Wednesday, May 26, 2010

window shopping - Francesca's Collections

I have a new favorite clothing store. I've been browsing Francesca's Collections all fucking day. I honestly would purchase almost every single item online, but since that's not realistic, I thought I'd make a little wish list... ya know... in case my husband ever decides to read this blog and wants to miraculously buy me shit.

WARNING: this blog post is going to contain an obscene amount of pictures and links. deal with it. :)




Strip Mall Shopper Top - $28.00


Paint The Town Pearl Top - $34.00


Everlasting Bird Top - $34.00


Passionate Print Racerback Top - $24.00


Banded Rose Tunic - $28.00

Inspire Me Top - $28.00


Blowing Kisses Top - $28.00


Bright Lights Dress - $38.00


Plymouth Dress - $38.00


Captain My Captain Dress - $38.00 (my favorite!)

My Sun Shine Dress - $38.00


Girls Night Out Dress - $38.00


Cocoa Puff Tote - unavailable at the moment. damn.


Extravagant Petals Tote - $54.00


Hedwig Necklace - $24.00

Rebel Without A Cause Bracelet - $24.00


Flower Market Ring - $18.00


so there you have it. my new fave shop spot, and just a few of my top picks. what I'm trying to say is... if you'd like to buy me a gift (hint hint HUSBAND), something from this wish list would do quite nicely.

Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday - V. XIII

I'm ridiculously busy at work today, so I thought I'd have a Wordless Wedding Wednesday today, minus the intro, obvi. try saying that 3 times fast! if you'd like to see past installments of WW, click here.

and as usual, all photos are credited to the lovely and talented Jen, from JLowe Photos. if you'd like to see more of her work, feel free to visit her blog here.



Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

shopping central... all aboard!





I mentioned in my previous post that Sean bought himself a new laptop, and we also purchased a new vehicle... which will mostly be his permanent car, since we traded in his Accord for the Tundra.

I decided that since he gets to buy so many new fancy pants items (and within like 2 weeks of each other!), it's time for the Misses to take a little shopping trip.

so Saturday morning, I met with Mark, my hairstylist and got my hair done. I got it dyed and cut, and added some funky bangs to the mix, for a little change. usually when my hair gets to that annoying "I'm-growing-it-out-but-I-really-want-to-chop-it-off" stage, I need to make some other drastic change besides chopping it short again... so this time, it was bangs. I must say, I love it. I've had bangs before, but not in a while, so it's a nice change for me. the color (dark dark brown with red highlights) is a standard for me, and it's what I get every time I get the chance to get my hair done.

my lover face, Renee, met me at the mall after my appointment, and after a quick fueling of Red Robin, we got to work. our first stop was NY&Co... a definite favorite of mine - their clothes fit me well, and the prices are decent compared to the other stores I drool over. I was on the hunt for a couple summer-ish dresses to wear to weddings and/or cookouts and other summer events.

all images courtesy of New York & Company

I bought this dress in black. I love the fit, and the length is perfect to pair it with flip flops. I especially love the empire waist and the fluff at the hem.

Halter Maxi Dress - $56.95

I picked up this dress as well. I think it's a little too white for a wedding (I'm weird about that... I think only the bride should wear white, ya know?), but it would totes work for a cookout or a concert... since we have plenty of those coming up! I love the rouching in the bust area, and again, the empire waist. us bigger girls need that! ;)

Goddess Knit Maxi Dress - $52.95


I also picked up these two tops, which look phenomenal off the hanger... almost as great as they do ON the hanger. ;) it's all about detail with these two!

Lace Trim Tunic - $39.95

Braided Trim Tank - $24.26 (on sale!)


from there, we made our way to Tilly's (which is my complete weakness). if you remember this post, you'll remember that I mentioned that I wear mostly jeans and tees, with flip flops or flats, depending on the weather. I've been trying to dress a little more sophisticated, and so it's hard for me to walk into this store and find anything "grown up"... but that doesn't stop me from wanting to pick up every single shirt I see! I ended up with these goodies (as well as two tee shirts for Sean... stupid spoiled husband)


all images courtesy of Tilly's


Lace Bib Women's Tank by FULL TILT - $19.99


Biased Strip Dress by FULL TILT - $19.99

Border Print Women's Top - by FULL TILT - $19.99


after we left Tilly's I stopped into Charlotte Russe and picked up a pair of grey leggings to wear with that cute diagonal stripe dress... plus it doesn't hurt to have a pair for other outfits!

from there we wandered into Crate & Barrel, Guess, and a few other stores... before stumbling upon a GOLD MINE.

