Mortimer's Mom

Not supporting the Chicago economy

Though not for lack of trying!

the mythical, hypothetical, perfect bag that I imagined in my head, it doesn't exist. I know. Because I dragged Mortimer's Dad into every department store and handbag store on the Magnificant Mile. Every one of them. I cam close at Coach. One was perfect (simple, cut ecolors, nice strap) but too small for what I want to put in it. And the other was perfect size wize, if a little flashy, but with a price of almost 800$, I just couldn't do it. I am not a 800$ handbag person. At least not yet.

So while Mortimer's Dad scored a stylish zippered sweater at Bloomingdales, some cool dog gifts including goggles for dogs (I am so not kidding) and cute gifts for the girls, my haul is a disposable razor and People magazine.....

tomorrow, we tour fancy houses build by famous architects. No bag will be found, but who knows, I jut may feel the need to put a downpayment on a Chicago Pied-a-Terre....

Somehow, it came together

I took the J Crew dress to the mall and attempted to find either a) shoes that matched one of the jackets I already owned or b) a jacket/cardi that matched the shoes I already owned. In the end I found a pair of off-white patent leather peep-toed shoes, very very cheap at Aldo, and a somewhat matching clutch. I was going to wear it with a cream/beige jacket, but at the last second, I dug up a little cardigan from J Crew that has a French country-side scene printed on it..... it turned out to be perfect!

And thankfully, the fundraiser was a small cocktail followed by a comedy show, so the chit-chat part was minimal. Yeah!

(oh, and look, white trim! )

Fashion Stress

Being stylish is causing me hives!

I am attending a library fundraiser tonight. I tend to avoid those events, because while I enjoy the cocktails and the yummy snacks, I would rather poke my eyes out with blunt scissors than make chit-chat with socialites and wanna-be-socialites. I have a prefect dress that I got from J Crew on pre-order when the spring catalogue came out in Janaury (and has been in my closet for weeks, waiting to get out and breathe! but for somereason, there is no picture of it online) But it it a tad too revealing in the bust, so I need to cover up with a jacket or cardi. Which I have a ton of. But not a single one that goes nicely with the deep pomnegranate shade of the dress.... So as soon as I leave work, I have to go on a one hour hunt for a cover-up. And probably some sort of cute shoes, because the shoes I have that go with the dress will likely not go with the cover-up.... This is why I usually stay home!

And then, there is the Paris-induced stress. I'm going with the style-maven Mrs Figby, so I must be at my best at all times, even when wearing my casual yellow city-fit pants and tunic. But shoes and a bag..... arrgghhhh! Shoes have to be super comfy for all the walking we are going to do, but still stylish enough to go with wathever I end up wearing. I'm thinking ballet flats and one pair of leather Camper sandals that I bought on my honeymoon but are oh so cute and comfy...

The biggest problem is the bag. I need to lug around my big camera. Because it's Paris, and nice picture opportunities will be around every corner. But the bag I usually use when I carry my camera looks like this:

It's very practical and comfy and cute in a weekend sort of way, but it is not Paris-stylish. I do own several nice purses, but none of them have either a strap or can go across my shoulder. This is a *must* for me and my back if I'm going to walk around a lot and carry my guide book, camera and you know.... wallet! (possibly water, a sweater, etc)

Finding a bag is driving me nuts. No matter what, it will not be a fancy bag. Because I am not a fancy-bag kind of person, plus, I'm going there to shop, so I want to be reasonable before I go. But it is imperative that it be stylish and comfortable.....

dresses and pants, and a bag too

So I did some shopping while on vacation. A LOT of shopping....

I'm a jeans girl. I wear jeans pretty much everyday.The reason, I think, is because jeans hide a multitude of sins. I do not have nice legs. I have the legs of someone who lost a lot of weight.... So jeans daily it is.  But I'm thinking it's time to move on from that look. I have decided to embrace dresses (that hide my knees) and try to find pants that fit and that aren't jeans. The only time I've ever succeeded is the Martin-fit pants from J Crew. And I think I found my new favorite pants there too: City-Fit Stretch Cafe Capri. I bought them both in the Burnished Moss (brown) and in the Lemon Twist... yes. I bought BRIGHT YELLOW pants.... I have lost my mind!

I promise not to wear them with the other yellow thing I bought:
That, actually looks cute with the brown pants, but it looked even better with the cute white ones I got at Anthropologie (shown here in navy, but I got white).

I really, really want to give pants a try. So I decided to attempt wide legs too....  I really like the way these fit. I also found a cute green  top there, but it was in the sale section, so no pics left on the website.

