eveglass | Entries tagged with shopping

Today I went shopping. Clothes shopping. For the third time in as many months, an unprecedented frequency for me. I went to Sears, because they were having an uber-mega-giganto sale. I wound up getting 13 items -- including two pairs of jeans -- for about $215 after taxes. The jeans were $20 each. Go, me.

I love all 11 tops I bought. They're lovely and work-appropriate, can be dressed up or down, and fit me really well. Alas, I still haven't braved warm-colour clothes (they're all blue, purple, or brown), but at least I've broken out of buying only black.

Now I've got to put them all on hangers and purge my closet of stuff I'm replacing or just plain don't wear.

No more clothes shopping for me for a while, I think. (Except for a pair of leggings because I don't have any and would like some.)

Edited to add: And, in the grand tradition of "what goes in, must come out"... As thirteen new items comes into my closet, thirteen will be leaving: mostly shirts I haven't worn in a long time (if ever), stuff that doesn't fit me well anymore, or stuff that's damaged after long years of wear and just doesn't look good anymore. Goodbye, oh my clothes. You will be missed, but your replacements shall serve me well.

Today I went shopping for shoes. Understand that I hate shopping for shoes because so few shoes actually fit me without hurting me feet. But given that my sneakers finally died of old age on Friday, I had little choice in the matter.

The good news is that I got new sneakers. Thank goodness the type that I wear (Nike Air) aren't discontinued yet. Yes, I know, Nike is evil and uses sweat shops and whatnot, but I swear, these are the only shoes that both fit me and look presentable enough that I can wear them to work. So... yay for new sneakers!

On the other hand, I tried on many, many pairs of sandals (since I don't currently own any) without success. I simply couldn't find a pair that fit both my feet and my criteria (no heel; nothing between the big toe and second toe; back-strap; supportive). But I tried, truly I did.

Anyway. Now it's time for lunch and then maybe a Village des Valeurs run. But first, lunch.

I suddenly see how easy it is to get caught in a spending spiral.

Until now, I've been wearing t-shirts, a sweater, and jeans to work. This is allowed by our dress code, so there was no problem. Along with these clothes, I wore sneakers (also allowed by the dress code) and my backpack (because I don't have any other bag big enough to carry two day's worth of stuff). This was fine. It fit. It meshed.

Now that I've got all these nice, new tops, I'm looking warily at my backpack and sneakers. They just don't fit anymore. It feels really weird to be wearing nice tops and a student's backpack. My sneakers are looking ratty compared to my new shirts. I want to update my shoes and bag so that they match.

And thus the cycle of spending begins. Though all I want at the moment are new shoes and a new bag, I wonder what "one more thing" will come up once I have those. A new haircut? Certainly, I'm already planning on that. Jewellery? Belts? Pants? I don't know. But I can see how easy it would be to get caught up in the spiral.

I'm going to have to watch this very carefully, precious. Yes, indeed. I've never been particularly materialistic before, and I'll be damned if I start now. I just need one more thing...

Since no one took me up on my offer to play "Julie dress-up", I invited my mom along instead. We were shopping for tops that I could wear to work. I was hoping for at least 4-5, on a budget of $200-250.

In the end, I spent about $225, and wound up with 12 tops:
- 4 nice t-shirts (black, white, red, and brown)
- 2 casual jackets (one demin, one beige with grey stripes)
- 1 light blue button-down
- 3 dressier tops (2 black, 1 brown)
- 2 long shirt / dresses (one black, one royal blue)

Yay for stuff to wear to work!

Next weekend: haircut and shoe-shopping.

... Excuse me now as I collapse from exhaustion.

Come play "Julie dress-up" with me!

Here's the situation: I have a new job. I have some small amount of money. I need new clothes. My idea of fashion sense is, "jeans and a t-shirt."

This is where you come in.

If you like clothes shopping and want to help a girl in need of some style, I need you!

When: Any Saturday to Tuesday, preferably this week or next
What: I'm looking to get as many of the following as possible:
- 3-4 tops to wear in a casual office environment (ie: a step or two up from t-shirts)
- FLAT shoes for the office, which can be worn with jeans or black pants
- sandals (must be supportive: I walk A LOT)
- (I'm open to improvisation if you think there should be things on this list that aren't)

How much: I'm looking at a budget of $200-250.

If this sounds fun to you, call / email / comment and let me know when you're free and where you want to go shopping.

(Please note: this post brought to you by the power of distracting myself from the two vaccinations I got this morning. Stupid needles.)

