Friday, June 22, 2007

Shopping...

Nolan and I have never really been big shoppers...
I guess you could say we really prefer the buying part of shopping...
Our definition of shopping is ducking into a store that we usually find stuff we like to buy, finding something, or not, and getting out... so when I decided I'd head to the mall to see if I could find any clothes to wear to work (this upcoming school year) Nolan passed on the outing, but that was okay because he got to catch up from the 0430 mornings of the work week!

I must say I was quite frustrated by my lack of luck in finding any shirts (clothes for that matter) that I liked...

First of all, I am so very picky!

If I can't wear it to work, I won't buy it... so that means no sleeveless, which seems to be in (it is summer...) and a racy (sp?) V neck isn't very teacher-ish... if it doesn't cover most EVERYTHING.. that's no good either... haha so I really am limited...
And... can someone tell me what is it with the "empire waist?" shirts... No offense to anyone who is or is wanting to be pregnant, but I can't bring myself to wearing that type of shirt when I'm not pregnant and I certainly don't want to "look" like I am!

Back to my trip...

I visited Old Navy first.... I've usually had good luck finding work clothes there, but not so much today... although I did find a clearance pair of black slacks that were $20 and minus the $10 coupon I had they came out to $7.15! Whoop!

I walked in and out of:
Express ($40 - $50 for a blouse is way out of my league)
A&E (trendy I'm sure, but so not for me)
Gap (Old Navy clothes with $15 added to the price tag...)
Parisian (had never been in one... won't be going back in one)
The Limited (much like Express)

And finally I walked into New York and Company! VICTORY!
I found 3 very nice tops that met all my requirements and with the great sale they had going on they came out to $20/piece! (which I find very reasonable!) AND to top off my evening (2 long hours of shopping!) I got a 15% Military Discount!! So exciting! I had no idea... I simply grabbed the wrong ID to go with my credit card!

So the point of my post is two-fold...

1) Ladies, WHERE do you shop/can I shop for nice, but not too trendy or too racy (sp?) clothes for a reasonable price? Am I the only one with such random and uptight requirements? Please help! ;-)

2) Please shop at New York and Company! They have great clothes and they are supporting our military - what more can you ask for?! ;-)

1 comment:

Amy said...

Good to know! I've always found good, staple pieces (esp. for work) at NY and Co. And I'll definitely go now that I know about the discount. Really, the only other place that I've had great success finding work clothes (capris, slacks and tops) is Kohl's. I'm not sure if they're in FL, but they are about to open one up here, in the fall I think. I don't even bother going to the mall most of the time. Oh - I've also found lots of sweater-type tops (short sleeve and 3/4 length) at Target. They always have big clearance sections, too, and most of their more adult clothes are work appropriate. Hope you have more success!

On a side note, teachers up here don't dress all that professionally, at least in my district. I've seen v-necks, sleeveless (a lot), and what I consider to be SHORT skirts. The school where I'm working next year has teachers that wear jeans EVERYDAY. I always felt overdressed when I subbed there. Such a different world!