Category Archives: shopping

Fashion Frump No Longer!

Posted by Leaf on November 10, 2011 2 comments

A friend pointed me to a blog she found featuring petite fashions. I guess it’s a common topic that comes up amongst my petite brethren. Where do you shop? What we mean is, where do you shop for work clothes. It’s hard to get clothes that fit well and flatter without spending a fortune. Gone are the days of jeans and an old T, at least not M-Th. Work wardrobes require so much more thought. Everything down to the accessories. It’s such a chore and every morning, I stand in front of my closet yelling, “I have nothing to wear! FML!!” Anyway, I’ve been learning so much from this site, it’s giving me more ideas on what works and what I can finally get rid of without guilt or second guessing. I mean, button down cotton shirts for example. Up until recently, they’ve been one of my wardrobe staples – a pair of dress slacks and a button down shirt, professional and easy. But they slip out when you tuck them in and they make me look androgynous. And the worst of it, they require ironing. I stopped buying them and started shifting them over to casual-weekend wear. And now, with this fashion blogger’s blessing, save for a few cotton button downs, I am going to rebuild my work tops wardrobe with blouses and knits.

So where do I shop? Well recently, no where. Something about not having a car or shopping buddy nearby to egg me on seems to have put a damper on my shopping. I hit up drugstore.com like once a week but other than that, this period in my life I will call the shopping dry-spell.

Heehaaaw

Posted by Leaf on October 25, 2011 None comments
Last Friday, I went to the nearby grocery store to pick up one item.  One.  Which should be easy right?  Let’s just say, when I got to the checkout line, I had this head-bang-wall realization that, crap, I have to actually haul this stuff home by myself, with no wheels.  Instead of going back and putting stuff back on the shelves I decided to channel my inner donkey strength and lugged home a watermelon, 4 different squash, (the heavy autumn variety, not the summer zucchini squash-types), and a slew of other groceries.  Like dude – I almost didn’t make it home under the weight of it all.  I walked as fast as I could and then had to take a break between blocks.  You’d think I’d be more cognizant of this limitation by now, but years of suburban life has me accustomed to this pampered lifestyle of buying watermelon without a second thought.  It was a sweet and juicy watermelon.

Shoes!

Posted by Leaf on August 28, 2011 None comments

The great thing about hard floor surfaces like wood or tile is they’re easy to maintain. Nice and easy to clean and they don’t suck up dust or odors. The drawback is, they’re hard on my feet. My heels have been hurting me for a while now and I finally gave in and bought 2 ergonomic floor mats for the kitchen and now, a pair of house slippers to give my feet a break. They’re so comfy, I can’t believe I waited this long to get them. I’ve already taken them for a test drive, ironing for about an hour. That’s a lot of standing! I used both the squishy kitchen mats and the slippers in combination and it feels so nice. My feet feel better already.
Shoes shopping

And the sneakers are to replace the pair that didn’t fit right and took my toenail off. They’re not made in China! Yay!

OMG! OMG!!

Posted by Leaf on July 17, 2011 3 comments

We’re getting a TRADER JOE’S!!! A TRADER JOE’s! OMG!! Ever since I’ve moved here I’ve been saying “We NEED a Trader Joe’s.” Yesterday, while on our random walkabouts, where we poke into the many random retail spaces under development, we saw a construction permit sign that said the business owner was Trader Joe’s! I nearly fell down I was so excited! Yipes! You know where to find me now. When you call me, you’ll know where I am. They’ll all be getting to know me pretty soon. Heck I should probably just work there. I think TJ’s completes the grocery store trifecta that we can walk to… Giant, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. The only thing that would make it even more awesome would be an Asian market. I don’t see that happening though. Asian markets tend to be like big box stores, more suitable for open spaces.

Cutting Cable

Posted by Leaf on May 28, 2011 None comments

We’re cutting cable tv starting next month. I never had cable since I was a kid and having it for a while was great and all but I’m pretty sure I can manage just fine without it. Maybe this will get me to do more than just park my butt in fronna the tv all the time, maybe I dunno, read a book or something? Or I’ll probably just watch shows on the Internet with fewer commercials and whenever I want to. One episode right after another after another! Sometimes with no commercials at all (Netflix)! The other nice plus is, it’ll save us about $60/month.

Dogs and Cats

Posted by Leaf on May 16, 2011 None comments

After taking a hiatus from volunteering to walk dogs around for adoption, we went back this weekend.  They usually assign me a small dog and him a large one.  Guess they don’t want the dog to take me for a walk.  This time, he got a 50 lb puppy, Lincoln, and I got a 2 year old pit mix girl named Oreo.  She was as sweet as could be especially when she looked up at you with her puppy dog eyes.  But you could definitely tell her preferences.  I think she liked boys.  I mean, she didn’t mind me so much and was nice enough, but she was kind of aloof towards me.  Then, when a little boy came up to her, she went right to him, leaned into him and then as he was petting her, she rolled over for a full on belly rub.  My jaw dropped, HEY!  You don’t do that for me!  Later, another guy came up to her and she did the same thing.  I decided to swap for Lincoln.  He was a leash puller and had way too much puppydog energy so he ran him a few laps when he first got him and by the time we swapped leashes, Lincoln was pooped and fell asleep.