In the dresses category, the sales rack at BCBG yielded this adorable find:

(it's longer on me, just hits in the right spot to camouflage my things and yucky knees but without looking dowdy). And it's lighter in color in real life. more coral than pomegranate.

I also discovered Maxstudio.com, and wanted to buy everyhing there. But I only got one dress (I was TRYING to be reasonable!), this one:

• Again, on my, not so short! Clearly, I am not a 6 foot + model! I LOVE this dress. The straps are brown and you can play with the neckline to open or close it up.

I also bought two ADORABLe dresses at Target for next to nothing, but I can't manage to find the pictures online.... I will try to model them this week.

Finally, my splurge. I know by other people's purse standards this is not a real splurge, but my standards, it is!

I ended up with Granny Panties

Warning to my male readers (that means you Herb, and you Harry), I am about to discuss my undergarments.....

When I packed to come stay at the cottage for 14 days (we go home in 4 hours..... OMG!!! home!!!!), I somehow neglected to pack enough underwear. I have a closet-full of clothes here, mostly ill fitting stuff that I brought from home over the various visits we have made here. It's always interesting to see the outfits I manage to put together with wide-legged, orange chinos from JCrew, a collection of souvenir tees and fuzzy, half-shrunken sweaters.

I also used to have a drawer-full of underwear. You know, the underwear that's not exactly spanking new anymore. Whenever I make my bi-annual fresh underwear purchase at Victoria's Secret, I bundle up the set from 2 orders ago and bring it up to the cottage. But eventually, I start discarding those and this time, I ended up with only a couple of days worth. I could have done laundry over and over again, but heck, I had to vacuum during this vacation, I wasn't going to to laundry too!

So off I went to Walmart, the only shopping option around here, in search of underwear. I haven't bought underwear anywhere but Victoria's and La Senza in years... I'm not a frilly, fancy underwear person. I like plain, Body by Victoria type stuff. But still.... packs of 6? not so  much! I ended up with a pack of H*nes her way low rise and on my way out, without paying too much attention, I saw the words "low rise hipsters" on a pack of Fruit of the L**m, so I grabbed that too.

I should have looked at the picture more carefully...... Holy mother of Granny Panties! The things are HUGE! Yes, according to the chart on the back, they are my size.... but they are big enough to fit 2 of me! and while I can see that the cut is definitely square, like hipster/boy shorts.... the rise..... the RISE people! Even with my ill-fitting pants, the underwear is a good 1 1/2, 2 inches ABOVE the waistband of my pants!!!!! Trust me when I tell you, I do not wear particularly low cut pants. I mean, these aren't mom jeans, but I like my pants to hit just above my hip-bone, or just on them for jeans... but this underwear.... I have to fold it over!

So when I go home tonight, I will be sorting through my underwear drawer and selecting a new batch of old underwear to bring with me next week. Then I will find myself a catalogue and order some new panties. Because Granny Panties will not do, not even as weekend/country house underpants!

A warning to shoppers of southern VT

I know this is not fair warning, as we are getting in the car in an hour, but if you live in southern Vermont, there will be no size 8 anything left at J Crew after I come through this weekend. There will be no size 39 shoes. There will probably one less purse at Coach. And kids clothes in sizes 3 and 5. Forget it! Because the Canadian dollar is STRONG people, so I don't even have to do my ususal 15% calculation and feel bad about how much I'm buying!

We are heading down for our annual stay at the mountain resort, complete with visitng our friends the wooden bears in the village, the requisted outlet shopping and the 1 hour drive to the only Target accessible from where we live! Which reminds me, if the Saratoga Springs Target is your usual haunt, stay out this weekend. There is going to be a crazed canadian blogger and her family stocking up on all manners of un-necessary stuff, just because it's from Target!

Hot-Stepping into Fall

You all know I am a self-processed shoe-aholic. I love shoes, though probably not as much as Mrs. Fibgy, but still..... And you know I can't stand those rubber shoes everyone is wearing these days.... They are OK for kids, but otherwise, for the love of Jimmy Choo, give them up!

Anyhow, the lovely people at Easy Spirit understand that the mom-on-the-go can't wear her fancy stilettos everywhere, but doesn't want to sacrifice style completely. Just check out their Wedge Clog to see what I mean. Cute right? Well, wouldn't you like to try to win a pair?

