Thanksgiving Haul

In keeping with my personal recession, I had decided to do no shopping this Thanksgiving weekend and merely enjoy some good food and good company.

Alas, my friends are shoppers and as such, I helped the miserably ailing Michigan economy (highest unemployment in the nation, four years in a row, ya'll!) by purchasing some justifiable goods that I had been eyeing for a while anyway.


Of course, I don't have to explain why I bought O.P.I nail polish, especially when they were buy one get one free. I'm not a regular polish junkie but these are the best (suck it, Essie!). I am also not a fan of the current matte polish trend -- it really ages the hand. The suede formulation looks more doable and I'll report back here again if I start painting and it turns out otherwise.


I also lucked out with the gleaming stainless steel additions from Cuisinart since some friends were eyeing a skillet from a generously priced seven-piece set. These pots now join my beloved heirloom-quality WMF jumbo saucepan. I'm still waiting for a good chef's knife to go on sale; hopefully the wait won't be long.


However, the best deals this weekend could be found at Old Navy. I'm not a frequent visitor there since I've experienced repeated quality issues. Yet their discounts were extremely generous, even more so than what is offered on their website and I want to recommend their solid coloured tights to anybody whom cares for tights. Yes, they are well-made and at 50% off, the price is unbelievable. Buy them now, because they were flying off the racks in the store! Available in many colours; I bought purple and will be hunting for more. For everyone else, get one of the colour block scarves from the men's department -- they are awesome, even in acrylic.

General (Shoe) Business I

Did you ever know that you cannot store anything on your balcony even if you pay rent for it? Talk about a waste of square footage. The building instructor vehemently stressed on the need for emptiness on the space -- how Zen of her.

This has forced me to rethink the organisation of my footwear collection, more accurately; the need for proper organisation of my footwear collection. Seeing that I'm on a "shopping ban", I have decided to pay more attention to the current stash of shoes, particularly to the conditioning aspect.

I, for one, find it rude when we subject our shoes to snow, sand, and salt and expect them to continue looking good after the vigorous beating. Good-looking, well-aged leathers require some love.

See for yourself the exhibit of shoes below, in cowhide and snakeskin for the footwear, and lambskin for the owl wristlet (my impulse buy from Marc on Bleecker, back in July).

I don't remember when I started getting religious about leather conditioning but it was probably when I started buying some French and Italian bags and I immediately became serious about "protecting my investment" -- a somewhat lovelorn idea.

The only thing I will say about leather conditioning is that it is time-consuming but worth it. Like all great outcomes, this kind of loving takes time; at least 24 hours but I do 48 hours if I can spare it. I use the museum curator stuff from Pecard, which I recommend to all of you (including your soon-to-be-very soft-hands).