What I Bought on my Spring Vacation: The first in a series of posts.

You might as well know at once that even though I have my moments of exquisite taste, and the Hermes store just sent me the latest scarf catalog, and one time a friend of mine asked me whether I'd help her decorate her house (that was probably ass-kissing, though) I have an unbelievable urge to buy things that are tacky. Or funny. Or offensive. Better yet--all three.

For example, I'm highly amused by the t-shirt that says ""If you fuck them, they will come."

I can't help it. I'm much too repressed ladylike to wear a shirt that says "fuck," but that shirt cracks me up. And I haven't even seen Field of Dreams.

So anyway, all this is to let you know that while I lay down the law about current fashions or hand out unsolicited advice the way DHC hands out samples, I also realize that I have a weak spot for The Truly Tacky.

So in my posts about what I bought on Spring Break, the first thing I'm going to talk about is these beauties:


You won't even know what this is about unless you've driven through Tennessee or Georgia. There used to be about 700 barns with SEE ROCK CITY painted on them. At last count there were only 90 left, but the billboards, which are ALL OVER THE PLACE, help to make up for the loss of actual barns.

Have I seen Rock City? No, I have not. Do I want to? Sort of. Is buying a souvenir of a place you haven't been to sort of stupid? Yes, it is. Especially when the item is a bird house that's trying to look like a barn. With a big-ass advertisement painted on it.

At first, I meant merely to buy one of these for my sister, as a joke, because she loves birds and bird houses and has all kinds of silly things all over her house and garden. But then, being me, I couldn't resist getting one for myself, too. Although I think I'm going to hang it from the kitchen ceiling, because the birds around here expect something a lot more tasteful, even from free housing.

Poppy's Change of Heart--on sale at 40% off!

So the husband and I have been talking about the income and the outgo of this household, and it looks like some budgeting is in order. And of course, he's all depressed.

Notice I said "he."

Because there's nothing I like better than a shopping challenge. As in "how low can I go before I would say my standard of living has changed significantly?" I have a feeling that's pretty low.

For one thing, I've already done some shopping for spring, what with a new bag, a pretty pink Razr phone, and a spree I went on recently at the Barry Bricken store in Winnetka.

I didn't tell you about that because I'm a perfectionist, and I don't like to talk about stuff without posting pictures. But I'm a perfectionist who apparently a) can't manage to keep her digital camera charged, b) or keep it in a sensible location, or c) find the cord that connects it to my laptop, so what with one thing and another, I haven't managed to take any pictures of my new loot.

But it's scrumptious. A week or two ago I went into the Barry Bricken store for some of their perfect jeans, and bought two pairs. But! I also went over the sale tables and scored five cashmere sweaters: three long-sleeved cable-knitted beauties in periwinkle blue, pink, and cream, one navy blue tissue-weight short-sleeved cashmere t-shirt in navy blue, and a fun argyle-front long sleeved crewneck in hot pink, orange, and brown--sounds hideous, but looks great with two-year's-ago brown Lilly Pulitzer stuff. These sweaters are perfect for easing me through the last of the chicago winter, because they're warm, yet the colors are springy.

Pictures soon, I promise.

As for future shopping, I've got to go through my spring inventory. Mine, but more especially, my children's. They continue to shoot up like giraffes and we're heading to Florida for spring break. I'm assuming nothing they own will fit.

On the cosmetics front, I got the Clairol Source magazine, and it has a coupon for Pantene's new Pro-V Expressions shampoos and conditioners. I am totally planning to try those, because the Kerastase Reflection shampoo and Chroma Reflect conditioner are heinously expensive, even on sale, which, by the way, they were so not when I popped for them at my mega-buck$ $alon ... if and when I buy refills, I'm heading straight to the internet!

Reason to get out of bed in the morning, #1

Here in Chicago, we have about two more months of crappy winter weather left before spring finally arrives. We have therefore reached the time of year where my primary urge upon awakening in the morning is to keep the shades drawn and stay in bed, preferably curled up in the fetal position.

Unfortunately, duty usually calls, and I have to get out of bed.

Therefore, my goal when purchasing health and beauty products is to find things that make the process of getting up and dressed somewhat less painful.

Olay Regenerist Thermal Skin Polisher is one such product. It's supposed to gently exfoliate the face with a combination of fruit acids and microbeads.

