Surviving Black Friday and OOTD

I don't know you but I am SO happy that Black Friday is behind us. This year I felt the pressure much more than in years past, probably because almost all the retailers pushed up the start of the crazy deals to midnight while I usually sleep in too late for the good early birds specials. So I was on the computer at midnight and it took all my willpower to only order my husband's Xmas present at Bloomingdales.com (that in fact was having "early birds" or better "late owls" savings until 4 am).
If you live in a city like NY you have to decide where you want to spend your Black Friday money in advance because we don't have a mall where you can hop from one retailer to another in less than three hours. So I decided that I would spend my Black Friday money at the Loft for a number of reasons, the most important one being that I have a store at walking distance from my place (I hate taking the subway) and I knew that they were having a 50% off BF special until noon. The other reason why I went to the Loft is that I was there two days before for a return and I saw a lot of cute dresses. Last reason was that you can't risk to spend too much money at the Loft (unlike at Saks, that I have purposefully avoided). In any case I bought a bunch of stuff because of the 50% off but then I had buyer's remorse and returned almost everything a few hours later! Oh well, the important thing is to participate.
I took pics of everything I tried on and I will try to post them before the end of the weekend, since they are still having 40% off everything.
But now I only have the time for a quick OOTD and these:

Did you recognize them? Well, they are not the JCrew printed Valentinas but Nine West knockoffs. I had been eyeing them for a while and I was hoping for a better deal on BF, but they were "only" 30% off. I bought them anyway because I didn't want to miss on them at $55. You can buy them here (color is multi sy) but they look MUCH better IRL. They are TTS to slightly big IMO. They are also very comfortable to walk in and the heel is slightly lower than the Valentinas. They also have a flat version for a little bit cheaper and again, they are awesome (I would have bought the grey ones but they didn't have my size and half a size smaller was too small). I will probably end up ordering them since they have free shipping on any order for a limited time.
I really reccomend to check out Nine West if you are shopping this weekend, they have a suede Mona knockoff as well (that I can't find online) and a style very similar to the JCrew Juliets of a few seasons ago (here).

Now, on to my OOTD. I saw a woman wearing this outfit at JCrew yesterday and I had to copy it (the good thing about having a brand obsession is that you can immediately recognize the clothes when someone is wearing them without having to ask "where did you get that?" and chances are are that you have them too).
I didn't think of wearing my cashmere shell over my tartan shirt but it looked really classic with the whit-ish cords (these are the toothpicks in champagne from last year). So here you go, with the shell tucked in our out:

I added a necklace that I bought on ebay last year to wear with this shirt thinking that it was black (it came in crystal and black). In reality the black color is a quite clear petrol green but it works with the shirt anyway:

I have worn this shirt so much since I bought it last year around this time that I allowed myself to add another "tartan" item in my closet with the 25% off promo. Can you guess what it might be?
OK, that's it for today. I am curious to know how you spent Black Friday and what deals did you get, please share!

OOTD: Yatch Blue and Tartan

I want to post quickly a OOTD that I wore yesterday and I think many of you will like, especially if you have the two items in the outfit.

I went quickly to the Collection store yesterday morning to return something that I had bought for my daughter (I always prefer to return Crewcuts stuff to the Collection store even if technically the Crewcuts store is even closer to my place, because the SAs are nicer about returns while at the Crewcuts store they are quite snotty) and I saw the perfect shirt in tartan (the one from last year that came back this year and you can buy here) hanging next to the cafe capris in yatch blue. I don't know if this is something that we will see in every JCrew window across the country for the holidays or it was just a casual display in this particular store, but never in a million years I would have thought of pairing this shirt with those pants. It worked beautifully (because there is actually some blue in the pattern of the shirt) and I couldn't go home fast enough to try it, since I own both.

Here it is, with the skinny belt in pale gold (the best that I could find so far, but I am working on it!):

And with a navy blazer (sorry for the lighting):

I think I am at my skinniest right now, the pants were almost falling off me while they "just" fit when I bought them. Not that I am complaining but sadly I think it is the result of being sick (without being REALLY sick) for more than a month now. My cold just won't go away and tonight I almost burned down the apartment because I turned the oven on (to cook a frozen pizza for dinner) and an old piece of baking paper that was on the cookie sheet at the bottom of the oven burnt. I didn't smell a thing until I saw smoke coming out of the kitchen! Thanks God I wasn't blogging (my desk is in the furthest spot in the apartment from the kitchen) or it could have been wuch worst.

In other news I went to a store this morning and took plenty of pictures of the new holiday collection. I am too tired to post them tonight but you are up for a treat tomorrow!

Did you see the perfect tartan shirt paired with the yatch blue cafe capris in a store? Would you wear them together?

And a bonus:

(Tory Burch Prescotts in navy)