Week 5, Day 5 - This old thing?

Week 5, Day 5 Outfit: BR pink v-neck knit top, BR black linen pants, Gianni Bini black heeled loafers.

Today, I'm sporting what might be one of the oldest articles of clothing in my closet...a shirt that I purchased back in 2002 (almost 8 years ago!) from (you guessed it!) Banana Republic. Putting on this shirt brings me back to the days of graduate school when I was living on a stipend and what my husband calls an excessive amount of student loans (of course he says that, as he's helping to pay them off - remember that "for richer or for poorer" part in the vows?). Even when I was a student, the shopping addiction was present. My friend Shelby and I used to joke that we were the poster girls of Student Loans - because, at the beginning of each semester, we'd head to the bursar's office to wait in line to pick up our fat checks from the government (meant to last us all semester, mind you), drive straight to the mall, and would leave several hours later holding overstuffed bags. And, naturally, we'd finish off our shopping sprees with a nice dinner that inevitably involved a high bar tab. Ahhh...such were the days - living it up even when we weren't working. Contrast that to my husband's "in my days" type stories where he lived off of ramen noodles, had several roommates, and wore t-shirts and torn jeans (which is not too far a cry from what he presently wears).

Funny how even articles of clothing can trigger nostalgia and remind me of a specific time period associated with the purchase of that item (you may recall me blogging in a previous post about the fact that I can pretty much remember when and where I bought each piece - I guess it's kind of easy when most of my clothes come from BR). When I bought this shirt, my now 8 yr. old nephew Ethan was still a baby, and I remember purchasing this right before heading south to Atlanta to visit him, my brother, and my sister-in-law. Each visit to Atlanta always included a trip to the nearby outdoor mall (where they, of course, had a Banana Republic - a well-stocked one I might add). I remember seeing the shirt I'm wearing today in many other colors at that store and fighting the urge to get one in each color. Since I did buy this item full-price, I was less inclined to give into the urge, and likely bought a few other sale items instead. Oh, those were the days! Actually, those were pre-Mikey days, when it was easy for me to steal away to the mall with my sister-in-law and spend hours shopping without worrying how bored my husband was sitting at the nearby Barnes and Noble reading his book. Oh, and those were the days before Ethan had his own agenda for our outings...as well as his since born sister, Reese...although you can bet that once Reese enters into her teen years, Aunt Lilly will be all about taking her out to shop! We'll likely need to start with Gap Kids.