We’re just days away from Memorial Day (May 31 to be exact) and all you fashionistas know what that means here in this country, right? Yep, the summer sale is about to break! So the last week I’ve been emailing, texting, and even calling my favorite stores with my wish list to see if I could get a jump on any goodies. I sounded so congested (read: sick) on the phone that I think it worked to my advantage. They really wanted to cheer me up with the usual suspects–Chanel, Missoni, Louboutin–and retail therapy is much better than any prescribed drug. It’s also no secret that a good couture sale is like your wedding day. You can be hungover, sick, exhausted, or just not feeling it, but you still have to do it. And hey, when the sale associate calls to say that she has your “dream” shoes at 60% off, do you want to sleep or do you try to fake looking human, drive cross-town, suppress your cough attacks, and drag your almost lifeless body up the stairs to get to the shoe department on the second floor? But enough about my experience at the winter sale earlier this year.
I’ve written about how tough the shopping has been this year with lower inventory across the board at all upscale stores. Given the lower supply, the demand has been that much more competitive, especially when you wear tiny sizes, which stores don’t seem to buy a lot of in general anyway. It’s a good business strategy, fashion economics 101 as it were. But that’s rough news for us fashionistas in rehab to be recessionistas.
I’m crossing my fingers that some must-haves from my wish list will be found on sale and if so, I’ll post pics here. The thrill of the chase is definitely fun for a fashion hunter like me, but because it’s been such a tough season, I think the reward will be sweeter than before. I love me a good chase!
Wait, what did you say? Oh, that pic at the top? No, not a sale item, unfortunately, but it’s the Balenciaga motorcycle bracelet in anthracite. It reminded me of an elephant I rode in Thailand and I couldn’t resist.
Tags: Balenciaga, Chanel, Louboutin, Memorial Day, Missoni
A reader suggested that I FIMTSO something green, and I thought hmmm, that’s a random color. Then I peeked inside my closet, and lo and behold, I actually have a whole green section in there! From shirts (mostly courtesy of Etro)…
to shoes….
to outerwear to handbags…oops, I forgot to take the tissue paper out of the bag for this photo, but I have to stuff these pythons like that while storing them.
In fact, I seem to have a prolific green safari/army bunch going in the outerwear section of my closet, but I rarely ever, almost never, wear green. I think, like most people, I just like looking at the color green but can’t quite make it work with my skin tone. Yet her request intrigued me…then it dawned on me. Why not wear green as an accessory instead of an item of clothing? We should be able to FIMTSO accessories, too, right?!
Test Item: pear green python Desmo hobo bag. I am almost certain I bought this bag because it weighs less than air.
Look 1: The easiest trick in the world to wear an unusual color is to pair it with black. So here is the green bag with a theory stretch linen strapless sundress and the Chanel Aloha sandals. I said it before but I will live in these sandals this summer!
Look 2: The second easiest trick in the world to wear an unusual color is to pair it with white. I think you see where I’m going with my tone-on-tone palettes! This time the bag is paired with white denims, white Chanel tank, and a GAP dark rinse denim jacket. I know I seem to have Chanel separates up the wazoo, but if you look closely, they are usually very basic pieces that will not go out of style. Ever. And even if they did, I would still wear them until I can amortize them to death!
Look 3: But where is the creativity if I can’t get outside of my comfort zone of black and white? So here is the bag with J Crew light taupe linen pants and Tory Burch brown print lawn cotton shirt. I love wearing sneakers with linen pants so I’m throwing into this mix a pair of dark chocolate leather Converse. I think all I’m missing are a Panama hat and a mint julep.
All right, readers. Who’s got another challenge for me?
The only thing more traumatic (and dramatic) than a bad nosebleed is what it takes to stop one. So I wrote a few entries ago that all the sneezing has prompted nosebleeds, but what I didn’t say was that they would last for a couple of hours and my bathroom sink would sometimes look like a CSI scene. They’re not as serious as they are annoying; plus they’d turn up at the least opportune times, as if there’s ever a right time for them. But right on cue, I had a nosebleed during my visit with my primary physician yesterday and we got an appointment with an ENT specialist today.
So at 11 this morning, I snapped these photos while waiting for him. His office was like any vanilla modern facility but I spied the medieval hardware on the table near me and knew nothing good would come of it. He was a soft-spoken grandfatherly man who didn’t ask too many questions and explained even less. He casually mentioned he was going to give me a numbing agent for the cauterization then left to get something. I quickly searched “nasal cauterization” on my phone’s wikipedia app and read this: If a person has been having frequent nose bleeds, it is most likely caused by an exposed blood vessel in their nose. Even if the nose is not bleeding at the time, it is cauterized to prevent future bleeding. The different methods of cauterization include burning the affected area with acid, hot metal, lasers, or silver nitrate. Such a procedure is naturally quite painful. Sometimes liquid nitrogen is used as a less painful alternative, though it is less effective. In the few countries that permit the use of cocaine for medicinal purposes, it is occasionally used topically to make this procedure less uncomfortable, cocaine being the only local anesthetic which also produces vasoconstriction, making it ideal for controlling nosebleeds. Eh? did that really say burning? And cocaine? Hmmm.
So when the doctor came back, I cross-examined the poor man. At least if something went wrong I’d have evidence of his weapons on my phone! Let’s just say by then end of my 30 questions he was neither soft-spoken nor grandfatherly anymore. And he shut me up by spraying my nostril to open up the vessels. My trigger-happy hand shot up to wipe the spray from my face and smacked his hand. He calmly reminded me to not do that when the actual cauterization took place. Then he numbed me and left me…to stew in my own hypochondriac meltdown. How do you really know if you’ve been numbed enough? And since I’m so congested from my cold anyway, how can i smell if if I end up catching on fire? Etc, etc. It’s hard to be in my head.
The whole procedure took under 60 seconds. And all that interrogation was useless; whatever information he gave me flew out the window when I saw the cauters coming at me. Knowledge does not trump fear! I might have momentarily passed out, too, I’m not sure.
He says this should stop the nosebleeds for now and I should take it easy (was it the crazed look in my eyes that prompted that comment, I wonder). I’m happy to hear that, but it hurts. Still hurts now a couple of hours later. And they didn’t give me a lollipop on my way out either. Maybe I need to get a new pair of shoes 
.
Tags: cauterization, nosebleed
I am counting days for Spring to turn into Summer so I can finally put the allergies behind me. This has been a really rough first half of the year and I can’t wait to be 110% so I can hit the road again. Right now I’m operating at 89% on good days. Very frustrating.
Today I’m spinning this series around to show how I could carry my latest gadget, a netbook, inside the Chanel classic jumbo flap. My MacBook Air is already pretty small but its battery life is barely enough for me to finish a complete paragraph, so when a great sale struck last week I couldn’t resist getting an even smaller computer that’s more portable and has a longer lasting battery. For 1/10th of the cost of my mac, I have a “mini” PC that fits in my bag! Hello luvah!
Tags: Chanel, MacBook Air, netbook
In Texas we used to have tornado drills at school. The alarm would go off and we’d all have to get into position under designated structures with our hands over our heads. Luckily I’ve never experienced one in real life, and I traded tornadoes for earthquakes when I moved to California. The fascination for natural disasters, however, remains.
There is an interesting exhibit at the sparkling new shopping center (Crystals at CityCenter) in Las Vegas that captures tornadoes under glass, in their various states of formation. Not all of the high-end boutiques have opened yet, but even when they do, I think watching a tornado in a jar is so much safer than wandering into Fendi or Vuitton…
Tags: Aria, Crystals at CityCenter, Las Vegas, Prada, tornado
