My Valentines

Hello ladies, it feels like a long time since my last post, but my husband had a long three-day weekend and I just found a little bit of time to update you on my Valentine's Day celebration, even if it comes a little bit late in the game.

With hubby, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a day before, on Saturday night, because we were hosting a Valentine's Day playdate for my daughter's best friends and their parents on Sunday afternoon and we thought that after that we wouldn't be in the mood for a romantic dinner (not to mention that I absolutely wanted to watch the Pairs Figure Skating Short Program on Sunday night and watching TV isn't ranked amongst the most romantic Valentine's Day activities).

We have this tradition that if we stay in for Valentine's Night (and we decided to stay in because we hadn't booked any restaurant and anyway finding a babysitter last-minute for Valentine's Night is nearly impossible) we order sushi at our favorite sushi place (as we don't normally order sushi), but I wanted to bake something for dessert.
So around 7, while I was baking a chocolate cake, my daughter managed to burn her fingers pretty badly on the bulb of my bedside table lamp (while my husband was with her!), and because I didn't have any anti-burn first-aid ointment and husband was taking care of her I had to stop baking my cake and run out to the closest Duane to buy some (I know that it's silly to put ointment on a burn an hour after the fact but it reassured my husband, plus it helps the healing and to avoid scars). Now, there was a MONSTER line at Duane of last-minute Valentine's givers (mostly men) who were buying Valentine's cards and chocolates. And I had to skip the line because the register at the pharmacy was already closed and explain to the angry costumers in the line that it was an emergency. Which gave me a big headache.

All this to say that when I got home I wasn't in the mood any longer and I almost called off the celebrations. I didn't, but I could really have ruined it and I have to thank my husband who stepped up and saved our Valentine's dim-lit dinner. First of all, when I showed up for our dinner in my jeans and not showered (and clearly not in the mood for romance) his disappointed face made me go back and take a shower. That really changed everything because once showered I made the effort to dress-up (I wore the Banana Republic silk-print dress that you have seen in one of the latest posts) and felt like celebrating again.

Second, he had a Valentine surprise for me and ladies, let me tell you, I was SHOCKED. He picked up a neon pink stretch lace babydoll by Victoria Secrets and I can't even remember the last time that he offered me some lingerie (we were probably dating and we have been married for twelve years). I really didn't think that he would have something for me, especially because he had travelled all the week, and for a second I felt bad for ordering myself a bottle of the new Chloe perfume in lieu of cadeau from him (he was nice about it though, because I had told him the day before and even knowing that I had bought myself a present, he still went to Victoria's Secret on Saturday morning and picked up the babydoll. BTW, he said that my daughter helped him to choose the color, which I can totally believe!)

Needless to say we had a very romantic evening. By the way, I did finish my chocolate cake, so at least I can say that I participated in the making of the dinner:




The Chloe perfume arrived today (the package didn't make it here for Valentine's Day because of last week bad weather) along with the Tory Burch shoes that I have finally ordered over the weekend with the 25% off promotion. I have also received a long-regretted Jcrew item from last year that I have finally bought on ebay last week, but more about these purchases in the next post (I also did a little bit of shopping at the Gap and want to talk about one item in particular). So stay tuned!

JCrew New Arrivals: More IRL Pics

These start to feel like old arrivals actually, after yesterday mini-update and the news than the new collection (a big one, apparently) will hit the stores as soon as Feb. 22d. However, since I have taken the pics I'm going to post them as I know that it's always useful for those who are nowhere near a store and also because of the current 20% off promotion.

