Kohl's: A Coming of Age Shopping Experience

This year I will be working for a few hours in the afternoons at the wonderful school where I student taught.  This past weekend, my dad met up with me at Kohl's because apparently, you're never too old for back-to-school shopping.  If you know me, you know that I generally do not enjoy shopping or spending a lot of money on things.  While the money part wasn't an issue this time (thanks Mom and Dad!), I still like to hit up Kohl's because of their selection and cheapness.  For the same reasons, my other go-to place is Old Navy.  I'm not ashamed.

Anyway, the concept of "work clothes" is a bit of an issue for me, because historically, I have not had a job which required me to dress in your typical business attire.  To illustrate this, how about a short walk down memory lane:

In my first job out of college, I worked with a lot of great people and got about as fancy as this:

 

 (This was the official employee photo I was forced to take).

or this:

 

 (This photo was actually taken at a party in college, but I'm pretty sure I wore this same outfit to work the following year.  My seamless transition of party clothes to work clothes shows you just how craaaaazy I partied in college.  I'm pretty sure there's lemonade or something in that cup).

After that, I moved to the Dominican Republic for 6 months to work in a place where I frequently dressed like this:

or this:

 

But alas, 6 months in another country showed Dave what he was missing, so I had to come back home and act really charming for a week for him to propose.  My next job made me wear this:

 

(This photo was taken during a pre-workday 7:00 a.m. Starbucks date.  It was Dave's idea!  He's so dreamy).

By the next time I needed "work" clothes, I was already knocked up.  The awesome Lindsay gave me her maternity clothes, so that plus a few extra shirts got me through the fall semester of school!

(Note: after this photo, there were still 4 more weeks left of me getting huger).

ALL that to say, I needed to purchase some clothes for work!  This trip was a coming of age experience for me, because I realized for the first time that I am, in fact, old.  I started off uncertain of where to browse, because I went straight from shopping in the Juniors section to the Maternity section at Kohl's.  Now where should I go?! My internal dialogue was eye-opening.  I started off wandering around the Juniors section because "Hey, I'm really not that much bigger than I was before..."  I felt myself looking at clothes, then shouting in my head, "You're somebody's wife and mother, get out of here!"

So then I went to the grownups section...

Over the course of the trip I found myself thinking these things, which further proved my transition into being a woman of a certain age:

"Hmm, it's nice that these pants come up a little higher to camouflage some of the tummy pooch."

"I'll have to get an undershirt if I want to wear that."

"I just wish there were more shirts with 3/4 length sleeves."

"I think my mom might have this same shirt... oh well."

The last thought was the most shocking of them all, friends.  I guess since I'm already headed down this road I should go ahead and buy some cold cream and learn how to crochet...