Warby Parker

Hello Lovelies,

Sorry I've been MIA but I've been so busy with work, because its the busiest time for any retail worker....... Black Friday weekend.  But enough about Black Friday, I have a post all about my feelings towards Black Friday, and believe me they haven't changed since I wrote that post.

Anyhow, on to one of my favorite new companies.... WARBY PARKER.  I've recently received the news that my once 20/20 vision isn't what it used to be.  To be fair I can see well during the day but I've noticed that I'm squinting more and more when I drive at night and am having a difficult time reading signs.  I've been told I have night time near sightedness, which means I need glasses when I drive.  I was kind of excited to receive the diagnosis that I needed glasses because I just began picturing all the different choices of glasses  I had.  What I didn't realize when I was daydreaming about glasses is just how expensive frames are and how expensive a prescription is.  My best friend, told me about Warby Parker and their at home try-on program and told me I should check it out.

Warby Parker was founded by 4 friends who wanted to create cute and trendy glasses that didn't cost $250+. "The Warby Parker aesthetic is vintage-inspired with a contemporary twist. Every pair is custom fit with anti-reflective, polycarbonate prescription lenses" that you get for the reasonable price of $95!!!! If the price alone doesn't convince you to try out a pair of Warby Parker pair of glasses, the simple fact that for every pair sold Warby Parker will donate a pair to someone in need through the non-profit VisionSpring.

The only thing I don't like about Warby Parker is that there is no showroom near me.  Sure, I could easily hop on a train and visit one of their 3 NY showrooms, but that just seems annoying to me.  However, before this one little nuisance makes you think you can't get a pair of great glasses, you need to look into the home try-on program.  Warby Parker will allow you to select 5 frames to try at home.  

The HTO program is so simple and is really the best way to try on glasses.  

1. Log on to www.warbyparker.com
2. Select mens/womens optical or sunwear
3. After selecting "optical" you will see all the eyeglasses that Warby Parker offer.
4. Once you click on a pair of glasses you can see alternate views of the glasses and the different colors the frames come in.
5. You'll see on the right hand side that you have the option to click "Add to Home Try-On" or to try on virtually.
6. You are able to pick 5 pairs, however if you don't pick 5 pairs, Warby Parker will pick options that they think will work for you.  
7. Now here's the great part, your HTO is completely free.  Warby Parker does ask for a credit card number and they will charge your account $1, which will be refunded after a few days.  
8. After a few days you'll receive your HTO in a nifty display case.  
9. Now for the fun part, try on your glasses!
10. You have 5 days to try the glasses on, wear them out, take tons of pictures, write a blog post about it.
11. Once you've made a decision or your five days are up, you need to package up the box and attach the prepaid packing label and drop them off at a UPS location.
12. Once Warby Parker receives your package they will email you.  You have the option of ordering a pair, if you found the one! or you can pick 5 more glasses to try-on. 

Photos of the glasses I picked:

Clyde in Blue Marblewood

Wiloughby in Striped Chestnut

Welty in Whiskey Tortoise

Pierce in Oakwood Brown

Chamberlain in Saddle Sage

Currently, the Welty is my favorite pair followed by the Pierce.  I also like the Chamberlain, but I think the frames are a little too big.   I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on any of the pairs so I think I will do one more round of HTO before making a decision.

I will write a follow up post once I decide on the winning pair!

Until Next Time!!!!

Shopping like it's going out of style

Well, in my last post I mentioned that I was going to post what I've bought and here it is.  Keep in mind with a new job comes the need for a new wardrobe.  I love, love, love to shop so any excuse to shop is always welcomed, even if I don't actually need any new clothes.

This lovely navy stripped dress is from Gap (surprise!!!).  I originally had passed on this dress because I liked it but I didn't LOVE it, however I kept thinking about this dress.  I would find my self day dreaming about how I would style it, so I figured I had to go back and purchase it.

                        

This next dress looks terrible on the hanger but it looks super cute on (I'll be sure to take a picture the next time I wear this).  Below is a lovely chunky sweater from Gap which is a great way to transition the neon trend into the fall.  

 The next few things are what I bought to be compliant with my new dress code at my new job!  I bought a simple basic sequin tank that I plan on layering with a blazer or cardigan.

 A super cute long v-neck cardigan which I think will look cute with an oxford under neath it.

 Speaking of oxfords here are a few I picked up from Banana, Old Navy and J.Crew.

