A GIRL SHOULD BE TWO THINGS: CLASSY AND FABULOUS. Coco Chanel
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Monday, November 30, 2009

Cyber Monday

My sister informed me that today is Cyber Monday. It's like Black Friday for online shopping. There are some sweet deals out there! Go and get you some!

20% OFF and FREE SHIPPING at Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, PiperLime, and Athleta

FREE SHIPPING and FREE MONOGRAMMING at Pottery Barn

40% OFF at Ann Taylor

30% OFF at Ann Taylor LOFT

25% OFF at Bath and Body Works

FREE SHIPPING at Williams Sonoma

FREE SHIPPING at Overstock

$5 Magazine Subscriptions at Amazon

Have fun and get your Christmas shopping started ... or finished.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Goodwill Finds

I had to swing by Goodwill last night while I was out running some errands. I didn't buy anything, but today I'm wishing I bought a thick, heart-shaped, glass bowl that was $1. It would have looked so cute around Valentine's Day with M&Ms or kisses in it. I could go back after work today, but I'll have to see.

I did remember to bring my camera and my battery actually had some life in it this time. You CAN find cute things at Goodwill. I found a dark denim skirt from Gap's 1969 collection for $4.

It honestly looked brand new.

There were some pants from Ann Taylor Loft.

They felt like they'd never been through the washer or dryer (in a good, new-ish sort of way).
They also had lots of brand new dresses that would be worthy of a formal or a wedding.
I'd be very interested to know how these ever made it to Goodwill. There were so many that you could probably dress your whole wedding party. The tags were still attached!

Of course, it wouldn't be Goodwill without a dress like this stuck in the rack.

Although this could be the foundation of a fantastic Halloween costume.

I made a quick run through the shoe area while holding my breath. It stinks back there. I would NOT recommend buying shoes at Goodwill unless they look brand spanking new and can be wiped off with a Lysol wipe (like jellies or rain boots). I might buy shoes for an infant if they were irresistible because you know they didn't get much wear and how gross can a tiny foot be?

Plus, you find things stashed in the wrong departments all the time. Look at this adorable swimsuit I found in the shoes.
It was so cute and ... the best part ... brand new.
I'm looking forward to welcoming a couple babies next summer, but I don't know yet if they'll be needing frilly suits or manly swim trunks. Wait, I just re-read that sentence and I must clarify these are friends' babies. No twins for this girl.

For those of you who have never set foot in a Goodwill, let me prepare you. Goodwill is gross. I feel that expectations will make or break almost any experience so I want to be clear. It is not glamourous to shop at thrift stores.

When I go to browse (or dig) I wear clothes that can be washed in hot water. I have anti-bacterial hand gel ready for use. I do not touch my eyes, nose, or mouth while in the store and I sequester any purchases I bring into my home from mingling with the rest of my belongings until they have been washed, wiped or run through the dishwasher.

Thrift stores are often not well organized (see swimsuit in shoe department above). Nobody will ask you if need any help (like any decent mall store), let you know what the specials are (Bath & Body Works-style), start a fitting room for you (Ann Taylor's the best) or offer you something to drink (I miss you, Harold's).

It is not unusual to enter a fitting room and find that there aren't any hooks in the wall, only small holes where hooks used to serve a purpose. Mirrors can often have a wavy, funhouse quality which makes it awfully difficult to decide if it's the pants or take-out dinners that are causing this unfortunate situation.

While I am a fan of thrift stores I will have to say there are two areas to avoid at all costs:
and dressing rooms that look like this:
Be safe out there.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Saturday

I can't believe it's already Tuesday and I'm just now posting about Saturday. I'm going to need to figure out some sort of schedule for myself or this blog is going to quickly head south and my two followers will stop checking in.

Saturday involved two key outfits. You don't need to see Outfit #1 when I was eating this.


Let's just say they were "at-home clothes". My most inner circle knows about these favorite indoor T-shirts: Casady (about to be retired), I Survived the Y2K Bug, We Be Jammin and my beloved, black Coca-Cola T-shirt with silver writing (that's not really silver anymore) that I got in fifth grade after saving up Coke can tabs.

