Okay, so I didn\u2019t actually cry, but I was pretty bummed.<\/p>\n

Every woman knows that the most wonderful time of the year is when you can redeem your city cash at New York and Company. Thanks to my need to look like an actual person when I leave my house, I managed to rack up $105 in city cash\u2013or, seven $15 off coupons to update my closet with.<\/p>\n

I was all set to get the things I had seen in the store window and on the NY &Co website. I visited the three story store on Lexington Avenue, which just happens to be on my route to work (all a part of their evil plot to take all my money!) during my lunch break. Blouses, dresses, and jackets filled my arms as I made my way to the fitting room.<\/p>\n

I had visions of being polished and put together. No one would be able to tell that I had a baby a few months ago. I\u2019d arrive in the office, chic and fashionable.<\/p>\n

Except\u00a0 the sweaters I had grabbed hung on me like a wet paper bag. The sassy red dress? Fit really weird. And that fly striped number? Wasn\u2019t happening. It was around that time my eyes started sweating.<\/p>\n

It hurt that nothing I had picked out fit me. I had gone through all three levels of New York and Company, from the basement on up, and ended up leaving with nothing but a bad attitude. I seriously considered giving away all my city cash.<\/p>\n

After having two babies, my body isn\u2019t what it used to be. Things are arranged a little differently than they used to be. There are stretch marks where there used to be smooth skin. I never knew it was possible to feel fat and skinny at the same time. My belly still looks like there\u2019s a baby somewhere in there, and my skinny legs have remained skinny. It\u2019s hard to shop when you\u2019re feeling more frustrated with your body as an adult than you did as a gangling teenager.<\/p>\n

Lucky for me, my supervisor is also a New York and Company fiend (she had more coupons\u00a0than I did!). She convinced me to go back to the store and make the most of my city cash. As a mother of three herself, she knows a thing or two about after baby bodies and the feelings that come with them. She also knows how to shame you for wasting good coupons.<\/p>\n

I returned to the store, setting a budget for my fall fashion. I gathered up another armful of shirts, jackets, jeans, and skirts to try on, resolving to get something I liked. I figured out that everyone\u2019s got some kind of body issue, whether it\u2019s skinny legs or a gap in their teeth or whatever. Tyra Banks had skinny legs. They called Kimora a giraffe. So maybe I\u2019ll never be a supermodel, but I can treat the sidewalk like a runway. Heck, Beyonce wears Spanx, too.<\/p>\n

This time, I left New York and Company with an even sassier leather panel dress (thanks to my girls who I texted pics to who told me it was good), blouses, and another cute necklace. I managed to spend each and every single one of my city cash coupons\u2013and then some. Now, it\u2019s my husband\u2019s turn to cry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, so I didn\u2019t actually cry, but I was pretty bummed. Every woman knows that the most wonderful time of the year is when you can redeem your city cash at New York and Company. Thanks to my need to look like an actual person when I leave my house,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[73],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/NY-Co.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4582,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/4582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}