christmas wrapping

the end result of all my wrapping pins this year. White paper, bakers twine, sealing wax & simple ornaments.

If I had $100 to spend at Talbots

I know, Talbots, right?  I always thought of it as the store too old/too expensive/too tall/too preppy for me.  The too old is no longer a valid excuse, but the others made me stay away for a long time.Then  I made a discovery or two there, which made it a store worth checking out periodically.  How easy it is to get me to shop somewhere.

My List of Why I Now Shop at Talbots:

• You can usually find one or two things that are very of the moment.  I have seen insanely cute dresses and chic skirts. The fashion forward stuff goes fast, though, so if you see something truly incredible don't wait for it to go on sale. 
• The quality of construction and materials is impressive. Beats most mall stores, so when you are trend shopping, you can get a reasonably priced trend piece that doesn't look like it was knocked off in a late night sweat shop.
•  The. Sales.Are.Epic. (something makes me want to capitalize and use weird punctuation when I talk about this store). I know what I said about the fashion forward stuff going fast, true enough, but  the rest of what they have can be very wearable. To that end, see what I found for a summer-is-almost-over-I-am-sick-of-my-closet outfit.

$18!

 

Nubuck for $24

$18

$24! Look at the supercute standcollar!

if I had $1000 to spend at Need Supply

Everyone should shop at Need Supply. It is one of those impossibly chic but cool shops, where I imagine artists and extremely intelligent college students shop. The price points make it accessible though, and I must look at the sales 100 times a year.

Many, many years ago, a girl I knew told me about her husband making her spend $1000 on herself, to the penny. It was so many years ago that amount was pretty darn significant. I was very jealous and that whole scenario played into my "want to meet the perfect husband" daydream.  The years passed, and I figured out relationships that require shopping sprees may not be the ideal,  but the $1000 to the penny still resonates.  So if I had exactly $1000 to spend

I would start with this dress, because it is sheer but sort of nerdy sophisticated looking . . .

I would wear these pants under it though. Because I am old and sheer dresses are in my far distant past and besides it looks cooler this way . ..

 

these booty mules  are not the perfect choice from a styling point of view for my imaginary outfit but I DON"T CARE BECAUSE I LOVE THEM INTENSELY.

the bag was hard, because I had like $52 left. It was a dilemma.  Do I get what would pass an instyle "make the outfit" challenge? Or do I go with love it intensely?

Loved it intensely!  Had a dollar left over!