15 March 2014

XO


Things to love about this song/video:

1) The video is shot on location at Coney Island.
2) The line, "In the darkest night hour. I search through the crowd. Your face is all that I see. I give you everything. Baby love me lights out." When you're in love, you can be in a crowd of people and only see your man, like a spotlight is on him, blurring out the rest of the world. It's one of the best feelings in the world.
3) We don't have forever. Baby, daylight's wasting, you better kiss me before time is run out." We don't have forever - that pretty much sums it up. Taking advantage of every moment to express our love to those we love is so important. It doesn't even have to be the expression of romantic love,  just letting the people in your life (family and friends) know how much they mean to you is so important.

I dare you to only listen to it once. I think it might be impossible to do that, I've been listening to it on repeat since downloading it a bit ago. Goodness!

02 March 2014

February 2014 Deals

February 2014 Deals

Inspired by fashion bloggers who post monthly shopping recaps and budget recaps for the month, I've put one of my own together for February. We'll see if I can keep up on keeping track of everything and post in future months. For me, it seems like a fun way to catalog my wardrobe, and hopefully show that you can find some great pieces at a fraction of what they'd retail for. 

I've always loved finding great deals on quality fashions, so what a great idea to keep track of what you find, when and where you find it and how great the deal was. Some bloggers set a monthly shopping budget. I haven't really done that, other than listening to my inner voice saying, don't go too buck wild! I know there are some months where I won't buy anything and others like this month (my birthday month, combined with great winter sales) where I might do a little extra on the "treat yo-self" front. It should also be noted, that I'm a single professional lady without kids, so that might color how much I decide to spend on things.

So what did I find? 
Sandro black and silver crepe dress. Nordstrom Rack. Retail $320. Paid $36.
Joe's Jeans skinny coated black jeans. Nordstrom Rack. Retail $218 . Paid $52
Target faux black leather shift dress. Retail $27.99. Paid $8.38
Target black and white beanie hat. Retail $12. Paid $12.
Patagonia Better Sweater Zip Coat in Whiskey Plum. Patagonia online. Retail $179. Paid $107 *(used birthday money! - update, I ended up returning this after all!)
Patagonia Low Sky Parka in Black. Patagonia online. Retail: $249. Paid $149 

Total Retail: $1005.99 ($826.99 minus the Better Sweater return)
Total Spent: $364.38 ($257.38 minus Better Sweater)
Total Saved: 641.61 ($569.61 minus Better Sweater)

I bought the Sandro dress and the Joe's jeans at the same time. The dress is a great shift to wear over the jeans. The short dress over skinny jeans is a definite wardrobe staple of mine. 

The faux leather dress from Target - the clearance rack. Duh! It feels so much like real leather, it's uncanny. Another reason to feel good about this dress - Saint Laurent did the original for well over $2,000. and this one looks damn good for pennies on that price. I will wear this over skinny jeans and already wore it to my book club dinner last weekend.

Black and white beanie. I have gray and white beanie and mere days before finding this at Target was thinking, "I need to find a replacement for this - it's getting a bit worn out and snagged." If you're like me at all, you wear and wear your favorites until you need to retire them and hopefully find suitable replacements. 

The Patagonia jackets. I know, I bought two! They haven't arrived yet. I was drawn to the black parka first as a replacement for a jacket I've had for a long time who's lining is completely shredded. Then I loved the idea of the Better Sweater jacket. Couldn't decide by looking at them online alone, so I ordered them both (free shipping). I may end up returning one of them, or keeping them both. We shall see. (Yes, ended up returning the Better Sweater. I kept trying it on,  but it wasn't making it into my wardrobe rotation.)