According to the blather on the drugstore.com website:

Olay Regenerist™ Thermal Skin Polisher regenerates skin's appearance for a beautifully polished texture and renewed vibrancy... achieve professional mini-peel results after 10 days. The key to this breakthrough experience is a water activated self-heating formula that deeply warms skin to relax pores. The gentle micro-crystal formula then polishes away dry skin cells, revealing new skin after rinsing. The formula also contains glycolic acid, a key ingredient used in professional mini-peel treatments.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it? And the reviews on drugstore.com make this stuff sound like a miracle worker.

But actually, my skin is pretty good, and it's generally reliable enough so that I don't notice all that much difference between product and another. So I like this stuff because it heats up when you rub it on your face, and it smells like apple pie. In my usual state of winter morning brain fog, it's easy to convince myself that I'm in an apple orchard lying in the hot sun getting a hot applesauce facial from Antonio Banderas.

And if that isn't a reason to get out of bed in the morning, I don't know what is.

It's currently marked down five percent (save 70 cents, people!) at drugstore.com, with free shipping for orders over $25.

Poppy does Chicago

What a weekend--a real culture-vulture marathon, and just generally busy.
Thank goodness I lost my cellphone.

This meant, of course, that I needed a new one. I wanted a new one, anyway. The old one was kind of clunky and didn't do anything but make calls. No camera, no games, no video, no internet.

By buying a new phone at the Cingular store, I could keep the old number, but everything else was new and (to me, at least) ooh-la-la fancy. I got the Motorola Razr. In pink, of course. With the bluetooth ear thingie. If you never hear from me again, it's because I'm playing Tetris on my cellphone.

Back to Saturday. Walking east to Michigan Avenue, the first store I saw was Coach. So of course I had to go in and check out the Coach Lilly-esque patchwork bags. I thought about it for all of ... 20 seconds, and then I bought the medium-sized Hamptons patchwork tote bag. (I blame Elizabeth of The Preppy Cafe for corrupting me!)

Then I headed up to the Gap because we're heading to Florida next month and I need to bump up my t-shirt supply. The Gap was so crowded I couldn't stand it. Never again. I keep forgetting that for some tourists, the high point of their visit to Chicago is heading to North Michigan Avenue to shop at ... the Gap. They did have some very cute striped canvas tote bags and espadrilles, but I couldn't take the crowds. I'll check out the local store during the week when the kids are in school.

I then headed to Sephora because with a new pink cell phone and a new spring bag, what would be better than a new palette?

I checked out Hard Candy, Urban Decay, and Stila, but the palette that really caught my attention was Pop Cosmetic's "Beaming Popette." The palette is turquoise-colored metal (not cardboard) and has a mirrored lid. Four eyeshadows (one pearl, and three in beautiful shades of green) a shimmery peach highlighter, and three glosses.

While I was there I decided to pick up Tarte's "The Toolbox" eyebrow kit. I've used the way-cheap (and unfortunately discontinued) Revlon eyebrow kit, which consisted of a pan of brow color, a pan of brow wax, and a stiff brush. It worked great, but as I said, it's discontinued, and everyone who makes something like it charges $30 and up. Then there's the high end Chanel product: $60 will get you the eyebrow color, tweezers, a mirror, and a brow brush. Or the Anastasia product, which I believe goes for $120.

The Tarte eyebrow kit has: brow color, brow wax, a set of little tweezers, three brow stencils, a brow pencil, a tube of clear mascara, and a brush for applying the color. Pretty much everything you need in a box the size of two lipsticks. The eyebrow color comes in three shades; I opted for light.

Let me tell you--you haven't lived until you've played around with brow stencils. I had eyebrows like a movie star, man.

I also picked up the Tarte doubled-ended lipglosses in Ferris and Sloane. (They're pretty in the tube, but don't really show up all that much on the lips.)

My last stop was at Talbot's. I really try not to be so boring, but I just wanted to pick up a couple of t-shirts. And the pima cotton short sleeved t-shirts are lovely--not at all see-through, with a gorgeous hand, and a nice fit--not the boxiness I have come to expect from Talbot's. I got pink and turquoise. I'll probably pick up a few more colors to finish filling the t-shirt drawer, and then I'm done.

Spring 2006--bring it on! I'm ready!

Do you suppose it smells as preppy as it looks?

This is Oscar de la Renta's new limited-edition fragrance, "Bamboo." It's available at Marshall Field's. Two ounces of EDT for $39.50.

