and I'm back. . .

Alrighty folks. after a long break due to absolute madness, I am back to reporting. And boy do I have some juicy stories...maybe some I shouldn't share.

Yeah, best hold on to some of those for now.

Doing this blog has brought to my attention just how often I actually shop, and it's been kind of shocking. So, I've resolved to cut it down this year. Just a little.

So, there was lots of shopping over Christmas. I had fun at Canal Place and shopping in the Quarter. However, I was unable to find (while on foot and without internet on phone) a bookstore in the Quarter. Such an anomoly. The old stand-bys of Virgin and Tower being seemingly closed forever, and no books for sale in Canal Place, I had to get more creative to secure a gift for my mother. She ended up with a cookbook that was more history than cooking--which is good because she doesn't cook and was a history major in college.

Lately, the sole object of my shopping extravagnaza has been to find an ivory silk charmeuse dress, strapless, notched top, and black across the bust. There is an ABS dress at Hemline that is pretty much it, but it's not this season and Hemline is offering it at full price. I could be tempted to just go ahead and pay twice what it's worth now, but they only had it in a 6. Oh, well.

All attempts to find it online have failed.

Speaking of online, I found a close substitute, however the rest of that story must get cleared with my attorney before I disclose the details. (o, the intrigue)

And on a slightly related note, I just picked up my car from the body shop yesterday, and I was sooooo happy to have the hotness back until I took a close look at the work done.

O my f'ing god! All they had to do was put on a new mirror and front panel, but apparently they also had to get all up inside the car and get their grubby mitts all over everything. Grease on the shifter, the knob was crooked, some kind of crap on the stereo dial, they had changed my radio station, turned it way up and changed the bass level. HOW DARE THEY! That's my car, with my settings, my personal space. DON'T TOUCH MY THINGS. O, and I forgot the best part. The mirror they put on was on crooked, and they managed to scratch the center console big time on both sides. I hate them, and if anybody's looking to get body work done don't use a particular shop on Vets right by the airport. It's my opinion and I can say what I want.

In thier defense, after I had to persuade the manager to even look at the damage--she didn't want to because it was too dark outside (as if cars don't have lights on the inside!)--she decided to have some interior paint people fix it on Thursday. We'll see, and I really don't trust them. It would almost be worth it to just never deal with them again.

Oh yeah!

And I racked up major damage at Bluefly.com

um, um, um--that's good stuff. And I did it while I was visiting the hubby at work, so the connection was SUPER fast. I picked up a bunch of yummy tees and tanks in fall colors. And since there was a promotion going on where if you bought at leat one men's item, you could take 20% off, I grabbed the husband a Monarchy Tee and was out the door. 8 for me, 1 for him. That's fair.

I'm glad you agree.

Now if I can just make it throught the next 5-7 business days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When are they going to invent a device where what you purchase online is automatically downloaded and "erected" instantly in your home. Just purchase and print out your new outfit, ready to go. Instant gratification. People would spend way more money, I'm sure. Maybe if we all wore digital devices that projected an image of an outfit, but really we were wearing some crazy unitard from the future--But everybody saw the outfit you "downloaded". hmmmmmmm. I'm gonna be rich.

Shoppin, shoppin, shoppin, shoppin, badger, badger, shoppin shoppin. . .

Ahh, another pointless and infuriating trip to Lakeside.

Why do I continue to subject myself to it?

Well, because there's easy (most of the time) parking, air conditioning, variety. But the biggest draw I guess is the hope that with all the crap, you'll be able to find a few decent, quality pieces.

Hahah.

So I grabbed a few things from Black/White. Mostly stuff for "work". Then I picked up a single tank top from Express and a pair of pants.

Service = O, except from that girl at Express that acts like she's coked out of her mind all the time. She's helpful.

But I feel compelled to share my general distast for the direction the mall has taken. The stores I used to find an interesting outfit or two in, have taken a turn for the downright trampy.

Bebe, Guess, Express (although to a lesser extent), Forever 21--although they've always been trampy and I've never really shopped there--it's f*cking crap. I mean, I'm not expecting couture at Lakeside. But seriously, it's either sweats with rhinestone messages encoded on the rear or stripper gear.

Where do nice girls like me shop these days??

Veloptuous Vixen is next on my list to hit. It's new, in the Quarter, and I hear good things. I'll let y'all know.