A Purchase

It was legal, it was well priced, and it was fun as hell!

Legal: It followed my rules

Well-priced: Found these at DSW

Fun: Shoe shopping with friends? Hello? Does not get much better!

As you may recall, in this year of no shopping, I declared some "exceptions". Shoes for Erika's wedding, earrings, running shoes, and a dress for Erika's Bachelorette Party. (We will be discussing that event tomorrow!)

Erika, Gretchen and I met for lunch first at the mall. A wonderful beef tenderloin salad (I put half in the to go container immediately, of course!) It was fun talking about the wedding plans over lunch. I have barely seen Erika all week, so it was good to just catch up.

When we were nourished and well hydrated, we headed to DSW...the MotherShip of shoe shopping! I like any place that I don't have to say "Do you have this in a size 10?" Then the look of "Ooooh, I doubt it". At DSW you can walk up and down the aisles, taking in the new shoe smell, and gather your finds for the try-on. This is the first pair I tried on, and it was love. Gretchen and I always assumed we would end up wearing different shoes; I am such a fan of stilettos, and Gretchen? Not so much! However, she is going to rock this same pair! They look great on her.

I, of course, did try on several other pairs of shoes just for the fun (read torture) of it. I tried on other potentials for the wedding of course, but then there were the other shoes "I just have to try on". Sad to say, in the past, those shoes would have come home with me because "I have to have these". The saddest to leave behind were a pair of wine/burgundy patent leather stilettos from Nine West. Like butta baby! Hot! Loved them, did not need them, could not break the rules for them! Sigh...

After the shoes, we headed to Herberger's ( a department store) and looked at more shoes. We headed over to the dresses and shopped. Well, I simply salivated, the other two shopped and tried on. It really was a blast!

What does one wear for such an afternoon of fun? Cute shoes, of course!

These shoes were my anniversary gift from Ben. They are Betsey Johson and we got them on May 15th. You remember, I wore the black dress with the pretty colors on it? Ben and I love to go to dinner, then sashay (he does it too) through stores and see what we can find. Well, now we just sashay! However, when I tried these on, Ben loved them so much he got them for me. They are fun, sassy, sexy, and I love them. Each shoe is inscribd inside by Ben...this time the secret is between me, Ben, and Betsey.

The shorts are J.Crew and I got them last spring, before we even knew what the summer would bring. They were already on sale! It seems J.Crew was rushing the seasons, marking items down due to the economy. I tried my best to single-handedly improve the economy! They are probably the shortest shorts I wear. No way would I have worn something this short last summer. Bicycling and running this summer has built up my muscles and helped my thighs dramatically. That is why my bike gets to star in today's pictures! If you look closely enough at the pics today, you can see the imprint on my leg from my cycling shorts. Attractive, huh?

The halter top I have had for 3 years and is from Michael Stars. It was the third (or fourth?) top I put on this morning. You all have me second guessing everything I put on! I ended up with this because Ben said it looked good, and really I was just running out of time!

Here is the sad part though...there is about a quarter inch rip along a seam that goes right along the bust. This top may have seen it's last outing as a result. It needs to be decided if I fix it or if it gets voted out of the closet.

Ben and I went to a great Mexican dinner tonight, and I felt terrific wearing this outfit to dinner as well. I did well with food choices, too, but that conversation is meant for elsewhere :)

Have a great night all! Thanks for checking in!

xo

Kel