jeans

Pants.

May I just rant about pants for a second? I have two pairs of pants – one brown, one beige – that I wear to work, neither of which are particularly flattering or nice. I mean, they’re okay, I guess. In terms of the workplace, they’re only a step above jeans by virtue of the fact that they’re not jeans. I’m always relieved when Friday arrives, because I feel justified in wearing jeans to work on Fridays, though I’ll sometimes wear them to work during the week, too. In addition to the brown and beige pants, I also have two pairs of black pants that I consider to be “work” pants. They aren’t great-looking, either (one is a pair of cords, and the other is a weird pair of black jeans, which I consider to be nice enough to qualify as not-jeans). All four pairs of pants are uncomfortable in one way or another. I’m most comfortable wearing regular jeans or leggings; I’ll actually put on leggings once a week more often than I will the black jeans. During an average five-day work week, I’ll rotate through them… the brown, beige, black, leggings or weird black jeans, and regular jeans on Fridays.

My ridiculous angst over pants is due to the fact that I HATE SHOPPING FOR PANTS. I know that it wouldn’t hurt to invest a little in my work wardrobe, but it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm when I’d rather go to the dentist than go shopping for pants. If my work attire could be anything I wanted, I’d go in work-out/athletic clothing. I do, in fact, have one pair of flowy black athletic pants in some kind of stretchy spandex-blend that I can get away with wearing to work. Unfortunately, they’re old and worn-out to the point where they’ve developed a pill issue.

You can understand, then, that when my eyeballs wandered over an ad for “yoga-style pants for the office” the other day, I clicked on the link with high hopes:

I immediately honed in on the pair I would order. I know what I like. I would get the boot-flare cut in black:

And look at that! They’re beautiful, and they’re only $79.20, because they’re 10% off! WHAT A STEAL.

I partially went through the process of ordering them, just to see. Ground shipping, the least expensive shipping option, is $6.95, bringing the pre-tax subtotal to $86.15. Add an additional $5.60 for (California) sales tax, and these pants cost $91.75.

In my view, it’s a cruel joke to make comfy, work-appropriate yoga pants and advertise them for $80.00. I mean, I just can’t. And this is one of my issues with shopping for work clothing: I’m willing to throw eighty bucks down for some things, but pants aren’t one of them.

I don’t like to spend money on clothing. I’m guilty of spending more than I should on things like skin care products, perfumes, concert tickets and food (on high-quality groceries, and on eating out), and I’ll splurge on a pedicure every once in a while, mainly to get the lower leg and foot massage. I’m not a clothes-shopping person. I’m not a jewelry person or a shoe person, either. I do like bags, but not expensive ones. I like Target, the Goodwill, Ross, Marshall’s, and it’s just painful shopping for pants in those places. The very idea of flipping through a hundred pairs of pants that all look the same (except that they’re not) leaves me cold.

There are other, random places, sure. One store in the mall I venture into every once in a while is Charlotte Russe, because I usually find things there that I like, and often, those things that I find are on the clearance rack. And I like to get jeans at Old Navy (when they’re having a sale)… Old Navy and Target.

I still have many of the dresses and skirts I habitually wore to work a decade ago, but I’m not into wearing them anymore, for some reason. Not only that, but there’d be a strategic issue with wearing skirts to work now: I sit on a physio/balance ball instead of on a chair, and my desk doesn’t have a “modesty panel.” My desk is out in the open, facing people walking into that area. Are you getting a visual here? You know how I’m prone to embarrassing incidents at work? Yeah. That would totally happen to me. So, pants. No crotch shots. PANTS.

While I love the idea of these “Black Dress Pant Yoga Pants (Boot-Flare) $79.20 $88 (10% Off),” there’s just no way I’m spending a total of $91.75 on ONE pair of pants when I could get several from any of the cheaper places for that same price. I guess I know what I’m doing one weekend in the near future.

Here’s what I’m wearing to work today:

FRIDAY!

Happy Friday!

Scene: It’s mid-morning, and we’re in this café in Romans. There’s a thick layer of snow piled on the roof of our truck and the temperature is cold enough to keep it from melting, but the sky is clear. After our coffee, we’ll wander purposefully through the day until we arrive at the movie theatre in Valence for an afternoon showing of Les Miserables, which we’ve been waiting to see since September. It’ll be our first time going to the movies in Valence.

We leave the café, get in the truck. When we turn right into the first round-about, the pile of snow on the roof breaks and falls dramatically onto the windshield in two loads – rumble thud, thud! – making us laugh as we catch the startle reactions in each other’s faces. Callaghan clicks on the windshield wipers, and we watch the blades push and sweep away the clumps of snow. It hadn’t snowed in Romans, but now the round-about is dusted with the snow we brought down from the mountain. You’re welcome!

It was that kind of day, low-key and full of whimsical surprises. At the end of it, I realized that I’d accidentally put on Callaghan’s jeans; all day long, I couldn’t understand why they were so huge on me. Typical! I fail at getting dressed! Callaghan made me laugh. Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables made me cry. (Her ability to evoke emotion with the depth of her performance gifts astonishes me. Now I want to see Rachel Getting Married again.)

We had dinner at home. Callaghan put a glass vase of fresh flowers on the counter and cooked dinner for me, and it was fabulous. I am lucky.