Banana Oxford

J. Crew Oxford

Old Navy

Banana

Love this beaded bib collared tank from The Loft.  I want to try and pair this with cable sweater or a simple crew neck sweater so that beaded bib can hang out. 

 My favorite purchase of the last week has been these gold Cece flats from J.Crew.  I've wanted these forever and when they went on sale I knew I had to go get them.  So far they've been super comfortable and I actually want to get a few more pairs of this shoe!

Cheetah pencil skirt that I plan to wear to work this Saturday. 

 In case you wondering, that is in fact a Derek Jeter cardboard cut out that I have rocking a tutu behind my closet door.   I love Derek Jeter and mean no disrespect to him but a scary life size cutout can frighten you in the middle of the night, so the tutu makes it a little less threatening.

On another note, I decided to reorganize my closet by switching the placement of my pants and my shirts.  Not sure if I like this better then how I had to originally but we'll try it out for a little.

How I originally had it

New way

I'm leaning towards changing it back to the original way but in my defense I did buy a lot more clothes so that's why it looks a little messy the new way! Oh well... more time to reorganize my life and closet!

Shopping like my life depends on it...

Ok, well maybe my life doesn't depend on it but I need to shop till I drop at the Gap, because yesterday I gave my 2 weeks notice.  I wish I could say I gave my 2 weeks because I got this amazing big girl full-time position, but sadly that is not the case.  However, I finally decided that I needed a major change in my life.  I needed this because I needed to make a change that would improve my attitude and outlook on life.  Lately, I have been miserable at my job.  I thought it as only because I've been closing a lot but that wasn't it.  I was miserable there all day, everyday.

I sat down with a few of managers and discussed my options with advancing within the company.  My main manager was not as supportive of my decision as I originally expected, which was upsetting.  However, I finally made the decision to go to another store where my friend is one of the managers.  When I went to talk to her I was shocked that even the other managers, who I've never met before, wanted me to work there. With that being said, all good things must come to an end!  I enjoyed my time at the Gap over the last 4 years.  I've had some good and even some bad times (more then I would have cared to have).  I'll miss some of the people I've worked with and I'll definitely miss my employee discount.  However, I know it's my time to leave.

With that being said, here's the mini shopping spree I went on today!!!!

 Since my photos didn't turn out to good I decided to include the pictures from the Gap's website for some of the items.

Polka Dot Seam

LS Camo Epaule

A super soft off the shoulder sweater... it's called the Drop Shoulder sweater

FT Slim Crop Pant

Slim Crop Cash

Blouse from Old Navy

Ok this isn't from the gap but I found this bag at Marshalls the other day and I absolutely love it.  I was going to splurge on a Rebecca Minkoff or a Marc by Marc Jacobs bag but I'm actually really happy with this no name bag.   I paid $40 for this genuine leather bag.  It's bigger then the typical cross body and is dual toned, which I love about it.  It has tons of compartments to store the countless crap I put in my bag.

 Closer look at the lovely color of the bag

Love the inside detail of the bag... is this not absolutely perfect for fall!!!!!


Well I'm sure I'll be back in a few day with more stuff that I bought with my discount.

Until next time!!!!!!!!

Maxi Dresses All Day Everyday!!!!

Ok so maxi dresses are not a new trend but I absolutely have been loving wearing them recently.  For the days that I'm feeling extremely lazy and don't want to think about putting together an outfit I find myself reaching for my maxi dresses.  I've put myself on a ban from buying maxi dresses because I've bought maybe 4 in the last week (I'm obsessed, I know).  I just find them so comfortable and stylish.  My mom thinks I'm crazy because I will literally justify buying a maxi dress no matter how many I have.

Some of my favorite's I've bought from Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and Marshalls (which surprisingly has a great selection of Calvin Klein ones):

 I'm actually wearing one just like this in a beautiful emerald green color that I got at Urban Outfitters for $5 (this one is from Nordstroms and I'm thinking I may need to swing by and pick it up).

Maxi dresses are great for every body shape.  You don't have to be 6 ft tall to rock a great one either.  The trick is finding the right style of maxi dress for your body type!  I'm not the tallest person out there but I've found maxi dresses that are the perfect length for me and if it's too long put on some great wedges.

I also think I may need to buy this one from Urban Outfitters too, then I won't buy another one for at least two weeks.

