‘shopping’ Category

11 March 2010

Purse crushes

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Fashion, shopping

I love shoes but at heart, I am a purse girl. I would rather spend $400 on a purse than on a pair of designer shoes. Mostly because I’ll damage that shoe beauty in about 2 seconds (with my luck).

I wouldn’t even know what to do with a $400 pair of shoes. I would just wear them around my house, to do dishes or water the plants. Money NOT well spent.

But purses are my love. They always fit, look good year-round and are such an easy way to dress up an outfit.

And right now, I’m on the purse prowl.

That’s right, I’m a purse puma/cougar in heat, looking for her next fix.

To fix my purse craving, I went to my happiest place on earth, Nordstrom, allowing myself to gingerly touch the soft leather and imagine how gorgeous these lovely bags would look on my shoulder. Yeah, I went to second base with them :)

Beware, below is unrated, hot, purse-on-purse porn action I have my eye on.

Marc Jacobs Amber and Carla totes. Love the color on Amber and satchel/shoulder straps on Carla – gorgeous!

Burberry Heart Check tote – I love the hearts! But it’s canvas, which means: stains

Steve Madden cross-body bag. Love the color, detail and odd shape. It’s like having a letter on your hip

Valentino Shopping Couture tote – I’ve seen this in a few colors and I am LOVING the paillettes. Such fun!

Just because I prefer purses, that doesn’t mean this post is without shoe love too. So while feeling up purses at Nordstrom, I also found these lovelies in the shoe department:

Report - Love the gunmetal color and the pattern on the toes.

Jessica Simpson Alexandra sandal – Love the contrast on the brass and tan leather. This may be more of a “sitting shoe”

Steve Madden Florale flat – Ruffles + peep toe + bold green? With a pedicure, this is too cute, especially for this weekend!

So many choices. Some that cost as much as two months rent and some that are affordable. What is a girl to do? Sharing these made me feel better too so the purse urge has been met.

What do you love more, purses or shoes?

09 March 2010

Spring reality check

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Fashion, gym, shopping

Within the last three days, I got two big reality checks. It started when the weather became gorgeous this weekend.

Chicago had its first taste of spring weather, which meant I was out getting fresh air and checking out the stores for cute new spring clothes.

Enter reality check number one. Old Navy was having a big sale on skirts and dresses, both of which are my spring wardrobe staples so I was ready to stock up.

But after a long winter, trying on spring clothes shopping can be a…harsh wake up call.

And the reality check I was written said: get back in shape.

Sure, you can say Old Navy’s clothes are cheap and that styles fit differently, but seeing my fat a** in a piece of jersey was a self-esteem deflator.

So I only bought one of the dresses that fit but was slightly snug and am now using it as my inspiration to get back in a routine at the gym.

This brought me to reality check number two.

I used to go to a bootcamp class regularly at the gym but lately haven’t been able to because of a busy work schedule. But hey, I still go to the gym regularly, it’s a piece of cake!

WRONG. FAIL.

I was down on the ground and I couldn’t get up.

The level of pain I felt was insane. As I laid on the ground, legs and arms aching, I thought, “please God take me now.”

And to add to the misery, there was a “woo” girl in the class, screaming “WOOO I LOVE IT!” Seriously, I wanted to punch her in the face.

But hey, I made it and (hopefully) it’ll get easier again with time. And that dress is going to be good motivation.

Has it started to be spring by you? What are you looking forward to this spring?

Review blog update: It’s not a “formal” review but I took part in an Oscar pool, check out how I did :)

14 February 2010

Weekend recap: Happy Valentine’s Day

By: Jessica B.

Happy Sunday and Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Yeah it’s Valentine’s Day.

I should hate it because I’m single, but really, I don’t. I know, I talk a good game about hating Valentine’s Day but really, I don’t loathe it.

What I do hate is the connotation that Valentine’s Day only applies to you if you’re in a relationship. I think it should be more about love overall. Love for friends, family AND significant other. Why can’t it just be like that?

But since relationships are the most important thing on this sweet/depressing day, I decided to take my #1 person in my life out for a day. That’s right, I’m single, so I celebrate my awesomeness independently and treated myself to a day downtown.

Actually, it’s been more of a “treat weekend.”

Friday was striptease at the gym, where I got a reminder I always need to see (along with a few hefty glasses of wine).

Trust me, after two glasses of wine, I am LOVING my body :)

We also got to make up stripper names. Yes, that sticker is on my boob too.

Saturday was haircut, movie and dinner at Noodles & Company (YUM).

Sassy! Seriously, I need to just commit to full bangs at this point.

