Redemption in a pair of jeans

Last Saturday, my bestie, Marielle, invited me out for a day at the mall. Since we hadn't seen each other in far too long, I said yes, of course. Marielle wanted to go shopping to treat herself to some early birthday gifts. (She turned 24 on the 6th.) I, however, was going to simply window shop and abstain from opening up my wallet.

Well, that plan didn't last long. I'm sure you are not surprised. We first hit up Macy's where, even though I had my eyes on some black peep toe flats with gold studs and a pair of tan cutout flats, I resisted the urge to buy. But it was downhill from there. We ended up shopping (and talking) for probably four hours that day. We both went home with tired legs from lapping the mall (we literally shopped till we dropped) and with our hands full of bags (and maybe a bit of buyer's remorse?). But I ended up not feeling too bad about my shopping spree since I really did get some great deals. I figured, if I'm going to spend, I better spend wisely. Here's a rundown:

At Forever 21, I got a slouchy-sleeved, navy knit top adorned with little rhinestones (Marielle hates these "slouchy," or "sloppy" as she called them, shirts, but it's an accepted fact between us that we have very different tastes in clothes... which is funny because we have been best friends for 16 years!) and a slew of accessories: a pack of metallic headbands, a silver braided headwrap, purple and magenta petal bobby pins, a gold and black owl necklace and a silver leaf cuff. I also bought a black and teal dress but it didn't fit quite right so it's going back. Minus the dress, it all totaled for about $45.

Next we went to LoveCulture, which I had previously never been to but soon discovered it is kind of like Forever 21: cute clothes at great prices. I got a mustard yellow boyfriend cardigan, a dark blue V-neck tunic tee, another three-quarter, slouchy-sleeved sweater (this one is gray with black feathers printed on the front) and a big rhinestone flower cocktail ring. This came to about $50.

We then stopped into ANGL. I asked Marielle how she pronounces the store's name. I say "Angel," she say "Angle." What do you say? Guess we should have asked the girl at the counter... Anyway, there I picked up a floaty, brown tunic tank with a purple, lacy design on the back and a form-fitting, tank top-style dress (receipt says "racerback bandage dress") that is teal on the top and a gray-ish brown on the bottom. I wasn't completely sure about the dress, but at the same time I kind of loved it and thought it would look good with a blazer. (Which I don't have, so that's next on the shopping list. Ha!) Marielle liked it but thought it was missing something and I suggested that maybe what it needed is a belt.

By this time, I knew I needed to curb the spending (I spent $50 at ANGL) so when we went into Urban Outfitters I told myself my only mission was to look for a belt and nothing else. Well, I found a pretty amazing belt ($30-- pricey, but totally rad don't you think?) rather quickly. Mission accomplished. I then began to ooh and aah over everything else in the store. Marielle came to the rescue and convinced me to put back a shirt I had picked up. I had said, "Do you think this will look good on me, or will the print make me look fat?" She said, "If I tell you it will make you look fat, will you put it back?" Mmm, yeah. What's a friend for, right?

All told, I spent $200 that day. A bit of a splurge, for sure, but it was a wonderful day spent with a even more wonderful friend. So in my mind, it was worth it.

The next day, the shopping continued. Sunday evening, I needed to go to the mall to finish buying Marielle's birthday gift (which I can't print here since I haven't given it to her yet! Just in case she sees...) and I convinced the boy to go with me. On Saturday, I had tried on some jeans at Charlotte Russe because Marielle said she got her jeans there and they were on sale at a really good price. Alas, I had no luck in the fitting room. So when the boy and I walked by American Eagle on Sunday night, I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a try. Some of you may remember that I have needed new jeans for a while since my favorite pair got holes in the crotch and that I was angry at AE for changing the way they cut their jeans and thus, ruining my life. Ok, dramatic, yes, but kind of true too because I hate shopping for jeans.

Anyway, I picked up a pair in pretty much every style they have, which is a lot, and went to the dressing room. One of the girls working at the time was helping me and I told her how last year I had no luck with their jeans. She replied quite surprisingly, telling me that last year's jeans sucked, that no one liked them, that AE had put out this new cut that was supposed to be fabulous and it wasn't. She also told me that AE had subsequently fixed its jeans.

There was hope.

I tried on the first pair-- which were skinnys, no less-- and to my surprise, they fit! It was like a miracle! AE had redeemed itself! I tried on probably 15 pairs of jeans and most of them fit. I was so happy-- that is, until I had decide which ones to get! I ended up getting three pairs of jeans (two Artist, one slim boot) and two pairs of skinnys. My luck continued at the cash register. When my card got declined, they said it had probably been canceled for having a zero balance for more than 3 months (which it did because AE had previously turned its back on me!). So I opened a new account and got a 15% discount. Woo hoo! Five pairs of jeans for $170. Again, woo hoo!

My dad took this photo of me in the council chambers at City Hall on Saturday. Just a tad bit embarrassing. It was the city's 40th birthday.

For the past week I have been a very happy girl, wearing my new clothes and slipping on jeans that fit, even if they are a size higher than I wish I was. Gotta dress the body you have, though, right? Also good: if they have holes, they are in places where the holes are supposed to be! Oh, and my cute, slouchy Steve Madden boots have seen the light of day more times last week than they have in the past year thanks to my new skinnys.

It's official. There's no better way to welcome fall than with a closet full of new clothes.