Tank for the Memories

I am supposed to be in Florida right now. Right now, do you hear me?! I am not. I am instead martyring myself for my job. A big, giant February deadline looms, and I have to pretend to be an adult and stick around and see that all the work gets done and possibly even do some of it myself. But every time I put on another layer, or see my hat-head and bright red nose in the mirror after I come in from the cold, I just want to cry.

So, I am going to change into this $14 Lucky tank that reminds me so much of every childhood summer I spent in Delray Beach, home of shuffleboard and clubhouse card games. I will turn up the heat fill the the bathroom with steam and pretend to work on that elusive perfect tan that anybody else with my utter lack of melanin would have given up on at around age 7 but that I somehow still think is almost within reach.

Tie One On (It Is New Year's Eve, After All)

I cannot decide whether it was a lucky day for me when Lucky started selling shoes, or possibly the most unluckiest of all days. Regardless, I now own more pairs of their shoes than I should, and it has already been established that I own more boots than a small nation of size 8 1/2 footed women could ever wear. It's unlikely that either of these things can be said about you, so you may consider these boots, half off at $104.50. I have nicknamed them Lacey, for obvious reasons. The Cagney boots are much tougher and brassier.

Chick on a Mission

The 50% - 75% off Lucky sale starts the day after Christmas. It is an indication of how devoted we, your bloggers, are to you and to this blog that we will be there on day 1. I have formulated a plan of attack, starting with step 1, the reconnaissance mission, scoping out potential sale items. It's fun - I rent a van, fill a thermos with hot cocoa, park on Columbus Avenue, and get out my binoculars. Or sometimes I just fill a mug with the bittersweet chocolate elixer and do my reconnaissance work from right here at my kitchen counter.

Right now I am tracking this dress, potentially $60.

This cardigan is also an item of interest, worthy of my attention, possibly because my kitchen is freezing and the steaming cup of chocolate is not yet ready.

Also, I kind of like these chandelier earrings, which are only $21 now, so imagine the potential savings! I think I like them mostly because they remind me of a photo I saw recently of a chandelier that, in a life-imitating-art-imitating-life moment, was said to be a lighting fixture that was shaped like a chandelier earring.

They're my new "I don't need a job, I don't need my parents, I've got great boots" boots!

So, last summer my girlfriend called me minutes after interviewing for a job in licensing for Lucky and told me, "You are in trouble. They're making shoes." Not only do they now have shoes, my friends, they have boots. Lucky Brand boots? I didn't even have a chance really, did I? On top of that, today I had a closet organizer come by and he actually told me that, if I was going to keep all my boots, there was literally nothing he could do to help me. Apparently, I have made a lifestyle choice.

Use your 30% of coupon code 9SEPFRNDS.

Not an Addict

I think Jayn and I have officially overstayed our welcome at the Lucky sale. I'm fairly certain the number of times we've each been into a Lucky store can no longer be counted on one hand -- and when you add in visits to the web site, you're going to have to start counting toes, too. Hell, I've even started buying Lucky for the unborn.

So I think it's time we quit this little habit . . . compulsive obsession . . . dangerous addiction . . . whatever you want to call it, we're quitting cold turkey. I will leave the Lucky site and go to another brand's web site entirely. Perhaps Free People. An excellent choice. They have some lovely stuff. Like, say . . . this top. It's cute. Colorful, flowy, kind of hippie-ish . . . you know, it looks like something you would find at . . . oh, crap. Do they make a gum for this? Maybe a patch?

Hup Two Three Four (& Five, Six, Seven)

Women are famous for having an insatiable hunger for shoes (or boots). Some of us, though, are outerwear-obsessed. I am that some of us. Which means real problems, since my coat closet is that rare closet shape, a triangle, and is supposably adequate storage for my collection as well as a jacket or two for the other members of my family. Never enough down jackets. Or wool coats. Or long sweaters. Or leather blazers. Or, for some unexplained reason, khaki, army-inspired jackets. It could be the Freaks & Geeks influence. Or the influence of the real life freaks at my high school, the burnouts. (Let's be honest though - when it comes to my influences, the sad truth is that tv is the more likely culprit.) Regardless, I have my eye on this Lucky Brand (surprise!) one for $50, from $169 (use your 40% off coupon), in store only. The other members of my family will have to just store their outerwear in the three corners of my - our - closet.

