Shoe Diva Party

Sarah, Anne, and I went to the latest Shoe Diva party at Macy's.


Runway show


Wacky Betsy Johnson shoes!

Napa Outlets Labor Day Trip

Sarah drove us to the Napa Outlets on Labor Day. Got several lovely new things.
















I got these great BCBG "Daria" wool trousers.
















Also got these adorable gloves from Timberland.

Couldn't find pictures but also got a charcoal wool blend dress and brown satin quilted jacket at Banana Republic, and socks at Calvin Klein.

Shoe Spree at Nordstrom

Went to Nordstrom after work last night to pick up some more of the wonderful Creamy Concealor by Bobbie Brown (works great on my dark circles) and got sucked into the shoe department. I picked up these two adorable pairs of shoes... just shows that you always find good stuff when you're not looking.
Love these distressed peep toe Mary Janes by Seychelles
I kept coming back to these sweet patent leather pumps by Boutique 58. I was really attracted to the heel, much lower that I've been getting lately, and hoping that they'll be a little more walkable than most of my shoes!

New Rounded Toe Pumps

I ordered these adorable rounded toe pumps by N.Y.L.A. from Nordstrom last week on sale for only $39.90. The price has since gone down, but they don't have my size anymore. Glad I jumped on it. They're very cute, and actually pretty comfortable!

Upcoming Sample Sales

Just thought I'd share with you the sample sales coming up in San Francisco:

Shecky's Girls Night Out - cocktails and shopping on May 25th
The Warehouse Sale - another denim sample sale on June 4th
Chic Summer Soiree - another cocktails & shopping event on June 8th

I'm definitely going to Shecky's, already got my tix!

Underground Denim Sample Sale

Just got back from the wonderful Underground Demin sample sale at the Embarcadero Center. It was a 2 hour wait to get in, but the deals were worth it (making friends in line helped with the waiting too... thanks ladies!). They had a great selection of denim, t-shirts, sweats, and summer skirts.

I got these James Jeans...
these Joe's Jeans...
this People's Liberation hoodie (in blue)...
and this Ella Moss asymetrical skirt (in blue)

also got a couple of great Splendid shirts and a Linea Pelle belt. The prices were great, $60 each for the jeans, $30 each for the hoodie, skirt, and belt, and $15 each for the shirts.

Pre-Vacation Shopping Spree

Went on a pre-vacation shopping spree on Sunday with Sarah. Got a couple great pairs of sandals, like the Max Studio sandals pictured here on sale 40% off at Macy's. I couldn't find a picture of the beautiful Calvin Klein sandals that I got there... too bad they're adorable.

Also got a bunch of cute clothes to wear during my vacation in Costa Rica at H&M and Zara.

Anime Susan

Discovered how to dress up for free... by making an amime doll of myself online!


















Click here to make one yourself!

Luv Shoes?

Macy's had another fun shoe event tonight called Luv Shoes? featuring Meghan Cleary. What could be wrong with shoes and cocktails (thanks Bacardi Melon)? Nothing... that's what. Wasn't quite in the mood to actually buy any of the cute springy shoes on a cold and rainy night, but Sarah picked up a couple pairs... go Sarah!

Here's a pic of me with a cocktail (of course) and a shoe cookie :-)

Nicole's Big Girl Shoes

My friend Nicole just bought her first pair of shoes with heels. I'm so proud of her!
They are this very cute pair of Seychelles.

Denim Sample Sale

Went to the big denim sample sale today put on by The Warehouse Sale. This was their first time visiting SF and the crowds were crazy. We waited in line to get in over an hour and the line to the dressing room was probably a half hour... yikes!

The selection was huge though. I've never seen so many jeans in one place. Check out the huge 'pile 'o jeans' in the dressing room.





I ended up with another pair of Yanuk jeans. You may remember that I got a pair at the last Billion Dollar Babes sale. The price here wasn't as good as at BDB, but it was still about 1/2 off.
















Patrice got fabulous pair of Kasil jeans, price looks to be well over 50% off too.

Mega Shoe Deal

Scored a great deal on a pair of Aerosole wedge mocs at DSW the other day. They were on clearance, and I had a $5 off coupon. Grand total..... $5.40!!!!! Got them in black. The pic is of a slightly different shoe, but very close.

P.S. I've been shopping quite a bit at H&M lately, but can't find pics of the goods, so haven't posted my purchases there to the blog. Let me just say.... Fabulous!!!!!!!

This blog is famous!

Well... sort of. The Budget Fashionista (a great site) has started a listing of blogs, and I'm on it! Very exciting. Please check it out!

Belated Report of Macy's after xmas sale

This is a very belated report of the fabulous buys at Macy's after xmas sale. I got a Fossil watch fob (for hiking 'cause I hate wearing a watch on my wrist when I'm hiking), a sweater, and two "going out" tops from Studio M all for about $40. Patrice got an absolutely gorgeous 9 West brocade coat with faux fur collar ($50, marked down from $160, I think) and black silk top (around $20). Her son, Evan's apt description that she looked like a movie star in this outfit sealed the deal!

I couldn't find any pics online of our buys (except the watch shown below), so I had to get our pictures taken at my birthday get-together (here at Lucky 13) in our purchases. I couldn't seem to take a decent picture that night, but this is the best of them. Patrice photographed great, as always!

H&M Grand Opening!

