Filed under: Product Reviews
A few weeks ago I had to work late. (BTW, I have been working crazy hours a lot lately.) Being a cocktails kind of gal, I thought it better to spend 90 minutes working at my local T.G.I. Friday’s than at the office. I ordered my happy hour usual, a tall Bud Light and Boneless Buffalo Wings… which I enjoyed immensely – in my favorite ivory cowl neck dress.
And as I walked out – feeling accomplished and disciplined for putting in the extra time to make my tomorrow more manageable at work – I looked down and saw BUFFALO SAUCE on my favorite freaking dress. Oh no! My husband Jamison said, “Who eats buffalo wings while wearing white?” Sure, that all sounds so common sense, but I am not USUALLY a messy gal.
Man, when I got home I tried Shout – twice. No luck. I tried OxiClean – twice; it got lighter but it was still there. I tried my good old reliable stain remover I stocked up from White House Black Market before they stopped carrying it, and the stain was STILL there.
I frantically called my mom – who knows everything about everything – to ask her for advice. She told me she got a three-year old stain out of a dress using Tide Stain Release. I bought a small package at Publix for $3.99 and popped the dress in the wash with Woolite and one packet of Stain Release. It worked the first time!
I am not paid to tell you this. I’ve gotten no Proctor & Gamble swag to reveal this – although P&G, Unilever, Tom Ford, Bliss, etc. feel free to send me some swag and I’ll be happy to give my HONEST opinion… Tide Stain Release rocks! Get some and be sure to use it with any stain and you won’t be sorry.
You can get a coupon here…
The one bag that would make me re-consider never buying a black handbag… at $1895, it is really almost an entire paycheck! Damn… A girl can dream…
I have always said that Nia is beautiful – not hot, not pretty. But Jamison pointed out today that I have yet to feature a brown or black girl as my girl crush… as if I am not into black chicks. Now that doesn’t sound like a black girl from Nebraska, so I’m giving love to my”brown-skinned ladies”…
Nia looks just as fly with her Indian hair weave as she does shorn super close. She has an elegant sophistication about her, which I love. And it all started with “Love Jones” for me…
Well, guys after much deliberation, I have returned the Valentino D’orsay Pewter Pumps after nearly 6 months in my closet without one night on the town.
It wasn’t nearly as difficult or exhausting to return the shoes as I thought and now I’ve got over $750 coming back into my bank account, and I’ve got a plan to get myself lots of good, solid pieces that I will LOVE and WEAR. And I really want to start following the “if I haven’t worn it in 2 weeks, I must return it” rule. Because let’s be real, if you LOVE IT – you are gonna WEAR it ASAP.
So, R.I.P. Valentinos…
Just went cruising Phipps Plaza with Jory, and we visited his FAVE store – Barney’s Co-op. I noticed that everything he loved was in four categories:
1. Grey
Theory Townes Sweater
2. Plaid
Nom De Guerre Grey Plaid Shirt
Theory Floral Shirt
Not Plaid, but still printed
3. Cardigans
CO-OP Grey Colorblock Cardigan
4. Hoodies
Rogan Sweatshirt
I’m sure that I have some categories too, but they are quite different: bling, bright, cinched and vintage…
So, last week Jory and I finally headed to Zara to get him an amazing coat we’d spied weeks ago. I casually looked around while he was checking out and tried on a really cute wool jacket. But do I really need another jacket?
Then, as we were headed out of the store, we spied this on a hanger with a LBD:
Feather shawl in store
Feather shawl on my fave LBD
I can just see myself wearing this all the time – with wife beater and jeans, with LBD, with turtleneck… I am DYING to get it out of the closet and out on the town ASAP.
And sadly, they were all sold out of this, but I might just have to look everywhere for it:
Zara Feather Belt
In my field trip last Saturday to Phipps Plaza, I traipsed past the Tory Burch store. The whole aesthetic is a bit “surburban soccer mom” (courtesy of my fabulous friend Jory) for me liking. BUT the long Annabel Jacket caught me eye. And at $995 plus tax, you can blow a good chunk of your paycheck on it.
Tory Burch Long Annabel Jacket
I am definitely gonna need the look for less…
Filed under: Red Carpet
One of these days, I hope to be invited:
Donatella Versace and Mischa Barton
Lauren Remington Platt
Lindsey Lohan
Taylor Momsen
Filed under: My Shopping Finds
So this whole thing started back in May, the month of my 30th birthday. After buying myself the Audi A4 convertible I’ve coveted since 2004, I also felt it would be appropriate to score some “grown woman” aka expensive as he%% shoes. I was definitely leaning towards the Christian Louboutin Very Prive pump – THE classic Louboutin.
Unfortunately, the only pair of Louboutins that didn’t hurt like he%% was a simple black patent pump. And that just didn’t feel special enough for my 30th birthday grown woman shoes. So I found some beautiful Valentino d’orsay heels in pewter with a huge bow on top:
And those beautiful shoes have sat in my closet for over five months…
Last Friday I sent this email to some of my trusted friends and advisors:
“OK, guys so here’s the deal. It’s the middle of October. My bday was May 3rd. And I still haven’t work the Valentino’s cuz they are pretty uncomfortable. And I’ve found a spot on knock off (I feel better paying $100 for beautiful yet uncomfortable shoes even if they’re Paris Hilton – than $700 plus tax if they are not my for real gonna rock them shoes) at En-Ferno footwear.
I think that if I’m not gonna wear them, I can think of other things to do with almost $800 – get the black patent Louboutin pumps that were comfy but kinda plain or a great designer bag… But I need some opinions and ASAP. Cuz I thought about this last week and the size 8.5 of this shoe are rapidly disappearing… Need your help!!!!!!!!!! What do y’all think?”
I got lots of advice, and all roads led to take back to Valentinos. So what to get instead? Jamison and I took a trip back to Saks at Phipps Plaza to get those un-special black patent Louboutin pumps, but they weren’t there! OMG… We visited Jeffrey too and I was only in love with $2,000 thigh high boots – way out of budget!
So my current plan is to spend the $750 I’ll get back from the Valentino’s on all the things I wanted for fall:
- Leopard print trench – still on the hunt…
- Leopard print boots – leaning towards either of these in lieu of the pricey Louboutins I featured a couple Fridays ago…
Funkier…
N.Y.L.A. Marriah Platform Bootie
More classic…
- Plaid pants – “searching…” (in Erykah Badu’s voice, damn I love the “Live” album)
- Shrunken cardigan – I’m feeling like T.J. Maxx will have the answer
- Black and grey leggings – Express all day long
- Metallic jacket, pants or skirt – not sure where they’ll come from…
- Long leather gloves – I’ve already got opera length in black and red courtesy of Amy, but I feel I need purple or green – am willing to try the ones at Chadwick’s
This one is from Saturday night – when I finally got to rock a long-coveted vintage score from 2002
Me and Rozzi Daime
Black Sequined Beret: Target, back in winter 2007
Yellow Motorcycle Jacket: D.C. flea market on U Street, scored for $20
Black Turtleneck: T.J. Maxx
Rest of outfit… GAP Premium Jeans (straight), black pointed toe stiletto boots with studs
