The Unfashionista Strikes Again

Well, I warned you that I wouldn't have a post this week, since I'd be out of town for a conference, but...style never takes a vacation, and an Unfashionista never misses an opportunity to expand her wardrobe!

On Wednesday, I had an hour and a half between the last meeting and dinner, and in that time, I managed to buy two souvenirs for my boyfriend, one for my mom, two tops to soon grace this blog, a cookie for my other blog, and some carrots to eat in case dinner proved vegetarian- or Valerie-unfriendly.

When I plopped my goods onto the table, a colleague asked me, "You went shopping?" with the air of someone who barely had time to return to her room and take a quick nap before dinner, let alone scour the streets for bargains. Obviously, my colleagues haven't learned that you have to make purchases while the sun shines (especially true, apparently, in early-curfew Denver).

Oh well, while they were napping/freshening up/dreaming of alcohol-soaked nights on the town, I was finding the bargain of my life at Fusion Federation! I'd never heard of the place before, but it looked like a goth paradise, and it drew me like a moth to a flame with its collection of fishnet stockings, corsets, cocktail dresses, and all sorts of risqué clothing that I can only dream of wearing but must shun because of my diurnal ways and nice-girl reputation. Fortunately, in the back, I found sale racks with some slightly more conservative styles.

The sale rack with the 12$ styles caught my eye. I normally wouldn't pay 12 dollars for a top, but I was willing to make allowances because, right now, I have special needs—namely, summer is coming hard and fast, and I lack summer clothes suitable for an office. On the one hand, I have a mountain of tank tops that I've never even worn (thanks to compulsive lot-shopping on eBay last fall), but on the other hand, who knows how heavy the air conditioning is going to be, and what my coworkers think of bare shoulders? I found two boleros that looked like just the ticket for turning revealing tops into professional attire—and looking closer, I learned that the 12$ sale was also buy one, get one free! That was a deal I couldn't refuse!

When I took my two items to the checkout, I met an even greater surprise when I heard the cashier say, "That'll be $7.49." Turns out one of the tops had been on the 7$ rack (even though they were identical in everything but color), so she was going to give me them both for that 7$-buy-one-get-one-free price. So here I was expecting to spend 12$ for one top, and instead, I got two for $3.50 each! (plus tax.)

Here I am, showing off my acquisitions.