Let's start with the "new" chambray shirt (item 22658). It's a heavy (and quite stiff) denim and sort of shapeless on me, but the sleeves were really tight. I didn't feel comfortable at all but I wasn't interested for me as I already have the contrast-stitch perfect shirt and the denim safari jacket from the past summer. This is a 0:


This is the "new" Jaspe hoody that I'm pretty sure was also available on the website but disappeared. It is thinner than the "winter" version, but has the same fit (only, the price increased to $68). This is an XS:



They also had a new, cropped, version of last year space-dyed cardigan. The XS was big on me (and totally not worth the $98 price):


The following is the Alpansia swiss-dot blouse (item 22657), in a 0 in black. As you can see it was VERY long for this kind of blouses on me (but I should have tried the white one, as I think that the black is not as pretty):



Nightgown alert on the next one. This dress had a little something on the manniquen and I hadn't seen it yet, so I tried it (without any real intention of buying it when I saw that the price was $188). It's silk and it comes in XS-L sizes (not sure about XL). It could have used a steamer, so try to imagine it without all those wrinkles:





I have to say, it wasn't completely unflattering and styled as it was in the store with the Jaspe zipped hoodie over it, it was kind of cute (especially for a younger gal). But would you spend $188 on this? Right!

Let's move on to the tees. There were a few neon-y tees, like this one:




I really liked the fit and the color of this one (it's store-only), but the applique ruined it for me (and the worst is that it's what makes the price jump to $45 for this tee). I think that they should stop putting rosettes and embellishments in general on all their tees because I'm sure that I'm not the only one tired of this.

The following one is the Hand-cut flower art tee (item 23713) that is also on the cover of the Lisbon catalog, but in the less-seen light charteuse color. I don't know if it was the particular tee that I have tried on, but it looks like it runs very small (this is a XS):



And now the two watercolor scarves that have been discussed over at the JCA. There has been a lot of confusion over these and the confusion comes from the fact that they have the same style number (23288) and the only difference is the color code, even if they don't look alike at all to me. This is the papaya (PAP):



And this is the cotton candy (CCA):



I liked both of them (if they only costed $19 instead of $59.50) but while when I was in store I had a preference for the papaya one, thinking it over I would buy the other one as the colors are more springy (but as I said both were very pretty).

I didn't feel like trying any mini or dress (besides the "nightgown" one that I could try leaving my pants on) but on another visit I tried (very quickly) the shimmer pant (mainly for casual-crew, who kept asking about them). Now, I would go with your regular size if you want to order them. I tried both the 00 and the 0 and the 0 fit better. For compairason I have the summerweight chino cocktail capris from last year in a 00 (and they are still a little bit slouchy).
The slate color is very pretty (but they didn't have the 0, so this one is the 00):



The fabric is very soft and comfortable, even if prone to wrinkle. BTW the fabric isn't shiny (on some pics on the catalog and the website you could say that they are sateen-y like the cafe capris, but they are not. The fabric is more of a soft twill.)
This is the 0 in the natural color:



That's pretty much it. I don't think that I'm going anywhere near a store before the new rollout (unless I have to return something).
If you have a specific question on an item that you don't see here I will try my best to answer.

And now a special message for the New Yorker followers. I'm trying to organize a private event for the week of Feb 22nd at the Rockefeller Center store. If you are interested and you haven't received a mail from me about it, please send me a message at crazyaboutjcrew@gmail.com.

Have a very nice Valentine's weekend with your special ones!

PS
I would like to year your opinion on the Tory Burch shoes in the previous post, if you have any opinion at all (there is also a 25% off code). When I published it yesterday it went under the January posts (because I had started wrtiting it in January), so even if your reader showed a new feed you have probably missed it.

Fashion-Related Question #2: What's the Season for Wearing Peep-Toe Shoes?

I had another post in mind for you today, but I received an email this morning that triggered this second fashion-related-dilemma post instead (where I ask for your help). The email contained a President's Day offer from Tory Burch (and you know that I love my Tory almost as much as my Jcrew) and it's even better of the Jcrew 20% off one (one nail drives out another, right?)

But first, meet my new obsession, the Tory Burch Kitty shoe, in black:



And in nude:



And in gold (swoon):



It was love at the first sight between me and the Kitties. I have been considering buying another pair of Reva flats as I wear my black ones so much, but when these came out I thought "Perfection" because they look a lot like the Revas but they are not completely flat and being 5'2" I could certainly use that one and a half inch of stacked heel (which should also make them a little bit more flattering with skirts and dresses than the Revas). They also look as comfortable as the Revas, with the same rubber sole.

