Walk (sit) tall

Finally I found an occasion to wear my five inch heels. A pair of chocolate Anne Klein booties that I bought a year ago and have been staring at ever since, until now. My girlfriend had a birthday dinner where afterwards we would lounge it up and chill with the birthday girl. I thought, what a perfect opportunity to wear a pair of heels that in no way could I stand in for long periods of time, and in no way are meant to be danced in! These are strictly a very hot dinner shoe. At one point I got upset with myself for wasting steps when I walked the wrong way from my parked car to the lounge. With heels this tall every steps counts! Needless to say I was the tallest girl in the room, which meant lots of attention.

Shopaholics or just plain crazy

Today my town had a snow storm. We got over four inches of snow and the county issued a weather advisory emergency, which means do not go out and drive unless absolutely necessary. So why the heck were there so many people shopping in my store today?! If I had my choice there was no way I was driving into work to presumably stare into space, but people braved the storm, came in and looked around and bought stuff! I really shouldn't be complaining as it is always good for the store to make money, but I was so annoyed this morning by having to scrape snow off my car and stomp through slush that I was in no mood to deal with customers. Luckily our mall decided to close down entirely four hours early, which my coworker and I were beyond excited about. But crazy shopaholics were in our boutique until the last possible moment trying on the whole store! I suppose it could have been worse, the mall authorities could have decided not to shut down early and make us drive on the slippery streets after sunset, and the store could have made zero money today. Okay my gripe is over now!

Manly sweet scent

My manfriend is in the market for a new fragrance so we skedaddled over to Nordstroms to check out their lineup. He was infatuated with Issey Miyake which smells great, but I found a scent that made me crazy... John Varvatos! I have never noticed this scent before but once I inhaled it I begged my manfriend to choose that one. It's a combination of robustness and sweetness all in one. I wanted to eat it right off him. Okay too much information, but you get my drift! This John Varvatos fragrance is to die for in my opinion and a nice thought for Valentine's Day ladies.

Hot boys of reality TV

I have been counting down to the return of the bachelor and it's finally here. For those of you who know me or read my blog, you know that I was more than obsessed with Jason Mesnick - husband pursuant on last season's The Bachelorette. If you didn't watch the show last season you should be thankful because you spared yourself a whole lot of tears on Jason's behalf. The Bachelor is back this season and I am more than pumped up for it. I should have just entered myself, but I knew Jason would be looking for a DeAnna replacement. Anyway he will be one of the few heartthrobs of reality TV I'll make a spot in my heart and my calendar for.

Another reality heartthrob I just can't get enough of: Brody Jenner! I know I know MTV, the Hills, crap TV, but he is just amazing to look at. Those gorgeous eyes, his supple skin, and that body - hold on I need to catch my breath! His show is called Bromance and airs on MTV on ironically Monday nights, the same night as the Bachelor.

Last but not least is Mario Lopez. He hasn't aged a bit from playing the corny jock on Saved By the Bell, but he definitely has aged for the better. Man he's hot. He'll be hosting the popular dance show on MTV Randy Jackson Presents America's Favorite Dance Crew. Aside from the dancing crews I look forward to seeing what tight t-shirt Mario will be gracing us with!

Coat update

I bought it!! The Banana Republic coat that I've been obsessing over and stalking is finally mine. It went from $225, to $119.99, to $94.99 to $75.99. I came to terms with that price, and not risk waiting for it to drop lower for fear that my size would no longer be available. I'm happy with the final price I purchased it at, and it looks great on me!

Downgrade?

I went home for the holidays. It was good to see family and friends, and to have a home cooked meal. It was also good to go shopping with my sister like old times. While shopping in my old stomping grounds I discovered that my old city has added a Tiffany & Co. and a West Elm to the mall! OMG are you kidding me?!!! We don't have those stores in my new city, did I totally just downgrade when I left home?! Obvioulsy we went in both showrooms and gushed over the layout, selection, and history of the stores. I had to buy something from West Elm just to say I did. The blue box will come to me via gift someday (hopefully).

New sale price

My (hopefully soon to be) Banana Republic coat is now marked down to $94.99 from $119.99 from $225.00. I know I said I'd buy it at under $100 but, I think it will get marked down even lower so I'm gonna jepordize losing it and continue to hold out. There's only one XS size left in the store so I'm being awfully risky with this item. I'll keep you posted!

Commission anyone?

You would think in this economy that if a customer is wanting to purchase something from your store you as the sales associate would jump all over it. Not the case at Macy's. My sister gave me a gift card for my birthday to Macy's and I have been waiting for just the right pair of shoes to catch my eye to use the gift card on. I found them!... The Jessica Simpson Cornelia ankle boot in brown. This is just the style I've been searching all over for. They are ruched around the ankle in the perfect location for skinny pants and tights. They are the perfect round toe and short heel for someone on their feet for eight straight hours. So of course I enthusiastically take them off the table to the sales person to inquiry about the shoe and ask to try on my size. The shoe had absolutely no information on it. Tag missing, completely identity-less. I asked the sales person, "how much are these boots and can I try a size nine?" She goes on to notice that there is no tag identifying the shoe and says there was nothing she could do. According to her it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I couldn't believe my ears so I literally just stared at her, waiting for her to say, "but I'll see what I can do". Nope nothing like that, she pretty much gave them back to me to put them where I found them! So empty handed I leave Macy's in disgust with the customer service. Looks like these people aren't on commission. I found the boots on piperlime.com for $109.99 but I really want to use my gift card; what's a girl to do?

