When I first moved to the suburbs, I noticed women everywhere in these incredibly bright, patterned leggings.

And I always thought to myself, “Why are they wearing those things? What is happening??” (I already felt discombobulated with our move from the city to the ‘burbs and meeting new friends who were in a constant uniform of colorful leggings didn’t help my feelings of strangeness. That, and the lack of Thai food delivery.)

The leggings are … something. 

For those not down with the Suburban mom fashion repertoire, these are known as LuLaRoe leggings.

Here is some background per Business Insider:

The brand, which sells brightly-colored shirts, leggings, and dresses, isn’t available in stores or on a company website. Instead, tens of thousands of people across the US … are selling LuLaRoe to friends in their living rooms and in online forums.

That’s right. You can’t buy them in stores. Here, in Maplewood, you get invited into someone’s home and you buy them there. Multi-level marketing at it’s finest, baby. (There is also a way you can buy them via Facebook Live Sales but every time I try I become overwhelmed and I give up within five minutes. Give me Amazon Prime For Online Shopping, or Give Me Death, apparently.)

Now, here’s a little background about me: I don’t do patterns. I don’t really do bright colors. I pretty much just wore solid black from 2001 to 2010.

Last winter, I bought a pair of LuLaRoe leggings at a random FB friend’s house who was hosting a LuLaRoe “party.” I don’t know why I went. I guess I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I wanted to get out of the house. I wanted some leggings because I had a baby and nothing fit. They were $20 bucks and some change so I figured: Why not.

Friends, I not only wear them … I wear them all the time.

When I first put them on, my son said, “Mommy, why are you wearing pajamas?”

And I was like, “GET USED TO LOUD PRINTS FROM HERE ON OUT, BUDDY.”

I wear the first pair I bought so much, I went over to another FB friend who sells them out of her house and bought two more this past weekend. (I apparently have reached the stage of my life where I don’t have any real friends…just friends online. I’m cool with it.)

They are … a lot of look for me.

So, why do I do it?  Because, 1. I have a body shape that is good for leggings (I have no butt so it’s hard to find pants that stay up. I’m also very tall, so it’s hard to find pants that are long enough). 2. They work. 3. I also attempt to do some “exercise”  during the weekend….usually in the house…usually with a child hanging off of me. So they are comfortable enough for me to get on the floor and stretch when I can grab five minutes. I can put up with colorful (some may even say “obnoxious”…and by “some,” I mean, “my husband”) leggings for the ease of them.

I’m not even going to address the debate of “are leggings pants?” because I’m soooooo very far beyond caring.

For leggings, they go on my body effortlessly. I don’t know how else to describe it. When I wake up on the weekend, I go to my patented “Athleisure Pants Drawer” and I always put them on. And I think, “Here we go again.” And my husband may or may not give me this look:

I constantly grab them because my other leggings (and I realize this is ridiculous to say) are a bit of a fight to get on my body. There is always some adjusting, I have to sit down, I have to twist the legs a bit. These, I can get on while holding onto the baby or while brushing my teeth or while I rummage through my patented “Comfortable But Semi-Stylish T-Shirt Drawer Which May or May Not Still Contain Several Maternity Shirts.”

Is this the point of no return in my Suburban Mom Journey? Probably. But at least I’m comfortable. 

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