deals + 1 month.

our family at the DC temple this week.

i finally found a new winter coat that is warm and doesn't make me look like a marshmallow! i am always checking out the merch at need supply, a well curated clothing shop based in richmond, va, but i can hardly afford to buy anything from the store. i'd had my eye on this parka for the past few months and then i found it for 2/3 the price on zappos! i thought rob hamill would have been proud.

henry turned 1 month yesterday! to celebrate, we went for a walk by the capitol to his favorite spot - the botanical gardens - where he loves to stare at this iron gate for as long as i'll let him. then we nursed and pooped all day (his other 2 favorite things).

henry, you make us so happy. when you stare right into my eyes i think you must know something i don't. or at least you are letting me know that we are in this together, and it's so comforting for your mama. you are sleeping 4-5 hours at night, which makes us feel like we won the baby lottery. you get fussy in the evening and your parents are worried we are messing you up, but then we just remind ourselves that you are a baby and this is what babies do. you squak like a bird when you are hungry and it makes us laugh so hard. you like to hold onto your little teething ring when i change you, and you love it when i sing christmas songs. you are growing so fast and your mom and dad love you so much! we can't wait to see what month 2 brings us (a smile, maybe?)

even if spring won't come, you can't stop me from pretending.

i bought this skirt last night. it is beautiful and soft and lightweight and i can't wait to wear it! TH laughed when he saw it because it looks just like our bedsheets. well, i wondered why i felt so cozy and comfortable when i tried it on!!

summer.

with the cold unrelenting rain outside, the last thing i'm thinking about is summer clothes, yet it is quickly approaching and my closet is in desperate need of an update. lots of prints, bright colors, and stripes. i'm also considering picking a base color, like navy or white, and picking up a lot of acessories to fill out the wardrobe, instead of dropping tons of cash on crazy clothes i might hate in a year? because here are the kinds of things i love right now.

blue china dress. be mine.

these pink ikat pants are incredible. i'd love to see them in dress or skirt form, but these would be great for a Mediterranean vacation!

and i'm sorry, but this is the cutest thing i've seen in a while. cardigan and some white jeans would take me straight to summer bliss.

where do you find your favorite summer clothes?

winter coat.

i'm so bored of the pea coat.

i saw this girl in iceland with a mid-thigh length black jacket with a hood. i guess you could call it a cape, but it was so stylish. i looked all over iceland for it, but no luck. it was so flowy and beautiful, but not like, you know, robin hood or lord of the rings.

man, i want that.

isn't life tough sometimes? haha. this is what mark calls a "bouge problem" like bourgeoisie.

clothes. this is my materialistic post.

a discussion on the evolution of shopping.

here's the thing. the other night, sitting in the hall, staring in the mirror and debating which hairstyle would flatter us the most, cristy and i were paging through vogue and elle. many many adorable clothes and many gorgeous women. we started on a conversation about how many of the clothes we love cost $2000 per article. and how the clothes we used to rely on are growing more dull everytime we step into a shop.

i.e.
banana republic: have your clothes changed since 2002? i'm so bored of seeing the same lined ill-fitting office pants. and the same overpriced trench coat. just reinvent yourself already.
jcrew: a tshirt for $60? why because it has some sequins on it in the shape of a bow?
anthropologie: yes, of course i love everything you sell, but why must it cost so?

my question is this. is there some secret store that i don't know about selling beautiful sweaters and boots and fall-wear for a reasonable price? and these sweaters would last for years and be timeless and i could keep shopping at H&M and UO for of-the-moment fashion?

it's just so depressing, what with my new budget and all. its turning cold and i'm finding i have nothing to wear.

Blogging more was not my new years resolution

I am a delinquent blogger, I know. In my defense, my boss has really been pushing me at work. I work ALL day long. Even at night I still have to put in my time with my boss. Kidding folks. That's a horrible thing to say. My boyfriend is not the boss of me. He just happens to be my work boss for a few short weeks. He puts on his hat when we leave and it magically turns him into my boyfriend. It's quite nice, really. I've been thinking about the different hats I could wear for different situations. I've compiled a list below:

1. Sushi hat
2. Fine cheeses hat
3. Public transportation hat
4. Canadian vacation hat
5. Blogging hat

Any time I wanted to do any of the above activities, I would first have to ensure that my hat was on, properly snug, before I could commence with said activity.

