christmastime adventures

so much happened last week, it's unbelievable! It's also likely to be fairly uninteresting to most everyone else. But it should at least provide me with enough to post about for the next couple days.

For instance, I had the opportunity to meet up with my roomate from my senior yr in college while she was in town visiting family. We went to the MOA, of course (because it's the closest thing, and where better to spend time after Christmas than with mobs of other people?)

Here's a hint - if you have to go to the Mall sometime during a weekend-like timeframe, go before noon. We met at 10, there were lots of parking spots, it wasn't too awfully crowded. By the time we left around 12:30, there were at least 2 levels of the ramp closed and lines all the way up. I was pretty happy to have missed that party. I really don't like that MOA is the closest and most convenient thing to my house in the way of shopping and movies. It doesn't much help knowing that Southdale is generally just as crowded, at least in the movie theatre, and just as expensive, so it's not worth traveling extra miles for no benefit at all.

Anyway.

I had needed a pair of jeans, and figuring that things might be going on sale, we went to get me some jeans. Now, ask just about any woman, and you will learn that shopping for jeans is near to the most evil thing on earth (tho shopping for skirts is getting up there for me lately). I was fortunate enough to stumble upon pretty much the perfect pair of jeans while on our honeymoon, and have since been able to circumvent the need to try on endless pairs of jeans while losing hope that something exists that would actually fit me. At the GAP, they sell a Long and Lean style jean that has served me very well, I've owned several pair now; they always fit, and always look good. For this reason, I am willing to pay GAP prices for this simple and blessed convenience.

I've noticed at the GAP over the last couple years that they seem to have been messing about with their womens' sizes. Somehow magically, even tho I have been staying pretty close to the same weight over the last couple of years, I am fitting into smaller sizes of GAP clothing. Not that I'm really complaining, but it does strike me as odd. Knowing this, I was set to try on a couple pairs of jeans to make sure I was in the right size before I bought them. I tried on one size smaller than the pair I had worn into the store, and they weren't quite right. I ended up 2 sizes smaller, which is definitely not a pants size that I wear from any other store.

Again, I'm not really complaining, but it does strike me as a bit odd. I guess I always figured it's some sort of ploy by the GAP to have women buy only their clothing because they'll feel better for being able to fit into the smaller sized clothes. Any other theories? Are there any other stores that do this?