Rain, Rain, Stay All Day

You know what would be so freaking awesome? If it would just rain some more. Truly, it just has not rained enough this spring. For sure my feet have perma-sog, but that is a small price to pay for the joy that is chilly, wet overcast days, weeks on end. I honestly hope that we never see a sunny warm day ever again, and I commemorate this desire with a $21 floral blouse covered in flowers, all in varying shades of glorious gray.

Skirting the Issue

So, it turns out that there are events during the summer for which cutoff jean shorts are just not appropriate. I know - who knew, right? So for just such occasions, might I suggest this $12.50 jean skirt? Ignore where it Old Navy calls it "high-rise," because I have this skirt, and the phrase seems to be merely euphemistic for "your pelvic bones are safely hidden from view."






Not fancy enough for ya? Really step it up with this $20 skirt. But, beware, Old Navy actually calls this one "low-rise," which may mean it sits around your ankles.

Get Thee to an Old Navy

I was all set to order this Greek-inspired top, for $8.75 using my 30% discount. Except it's only available, through midnight tomorrow, in stores. And, I may not have mentioned this, but I have a wedding to go to.

It figures

I have been searching for the perfect affordable summer flats for weeks. I've pored over thousands of web sites, made trips to hundreds of shoe stores, and tried on dozens of different pairs. I sent Jayn countless e-mails, texts and IMs asking, "What do you think of these?" I lost sleep night after night, tossing and turning and debating the merits of slingbacks vs. huaraches.

So it makes sense that once I gave up my search for shoes I could afford and forked over $80 for a pair that I would come across these. $15. Old Navy. Perfect.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I am about to come into some Old Navy store credit. Though the actual amount remains unknown until the reading of the will (or until the cashier tells me if I will get the full value for these items returned without a receipt), I am nonetheless very excited for this imminent windfall and am spending some time thinking about how I will spend it. Knowing me, it will go to fill my closet with yet more summer dresses that I can only dream about wearing at the moment. Possibly one of these.

Loving the 80s-ness of this one. I think I had the same dress as a small child.

They say maxi dresses are going to be in this summer. So naturally, I need one in black (to complete my collection of black sleeveless dresses at every length).

This one's in Cyclamen -- my favorite birth control/color!

Of course, it will probably turn out that only have enough for these $3.50 flip-flops. But as far as inheritances go, it could be worse. At least I won't have to pay taxes.

The choice is yours

There are two ways to get a good deal on these pretty ballet flats.

Option 1) Get a job in advertising, convince your client that you need to have a photo shoot to collect assets for their brand, coincidentally have the wardrobe department bring these shoes (in your size, of course) and have one of the actors at the shoot wear them, thus ensuring that they can't be returned and that you, as the account person managing the shoot and the only one with big enough feet to fit into them, get to keep them. This is the route I took.

Option 2) Go to Old Navy and buy them. They're only $19.50.

Rhinoceri and Oral Contraceptives

'Tis the season for layering, and Old Navy is kind enough to help make it possible by offering these cute $10 tees that I can wear under a sweater, or show off when I get to work and it's really hot and I have to take the sweater off, ruining the perfectly coordinated outfit I spent 45 minutes planning. At least I will then have a cute tee on.

My friend Summer was wearing the yellow one this weekend, which naturally you should do if you are named Summer. I, however, prefer this lovely shade that Old Navy is telling me is called Cyclamen, which sounds like a birth control pill but is apparently also a flower. I particularly like the non-descript animal print -- are those polar bears? Cows? Rhinoceri? Which of those animals comes in Cyclamen?

Why Not "Soot" or "Schmutz"?

So I almost didn't write about this dress, but then I saw the name of the color (OK, Mom, the non-color). It's called "wheelbarrow." I clearly remember our wheelbarrow being painted red, with wooden handles. Whose wheelbarrow do you suppose this color is referring to? I guess I have to say "to whose wheelbarrow is this color referring?" since, it seems, I love grammar.

Anyway, NYC living does not leave much space for a wheelbarrow. What might be the urban equivalent? Maybe those big old lady shopping carts - like the one I threw out yesterday because I didn't have room for even that? Maybe rolling luggage? Acutally threw that out last week. I guess we're saying it's like a purse - got me some of them!

So I really like this wheelbarrow dress for $24.50! It is definitely Greek-inspired. Does that mean you would look adorable if you paired the dress with the gladiator sandals we posted about earlier? Or does that mean you would be a worthy competitor in the Texas-wide Latin contest I seem unable to purge my mind of (and, truthfully, until that post, had not thought of once)? And would that be a bad thing?

Perhaps a pair of flats in, say 'spade' or 'trowel' (really, 'hoe' would have been too easy).

The Year of the Wedge

I have a friend, let's call her Misa, who as long as I have known her has worn only black wedge shoes. Sandals, boots, casual, formal - if they're on her foot there is at least a 3 inch wedge serving in the supporting role. I have spent embarrassingly too much time contemplating where Misa finds these shoes. But, this is her year! It's the year of the wedge. Online stores have departments dedicated to the wedge.

An aside: It is still a mystery to me, how designers light upon a new trend simultaneously. I know we are supposed to believe that there is some logical progression to fashion. But I think it's more a profit-seeking progression than anything else. Once the stores have finally got each and everyone of us, down to our grandmothers doing their shopping mall pre-dawn power walk, wearing a pair of low-rise jeans, well, it's perfectly logical for those same stores to push high waisted pants on us, otherwise we might never, not ever, buy a single new pair of jeans. Even if those high waisted jeans make everyone of us, down to those power-walking octogenarians, look at least one trimester along, they will introduce them as the new, much more flattering silhouette. And this year we are supposed to believe that manufacturers all around the country, from Kohl's to Calvin Klein, woke up in the middle of the night exclaiming, "the WEDGE!" At least the wedge is cute, functional, fun, easier to walk on than pumps.

Just take a look at what Old Navy has to offer. You'll want every pair on this page, and the most expensive pair is $34.50! Even these leather babies - $24.99. I couldn't buy them because I am certain that Samantha wore them to some rooftop barbecue at which she was dressed as an oversexed farmer's daughter. But you may not have that association. Maybe in black?

And look at these

And these:
At these prices, don't deny yourself a pair or two. I know for a fact that Misa is going hogwild. Hurry up before the pendulum is pushed back in the direction of Manolo stilettos.