Friday's Outfits

Yesterday my après gym outfit was designed more to be comfortable in the heat wave, and the dinner outfit had the same requirement, as it was still really hot at night.

Also went grocery shopping, and of course could not resist the big sale signs at Banana Republic. (It's either super convenient to have a BR right next to my supermarket, or really dangerous, haven't quite decided, but leaning on convenient. (There are some really expensive boutiques too, but I do draw the line there, and rarely pop in. They don't carry my size anyway, me being mostly too huge for boutique clothing. This may be a very good thing, actually, at least for my budget if not my stylishness.))

But boy am I happy I went to BR. I renewed my jeans collection in one fell swoop, and found the perfect skinny jeans, white jeans (in pics below) as well as bootcut jeans and cropped denim trousers. All on sale except the skinnies, which the salesperson brought to me by accident, but which were so perfect I couldn't pass up. Now I can throw out all my old ugly jeans that I've been hating. Most of them are from before my last pregnancy, which changed my body the most, and they are not good fit anymore. All these things we women must deal with...

Anyway, it was a happy day, and ended well too. I took my girls to the dentist in the afternoon and they had no cavities. And then later, after kids' dinner, hubby and me went on a date and restaurant hopped to a couple favorite local places. Sometimes it's good to be adventurous and try something new, but sometimes it feels good to see familiar faces and be recognized. We've been in this area for about two years now and are getting to that point where we know people and they know us.

The best skinny jeans ever

Some of my BR sale loot

Old Navy tank top, Joe Fresh skirt, Bottega Veneta sandals and LV bag

Ellen Tracy dress, Marc Jacobs clutch,  Rolex watch and Marco Tozzi sandals

Impulse Buy

Whenever I get a bit stressed out I turn to retail therapy. I know it's not the healthiest or most effective way to deal with pressure and anxiety, but, hey... I am sure you do it too!

Yesterday's retail therapy session ended in an impulse purchase of some make-up. One item especially turned out to be fabulous: Lancome's Color Fever Lip Shine in Hibis-Kiss, and quickly became a favorite go-to lip gloss.

My Shopping Buddies

My shopping is usually quite targeted, run in and out kind of shopping because my shopping buddies get bored in stores.. No leisurely browsing and trying on a hundred outfits to look for the perfect fit. But, hey, time flies so fast that pretty soon I will have these three as my real shopping partners... The oldest is pretty close already and gives me style advice. BTW - notice the bag? She's finally realized that it's pretty cool!

Damages

We went to Nordstrom's to get the Toms, and found ourselves in the middle of their annual half-year sale. Did some damage to the credit card, but got some good stuff...

Saturday retail therapy outfit

Banana Republic Jaccket, H&M jeggins, Target boots, Longchamp bag, Burberry scarf, Gina Tricot sweater. And the best accessory: My daughter. Notice the pose?

The retail therapy session yesterday was quite fruitful :-)

I came home with high and low finds. I found really cute flat gladiator sandals (there's a style that keeps giving) for spring and summer from Giuseppe Zanotti (black thin strap patent leather) and Tory Burch (studded with gold studs, very "punk"). Some great finds from H&M: a dress with an open scoop draped back, "silk" anorak with gold zippers, and a floral blouse. Zara yielded a navy sweater with big gold buttons on the shoulders. And then a shocker - I went to Walmart to get something my au pair needed, and proceeded to find Norma Kamali line for Walmart. I bought two sheer ruffle blouses, in black and off white, a black zipper motorcycle jacket, grey cargos, an animal/tribal print long sleeve t-shirt, and a black jersey jumpsuit. Wow!

Partly inspired by another blogger, and partly because I've been thinking about it for a while, I also stopped at the Americana mall Hermes store and chatted with the nice sales lady about Evelyn bags. And I put my name on the list for the chocolate brown version. Let's see if they call me before I change my mind.

(Of course I also did ask about Birkins, but I am not quite ready to drop ten grand an a bag yet...so let's hope the Evelyn comes through while cross body styles are still big). 

To my disappointment, a couple of chain stores had left the luxury oasis known as the Americana mall, which just happens to be my closest shopping center. There's no more H&M, which is a huge bummer for me. Apparently, the owners of this luxury mall did not want to renew their lease. I guess the economy looks up and they want to dedicate the mall to high end lines exclusively. I don't think this is very smart, since so many shoppers like me shop the whole range, from high to low. And even if the mothers would not want the H&M, the daughters do! I hope it comes back.

Retail Sales Jump

A headline from this week's news was "US Retail Sales Jump Eases Double Dip Concerns". Oh boy... I feel like I have singlehandedly turned the economy around with my recent wild shopping spree. It all started at the Banana Republic, then came Bottega Veneta, Gucci (shoes on sale) and finally yesterday a quick run into Daffy's which turned into a treasure bonanza.. The consolation for my budget and closet space is that I am so ready to pop this baby out that it is bound to happen any day now. And I know from previous experience that I will not be gallivanting around stores with a new born baby in tow..instead I will be hibernating home, not exposing the baby to the nasty germs of the world, staring at the beautiful little human creature, checking its every move and making sure that it's breathing, wondering the amazement that the thing came out of me, loving, loving and loving it, and then later on feeling like a cow that's only needed for milk...

Buyology

I have to admit that I am a recovering shopaholic. Which is to say that I do have lapses from time to time, even though mostly I am very careful about shopping. Except when I get stressed out and need retail therapy. Or have a drink before shopping (what a dangerous combo that is!). Mostly I find that it is best to just stay away from shops. Anyhoo, I am trying to be very mindful about shopping and buying, and am trying to understand my own shopping triggers in general. So when I heard about this book, Buyology, by Martin Lindstrom, that talks about the effect of advertising in the brain, I thought that it might give me some revelation about my own shopping habits and why I buy, or why my brain makes me buy :-). I borrowed the book from my local library (yes, the days of buying books are over) and proceeded to read through about brain scans and emotions, whether sex, beauty or celebrities sells, and why anti-smoking campaigns are not working.. The biggest thing that I took away is that emotions are strongly linked to our buying behavior. So no surprise there. But at least for a while, I will be more mindful when looking at an advert in a magazine, and can analyze what is it in the picture that so beckons me to buy.