![]() I used to have a love/hate relationship with Target, the American chain store. The main reason I disliked Target was their lack of plus size clothing options. In the USA, plus size is what we call size 18 and up. The plus size section in Target used to be crammed together with the maternity section. I always found this irritating and degrading. It was as if Target was saying if you're fat, either because you have a baby growing inside you, or because you've eaten too many Krispy Kream donuts, your clothing options were sad, limited, and shoved together in a tiny corner of the store. As a plus size customer, I did not feel appreciated or wanted by Target.
For about 5 years, I boycotted Target and removed it from my radar. But then something interesting happened. On my Instagram feed, I started seeing photos and videos about Target's summer designer extravaganza. Starting a couple years ago, every June, Target collaborates with a designer and creates a line of very pretty and affordable clothing. And the good news? The clothing is available in plus sizes! Also, the price of each piece of clothing is the same whether you buy a size 8 or a size 18. This is big news because many stores who carry regular and plus sizes charge an extra $10-15 if you buy the plus size garments. This type of price gouging is extremely uncool. I ended up purchasing six dresses from the Target summer designer collection. Below, are a few photos. ---------- Hashtags: #Target #PlusSize #Clothing #DesignerCollaborations #Dresses
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![]() In 2018, I received a call from my mom late on a Sunday. Mom told me my dad had passed away. Dad had been ill for a few years, but he was doing okay. He lived in a residential home in a suburb of Phoenix that was turned into an upscale care facility for the elderly and people in hospice care. After my mom shared the news with me, I logged on to the Southwest Airlines website and purchased a ticket to fly from Albuquerque to Phoenix early the next morning. Next, I called my manager and told her I'd be out of the office for at least a week. I had confided in my manager that my dad was ill and she was incredibly supportive when I let her know I'd be away from work for awhile. She asked for my permission to send an email to the department and a few close colleagues I'd worked with over the years. The email was just to let everyone know I'd be out of the office due to a death in the family. I gave my manager my approval, and thanked her for being thoughtful. One of the people my manager emailed was my best friend, who, upon receiving the email about my dad's passing, called to say how sorry she was for my family. My best friend (let's call her Lisa) asked for my mom's address in Arizona so she could send flowers and a card. My two sisters and I met up in Phoenix on Monday to take care of the million little things that need taking care of when someone dies. My mom was frail and in shock so we encouraged her to rest while we handled everything from getting a death certificate to calling government agencies to inform them that Dad was deceased. Every day after running errands related to my dad's death, I'd arrive at my mom's house and eagerly dart inside and ask which flowers were from Lisa. And my mom would say, "Sorry, honey, nothing arrived from Lisa. But Aunt Juanita sent the most lovely bouquet of peace lilies. And my neighbor Phyllis brought over a tuna casserole." As the "no flowers from Lisa" saga continued, I found myself full of rage towards her. In hindsight, and after a lot of therapy, I understand now that the rage I was feeling was partly due to the fact that I had just lost my father. I was knee-deep in grief. But in the moment, I was furious that Lisa hadn't followed through with sending flowers. After spending a week in Phoenix, I felt the urge to return home and begin grieving my dad's death in my own space. I was missing my cats, my bed, and the creature comforts that one takes for granted until they don't have them any more. I ended up taking a second week off from work to rest and catch up on things. When I was finally able to sleep through the night and eat some soup and crackers, I calmed down quite a bit and I talked to my therapist about my anger regarding Lisa. My therapist suggested I simply ask Lisa why she did not follow through on sending flowers or a card. So, I decided to call Lisa and confront her about her lack of action. Lisa's response is one I will never forget. She said, "I didn't know where to buy a stamp for a card, and flowers are expensive." Hearing her lame excuses made me seethe with anger. How the hell could a fifty year old woman not know where to buy a stamp? This was so hurtful, not to mention ridiculous. What Lisa failed to mention was that she had met a guy on Match.com and was in the process of falling in love. In the hierarchy of important things in Lisa's life, I had fallen to the bottom. I told her I could no longer be her friend. She had simply hurt me too deeply. The big lesson in all of this for me is that true friendships are hard to come by. And true friendships are tested in moments of crisis. It breaks my heart that I lost a friend over a measly postage stamp. ---------- Hashtags: #friendship #death #communication #flowers #therapy #Phoenix #sympathycard #anger Do you shop at Trader Joe's? I do, and I love that place. Generally, I go to TJ's for specialty items, such as yogurt, carrot juice, and cheese. In other words, it's not where I go to get my essential, weekly groceries. I view shopping at Trader Joe's as a special treat.
In any grocery store I visit, I look forward to perusing the cheese aisle. Trader Joe's has some awesome cheese products, including a nice variety of goat cheese, one of my favorite cheeses. TJ's Goat's Milk Creamy Cheese is probably my favorite product in the whole store. Due to Covid, globalization, and supply chain issues, Trader Joe's has been out of Creamy Goat Cheese for nearly six weeks. That's an eternity. A store employee told me the cheese was stuck in France waiting to be shipped to the USA. When TJ's was out of Creamy Goat Cheese, I tried to find a replacement or a new product to get hooked on, but it didn't work out for me. Nor for my cats. Yes, that's right, my cats go ape shit for little licks of Creamy Goat Cheese. This bad habit started one day when my cat, Babette, woke up from a nap just as I sat down to have a Creamy Goat Cheese snack. Babette jumped up on my lap and smelled the cheese and licked a little dollop off my cracker. To Babette, the goat cheese must have tasted like Crack because now she can be sound asleep but when I open the container of goat cheese, she awakens from the deepest sleep and comes running my way! What this turned into is an unfortunate ritual in which Babette wakes me up around 4:00 AM every morning, begging for the cheese. And like a fool, I drag my butt out of bed and give it to her. I've tried ignoring her, shutting her out of my bedroom, and telling her in a harsh tone that the 4:00 AM cheese ritual has got to stop. But Babette is relentless. It's easier to give her the damn cheese than fight about it. And now, the cheese saga has turned into a new blog for me. Ah, the things we do for love. ---------- Hashtags: #TraderJoes #cheese #goatcheese #cats #globalization #supplychain #blog |
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