August Craziness - and pictures!

Do you ever have times where it just seems like your job ate your life? I've been going through one of those lately. For some reason, all of my cases just decided to blow up and need immediate attention over the past two weeks. And I realized that I never did post my promised report back from tax-free weekend. I hit some great sales and had fantastic luck!

At The Pink Palm in Richmond, I got to check out the new fall Lilly collection. I'm drooling over several of the pieces, but this cute dress really caught my eye. They had it in two prints, and I'm loving both! This is the one that was on the mannequin and ready for its close-up, though:



I made myself be good, and stick to sales for now, though. Given that they had the gorgeous Lovell shift in my size, this wasn't exactly a hardship. I tend to wear lots of greens and blues, but this cheery yellow is a lovely change. I wore it to church last Sunday, and I felt so sunny!



I had lunch at a very yummy cafe next to Pink Palm. It's called Mosaic and they pride themselves on cooking dishes with local ingredients. The salad tasted out-of-the-backyard-garden fresh, and I had a very good dish of pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes. I will definitely keep this little place in mind for my next Richmond jaunt.

At Talbots, I managed to break my "sales only" rule. Still, I think the shoes were worth it. I will wear these all fall. Aren't they cute?


I also found this fun blouse that will brighten up my navy suits for work. I wore it to court today, and it looked great. It was a nice change from my usual button-down shirts.



At the venerable Levy's, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised. I haven't been to Levy's in Virginia Beach very often, but I remember them having cute beachy clothes. The Levy's in Charlottesville was, if not as cool as the Corner, still definitely quite the preppy shop when I was in college - and known for years as a great place to find dresses. However, the Richmond store seems to cater to an older crowd. Many of the items in the front of the store were things my grandmother's more flamboyant friends would go for. Think comfortable knits and elastic waist pants in a variety of animal prints. It's not my thing, but I know some ladies who would love it. This Levy's still had a small dress rack, though, and in the very back of the store, they had some of the well-made basic shirts, polos, droolworthy cable knits, etc.. that their other stores are known for stocking.

It was there that I struck gold. Levy's was having its fantastic 3 for 1 sale (buy 1 piece and get 2 free). I managed to pick up a really flattering pair of khakis, some white jeans and a khaki skirt. Not exciting, but very necessary. And since they're all well-made pieces, I was happy.

Phew! It was quite the expedition - and I also ended up cashing in all my various Ann Taylor coupons to order the suit I showed in my last post. I can't believe it took me two weeks to recover, but there you go.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! I'm off to lunch with family tomorrow, but otherwise no major plans. How about you?