Shopaholic

Today I kind of went on a shopping spree. It all started with this coat. I haven’t had an “everyday” winter coat that I love in years. I have my long, black wool coat and I love that but it’s much too formal for day-to-day wear. I wore it a lot when I was working in an office, but now it’s limited to dinners out, or something equally dressy. I have my black leather jacket, and I do love that, but it’s just not great when the weather is freezing. It’s not lined, and I don’t really like bulky layers. So it’s great in the fall and early spring, but not when temps are in the teens and twenties. I also have this down-quilted-puffy-jacket that, while incredibly warm, is not at all my style. It was a gift, and it’s okay, but… it’s just not me.

I spent a lot of time last year looking at winter coats and coming up empty handed. The ones I liked were too pricey. The affordable coats were butt-ugly. But luckily this year I have some extra money, and while surfing around last night, I fell in love with that coat. After thinking about it overnight and asking Drew his opinion on the style, I went ahead and ordered it. And even better, I will have new winter boots (in dark camel to match the coat) as well! I’ve been wearing the same L.L. Bean “duck” boots that I’ve had since… oh… college. And while they are very utilitarian, these days I’m not tromping across a muddy campus, so I think I can have something a little more stylish.

My shopping exploits continued today in the lovely town of Danbury, CT. After we saw Jake off to school, Noah and I headed over to The Christmas Tree Shop (don’t you just love a bargain?) 🙂 I bought a bunch of random stuff: Halloween and Thanksgiving themed napkins for lunches, a small food jar for Jake (he was really excited about this — apparently “a lot of kids at school have these!”), apple simmering potpourri, and two bento-ish boxes like this one. Even though that one didn’t last, at only $1 each, I figured I’d try them again. Oh, I also bought new kitchen towels and oven mitts (mine were in serious need of replacement) and a small Halloween Fun Pad for Jake. After that we headed to the Danbury Mall. I was hoping to find a shower gift, but go figure, the store doesn’t stock it – the item is online only. Gah! But we made the best of it. I headed to Sephora to get my Bare Minerals foundation (this stuff is amazing if you’ve never used it — especially if, like me, you have a lot of red in your skin) then to The Body Shop to get a soap for the dishcloth swap. While I was there I couldn’t believe what was on a shelf with a “new” sign in front of it — grapefruit shower gel! I used to use this back in college and just this morning was thinking, “Gee, I hope they still carry it!” That was awesome.

At The Children’s Place I also finally found an outfit for Noah to wear to the wedding (brown cords, a pinstriped shirt, and a navy sweater vest). You’d be surprised how hard it is to find dress-up clothes for toddlers. Everything is either super-casual or “little man” type suits. At any rate, it was all on sale which made it even better. The last stop was J.C. Penney. They had my jeans on sale so I picked up a pair of those and a pair of cords as well. Plus, on clearance there was a plain white v-neck t-shirt for $2, and then I treated myself to a cute brown trapeeze-type cropped sweater. Kind of 50s-inspired. I was admiring it the other day. Unfortunately there’s not a picture online.

And then I went home and ordered the shower gift. Uh, yeah… I guess I was quite the consumer today. I don’t go on shopping binges like this often, and I have to admit that it was pretty fun! But what was totally amazing was that Noah sat in the stroller the entire time we were in the mall and didn’t complain once! I swear that hasn’t happened since he was, oh, seven months old. Seriously! Anyway, it was a good day. 🙂