tights

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The Sisterhood Of The Stay-At-Home Jacket

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I opened up the bag that had come from Anthropologie. I sat there on the floor. Stunned. Staring into the wrapping.

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My daughter looked up from her cell phone, “Whadja get?”

“This jacket,” I replied in a surprisingly monotone voice. The tremors in my soul not vibrating yet to betray my vocal cords. I held it up for my daughter to see (and definitely not to worship, as I held it above my head… on my knees… with my eyes closed).

“Oh. My. God,” was her reply.

“I know right?!”

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I immediately slipped it on. Its buttery softness engulfed me. I stood and looked into the mirror. I ignored the flannel pajama bottoms and oversized stained t-shirt I was sporting. My hair was piled on top of my head in a greasy four day old mess. The jacket was the star. The scenery did not matter.

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“Here. You try it on,” I generously proclaimed to my daughter.

She put it on and I rolled the sleeves for her as I had seen another blogger do earlier in the week.

She turned to face the mirror. “I love it! It is soooooo soft.”

“I know. And it is not real leather. It is fake leather. No animals were hurt making it!”

My husband piped up from the corner of the room. “Were any fake animals hurt in making the fake jacket?” He quipped.

He knew I would ponder that all afternoon if I let it get to me, so I ignored his question and turned my attention back to my new favorite purchase.

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“We can share it!” I proclaimed. This is kind of amazing because I am a size 6-8 and my daughter is a size 0-2. But the size medium fit us both perfectly (on me it is more fitted and on her it is looser). It was just like that book/movie with those traveling pants. Minus traveling. And pants. But you know what I mean.

I actually was going to break my cardinal rule and let her be on the blog for this post. She had been wanting to. But when I asked her if she wanted to take pictures with me for this post (I thought it would be funny to have pictures of us fighting over the jacket), she vehemently declined. Why? Because she did not want anyone to say that she looks like me. Sigh. And so it begins continues.

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I will still share the jacket.

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Now, before you think I am the most giving person out there. That I am sharing my most favoritest (my most favoritest not-a-real-word word) of jackets out of simple selflessness and not greed. This is what I told my husband:

“If we both use the jacket then technically it is only half price for each of us. Technically my clothing budget is only moderately affected.”

“Is that how it works?” Deadpanned my husband.

“Yep.” I like to use my fake logic on him.

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Do you own a leather jacket? Or a fake leather jacket? Or a traveling pants kind of jacket? If you have a fake pet, please do not show it this post. It would scar it for fake life.

*I shared this on The Pleated Poppy and Reasons To Dress.

*this outfit was inspired by Tifforelie on Instagram. I love how she paired Anthropologie’s Vegan Leather Jacket with Anthropologie’s floral tights. The colors match perfectly. The cream Free People slip is combined with a dress from Forever 21.

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A Disturbing Find

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I was folding laundry in my living room the other day. It was going smoothly (I know you were worried. As you should be. Folding laundry is a harrowing experience). Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Well, except for the fact that I was actually folding laundry. It must have been a full moon.

The torture It was almost over.

Then, I pulled out something disturbing from beneath the small hill that had moments before been a rather large mountain of clothes.

I don’t know what happened.

Where they came from.

What it means.

Well, look for yourself:

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Yes, these were in my laundry.

My daughter is fourteen.

I cannot recall ever purchasing her tights when she was a baby.

And even if I had, how could they resurface fourteen years later in an entirely different house, three washing machines later?

This leads me to believe these are not hers.

But whose are they?

Now I am worried they are mine.

Did my tights shrink that much?

Is it possible?

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

Not with my mad laundry skills.

Or are all of the gnomes in my house having more fun at night than I could imagine?

Are these the hose of a racy imp?

Should I be touching these?

And if my gnomes are not having scandalous romps at night, what are they? Where did they come from?

I feel like a grown up Wendy finding Peter Pan’s shadow.

Wait.

You don’t think. No. It couldn’t be possible. But what if…

Well, could these tights be Peter Pan’s?

This leads to many disturbing images in my head.

Now, what shall I do with these? They are obviously important. I need to decide if I want the owner to return for them. Or just leave them be. This is really all too much for me. And my imagination.

And this is why I don’t do the laundry.

Before this I wouldn’t be laying awake at night worrying that a fairy tale is going to come and take me away to another land.

Full of magic.

And fun.

And pirates.

Where I would never grow old.

Hmmmmm.

“Peter!Peter! I’ve got your tights! I’m ready to go!”

…I hope there’s no laundry to do there. Although Tinker Bell’s pants shouldn’t be too hard to fold.

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Spinnin’ Jennin’

Last Wednesday it was cold. It was dreary. I wanted to stay inside, but I could not. I had many errands to run. What’s a girl to do?

