Crusade to normal clothing!

It has been a few years since I've been able to shop in a regular clothing store that didn't have two sides to it. You know the stores I'm talking about right? The ones that say, "Fat chicks to the right and skinny to the left," as you walk through the door? Yeah, once upon a time I walked into one of them and the employee greeted me to let me know I was on the wrong side of the store. This particular store used to separate the sides between casual and dressy. She politely explained that plus sizes were now on the other side of the store. Yeah, you can guess how much that made my day. I'm sure she was being nice, but not a way to win over the customers. Anyhow, I went shopping last weekend with a friend and she dragged me into a store she shops at. I've never shopped there because it isn't a plus sized store and their clothing wouldn't flatter my figure at all. Anyhow, apparently this store goes up to a size 18. And apparently there is a difference between a size 18 and an 18W. See, I'm learning a lot. At one of my plus sized stores I'm a size 14/16. In this store I am a size 16/18 depending on the clothing and how I want it to fit me. Wasn't I surprised to try on a dress that was a size XL. No, not 1X because that is a plus size only type deal. This was a size XL and in their world it was a 16. Hey, isn't that the size I was when I got married? Heck yeah. I was a little heftier than I wanted to be on my wedding day but who isn't? I was tickled that the dress fit and looked pretty good. I was even more tickled to learn that the dress was on sale for $7.99!!!! I ended up getting the dress and 4 other tops for the bargain price of $36 and change! Whoooorah!!! Anyhow, here is the dress. The picture quality is never great and you can't see any of the detail on the dress. It wraps across my chest and has a cute ruffle down one side. So, no more plus size only stores for me!!! That is one heck of a milestone to hit :)