I'm guessing that it smells fresh and green.

But look at it!

Don't you think it should smell like a gin & tonic? With extra lime?

I think I might buy it just for the fun of displaying it on my bureau ... even if it reeks.

Snapshirts Update

Well, today I received an email from SnapShirts letting me know that my t-shirt design was ready. (This t-shirt uses words from my other blog.) I clicked on the link and checked it out. It looks good!

I'm not much of a fan of t-shirts with writing on them for everyday wear, since frankly, that part of my anatomy doesn't need any more attention. But I get a kick out of wearing them when I'm working out, doing housework, or hanging around the house blogging, i.e., right now. And these shirts look perfect for that. They are 100 percent cotton, not terribly fitted, but shaped like a woman. In this respect this shirt will totally outclass many of my other t-shirts, such as my collection of Red Sox t-shirts, which I heart dearly but which were designed for men and look horribly boxy.

And then there is the little matter of the placement of the silkscreening. The SnapShirts people seemed to have figured that out--the placement of this design looks good. It looks like the word cloud will appear over one's clavicle, which is a good thing when one doesn't exactly feel like standing there on display while other people read War and Peace off one's breasts. At times one finds oneself wondering whether one should offer one's reader a bookmark.

(Sorry about the "one"s. I've been listening to the Narnia books on CD, and it's catching. I'm beginning to sound like Lynn Redgrave. Or worse yet, Michael York.)

Anyway, I selected my size and filled out the rest of the necessary information. The website is well designed, and the whole thing took about two minutes.

I think I need a t-shirt for this blog, too. And another one for my other other blog--I could always use a nice word cloud t-shirt to cook in.

When pajamas aren't enough: what to wear to blog

In my blogging perusals (well, I have to do something to keep me busy while I wait for my package to arrive from Gloss) I came upon a site that makes word cloud t-shirts.

You know what a word cloud is, right? The software goes through a document and picks the most popular words, then arranges them alphabetically. The font size reflects how often each word appears. (In the example I've included, you can see that I talk about myself a lot.)

You can just visit the site to come up with a word cloud, or you can go ahead and order a t-shirt. The t-shirts cost $18, not including shipping. They have men's and women's t-shirt styles in different colors, and a choice of 13 ink colors and 3 fonts.

Naturally, I couldn't resist. I made one with the words it found in my other blog, and I liked it so much I ordered a t-shirt.

I picked pink lettering in the classic Times Roman font. Apparently they'll email me to let me know when the shirt is ready. (I don't remember picking a size, though. Maybe I missed that part of the web page ... damn! Nothing worse than an ill-fitting custom t-shirt. My other blog deserves a better designer t-shirt.)

At any rate, I'll post when I receive an update from SnapShirts.

In the meantime, it's a fun site to fool around with (in the off-chance that you haven't been wasting enough time on the internet, that is.)

It's snowing. So I went shopping.

I know I'm supposed to decry the Estee Lauder corporation's acquisition of super kewl boutique brands like Bobbi Brown and MAC ... but I'm a middle-aged, lazy housewife, it's cold and snowy outside, and frankly, I couldn't be more glad that I could just head over to the Gloss website and order what I needed without firing up the minivan and heading to the mall.

What I needed was my favorite day time moisturizer--Estee Lauder's Resilience Lift lotion. I love this stuff because it's light, moisturizes well, gives me a glow, contains SPF15, yet doesn't reek. In fact, it smells like cantaloupe. I'm on my last week's worth of the stuff, and I was beginning to panic, wondering when I could get to a Major Department Store and buy some.

While I was on the gloss website, I decided to pop for a couple of MAC eyeshadows. Usually, on those rare occasions when I can be bothered to mess around with eyeshadow in the first place, I stick to Jane Eye Zings, but MAC has some interesting shades you really can't get anywhere else. So I ordered MAC shadows in Juxt and Vex.

