For the Sake of Fashion

There are a few local annual events that make it to my calendar - Cayucos' Fourth of July celebration, Morro Bay's Kite Festival and city-wide yard sale day and Covering's Warehouse Sale. My dear friend Marissa introduced me to this natural wonder a few years ago and I've been hooked since. I expected to miss it this year because it's usually held in March and this year March was a little booked up.

This year the sale was held in a large warehouse space in downtown San Luis Obispo starting Tuesday April 29th. I wondered if I'd be able to go given my general responsibility to my seven week old son and the nagging cold that had migrated to my chest. No, I am woman, hear me roar, I will not be held down, I will survive (enter your girl-power mantra of choice). I bundled Wyatt up in the Maya wrap and headed into the sale. My first mistake was going to the sale within fifteen minutes of the opening. I have selective memory about certain things, forgetting that I'd made the same mistake the year before and hated that experience and that was minus a kid in tow. I hunkered down and began the tedious yet remarkably thrilling task of sifting through tables and racks of clothing at rock-bottom prices. In case you're curious about the lines carried at this sale, here's the list:

juicy, velvet, Puella, ella moss, 12th st, theory, vince, debbie katz, tricia fix, frenzii, c&c, l.a.m.b., mike and chris, june, humanity, charlotte, t-bags, alice and trixie, marc by marc jacobs, scanty, haviannas, malika, mstars, bobi, alternative apparel, LNA, nation, denim by humanity, seven, rock and republic, paige, joes, true religon, james,.... and for the guys ....humanity, joes, seven, rock and republic, true religion, ever, modern amusement, tailgate, james perse, rebel yell, arnold zimberg, george roth, alternative apparel, doma leather

My (or my bank account's) saving grace is the fact that the $279 jeans marked down to $50-75 just don't fit my butt. If they did, I'm afraid I might need to take on a second job to prepare for this sale. The other reality that helped me to not spend too much money this year is the dream of my body (mostly my tummy) being in a more toned condition in a few more weeks (or, let's be honest, months). These factors, however, did not save me from trying on several items of clothing in the large, communal space in the back of the warehouse in hopes of finding just the perfect $150 thing marked down to $10.

When I got into the dressing room, I could hardly see an open space to squeeze into. I finally noticed a sliver of floor space near the right side of the room and darted into it, telling the girl next to me, "I've got to lay this baby down." I proceeded to create a huge mound of clothes (you have no idea how many clothing items were strewn around the floor) near my sliver of a dressing area and gently laid Wyatt down in the middle of pile. The girl next to me was shocked, thinking that the "baby" I referred to was either myself or the gigantic stack of clothes hanging on my arm. As I tried things on, I couldn't help but notice the cutthroat atmosphere. I could hear girls say to other girls, "That makes your butt look big," and then proceed to grab the pair of pants so that they could buy them instead. Clothes were literally flying. I quickly decided to stand over Wyatt in an effort to make sure he didn't get trampled on by an over-eager shopper.

In that moment standing over my son, frantically (Why was I in such a rush? I don't know, I just was caught up in the frenzy.) trying on drastically price-reduced clothing items, I realized that I will do quite a bit for the sake of fashion.