The Yoke's On You (Or Me, Actually)

Naturally, I bought the orange and blue print Lucky tank top Jayn posted about this weekend -- with a 20% off coupon code, no less. So when I happened to be in a Lucky store yesterday (not my fault, my boyfriend needed jeans!), I just had to check out their sale section and see if there were any other wonderful deals to be found.

I must have been channeling Jayn, because I immediately gravitated toward this solid black, hippieish shirt. It's super-soft and very comfy. Lucky calls it the Trapunto Yoke Tunic, but I just call it awesome at $29. Sadly, it's not on their web site anymore, so you've got to go into the store (and can't use a coupon code). Tragic.

¿Mas Ombre? Si, Mas Ombre

(How awesome am I for including that upside down question mark?)

How hard do we work to find luckier items for you? So hard that we found you two luckier items named Ombre. That's how hard we work for you. Can't you just see this paired with tall black boots? $47 if you use the online code 8LZEMP or print this coupon below and take it to Lucky. While you're there, try to find out what gives their stores that peculiar aroma, ok? Gracias.

That Seventies Room

When I was a kid, my two cousins in Brooklyn had the grooviest bedroom ever. And this was before Brooklyn was the groovy borough. The room was green and yellow. I don’t mean it had avocado and gold accents or flourishes. I mean the room was green and yellow incarnate. The walls were covered in a viney floral green and yellow wallpaper. The floor was stained green, the woodwork was green. One of my cousins, Amanda’s mother in fact, created an awesome green and yellow lamp from a pair of flowerpots, which sat on the inevitably green bureau. The ottoman in front of the world’s most awesome green vanity was upholstered in green vinyl (it doesn’t hurt that my uncle manufactures furniture). There was a pair identical green desks and green beds, with bedspreads that matched the groovy wallpaper. In short this was my idea of paradise here on earth, and when it was my turn to decorate my room, I tried to create an updated version this groovitude, but failed miserably, covering my walls and woodwork in a surgical scrubs green. And, really, who wants to wake up in the morning and mistake their bedroom for an OR?

So, naturally when I saw this shirt, I thought instantly of that gold and green seventies wonderland. This shirt really brings it all back, but with two beautiful shades of blue to update it. Now, I wasn’t that interested in the shirt at its initial price of $48. In fact, I was downright uninterested (not disinterested). At $18 though, I will have to buy it to relive that room’s glory days. Lucky is having a 50% off then another 25% off, which is a great workout for your elementary school math skills (hint… it’s not 75% off), so while you’re in there, look around and pick out some more groovy items.

Luckier Belt

I unabashedly love Lucky Brand Jeans. It's not just that I adore the clothing that resembles those of my beloved seventies. I mean they sell those shirts worn by everyone who smoked out in my high school's east parking lot - and while I didn't go to high school in the seventies, that's what they were all still wearing. (Why is that? Did smoking and procuring smokes take up so much of their time that they were unable to go out and purchase new clothing? Did all their purchasing dollars get spent on heavy black eyeliner?)

It is also that the Lucky store resembles the beloved seventies as well. The rugs on the floor. The drapey, fringey decorations. Right down to the music - I mean, what other store plays Richard Thompson and Eric Clapton? So, to paraphrase Janeane Garofalo when she talked about George Clooney playing a pediatrician on ER, "I'm not made of wood people." You got me.

So that brings us to this belt. I just love it . Yes, it has multiple colors, but see how they are corralled into a single 2 inch wide strip, that may even be partly hidden by your shirt? This is a pattern of multiple colors I can live with. And so seventies in its execution - look at the overstitching, the big brass buckle, the hearty leather. This belt would be so at home in the east parking lot, stamping its feet to keep warm in the colder months.

While you would be lucky to find it at Macy's for $38, on sale from $48, how much luckier was I to locate it at my mecca, the Lucky store itself, for a mere $10. What a small price to pay to both hold old up your jeans and pay homage to the greatest decade that ever lived. Now that's luckier.