Well, they are almost perfection. Because they are peep-toes, as you have certainly noticed. As a matter of fact I own only a pair of peep-toe shoes and I don't wear them much because, it seems, there is no season here for wearing them. In the spring rare are the days when it's not too cold to wear stockings but still not too warm to wear sandals. And I always thought that wearing sandals or peep-toes with stockings (not matter how clear) is a fashion misfit.
But maybe it's just me and I would like to hear your opinion on peep-toe shoes. Do you own a pair of peep-toe shoes? Do you wear them often? Are peep-toes only for the summer? BTW, there was a patent version of the Kitty in the winter, which means that someone wears them with stockings?

And now meet Sally, my alternative to the Kitty. In tumbled leather, Sally is Kitty's big sister, with a 2 and half inches stacked heel, and it comes with peep or closed toes.
Peep-toe Sally in tumbled leather (the color is royal tan):



And this is the closed-toe version (I could only get a picture of the black but it comes in the royal tan color as well):



Now, the promotion is 25% off everything on the site and free shipping for orders above $300 and I'm ready to pull the trigger on one of these (and a pair of Thora sandals, that are very rarely on sale, at least in the not-colored version), but just one, even if they are returnable.
Which one would you order for yourself? Do you think that I will get more use out of the Kitty (lower heel but peep-toe) or the Sally (higher heel but option of closed-toe)? Also, I prefer the royal tan in the Sally but I think that it's much more of a summery color choice, so it would make sense to have them with open-toes. So, if your overwhelming response is that peep-toes are summer shoes, I will probably go with the closed-toe Sally in black or the open-toe Sally in royal tan and wait for the Kitty (that is only available in black and coconut, a sort of grey, on the Tory Burch website. The other colors pictured above are from other retailer's websites). Hope that it makes sense ;-).

And now, the code (ENABLER ALERT): receive 25% off your purchase of $300 or more on Toryburch.com and enjoy free standard shipping when you enter BDAY at checkout (expires Monday 15th at 11.59 pm ET).
Unfortunately the Revas are excluded from the promotion but the code is valid on everything else on the site, including other much-coveted shoes that rarely go on sale (like the Thora and the Miller sandals).

Happy shopping (just stay away from my Kitties)!

Dreaming of Spring

Outside it's snowing ...



... but it's sunny inside:






A girl can dream, right?

We finally had our snowstorm in NY, I was getting jeleaus of all those people under the snow. The effect of the storm on our household was that my husband, who was supposed to leave on a business trip to Miami today, had to change is travel plans and left yesterday, to be sure to arrive in time for whatever it is that he's doing there (something like golfing with clients). So I'm home alone again all the week, which means more time for blogging (and also more shopping temptations as "when the cat is out..". I. Must. Resist. The 20% off promo)

However, this is going to be a short post because I'm going to leave you for one guilty pleasure of the snowy days: watching TV. I NEVER watch TV in the afternoon, but there is something irresistible in being in bed watching TV while is snowing outside. Especially when the DVD of one of your favorite series is waiting for you: I just received the season 5 of Weeds (I love the show) and I can't wait to see what pregnant Nancy is up to.

Have a fantastic snowy Wednesday!

Coming up in the next post: more new arrivals IRL pics

OOTD: Grey, Silver and the Crystal Symphony

I wore this outfit this morning to run errands after dropping off my daughter at school. I really liked how the belt and the Crystal Symphony necklace brightened up the otherwise total grey outfit:





I hadn't worn the Minnies in a long time and they looked a little bit tired. So far I washed them in the machine, on a delicate cycle, but I might need to send them to the dry-cleaning the next time. Or I might need to buy a new pair (the navy or the denim ones) for spring ;-).