 

Closet Remodel and Organization Tips

*Disclaimer- I am no expert (I'm not a member of The Amanda's or an interior decorator) but I am someone who has a shopping addiction and needed to make room in my closet for all of my clothes.

I wouldn't classify my closet as tiny but I will say that there was a lot of wasted space in there.  My closet initially had one wire rack hanging straight across.  Sure, it provided ample space but not enough for a shopping addict like myself.  The picture below shows my closet after I raised the rack up.

As you can see in the picture there was a lot of wasted space in my closet.  To make the most of the closet I decided to add another wire rack about half way down the wall which spans 3/4 of the wall.  I didn't want the rack to go the whole distance because I needed to leave some space for dresses and gowns.

I wanted to initially place my shirts on the top rack and the pants on the bottom but I really wanted to utilize the second shelf as storage so I needed to switch my original plan (which wasn't really a big deal).  I took this picture to see what I liked better.

As I was cleaning my closet out I realized I had way too many shoes and needed to add some sort of shoe organizer.  I couldn't add a door shoe rack because my doors are accordion style but I did have an empty wall that was not being used.  I added some tracks, shelves and brackets to make a shoe rack.

Here is the view of my almost finished closet.  I still need to play around with where things are going but overall I am happy with the design of the closet.  After I took this picture I moved my blazers from the bottom rack to the top one.  I also hung all of my cardigans which you can see in the last picture. I bought baskets from The Christmas Tree Store and Marshalls/Home Goods.  Unfortunately, with stores such as Home Goods once you find something you like, chances are you will not find a match.  If you can see in the picture below I have a black weaved basket that has a chevron fabric lining in it.  I simply love this basket and wanted to buy a few more but I could not find any that matched this one anywhere.  So I just picked ones that matched the color scheme in my room.  

The finished bottom rack!

Some tips and tricks for your closet remodel:

1. No space is too small.  You need to make your closet work for you.  I would love to have a walk in closet but I simply don't have the room for that but I feel like I added enough storage space.

2. Double hang your jeans.  Jeans are thick and often take up a lot of room.  If you hang two pairs of jeans on a hanger it reduces the amount space you are taking up.

3.  Color coordinate and hang like items together.  I decided to hang solid tank tops, printed tanks, solid shirts, printed shirts, solid blouses, printed blouses, solid cardigans, printed cardigans, and work dresses.  The top rack is skirts, casual pants (khakis), jeans, dress capris, dress pants, and blazers.  Then in the right hand corner I have maxi dresses, sun dresses, and formal dresses.

4. Buy the same hangers.  It makes you closet just look put together.  I obviously have not cared this out but I intend to switch all my hangers over to the ones I have my pants on. 

5. Buy little bins to keep miscellaneous items in like belts, small accessories, extra hangers, etc.

Remodeling your closet it is a great opportunity to purge your closet of things you simply don't wear.  Take this opportunity to donate your clothing that you haven't worn in 3 months to a local shelter.  Your closet will thank you and you will feel better because you'll be organized and you will be helping those in need.

All the best!

Tori

Neon everything

Hey fashion lovers!

So I know neon colors have been gracing the covers of Vogue, InStyle, and every red carpet event but I felt the need to profess my love for all things neon.  It all started a few months ago when I stumbled upon a gorgeous pair of neon pink khakis from the gap. (The picture doesn't do it justice, think highlighter pink).

 

If you can still get them (I know my gap only had 1 pair left) I would recommend getting them.  The fit is fantastic and they role up into capri's or down into pants.  If you don't like neon they make them in nearly every color so you're bound to find one that you like.  I actually have these in 3 other colors (royal blue, khaki, and recently picked up a pair in navy blue).

Now if you're looking for something a little more summery I would recommend J.Crew's 5" chinos.  Today I purchased the neon orange because I think with a tan they will look AH-MAZING!!! I love the versatility of them and wear them with tanks or a summery blouse.  I also have these in the neon pink, although it's a little darker then my neon pink pants from the gap, which is how I justified getting two neon pink items in my wardrobe.

Sure some people think this neon trend is only a passing trend and they may be right but a little color  in your wardrobe brightens everything up.  Neon clothing items are available at all price levels.  I've seen neon pink shorts from Target and seen even pricier pieces in Nordstrom.  

Wear your neon with a tan or with your favorite top.  My new favorite purchase is these neon dip-dyed shorts from the Gap.

Tori