That's right! Right here, on my very own little corner of the blogosphere, Easy Spirit is giving away 2 pairs of their lovely new fall Clogs. Just email them your name, address and shoe size and enter to win. I'll announce the winner right here on Sept 20th and the shoes will be delivered courtesy of Easy Spirit

Footwear Therapy

Let's suppose, for a moment, that you've been having a trying couple of weeks at home. Let's suppose that on top of being emotionally tired, you're suddenly physically fatigued and think that you are probably either iron or B12 deficient, (again, because it wouldn't be the first time). And let's suppose that while walking home from your blood tests you walked by your favorite crack dealer shoe store and these puppies were in the window:

They would cheer you up, right? Even if you didn't have the energy to wear them anywhere but your basement? (notice the nice heated cork floor as a backdrop....)

justifying the jeans

remember the jeans from a few weeks ago. If I ever needed any justification, my buddy Swoops has given me plenty of ammunition!!! check it out, it's hilarious!!!

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Starting tomorrow, my husband's family will be getting together for EVERY meal for 4 days in honor of a Bar Mitzvah. If I survive, I will let you know how it went and most importantly, what I wore!!!

True Religion

oh come on! you know I had to buy them! That is, I had to try them on first. I did not think they would look good on me, I really didn't, but oh, they did.....

so I bought them and I wore them to the beading party. But I was still the geek trying to fit in with the cool kids, though less geeky than back in my highschool days.

twins and no flake

She's here. she showed up and promptly swept a hapy Dumpling to the park.

And I'm wearing the twins. Did you think I could actually leave a pair of Campers in a box for a whole day? These babies need to breathe! Plus, the Fly London ones are actually going to make a good base for a dressier outfit I need to put together tomorrow night for a fundraising evening I must attend.

the red ones, if you must know, are Indigo by Clarks, are positively cheap compared to the other ones and are readily available everywhere.

which-ever shall I chose?

Tomorrow is going to be a very hard day.... I'm going to have to make a horrible decision when I get up.

• Shall I base my day around these:
• 

• (which actually are not that dark, more Camel, but I couldn't find them online anywhere)

• Or shall the day revolve around these:
• 

• Shut up! Don't even snark me or email me about the people who lost everything and there I am buying TWO pairs of shoes in one day.... I know! The guilt! I did originally pick three pairs and then just couldn't bring myself to buy 3 pairs in one shot, so I left these behind:
• 

• I know, my materialism has reached new heights....

Curves

Today was a day of indulgence for me. After a morning stroller walk to the bank, where Dumpling did her usual rounds entertaining the tellers, I took her home for her daily Wiggles while waiting for the babysitter to show up. In July, we had a nice girl named V come over Monday and Tuesdays from 11 to 4 to entertain the child while we ran errands. But we must have paid her too much, because she up and left to travel through Europe. After 2 weeks sans-babysitter, we were starting to get a bit overwhelmed.

I'm struggling to keep staffing issues at a minimum with the early retirement of two of my girls at store #1 and the return to school of every single person at store #2. So Dumpling's entertainment was falling by the wayside, consisting mostly of runs to the grocery store. Thankfully, another girl named M, who has babysat for us a few times in the past, came back from her own travels and is available to give us two 4-hour periods a week, just on different days.

Sooooo, today M came at 11 and I left to go work on some stuff at store #1 with a new girl. She's thankfully very, very smart (I only hire severely over-educated people: she's a bio-chemist who's earning money for a year before starting med school!!!), so she didn't really need me very much. With a babysitter at home, I headed over to the mall and sat in the dark with Jessica Simpson in very short shorts. She's a very curvy girl... but I am not a 14 year old boy, so the movie was only so-so.

With an hour to go before I could return home, I decided to go to the GAP. I love GAP. I'm a GAP whore. I especially love the discount rack at GAP. I have gotten some amazing stuff off the discount rack. But today, I perused the new jeans selection. Man, they have a lot of new jeans. I tried on a pair of flat front trouser types that I had hoped would fit me like a glove, but they fit more like a soggy mitten, so I skipped.

From the new styles, I had my eye on the straight cut, because I really like the wide waistband and the fabric was soft like flannel. But the anorexic 14 year-old sales girl came over and told me I should probably try on the *curvy* ones, that they would fit me better... nothing like a insult disguised as a helpful tip. I wear a size 6 for heaven's sake!

Well, I tried them all on, and take that you skinny little girl: the curvy ones looked like hell on me, while the skinny ones fit perfectly! I mean, I do look curvy in them, I'm a woman and I've got hips and an ass, but I do not need to be reminded of that fact by a kid who thinks anyone over a size 2 is big!

