Mortimer's Mom

The Post-Paris Post

I've been a very bad blogger, I apologize. The re-entry into home life sort of kicked my ass. Dumpling was non-too-pleased about my vacation, and while she was a doll for her father while I was away, she expressed her displeasure upon my return by turning into Carrie. BB, on the other hand, missed me terribly and has been stuck to me like glue. Add a minor flood at one store, a major AC failure at the other, a sick relative, a broken pool heater and a huge communications malfunction with the store servers and I've been a bit overwhelmed with everything....

Today, things started looking up. The Amazing D and her fabulous husband A were in town today (she must now be referred to as the Amazing Dr. D, PhD) to celebrate her graduation, so we hooked up for a late breakfast. It was very good to catch up.

I managed to upload my pictures, and I will now regale you with my shopping.

Here is the much discussed Gerard Darel Jacket (I had mispelled it last week) and the cute flats.

I also got a cute top from him, but I took a picture and I look like death warmed over, so I'll spare you. I msut say, when I hit his website and saw that Charlotte Gainsbourg was his model/muse/spokesperson, it all made sense suddenly. As a teenager, I wanted to be Charlotte. I saw her movies, I read all the teenage mags about her. For a French speaking girl in the 80s, Charlotte was the IT girl.

I also bought an adorable top from Comptoir des Cottoniers, but it's in the wash.... I would describe their store as Benneton meets organic.

And finally, i did my best shopping at Promod:

see a theme forming here? I told you, under the guidance of the great Mrs. Figby, Grey is the new Neutral.

And no, i am clearly NOT the model in these pictures!

The Garden Party Girl and The Glam City Gal

Mrs. Figby and I are leaving on Monday for our shopping trip to Paris (please pronounce it the French way, Pa-ree. it's sounds more exciting that way)

In preparation, we have been emailing back and forth. She's bringing her laptop (there will be blogging!), I'll rent a local phone (so our children can still call and whine that somebody did something to the other one). Then we discussed clothes. I was planning on taking a few tops, a few bottoms and a couple of cute summer dresses and somehow dress appropriately everyday. Mrs. Figby, well, she's got outfits planned. Complete, head-to-toe, thought out, with foot wear.... She was telling me about what she is bringing, and while we are one the same wavelength dressy-ness wise, she is miles ahead of me in preparedness. I also mentioned to her that I would bring one of my nicer dresses, in case we went to dinner. I am referring to the dress I wore to the library party a few days ago. Mrs. Figby mentioned that she doens't own anything like that, all her dresses are black and slinky. See this is the difference between us: while we may start out with similar abilites budget wise, I always end up dressing like I'm going to a garden party (think Antropologie) whereas she is always ready for a big night in the big city. Not quite city mouse/country mouse, but almost.

I've always been like this, the one with color, the one somehow underdressed, the one in linen in a sea of silk. In college, I got invited to a holiday cottilion at a fancy private club in Toronto (I believe it was the Curling Club). I had never been to such a thing and went all out, purchasing a fancy coktail dress in royal blue velvet. I was the single, only person in the room not in black. The single one. Seems my date failed to tell me black was de-rigueur at such a thing, and I didn't know. I'm sure they still talk about the year the French girl from Montreal came in a blue dress.....

I actually like my style, but I do tend to stick out in most social situations. In preparation for this trip, I became obsessed with footwear. I have lots and lots of nice shoes, but I cannot bring heels on this trip, as we will be walking a lot. And clearly, I would give Mrs. Figby a heart attack if I brought flip flops, and I don't own Crocs (I do have my limits!), so I was going to pack a couple of my cute and quirky Campers. Yet somehow, they felt not dressy enough.... like I was going to look down at our feet in pictures and constantly obsess over my garden party shoes next to her glam city shoes.

So I hit the mall, and hit the jackpot! On sale, half-price:

It's a really crappy phone pic, but if you really want to see them, go here, then click on women's accessories, they are the yellow ones with the ballet ribbon..... I ended up getting the matching large wallet which has a strap, so it can serve as a clutch in the evening.

They are still definately more garden party than glam city, but somehow, they seem more appropriate.

(PS, they are a local company that is making it big on the world scene. They always seemed very expensive to me, so I had never looked. But I have to say, the footwear, which is new to them, was incredibly reasonably priced, even before the sale. I have a feeling I will be going back there in the fall for a new bag)

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....)