I Can Explain this "Recession"

Recession? No, not so much. Bad merchandising? There it is!

Ok, while this totally isn't 100% to blame for the retail slowdown, I would like to point out that I was tryyyyyying to spend some money today. "Trying" being the key word.

I wanted a warm-ish or at least some sort of long-sleeve dress that was more cocktail than formal for today's gala. Here's how shopping went:Marshall's
-nada in the dresses and petites
-hella nada in the 2's

Old Navy
(thought FOR SURE this would be a one-stop shop because they usually have a great selection of professional wear that can dressed up for fun)
-FAIL!Finally settled on the following (sort-of) 1/2 sleeve length dress just because it worked. I frickin' HATE shopping like that.



The reason I say sort-of in reference to this dress is because a: the one I picked out was actually black and b: it was gathered with a belt at the waist. MUCH cuter. (Oh - and I have good enough sense not to go anywhere in public when it's 40 degrees in open-toe sandals. JUST SAYING....) Tights and boots for this girl!

Plus, the dress I got is crazy thick (the deciding factor) and not "lightweight" as described online.

So there ya go, had any of my convenient Cary, NC retailers stocked some seasonally-appropriate staples, maybe we'd be seeing less of a 5.8% decrease in the retail sector.

At least this weekend's bad luck wasn't wide-spread... some of my bloggin' friends had quite a few blog-worthy shopping successes:Lisa S. straight up CLEANED UP with some great winter staples

Biscuits are Never Boring took "warehouse fun" to a new level and saved some huge cash on some great Lilly items!On a positive note, the BF looked very snazzy for today's event. I hope to have pictures this week from the awesome photog who graciously took pictures in between bidding to share.

And a double positive note, the gala was a HUGE success and a lot of fun - for an AMAZING cause!

PS - Did you know that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of women and men in the US, taking more lives than breast, prostate, and colon cancers combined? I didn't either. Pass it on. There is very little research and funding in this area which we know contributes to it's less than 15% survival rate within one year of diagnosis.