And now, a word about gifts with purchase. In true Estee Lauder style, Gloss has them. (Estee Lauder being the inventor of this excellent department store tradition.) But on Gloss, you get to pick your gift. This means that when I checked out, I could get a sample tube of Origin's A Perfect World moisturizer, as well as sample sizes of a Clinique lip gloss and eye shadow,
which I like much better than the idea of acquiring Yet Another Tube of Estee Lauder "Rosa Rosa" Lipstick in Yet Another Fugly Cosmetics bag. The GWPs and samples can come from any of the Estee Lauder companies, (or Gloss affiliates) which at present are:

Bobbi Brown
Chanel
Clarins
Clinique
Darphin
Estée Lauder
Jo Malone
La Mer
Lab Series
MAC
Origins
Prescriptives
Rodan + Fields
Stila

As I said, I'm pretty much over gifts with purchase--at least, GWPs of Estee Lauder products. Resilience Lift moisturizer is the only EL product I use. But the companies Estee has gobbled up? I'll totally take their stuff.

Oh, and there was free shipping, too--nice!

So that's the good news.

The bad news is that while Gloss works perfectly well for restocking items you've already used or color cosmetics you've already seen in real life, they have the WORST on-screen representation of makeup colors I've ever seen. They are way, way off. So watch out for that.

Blogger is the new Winona Ryder.

And I can only hope that like Winona Ryder, Blogger experiences a long, slow slide into obscurity. Because Blogger has shoplifted two of my posts. Two very well-written, clever posts, too. Designer posts. With labels. One was even a Karl Lagerfeld.

To make matters worse, in one case Blogger has eaten a post, thrown it up, and then eaten it again. Which I guess also makes Blogger the what--Nicole Ritchie?--of blogging software.

I say this so that if by any chance you saw the post about Karl Lagerfeld, or the post where I made fun of Blogger for not letting me upload pictures--and you're wondering where they went--well, yeah. Me too.

Wait a minute--hear that? I think the security alarm just went off again.

In the pink at In the Pink

One of the things that drives me crazy about on-line shopping is registering for a site only to be totally swamped with spam. I mean, I already feel like a loser for forgetting to send my mother a birthday card, but do I really need to be punished with daily emails from ftd.com? No, I don't.

It's enough to make me want to refuse to register at websites.

But one site well worth registering for is in the pink. I became a member a long time ago, and while I really don't need all that many reminders to shop for Lilly Pulitzer clothes, their email reminders tend to actually offer something in the way of information about upcoming collections, or better yet, ways to save money.

This morning an email from in the pink told me that they were offering members 40 percent off current-season sleepwear. I jumped at the chance to score two sets of Lilly "Dreamy" pajamas for $78 a pair instead of $130. I got Phipps Pink Mommy and Me and Bliss Blue Lazy Paisley--the print you see in the graphic I ruthlessly stole from the in the pink website.

For what it's worth, I've ordered from in the pink many times and I've always been satisfied with their service and shipping. Two pink and green thumbs up!

And now, a word about shawpin

OK, enough about the Olsen Twins. Let's talk shopping!

At the moment, I'm going crazy looking at spring stuff because it's 48 degrees. In Chicago. In January. I'm craving cotton clothes and regular pedicures. I'm compulsively checking out the resort wear on style.com. And flipping through every catalog that comes in the mail.

1. Check out Thrifty Chick's directory of sales and special deals. Big fun! Be sure to scroll all the way down.

2. Those of you who have daughters should know that the Growing Up Garnet Hill catalog is selling Lilly Pulitzer dresses and such along with the usual organic cotton/natural fibers stuff. Also, the girls' shoes are mega-cute. Talk about one stop shopping! If only they carried this stuff in grown-up lady sizes. I mean, would anyone dress like an Olsen twin if she had the option of dressing like an eight year old? No. So Garnet Hill needs to make this cute stuff in grown-up sizes. The big meanies.

3. In the Pink sent me an email with the news that some vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress styles were being resurrected in vintage prints. I just love the fact that Lilly has brought back that great cotton lace. I'm totally jonesing for this one, to be accessorized with a retro attitude, some cute sandals, and a slushy rum drink.

My wallet needs a cold snap to come around, and soon.

--P.

Put another Lemur on the Barbie

Did you know that the Olsen twins are going to premier their two new fashion lines in Australia? I can only assume that the Olsen twins think that their bizarre black-rimmed eyes, little fuzzy furry heads, and strangely tanned skin make them look like unusually attractive marsupials. Maybe they feel a strange kinship with the duck-billed platypus.

Mary-Kate and Ashley, I hate to burst your bubble, but actually, you look much more like lemurs. You see, lemurs tend to wear lots and lots and lots of black eye makeup:


Also, lemurs just can't get enough of each other. They are so totally touchy-feely, it borders on incestuous:


You're seeing the resemblance, right? I mean, I'm totally not making this up. But Mary-Kate? Ashley, honey? Lemurs belong in Madagascar. Not Australia. Where, you know, there are laws against the way you two behave.

