pretty sure i'm getting too old for this

so you know how i love a good bargain...because after all, who doesn't?  one of my favorite clothing websites, morning lavender, announced their annual warehouse sale via instagram a couple of weeks ago.  they posted some sneak peeks of what was going to be available and after skipping it last year i debated whether or not to head down.  the threat of FOMO finally got to me the day before the sale, and so i decided to go for it.  i remembered seeing some pictures of last year's event, where there was a good-sized lineup of folks waiting to get inside, and so i knew i had to get there early.

with the doors scheduled to open at 8, i set my alarm early to make the drive down to tustin on saturday morning.  i managed to get out of the house just before 7, and even after a stop at starbucks i found myself pulling into the parking lot around 7:30 thanks to zero traffic on the freeway.  as predicted, there were already quite a lot of people there and since i was rolling solo i couldn't take the time to check out how long that line was before i got in it.

there were lots of ladies there in groups and in pairs, and i spent a lot of time catching up on social media as i stood there all by my lonesome.  at 8:00 on the dot the line started moving, and the first group of shoppers were happily allowed access to the goods.  there were signs posted on the building as we inched forward:

the brick-and-mortar shop also features a cafe where they do tea, coffee and afternoon tea.  and as most businesses in this age of millennials do, they have a mobile truck as well.  today, they were parked here serving up free cups of iced lavender milk tea or vietnamese coffee.  since i'd already had my coffee and had no idea if there were any restrooms available nearby, i didn't hit it up.  it was a nice touch, though.

as the line continued to grow behind me, we moved up about 15 feet or so every - oh, probably 20 minutes or so.  this made for a pretty long wait, and i prayed that the battery on my phone wouldn't die out on me before i got inside.  it was providing some necessary entertainment and distraction from the incessant chatter around me, and it occurred to me that maybe i shouldn't do things like this anymore.  or, at least, not without a buddy.  i knew i should've hit up my friend lilcee to come with me, but since it was sort of a last-minute decision i hadn't thought of asking her until it was too late.  and i was so glad i hadn't dragged the bean along, because that would have been miserable for the both of us.  she's actually a pretty good sport (especially if she has her ipad in hand), but without a payoff for her at the end there's no way i would've made her sit through that.

after a good 1.5 hours, i made it to the corner of the building.  progress!

it took probably another hour and a half before i got to the other corner.  by this time i was definitely regretting the whole thing and hoping that it would be worth it once i got inside.  if i ever did.

seeing the light at the end of the tunnel made the wait seem even longer.  there was a lot of anticipation and excitement around me as we crept closer and closer to that door.

the staffer at the door handed everyone a large plastic bag and welcomed us in as we came through the door.  the first thing i saw was this rack of pretty dresses that serve as morning lavender's signature look.  as i browsed through the rack i figured i'd probably never have a occasion to wear any of them, and although there were a couple that caught my eye - and only $30! - i walked away empty-handed.

i didn't have any better luck here, either.

each item had a color coded dot on the tag, and these were posted everywhere so you knew what you were going to pay for them.

back in one corner i came across a whole bunch of floaty chiffon skirts...the kind i'd seen so many women in europe wearing with their white leather adidas.  i found a good number of them in my size, and with a $10 price tag i scooped up three of them.  there were girls standing behind the racks frantically trying on the clothes they'd picked up, and so i found myself a spot and tried on one of the skirts to make sure they'd fit since everything was, of course, final sale.  i was pretty amused at those seasoned warehouse sale shoppers...they came dressed in easy-to-remove clothing and sports bras underneath.  fitting rooms aren't usually available at these things, so they were prepared.  very wise.

i found a few pieces that i thought the old lady might like, and made sure that they were things i'd wear myself in case she decided to pass on them.  i picked through a couple of piles like this:

and then after taking one more turn around the floor to make sure i hadn't missed anything, i got in line to check out.  this gave me time to sort through the things i'd picked up to make sure i really wanted them, and after pulling out a dress, a skirt and a couple of tops i ended up with just my three chiffon skirts along with a dress, a pair of pants and a top for the old lady.  although there was a kind of "last call" table just before the door to the cashier:

and here i managed to find myself a cute top and dress that were just $5 apiece.  yay!  and just in time too, because i'd finally gotten to the check-out counter.

four hours and $78 later,  i was finally outta there.