And for the big day today, I went to yoga, brunch at Eleaven (they had a donut buffet for free!), shopping at Banana, another movie, Berry Chill and then home to close the day with more movies and a group date with Russell Stover and Whitman Sampler. Oh yeahhhh.

So that’s what I did this weekend, relax, go see movies and treat myself whenever I wanted. After a rough few weeks and a busy one coming up, I decided to take it easy and make sure one of the most important people in my life, me, didn’t feel left out on Valentine’s Day.

And I highly recommend everyone else does the same, single or married. Do something fun for yourself and if you have one, your significant other. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, but take that time out to recognize all the people you love in your life and don’t forget about yourself. Ever :)

What about everyone else, did you do anything fun for Valentine’s Day or during this weekend? Do you love or hate this love-infected holiday?

Heart-themed movie review: That’s right, I went and saw Valentine’s Day, original, I know.

04 February 2010

The online shopping bait and switch

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Fashion, shopping

Why I love online shopping:

  • It’s easy to do from home or work
  • You do not have to wait for a fitting room
  • You do not have to deal with unhelpful sales associates
  • More likely to find your size (especially in pants for me)

Yes, I love online shopping for all of these reasons. Plus, I get little presents (that I paid for) delivered to me at work. It’s like Christmas or my birthday but throughout the year!

And sales tax is usually cheaper (especially if you live in Chicago where it’s 10.25 percent.).

Sure, returns are annoying sometimes, but overall, it’s easy.

The only thing that dampers my love of online shopping is the bait and switch.

This means: what looks great online looks awful in person.

Wah wah.

Yes, the trouble of “maroon red” looking more brick red, or “dreamy green” looking more like some odd mix of grass green and puke. Not so dreamy after all.

Or when that lux-looking fabric and dress feels like a bad polyester/nylon blend. Ick.

I don’t have this happen a lot but when it does, it really irritates me. I hate getting all excited about the stuff I purchase, only to find out it looks totally different in person. That does not make my shopping experience easier.

And I’ve found Old Navy and Land’s End are the biggest offenders of this bait and switch. When I complained once, a rep from Land’s End actually told me, “oh yeah, we hear this a lot.”

Really? Well maybe…something should be done about that? If I have to go into the store to make sure that what I buy online looks normal in person, I would just BUY in the store.

Speaking of that, I have a stack of returns for this weekend. Sometimes, I wonder if I should just stick to buy things in black, gray or white online because those colors are tough to really mess up.

Lots of questions to ask! Do you online shop a lot? If so, what do you usually shop for? Or have you had this happen to you when you shop online? Or do you prefer to still go in store to purchase?

Movie review: I’m off to the movies this weekend but you can still check out my review of An Education in the meantime!

31 January 2010

Weekend recap: delicious food and sales

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Food, shopping

Happy Sunday everyone!! Tonight I’m taking about food!

I love going out to eat but I don’t do it very often because I’m cheap. Depending where you go, dinner plus drinks can become an expensive night out. So I save most of my “dinner nights out” for the weekend. I look at it as my treat after bringing my lunch and making my own dinner Sunday – Thursday.

I get so excited about it that I’ve been known to make lists of restaurants I want to go to. So yeah, going out to eat is a big treat.

And after I was told that I had to lose some weight, I stopped going out to eat because it was harder to track my food and find the right items to order on the menu.

But lately, I’ve had the urge to dine out again and this time, I embraced it. I’ve been really good at going to the gym, so a little treat is necessary.  And it was all delicious.

Here’s a weekend food recap:

Wakomono: Stone crab, spicy salmon and Peter Parker maki rolls (my friend Ryan was getting fussy so he started eating while I took the picture)

DMK Burger: Angus beef with Jack cheese, fried egg and bacon with a side of Parmesan truffle fries. Seriously, it was incredible.

Tarantino’s: Rigatoni with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, proscuitto, peas, cream and parmesan cheese

On top of all this deliciousness and a healthy amount of walking to work part of it off. I took advantage of the extra 25 percent off at Gap, Banana and Old Navy with my card so….I went in and picked up two cute things for summer. Love the bold color on the shirt.

Silk blend V-neck

Colorblock striped scarf (I know, I’m obsessed with scarves)

Oh and I put together my Wii/Wii Fit all by myself! I’m not very good at wiring or setting up stuff like this so it was amazing that I did it, and promptly celebrated by sucking at Wii Tennis. Looks like I’ll be practicing a lot more.

How was everyone else’s weekend? Do you love to go out to eat? What are your favorite places? (Doesn’t have to be a national chain).

Shoe envy: Glad everyone liked the shoes I posted on Thursday! I plan to stalk the blue pearl/diamond ones to go on sale. They are too cute to pass up!