Francesca's Collections. I'd never heard of it, but from the window, I saw chic and fun outfits put together, as well as some fabulous accessories. we made a bee line for the store entrance, and it was all over from there. I was in heaven in this store - their clothing is the perfect mix of dressy, yet not too girly, and the prices were even better. I don't like to claim that I really have a style, as I wear what I think looks good on me, but if I had to pick a store that was totally MandeeFoFandee, this one would be it.

okay, unfortunately I cannot find the two dresses I bought, but I did come across two pieces of the gorgeous jewelry I bought. I bought another necklace and two more pairs of earrings, but they're not on the website. I'll try to take a picture of the earrings, as well as the two dresses to post tonight!

all in all, I'd say it was a good day. my hair was nice and healthy feeling (and colored!), and I had a rack of new clothes to put away. and now that I'm looking at Francesca's Collections website, I'm not sure if my shopping spree is quite over just yet... stay tuned!

Happy Shopping!

_______________________________________________

EDIT: I totally forgot to add this blouse I picked up at Lucky Brand Jeans. it is SO flattering on, and I love the print and the colors.

Scarlett Top - $59.50

new wheels!

I think it's safe to say that we've been on a bit of a shopping spree lately. due to Sean switching jobs, and therefore earning a generous raise, and me receiving a raise at my place of employment, AND being super savers (well... it's mostly me that saves)... we've been able to pay off our bills and debt and put some away to spend on ourselves.

when we first got married, and decided that we were going to be buying our home, we bought ALL new furniture for the bedroom and living room totaling a ridiculous sum of nearly $8,000.00... and now, just a short 9 months later, we have the entire amount paid off. we've also taken care of two credit card balances, as well as paid off both of our vehicles.

to reward ourselves for our hard work, we decided to do a little splurging. first, we decided to invest in another laptop. I have a Toshiba that Sean bought me for a Christmas two years ago, but he didn't have one of his own. so a few weeks ago, he decided to buy himself a brand new Dell. and let me say - I am JEALOUS. it's so nice!

but anyway, that's not the point of this post. since we've been having the baby talk, and since we have both of our vehicles paid off completely (mine = 2005 Ford Escape, his = 2005 Honda Accord), we decided it was time to trade in his 2 door coupe for something a little bigger to accommodate some kiddos in our future. and since we've purchased a house, we have made numerous trips to home depot and places like Sears to purchase lawn equipment and other large items that just don't FIT in my little SUV. we figured it was time for us to get a truck... specifically a Toyota Tundra (this is the one that the Mister decided on). and what better time than now to buy a truck? and not just any truck, but a TOYOTA truck?

so, to make a long story short, we made the trip to Koons Toyota in Annapolis on Friday evening, and came home with a 2010 Toyota Tundra CrewMax. we got a good amount for trading in Sean's car, and we talked them down quite a bit... and we were sure to enforce on them that we don't NEED a new vehicle right now, and so we would absolutely NOT pay any more than we wanted to for this truck. we (mostly me) qualified for the 0% financing for 60 months deal they had going for Tundras, we got a 6 year/100k mile warranty, free oil changes for LIFE, and GAP insurance. I wasn't too keen on the idea of having a car payment again (and one that is much higher than our old ones), but I'm really happy we made this decision. the truck is gorgeous, and in the end, I think it'll turn out to be a good investment, as well as a much better choice for our future.

I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of the actual truck that we drove home, but here are some pictures from the Toyota website.



to see the full video tour provided by Toyota, click here.

the exterior of the truck is identical to this one, and the interior is pretty close - the only difference is that we opted for cloth seats instead of leather. check out how HUGE that back seat is. one of my favorite features is all the hidden storage, and the 10 air bags between the front and backseats. oh, and those backseats... they move forward so that they can be leaned back. no more sitting straight up in the backseat!

like I mentioned before... I really wasn't a big fan of the whole truck idea, but now that I've driven it, I'm in love. I know it seems like it came out of nowhere, but it's been a discussion in our house for a couple months now, and we know we can afford it so that we can enjoy it without cringing every time we get the bill. haha! it's a powerful vehicle, but rides as smooth as a sports car. now let's just hope we don't have any issues with recalls, mmmmkay?

Happy Tuesday! ;)