Theory Pants Score! Thanks Nordstrom Rack

I was out and about last week running a few errands when I found myself at a Nordstrom Rack. Don't you just hate when that happens?  I wasn't really looking for anything per se, but these amazing black, ankle cut, trousers fell into my hands.  One glance at the price reduction sticker had me running for the dressing room.  I've never been more happy to size up to an 8 in my life!  Thank you bubble butt because these Theory pants fit beautifully.  85% off, don't mind if I do! 

Top - Annalee + Hope (TJ Maxx)

Pants - Theory (Nordstrom Rack)

Shoes - Cole Haan (Rue La La)

Necklace - Ann Taylor (old) 

Pockets! You don't say! 

And I can sleep soundly at night knowing that my new top was made in the USA and my new pants were made in the USA of imported fabrics. 

I can't remember the exact prices on everything, but I'm pretty sure the Cole Haan Shoes were $50, the shirt was $16, the necklace was $15, and of course the Theory pants were $34.  That's $115 total for the whole outfit!  It's not my cheapest outfit ever, but I'm pleased with what I paid for it.

Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington DC: Trifecta complete

One of the reasons the hubs and I bought a house where we did is because we live in the little triangle between Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.  We're 15 minutes from Camden Yards, 25 minutes from the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, and 45 minutes from Verizon Center.  We can get our sports fix in under an hour for every major sporting event Maryland/DC can offer!

Saturday I went for the trifecta and spent some time in each city.  Started off bright and early for a 13 mile run in Annapolis where it absolutely poured for the last five miles.  Honestly, running in a downpour was such a relief after running in ridiculously hot temperatures the week before.

Then in the afternoon the hubs and I met up with friends for a brewery tour at Heavy Seas on the south side of Baltimore. Learning about the beer making process while sampling on locally brewed beers was a 90 minutes well spent in my book.

Finally, the hubs and I ended our night at Verizon Center catching the Michael Jackson "The Immortal World Tour" by Cirque Du Soleil.  The hubs is not only a huge Michael Jackson fan, but he's seen almost every Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas.  It was the perfect end to a Saturday night to cap off a late birthday celebration.

So yes, on Saturday I hit up all the major cities in the Maryland area.

And on Sunday I was lazy and watched the hubs pitch a hell of a game.  I came thisclose to getting absolutely DRILLED by a foul ball and I'm still not sure how I got the heck out of the way.  The hubs was pitching and the umpire said, "wow, that could have hurt and that lady looks pissed."  The hubs responded, "that's my wife."  I told the people I was sitting with, "just watch as soon as this game is over he (the hubs) is going to give me hell about not catching that foul ball."  Sure enough, that's what happened.  Although in privacy later he told me that I probably would have broken a few fingers if I tried to catch that thing because it was moving!

Overall: a great weekend!

What did you get into this weekend?

What the heck is that?

This thing fell off my patio chair the other night and literally scared the daylights out of me.  That has got to be the ugliest moth/insect/bat/creature/alien I've ever seen.

I did the only rational thing I could think of - picked up my camera and took a few pictures of it.  From as far away as I could because I would scared it would bite me or something.  I would have screamed like a little girl if it even touched me!

Then, after a few minutes of bewilderment it opened its wings to reveal really pretty back portion of its wings.  I tried to muster up some strength to get a bit closer and when I did that sucker threw out some nasty green colored slime. 

I screamed so loud someone in my neighborhood probably thought there was a crime being committed. I didn't even come through the back door of the house because I was so scared this thing would get in the house, which meant the only logical thing to do was to run around to the front door and let myself in that way.  

Seriously though, now that it's gone and I've come to peace with the understanding that I don't know where it is, does anyone know what the heck that thing is? 

Happy 29th Birthday Hubs!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband.

The guy who has made me laugh so hard I've cried and is the primary reason I have permanent laugh lines.

I highly encourage everyone to go to 7-Eleven today and get a free slurpee.  Then, lift a slurpee to the hubs because he gets a double slurpee on his birthday.  It's just the perk of sharing a birthday with a convenience store.

It's always hotter in Arizona

The Baltimore area has been crippled by extreme heat over the past two weeks and it's been just miserable.  Good thing I've been prepping for the heat because three weeks ago I was on a site visit in three areas of Arizona and the coolest weather I encountered was a mild 105 degree day in Tucson.  It was absolutely brutal.

I actually attempted to walk 6 blocks in downtown Phoenix to get back to my hotel from a meeting on a Friday afternoon at 2pm.  I'm not kidding you, I had to dive inside a building lobby for a few minutes half way through my walk because I thought I was going to pass out. The things I'll do to save on cab fare!

