I was a woman on a mission this morning. I woke up and got ready and out of the house by 9am and headed to the mall. I know, I’m nuts to go out and wrangle with the holiday shoppers a few days before Christmas, especially when I’m finished with all of my shopping. But, you see, that was the point – my family and I had exchanged our gifts on Sunday, and I had a few gift cards that were burning a hole in my pocket.
The first stop was Macy’s, because even though they’d already spent an exorbitant amount of money on my Coach bag (which I LOVE!), my parents surprised me with a $75 gift card to Macy’s. They spoil me so much! I wanted to get a watch, because somewhere along the line I stopped wearing one on a daily basis, and I really wanted to get a new one. Although sometimes I don’t like the way the watch strap feels on my wrist, I was determined to find a watch that I liked. I had seen one in a magazine that I liked, but I couldn’t find it at any of the counters. What I did find was a charm bracelet watch from Anne Klein, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it.
I love the way it jangles on my wrist as the charms hit each other. The sound makes me feel so girly! It’s got 8 charms in all, including the main watch face charm. I really like that there’s just a bit of bling on some of the charms, but it’s not too much. It suits me. I can see myself wearing this every single day. I did have to put in a bit of money, but it wasn’t much, and well worth it for a unique piece of jewelry.
After Macy’s, I was headed to Lane Bryant. I’m sure so many of you can relate to my love-hate relationship with this store. It’s always hit or miss as far as the styles you’ll find inside. Still, I had a few things to return, $125 in Real Woman Dollars, and a $50 gift card from my sister. I was really surprised to find so few items in the store. Not much to choose from at all. Lots of active wear and sweaters (which were buy one, get one free), but not much in the way of fancier tops to wear for holiday parties and family gatherings.
I realized a bit late that my Real Woman Dollars expired two days ago. Oh, the humanity! Luckily, the salesgirl was really cool and let me use them anyway. She was also really cool in that she returned the items (and the money back to my checking account) in a separate transaction from my purchase. That way, I could use all of my Real Woman Dollars without any penalty. In total, I used the $125 Real Woman Dollars and the $50 gift card and didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket! That NEVER happens.
Here’s what I got:
2 camisoles, 2 necklaces, 4 sweaters, and a camel coat!
Now, in more detail:
I love that this has a hood! Plus, it's a classic that will last until it's too big. 🙂
Love this!!!!!!!!
I have been wanting a necklace like this for I can’t tell you how long. I was so excited when I saw it in the store! I wear a ton of black, so this goes with practically everything in my closet. I think I’ll be wearing it all the time. This photo also shows one of the camis and the pink sweater.
Another necklace.
I thought this necklace was beautiful, too. I love the sparkle and the different metals. I think that it will go with so many of my outfits, and I’m sure it will get a lot of use, as well. (Notice that I put on the gray sweater, just to match the necklace). 😛
Shopping today was so much fun. I’m known for being a great gift giver, and I love coming up with themes for the gifts I give to people. (I wish I could make a living buying gifts for people, sort of like a personal shopper). I usually have more fun buying things for other people than I do for myself, but I did have a good time today. Even though I didn’t find a ton of variety in the clothes available, it was really fun to be able to buy things from my family that were special. Especially the jewelry – the charm bracelet watch and the necklaces – those things will last into the the thinner days that I know are on the way. Still, today did make me long for the days when I am not limited to the stores that I can walk into and pull clothes off the rack to try on.
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As much fun as I had buying things for myself, I had even more fun making a Smilebox thank you card for my sister to show her all of the things I was able to buy at Lane Bryant. Smilebox is a division of Hallmark, and they have these great e-cards that you can send to people. They allow you to add photos and music, to make the card even more special. In the past, I’ve made beautiful anniversary cards for my parents and for CTLB. Since I like the program, I decided to subscribe to the annual membership so that I can send premium cards (without ads and being able to add songs from my computer) to anyone I want.
Making the card for LC led me to see that they had a holiday newsletter card available to create. I’m a sucker for anything where I can be creative with words and photos (obviously!), so for about three hours, I was sucked in to making a really cool 2009 retrospective. (If you’re my friend on Facebook, you can view the newsletters I made. If you don’t know me in real life, don’t worry, I’ve given the same sentiments on this blog, only in much more detail. The only thing you’re missing out on are the personal pictures of my family, friends, and me, but that’s why this is an anonymous blog). It took me two newsletters to fit everything in, because each newsletter only had room for 6 slides, with 3 photos each. I’m not sure who could fit their whole year into such a small space. Well, someone who is less verbose than me, obviously. 🙂
All in all, it was a good, albeit not very productive, day. What better way to spend a vacation day, don’t you think?
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