Gnomie, want to get some triple creme brie?
Sure! Let me just grab my hat (runs to get hat)...

See how fun that could be? Costumes make every day things seem just a bit more enjoyable. Like work clothes. I have to go to a Very Important Job Conference on thursday and I get to wear a SUIT. It's fun dressing up. I try not to look so conservative because I'm not 47 and also I don't live in DC anymore so I don't have to be a minion. I'm starting a work wear revolution! I should open my own work wear clothing store! I'm going to call it...Plantain Commonwealth. I'm sure it'll be a hit with the upperly mobile thirty-something crowd. A hit. My only rule will be:: no pleats in any trousers. You can bet on it.

joke?

For the past few months, I have been getting a bi-weekly call at my office. It rings in from a 1-800 number and it is an automated message from Lane Bryant, telling me about their sale.
For those of you who don't know, Lane Bryant is a store for plus-sized women.

Who is playing a joke on me?? And where can i get that number to send out to my friends??

Party dresses - Right on Target

I'm looking for a party dress and target has a few pretty options for me to shake that ass during this holiday season.
Listen to this while you look at the dresses for maximum enjoyment:

sadness=increased Monster consumption

Waking up today was sad. I heard the rain and I just wanted to stay in bed. I wanted to call in sick. One of those days. Until I discovered THESE TIGHTS:

Than I paired them with a cute black skirt, a black sweater vest and a cute white ruffled shirt.

I looked seriously hot in my looking glass today.

I stole my roommates umbrella to keep me dry.
Then I bought this to ease my troubled mind:

Today, I'm kicking ass and taking names.

I seriously love Monster so much, I don't think you guys understand the level of comfort it brings me. It's the equivalent of my duckie blanket or Jenny's Pinkie that she STILL has after like 23 some odd years. And she gave it to her daughter to pass along the habit. I just hope she doesn't sniff it like Laura did with her old blanket. Aww, I want sniffing blanket Laura back.
I don't know what I'm going to do when they stop making the drink. Is this the sort of fear that came true for all of the Crystal Clear Pepsi fans? (Don't worry, there is totally a support group.)
A haiku for you:

Ginseng and Taurine
coat my pharynx with blue
Now I know true love

Now go have a great day, my little fauns. And if the day is wearing you down, look no further than your neighborhood grocer for the lo-carb Monster.

Freshly pressed, but still craving the curly fries

Ever since the end of Rocktober, I've been taking a bloggy break because - seriously. Who blogs that many reviews besides PAID PROFESSIONALS. Oh, don't worry - I am a paid professional, but Blogging isn't really in my job description. Unless you count the fact that I had an LOTR conversation with my boss the other day wherein I referred to myself as Bilbo Bloggins. Not really, but maybe I should get on that.

I really really love the feeling of putting on a fresh, crisp, new white shirt. I think everyone should have an abundance of white shirts in their closet. And they should all fit well and if they get the slightest hint of dinginess - to the TRASH with them! Really, there is nothing worse than a stainy-yellowed once-white shirt. And because I don't understand the concept of bleach (unlike some people), I must discard.

I also just picked up 4 pants from our dry cleaners downstairs. 4 freshly pressed and freshly tailored pairs of pants. I am doing well today. If I hadn't gotten in late to work, I'd say this day is starting out well! But because I arrived to 5 voicemails from my boss asking where I was (boss can be a little clingy sometimes), I'm a little stressed about work. (But clearly not that stressed or I wouldn't be blogging. HA! BURN! Take that Clingy Boss!)

