Fashion Epiphany

So last night after the water incident, I was up until 6 in the morning. What, you ask, does a person do until 6am? Well, first she reads Glamour. Then she gives herself both a manicure and a pedicure that are better than she's probably ever done (and saves herself $60 in the process. However, she will make a trip to the Altered Ego spa quite soon for an eyebrow wax. Because that is only $15.) All the while watching TLC.

So late-night Friday night TLC is better than all the other nights of TLC because they have "What Not To Wear." And some other good makeover home shows. But back to "What Not to Wear." So even though I don't think I'm a candidate for the show (unfortunately), there are a few basic things to know about my wardrobe.

1- I buy (relatively) expensive clothes.

2- This means I don't have very many clothes.

3- My clothes largely consist of Lucky jeans and banana republic tops. Take these away and you have like 10 shirts left. And half of those are Gap t-shirts.

4- My sister has an incredibly diverse closet which is crazily wonderful.

So, I've worn some of the same shoes and skirts since circa 2003. Which is fine, but it's getting old. ESPECIALLY on Sunday. Church clothes were getting super-boring. And watching the show, I was like "Oh my gosh. I have no sense of style! Oh No!" The thing is, I just moved to a totally different climate. And wearing long-sleeves, which I really like, whenever you want to is not really an option. And my knee-high boots that I love feel somewhat inappropriate for summer here.

SHOPPING TIME!!

So my moving bonus and paycheck also came yesterday and I paid like 12 bills and I actually had a couple hundred dollars I could spend, so I went shopping. I started out at these boutiques in Scottsdale which were like $300 for a dress. (A great dress, don't get me wrong, but a $300 dress.) For a few moments, I was considering re-adjusting my budget, and then I was like, "Christin, get over it." I even talked myself out of an incredibly amazingly supple and beautiful Italian leather jacket that was on sale for $600. I thought of Emily U., who has one, except she bought hers IN ITALY. Which is super more cool.

Anyways, so I went into the mall and looked for a few hours and came up with nothing except one more plain skirt from banana republic (it was on sale!). I called my sister and asked her to please come help me, but she said something about having a life four hours away, and wished me luck on my own.

I went to Betsey Johnson and tried on some more $300 clothes I couldn't afford (but which fit fantastic), and trekked onward.

pictures from the dressing rooms are on flickr

Finally, after hours and hours, I stumbled into Charlotte Russe. My friend Julia from TX used to manage one of these. It's a little like Vanity, and huge. And it was having the best sale ever. Now their clothes aren't particularly expensive to begin with, so when something is 75% off, it's like $7. I tried on 17 things, and bought 11 of them, including a purse for $5. And I absolutely love it all. And I took a picture just so everyone can see that none of them are t-shirts and some of them even have cute prints!! The fuschia polka-dot one has a navy belt and it looks great on! Crazy. I finally found style!

I could go on about how I drove to two other malls and got a couple t-shirts on sale at Banana Republic and those amazing red wedges for $10 (80% off BCBGirls!), but suffice it to say, I spent 9 hours shopping non-stop and am totally beat, but it was a very very good day.

And some white and navy shoes are on their way from Zappos. They have free shipping and free returns, so I ordered all the ones I wanted to try on and I'm shipping back the rest. teehee...

And, I'm sorry...I'm kind of excited. I got a BR t-shirt dress on super-good sale (internet) that I can wear with the black leggings I bought with Jessica and some flip-flops and look totally chic.

Love you all!