The next day, we met with a friend for lunch at Bollywood Bistro in Old Town Fairfax.  The food was good but I think we’ll stick to our tried and true, Raaga.  Old Town Fairfax is a neat little place though.  Fun to walk through with lots of restaurants and little shops.  By luck, there was a farmers market in that area that day, so after lunch we headed there and bought a ton of stuff.  Boy have I missed farmers markets!  I got beets, bok choy, a cantaloupe, strawberries, spring onions, and swiss chard.  I would’ve gotten more but I knew our fridge was already bursting at the seams.  I seem to like to buy a lot of food.  It’s the only shopping he can tolerate and I have to get out my shopping urge somehow.  While at the farmers market, we saw a lady walking her cat on a harness.  We approached her to ask her what breed of cat she had and she said it’s a mutt cat she adopted a while back and she doesn’t know why but this cat enjoys walking about outside on a leash.  That cat was browsing the market and greeting some of the vendors.  It was pretty neat to see.

The Jewelers of St. Thomas

Posted by Leaf on March 24, 2011 2 comments

Here’s another caveat emptor should you ever be traveling somewhere they might hawk jewelry to tourists: be careful! Day one out here, we decided would be strictly information gathering. They have so many shops in the city right where the cruise ships dock and tourists are bountiful and they flock to these jewelry shops that draw you in not only with sparkly shiny rocks, but also for the respite from the hot sun. It’s not unbearably hot, but it hits 80-85 and A/C feels great. The first day, I would only ask the prices and walk away. Every shop said “best prices” or “70%-80% Discount” The second day, after talking to other fellow tourists, I learned they were willing to take down at $2500 bracelet down to $1500. Sketchy pricing! So today, I tried my hand at negotiating. I talked a $2000 bracelet down to $1800. Not that I was going to buy it anyway. This evening they had a display table of jewelry at our hotel and I saw on their tags “Made in Hong Kong.” I’m done information gathering. The stuff they sell is junk.

Magen's Bay Beach
On a brighter note, we’ve gone to two beautiful beaches these past 2 days and have happily settled into this do-nothing vacation. At first, we were kinda’ worried we’d be bored. I mean our last big trip was to Europe and you just can’t compare this trip to Europe. Europe’s full of history and culture. You could stay there for 2 years, let alone 2 weeks and still have more to learn. The Virgin Islands, 2 days and you get the idea. That’s all it took us, 2 days, to settle into this routine of waking up, having some breakfast or lunch or both. Lazily getting ready and then taking a taxi to a beach. Coming back in the afternoon for a quick dip in the hot tub and then getting some drinks in the evening and dinner.

Shopping

Posted by Leaf on December 27, 2010 None comments

Well, like anything I blog about, as soon as I say I haven’t done something on the blog, it’s like the very next day, without even trying, it happens. It was just a quick jaunt to CVS then TJ Maxx. We got some clothes and stuff. Nothing major but it scratched the itch.

Once you pop, you can’t stop

Posted by Leaf on November 30, 2010 3 comments

Or is it, “Betcha can’t just have one.” Whatever it is, that’s like my shopping habit. This is why people who have addictions have to give up whatever it is completely. Because there’s no self control for any level of moderation.

I have been so good about cutting out/back on shopping since I ran out of closet space. I mean I have run out of closet space and I still haven’t gotten all my existing clothes to fit. Let’s not even talk about the shoes. But this Thanksgiving sale with the Black Friday and the Cyber Monday which has basically turned into 2 good weeks of sales is killing me!! I have stuck to no clothes shopping but to scratch my itch, I’ve substituted it with products and schtuff shopping. I can’t stop browsing Amazon and I’ve purchased stuff! A watch, a bucket of laundry detergent, and a board game (Settler’s of Catan!!). Then I went on drugstore and boy was that a mistake. Another $100 of goodness knows what. Seriously I can’t remember everything I purchased. There were some hand creams and anti-aging facial products (I swear women will pay anything for youth. I know I should embrace my wisdom lines but pop culture and marketing have brainwashed me good.) Then I went and bought some face wash and more facial lotions at another site. And it’s not like anything I bought was part of this crazy Cyber Monday/Black Friday sale. It’s just those things kicked up my shopping juices and I started shopping. I have to stop tomorrow. I’m telling myself, no more looking. If I don’t look, then I won’t buy. But it’s just so haaaard. Whine!!

Telegraph

Posted by Leaf on November 19, 2010 None comments

It’s not as if getting a new pair of earrings is an event. It used to be back when I didn’t have any but now, I have so many pairs of earrings, I can’t keep track of them. It’s just that last time I visited, I got a pair of wooden earrings from Simply Salma’s Treasures at Telegraph Ave. where artisans come to hawk their wares. And I lost it down a sink drain. It was one of the 1 cm in diameter ones. So I made a point of going back and this time, choosing a larger one.
Telegraph purchase Not to sound like a paid advertisement (which I’m not!) but I love these earrings that she makes. I’ve never seen them anywhere else, or anything else like them. They’re made of very light maple wood and hand painted. And best of all, made in USA!