Friday at The Gap

I get off work early on Fridays during the summer. I have to make up the time by coming in early all week, but it's worth it to get off at noon. Today I headed to the mall to pick up a birthday gift for my beautiful daughter-in-law who celebrates her birthday on the 4th of July! While I was at the mall, I heard my name being called....."Kathy....pssssst....Kathy....come on over here."

I waked around the corner to see where the voice was coming from and there it was....The Gap! HAHA!

I thought I would just go in a take a little peak. I really needed a couple of new t-shirts to wear to work for the rest of the summer. When school is closed, we get to wear whatever we want and my daily choice is jeans, gyms and a t-shirt. Sadly, most of mine are in pretty bad shape.

I headed into the store and almost jumped up and down yelling chee hoo when I saw lots of 40% off signs. I felt like I had hit the jackpot and I didn't even start looking yet! Geez, I love GAP!

I tried on a number of tops. I usually wear a Medium at the Gap....Hmmmmm....this one was too big in a Medium. Tried on the next one in a Medium. Just right. Tried on the next on in a Medium....too small. Hmmmmm. I went out and grabbed a variety of sizes and headed in to try on more. I ended up with 3 smalls, 1 medium and 1 large....what the heck is with that???

Well I had 5 really cute t-shirts in my hand and didn't really want to put any of them back. I looked at the price tags and they had all been marked down a couple of times to what was a pretty darn good price. I decided to just get them all. I really needed them.

I got up to the register and the lady started to ring them up. The price wasn't the price on the ticket....it was 40% off the lowest price on the ticket!!!!! The regular price for the 5 shirts would have been $102. 50 and with the mark downs and the 40% off, they cost me $29.35!

I got 5 Gap t-shirts for $29.35! That is a major....Happy Friday to me!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Stay safe and have lots of fun....and do something really nice for yourself!

I Love Socks

Yes, I do! I wear socks with just about everything I can wear them with and even some things I probably shouldn't wear them with....like yesterday. I had on a pair of black cuffed slacks and a gray striped sweater AND my pink, gray and black argyle knee socks from the Gap!

I will dig deep into my messy sock drawer daily until I find a pair of socks that works with what I am wearing that day, and I don't like nylon knee highs. They feel awful in your shoes. I want socks!


I have solid socks, striped socks, tweedy socks and argyle socks, Santa socks, Halloween socks, knee socks, boot socks, white socks, black socks, green socks.....you get the picture.

I am a bit distraught right now because 1) last spring I tossed a couple pairs of my favorite shoes because they were literally falling apart and they felt so good with socks and I haven't replaced them yet and 2) I have a number of pairs of socks that are getting very thin in the heel and a pair that has holes and darn it....they don't feel good when you try to sew them up!

So, here is the plan:

Dear Santa,

I have been a really, really good girl this year. Pleeeeeease, leave me some new socks this Christmas!

Love,

Kathy

"Snob" or "Slob"?

So, are you an underwear "snob" or an underwear "slob"?

Now, don't take offense please! I just loved the sound of it. It worked better than....do you buy your underwear for "looks" or for "laughs"? Or how about....really special or blue light special? Suitable for a queen, or hardly suitable? Victoria Secret, or it's a secret? See "snob" and "slob" just work better!

Do you buy the finest bras and panties money can buy? Lovely lace? Can't walk out the door if your bra and panties don't match? Or...

do you reach in your underwear drawer and whatever you grab will work just fine....holey undies, bras with the underwire poking out?

I admit it...I am all about comfort. I would fall somewhere in between "snob" and "slob". I don't wear holey under garments, but they are a far cry from the drop dead gorgeous lingerie you see at Victoria Secret!

No lace here. It just isn't comfy. I do have a couple cute little matching lacy sets in my drawer...somewhere. They are down under all of the wonderful little cotton print Gap bikinis and plain old lightly padded beige bras. Under the comfy Gap bikinis, you will also find an array of thongs that will probably never see the light of day again. I think I bought every pair I saw for a while thinking that eventually I would find one that was comfy and by wearing a thong...I could easily knock 30-35 years off my "underwear age". Personally, I don't care how many years it knocks off...it's just not worth it!

Back in the 60's I went braless. I remember having to wear a bra when I left the house and then when I was out of my dad's sight...off it came. I never burned any of my bras, but I sure didn't wear them.

Going braless is not hard to do though when you have a very small chest. Back then I was a AA and then I zoomed right up to an A! I could probably still go braless, except that gravity and three children dictate that I not try it.

What got me started on this whole underwear issue is that because of the upcoming wedding, I've been doing a lot of shopping. I have seen some darn lovely lingerie! It really made me want to buy some and I still might at some point, but for now I am enjoying the brand new cute little cotton print Gap bikinis that just got delivered with my skinny jeans last week!!

So tell us....."snob" or "slob"?

Exhausted

I got up at 5:00 a.m. today and got ready to hop on the 7:08 train to the city. The train ride was uneventful except for the man in front of me that kept picking his teeth with his fingernail, the elderly gentleman next to me that kept blowing his nose and the guy in back of me that kept coughing on me! UGH!