Well, despite my preparing for Thanksgiving travel the next morning, I couldn't resist the trip to the H&M Grand Opening on Saturday morning. I knew there would be a line to get in, but I was completely overwhelmed by the reality of it. I arrived at 9:00 am, an hour before the doors opened, to find the line snaking down Powell, around the corner and all the way down Ellis, around the corner again and 3/4's of the way up Stockton, practically to O'Farrell. I was feeling a bit dishearten of ever getting in, but I figured that if I gave up my precious Saturday morning sleep-in I had to make it worthwhile.

I got to chatting with my neighbors in line, an Old Navy employee and her boyfriend (who was there quite willingly, by the way) and a couple of Macy's personal shoppers! It seems that the retail world was just as excited as the rest of us to see the new H&M store. We were pretty sure that we wouldn't get the 20% discount or the t-shirt promised to the first 200 hundred people in. My guess is that we were around number 750 in line, which numbered up to 1000, or so I read.

Excited H&M employees came by with candy and swag (which was all gone by the time they got to our end of the line) to try to keep our spirits up. I witnessed a wrestling match over a freebie thrown to the crowd, which turned out to be a set of H&M playing cards. Definitely not worth the broken finger nail the losing wrestler received for her trouble.

Finally at 10:00 the line started moving. Fortunately the wait wasn't too long. I got in a mere 30 minutes after the opening. I headed upstairs pretty quickly to the Stella McCartney section and found the cut-throat crowds that I feared. There wasn't too much left to grab up, but I did manage a silk camisole by Stella. I didn't see much else in my size so I toured through the rest of the store.

I picked up several adorable, and wonderfully affordable pieces, including a pair of tweed pants, a mohair cardigan, and nubby tweed skirt, as well as a few lovely t-shirts. As I was weaving through the girls trying on their booty in the middle of the floor, I spied one of the silk Stella blouses that was only available in size 12 upstairs. My lucky stars, it was my size!!! I really lucked out that someone decided to abandon it among the sweat pants.

Then on to the challenge of the check out line. By that time I was hot, tired and dehydrated... silly me forgot to bring water :-( But I had to press on, so I got to chatting with the girl ahead of me in line. She had been #28 in line to get in the store, arriving at 3:30 am all the way from San Diego! What dedication to shopping, I was truly impressed. After a few delays (the credit card connection went down for a little while) I finally paid for my pile-o-clothes. I won't divulge the total, but I will say that I got everything for an average of $20 per piece :-)

Finally at home I got to try everything on (believe me, I wasn't going to even look at the dressing rooms or try on in the aisles). Yay... everything fits. I think I will return one item because I realize I have something very similar to it already. Otherwise I'm keeping it all. Half of my new purchases ended up in the suitcase for my trip to LA (still H&M-less).

So, a couple of hints about H&M. The sizing is European, so buy everything a size larger than you normally do. I think the sizes are probably more true than many American stores who trick you into buying it just because you are so excited to fit into a small size ;-) The other is buy it when you see it. From all I've heard, and my experience in New York, they produce small lots of everything and are constantly restocking with new stuff. In New York I bought everything too small (before I figured out the sizing) and when I went back the next day to exchange for the next size up the items I bought were all gone.

As for the insanity of the H&M grand opening, I'd say it was worth it. I love my purchases, and am glad to be able to say I was there the first day.

My trip to Old Navy

I had a shopping jones the other night, so I made a trip to Old Navy. I got this fabulous tweed coat. It was marked $88, but for some reason I was only charged $59.50! I guess it was on sale and I didn't even know it... I love it when that happens.













I also got this lovely cashmere sweater in green for $44.50... as marked :-(

I'm so excited....

...that the new H&M is opening in San Francisco on November 19th. I'm leaving town on the 20th, so I might not be able to make it there until I get back after t-day :-(

My laptop was feeling naked....

... so I got it this adorable "skin" from Target. My laptop is very happy with her new outfit and I expect her to get alot of compliments next time I take her out in public. It even matches the laptop bag I got back in March.

I know that you're dying to know about the shoes I ordered, but they haven't arrived yet (I hate to delay gratification!).

Billion Dollar Babes

Sarah & I made an early morning trip to the Billion Dollar Babes sample sale last Saturday. Despite the long lines and huge crowds, people didn't get grabby or nasty. I managed to get a couple of great deals, a pair of Yanuk jeans for only $40 (full price is $150 -$200!) and a sweet satin shell for only $10. I have to take up the jeans a few inches, but they fit great in every other way.

After the sample sale we made a quick trip over to Nordstrom Rack to look at shoes (I'm on a hunt for some brown shoes). No luck on the shoes that day, but I got a great Perlina bag in black leather for $50. I couldn't find a picture of the exact bag, but this one's close:





So, in the hunt for my brown shoes I ordered these online from Nordstrom. We'll see if I like them, they're supposed to be comfy...

Macy's Shoe Diva redux

Macy's had another of their fun Shoe Diva parties. I was joined again by Sarah & Anne. We had a little self control and didn't buy any shoes... can you believe it? Especially surprising since we each had a couple of the Sofia sparkling wine in a can. I have to admit I had a bit of a headache the next day. I'm not sure if wine should be in a can, but it was kind of fun drinking it that way. Well, I may not have bought any shoes that night, but I was inspired to shop (see my next post about my trip to Loehmann's).


Macy's Shoe Diva's