I don't shop very much. Frankly, I don't like shopping. But everyone has a few products, restaurants, or service providers they're absolutely in love with, the sort of things you go out of your way to tell people about. I'm going to tell you about mine, and then I want to hear about yours.

1. Larabar -- my latest fruit-and-nut bar addiction. Their ingredient list is simple (some bars have as little as 2 ingredients!), and they taste fantastic. My favourites to date: "apple pie" and "cherry pie." In Montreal, they're available at Loblaws.

2. Camellia Sinensis -- my favourite tea salon in Montreal, located right near Berri Uqam metro (351 Emery). The back room is a great place to take off your shoes and pass a few hours in quiet conversation. Oh, and if you go, be sure to check out their cheesecake (called "quintessence") or their scones.

3. Juliette & Chocolat -- rapidly becoming one of my favourite places in Montreal, it's also located right near Berri Uqam (1615 St. Denis). Yes, the lines can be long (but move fast) and the service is slow, but it's worth it. The hot chocolate is to die for. My favourite dessert: chocolate medley (a brownie with a scoop of ice cream and a tiny pitcher of hot chocolate to pour over it). Also decadent: the chocolate fondue.

4. The Gaian Tarot -- though I don't own it yet, I will definitely be buying the majors-only oracle deck once I've got some money saved up. I love the artwork. Gorgeous. Check out the "journal" to see recently-finished cards that aren't up on the main site yet.

5. L'aromate d'Asie -- I discovered this tiny, family-run Vietnamese restaurant (1219 Mackay, below Ste. Catherine) through Marc. Since then, it's become one of our favourite "tasty but reasonably priced dinner out" places. Very friendly service, wonderful food, and right near Guy or Lucien-l'Allier metro.

Okay, what about you? Restaurants, products, services... the sky's the limit. The only requirement: you've got to absolutely, passionately love the product (or service). Post as many or as few as you like!

After debating long and hard with myself, I decided to buy a USB key to keep my computer backups, because I found that backing up to CD took up too much time, too much space, and too many of my computer's resources while it was happening. In fact, I hadn't backed up my computer since last July (I know, I know... bad technie, no cookie).

So today I bought a Kingston 2 Gig USB DataTraveller USB key. The guy at Concordia's computer store assured me it was a good brand. I've used USB keys before, and I remember them being quite fast, at least in terms of downloads onto my computer.

So why is it that it's taking nearly 2 hours to upload 2 gigs worth of data onto this USB key?

That's about 20 k a second, when my computer (and the packaging) assures me it should be able to do up to 480 meg a second in my high-speed USB drive.

On the one hand, I'm only going to be using this once a month, and I can still do other stuff on my computer while it's uploading. On the other hand, it's somewhat vexing that my brand-new toy isn't living up to expectations.

Edited to add: Hm... it seems the download rates are as speedy as I remember from my friend's USB key; it's just the upload speeds that are hellishly slow.

Whew! I keep forgetting how tiring it is to try on clothes!

In the end, though, we took advantage of the end-of-season sale, and got a bunch of stuff at about an average of less than $15 a piece:
- two pairs of jeans (one blue, one black)
- one button-down black shirt
- one fuzzy black sweater
- two oriental-ish shirts (one black with cap sleeves, one a gorgeous red with long sleeves)
- one "pseudo-layered" navy t-shirt with a white t-shirt "underneath" (that's really just some strips sewn in)
- one "pseudo-layered" black pullover shirt with a patterned blouse "underneath"

All told, I am very happy. And very tired. Do I have the energy to actually do homework today? Only time will tell!

Two major events of import yesterday:

First, lunch at Massey. Yes, I dragged Marc out to my old UofT stomping grounds to have lunch with some of my friends. Most of them have since moved out of Massey and don't spend much time there anymore, but I was able to marshall them together for lunch. And a mightily fine lunch it was, too: lots of laughter and catching up, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I also gave Marc the 25-cent tour, and he rubbed the wart on the statue of Robertson Davies, so all is well.

Afterwards, we went to the One of a Kind Show -- a huge exhibition of artisans. I think we were there for over six hours. We had to be: there were a thousand exhibitioners. In the end, my aunts bought tons of stuff (much of it quite lovely, too). Marc and I didn't buy much -- mostly presents for our friends. HOWEVER, I did find an absolutely awesome shirt: red, tight, and sexy in an elegant way. I had to have it. Unfortunately, it was slightly outside the budget I'd set for myself. Fortunately, my aunts see "budget" as more a guideline than a strict rule, so my Aunt Ricki bought it for me. Thank you, Aunt Ricki! For posterity, there's a picture of me wearing it behind the cut. (It's not the best picture, but it's a very nice shirt. *grin*)

( Click to see me in a sexy red shirt )

It took us about an hour to get back to my Aunt's place because of a huge amount of traffic (we're theorizing there was a hockey game letting out). When we did, we broke out some soup, cheese, baguette, wine, and fruit, and just generally conversed for several hours. I wound up going to bed around 12:45, and Marc joined me at some point after that. And now, once more, it is morning. Time to start moving.