First of all, there is the little matter of your private lives.

OK, in this picture, you're trying to make it look like you're Just Good Friends:


But in this picture, Mary-Kate is about to announce that she is carrying Ashley's baby. Or the other way around. Do you think the Australians are going to stand for this? I don't think so.

Then there are the fashion crimes, to which I have already alluded.

Fashion Cop: "OK, Mary-Kate (or Ashley--sorry, honey; I can't tell you girls apart) this time I'll let you off with a warning. Now put the blue curtains back on your mother's living room windows. And take a shower, missy!"

So here is a question for my readers: do the Olsen Twats Twins seriously think people in Oz want to look or act like them?

Maybe it would fly in Madagascar, where the other lemurs would probably dig it, but I'm sure the Australians won't stand for it. After all, everyone knows that kangaroos are famous for their exquisite taste in boomerangs.

--P.

What Came in the Mail Today

Wow, a lot of packages showed up on my doorstep today. I was opening and putting things away for quite a while. And I haven't even finished opening all the boxes. To misquote Coleridge's Ancient Mariner: "Cardboard boxes everywhere / And not a drop to drink."

So here's what showed up:

1. From Delia's: the purple Puma Speedcats. I. Love. Them. They are incredibly comfortable. This is a YMMV thing, though, because they have zero arch support. But I have a high arch, and support isn't one of my issues. And they're wide enough. If you have a narrow foot, these might not work for you, but for me? They are fabulous. I can wiggle my little toes--or at least I would be able to, if I were able to (does that even make sense? I don't think so.)

All of the above can be said of the Reebok Motor Lace sneakers, too. I don't love them quite as much because they're not quite as fabulous. After all, they aren't purple suede. But they are very nice--light, sleek, and comfy.

I also received the three rocker t-shirts I bought my daughter, but they're for her birthday. And two lamps for her bedroom, also not opened yet.

Oh--and if you wear a size 8.5, like Top-Siders, and want them in the cute pastel blue, they're on sale.

2. From Garnet Hill: two sets of pajamas, both cotton knit with an Asian-inspired patterns, and a blue cotton bathrobe with white terry lining. I'd give these an A- because the colors weren't exactly what I was expecting, and let's face it, whereas the right shade of pink does wonders, the wrong shade can make a grown up girl look recently exhumed. These aren't that bad, but they don't do wonders for my make-upless, first-thing-in-the-morning face. On the other hand, they're generously cut, cute, and the cotton is of high quality. And the black kid gloves with the hot pink roses are just as pretty as they looked.

3. From PBTeen: a light blue yoga mat.

--P.

Some Thoughts on Spending and Saving

OK, right away, my husband is cracking up. He would tell you my shopping philosophy is "why pay less?" And yet even I, a self-confessed extravagant wretch, realize that there are areas where I tend to spend, and areas where I tend to save. And they're not the ones you hear about in every magazine, so I thought I'd share.

Clothes

Here I put my money into the stuff I wear the most. Or stuff I'm obsessed with. Whatever qualifies as a basic deserves a large percentage of your clothes money. (Even if your idea of "basic" is Lilly Pulitzer skirts.) I spend on: coats, shoes, wool separates, cashmere, sweaters, gloves, scarves, bras, and hose (remember when pantyhose were out, out, out? Thank heavens they're coming back. I was really tired of seeing pasty white legs with road map veins all over them. Even if they did get me where I wanted to go.)

I save on: cotton t-shirts, anything made out of polyester, bags, anything ridiculously trendy, (remember satin cargo pants? Was there ever a question that buying them at Neiman Marcus might not be such a good idea, when they were also being sold at Target?) costume jewelry, evening bags, evening dresses, underpants, and socks.

Makeup

Spend on anything that gives you a glamorous thrill and anything that uses innovative packaging or application techniques (like YSL Touche Eclat, Guerlain's Les Meteorites, or Nars Multiples.)