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Put on a fun, flirty dress with some bright colors that will beat away the grey day, that’s what!

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I had been lovin’ this Anthropologie Midday Dress online, but I knew I was going to wait for a good sale price on it. When I went to do reviews at the end of March, I tried this dress on and fell in love.

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It is such an easy, comfortable, flattering fit. Many other women were buying this dress the day I was there. In fact, one woman wore it up to the cash register and asked if they could cut the tags off after she paid for it, because she wanted to keep it on for an event she was going to. I loved that!

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I also love the spin factor of this dress.

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It is fun!

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May I never grow too old that I cannot enjoy a good spin! Oh! The rush!

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Back to Earth. I’m graceful.

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Do you have a dress you love to spin in? A way to beat a dreary day away? Please share.

P.S. More photos of this dress can be found here.

and

I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

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Passionate For Popbacks

The majority of my closet is full of popbacks or sale finds.

You know.

The way a hoarder’s closet should be.

And is.

What’s a popback? If you are asking this question, then I need to explain my favorite store, Anthropologie. And their system. A popback is simply a term used to describe something that was sold out and then someone returns it or they find an extra one in a store or warehouse and it…pops back in stock. This can happen even if the item has been sold out for years.

On Anthropologie’s website, I created a wishlist. This wishlist holds around 725 items, some of them years old. I usually ignore the new items after I add the ones I want to my list. I watch them sell out. Then restock. Then hit first cuts and sell out again. And I just sit patiently. I am after the deep cuts. Usually I can get them. Sometimes I am out of luck. Actually, quite often I am out of luck. And that is just the nature of the game. But since I very, very rarely pay full price or even first cuts (half off) for an item, I know it is a risk I am usually willing to take.

I only add items to my wishlist that I really want.

If I feel something is unusually unique, then I will buy it right when it hits sale.

Some items never get deeply cut. I like to save a lot of Christmas decorations in case one day one pops back for $2 (fyi, this has never happened). Sometimes I just like the look of something but I know I will never buy it. Or I fantasize that the $600 leather bag or $500 boots will one day be 90% off (um, this has never happened for me either). My point being, no, I do not own 725 items. And I hope never to own that many items. But it is fun to look at. My list is 15 pages long and I own 1 and a 1/2 of those pages.

You don’t have to search your full list for popbacks. They will show up where your backordered items show up, usually right before all of the items that are sold out. For me, this is page three.

I don’t delete things I have scored, because, like a serial killer, I like to look at my victim’s all clumped together. And smile at my ingenious way that I was able to lure the victims into my closet. They never saw it coming.

Too far?

Okay. Sorry about that.

Most people I know have a budget. I am no exception. Why would I want to spend my monthly budget on two or three items full price when I could score ten or more for the same price? They are still things I really liked, I was just patient for them. They usually also retain either their full popback value or more than what I paid versus paying full price and immediately losing value on the item in case I want to resell it later.

Here are some of my popbacks from recently:

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My Corca Sweater that originally sold for $148. It popped back and I scored it for $20. The pants are my Pilcro Cords that I patiently waited to hit sale. Original price $98. I paid $37.50. The Zephyr Moto Boots were originally $180 and I scored them on a popback for $50. Those boots were ones I struggled about keeping. I was unsure about them. But I get more comments on those boots when I go out than on any item in my closet. And I have worn them a surprising amount of times.

I love the Echoing Necklace. It is actually an item I paid first cuts for after waiting impatiently for it to hit sale. It can still be found on the link provided as of this posting.

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This Lace Peplum Hoodie is adorable. I got it for $20. Its original price was $88. The jeans are my Mother Cruiser Jeans I also got on a popback for $40 instead of $220.

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This Ombra Shift Dress is so versatile! Its original price was $188. I scored it for $30. The rust tights were originally $58 (I still have not discerned why) and I got them for $6 last year.

I never, ever check the sale section on Anthropologie’s website. I do not want to make a rash decision. If it did not make it to my wishlist, I must not have wanted it. If I really want something, I will add it in all of the colors in hopes that one day one of the colors will be returned at an incredible price. This almost always works. I just have to be two things: patient and not picky.

Do you wait for sale? Are popbacks your favorite? Have you ever heard of popbacks? I had not until the awesome Roxy of Effortless Anthropologie tuned me into them. She does a weekly Popback post. It is so helpful, especially if you do not yet have a wishlist of your own. Members of her site will leave the link to an item that has popped back. I highly recommend visiting her site to learn more about shopping at Anthropologie. In addition to the weekly Friday Popback post, every Monday she does a sales post listing new items on sale and sometimes prices on older pieces as well.

P.S. If you want, I can leave links even for things sold out, but I just don’t put them if the item is no longer available. If you would prefer links, please let me know.