Tresa picked me up at the station in the city and we went and had an awesome breakfast at a charming vegetarian restaurant called Victory's Banner. It was so cool to look at a menu with no meat on it! I had "Satisfaction-Promise", which was scrambled eggs with spinach, pesto, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese served with potatoes and the most delicious whole grain bread I think I have ever had! Yum!

From there we headed to The Paper Source to look for a couple of little things Tresa needed for the shower next week. Talk about a neat store! I could have spent hours in there! Then we headed to the reception venue to meet with the florist, the caterer and the photographer. The wedding ceremony and reception are being held at Prairie Productions in Chicago. It's a photo studio with amazing natural lighting. I wish I could take my etsy pictures there. Tresa's wedding is in the evening, so the light doesn't matter but the place is so cool. It has a warehouse look to it, but most of the inside is white, because we all know that white backgrounds make for lovely photos....don't we?

The florist brought some of his ideas with him and let me tell you I was blown away. Tresa is allergic to flowers except for orchids and tulips. He created some of the most unique and exciting arrangements I've ever seen using greenery and a few flowers! It is going to look gorgeous. He even made her a sample bouquet to see if she liked it. He's a really neat guy that has actually done some work for Oprah, so that's kind of fun.

The caterer is wonderful. Anything Tresa and Chris have asked for she tries to make happen for them. She really is working hard to make sure that their special day is just that. She works for Jewell Events Catering. If the food is anything close to what the service has been so far, it's going to be perfect!

The photographer is the owner of the studio. He is also really great. Everyone just walked around the studio and went over location of tables and bars, the DJ and ceremony set up. It all went really well.

Tresa and I headed to the mall then. We both needed a few things. She didn't have much luck, but I found some great jeans at the Gap (of course) and a darling sweater and cute top at Anthropologie. I love that store, but can only afford to shop in the sale room there! We made a couple of other stops and I even bought some L'Oreal lotion that gives you a little bit of a tan. I thought I would try it now and see how it works. If it turns me orange....I will be going to the wedding with white legs and oh well.

We got back to our house much later than we anticipated. Michael came by for a visit and we just ordered take out from Chilis. I definitely got my walking in today and all I want to do is eat, get in my jammies and chill out for the rest of the night!

Oh....it was 50 degrees here today! It's the middle of winter! We were all thinking how perfect a day this would have been for a wedding! We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that we are blessed with a day like this next month!

Spring...Where Are You???

I know, I know...it is only January 31....I have lots of winter left here in Illinois. So, what does an old lady like myself do when it's still winter and you are so sick of it that you want to cry? Well, you shop of course!

I headed to the DSW this morning and to the mall. On the list of things I need was something to wear to the next wedding shower, girls night out and the very casual rehearsal dinner oh, and shoes for the wedding.

I found no shoes I liked at DSW, in fact, they only had about 6 pairs in silver, so I headed to the mall. Get this.....I'm in Ann Taylor Loft looking at all of the new stuff when I found that great pair of pants. $59.....wasn't sure if I wanted to spend that much, but they were cute, they can be worn most of the year and I can wear them to work. So, what the heck! I get to the check out, the lady scans them and they come up $10. Okay, that would be really nice, but these were up front with all of the new arrivals. She went and got a different pair and scanned that one and same thing. She said, "I guess they are $10!" Then she says, "And everything that is on sale today is another 50% off, so they will be $5.00." Are you kidding me? I was like that lady in the IKEA commercial..."Start the car, start the car!" as I ran out of the store with my bag!!!

I also got a cute kelly green sweater, an ivory cardigan and a moss colored cami. Not sure what I will wear when, but it's a start.

When I got home, since the trip wasn't as successful as I had hoped, I decided to shop online. First I went to zappos and ordered two pairs of silver shoes for the wedding. When I first started looking at shoes, I was going to wear pantyhose....but that really limited the kind of shoes I could wear and I really wanted cute strappy little things. So, it will be bare, very pale legs for me, but I'll have some darn cute shoes. The wedding is at night, so no one will see my legs...right? Zappos has free shipping and free returns. Can't beat that! I love them both, but I'm also looking for comfort. This is a stand up all night wedding and reception so they have to be comfy.

Next I went right to Gap and ordered my skinny jeans. Now these might end up going right back, but they are just so darn cute! I looked at them in every store I went to, but they either didn't have the dark color I wanted or they didn't have my size or they had the dark color in my size, but they were $140! So, I should have them in a few days. I saw tons of people in the mall of all ages in them today. Some had on boots but others had on the little flat ballet slipper type shoes. Some had them rolled up at the bottom. I can't wait to get them! I ordered my usual Gap jeans size, so hopefully they are sized like their other jeans and I'll be good to go!

Tomorrow I will tell you what an old man that absolutley hates winter does to pass the time until spring gets here. Rest assured....he doesn't shop....at least not for clothes! Can you say "seeds"?