Oh yeah... clothes and stuff

I suddenly remembered the name of my blog... so I figured to stay true to my word (sort of) I'd do some on-line window shopping and share some of my results with you.

I've been lusting after these boots for a while now, but I just can't quite seem to justify them.

Enzo Angiolini Gillot 4 $158

Along with these gloves

Preston and York Ruched-cuff leather gloves $34

Since I would be wearing this coat

Burberry Wool Cashmere coat $795

And maybe this dress

French Connection Roma dress $65

And carrying this bag

Longchamp Cosmos Handbag $900

Along with a slick ponytail and pearl earrings.

OK, so now, I've justified the boots! That's a whole outfit! I just need a place to wear it, along with about $2000.

This place would probably do...

Hotel Ritz Paris, France

At about $900/night for 5 nights (you don't expect me to stay only 1 night, do you?), plus airfare (I supposed I could forgo 1st class), taxi rides (how am I supposed to walk in those heels?), cafes and restaurants (it is Paris afterall),  and of course wardrobe (I can't wear that same outfit 24/7)...

Now I'm up to about $10, 000, assuming I'm going by myself :)

That is one expensive outfit.

Precedent

Thus far, I am averaging less than 1 blog post per month. And that's only for about 3 months. That's sort of pathetic. And I don't really have that great of an excuse. Or any excuse really for that matter. So here is my post.

Lately I have been thinking more and more about a job change. From a purely objective viewpoint, I probably can't really complain much about my job. It pays fairly well, I could not have a more flexible schedule, it's close to home, I work with great people.

However, there's something to be said for a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. That is what seems to be eluding me. I suppose all the essential components are there, but for some reason it's not all coming together. It's like you have all the ingredients to make a fantastic soufle, assembled orderly on your kitchen counter, waiting to be transformed into a delectable delight. The problem is, you don't really feel like making a soufle. You like soufles. They're great. And you can appreciate a good soufle when you see one. And that's the thing, you should appreciate a good soufle when you see one. They take a fair amount of effort and finesse to pull off successfully. It's not like taking a tube of pre-made cookie dough out of the fridge and throwing it on a baking sheet and into the oven. It requires effort. Lots of effort. So too with success in small business. Lots of effort. And organization.

Without getting extremely detailed and even more boring, I'll spare you the details, but lately I've been feeling more and more like a job change is in order. Of course this doesn't mean it will happen now or anytime in the near future, but there's no harm in exploring what's out there, right?

So I did a little browsing on craigslist.org. I even checked out the possibility of doing some on-line translation. I thought about some of my favorite companies (google and mailchimp) and I checked out what they had available. Not a heck of a whole lot. There were some interesting prospects on craigslist though.

One of them was for a newborn photographer at a hospital in western MA. You take pictures of the newborn babies and then help the parents pick out birth announcements, etc. That could be kind of cool. There was also one for a fashion copywriter for a fashion company on-line. Also interesting.

What this little foray has revealed to  me is that I actually have some interests that I have yet to nurture and expose. I've always had an interest in these things (photography, writing) but I never really gave them much weight, since they didn't seem to be viable ways to pay the bills. But things have changed in  the past decade or more when I first joined the work force. People are getting paid to do everything! There were even job postings for part-time bloggers.

And so, as a result, I have made this blog post and will try to continue making posts to build my resume as a blogger.

P.S. You don't have to keep reading my posts, Erica, I know they're not as creative, interesting or informative as yours are, but sometimes I just feel the need to write :)

Surprise!!!