And now on the Crystal Symphony necklace. I always liked it but because I have a very similar one (actually more similar to the new colletto one, with round crystals) I couldn't justify to spend $98 on it.
One day in January (it was one of those lucky days) I walked into a store and saw it in the sale section. There was no tag attached but I obviously recognized it. I went to the register and asked what was the price. The SA had to look up the style number in the jewelry book and I saw that HE didn't recognize it because he was trying to find a match in the book for the thing that I was holding in my hands. I wanted to help and I told him (TWICE) "It's called the Crystal Symphony necklace" but he smirked at me (as to say "I know what I'm doing"). When he entered the style number, the price rung up at $19.99 and that was BEFORE the additional 30% off. Now, I hadn't seen it in a store in a very long time and the in-store sale prices tend to drop very quickly so, after asking him if he was sure, I promptly paid for it and when he informed me that it was final sale, I said "Yes, please, so you can't change your mind" (another smirk). A few days after, I saw another one in another store (with tags this time). The price? $69.99. And that's when I found out that the SA had made a mistake with my necklace, but I didn't feel too bad for my "stealing" it because I knew that I had done my best to hint him on the right direction.
That's how a crewless SA can help sometimes.


Happy Tuesday!

How the Saints Costed me a Frances Cami

Saints be damned, how could they win the Super Bowl? No offense for the people from New Orleans and not that I'm that big football fan or that I'm particularly fond of the Colts; it's just that I had bet against my husband that the Colts would win and with more than a 10-point difference. The price? A heart Frances cami that was on hold for me in a NYC store.

Saturday morning I went to the two Midtown JCrew stores to checkout if they had more of the new arrivals (I was hoping to find the vintage boatneck tee that is backordered until the summer) and I found a heart Frances cami in my size in the sale section. Because I had already made another purchase and I had nothing left on my gift card (and I had zero cash with me), I had to leave it at the store (not without putting it on hold for 24 hours).
Once home, I "tested" my husband and told him that if he wanted to offer me something for Valentine's Day, there was something on hold for me at the Midtown JCrew store (he had some errands to do in the afternoon in Midtown) the he could pick up for me. I had no reaction (I am not even sure that he registered), so I preferred not to insist.

Yesterday we were getting ready for the Superbowl and because we always bet something to spice up the game and to give us a reason to watch it through the end (for us Europeans American football can be pretty boring but we watch the Super Bowl because it's an American tradition and it's a way for us to "blend in"), I bet the Frances cami.
As I said I'm no football fan and I can barely follow a game but I knew that the Colts were super-favorite and a friend of ours said that he was expecting them to win hands down, so I wasn't going to put my Frances in the hands of the underdog team.
The rest is history and for the time being I have to content myself with these pics of the Frances (with the Scallopped zipper cardigan):




I called the store this morning and asked them to hold it for me until tomorrow, just in case.
Have a nice week!

P.S.
I took some more pics in the fitting rooms and I will post them later or tomorrow morning

JCrew Spring New Arrivals: Some Fitting Room Pics

Last Tuesday while my daughter was at school I went to the Collection store to checkout the new arrivals. It's dangerous to try on spring clothes just after a beach vacation because in general everything looks better with a tan (at least on me) and in fact I came home with one item that I probably wouldn't even thinked about buying if my legs had been pale as they usually are in winter.

And because I was still feeling a little bit on vacation, I was immediately drawn to this:



I take back everything I said on JCrew swimwear, I would have bought this beauty in a heartbeat had it come out before my vacation (it's the bikini that the model is wearing on page 62 of the Catalog, under the tunic and, strangely, it isn't featured anywhere else in the Catalog). But my next beach vacation will probably be in July (we are planning to return to the Hamptons) and I'm sure that I can catch it on sale before then.

But you're probably more interested in other more city-appropriate new arrivals, so here are my picks (they hadn't everything at the Collection store and many of the new arrivals have already been reviewed on several blogs, so besides the items that I tried on because I liked them for me, I tried to pick-up items that I haven't seen on others).

First, the Laporte drape blouse, in the pale lilac and my regular size 0:



It felt big and a little bit messy. The drape didn't fall nicely (in case you haven't noticed on the website it has an elastic band at the hem) and it is clearly a high maintenance top. For the price it was a pass.

Second, the much-talked about Neapolitan Pencil skirt. This one is beautifully made and the texture is the same than last summer coccodrillo pencil skirt. I think that IRL the print is a little bit more subdued than on the pics (the charcoal is not as predominant) and the violet is really a violet and not "plum".
I'm a 2P in the wool perfect pencil skirts. This one doesn't come in petite but the 0 was perfect in the waist area (it fits a little bit smaller than the wool one and MUCH smaller than the double-serge cotton pencil skirt of the past summer). However it was a bit too long on me and I would need to have it hemmed:




I left it at the store because I don't wear pencil skirts that much to justify the purchase and in compairison I liked the coccodrillo print much better. But if you wear pencil skirts an you like this print, this one is absolutely beautiful and flattering.

