Spoils of War

Blouse, skirt, and jacket: LOFT
Shoes: Target
Necklace: c/o Brian Moody

Friday was pay day, and also the wonderful day on which Cary and I give ourselves our monthly allowance - the money we can spend without consulting the other person. Since I just made The List last week, I decided it was time for a little shopping. I mean, it's always time for shopping, but it's more fun when I actually have money to spend.

I went to Target on Friday night and found these lovely yellow shoes, which meet my List criteria of being slightly wedged and not red. Easy peasy. Target on Friday night is pretty empty, so I was in and out in about 15 minutes. But then my sister Suzanne and I went to the mall on Saturday. Unbeknownst to us, a new, HUGE Forever 21 was having its grand opening. I had never shopped in Forever 21 before, so we gave it a shot.

Well. There were approximately 87 billion people in that store. The line for the dressing room was about 25 people long, no exaggeration. The women working there were understandably a little frazzled, and were being kind of jerky about everything. Stuff like how many items you could take back (a normal thing to limit), how you could swap out the items you had already tried with the items you hadn't (you needed an escort to and from your fitting room), where you could stand while you were in line (not past the entrance to the dressing room, as I was informed when I got within a foot of it), whether you could share a dressing room (no), and on and on. I know a lot of people love F21, but I don't know. The clothes felt like they would fall apart after five washes and the whole experience was crappy. Maybe I would feel differently if I went back on another day, but I was pretty underwhelmed.

Soooo, Suz and I ditched F21 and headed to LOFT, which by now you all know is my favorite store ever. They were having a 30% off sale, so I snagged this blouse, which also meets a criterion of The List: patterned top. I have a feeling I'll be able to remix this a lot. I wore it with skinny jeans and a blazer to church yesterday, and I have one other outfit planned for it right now. I think I can come up with more if I think a bit.

So while Forever 21 was disappointing, my weekend was an overall shopping success. The List was a good idea. I'm being more intentional with what I buy, which is good for my bank account AND my closet. And both of these items made me feel good, which is the ultimate criterion for anything I buy.