I will give Arizona credit where credit is due: Arizonans recycle and they respect water! Every where I went someone was offering to either give me a bottle of water, recycle my bottle, or refill my bottle.  Each of the three hotels I stayed in had recycling containers in every room.  Public parks, street corners, and gas stations even had recycling containers at every garbage can.

I also met with a variety of housing developers and they were incredibly proud of the green building measures that they were putting into place in their projects.  Everything from recycled concrete roof tiles to gray water systems were utilized.  It was really amazing to see.

The only thing interrupting the clear blue sky is the framework of a house. 

Recycled concrete roof tiles.  50 year lifespan and roughly the same cost has shingles.  Perfect for long-term sustainable housing. 

I don't think I actually met Bob, but I'm thankful he could lend me a clean hard hat.  

Not my idea of a garden, but sure why not. 

Wait, is this sign warning me that there are warring factions of scorpions and snakes waiting to battle?

I think I could feel the water evaporate out of my veins it was so dry out.

 

Did you know that it takes roughly a 100 years for a cactus to grow an arm?  Some folks in Tucson told me that little tidbit of information. 

So, so, so hot. 

You know things are warm when you see a city park and there isn't a kid in sight.  I kept waiting for an alien ship to come down and put all the people back in their places. 

I was probably a bit too excited that I was able to pack for a full week of site visits (flew out Sunday night and returned Friday night) and fit everything into my carry-on bag.  Unfortunately because of all the sand I left the heels in the bag the entire trip! I hate when that happens because they took up valuable suitcase space. I was pretty ticked when my bag had to get gate checked on my return flight.  I hate online check-in because if you don't do it promptly 24 hours before your flight time then you're stuck at the end of the pack and I wasn't even flying on Southwest!

50 closet classics: Time to go shopping

I came across this image on Pinterest the other day.  It was one of those, "with these XX number of pieces of clothes you can have an infinite number of outfits."

Source 

Of course that led me to whine, "but I don't have any of those pieces!" Well, actually I have quite a few similar pieces, which means I should really cut down on the dramatic, "I have nothing to wear" moments I seem to have every day. 

This outburst led to more time spent on Pinterest and led me to finding an image from Matchbook Magazine titled, "50 classics for your closet: the go-to basics every matchbook girl should own..."  Well I don't consider myself a Matchbook girl or a girl for that matter, but I was hooked by the pretty polka dot umbrella and the purple loafers. 

I checked off the things in my closet that I have and like for the grand total of 26 items.  Technically, I have a few more of the items unchecked, but I'm not really a big fan of the piece I have so I hope to get a more classic piece instead.  Although, I don't think I'll ever own a black bikini ... I just don't see that ever falling into my closet. 

I don't think the hubs is going to want to hear this, but it looks like I'm short on quite a few classic pieces. I guess that means it's time to go shopping :)

Oh who am I kidding? I'm on serious shopping lockdown after a few indulgences last month.  Sigh, it looks like I'm stuck on window shopping for my remaining items.

How about you? What classics do you still need to add to your closet? 

If you want a blank list, then click here.

Born in the USA

I believe if you were born in New Jersey in the 1970s or 1980s there was fine print on the back of your long-form birth certificate that required you to make references to The Boss whenever a reference was possible. Rumor has it now the fine print pleads with newborn Jersey Boys and Girls to avoid future participation in any reality show that may negatively impact the glorious reputation of the Garden State.

But I digress.

There have been numerous tiny events in my life that slowly formulated a conscious decision to try to bring in more American made products into my home. The largest spark for this decision occurred last spring when the hubs and I signed an offer to purchase our home. That was it; we were finally adults because a bank said they trusted us enough to keep sending them payments for the next 30 years. If that’s not a sign of adulthood, then I don’t know what is!

With such a life changing event happening I pulled the hubs aside and told him that in our new forever home, I wanted to bring in more goods stamped, “Made in the USA.” In that same discussion, I also said I specifically wanted to bring in less goods stamped, “Made in China.” There had been so many recalls on children’s toys, pet foods, drywall, and a host of other goods coming from China at the time that I singled the country out. Yes, I felt bad about it. I’m not a fan of prejudices, but the last thing I wanted to do at the time was bring something into our house that was potentially dangerous. 

I won’t go into all my reasons for making this decision, but I will say that it was a long-time coming. 