My day, in alliteration:

( Tea-tactular! A taste-test of twenty types! )
( Market meanderings: a maze of merchants )
( Fringe Folly! Fooled by Free-Floating Fanasties! )
( Slow-down: sweet snacks and swirling smoke )

It's now 10:15 and I've got loads of writing to do today: letter to Marc, Daily Breadcrumbs, etc. So, time to get cracking! Enough playing around on LJ!

Yesterday I found myself, for the first time in years, at the Jean Talon Market. I took an hour to explore, peruse, and just generally poke around. One of my first thoughts was, "I wish I lived close enough that I could walk here every day."

But then I reconsidered, and changed my wish to, "I wish I lived close enough that I could walk here every day and had people who would come shopping with me."

Because one thing I've discovered is that doing farmers' market shopping for one person is an exercise in frustration.

( Click here, where I further expand on the theme )

Speaking of food, it's time for breakfast.

For my birthday, my dad and stepmom very thoughtfully got me a (pretty substantial) gift certificate to Camellia Sinensis, the tea shop and louge on Emery near St. Denis. Today, I roped Yan into an expedition to spend it. *grin*

So, here's what I got. (Pictures may or may not be forthcoming.)

- three small, white teacups
- one larger, heavier blue teacup. I was wavering on it and kept coming back to it, and finally Yan just said, "you're taking it!"
- a liquid termometer, to better measure the infusion temperature of my new teas
- 25g of Doi Tung Jin Xuan, a cooked Wulong tea from Thailand
- 50g of Seekyok Darjeelling DJ-250, a green Darjeeling from India
- 50g of Margaret's Hope, a Darjeeling from India
- 50g of Ginseng Chai
- 50g of a Blueberry-Violet aromatic tea (thé aromatisé)
- 50g of a Vanilla aromatic tea (the guy opened the tin and my reaction was, "Yes, oh gods yes!")
- 50g of a Cherry-Rose aromatic tea (similar reaction to the vanilla)

Reactions to the actual tasting will come as the teas are consumed. From the way the guy explained it, 50g should provide me with a whole lot of tasting opportunities, as it's 1 tsp per 250 ml, usually.

Mmmmm... tea.

Today I went shopping. For clothes. Understand that this is not a routine occurrence for me. Aside from a few Village des Valeurs runs, I haven't been clothes shopping since last April (with my aunts), and before that, I think the last time was Sept. 2005, before I left for Toronto. Usually this means that by the time I finally go clothes shopping, I really do desperately need new clothes, as the old ones are getting kind of ratty.

I'm pleased at what I got: three pairs of work-appropriate pants (two plain black, one black with pinstripes), one pair of jeans, one sleeveless red t-shirt, and one nice top that can either be worn over the t-shirt or by itself. A good set of spoils, all things considered.

One thing that took me completely aback, though, was the size of all these myriad clothes (and especially the pants):

Size 5.

When the heck did I become a size 5?

A year and a half ago, I was size 12. Last year, I was size 8. At some point in the intervening year, I became a size 5. I'm pleased and bewildered all at the same time, because I haven't actually been doing much to actively lose weight. But pleased nonetheless. Yay!

Good evening tonight.

Ian very kindly treated me to dinner, after which we decided to head over to Village des Valleurs to hunt for some pet-able clothes in anticipation of Warren's party. We had a great time. Final spoils (for me):

- a pair of black silk pants (Ian and I argued for at least a half-hour over who gets to keep them -- I won)
- a black swede skirt (nicely elegant, good for going out)
- a brown, hippy-ish skirt (fun for going out more casually, very much my style)
- a chocolate silk shirt (matches the pants and the black skirt)
- a fun, multicoloured silk shirt (it garnered me many compliments later in the eveninng)
- a brown woven belt (to go with the multicoloured shirt)

Ian came away with a purple velvet shirt that looks surprisingly good on him and a pair of black leather pants. Yay for new clothes!

Some time later, decked out in my new multicoloured shirt, I headed out to Maz. Lots of people there, very good energy. I sang "Soul Man" (a la Blues Brothers). It's a surprisingly fun song to sing. And, despite my forgetting about the bridge until two lines into it, I think I nailed it. I think I'll do some more Blues Brothers next week.

