I know that a number of you lucky Canuckis come down to Toronto to have the operation and to have your fills done. I also read that you like to shop while you are down here in The Big Smoke. Then there is this business of hitting a NSV and as we all know, a lot of those Non Scale Victories have to do with our clothes falling off our backs (or our bums, more like). And most of us who are posting here are women and most women do like to shop. I was shopping in a Winner's store today and I managed to strike pay dirt. This put Green in a good mood. Now it strikes me that it might be fun to have a thread devoted to the subject of shopping, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

There is much that can be said about the bad and the ugly, especially when a grrl is not a size 12 or less. Green has been feeling bitter about the lack of choice in interesting clothes in larger sizes for years now. I also have a bone to pick with shoe sizes since I take size drag queen! This is another ugly issue.

But I continue to want to shop, and sometimes I find good stuff. It ain't all tears of frustration, ya know. And this is why I thought that this thread might be both a way for us to vent and to have fun. Alors, voila le thread shopping, eh.

Green Is this Tom's place open every day can I go there tomorrow when I go to TO for my fill????

Yep, it is and it is open in one of the most funky parts of Toronto. Kensington Market is this immigrant fruit&vegetable, cheese, meat, spices, and fish market quartier that is just off old Chinatown in downtown Toronto. It is south of College Street, west of Spadina Avenue, and north of Dundas. The actual address is 198 Baldwin but that whole area is a nice area to spend time in.

There are a number of interesting Vietnamese restaurants on Spadina that are very cheap. My favourite is Miss Saigon. You can order an all in one noodle and bar-b-que meat dish there for under 8 bucks that is yummy and which will fill you up (even pre-band).

There is also a couple of great cheese stores in the Market. It is kind of a grubby area but it is very cosy and fun once you relax.

And of course there is Tom's Place but like I said in an earlier post, this shop can be frustrating for bigger women because he does tend to stock a lot of mini-sizes. Nevertheless, I have managed to buy some great coats for myself at his sales.

I gotta confess that I have never bought anything else for myself except for a couple of linen shirts and those I bought in the men's wear and they were X-tra large. X-tra large, I'm saying.............

Green, your life seems so cool.

I'm terrified to walk around downtown T.O.

I think it would be soooo cool to spend a weekend walking around the little shops, the problem is that when I get out on the street I'm afraid to go in some of them. How can you tell a good shop from a creepy one. I know, I know, I'm sounding very hick like. Every year my husband and I come down in Feb. He has to go to some convention for council. We stay at the sheraton, and his meetings are at the hotel, Royal York, we walk in the underground mall thingy to get to it. I can get to the eaton centre from there too. But I'm always scared to come out to the street. Any advice to citify me???

Cloe, you don't sound hick like at all. I am shy about entering shops in strange cities, too, and yet my husband isn't. He will go into a shop even when he doesn't speak a word of the language!

The thing is that I have lived in the center of Toronto just about all of my life and so I know it really, really well. All my friends live down in the city and all my many medical appointments are down in the city, too. This means that I do a lot of walking and when I walk I do a bit of recreational shopping. If a store window has a sign that says "sale" then I've got to investigate! A sale to me is like catnip to a cat. LOL (The one thing that pi$$es me off is that it is hard to find great clothes for bigger women.)

Toronto is actually quite an easy city to get around in and this is because it is built on a grid system. It makes it a little harder to get lost and if you do get lost or tired then there are always taxis to hail and they will get you back home. The next time you come to town you should give me a call and we can go out together.

So Green had to see her shrink today and she hates seeing him because he finds her boring and always yawns in her face and this means that she needs a long walk and some therapeutic shopping afterwards. The shopping and the walk went kinda well. The weather was in the double digits and she got herself a black boiled wool jacket in size 3x at Winners for 60 bucks. It's a big drapey wrap-around garment and Green looks kinda small in it. Now she needs skinny jeans, eh.

And yesterday she bought 3 pairs of black over the knee socks for 5 bucks a piece. She's gonna wear these with skirts. She's still too fat to do tights.

Skinny jeans - Mandi found 'em at Old Navy. She thinks they even call 'em "skinny jeans'. :heh: She's got 2 pairs, one in 18 and one in 16!

(ok, well maybe they're not quite the skinny jeans you're talking about, but they're definitely skinny!)

If Mandi "ONEderland" Argon is in them then they ARE skinny jeans!

pssshh.... I think that nickname may be history after this past few days!

I want the kind that are like leggings. Are the ones at Old Navy like that? You stay in onederland, girl!

hold on... i'll take a picture!

umm... nevermind. I thought they were alot more tight than they are!

The ones I was thinking of, I think were these: (http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=5465&pid=435523)

(and thank you... I hope I do stay in ONEderland. Do some prayin' for me tonight, guys!)

Not bad and they come in bigger sizes! Yippee! Thanx.