It was a fairly typical afternoon today. I was at home, getting ready to go to the gym to meet some friends there (because The Gym is always slightly less intimidating when you have others to combat against the mutual self-loathing and kick-in-the-pants to your self-esteem that IS The Gym, but I digress), when there was the familiar ring of the doorbell/opening of the screen door/throwing of the box up my stairs that typically ensues when I receive a delivery from Fed/Ex or UPS. My husband and I looked at each other in wonderment. 'Hmm, what could that be?' With a brief glance I knew what Ian was thinking--'another pair of shoes, Sheri?!' But I was just as dumbfounded as he was. So I sent Ian out to get the box (its about negative 5000 degrees outside, I certainly wasn't going to open that door). He came back in with a vague and unmarked box. It was addressed to me and the return address was from some guy named John in Kentucky. More bewilderment. I opened it up (that whole Anthrax scare is so 2005) to reveal another box with a handle and some vague techy-looking designs on it. No, surely it couldn't be! There on the corner of the box was that universal warning that comes on electronic devices with lithium ion batteries... devices like laptops and notebooks! It was all coming to us now... Ian and I had both applied on-line to receive one of the new Google Chrome OS notebooks that Google was so generously offering to a select few applicants. My anticipation rose. I opened the box, and there it was, just sitting there. My new notebook! Yipee! There was no congratulatory note or anything saying 'Congratulations, you've been selected...' Nothing. Just the notebook, and a brief sheet of hints and notes. Pretty stinking cool! I think I shall name her Maude.

this is pretty cool

Just trying out my new app that lets me post to my blog through my phone! This definitely is a game changer for me. This means I can throw a quick post up anytime! Pretty sweet.

Oh yeah that picture was just sort of a test for me to see how to add pictures. Hope it works.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Me and Tony

Me and Tony
Originally uploaded by SheriKim82
This is probably one of my most favorite pictures. Ever. I think it captures the relationship between me and Tony pretty near perfectly. I mean, basically I smother and love him to death and he sort of tolerates me. But you can see the little tiny bit of a smile and the secret enjoyment he gets out of the whole thing there on his face. A little, right?

Taking Off

OK, I'm trying to get into this blogging thing. You would think I'd be all over this. I like writing, and I like reading other people's blogs, ergo... I should blog. But somehow its not such a simple jump... I can't even design the stupid template to be the way I want, but I figured if I spent anymore time on that, I'd probably end up with a semi-decent template and no actual posting... so here's my attempt at getting started... again.

This one's for you, Erica!

OK, so as you can see, the last and only time I posted on this blog was in May of 2007. That is more than 3 years ago. And that post consisted of like 3 words. Some of them were just numbers. They don't even count.

But, at the urgings of Erica, here I am posting again. Putting my heart and soul out there to the big wide world of the web. Cyberspace. The Internet. The Interwebs. The computer. How do people refer to 'this' nowadays, anyhow? I digress... getting back to the general theme of this blog, that being fashion and consumer shopping in general, I did enjoy an out of the ordinary shopping trip today.

Somehow in the course of the morning I visited 2 boutique shops in Westboro center and 2 consignment shops in Worcester. Kind of odd, considering one of the last times I think I went to a consignment or thrift store type place was when I was on my way to help some friends paint and I didn't have any paint clothes, so I stopped at Savers and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. That was how long ago, now? It was when Daryl and Andrea moved into their new house, so that was at least 5 years ago, I think. Anyway, bottom line is, I don't frequent consignment shops. I envy those who do and somehow walk away with beautiful vintage dresses for $2 and the like, but I've never found huge success like that.

So last week I was with some friends in our volunteer ministry work and one of them mentioned a cute consignment store she had found on Harrison St. in Worcester, called Alexis Grace. We happened to be right around the corner so we made Jordan circle around the block and we pulled up to the store. I went in with Lisa and Steph but we knew we didn't have a lot of time, so I did my cursory evaluation of the store to determine which racks I should concentrate my limited time on. Yeah, I do that. I decided to concentrate on the shoes first since I immediately noticed some BCBG shoes and a pair of Charles David mary jane pumps in my size! For $10. Yay! So I scooped those up, scanned the rest of the shoes, tried to make Steph buy the pair of BCBG pumps, to no avail, and continued with my evaluation. I moved on to handbags and was surprised to find several Coach bags, a Kate Spade and a Furla brown leather bag, all priced $85 or less. Not bad, considering they retail for about $300-$700 brand new. The styles are pretty classic, so it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility to purchase one second hand. Long story short, I walked out with 2 pairs of pants from Banana Republic and the Gap for my 15 year old brother, that pair of Charles David shoes and a pink cardigan from Banana Republic for myself. $26 for all that!

Of course that was all accomplished in a window of less than 15 minutes, so obviously I would require a more in depth investigation of this establishment in an unhurried setting to really experience it fully. This is where Erica comes in. I told her about the shop and she was eager to check it out as well. So we went again today.

