Kale, Shopping for Clothes, Lunch.

And just what does the busy modern female professional do over lunch?

Probably it would be healthier to skip some calories and pursue vigorous exercise.Possibly, that would have the added benefit of allowing RantWoman to get more mileage out of some of her wardrobe that is looking both too tight and down at the tooth.

Right. RantWoman wants an excuse to aim for new clothes anyway. So, RantWoman went shopping and is hereby inviting readers along for another visit to planet RantWoman..

What this means in practice:
RantWoman is tall and a person of size, unfortunately not always the size she would prefer but willing to make an effort to maintain at least modest fashion standards.
The object of the game as far as RantWoman is concerned: get in, get out. Mind the budget. Meet RantWoman's requirements as far as size, length of garments, sleeves, inseams. Conform to RantWoman's preferences as far as fiber content, texture interest, color palette.

RantWoman was trying to throw out some junk mail and realized it is an advertisement for an online shopping option that promises to combine streams from several of RantWoman's favorite online shopping options.

RantWoman tore up some kale into the bottom of a bowl, added some of the potato soup she made the other day, set  the bowl into the microwave and set about at least filling her wish list if not also piling up discount coupons.

Notes from the online expedition: Go ahead and profile me, especially if it might make both of us happier.

RantWoman made a HUGE wish list. There is informational gold in there even though when RantWoman comes back to buy, she will buy much less.

RantWoman meant to be consistent about size selection but suspects that some misguided down arrow keys in the size combo box may have filled the wish list with some items in sizes she did not intend. Sigh. Check that when making final buying decisions.

Of COURSE RantWoman is going to head straight for the clearance section. RantWoman is happiest when the clearance section accesses the same options for expressing preferences about size, color, fabric, brand as the rest of the site. As long as RantWoman has the option of sorting from lowest to highest in price, RantWoman WILL in fact sometimes also spend more time on the non-clearance items.

Today RantWoman was pleased to note that some items that conformed well to her size and fabric preferences were listed as Buy one Get one Free. RantWoman found the combination of clothing that matches her preferences and Buy one Get one Free secductive: this meant that RantWoman's wish list filled with a whole bunch of items indicating that RantWoman is in fact willing to pay a little more per item to get what she really wants!

RantWoman likes jumpers; this year, jumpers do not seem to be in. Sigh.

RantWoman buys dresses and jumpers less often than other things but becomes annoyed when there is no tall size option or when a site keeps trying to sell RantWoman things that are less than 50" long and is happier when lengths are 52-54."

RantWoman will ALWAYS look for a tall pants / jeans / leggings section. RantWoman prefers to reward sites that make this easy to find.

What RantWoman actually does as far as capris, leggings, and even skirts is a little variable but RantWoman easily becomes irritated when she has to go to the trouble to check lengths and learns that the site keeps trying to interest her in items that are TOO SHORT. This goes both for pants and for blouses / tops / sweaters.

Do not even try to persuade RantWoman that something is a tunic unless it is at least 34" long. Once in awhile RantWoman can be seduced by something only 32" long, but PLEASE do not overdo this.

RantWoman is in fact looking for a new coat or jacket. RantWoman will only buy something that is at least as long as or longer than the clothing she wears under it.

For outerwear, RantWoman considers sewn-in reflectivitiy a HUGE bonus and becomes positively when when sewn-in reflectivity looks creative and interesting enough to wear to, say, the opera. RantWoman suspects she is going to have to schmooze up some pedestrian-safety-minded young fashion student and see what might come of conversation if she wants ever to get anywhere on this front, but a girl can dream.

RantWoman THINKS that other shoppers probably have preferences along some of the same dimensions as RantWoman speaks of; RantWoman thinks that paying attention might help website designers delight a lot of other people besides RantWoman.

Word!