was it worth it?  well...i'm still not sure.  would i do it again?  if you'd asked me at that moment, the answer would've been a resounding HELL NO.  but now that i've had some time to recover from it all, i think i might be up for it again only if i have a shopping buddy with me to pass the time while we wait.

check back with me next year.  heh.

i've got a secret

so when my co-leader and i find ourselves wanting to work on a new sewing project but lack the proper fabric to get the job done, we hop in the car and make the drive out to our most favorite local source.  hidden away at the very end of this small building in alhambra (812 south date avenue, suite g to be exact) is the home office and warehouse of purple seamstress, one of the best sources anywhere for knit fabrics.

when you walk into the warehouse, you're greeted with stacks and stacks of giant bolts of fabric sorted by type, like versatile cotton lycra in every color of the rainbow:

need stripes?  mel's got that too.

she keeps a carefully curated selection of licensed fabrics with all sorts of familiar faces printed on them:

super soft brushed polyester, which has become crazy popular and in-demand since a certain leggings company burst onto the scene over the last year:

if you're so inclined and are willing to put in about an hour of work, those leggings that are $20+ a pair can be made with just one yard of fabric...which you can scoop up for under $8.  it's actually pretty fantastic.

she's got swim fabric year-round:

it's hard to focus on sweater knits when it's a zillion degrees out, but she's got those too:

and if you have time to browse, there are racks and racks of precut fabrics in various lengths.  they're mostly sorted by type - stripes, floral, polka dots, characters, holidays, chevron...you name it, it's here somewhere.

so if you're local to the l.a. area, purple seamstress is open seven days a week from 9:00-6:00.  mel and her super friendly staff are always so helpful and are great about offering suggestions for coordinating fabrics or what to use for a specific project.

i probably shouldn't even be sharing our best fabric secret, because now when we go see mel and flor they'll probably be busy with all of you...but that's okay.  i'm a giver.  

you're welcome.

whoohoo. big summer blowout!

a couple of weeks ago, lilcee tagged me in a facebook post that she'd shared about something that was right up our alley:

because, um, HELLO KITTY.  you're familiar with our love for all things sanrio by now, yes?

so we marked our calendars and then promptly forgot all about it until that saturday.  we'd already figured out that we'd go on the sunday anyway, but didn't coordinate things until the eleventh hour.  i hadn't even told her that i was bringing the bean with me, so when we met up at a halfway point we realized that she'd left mini cee at home for the morning.  the bean was super disappointed not to see her BFF, so we just hopped back in the car and went right back to lilcee's house to pick her up.  all was well.

until we arrived at the venue for the big blowout sale.  parking was suspiciously easy, and the absence of elated shoppers clutching bags of merchandise was a little worrisome.  and when we asked someone at the front lobby for directions, here's where we ended up:

as most popular warehouse sales are, this one had been immensely successful - the hotel clerk described a scene full of pure madness.  apparently, the doors had opened at 9am the day before to a line so long that it took 5 hours to gain entry to the sale floor.  FIVE. HOURS.  i'll let that sink in for a second.

anyway, the majority of items were sold out by noon, and i have no idea what the vouchers were that the sign referenced.  in any case, we were well and truly assed out.

i can't say i wasn't a tiny bit relieved, though, to be honest.  i mean, it's not like i really need any hello kitty gear.  and unlike their mother, neither the teen nor the bean have ever been particularly into it.  sometimes i wonder if these are really my kids.  no seafood?  no hello kitty?  WUT.

but plan B wasn't so bad.  at the nearby citadel outlet shopping center, we stumbled across this:

and inside the entire store was half off.  whee!  but you'll be so proud of me - despite the lure of beautiful bags and wallets and accessories by my very favorite designer at rock-bottom prices, i managed to keep a clear head.  i picked up a couple of small gifts and one little, teeny-tiny ring for myself and escaped relatively unscathed.  doesn't mean that the knowledge of a kate spade outlet so close to home isn't super dangerous for the future, though.  muahahahaha.

we headed back to our house for the girls to have a playdate, and stopped for lunch first.  it was comical to watch these two giggle and pose for selfies on lilcee's phone.

and also?  no worries on missing out on the sale.  because come october, there's HELLO KITTY CON.

i may or may not have my ticket already.  psh, who am i kidding?  i scooped mine up weeks ago.  who's coming with me?

super shopping

 

i love me some old navy.

in fact, my favorite time of the month (that sounds funny) is when i get to buy our monthly quota of scrip - which almost always comes in the form of ON gift cards.  in my defense, they're one of the few offerings on the extensive list that gives more than 4% back to the school.  and that's really the point of the whole scrip thing anyway, isn't it?

so although the bean is required to wear uniforms to school, she still gets to wear whatever the hell she wants in the afternoons and on weekends.  or, more accurately, whatever i pick out and hand her.  unlike her sister did at her age, she never fights me on what to wear.  this makes shopping for her clothing super duper easy.  

