Why have I neglected this for so long?? Shopping!! Eeeee!!

Life gets crazy. It can also depress you in ways you don't always admit to yourself. So, lets see for a brief update and in a nutshell, I've been way up and I've been way down over the past few years. Shopping has always been there, but I definitely had to slow it down after being on my own. And more than the shopping, expressing myself has been one of those things that I enjoy. So, neglecting this blog has been a silly thing to do on my part.

There is this cool shopping center I pass on my way home to Fort Worth from work in Lancaster. Outlets at Grand Prairie? Something like that. I only say cool because it has a Bloomingdales Outlet store!!! I love this store! We don't even have a Bloomingdales store in North Texas, but for me, its reputation spoke for itself. And I say that the shopping center is cool but I have been there probably 15 times since it opened and I have honestly never made it to any other part of the dang place. (there is a Michael Kors, a Gap, True Religion even an Off 6th!) I'm silly, but that is how much I adore this store.
My suggestion? Park at the west entrance and enter at the shoe side. YES. They have the best shoes. Dolce Vita, Sam Edelman, Kelsi Dagger, Betsey Johnson, Steve Madden, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Elizabeth and James and so so much more. There are some shoes from last season and maybe even the season before that, which are the best, best deals, and then there is also current season's offerings. I once got a pair of distressed suede tan colored Ash sneakers with pyramid studs for $12.. Oh and the boot section is amazing. And are all discounted already!

DV Dolce Vita booties. I recently got a pair almost exactly like this with a super wearable high heel for $40!!

You can then saunter into the fabulous selection of purses. Marc Jacobs! Love. The clothing is more to the center of the store, categorized well and easy to navigate. From Joie, Free People, BCBG and French Connection to Calvin Klein and NYDJ and Michael Kors, along with a very cool selection of slightly lower priced lines but with great style and quality. They have kids, mens and even a new plus size section! I have a couple of pairs of J Brand jeans in khaki and tan corduroy that i got for about $20 each!

Then the climax of every visit for me, as a consummate bargain shopper and self-professed obsessor with finding "the deal," is the actual Clearance section. Holy cow. First of all, everything that enters this place is marked down, period. They constantly have extra discount off  by marking things with a colored dot system. I have saved up to 80 percent off original prices before! But the clearance, ermygrrdd, it satisfies that passion to hunt for something great that you didn't even know you wanted, nay, needed. And it too is also usually discounted!!! I once bought a denim Marc Jacobs shirt for $20!

I'm sure many people don't get the difference between shopping at Wal-mart and shopping at nicer  more expensive places like Nordstrom's. But quality is the key word here. I adore Target and Forever XXI. The prices are reasonable and I can score something that is chic and/or practical at a great price. But once you put on a pair of J Brand jean leggings, you instantly can tell the difference in how well they are constructed. You get a level of styling and fit that adds to/creates the normally higher cost you just can't get with most lower priced items out there. I do not have a fit model body, most of us don't! So, shopping for quality is so important. Getting quality for cheap, is like the most delicious feeling ever. Well, it is to me!!

Selling stuff is my new thing....

Ok. It has happened. I have finally realized, after years of collecting and, well, let's admit it borderline hoarding, I have too much shit! Moving in with my super hot boyfriend (ok, saying that he is super hot was unnecessary to this sentence but I love saying it! heh. heh) has shown me that it is unreasonable to hold on to so much. So much I tell you. I had a beautiful pair of chocolate and teal pinstriped wide-leg slacks by Paul and Joe for Target that still had the tags on them!! I had been holding on to them since before 2007, before Luke was born. Um. that was the last time i was small enough to possibly wear the damn things! Ugh. Would you be surprised to know that was not the only item I have been "collecting" with tags still on it?

So, I had a pretty big garage sale. I had so much stuff to sell that on that hot, windy, and sweaty Saturday, I was selling everything for $1 each. A cute Mexican girl showed up with her mom and was my exact size from before babies and I had to tell her that all my stuff would fit her! Ha! She cleaned up!!

A couple of hours, okay, like 6 hours later, I was about $200 bucks richer and 3 racks of clothes, a box of purses and about 2 tables of shoes lighter! Can you believe, however, I still have more to sell?! Luckily, it is more Autumn/Winter clothing. So, I will give it another go in the Fall.