Anyway, back to the real clothes.

We went to a 4-year-old tee ball game to support this guy.


How cute is he?! Wade and Sarah deserve the credit for this little guy and Sarah is the talented photographer behind the camera.

Since the Gators' team color is blue we HAD to wear blue to support #8. Um, navy is a form of blue.


I don't have much true blue so I settled on this navy Ralph Lauren skinny fit polo.


You can get it for $75 here,


but I scored this one for $19.99 at the Ralph Lauren outlet in Gilroy, CA.

Anyone else been to Gilroy? I could not get over how much the entire town smelled like garlic! It was SO strong! I kept searching for validation, begging someone to confirm that, indeed, IT SMELLED LIKE GARLIC EVERYWHERE.

I finally had my moment when we learned that Gilroy is the Garlic Capital of the World, home to the annual Garlic Festival and there is even a Miss Gilroy Garlic Queen & Court. Meet 2009's Royalty:

I paired the RL polo with some Gap Curvy Jeans.

These are $59.50 at Gap or online, but I got them on sale for $19.99.

Saturday night we met our friends Brent, Abbey, and Luke for some Tex-Mex.

Wait. Luke's little face didn't make that one and you don't want to miss out on this:

There. Much better.

I wore the Gap jeans, but paired them with a white tank top (not pictured) that I got for 99 cents at NBC and a drapey, short sleeved cardigan with cute pockets.

It's not much to look at on the hanger, but I really like it and get compliments whenever I wear it (and not just from my mom). A woman even stopped me once to ask where I got it. Don't you just LOVE it when that happens?! I told her it was from NBC, but I didn't tell her I only paid $3 for it and it had the Kensie tag on it for $98!

I wore it with this bracelet.


I've had this for a few years but you can still get it here at Express.com

I'm usually not a fan of the clothes at Express, but I do like some of their jewelry. For some reason I got a $10 off coupon in the mail from them so I thought it might be worth a visit. This bracelet was on sale for $10 so it was FREE. Totally worth the visit.

I've got one last picture from Saturday.

This is Brent and he is showing off a brand new pair of Salomon ski/snowboard pants I got at Goodwill for $4.50! I should have taken some pictures showing the cool pockets and ways you can adjust the fit of these pants. I was going to ask him to model the pants, but when I asked Tim to help me remember to get a picture of "Brent in his new Salomon pants" Tim said, "Don't do that." So here's Brent holding the pants.

Speaking of Goodwill, I went to Goodwill last night and I even took my camera with me so that I could share some fabulous finds out there for you. I was so disappointed to discover that my battery was dead! There was a cute, ruffled top from Ann Taylor Loft, a dark denim skirt that looked brand new and a plum, silk wrap dress that even had its matching belt. Matching belt is a major Goodwill plus. Matching belts seem to get separated from their garments at Goodwill.

Oh well. There's always a next time. And then the time after that and after that ...

Question: Goodwill. You WILL Goodwill or you WON'T Goodwill?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Faux American Manicure

Last night at dinner, Abbey looked at my hand and asked if I'd had my nails done. When I shook my head "no" and started to explain, she half rolled her eyes and in a lovingly accusatory tone said "Don't tell me you did that." (Don't worry. She can use this tone with me. I used it with her just a couple weeks ago when I received an adorable poem as part of her son's birthday invitation and I had to challenge her with "Oh my gosh. Did you write that yourself?" It's OK. We're close like that.) Well, I guess I did do my nails myself, but it's not anything special.



I use Sally Hansen SALON Nail Lacquer in #270 Sweet Creams. The picture above is with two coats of polish. One coat is just too sheer for my taste.


I bought my last bottle at Ulta, but now I'm not seeing it on their website. I seem to remember that it was $5.79, but when I went back to buy a bottle for my mom it was on sale for $2.89. I sure hope they haven't discontinued it. My all time favorite Sally Hansen nail polish was a color called The Look Sheer that my sister-in-law told me about. It was discontinued years ago. I can't even find it by Googling it. That's when you know it's really gone. Tear.