ON is having one of their awesome kids & baby sales right now, and it's perfectly timed because i was thinking that her spring wardrobe needs a little sprucing up.  and because we live out in BFE, our local store is generally pretty darn well-stocked.  yay for us!

she digs coming here with me, mostly so she can visit her plastic friends:

ON is consistent in that you can find all sorts of good shit and know that if it's not marked down during one visit, you can go back a week later and find it magically on sale.  with damn near every piece of kids' clothing included in their current sale, it was especially fun browsing through the colorful clothing racks.  just to make sure we were picking up the right sizes, we lugged our pile o'loot into a fitting room to try stuff on.  watching this kid preen in front of a mirror is comedy, i tell you.

check out what $75(ish) bought us:

i made her play supermodel for me.  fashion show!  she looks so darn grown-up in this ensemble.

she worked it.  i don't know what's up with that whole cocked-to-the-side leg thing, but it sure is cute.

but the novelty didn't last too long.  after the third outfit change, this is what she gave me:

well, it was good while it lasted.

i was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

my little rock star

with two weeks left till i take the bean to see the fresh beat band in concert, i've really gotta finish up her costume.  sometime after new year's, i actually found myself here:

yeah, i know.  for someone who despises walmart, this is huge.  and dare i say it - kmart is even worse.  ugh.  and why, pray tell did i brave the grossness of the home of the blue light special?  well, i'd learned via facebook that kmart was the only store that carried a silver girls' jacket perfect for transforming into a replica of the FBB's "rock star jacket."  and we all know the lengths i'm willing to go for my kids.  so yes, i located the silver jacket - on clearance, even - and scooped it up.  now, since tons of other parents of FBB fans discovered this thing at the very same time as i had, it was super duper hard to find and sold out completely online.  so i was stoked to get my hands on one of the golden (silver?) tickets.

the only problem?  well, that's it on the left, and one of the bean's jackets (which is actually a little big on her still) on the right.  gah!  the silver one's a size 12, and the pink...a 5.  yeah.

for some reason, i was feeling super confident in my skillz and decided that i could totally just cut into the damn thing, resize it and sew it back together again.  easy peasy. 

um, NO.  i spent the next several weeks inspecting it, turning it inside-out, looking up tips on resizing existing clothing (specifically, a lined jacket with a zipper), and generally fighting off the urge to pick up the scissors and snip, snip, snip the thing into oblivion.  finally i realized that it was just too big of a task for this still-novice seamstress to tackle, and decided to pick up some silver pleather at joann's to make a simple unlined jacket for the bean to wear.  one time.  to one concert.  so not a big deal.

but then when i headed out to a different kmart to return that size 12, something told me to take the few extra steps to the girls' department and take a looksie.  and wouldn't you know it - right there on the rack was the very same jacket...in a size small - a 4/5.  i snatched it up as if it were a winning lottery ticket, squealed, and did a little dance in the aisle.

i spent just a little bit of time cutting out stars from glittery foam material, sewed them together, and then attached them to the jacket.  and someone was SUPER excited when she saw what i'd done.

she even struck a couple of silly poses, with or without some possible coaching from her mother.  i will neither confirm nor deny.

the jacket is absolutely perfect.  well, it's not one she's going to fit into for too long, so we've already offered it to another huge FBB fan we know - our friend nanette's em.  as for that silver pleather - well, when i tweeted about it, another buddy who's taking her little girl to see the show (albeit on a different day) dropped the hint that she'd love a rock star jacket too.  and so i'm attempting to sew together a simple one that'll hopefully work just fine.

oh, and because she deserves a little blog time too, here's my gorgeous teen.

she'd just come home and opened a package containing that phone case she's holding up there, and of course the bean busted out her photobombing skillz when she saw the camera pointed at her sister.

like mother, like daughter(s).  yup.