Sales still not helping

Are the holiday retail sales getting you out of the house to go buy buy buy? According to this year's numbers consumers continue not to spend money on items they deem as unnecessary saving for articles such as food, gas, etc. We rarely ever have sales in my store to avoid being classified as discount, but this season alone we've had two in an effort to get people in the door to spend. This week in my city Banana Republic had a 40% off of everything in the store for one day only sale. I've lumped myself in the group of folks who are hanging on to their every dime, but 40% off of everything I had to check it out! A lot of their items were already marked down and the catch to this new sale was that the 40% would only apply to regular priced items. I only found one thing that I felt I couldn't live without and it was a coat already marked down from $225 to $119.99 My friend accompanying me talked me out of the purchase but as soon as it's marked under $100 it's mine. Aldo shoes announced a one-day sale for this weekend only in my city that includes additional markdowns. The desperation on retail's face is depressing, and my store's numbers are even more depressing.

Smart AND gorgeous

Surprisingly my new obsession has nothing to do with clothes... In fact it's the exact opposite. Twenty-five year old millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal first caught my attention on Oprah. He launched a technology business at the age of 16 when he couldn't get a job in the not-so-blind United States. His business is thriving and now the technology entrepreneur has written a book and is creating a reality TV show about humanity. Not even 26 years old yet he's now worth over $100 million, but it was his supple skin and gorgeous face that initially caught my eye. I mean this man is gorgeous! When I googled him to see what else I could find out about him, this picture came up... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! I didn't expect to find this under the Armani suit. Chahal is brilliant, charming, and looks like a dream. He says he's single and having fun. Yeah I'll bet you are, wow!

Complimentary evening

I woke up this morning still thinking about my outfit! What I mean is, I finally wore my little black wool BCBG skirt. My friend JH and I went to the symphony last night and I thought, what a perfect place to go and put on ready-to-wear BCBG. I have to declare that we looked great! I wore the skirt with a very light-blue (nearly white) sleeveless cotton ruffle shirt and I put a fitted steal gray merino wool cardigan over it - both from Banana Republic; Black opaque tights and black patent booties that are only two inches in height. My date wore a pale pink button-down with a dark pink (striped with white) tie; Heather gray Yves Saint Laurent trousers and a navy corduroy two-button blazer accessorized with a brown belt and brown round-toe shoes. I mean does that not sound like the perfect pair or what?! We had an excellent time drinking, people-watching, and of course listening to the music. JH even got to shake the lead cellist's hand. The night was so much fun. And I have to mention that I've never seen so much fur (well except in Chicago) in my life! Now where else can we go to don our ready-to-wear pieces?...

Doing my part

What have I done?! I won't be eating for a month after this. I just spent like crazy at BCBG's fall 2008 ready-to-wear collection. I posted before about how much I love the line this season and I finally broke down and bought some pieces. Even though my bank account and my empty stomach will hate me after this, I'm so in love with my choices and isn't that what matters! Now I have to find somewhere to go to wear them, but thus far I pretty much love sitting here staring at them on its hanger. From Style.com I was able to find the black skirt I purchased and the slate gray dress too... The smile on my face = ear-to-ear! Plus I'm helping the economy. I plan to wear the skirt with black opaque tights and a patent bootie, still giving the top some thought. The dress with a shiny lame' legging in black and a chunky closed-toe heel most likely in black but you never know. Oh and the dress has a slit from the nape down to the lower back so when I turn around, surprise!!

Still the bachelorette

I am sooooo sad today. This is a little late because I've been a tad busy but I've just learned that DeAnna Pappas and Jesse Csincsak have called off their May 2009 wedding and have officially broken up. This is the bachelorette program that aired just this past summer where I was more than a little obsessed over. I just loved DeAnna, and her selection of male suitors were impeccable. So much so that I found myself rooting for a different front runner on more than one occasion, but ended up falling for runner-up Jason Mesnick (who's scheduled to be the next bachelor by the way). However when she chose Jesse I was very happy for them. I don't know why I'm so sad or surprised for that matter, I mean out of what 10 seasons only ONE couple has managed to make it?! But there was something special about this couple to me; they were so cute together. In the video clip Jesse posted he says that DeAnna told him that she is not in love with him. Something tells me she gonna find her way to NYC on a Graham Bunn search.

Attention shoppers

I was at work in the store today trying to get shoppers to come in and look at our beautiful collection and buy it up when one customer strolls in and asked, "how's business?" "How's business in this economy", I clarified? It was a fair question. Actually we haven't really felt the pinch during this drying economy. People come in all the time and spend mad money with us. There are times when I'm baffled that people drop that kind of cash on clothes especially now, but then I remember when I was making more money how I would just walk into a store and drop nearly four figures at once! I'm actually someone who considers future repercussions before acting in the present, but my shopping addiction gets the better of me at times. So food and gas prices are up, so folks are losing their jobs, so my investment portfolio is evaporating into thin air, but you still need to look fabulous right?! Researchers say that this is going to be one of the worst and slowest holiday sessions for the retail industry. I guess that means people would rather shop for themselves now than save for gift giving, or save for a potential rainy day for that matter. Whatever, just spend it here!

You're fired!

This has been such a busy and crazy week for me but I've finally made time to watch The Hills. I know it is absolutely pathetic to watch these kids' "reality" and have such strong opinions about it but I have to say FINALLY to the firing of Heidi from Bolthouse. I just never understood why her boss Brent would continually fight for her and defend her incompetence and insubordination. Well actually I do understand; I mean who doesn't want the exposure for their business from MTV's cameras all over the office. Heidi, as long as those cameras are following you around, you are welcome to act like a fool and still keep your job. That is until now. Heidi's boss was finally fed up by her unprofessional actions - drinking on the job, inviting friends to a private event, and just down right not working. How do you defend that? Pack your @#%* and get out... Sorry but I love it!