Black Friday (& Cyber Monday) Haul

Kaixo everyone,

Once in every blue moon, I write here, and I write about fashion. And the best deals. Those two things were combined this weekend in the most absolutely wonderful melée. I spent Friday in Chicago, my favorite city, and went to a myriad of stores to get some before Christmas shopping. I usually buy stuff for my family on Black Friday, but this time, it was basically all about myself. Oops!

In my defense, though, a) I needed some retail therapy, b) some of the deals were too good to be true, c) I invested in basics/classics. What do I mean by basics? Anything that I wear on repeat, all day, everyday. What do I mean by classics? Well, not your grandmama's pearls, but almost.

1) Tory Burch Laila Driver Ballet Flat: I'm wearing these as I write to the void we speak. November means Tory Burch for me. Why? Because it's my birthday month. In your birthday month, Tory sends you a 50$ off 100$. Did you get that? 50 freaking dollars off 100 dollars. I started looking for possible presents for myself and I bound up finding these flats. Now question though, what in tarnation are driver ballet flats? And why would I need them, not having a car here in the US?

Well let me tell ya, they were discounted, the suede material is dreamy, and the sole is 10 times better than the Minnie sole. I love my Minnies, but I'm always scared the sole will rip in the middle any minute. Bonus, Tory Burch sent me a pink envelope (what is that?), that is, a 50$ gift card. I combined my birthday promotion and the gift card and I got these flats under 50$. Not even kidding.

Find them here

2) Lululemon Extra Mile Reflective Tights: My Lululemon Wonder Under tights were pretty old, and they kept falling down. I have recently started training for a half marathon, and the old ones didn't cut it. So I went into the Lululemon store, and saw they were having markdowns for Black Friday, and these tights were designed for running. Plus, they were 50$ off! They are not available in the US, but you can find similar ones here.

3) Jewelry: One of my good friends is getting married, and her engagement party is coming up! I already have the dress, but new jewelry was definitely needed. J. Crew had a 40% promotion (and this bracelet was on sale already), I had a 25$ off birthday discount at Madewell (so I didn't pay anything!), and half off at Kendra Scott, so I stocked up! Plus, Forever 21 had the cutest (and cheapest) rings ever!

J. Crew Bracelet (here), Madewell Earrings (here), Kendra Scott Necklace (here)

Forever 21 Rings, find them here and here

4) Anthropologie Velvet Clutch: Nothing about this clutch seems basic or classic, but a monogram is both. I peeked this beauty some weeks ago, so when I saw it at the store (at 30% off!), I went for it! Cannot wait to style it in dates (yeah, that ain't happening) nights out.

Find it here

5) GAP Turtleneck Sweater: Lately, I feel drawn to neutrals and dark colors (#fallwinter), so this light sweater, at half off, was perfection! Plus, the frills are adorable!

Find it here

6) American Eagle Outfitters Jeans: I went to Uniqlo to find jeans but honestly, the line was so long I was not about to have it. Thus, I trusted my dearest AEO jeans. Find them here.

7) Lilly Pulitzer Popover: This was probably my biggest splurge. I honestly did not need this. I don't even know how it will go with my outfits. But my sister had gotten me a gift that didn't fit well, I had a gift certificate and I saw it and fell in love. This particular print is part of the Prints With Purpose collection, and part of the proceeds will go towards the Jane Goodall Institute (hence the chimps!). There were Cyber Monday gifts going on, and I took advantage (BUT! I won't jinx it like last year and I'll try to avoid a similar situation to the #totegate)

Find it here (picture by @emilydelong)

This was basically my Black Friday and Cyber Monday haul! I don't think I'll be buying anything else anytime soon, but I am very happy I got all these beautiful pieces and did not go over my budget. How about you, what did you get this weekend?
Love,

Ane

Cyber Monday Turn Of Events & Reflecting On It

Kaixo everyone,

Remember that beautiful tote I was supposed to get... Well LOL. Lilly Pulitzer used clickbait yet again. I honestly do not know how I was that weak to fall for it. I was not particularly enchanted with anything (still not enchanted with any of the new stuff either), but seeing *FREE* in flashing lights and all the hype in different Lilly Facebook groups, I fell to it. And as many others, I did not receive the tote.