As a top in the pics above I was wearing the Jcrew tissue garland tank in lavender.
I really liked this tank (BTW, the embellishment is made in a different, more substantial, cotton than the rest of the tank, which is why the flowers are not droopy and kind of standup like a bouquet) and my only problem was to decide among the lavender, the coral pink and the sepia, that I'm wearing in the following pic with the Vintage zebra-stripe broken-in boyfriend chino short:



These shorts were one of the two new arrivals that had really caught my eyes on the website (the other being the vintage boatneck top, that wasn't in store and now is already sold-out in the camel color in XS). However I didn't LOVE them, so I passed.
By the way, I don't know what size the model is wearing in the catalog but if you go with your regular size they are way shorter.

Probably I didn't love them because my heart was already taken by another pair of shorts:



They are in-store only and they retail for $59.50. Here's a close up on the beautiful Liberty print (that by the way, also comes in a perfect-fit shirt. Did you hear me Dinagedeon?):



How cute are these shorts? When I tried them on though my first thought was "Bummer if I were 14, or even 20, I would totally buy them" because they are very short as you can see and the Liberty print adds to the gamine look; but then I walked out of the fitting room to ask for a size 2 (even if the 0 was perfect) and an old (like 70 plus year old) and very chic lady gave the shorts a look that said "Bummer, if I were a little bit younger, say 40, I would totally buy those". So I asked HER, and not the SA, if she thought that they were too short or young-looking for me. And without saying a word, but just shaking her head from side to side, she sold me the shorts, because I just trust a chic old lady on what's appropriate for my age.
So because I brought them home I took a picture with a better light, but still the pics don't do them justice:



Back to the fitting room, I was curious about the Black blossom jacket, but I didn't like the fit (boxy). This is an XS:



I have to say, I'm not a fan of this print (I didn't care about the cardigan at all when I saw it, even if it looks fabulous on some JCAs), so I didn't try the mini nor the shorts.

Speaking of flowers, the Iris embroidery tank top was enormous on me (in my size):

I can't recall if it was a pullover of had a side zip but it really felt like a tent. Total pass.

The SA insisted for me to try the new Denim Minnie pant that I already have in the non-demin version from this fall. I thought that I wouldn't like these in denim but they were very flattering:



While I wear a 00 in the Minnies, I sized up to a 0 in these as they are less stretch than the non denim-version. My only problem with these is the ankle zipper: even if it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would before trying them on, I think that it will soon look a little bit dated. But if I find them in super-duper sale I'm probaby going to get a pair.

The best for the end (I'm joking). They had a "limited edition" tee with a $125 price tag. You're supposed to be wearing a piece of art as each tee is hand-painted by an (unknown) artist and you pay for that. OK, maybe the artist who painted your tee will turn out to be the next Pollock and you will have made the best investment of your life, but in the meanwhile you're going to wear this (or something similar):



Have you seen the movie "My daughter could have painted that" (about the 5-year-old artist Martha something)? That's what I thought when I saw the tee (in fact it has a striking resemblance with one of my daughter's latest art pieces, named "Elephant on the bus". The difference is that I don't allow my daughter to paint on my t-shirts. But maybe I should and I could sell them on the Internet for $125 bucks). Anyway, it also comes in pewter if you are interested ;-).

Btw, I finally went with the sepia in the garland tank, because I was picturing it with chinos. I have tried it at home with my scout chinos, what do you think of this color on me?



I'm probably going to return it anyway because, strangely, this tank is $42.50 online and $45 in store (as I found out once home) and I can keep it as a ride-along for the next order with a free shipping code (I'm not going to wear it well into the spring anyway).


Have you ordered any of the new arrivals yet? Do you think that Jcrew has taken the concept of "art" tee-shirt too far with their Limited Edition tees?
Any questions, let me know!