Save on: lipstick (Revlon and Rimmel are my favorites) lip and eye pencils (I like Prestige) eye shadow (Jane shadows are dirt cheap and great) nail polish (I like Sally Hansen) and mascara--all of which you can get at the drugstore. Except stay away from Maybelline Great Lash. Sure, I have a picture of it here, but that's to see if you're paying attention. It's the only drugstore mascara I've ever truly hated. Totally smudged and gave me Tammy Faye spider lashes. Run away! But other L'Oreal/Maybelline/Max Factor mascaras have been fine.

Hair stuff

If you have normal, virgin, healthy, problem-free hair, you can probably get away with Suave shampoo and conditioner. (But if that's you, what are you doing reading this blog? Shouldn't you be letting down your hair so what's-his-name can climb that golden stair? And by the way? I hate you.)

But if you're normal, just spend money on your hair. Especially the machinery. I guarantee that if you plunk down the extra money for the Babyliss ionic hair dryer or the Mason Pearson brush, you will fall in love. Once Badger had turned me on to ionic dryers, I never looked back. My dryer and a cheap--but absolutely perfect--styling brush are two tools I can't live without.

Still, barring unusual problems, you can save on: de-frizzing serum, styling gel, hairspray, combs, and blow-dry brushes--the drugstore or a beauty supply store will have lots of cheap brushes, and it might take you three or four tries to find the brush that works perfectly, so go low-end here.

Skin care

Spend on: incredible serums, the exfoliator that polishes your skin to perfection without irritating it, eye cream that moisturizes without producing milia, sunscreen that doesn't break you out. Basically any Holy Grail product is worth the money.

Save on: eye makeup remover (I use some random blue stuff) cold cream (I like Pond's), cleanser (I'm using a Neutrogena product with salicylic acid and scrubby beads, and it's great) toner, masks (Queen Helene Masques are amazing and dirt cheap) sunscreen for your body, body lotion, hand cream, and lip balm.

As for anti-aging products, I've used high-end (Creme de la Mer and Cle de Peau) and low-end (Oil of Olay, Dove, Ponds) and guess what? No matter what I buy, I find that as the years pass, I continue to look older.

Fashionable Chaos Theory

If you aren't reading Penny Press's fabulous and totally "in" blog, Fashionable Chaos, you are really missing out. I learn so much there.

Today I learned that it's time to take up arms against lurkers. Check out what she recently posted:

Before I get to the pictures, in case you haven't heard, Sheryl has proclaimed it--ta da!--National Delurking Week. Now I don't get all bent out of shape over lurkers because I am a huge one. So I wasn't going to say anything, until I saw this:

So, you heard it here first. (Or maybe 547th--who the hell knows how many people are reading Penny's fine, fine blog?)

But just so you know, comments are encouraged.
Around here, that is.
Look! a Haiku.

Target is now the Love Boat of department stores

What's with the parade of has-beens?

First there was Mossimo. But I'd never heard of him because I was never a cool California kid.

Then there was Isaac Mizrahi, who even after Unzipped and The Adventures of Sandee the Supermodel couldn't manage to sell enough clothes at places like Neiman Marcus, and had to reinvent himself as a low-priced designer.

Oh, and I almost forgot--Stephen Sprouse.

And now it's Fiorucci.

What's next--Perry Ellis? Willi Smith? Halston? I mean, do you have to be a living designer, or can the name of a deceased fashion crash-and-burner be licensed?

There's nothing wrong with coming out with a lower-priced line. If it weren't for jeans, accessories, fragrances and bridge lines, I wouldn't have any designer crappe in my closet.

But I think my life is starting to pass before my eyes. And it's riding in a big red plastic cart.

There's gold in them thar malls.

I might be the only person who is thoroughly sick of white gold this and platinum that. A couple of years ago it reached the point where the default metal color for everything--handbag hardware, shoe buckles, jewelry, and watches--was white gold. I've managed to accumulate a lot of yellow gold jewelry, and I was irritated that all of a sudden, I had to either mix metals (ew) or start from scratch with white gold.

The good news is that yellow gold appears to be roaring back into style.

Although Neiman Marcus is still only showing a sprinkling of yellow gold pieces, check out the jewelry on saks.com--it is definitely listing yellow gold-wards.

This makes all kinds of sense, as there are women out there in their 30s who have never, in their entire lives, worn a piece of yellow gold jewelry.