As usual, the hubs put up with my craziness and endured my shenanigans as best as he could. He was very

straight with me and we both understood that we would, “do our best, but costs and logistics would prevail.”


More often than not, "costs prevailed." I don't know about you, but have you ever really looked at how few items are labeled, "Made in the USA" these days? It's disheartening. In addition, the cost for most items made in this country are significantly higher than those imported; especially for lights! If you find an American made light company that is reasonable, please let me know! 


Then, in January of this year the hubs was given the flag that draped his grandfather's funeral casket.  When that box showed up on our doorstep the hubs and I knew we had to find a case to keep the flag preserved for memory sake and save keeping. 


Off we went to find a flag case.  Ten stores later the hubs was about to lose his cool in the middle of a big-box craft store. This particular store had an entire row filled with shadow boxes and flag cases specifically showing pictures of holding American flags.  But guess what? Every single case and box was labeled, "Made in China." 


The hubs wasn't on "Team America" at the time, but he quickly came over to my side.  He was actually shaking while talking to a customer service representative who was absolutely flabbergasted and embarrassed that every single item in the aisle was made in China, yet advertised itself as being the perfect item to hold an American flag. 


I felt so bad for the hubs that he wasn't successful in finding the perfect case for his grandfather's flag that I actually posted a short summary of our frustrations on the craft store's Facebook page. In less than two days my wall post received over a 150 likes and 50 comments.  Three days later I received an email from a regional manager expressing his concern with my wall post and informed me that he would take my concerns up the chain of command.  


I went back into that craft store this weekend and you know what I found. Nothing had changed. Every single flag case and shadow box on their shelves was still made in China. 


The hubs ended up finding a nice store online that specializes in making flag cases. Every single case is made in North Carolina and is made by hand.  

In the meantime, the hubs and I are still struggling to find American made items for our house. I've almost given up on buying clothes made in America because I can't find a shoe company that makes a fashionable woman's shoe.  All but two pairs of my Cole Haan shoe collection is made in China. Same thing for all of my J.Crew dresses!  


Here's what we've found:

1. The big home goods stores (Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Z Gallerie, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.) will specifically say, "Made in the USA" if a product is made here in the states. If it says "imported"  or nothing at all then there is a solid chance the item is coming from China.  Most of the stores above are very open about where their items come from and have country of origin on their website (Crate & Barrel wins in this department).  Other stores will openly say in the item description if the item is made in Italy, India, Brazil, Canada, or Mexico.  I've actually emailed Restoration Hardware in the past and had them send me a list of everything in their current inventory that was made in the USA.  Restoration Hardware definitely gets a point for amazing customer service, but I'd love them more if any of their window hardware was made in the USA. 
2. Just because something is reclaimed wood doesn't mean it's made in America.  I fell in love with a gorgeous reclaimed wood table at Williams Sonoma Home and was pretty bummed to find out a table costing over $2k was made in China. 
3. Ceiling fans are not made in the USA.  Seriously, I've been looking for an American made ceiling fan for over six months.  If you find one, let me know.
4. Don't automatically assume a company that makes things in the USA makes everything in the USA.  Libby glasswares makes a ton of things in the USA and also a ton of things in Mexico.  I don't quite know why one glass shape is made in the USA and the other is made in another country, but it's frustrating that the ones I want aren't made in the USA.  Our GE Cafe fridge is made in Canada and the USA and we went with it because of it's amazing reviews and knowing that we could buy some GE things that were made in the USA.  
5. Many online shopping stores (Crate & Barrel, Overstock, Wayfair, Bellacor etc.) allow you to search for items made in the USA.  One careful caveat is on Bellacor you'll only get items that have "Made in the USA" in the item description.  Some companies keep that piece of information in their company description and not in their item description.  I bought a floor lamp from Bellacor that was listed on ten different sites as "Made in the USA," but wasn't coming up in searches on Bellacor. 
6. Some items lend themselves to being made in the USA more than others.  North Carolina is known for upholstered furniture and it's not difficult to find a ton of quality couch options that are made in the USA.  However, the hubs and I have yet been able to find a pretty bathroom garbage can that is made in the USA. The only ones we can find are the generic clear plastic ones. 
7. Room & Board is the coolest store of all time.  They don't just list the country of origin for every single  product on their website, but for all USA made items they list the specific state where the product is made and artisan that makes all of their products.  The hubs and I bought our bed from Room & Board in March and it's been one of our favorite purchases. 

If you've found any companies for either home or fashion items that are made in the USA, please leave me a comment.  It's really been a struggle for us and we need to buy curtains ASAP!