My plan for work today is to see how many different projects I can get started on. I figure if I start promoting myself as the Employee With Initiative, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get a little promotion, right? As much as work sucks sometimes, there are other times when you think - Hey, atleast I don't have it as bad as Teen Heartthrob, assistant manager at Arby's: (this is not Teen Heartthrob)

THIS is TH!!
I think I caught him mid-sentence here. I'm pretty sure he was asking me how it is that I manage to look so beautiful every day and how he wants to buy me new shoes all the time. Feel free, TH. I'm open to the shoes idea.

Although(back too Arby's), on second thought, it would be nice to have all the curly fries you could ever ingest. Mmmmm....curly fries.

Oh holy moly - Amber if you ever read my blog, my roommate and I found a CHECKERS about 5 blocks away from our house. Gnomie vs. Checkers French Fries...it will be a fight to the death.

Deal of a lifetime

I went on the best vacation of my life this past weekend. It was the best vacation because while I may have spent loads of money on my plane ticket, food, gifts, rental car, etc., it was completely reimbursed in my purchase of these shoes.

While they are listed for $450, I got them Brand New for $40 + tax. I bought them in white. They are beautiful. I am totally a label whore now, but you should see the way women look at my feet. They know. Atleast, they think they know. I would never spend such a ridiculous amount of money on sandals, let alone any pair of shoes ever. But they don't need to know that...

The August Diet

I don't have any money. Or not nearly as much as I would like. *Cue the violin*

I mean, what's the point in being so drop dead sexy if you are not rich? I have to cover these gorgeous feet with expensive shoes! I need that new wool winter coat with the darling buttons, even if it is 97 degrees outside! I need to be surrounded by beautiful things and eat healthy, organic, foods that cost atleast $12 a pound!

After musing over these thoughts all day yesterday I came to a conclusion. I am the worst kind of consumer. I am a Consumer in Denial. I didn't realize how much I have been spending and wanting and thinking about silly things to buy all the time, until I saw this video.

And so, I am putting myself on an August Diet. No purchases of frivolity for the entire month. No shoes, no clothes, no trinkets for my desk, no new frames to hang on my walls, no candles, no expensive restaurants, no movies, no NOTHING! If I'm going to save for South America, I need to start somewhere. Mark my words, I will not purchase anything for the remaining 25 days {barring any unforeseen circumstances and/or trips out of town where I might have to splurge a tiny bit}.

It's AUGUST DIET!!!

Sometimes it helps being a somewhat youthful, mildly attractive woman

I've had a UPS package to send out for about a week and have been putting it off for personal reasons (I have a severe case of Procrastination. Don't worry it's not contagious, but you probably already have it anyway). So today I brought the package to work. Only to find out that 2 days ago we decided to stop having a UPS pickup here. We have switched to a Fed-ex monopoly sitution, which I think is a horribly inefficient idea (hello! FED-EX won't ship to PO Boxes. Whatever.).

So I decided to do the only thing I could do. I would venture out into the hundred degree weather with my box. Today I decided to wear a really cute white skirt with black flowers and a black (very tight) tshirt. Sometimes, especially in the sun, this tshirt is somewhat see through. I know, not the kind of thing you want to wear to work, but I couldn't find any clothes after the move. This was the best I could come up with for a Wednesday. Oh did I mention I just got a new pair of shoes that I love?! I wore those today, too.

I'm walking down the street, holding my box, swinging my birthing hips, my toenail polish glimmering in the sunlight. Keep in mind I have no idea where I'm going. Just kind of walking around looking for a UPS store. Very ignorant of me, I know. I walk no further than 2 blocks when I see it. A heaven sent gift from straight above, a big fat brown UPS truck! A UPS man in brown was chucking boxes around in the back of the truck and I realized I had a decision to make.

Usually, I wouldn't want to interrupt the Man Hard at Work. But usually, I'm not as attractive as I was today.

I timidly walked over to the truck and asked him if I could give him my package.

He then retorted "Only if I can give you mine".

Kidding.

But I'm sure that's what he was thinking. I mean, NEW SHOES, guys! It does things to you. Maybe this is why I have my addiction to shoes. They give me superpowers, like being able to interrupt people wearing brown uniforms. That is a quality super power, if you ask me.