Slave to Fashion--My latest adventures at NEIMAN MARCUS LAST CALL

I am a certified
"BARGAIN-AHOLIC"
It is manageable right now but could slip out of hand at any moment. I have been known to buy things in the wrong size because the deal was too good to pass up!!
Take for instance my new acquisition from Neiman Marcus Last Call:

I initially dug the print and the slinky material of this Diane Von Furstenberg dress but once I saw the price the initial "like" turned to "obsession" and I started plotting how I could re-shape my body to fit this off-size deal. The original retail price of this beaut is clearly stated on the tag as $315 but underneath lay the current price--a mere $39.00 ((see below))



But wait--there's more!! What brought me to the store in the first place was their "Blow-Out Anniversary Sale" which meant another 30% off the list price---GASP!! I know, you need to sit down because your jealousy is raging out of control. The final price of $27.30 was mind blowing to say the least. They were almost paying me to take this magnificant dress home. Now I just have to concentrate on loosing the 5 or so pounds that it will take for me to actually wear this dress. I will certainly blog it when it happens!! If it doesn't it will probably end up on ebay with an added profit to pay for the other 2 stunners I bought that day. A very chic Cynthia Steffe cream A-line shift dress (which I have already worn and is at the cleaners) for $40 and a Shoshanna silver lame nighttime cocktail number.



The retail price on this one was listed as $365 but after all of the markdowns were done it went home with me for a mere ---- drumroll please ---- $20.14!!
Even if I never wear this dress I would pay twenty bucks just to look at it in my closet!!
My total for the day $94.65 for 3 exquisite designer dresses.



I have long had a LOVE/HATE relationship with this store
((I will save the hate story for another day))
but on this particular day there was only LOVE in my heart!!
Thanks, Neiman's

IT'S OKAY TO COLOR IN THE LINES!!

Another rainy day in Austin--Another day stuck inside.

Rather than loose myself in the folds of the couch, eyes glued to the tube, I decided to paint. Paint you say--Are you an artist?? I felt like it when I was flinging my wrist creating a menagerie of uninhibited brush strokes--bold yet intrinsically subtle in color. After five hours of delving into the crevices of my creative core/left lobe of my brain I realized what was on my canvas was really just a big yellow blob in a black abyss.

The Yellow Blob

My gut was screaming "Stop--this is not good" as I tried to convince myself it was. Of course I ignored that voice and hung it on the wall for all to see and comment. Some liked it--some did not but to me it was shouting "it's a sham--I am just a blob on the wall." How could it be a sham--I can be a painter can't I??? Is painting and being a painter the same thing I questioned. I think not-- I concluded. Just because you can write does not make you a writer. Just because you can cook does not make you a chef. Maybe in a past life I was a carefree creator of whimsical beauty. In this life I am a meticulous and particular creature who has to color in the lines. Not because I aspire to be perfect but because it feels right. So as I listened to the pitter-patter of raindrops outside my window yesterday I carefully traced a meaningless but beautiful pattern over the yellow blob and began the painstaking process of painting precisely in each shape. As I did an overwhelming sense of peace washed over my body and all was right with the world--for a moment. I realized that no matter how bad I wanted to scribble outside the lines I just couldn't-- it was not in my make-up and no matter how bad I want to be the next Monet--I am just not. At the end of the day, I am who I am--somethings you just can't change.

Peace in Symmetry

How do you color??

UPDATE:
Since I hung my new painting every person that has seen it has said that I need to turn it vertical because this way is to FALIC!! What do you think?