All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

In the event you thought I'd retired from my second job, due to lack of posts, I can assure you that is not the case.  Between the holidays, my day job and kids, shopping (sadly) fell off the radar.  But not to worry, I made up for it yesterday.  For those of you who are die hard Black Friday shoppers, I have a tip- wait until the day after Christmas- life is REALLY good out there in the retail world.

The hubs and I dropped the girls off at daycare at 8:00 a.m. and hit the mall.  At 1:00 we decided to stop for lunch. Of course by then I hadn't received my fill, so I headed back out around 5:00.

Obviously the deals are too good to narrow down to just a few pieces, so here are some highlights from my searching.

Neiman Marcus- 33% off already reduced prices.  This means high end jeans for $60-80, lingerie for $30, beautiful shoes for far less than the retail price.

Nordstrom- 40% off the original price.  While this doesn't compete with the markdown at Neimans, it is higher than the normal 33% attributed to their standard sales.

Banana Republic- 50% off all purchases, including sales.  This is where you stock up on your everyday basics.

Athleta- 20% off sale prices.  Great place to find fashionable workout and comfort clothes if you find Lululemon to be outrageously priced.

Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Trina Turk- 20-25% off sale prices.

Nordstrom Rack- 25% off their clearance rack.  I went to the one on Colorado Blvd yesterday and will likely head back today.  The inventory is fantastic and the price point awesome.  You just need a good dose of patience to deal with the dressing room lines, checkout lines, and rack sifting.

Happy Holidays!

Fake it Until You Make It

I spent the majority of my week meeting amazing women. These women have all started their own successful businesses, or spend day and night raising children and working in their homes. In some instances the women did both.  With each encounter, when addressing my business, the recurring question out there was what can I so for new moms and their look?

All of us  with children know exactly what I am talking about, the postpartum blues.  You're not pregnant, but you look like you are. You're weeks, if not months away, from fitting into your old clothes.  And for some, fitting into your old clothes might not ever happen.  I swear my hips are never going back.  If I could take the width of my hips and move it to my less than perky butt, life would be pretty good.  But until then, I, and all of us need, to work with what we've got.

So in those exhausting weeks between coming home from the hospital and getting four hours of sleep a night, PLEASE wear whatever your heart desires. In all likelihood  you're not leaving the house anyway.  But when your mom comes to visit and offers to babysit so you and your partner can go to dinner and virtually sleep over a good meal, you want to look like your old self.  Unfortunately you can't. So fake it until you make it (I'm not referring to your mood here, this is a fashion blog after all).

Here it is, the most appropriate, non-maternity dress that doesn't cost a lot of money (it is actually less than the cost of the four cocktails you wish you could have with dinner).

Gap Chambray Pintuck Dress, $41.99, available at www.gap.com

Here is how you get your money's worth out of the dress. On cold nights put your nursing tank on underneath, throw on some tights or leggings and some knee high boots. On warm nights, skip the tank and tights, put on some flats, and head out the door.  If you feel like living on the edge and venturing out during the day, put on your slip on tennis shoes and hit the town.  

If you need more ways to wear this dress, you should probably hire me. Otherwise, I expect the Gap to be sold out by the end of day tomorrow!

Hotties in Chuckas

I was debating what to blog about today; visions of nail polish and lipstick were running through my head. And then I got this text from my girlfriend.

Need you to settle a debate.

 Enrique bought these shoes without me and 

I don't like them but he thinks they are very fashionable. Thoughts?

Now I haven't met Enrique yet, but I've seen pictures and he can pull these off for sure.  For the rest of you, Chuckas are super fashionable and casual and all around great. More power to you if your  significant other looks like this...

Or ...

Tomorrow I'll go out and  find a pair  for  my husband (minus the pink pants) .

These guys beat a good lipstick any day of the week.

Tights are not Leggings

We've all been there,  accidentally wearing our Target leggings as pants, only to realize they are see through  when sitting, standing or bending over.  But what I don't understand is the current trend/ fashion failure of wearing tights as leggings.

This girl has not chance of successfully bending over.   

She is one of countless people I've seen lately who don't seem to care that the panty line of their tights  is exposed.  So here are the rules of leggings.

If you can see through them, wear them as tights/ with a dress.
This is a great option in sub zero weather. Target, Mossimo Brand leggings are great for this purpose.

If you legitimately want to wear leggings as pants, please make sure they are thick enough to do so. Please consider covering your butt, unless your legs are to die for.

This option from J Crew is a safe bet! 

As a tip, when you sit down in the dressing room and can see the whites of your knees, the leggings are too sheer and should be considered as tights.