Of course, this also means that in five years time, I should be as sick of yellow gold as I am of white gold. After all, it happened before. Remember in the 70s and 80s it was all about yellow gold, even if you weren't Mr. T? Well, yellow gold neck chains are back, as seen in the Saks website and as pictured in this month's Sucky Lucky magazine. Big ones a la the "big bold gold" thing the magazines were forcing down our craws last year (or was it the year before?) but also the little dinky ones people wore in the 1970s to Studio 54. Oh my gosh ... disco wear ... I'm getting all nostalgic now. Danskin body suits and side wrap skirts ... Diane Von Furstenburg wrap dresses ... all accessorized with skinny gold chains and maybe, if you were rich, Elsa Peretti-style diamonds-by-the-yard.

I guess with the resurgence of the DVF brand, disco jewelry had to come back into style. This should bother me, I suppose. But for the moment, I'm happy.

It's official.

Gold hardware is finally back in style.

After all, nobody would argue with Marc Jacobs.

And I say, about time. I've had it with the ubiquity of white gold jewelry and silver-colored hardware on bags, shoes, and belts.

Ideally we'd have both silvery and gold hardware, of course. But I'm guessing the pendulum will swing completely over to gold now that Marc Jacobs is producing it.

Isn't this a gorgeous bag? Usually I don't like Marc Jacobs bags very much. Let me rephrase that. Usually I think they're fugly. But this is a far more dressed up looking bag, what with the quilting and the gold hardware. This is not a bag that says "Anorexic starlet schlepping her personal stylist to a shoot for the cover of Lucky magazine." No, this is a real purse. Dare I say it? A pocketbook. Meant to be carried by real grown-up ladies who won't carry it while dressed in an outfit suitable for dumpster-diving.

It really is a beauty, isn't it. Well worth taking the $1,200 plunge and ditching all that silvery metal and starting over with yellow gold, isn't it?

--P.

My after-Christmas sale catalog binge

I've only made it through three catalogs, and I couldn't be feeling more smug.

From Delia*s (I know. I'm too old for this stuff. I was looking for stuff for my daughter. OK?) I scored three silly "ooh, I'm such a rocker" t-shirts. Also two excellent lamps, both mid-century modern and feminine, for her room. $29.99 marked down to $9.99. And, uh ... two pairs of sneakers for me. Puma Speedcats in purple with orange trim, and Reebok Motor Laces, black with cream colored trim.

Wow, Reeboks make your feet look huge. I never noticed that before.

At Hanna Andersson things didn't go as smoothly. Hanna makes great, colorful, durable outerwear for fashion-conscious little girls, but while their website is very slick and easy to navigate, their emailing sucks. I placed an order and waited for the confirmation email to show up. And waited. And finally re-placed the order. And still didn't get an email confirmation.

Two days later, just as I was thinking "Gee, I'd better head over to Hanna Andersson and see what's up," I came home to two big-ass boxes from Hanna. With both orders. So now I have to return stuff.

And last but not least, Garnet Hill. I loves me some Garnet Hill. Not only do they make excellent sheets and pillows and such, they have super cute clothes, shoes, and OMG the accessories.

So today I ordered some shoes for my daughter, because her "new school" shoes from September are now a size too small. And some pajamas for me, because I'm getting tired of the big-oversized-Red Sox t-shirt look. Well, for one thing, you can't bend over in one, not with the other gender in the room, anyway. So two pairs of jammies, a bathrobe, and oh, dear, I discovered that these awesome gloves were on sale.

I'm a glove ho. You know, anyone can be a shoe ho, but frankly, I think that's been done to death. No, for me it's coats, bags, and gloves. When I spot something totally cute and/or retro, I'm helpless. So I saw these super gorgeous four button numbers (i.e., they go up well over the wrist and keep you warm--no drafts!) and saw that they were marked down from an extravagant $118 to $68 ... Well, I had to have them.

--P.

Stuff this.

I'm just about finished putting away all the new Christmas crappe, which means I need to start thinking about buying all the stuff I wanted to get but didn't.

I've decided this kind of discussion really doesn't belong on my regular blog. Not even on a "Choosey Tuesday" regular kind of weekly post. You know, like Show and Tell Friday, Half Naked Tuesday, or Get to Know Me! Thursday. Although I debated that idea for a while. But I decided my blog is already too damned random and all over the place.

So what the hell--why not start another blog? Four blogs can't be considered excessive, not when I have five squillion pairs of shoes, four squillion handbags, two train cases stuffed with makeup, 80 some bottles of fragrance--not to mention the partridge in a pear tree some asshole regifted me with. Right?