I thoroughly examined each and every rack, shelf and nook and cranny in the shop. Including the downstairs back area with a clearance rack and a $1 rack. The shop itself is very well organized and neat as a pin. All the items were clearly marked and reasonably priced. There were several items with tags still attached. For instance I stumbled across a Donna Ricco forest green cocktail dress for $28. It was very similar to this one (yes, I know that's not Donna Ricco, but its a similar style), but seeing as it was a size 8, I couldn't quite justify the purchase. Onward, ho. The fruits of our labors paid off and I left with a skirt for $8 and a second skirt for $1. Its not my size, but it was a Tahari wool skirt for $1 so I felt like I needed to buy it and save it from an uncertain fate which very well might have included moth eaten holes or musty basement smells. Neither of which befit a perfectly good Tahari skirt. So I bought it. If anyone reading this is a size 8P, let me know and the skirt is yours.

As I was paying for my skirts, we sort of chatted up the woman at the counter. Turns out she is the owner and she runs the shop all by herself. Lots of work for a one woman operation. She also recommended we check out another consignment shop 2 doors down called Blackstone Vignettes. She pointed out they focused more on home goods and vintage items rather than clothing and accessories.

We headed down the street to Blackstone Vignettes. Cute shop, but definitely not quite as neat and tidy as Alexis Grace. They certainly had some beautiful vintage material and small furniture and decorative items available for sale. Erica immediately picked out a mink stole from Milton's for $65. Not a bad deal. But mink? Really? I don't know. We spent some time weeding through the dresses and bags. A few items sort of popped out, but nothing I could really justify spending any real amount of money on. One thing that caught both of our attention was this lamp. What a great lamp. But for $140 some odd dollars it wasn't quite worth it. Although it would be sure to generate laughs and giggles from those familiar with A Christmas Story. The shop definitely had some unique pieces and we spent quite a bit of time just poking around and checking things out. Neither of us walked out with any purchases though. That's just as well. Now Erica can save up for the $400 "Icelandic" jacket she fell in love with at Nicolina's in Westboro.

Yes, that's right, $400 for a jacket. For most of us that may seem completely ridiculous and out of the question. And by "us" I mean those of us who generally shop at places like Target, Marshall's or TJ Maxx (and not the expensive stuff there either!). At any rate, under normal circumstances none of us would have entertained the idea of spending that much money on a single item of clothing. But somehow Lisa and I found ourselves coaxing and cajoling Erica to buy the coat! Somehow we were overtaken by the special "Icelandic" wool the store clerk kept talking about and the "detail work," etc., etc. In the end she didn't buy it (and I'm sure Jon is breathing a sigh of relief if he is reading this).

The point is, though, that somehow $400 didn't feel like a lot while we were in the boutique. Somehow it seemed OK to spend $100 for one tank top or $150 for a singular and unique skirt. Plus they give first time buyers a special discount ranging from 10-20% off their first purchase.

OK. Hold the phone. I just did a search trying to find an article or some kind of link about Icelandic Wool coats. And guess what I found? The exact same 'one of a kind' coat. For $100 less!!! So this kind of changes the tone of my post about Nicolina's. I still think it is a great shop. Will I ever buy anything there? Most likely not. But what I will do is visit there and discover "unique" items I like and then find them for cheaper prices elsewhere. Nicolina obviously has a great eye for unique and eye catching pieces. And of course she has to make her profit somewhere. But seeing as I'm on a pretty tight budget, I'm going to be buying it from whoever has the cheapest price. I mean when it comes to the difference between $3 for a zucchini at the local farmer's market or $1.50 at the local grocery store chain, I'm willing to splurge to support the local farmer. But when it comes to a $100 difference, I'm going with corporate America all the way. $100 is a lot of dough. The way I shop that could mean an entire outfit. Or the tipping point of whether I can buy that Coach bag I really really want at the Outlet store in Wrentham (hope you're reading this, Ian). But if perusing boutique shops like Nicolina's is getting me out of Express and The Gap and stores of the like with mass produced t-shirts and jeans that every 4 out of 5 people walking down the street will be wearing, then sign me up! Don't get me wrong, I shop at those stores all the time. But, come on, how many times can you "reinvent" the T-shirt or the jean?