Today's D(st)eal

Yesterday, I took a trip with my mom to Cherry Hill Mall to do a little shopping. While I was there, I managed to score a gorgeous maxi dress for myself.

I've written before about thrift shopping. Let me take a moment to say something about clearance shopping. Basically, the same principles apply. There's a few minor differences, for example, you can often combine clearance sales with coupons to multiply your savings. Overall though, the concepts are pretty similar.

Ok, back to the incredible deal I got. Macy's generally has some great clearance deals and yesterday was no exception. On top of the marked down price, they were taking another 25% off. From their clearance racks, this Jones New York dress came home with me:

This dress was SCREAMING to be accessorized. My dress was missing the belt, so I added my own from my pop-pop's closet (no, that's not a store, it was really my pop-pop's belt), a green bangle from Philly Thrift for AIDS and vintage Avon bangles, feathered ear clip from Claire's, and single chain earring from my own collection.

A $139 dress for under $30. With the accessories (all of which were previously purchased) this entire look was less than $40. I know the woman on the website was wearing espadrilles, but I prefer the barefoot look. Given that most stores require shoes in order to receive service and that cooler weather is just a moment away, I'll add some nice brown boots and a jacket to take this look straight into fall.

Til next time! -Erika

Finally Settling Back In

I spent the last two weeks travelling like crazy. Well, it feels like it anyway. I've spent 7 day of the last 14 days either travelling or off site from my office. I was never so happy to come home and melt into my bed as I was last night.

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Orange County for 4 days (I'm sure you guys remember this post.) This week, I spent three days in New Orleans at a client conference.

Wow!! What an amazing few days! I was able to meet some awesome folks and network with other people within my industry. I stayed in a fabulous hotel with a fabulous roommate and had fun with fabulous people.

And then, there was Bourbon Street...

The infamous Bourbon Street. Millions of people before me have experienced Bourbon Street. Now I can say I have. And it was an experience, to say the least. There is no pretense there. Everything is for sale at just about any hour you want it. I ended up leaving Bourbon Street with a story that involved a doorman, my overly abundant front and a questionable "accident", but what I learned from it is that its safer to walk in the street.

I was pretty disappointed with the lack of beads being tossed from the balconies though. I guess you know the economy is bad when you have to go buy your own beads.

Til next time! -Erika

Things I Learned in Laguna Beach

Just over a week ago, you guys know that I went to California. Since I returned back from my excursion to the Western coast, I was running around trying to catch up from everything that I missed at work while I was away. Now I have 30 seconds to sit down, breathe, and write about my full excursion to Laguna Beach. While I was there, I learned a few things as an East Coast girl traipsing through the West Coast.

1) Drive. Very. Carefully. Driving on the West Coast is completely different than driving on the East. This was not the first time I've driven on the freeways, and they still scare me. And there are a lot of hills, for those manual transmission types.

2) When you park in Laguna Beach, if you're planning to stay for a while, bring lots, and I do mean lots of quarters. I ended up missing out on a lot of sightseeing because I wasn't prepared.

3) Use the crosswalks, but always use caution and common sense. Believe it or not, cars will stop for pedestrians (sometimes not right away, but they will stop eventually if they see you waiting.)

4) People are generally nice. Like really nice. Like scary nice. It's nice.

Now, back to what actually brought me to Laguna Beach. What lured me to the mountainous, oceanfront beauty that is Laguna Beach?

Yarn. It's that simple. I was lured there by yarn. When you're a knitter, one of the first things you will do is find the local yarn shops. For me, it was Strands and Stitches. It was a bright, beautiful, friendly shop filled floor to ceiling with every type of deliciously coloured fiber. It was gorgeous!

After looking around with Dona and picking out a couple different yarns that I was debating on purchasing, she found a yarn that matched my eyes. One look, one feel and it was all over.

400 beautiful, silky, sensual yards of Hand Maiden SeaSilk. Holding it as a hank of yarn was one thing. When Dona wound it for me into a cake...oh, it became a work of art worthy of framing. I think it really matches me eyes, don't you?

This won't stay as a beautiful cake forever though. This yarn will make it's way to becoming Fragile Heart. A wonderful recommendation (again, from Dona at S&S.)

After all of this, my mom and I were talking about my trip to Laguna. It went something like this:
Mom: Did you go to the beach?
Me: Yeah. I bought some yarn and a pattern.
Mom: So you went to the beach to buy yarn???? Really?
Me: In my defense, the yarn is made from seaweed.

I don't think she bought it. Til next time! -Erika

The View

On Sunday, I found Strands and Stitches online after some extensive (ok, maybe not that extensive...like 10 minutes worth) of searching and filtering out the yarn shops that were either closed on Sundays or just plain closed. It looked warm and welcomeing, so I decided to brave the California roads and make the drive from Garden Grove to Laguna Beach. (I'm apologize if I offend anyone who lives in California, your roads scare me second only to NYC. I'm sorry, New Yorkers, I will never, not even if my life depended on it, drive in NYC. There isn't enough time for me to write why, so I think it's safe to say we're all happier with this truth, so let's move on.)

First, I want to say something about Laguna Beach.

