elastic waist band is in bed or at the gym. I know I'm lazy but this just takes it to a new level that is just beyond me.

I remember when I was younger and sometimes the only thing we could find to fit me were pants like this. But in my now, then, small town didn't have any resources let alone internet that wasn't dial up. Plus size clothes weren't where they are now and online shopping was all but the devil trying to get my parents card number and to top it off, dial-up. Nuff said. But the point is that I remember never feeling comfortable in them while everyone else in my class were wearing 'hip huggers'. I was already teased and ignored for being too smart and pants like this didn't help my twelve year old self to fit in.

Maybe it's just me and my bad memories of this but in my mind, fashion has come to far and yet things like this still make me feel like we are trying to be put back in our place. All I have to say about that is go ahead and try.

My Relationship With Old Navy

So if you haven't heard about it yet as you may be super stoked that we landed on a comet, another store has caused many a ruffled feather with the plus size community. That would be Old Navy and surprisingly enough, I'm not surprised.

Here's one of the articles about it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-old-navy-is-stirring-up-a-plus-sized-gaffe/

I used to be nearly religious when it came to Old Navy jeans. As a pre-teen beginning puberty, I was not only a bit bigger but I was awkward and tall and only got taller with age. The only jeans I could find to fit were Old Navy jeans. They were great. The length was awesome, they were sturdy enough to handle years of the chub rub. The quality of the denim was amazing.

Fast forward to here and now, I couldn't find my size in a store if I searched their entire warehouse. I've tried buying online from them (there isn't a local store anyway so I have to buy online) and was given the wrong size a couple times. Don't get me started on the returns. The correct size jeans hardly ever fit right and the tops that I have, I try not to wear too often because they aren't the most flattering. They tend to fit loose and just get looser to the point that it looks frumpy but are nifty when I'm sick. So I have a hard time believing that they have a team of people attempting to make their plus size women clothing the most flattering and 'figure enhancing' as possible.

It's every store's excuse that plus size clothes need more material or in their case, design, However comma, I have always had a hard time believing that straight size clothes are at least $15 cheaper than plus whether they are men's or women's. They can just say that they are charging us because they can. Look at every other retailer that offers their version of plus size clothes. We can't try them on because they are only offered online. There still isn't much of a market for us so the price is controlled whether the quality is great or terrible. We are forced to trust them based on their straight sizes only and the fact that they have the 'option' of plus size clothes.

Old Navy is just another store that falls into the bin. It may work for some but then there's the rest of us. To them, we are not lucrative enough to have in their stores. So many stores just don't want the public to see us in their stores. I've already made peace with my lost relationship with Old Navy. We used to be so right and then the seams unraveled.

I wish that I could be a bit more outraged about this like a lot of other people, but I'm not surprised this happened and happens all the time. Part of it may be because I don't shop there much anymore or that I've found other brands that work for me a lot more than they do. I'd rather shift my focus to see how well Rue 21 does with their new plus line. I'm just hoping the store in my area will have it while expecting it not to have room for the plus size line. Call me a pessimist, but that's sadly our reality.