FashBlog.com

By Christina VanGinkel

Every fall I go through the same routine. I attempt to shop for a comfortable coat that will get me through our chilly fall days and sunny warm winter afternoons. I always start the season out wearing last year's jacket, as I can never find exactly what it is I am actually hoping to find. This year, though I have been shopping for weeks already, I have yet to find the perfect one. I blame this partly on the fact that our temperatures have been well above average this year, and shopping with my whole heart into it just has not been happening. I also blame it on the fact that I rarely go clothes shopping and come home with what I originally went looking to buy. What I have found though, are several cardigans and button front shirts that I have absolutely fallen in love with. They are the kind that makes one think of being curled up in front of a fireplace while the snow rages outside. Several of them have what I refer to as a kangaroo style front pocket, or two separate deep pockets. Made of either fleece, or heavy knitted yarns, each looks warm enough to wear during the coldest months of the year, though I know that they would need to be worn with other layers for the frigid temperatures we do receive.

If you are the sort who often starts out shopping for one item, but comes home with something very different than what you went in search of, take heart, as I do this all of the time. If I am shopping for dress slacks, as I needed to do a few weeks back, I may come home with a pair, but chances are I will end up with a pair of jeans, or maybe even shorts or a set of pajamas. Why is it so hard to shop for what we need? In my own circumstances, it is because I am not particularly fond of clothes shopping to begin with. So, when I find something that does catch my interest, I am quick to purchase it, and I then lose track of what it is I am actually shopping.

Take for example a few weeks back when I needed a pair of new hiking boots. Living where we do, these are as much a necessity as a pair of dress shoes is for someone who works in an office. I started out the morning trying on several pair at a local outdoor store, one pair was even a good fit, and the price was not bad as they were having a sale. By the time I was done shopping, I had bought my youngest son a pair of hip boots for fishing, and forgot about the boots for myself. I ended up having to go back the next day.

I have decided that I need to make myself a list for clothes and apparel shopping the same way I do for grocery shopping. Some of us are just not cut out for shopping, and if there were a group to join for those whose minds wander when shopping for clothes, I would be the first in line to sign up for it!