It. Is. Absolutely. Breathtaking. I'm not talking about the beautiful people, and expensive cars and the fancy hilltop real estate. No, what I am talking about is the amazing landscape upon which it is built.

Source: juliapelish.com via Erika on Pinterest

The mountains and the ocean in the same breathtaking view. Driving down to the South Coast Highway, I was 2 blocks away when I caught my first sight of the Pacific ocean and it took my breath away. Although I've been to California a few times before, I've never actually seen the Pacific Ocean.

It may sound silly, but having grown up on the East Coast, I had yet to see anything like it in my life. From hearing people talk about it, it sounds like people around here really appreciate the beauty of the area. I can definitely understand why.

East Coast to West Coast

I've safely made it to the OC. It's been a really long day consisting of one really long flight, one almost missed flight, three really heavy bags, a car rental upgrade and, hopefully soon, some pizza.

Even though the flights were long, they were productive. I finished reading The Happiness Project. I made progress on American Rose. I got some knitting done. Sleeping, a little, but I definitely need more. I guess I should have known when I referred to "sleeping park of the way to my layover" in my last post. Yeah. Good editing there.

I am absolutely exhausted, but I'm hoping that some food will rejuvenate me enough to go enjoy one if the wineries in the area. I guess we'll see. Let's hope the pizza guy shows up before I start eating furniture.

Til next time! -Erika

Early Morning in an Airport

It's quarter of 5 in the morning...4:45 for you "normal" folks. I'm sitting at a gate in the back of B terminal of Philadelphia International Airport. On the monitor above me is a commercial touting the fabulousness of Philadelphia, the tax free clothes shopping and the awesome night life. I guess it's the skeptic in me that wants to say "Yeah, we have all that...but..."

It's early and I haven't had my coffee. I'll leave that rant alone.

I am heading west, to California, for a client visit. 

I'm tired. Very tired. I'm looking forward to maybe sleeping park of the way to my layover. If I can't fall asleep, I brought plenty of reading material with me. Some client materials, of course, but also some fun stuff too.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and American Rose by Karen Abbott. I've been reading The Happiness Project off and on for about a year now. It's a great read. I've started to go back and re-read the beginning again, this time taking the time to highlight and notate the sections that are important to me. The first time, I was hesitant to mark up the book. I need to think about why that is.

American Rose was a library book that caught my eye. I kind of need to hurry up and finish this one up because I only have about 2 weeks to finish this up and I need to return it before my next trip. No pressure or anything.

Ok, I smell something cooking. Time to find some breakfast.

Til next time! -Erika

What Has She Gotten Into Now?

If you leave me to my own devices too long, if I don't have something to immediately keep me occupied, I will find something to keep me occupied. I'm like a little kid...I'm into EVERYTHING!

Tonight, I got home from work and was too tired to really do anything else except melt onto my couch with my laptop. I checked my email, my social media sites and texted a couple friends. Then...nothing. The cat is asleep and doesn't feel like playing. I'm waiting for my OH to finish up work. Until then...what do I have to do online???

*twiddles thumbs*

*twiddles thumbs some more*

*tries twiddling toes, realizes toes are too short to twiddle and is saddened by short toes*

OOH, I know! I'll see if Coursera has anything new listed! So I toddle over to the site and find that, yes indeed, they do have new ones! YAAYYY!!! So I browse the listings and within 15 minutes, I have five, count 'em, FIVE new courses I ended up signing up for.

Computational Photography  - For the photo nerd in me who is longing to come back out.
Organic Chemistry Part 1 and Part 2 - For the chemistry nerd in me who wishes she had taken organic chemistry.
Rationing and Allocating Scarce Medical Resources - For the medical professional in me.
Introduction to Logic - Because it sounded interesting.

I should not be left alone with access to this website.

Til next time! -Erika

Doing Some Good, Sharing Your Skills

September has begun. Kids are heading back to school, the sun is setting earlier and earlier, the evenings are getting a little bit cooler and soon, there will be a chill in the air during the day. This time of year has always been one of my favourite times. I was incredibly lucky growing up to have handmade scarves and blankets from my mom and grandmom at my fingertips.

In fact, getting a crocheted blanket from them became a way for me to mark important milestones in my life. When I was a baby, grandmom made me a green, yellow and cream chevron blanket. When I was accepted into college, my mom made me an afghan with the logo of my college crocheted into it, in crayon colours of course, since I was an art major. Two years ago, mom made me a Halloween afghan, simply because I wanted a Halloween blanket.

When I take a step back, I realize I am incredibly spoiled. I have a mom who makes sure I have the blankets, hats and scarves that I need, even though I'm 30. She passed along her knitting and crochet skills to me, so I can share the same feeling with those I care about, including my incredibly spoiled dogs.

There are a lot of people (and animals) who have no one to make sure they have a nice snuggly blanket or the enveloping embrace of a handmade scarf. There are a lot of ways you can get involved in charity knitting and crocheting if you want to share your gift with others and let them feel the same way I feel everytime I wrap myself up in one of my afghans.

The Red Scarf Project
Project Linus
Snuggles Project
Newborns in Need
Knots of Love
Knit A Square

Til next time! -Erika