Shopping With Discounts is Fantastical!

The teen-aimed store Anchor Blue in Austin's Highland Mall is going out of business. While this is sad, especially since I work at the dying mall (one anchor store, Dillard's, started pulling out in 2008), it does have its perks: reduced merchandise. On Thursday, having known when the going-out-of-business promos were starting, I perused the Anchor Blue selection. Everything, except jeans and graphic tees and backpacks, was 50% and they will be continuing this promotion until their last business day, January 29th. Since I work for at the nearby Wet Seal, whose demographic is the same, there wasn't a ton of merchandise I was desperately needing, but I did find a great purse and sunglasses:

Total Cost: $13.75 pre-tax.

The purse easily goes with half of my wardrobe, and gives any sweetheart outfit an edge. The diamond pattern is in fact not metal but is shaped from the material. Along with the tassles on the zippers and the three pockets (two side pockets with one large, main pocket), this tube-shaped purse won me over in 30 seconds of seeing it. The sunglasses are simple and blue, and I've been wanting blue sunglasses since my previous blue pair of sunnies were scratched by my dog.

Pre-tax cost: $22.50 each for nonemployees.

Besides the items from Anchor Blue, I decided to buy a cardigan the Wet Seal received Thursday. While processing shipment, I fell in love with the cropped elbow cardigan sweater.

Half-sleeves and quarter-sleeves are my favorite length, and with this length-obsession stemming back from my Little League days, I ended up getting the cardigan in both white and black. The entire purchase was only $27 thanks to my employee discount.

I will definitely wear the white this spring and summer, as it can go with any color of tank-top, and the black one will probably get more wear next fall and winter. The thing I love about cardigans is that they are classic, so they can go with almost anything--tank tops, dresses, fancy blouses. The possibilities are endless.

If you read my Ten New Year's Fashion Resolutions (or fasholutions as Couture Carrie so fabulously declared it), you'll recall that I'm trying to get out of the graphic-tee rut, and I think the cardigans are a big step forward. I'm excited for my next classic purchase, which I'll undoubtedly share, and until then...I'll leave you with a photo of my entire collection of shoes, which needs to go under a vast improvement. I am excited for spring collections to start rolling in so I can stock up on ballet flats, Keds, and other uneccessary but stylish footgear (despite the size of my closet, I try very hard to be a minimalist; it keeps things simple).

Five pairs of boots (top right pair are gifted, vintage Tony Lama riding boots), one pair of running shoes, two pairs of heels, and two pairs of flipflops (including that dastardly pair of Coors Light flip-flops, which are officially now only for walking around the yard with my dog).