Skeletons in My Closet

Throughout my grad school years, I collected a lot of clothes. Sure, I'm a girl, I like to shop. But I was also a lazy grad student who hated to drag her butt (and her dirty clothes) to the laundromat and sit there for hours while her clothes were washed and dried. I've luckily moved onto bigger and better things. Well, sort of. Even though my current apartment is about the size of my first apartment in grad school, it has a washer/dryer combo, which is what made me rent this apartment in the first place (along with central AC, but that's another story). So, I had all these clothes, but there was no reason not to just wash my clothes weekly, unlike the one every two or three week trips to the laundromat.

Not only did I have way too many clothes, but... they're too big on me. They were all Lane Bryant or Old Navy Size 20 Plus or XXL. Nice clothes, dress clothes. I have about four suits that I wore on job interviews and at conferences. Some of these clothes (I am ashamed to admit this) still had tags on them. It worked out well that my mom was here this weekend, because usually, I hand off my "fat" clothes to my cousin's wife, who is about the same size as what I used to be. Also, MizFit inspired me to get rid of them (though she hates using the phrase "fat clothes", but I believe in calling a spade a spade) because, if they hang around, that'll just be the un-motivation I need to let go of my progress. So I did. I went through ALL my clothes in my closet. One huge Rubbermaid tub and two copy paper boxes later, this is what my closet looked like:

Half empty! I only have one suit left, that grey one in front... and it's a summer suit, so it got me through Spain and it'll get me through my last conference at a size 14 next week. I have plenty of pants, most of which are too big on me, but are still wearable until I move down to a size 12. I figure having an emptier closet will just give me more room for my sexy heels collection. Did I show you the HOT divorcee shoes I bought for my hearing??

Yes, readers, that is a FOUR inch heel. They look gorgeous. I wore them with a black pencil skirt on Monday to my first class, and yesterday I wore them with black dress slacks. I am in love with these shoes. I don't care how much my feet hurt after a 75 minute lecture. The fact that I can stand and walk in four inch heels (again, something I couldn't do when I was at my heaviest) brings a smile to my face. And yes, these puppies are so being brought to Boston for the conference next week for when I see my dissertation chair and most of my old grad faculty at our annual reception. I haven't seen these folks since April 2006 (see that before picture? yup, pretty much on that day) and I can't wait to see them now!!