Now, the tote was a mystery gift offered at 12pm Eastern Time and was going on for an hour. I ordered it at 23:05 Central Time, yet I received a pair of earrings. They are definitely pretty, but neither what I wanted nor what I expected. I did have some exchanges with Customer Service (including one with a rather rude representative) on the topic, and well, since the package arrived two weeks late, the only thing I had to ask the representative was to avoid marking which present we would be getting and just referring to it as a mystery gift.

At first I was mad, but then I started to reflect on it and I felt really ungrateful and mean. Why would I be mad that a free present was not the one that I wanted? A family could've bought dinner with the money I spent. I could have donated that money to charity. I could have saved it up for a future project. I bought a phone case and got a free wine tote and free earrings. I didn't get a bag, but I have similar bags that I use and could use instead. Heck I have a ton of earrings!

There were many angry ladies on those Lilly Facebook pages, including myself. However, this incident will not change the course of my life, and it has given me some perspective. Objects are not everything, which is difficult to forget when you live in such a capitalistic society. A tote won't change my life or make it happier. Coffee with friends, a chat with the fam and other everyday moments 100% make up for it.

Plus I'm not that into flamingos anyway. ;)

Love,

- Ane

Cyber Monday Success!

Kaixo everyone,

I could elaborate a post about why I haven't posted since April, but I'd rather let y'all know how successful my Cyber Monday was this year! Last year, I got this beautiful Tory Burch wallet that I have been using non-stop since with an almost 30% discount from Bloomingdales:

Similar here

This year, I did not WANT to spend any money, as I had done some damage the week before in a day-trip to Chicago. However, the unthinkable happened. Two unthinkable things, actually:

1) Tory Burch 30% off: As per usual, the Tory Burch webpage sale was supposed to be applied to everything except for the coveted pieces that pretty much everyone has: The Miller sandals, the Minnie sandals, etc. are NEVER included. Like never ever.  During their Black Friday week deals, the lady at the Chicago store told me that the Light Oak Minnies were not included in the spend 250$, get 30% off sale.

However, this time it said "select colors not included." Also, this time it was 30% off no matter the price range, so I was going to get some earrings. Nevertheless, I was curious about those "select colors." I added the Minnie Light Oak flats to the shopping basket, added the code and... HOLY MOLLY! 70$ off! I have been coveting this particular shoe and color for quite some time, and suddenly, the doors opened. These shoes were not included in the birthday 50$ off deal, so I took a deep breath, and took the plunge. These babies are on my way! :D

Find them here

2) Lilly Pulitzer Cyber FunDay: I'm not gonna lie. Lilly Pulitzer has been letting me down for quite some time. I do not think it has to do with the prints, they are darling, but I think my style is evolving to something a little more demure and less wild. These shifts in style happen to everyone, and I am sure that this will change in a couple of months. Also, it is too damn cold for resort weather in Illinois. No 365 days of summer up here, ya feel? (I would like to take this opportunity to plead Lilly for actual winter clothes, thanks pink gods, xo)

Their Cyber Monday promotion in the last years has been a different gift with purchase every hour. I knew from checking in different Lilly Pulitzer Facebook groups that this year there would be 3 gifts during the day, but while studying at the library, I kept seeing that they were doing that promotion + extra hourly gifts. Nothing was particularly convincing, maybe an iPhone 6s case? Earrings? None of the gifts with purchase seemed to be worthy, though. UNTIL midnight EST. Mystery gift, and I'm here like huh? Luckily, the groups mentioned before were fast. I read "Gimme Some Leg," added the following phone case:

Buy it here

Got this wine tote and...

And finally looked at the mystery gift. What could it be? Gimme Some Leg, it must have been the new color way. So I copy-pasted the code of the mystery gift on Google and...

Y'ALL. THIS BAD B*TCH. FO FREE. No 68$, but 0 dollars. FO SHO I GOT IT. The time is unfortunately up for you to get it, but if you don't want to miss out, you can purchase it here.

I am really happy I was so successful this year, and I hope next year will top it off! As for my absence, I will fully explain it in a post (hopefully) soon. Many things (mostly good :D) have happened these months, and I cannot wait to let you all know.

All the best,

- Ane