Day 86: New and Improved Clothes Shopping Without Mirrors

The last time I wrote about shopping without mirrors it had been a lonely affair.  Just me, a fitting room, and a disinterested saleswoman who's descriptive vocabulary was limited to saying "sure" when I asked her if I looked okay.  I managed to snag some sweet shirts, but the experience lacked the zest I typically enjoy from shopping.

That zest came roaring back last week, when I went shopping with my future mother-in-law, Sherry, who was visiting us for a week to attend Michael's graduation ceremony.  With two days to ourselves while Michael wrapped up some work at Stanford, we decided to embark on some shopping adventures.  Actually, it wasn't so much a decision as it was a destiny! When Sherry arrived at the Powell Street BART station, we couldn't even manage to walk home before noticing this scintillating sign, posted outside of the Union Square Anthropologie:

Anthropologie + Sale = YESSSS!!!!!  

We charged in, dropping off Sherry's luggage at the front cash wrap without slowing down on our race to the racks!  In a moment of bliss-enduced generosity, my future-mother-in-law said those beautiful words every young woman wants to hear, "If you find a top that you like, I'd love to buy it for you!"  IF I could find a top I like?  Hahahaha!  JACKPOT!!!  WHOOP WHOOP!  And so we proceeded.

Skilled hunter/gatherers that we are, it didn't take long before both of us had accumulated heavy armloads of potential purchases.  We travelled to separate-but-accross-from-eachother fitting rooms (sharing would be a bit weird, no?), and proceeded to try things on.  And that's when things started to get a lot more fun than my experience at ROSS.  Not only does Sherry have excellent taste, but she's also comfortable sharing her opinion.  This is priceless companionship when shopping for clothes without mirrors.  

I was trying on my first top - an olive-colored sequin-embellished sleeveless blouse with an attached matching scarf.  It was beautiful, but I couldn't tell if it fit right.  This was my uninspiring view:

Yeah... not exactly a view that instills confidence!

I called to Sherry from across the fitting room, to let her know I needed her opinion.  She asked me to wait a second and then emerged from her own room, looking like this:

Sherry, lookin' good!

No, seriously: We were wearing THE EXACT SAME TOP.  (I told you she's got excellent taste!)  And it looked great on her, don't you think? We had a good laugh, and she told me the top was flattering on me as well.  Hooray!

Well, we both kind of hit the jackpot that day.  Sherry bought several tops and a pair of great Joe's Jeans capris.  I left with 5 new tops - Sherry treated me to 2 of them! She said that she couldn't bear to buy one of the shirts without including a coordinating sweater.  (Note: This was NOT the typical mother-in-law behavior that my married girlfriends had warned me about.)  So, THANKS SHERRY!, not just for the sweet gift from Anthro, but for being such a fun shopping partner.  I hope you'll let me treat you some day!

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