I may have just glossed over the fact that I moved in with my gorgeous boyfriend. So, let me fill you in. The aforementioned situation afforded me by Dillards earlier this year cost me a lot, including my own apartment. I was very fortunate to have a loving and kind boyfriend that extended the offer for me to move in with him. In moving all my stuff, we were overwhelmed at the volume! We bagged it all up to make it easier to move. You know, moving your stuff into an empty space is wayyyy easier than moving it into a space that someone already inhabits!! So, for a few weeks, we lived with bags of clothes sitting around and on top of one another all over the house. It was like pod people could emerge from them at any minute and kill us!! Ha.

Ah, it's all about the SHOES!!

Okay, so I may have actually swiped that tagline from Dillards. "It's all about the.." LOL. Whatever. But now since my unsolicited career shift, it literally is, all about the shoes. So, today was my first day of non-managerial work in a really really long time. The pay is, if I may be honest, non-managerial pay, as well. Boo. But I do love shoes and I do believe that that will shine through once I get on the selling floor. That's the other thing. A girl can't start earning commission if she isn't on the floor selling, ya dig? lol. I was told that most new shoe "associates" put in two weeks in the stockroom (that is MASSIVE, btw) before getting on the floor to sell. That sucks. So I have to subsist on $12 freaking dollars an hour until I qualify for commission that I won't even get paid out for until the end of February!!! Right. Gotcha. Oh also, (and I swear this will be the last of the bad bits for this blog) I am losing the 4 day weekend promised to me for working hellacious 6 day work weeks in December and I believe that they are yanking my one week vacation that I was planning on in March, because I am no longer salary.... I'm sure somehow, for some reason, I deserve this. That is the only thing that makes sense... Okay, I am supposed to be raving about shoes not ranting about work! The best shoe purchases as of late? $10 teal blue suede flats by Hot Kiss at Famous Footwear this weekend! We were in the market for some awesome shoes for Zack, my oldest monster. I try so hard to inject some style into my children. I mean, it only makes sense, right? Well, many pairs of skinny jeans and vans slip ons later, I found out from one of the Day Care ladies that Zack doesn't like the skinny jeans his mom makes him wear. Damn it. When they start voicing their opinion! Damn it. So, while I'm not, I repeat, I am not ever going to be the one to buy him cowboy boots or cowboy gear of any kind, we will make decisions on his wardrobe together. So, we bought for him these super cute hiking boots. Kinda more cool versions of the "urban" Timberland lace-up hiking boot. By Buster Brown, $24.99. The $10 teal flats were such an awesome bonus! The best buy before this one was when I was Xmas shopping last month late after work one night at my favorite capsule collection collaborator, Target! The one that was featured at this time was with Dolce Vita. Dolce Vita's shoes are very hot at Urban Outfitters, Nordstroms and sometimes Anthropologie (all of which, I love love love). But there were just a few pairs left and none in my size. So sad. But, in my experience, you should leave no stone unturned, or no row neglected, in this case. And my persistence paid off!! I hit the motherlode when I turned down the Clearance aisle! Apparently, not too many people in Cedar Hill get the Dolce Vita asthetic! YES! So, I bought two styles, one pair of pointy toed black booties with three gleaming gold buckles that clank when I walk. Soo new wave pirate. Like Adam Ant or something. And a pair of pointed toe black lace-up oxfords with gleaming gold studs at the toes. So, mod and super awesome with bare legs and a black dress. My panther looks super awesome with these things as a backdrop!! RAwrr! Oh and did I mention that I got them both for less that $24 dollars each?! Wha?! Heh. Heh. Whoooooo, I got the best rush just from reliving that!

I LOVE PURSES!!!!

Here I go again... Well, before I start in.. Can I just say that all this terminology can confuse someone with a brain like mine. Create a blog, post, and what is monetize?! Thank goodness for the back button, oh and "undo" on Microsoft programs, for that matter! Don't get me started on my lack of skills with Excel. (did I even spell that right?) but I digress..

Today I bought the coolest purse. I have been coveting the new London Fog line. Mostly because it reminds me of the uber fantastic Marc Jacobs line of purses that I will never be able to afford. So, every month I go to Bealls to pay my bill. (yes, I am aware that I can pay online, but that takes all the fun out of shopping now, doesn't it?) I linger over the table with the London Fog purses on it. I have always rationalized why I didn't need one. "you need another purse like u need a hole in ur head." or " those cutey pockets? What could u honestly put in there?" or "I wouldn't even know what color I would even get!" but today, Bealls was having one of their unbelievable sales. The normally $75 purse was marked down to half. Then, Bealls has this coupon book promo that for today, I could get $10 off a $25 or more purchase...aaarghh!! So did I want to play it safe with black patent and chunky gold hardware or get cheeky with magenta pebbled leather and gold hardware. I remembered that, "I don't have a teal colored purse!" And this awesome beauty will now be my summer bag....well...till the next one strikes my fancy... Did I mention that I purchased two purses besides this one in the last 2 weeks? But they were also amazing!!!

