Party Perfect Dresses!

I awoke to an email from my gal pal Kristin this morning sharing the LuLu's site with me... thank you, Kristin!

The site features dresses, shoes, tops, bottoms, denim, accessories, and jewelry, but I was totally sold on the dresses. There were over 500 on the site (500!) and I have yet to see one over $100.00. (Woohoo!) While targeting juniors, there are SEVERAL dresses that I myself would totally wear for a night out. Most are tiny dresses, so with fall approaching, lots of these would look great with tights or leggings.

A few of my favorites:


$43.00 Also love it in red!
http://www.lulus.com/products/fire-and-ice-teal-one-shoulder-dress/28642.html


$38.00 Pair with dark gray tights.... love!
http://www.lulus.com/products/hot-for-hieroglyphs-black-dress/28634.html


$79.00 Never too late for a little summer fun! (Hello fall/winter warm vacation destination!)
http://www.lulus.com/products/islands-are-forever-silk-party-dress/28511.html


$38.00 Party perfect or great for work with a cardigan!
http://www.lulus.com/products/haute-bouquet-party-dress/28488.html


$79.00 Sold out... bummer. This was by far one of my FAVORITES!
http://www.lulus.com/products/global-dj-gold-sequin-dress/28149.html


I may be a *tad* bit early, but it never hurts to look for New Year's Eve party dresses! ;-)

PS - The retail genius who decided to put a wish list and "to be notified when this item is back in stock" on LuLu's.... VERY SMART!

The Problem with Knowing Exactly What You Want...

...is FINDING exactly what you want! I have this problem all the time. I often have an idea in my head of what I want and that makes it nearly impossible to find what I want. (Or, sometimes I find it and it's WAY more than I want to spend. Bummer.)

Currently on my WANTed list... some cute business dresses! I have a ton in black, I want more colors and I definitely must get a gray one ASAP (they go great with colored tights - something I'm a big fan of right now).

Inspiration:The Pop-Watch Dress



(Preferably, NOT a $300 version. That's not in the budget right now.)That address appears to live at http://shopintuition.com/product.asp?pid=15646, but their website is down for maintenance. If I could find one at a local boutique, that would be SWEET! If I could find one for a great deal, that would be double sweet.

Just a Little Reminder...

"If we know the house always wins, why gamble?" - S&tC.

That's why I like my money... right where I can see it... HANGING IN MY CLOSET.


{Image: eBates blog - which is also awesome.}

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.

Holiday Party Wardrobe Help - Little Black Dress

I can foresee this becoming a good on-going post. I'll start with Kristy's recommendation this morning:black is back



have you all seen the new "party look" line at the gap? i love it all especially the items with ruffles. so very festive -- especially for the upcoming holidays. i think adding a splash of cranberry, hot pink or even some shade of green would make these black items "pop" even more. guess who's so ready for the holidays?I love her idea of playing it up with color. How about a bit of red, green, gold or silver?

Clockwise from top left:
Forever21 - Filigree Hearts Necklace - $4.80
etsy - Goldeneye Hammered Rings Necklace - $47.00
Francesca's Collections - Unsung Melody Necklace - $22.40
etsy - (dyed) Freshwater Pearl and Oxidised Sterling Silver Necklace - $39.00Complete with a new little black dress that can be worn all year round!