We use our powers for good

In my last post, I sent you over to the article that had me and my gals up in arms.  Things got pretty heated over there, we weren't going to back down. We were all speaking on behalf of our children (and ourselves, of course).
And you know what, today, we got our apology. If even one reader *gets it* and changes their way of thinking regarding adoption and finances and refrains from asking someone at the store how much their child cost, it was all worth it.
That's what a bunch of adoptive mothers and mothers-to-be can do. So if you have a battle to fight, send it our way, we only use our powers for good (well, except for that one thing, but nobody knows that's us.....)

On to the Dumpling. She's still sick, though her mood has improved tremendously and she's back to being a naughty 2 year-old. It was mommy's day at home today, and by nap time, I was exhausted! So when hubby got home this afternoon, I treated myself to a rare manicure. I don't have long nails, but they came out pretty and... clean! Let's see how long that lasts.

Finally, on a fashion note, i just want to tell you this breaking news: Green is the new orange, which was the new pink. Never mind all the turquoise you see everywhere, the new color is green. I now find myself with 2 cute spaghetti-strap tops in green (one mossy, with sparkles, one minty and satin), and a green striped belt. 3 items in one week. the last time that happened, I went all pink a year before pink was in. So when everything is green next year, just remember, you heard it here first.

Killer Shoes

No, I don't mean cute, pointy high-heels, I mean actual shoes that tried to kill me...

Last week, before the grand opening party, I rewarded myself for all my hard work with these cute Hush Puppies:

I wore them for half a day, they were super comfortable. So I wore them for the day of pre shooting that turned into the 16 hour day..... and got a wicked blister at the jjoint of my foot and my big toe. No biggie, I'm a tough cookie and I get blisters every spring when I start to go sockless....

Except this particular blister refused to cooperate. First it poped, then it oozed yuckiness, and yesterday, it started to throb. Last night, at 4 am, I woke up with a foot that was throbbing, red, and the size of my head.... and I have a big head.

Remember the heedyot carpenter of extreme house blah blah who got a bad blister that got infected, I hauled myself to the nurses office this morning, only to be promptly referred to a doctor. 2 hours later, I was on antibiotic for an infection in my foot that if untreated, could spread....

Killer shoes indeed! (PS, they will also kill continuity: I wore them for the BEFORE shoots, but I'll be darned if I wear them for the rest of the shoot! so on Aug 6, when you watch me, keep an eye out for the killer green shoes!)

Signs of Spring

If you are lucky enough to live south of here, signs that Spring has come might be flowers blooming, pretty patent-leather shoes or a new shade of lipstick. If you live where I live, in a north-eastern Canadian metropolis known as Montreal, Spring has a different arrival warning system.

Last week, the first sign hit us, right in the nose. For you see, when the weather warms and the snow begins to melt, not only does it leave behind all the detritus that had gotten buried in its fluffy whiteness, but it also brings... an odor. I don't know how best to describe this odor, but on the way to Schul last Saturday, I asked my husband if he thought the neighbours dead grandmother was suddenly rotting in their backyard, so strong was the stench of spring.  Of course, my neighbour isn't hiding a rotting body (that I know of), the stench comes from the last autumn leaves that nobody picks up on their lawn when the first snow comes, combined with all the dog-poop that bad dog owners don't pick up during the winter. When it all thaws, it's gross.

The second sign of Spring in Montreal is when the weather stays above the 10 degree (Celsius) mark for 3 days in a row, long enough for restaurant owners to clean their outdoor patios and Montrealers go nutty and eat lunch of spend an afternoon on a Terasse. Sure, they have to wear scarves and mitts, but the sun is out and so are we!

But the true sign of a Montreal Spring is all in the fashion. Gone are the heavy winter coats and the truly comfortable orange Uggs (I admit it, I love them), and out come the shrunken blazers and the pointy shoes. It's still too chilly for sockless pointy shoes, which makes for interesting footwear selection. (yesterday, I wore said pointy shoes with pink socks with hearts on them..... the day before, the brown pointy shoes were paired with dark green kneww-highs)

The outfit I put together today can best be described as demented spring-chic. I have paired my Anthropology moss-green with turquoise embroidery skirt with a dark purple cardigan and lilac tee. it's not bad, sort of hippy/trendy. But then, the below the skirt part caused me some problems. I wanted to wear heels, but I have heavy lifting to do at work, so flats it had to be. I happen to have a pair of matching moss-green slip-ons that are just adorable. But I don't have green nylons (thank goodness!). and I do not own nude-pantyhose. Even if it was warm enough to go bare-legged (which it is not), the whiteness of my legs would scare away customers. So deep in my closet, I found a pair of sheer-ish denim-colored pantyhose, which sort of pick up on the purple hues of the cardigan. So from bottom to top, that would be green, purple, green, lilac, purple..... Like I said, demented spring-chic......