What's great about these creamy, light shades is that they give you a manicured look, but if you don't get around to giving yourself (or having) a manicure each week, this color hides a few chips here and there. It even works as a quick pedicure. Never ever EVER leave your home with exposed, bare toenails.


Brush on a quick coat of Sweet Creams or a similar shade and you're good to go. If you get a smudge in your haste it won't even show. (By the way, this is NOT my foot).

If you want your polish to last I highly recommend NailTek Intensive Therapy II.


It keeps your nails super shiny and strong. It's $10.95 at Ulta, but you can always print off a $3.50 coupon on their website making it $7.45. I think this NailTek brand is a cheaper version of Nailtiques. I was using Nailtiques Formula 2 until a helpful sales associate at Drug Emporium (R.I.P, Texas Drug Emporium) recommended NailTek. It's almost half the price and works just as well. I've found that if you use NailTek Intensive Therapy II without color it will start to peel off once you build up several coats, but for some reason, if you use it with nail polish it doesn't do that.

You're supposed to use it as a base coat, followed by two coats of color and then use it again as a top coat. The bottle says you should add a top coat every day. You can do that if you have the time (and choose to spend it that way), but you certainly don't have to. I skip the base coat if I'm using a light color like Sweet Creams that won't stain my nails and just use it as a top coat. I might do another coat a few days later if I think of it at the beginning of an hour-long show.

Let me know if you can find #270 Sweet Creams or if there's another color that works just as well for you.

Just for fun I'm going to pose a survey question at the end of most posts. Well, I think it's fun to see your answers.

Today's question is: What do you do with your nails? Au naturale, do them yourself or have them done?

Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday's Fabulous Finds

Last Friday I had the chance to spend three glorious hours combing through my favorite store, Half of Half, or NBC, as it used to be called. I get in some sort of time warp when I go there. The minutes quickly turn into hours as I browse, dig, and sometimes scrounge for my fabulous finds.

Friday was the start of a 99 cent sale. Thankfully I had gotten the NBC email in time to switch cars with Tim. I don't take my car there (anymore) since the after-market Pioneer stereo/faceplate was stolen out of my car in the NBC parking lot. I stayed away for a few weeks after *the incident* but I decided not to let those losers get the best of me. Tim wouldn't call them losers. He actually said that he felt sorry for whoever broke into my car because they must have been pretty desperate. Staring at the wires hanging out of my dash I can't say I felt the same. That ended up being my most expensive trip to NBC yet. But I'm still ahead in the long run.

There wasn't anything too terribly exciting that I had to have. I ended up with a basic, black cardigan that I'm sure will come in handy. I had a couple that I gave my sister because I thought I never wore them, but I've found myself wishing I had one to grab on my way out the door.
It has some cute details. It's very fitted and looks good open or buttoned. I really like these little pleats or tucks at the shoulder.

I'd say the price was right. It was regularly $59, but since it was a green tag (half off the marked price last week) it was $6.

The system at NBC can take a little getting used to. They price everything at 75% off the retail price, or half of half, get it? So ... this cardigan was $59 retail (at Macy's, actually), so when it was new merchandise at NBC they priced it at $12. They actually priced it lower than half of half. It had a green tag. Once green tags have been in the store a while they will run specials like 25% off the marked price or, in this case, 50% off the marked price. So my $59 INC cardigan from Macy's was only $6. Oooh, I love combining colors and math and clothes.

I LOVE this next cardigan. It is super soft and a great, neutral color. I am on a ruffle kick lately. I love how versatile this sweater is. I can wear it with jeans or with slacks. (I don't really care for the word slacks, but what else would you call them?)

And this was $6, too. It's also INC by Macy's.

I only got one 99 cent item this trip. A nice pair of semi-matte, gold earrings.

They will get lots of wear, I'm sure, and they will look great with my bangles from the Banana Republic outlet that I picked up for about $13.

We'll see how long I can last before I have to go back. I got an email yesterday about a big $19 designer sale at NBC. I wanted to go this afternoon, but I decided to give it another week. I can quit anytime. I promise.

Question: Is there a store that calls out to you?

Feel free to leave your answer in the comments so that all the fabulous and classy girls can learn from you!