Dress the part

199 pounds

I write about a lot of important things on this blog—body issues, childhood obesity, healthy living—so it’s nice when I get the chance to write about something completely superficial.

And that thing is shopping.

Those of you who know me know that I take my shopping pretty seriously. I am an unabashed clothes horse. Part of the reason I love clothes is because I figured out a few years ago—as discussed in my What Not to Wear post—that flattering clothes that fit your body can make you look and FEEL beautiful no matter what your size.

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that I ended up talking about how much I love clothes at a party we had about a week and a half ago. And since I was talking with the young daughters of some of my coworkers, it shouldn’t be totally shocking—at least I don’t think it's totally shocking—that I ended up in the extra bedroom that doubles as my closet counting my dresses with a gaggle of girls.

It turns out that as of that night I had twenty-four dresses.

Yes, I said twenty-four dresses.

And I don’t mean dresses that I don’t wear or old dresses leftover from my two trips to prom or my three experiences as a bridesmaid. I’m not even including my wedding dress in that number.

No, I’m just talking about the dresses I wear on a regular basis—either when I go to work or when I go out on the weekends. Of that group—of the dresses that I wear regularly—there were twenty-four.

Until Wednesday, that is.

Because on Wednesday, I found another dress I simply had to have at Old Navy. It was a gorgeous violet-colored dress with a ruffle along the top and an empire waist.

That made twenty-five.

But on Wednesday night I decided I should check the Old Navy website just to make sure they didn’t have that dress in a better size. I have no problem telling you that the dress I bought in my regular size was a wee bit too big. It was so beautiful that I bought it anyway, but I thought maybe, just maybe, they’d have it in a smaller size online.

It turns out that they didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t come across yet another dress I loved.

And that made twenty-six.

It’s this twenty-sixth I want to tell you all about because when I find a good deal, I can’t resist telling other people about it.

This dress (pictured above) is, simply put, perfect. Just perfect. It’s adorable and easy to wear. And unlike most dresses these days, it comes to the knee, so when you sit down, it doesn’t sneak up your thigh like a teenage boy in heat. It also has little ruffle sleeves rather than being sleeveless. If you’re like me, you have become disgusted with how difficult it is to find a dress with sleeves, so finding one like this is a rare coup. And almost most importantly, it’s insanely comfortable. It’s made of cotton and feels like you’re wearing a nightgown. I mean, really, who could ask for me?

But here’s the clincher . . . it only costs $10.

Yes, $10!!!

You simply can’t beat that price. (And you don't have to if you click here.)

And in case you are worried that it won’t be flattering, let me tell you a little story . . . I wore this dress for the first time to a graduation party this past Saturday night, and when Dave and I were walking from the car to the party, a group of young men slowed down and . . . wait for it . . . whistled at me.

Yes, I said they whistled at me.

If that’s not worth ten bucks, I don’t know what is.