Post-Holiday Sales

Hi everybody, I hope that you had a fantastic Xmas weekend at home with you families or out of town if you were travelling to visit your closest ones. As you have noticed I didn't have the time to post anything since last wednesday, so a belated happy holidays to you all.

I meant to post something about how I spent Xmas (I really enjoyed reading all the Xmas posts and to see what you got and your outfits) but I feel like Xmas is SOOO last week.
I have the feeling that in the US you get over with Xmas much more quickly than in Europe (with maybe the exception of London), and in particular my country, because of the crazy after Xmas sales. The Day-After-Xmas sales always take me a little bit by surprise. First of all the 26th is a bank holiday in Italy and everything is as dead as on Xmas Day and all you can do is go to the movies or keep eating the leftovers and play games inside (or both). Second, the sales don't start until well into the New Year, so you are left with a little bit of holiday sickness between Xmas and New Year's Eve when basically there is not much to do and a lot of people are on "winter break" (that's why it's typical to leave for a vacation just after Xmas).
But here it's different, it's like "Forget about Xmas, that was yesterday, let's go shopping!".

So I went for a little after-Xmas shopping Saturday morning with the crowds. My first destination was Saks (I wanted to checkout the bags) but that was a total miss because by 10.30 (when I got there) they were SOLD OUT OF BAGS ON SALE (I have never seen that before). Then I went to Jcrew with a specific list of items that I wanted to possibly get on super-sale and I'm happy to report that I sticked to the list and didn't get the crazy prices (because with the additional 30% off sale prices it gets pretty much serious) distract me too much. Focus, Ema, focus. You don't need a golden pencil skirt that you know you will never wear.

The first item that I had been eyeing for a while, waiting for it to go on sale, is the Martini pant, a collection item that I had tried a while ago and liked, but not for $168. Actually "liked" is not the most appropriate word, I felt that I "needed" these pants to wear with my Zara Chanel-inspired jacket because of the metallic threads that give the pants a special shine (and my jacket has silver threads as well, even if I'm not sure if it comes across in the pictures).
Anyway, I almost got them during the last 25% off and free shipping promo (they were $119 before the $25% off) but I didn't pull the trigger (I didn't have enough on my gift card to get the free shipping and I didn't want to upset my husband just before Xmas with an "unauthorized" purchase) and I was super-bummed when I saw a few days after that the price had dropped to $89.99 but my size had sold-out.
I was even more bummed when I went to the Madison Collection store the same day hoping that they would still have my size and was told that they had shipped all of them to another store in the city (for the NewYorker readers, that's an interesting thing to know: they ship their sale merchandise to the 5th Avenue store and that's why I have often seen collection items in the sale section there). I called the store (it was Christmas Eve) and they told me that they had received boxes but they weren't sure of the content, and that I would have a better chance calling on Saturday, which I promptly did. I wasn't really expecting the store to have a pair in my size but I had the chance to speak with a non-crewless SA who understood what pants I was talking about even if I didn't have the style number and found a pair to put on hold for me. The best of all was that the price in store was $69.99 and with the 30%off I got them for less than $50. What a deal! The lesson is also that you generally get a better deal in store than online, something that I generally tend to forget when I spend too much time on the Internet reading what everybody's else is ordering.

So here they are with my Zara jacket:



It was a little bit dark in my bedroom this morning when I took the pics, so I'm going to show you the fitting room pic (from the first time that I have tried them) where you can see them in a better light:



If you are eyeing these pants as well, you should know that the fabric is a little bit unforgiving, they show every bump in your body and you can probably tell that I gained some weight these last days as they look looser in the pic from a month ago (too many chocolates).
Here they are with the Organza sash tissue tank that I have blogged about a while ago (and that I re-bought for half the price):


As you can see they aren't really "cropped" on me but I can always decide later to have them altered.

The other item that I got is the Silk ruffle cascade jacket in wild blueberry (which is basically navy). I had tried it when it first came out and I wasn't impressed for the price. But when I tried it again this weekend I really liked it and I LOVED the price that I paid: $48.
Here is with the toothpick cords in navy:



I liked that it looks good with a (cashmere) turtleneck, meaning that I'm not going to be limited by the temperature outside. It's an easy jacket in my opinion, that you can throw on at the last minute on an otherwise casual outfit (it looks really good with skinny jeans).


By the way this is exactly what I was wearing on Xmas Day, minus the jacket:


And if you really want to know I spent a very nice and warm Xmas at friend's (the parents of my daughter's "boyfriend") eating roasted goose and Panettone. They had a beautiful Xmas tree with real candles instead of lights that we lighted at twilight (a German tradition as he is German).
Oh, and I almost forgot. I got a digital frame for Xmas from my husband, that's was the gift that he bought for me (even if I think that HE is the one who wanted one). Not exactly Ugg boots but it was sweet. The funny thing is that I almost bought one for him, for the office, but then I opted for two weeks worth of Jcrew boxers (he really needed new underwear but I bought more so I can delay the laundry machine chore. See, I have been selfish too, in reality it was a gift for me).

Did you go post-Xmas-shopping? Did you get some great deal?