My Addiction
The first step to finding the solution to a problem is to first admit that you have one.

I have a problem. An addiction. It's very serious.

I'm addicted to cargo pants.

But not the ones from the annoying Old Navy commercials.

Whoever invented cargo pants is a magnificent genius. This person is my hero. Comfortable pants that look great AND have lots of pockets for stuff, sometimes even with a compartment the perfect size for a tube of lipstick. It's brilliant.

I have several pairs of cargo pants, the cute ones that fit my hips nicely, sit low on my waist, flare at the bottom, and look fabulous when I wear flip-flops with my toenails painted. They are so comfortable. If I could wear them all the time, I would. Even to sleep.

This weekend I had a very specific shopping mission. I had to find something to wear to a wedding. Just a nice blouse to go with a skirt, or perhaps a cute dress. Something appropriate for an afternoon wedding, not being sure if something I already had in my closet would work.

I only went shopping because one of my favorite shopping places was having a major sale, so I decided to take the opportunity to see if I could find wedding appropriate attire on sale. If I find something, great. If not, I'd probably be able to make something else work. It's one of those places that is only good for shopping when they have sales because everything in the store is otherwise way overpriced. But when you can get something there on sale, you've scored big time. I only shop sales, as a rule anyway.

So I went, and I shopped. One store, and one store only. Before I went into the store I gave myself a lecture on the purpose of this trip: wedding. Nothing else. No superfluous shirts, shoes, jeans, or cargo pants. Especially no cargo pants. If it can't be worn to a wedding, run away from it.

I wandered the store and found a few wedding-esque possibilities to try on. Then, I discovered the sale rack of cargo pants . . . (insert Homer Simpson drooling gurgle here)

Fortunately there were only a few pairs of cargo pants on the rack, so I figured it would be harmless to take a quick look. Usually in the midst of a sale anything my size has already been long gone. I was pretty sure I would come up empty handed, and I could move on without having to wonder at the possibility of cargo pants.

But, the first pair of cargo pants that I grabbed was, yep, my size. Uh-oh.

Well, I might as well try them on. I have wedding-ish stuff to try on, anyway, so what's the harm in checking out the cargo pants, too? Just for fun. I'm so not buying them.

Of course, these pants were the pants I'd been waiting to see on sale all season. Although I'd totally forgotten about them until I saw them again on the sale rack. WAY over-priced until now, but definitely very cute. Admitedly, I only half-hoped they didn't fit.

I headed to the fitting room and began trying on the clothes. Everything was thumbs down, not going to work, shouldn't buy it.

Except the on-sale, waited all season, look what a find I stumbled upon, cargo pants.

DANGIT!!

As I stood admiring myself in the pants in the mirror, I tried to talk myself out of it. But it really was quite a good deal. They were 50% off! And I looked good . . . .

Emphasizing to myself how much money I was saving on the pants since I wasn't paying full price for them, I congratulated myself on such a good find, and for the patience to wait all summer before purchasing the pants. I mean, it was almost like the store was paying me half the price of the pants to take the pants away for them, right?

Discarding the wedding attire hopefuls that weren't acceptable, I quickly ignored the fact that I had given myself strict instructions not to buy cargo pants, and that my mission for the day was wedding attire.

Alas, it seemed I ended my shopping trip without satisfying my wedding fashion need, and I had somehow completely unintentionally, absolutely accidentally purchased another pair of cargo pants.

Oops.

Albeit, in a different color than any of my other ones.

Are we sure I can't wear cargo pants to an afternoon wedding???

C.T.