Our Day Trip to the Sample Sale

So I went to the sample sale again to exchange the-dress-with-giant-hole on Friday. With my daughter. To be honest when we left I wasn't sure that we would actually make it to the sale. It was a beautiful day and my plan was letting my daughter have fun first and then try to get the damn return done as quickly as possible. After all it isn't her fault if mommy spends way too much time shopping and then has to spend even more time to make up for her mistakes.

The great dilemma was: stroller or not stroller? Because leaving for an entire day without the stroller is very risky (she is a good walker but obviously she can't walk as much as I do and when she decides that she's tired I have to carry her. Not to mention that she still naps in the afternoon and the stroller comes handy when we are out and she needs to nap). On the other hand, I was planning to take the bus first to the zoo and then from the zoo to the sample sale and back home, so not much walking involved and even if she did fall asleep in the bus (it's a long ride) I would have had to wake her up anyway because strollers are not allowed in the sample sale premises. So in the end I left the stroller at home and prayed that I wouldn't regret it.

First stop, CVS where we stocked up on lollipops and other treats. Second stop, the Collection store where I made some returns, including the Lady Day coat that I had bought with the 30% off (beautifully made, but not my style). You must think that it wasn't really necessary to stop to make returns that day when our schedule was already pretty busy, but I needed to put some money back on the gift card because my PS (at another store) had put some stuff on hold for me and I had zero budget for new purchases. This was actually the longest walk of the day; then we hopped on a bus and we stopped at the zoo.

The Central Park zoo is so much fun, not only for my daughter but also for me. They have two red panda bears that are one of the cutest things that I have ever seen in my life and we always make sure that we go and see them. But this time around the big attraction were the polar bears, that we had never seen that close (they were hiding in a spot were we usually can't go because of the strollers):




Yes, my daughter was carrying the Crewcuts tote that I had bought still in the summer as a stroller bag for school. She insisted on carrying it after I put inside some sandbox toys (in case we stopped at the playground too, which in the end we didn't). The windbreaker is Boden (from last yea) and I was wearing the "matching" JCrew striped tee (I knew that that tee reminded me of something). Unfortunately I don't have pics of the two of us together.

After the tour of the zoo it was already 12.30, so we had a quick lunch at the zoo restaurant, that has an outside terrace. Can you believe that a bird defecated on us? My daughter screamed as if she was auditioning for a horror movie (for a moment a wave of panic spreaded through the crowd that was happily having lunch around us) and we had to go inside to finish our meal.
After this episode I seriously thought that we wouldn't make it to the sale: she was tired and whiny but NYC saved me. While I was dragging her to the bust stop at 59th Street we passed by the colorful art installation at the end of Central Park (called the Ego and the Id) and as soon as she saw it she run away from me to play with it. Kids! One moment they are all sleepy and the moment after they are full of energy again. She was delighted by the fact that one of the two pieces of the sculpture (the one that was accessible actually, as the one was being repainted) was the same color of her jacket. Of course it was also a good subject for a picture:



Fifteen minutes after we were waiting for the bus and two "statues of liberty" that were standing a few feet from each other fighting for their audience entertained us; then we got on the bus, we sang the wheels on the bus and we finally arrived at the sample sale (I had to carry her from the bus stop to the sale but it wasn't that bad).

Once inside I went directly to the accessory corner (where I had found the scarves, belts and necklaces) and besides a few necklaces that I wasn't interested in, everything was gone. No belts AT ALL (when they had two big boxes full of belts the day before). No scarves besides a very few oldies that looked all sad. Then I went to the shoes area (where my daughter had a lot of fun climbing on the chairs that were not meant to be climbed by a toddler but to try the shoes on) and again, very few shoes left, almost no flats and nothing that I would have bought (at least not for $99). I started to panic a little bit because besides a cashmere long-sleeved tee that started to pile I didn't see anything that I could exchange my dress for. But trading a party dress for yet another cashmere tee that I didn't need or really want felt like a waste of money. So I started reluctantly to look at the dresses again. I found a gorgeous strapless cocktail dress in a size 0 and almost got that one but it had a tiny spot on the skirt where it had been mended and even if I really liked it I wanted a flawless dress this time around, on the principle. So in the end I went with a party dress that is strapless (even if I didn't want to do strapless) but at least is silk taffeta, it is spotless and has all the tags attached (this must have been an overstock and not a sample). I knew that I was taking a risk again with the size (it was a size 2), but at least it was something that I could resell or even return in store. I also scored a Lea cardigan in addition (I couldn't let it go because I always regretted not getting a Lea) so all in all I was satisfied when we left.

On our way back we stopped at the Rockefeller Center store to try on the new arrivals and the stuff that my PS had put on hold for me (when my daughter understood how to open the fitting room lock and started to bang the door I knew that my time was up), so when we finally got home it was 6 pm already. What a day! It was fun and we didn't have any major crises but I wouldn't do it again tomorrow.

By the way, I guess that you want to see the dress. As I said it's a size two and the bodice is a little bit loose this time, but it's an easy alteration. It is also a little bit shorter than the dress that I had in mind but I have at least three parties to attend this spring and I am sure that I will have the occasion to wear it:




I hope you enjoyed the post! Next, the new tee and the new blazer. A lot to blog about this week ...