So that's it for tonight. Time for bed. G'night all.

Who knew that life gets so much easier once all the papers are handed in? Today has been, in almost all respects, a fabulous day.

( Read more about it here )

So that's today. Tomorrow I've got a number of errands to do, both at Chestnut and on campus. The party is at night, and I'm sure I'll find something to do with the rest of my time. There's always Game of Thrones. For now... g'night all!

First, an apology to the Ems. I had intended to come, truly. I even brought my new clothes home so that you guys would be the first to see them. But I realized that I absolutely needed tonight to do research if I want to get my papers done on time. I was there in spirit, and I hope Em the Younger got my phone message before she headed off to the concert. Hugs to both of you!

( My day in a nutshell: 11th grade biology, shopping spoilz part 2, the highs and lows of end-of-semester emotions, and the wackiness of David Lynch. Warning: it's long because I'm tired. )

And here I am, at long last. If you feel tired after reading the post, imagine how I feel having gone through it all. Tomorrow I'll be roleplaying for most of the day. After that... who knows. I haven't thought that far ahead. For now, my bed (with freshly-changed sheets) is calling to me, and its lure is irresistable. G'night all.

Can you feel the consumerism? Yes, folks, today was the big day of shopping. The long, long day of shopping. I netted quite well for myself, and there will be special bonus pictures at the end of this post for people wanting to see the Kewl Stuff (tm) I bought.

But first, a brief but important announcement: I was accepted as a Massey resident fellow for next year, should I choose to accept. Yay!

Okay, onwards to shopping stuff:

( My day, by time and expenditure )

And now, I promised. Pics are ahead. More can be found by going to my flickr account. Clicking on any pic will take you to the main page for the shopping pictures.

( Pics behind here! )

And I'm going to bed now. Comments on the new look are appreciated. G'night all.

It was SO gorgeous out today! I had worn my winter coat, but took it off immediately upon exiting my building. I could have brought it back upstairs, but I was running a bit late, so I just carried it with me all day. But it was SO lovely! Torontonians who didn't go outside today to frolick... you don't know what you're missing.

I did some good work today: an hour of Latin (plus class), an hour of note-typing, an hour and a half of note-taking (have I mentioned how much I hate academic French?), and an hour and a half to get tomorrow's readings done. All told, I'm pleased. Also, I had dinner at Massey because it seemed more appetizing than Chestnut's meals today (it was, too), and I got complimented on my looks. Can you say "good day"?

( And a walk down Queen Street West )

I'm sure I had other things I wanted to talk about today, but I have forgotten them. Instead, I ask, "why is no one doing memes?!?" I've been stuck at 9 for weeks now, and I only post mega-memes when I reach 10. So go to it! Give me inspiration to post the next "useless memes about me" post!

Okay, I'm done. G'night all.

I learned the following, non-scholastic things this afternoon and evening:

( Some thoughts about me and the world I live in )

Anyway, that's it for me. Time to take a shower and try out my new vanilla-brown sugar body wash (it smells SO good!). G'night all!

Be warned: I'm tired so this post rambles. To the anonymous poster from yesterday: you might want to stop here and go look at Foamy now. Anyone still interested, read on!

( Shopping in the Kensington market )

( Murder most foul )

After being so mercilessly killed, I went to watch a friend of mine play varisty volleyball. Our team won handily. Go us! From there, I swung by the World's Biggest Bookstore. Thankfully for my wallet, I didn't find anything that called out to be mine.

( Procrastination only takes you so far )

It's now 10:30 on my computer's clock. My plan for the rest of the night is to ~~do a brief trip to Timmys, come back,~~ stay home and translate Latin words for a while. Then, sleep. Tomorrow is laundry and lots of schoolwork, and possibly dinner with my Toronto family (depending on the state of schoolwork).

G'night all!

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Random Ramblings

A journal dedicated to nothing and everything

Entries tagged with shopping

So many clothes, so little money

Shoe shopping: partially successful

The spending spiral

Yay clothes!

Calling friends with fashion sense!

Pimp Your Passion

The potential problems with technology

One four-hour shopping trip later...

Toronto Day 2

Yesterday

Reflections on farmers' markets

Spending other people's money -- Tea!

When did that happen?

Pet-able clothes for the Soul Man

See, only 1 entry today!

Join me on the roller coaster

Shopping Spoilz

Spring is here, spring is here!

Some random observations

Cruelly murdered, otherwise a great day