I saw this Steven for Steve Madden bag in cognac brown leather with thick ruffle trim and uber chunky gold hardware and that features the versatility of a sturdy yet ladylike handle or cross body strap. The bag was at Ross. It was originally $178, and the Ross price was still pretty steep, so I left it. This was maybe a month or so ago. Well, I went trolling Ross again a couple of weekends ago (seriously, I start at one end of the store and like three hours later I have scoured every inch of that sucker for deals) and at the end, because I always start at Mens clothing and wrap around to finish in accessories and bags, I saw that bag with a clearance tag!! Two of them even! It had been marked down twice-- $35, to be exact-- and no one knew enough about it to know how mega awesome it was!! I scored again!!! And can I say that it matches my Cynthia Vincent for Target cognac brown colored gladiator wedges? Perfectly! Ok, so, my last purse story (well for now anyway!) is too awesome!! So I have these gorgeous 4 inch 80s magenta lilac-ish suede Steve Madden pumps. I mean they are not-to-be-believed gorgeous and like almost neon, they are so 80s. And if u know me, you know I lovelove love the 80s. I do not follow the adage, "if u were alive for it the first time it was in style you shouldn't do it again" I rocked my vintage lightweight acid-washed denim jacket with the ruffled peplum and everyone was jealous! Lol. I don't know if they really were but I just adored it! Anyway! These shoes, which I did get at another very mega sale, this time at Macys, for like $46, regularly like $89 or something. I mean, I really didn't even have an outfit in mind for them but I could not leave them in that store!! I physically, could not make myself leave without them! So, a few weeks later, I am checking out a little thrift shop here in town, which I do when I need retail therapy but am short on dough. And after what was turning into a not-so-fruitful trip, I lightly perused the selection of ugly bags, including a 90s Dooney & Burke bag with the duck, you know, that had lost it's strap. Ugh. And then, underneath I saw it. A ruffle edged magenta lilac-ish clutch. I think I heard those like choir voices going, "ahhhhh" because then I was so excited knowing I was going to get this perfect bag for a thrift store price was too much to handle!!! It was $2!!!!!! Argghhhhh! Now do u see why I love shopping?! I'm sure this is why you do too right? Right?

Hmmph...something new to waste time, eh?

Ok. I think I may be the last person on earth to get a blog. I don't know if anything I have to say is worth reading but I'll never have a lack of something to say...so... Today, I'm feeling blue. I don't know why for sure. One week ago today, I was officially divorced. I am happy but I think a little sadness has hit me. Maybe it's just PMS. That's more than just a little plausible. In fact, it's highly likely that it's the harbinger of Aunt Flo's arrival! Ha! What you didn't think crassness was beneath me, did you?!? So. Maybe, if I talk about what makes me super happy and crazy this blog will serve it's true purpose! To make me a happier person! Let me rewind. I am, honestly, stumbling upon this blogger thing accidentally. More like, incidentally. Because Sephore, the makeup superstore, my equvalent to Disneyland, has a blog site, Beauty and the Blog, they have cool giveaways whereby one can enter comments depicting their prowess with makeup techniques and savoir-faire. But in order to do such a thing, I had to make a blogger account....or did I HAVE to? Don't really know for sure, as my tech savvy is limited, but do believe if I used an anonymous log in that they wouldn't know who to give the grand prize to! Duh! Ok. So here I'm am. Do u want to know what the contest was? I knew you did! It was the new LORAC cosmetics Little Black Palette (comes with 4 amazing baked eyeshadows[these have super staying power] and an eyeshadow primer [bonus staying power!!]) and three gorgeous little black dresses by ABS by Allan Schwartz. Entrants had to pick a dress, explain how they would accessorize it and describe how they would use the makeup palette! Um, whatever! I gave two total different looks including using one of the eyeshadows as a bronzer and another as a shimmery nude lip color. What?!? Yes, I have skills. And if I don't win that's only because I forgot to include my email address in the original comment!!!! Argghhhhh! I immediately followed it with "ha,ha it's like, who can follow directions" with my name and email address. I checked the other 162 comments left and about half of them forgot too!!!! So, I keep you posted if I happen to win. Or if I'm discovered as the next makeup afficionado!