Since I moved to Chicago I've slacked a bit on my side-hustle as a personal shopper (I hate to use the word hustle since I usually neglect to charge a fee) but the month of June made up for that with my biggest task yet. While I love the actual sort of shopping (yeah, I called it a "sport") and live for the challenge of finding the "best price" on an item, the hardest part is the gift buying for other people. This means I have to keep my mouth shut about my exciting purchases until the recipient has seen their surprise.... not easy at all when the recipient is my cousin (who's more like a sister) Gabbi and we talk about fashion all the time!!
Gabbi and her oh-so-cool hubby just celebrated 12 years of marital bliss and he wanted to make sure she was pleasantly surprised with her gift so he consulted his personal shopper (me) and laid out the plan....he needed 2 pair of high end designer shoes - one of which HAS to be a pair of Christian Louboutin (a.k.a. CL) pumps. **For those who aren't familiar with this sexy, trendy high end shoe designer here are a few pics of some of the celebrities who swear by these shoes - famous for their very high red inner heel and sole...
Angelina Jolie
Jessica Alba
Thandie Newton
Victoria "Posh" Beckham
Fellow Spice Girl Mel B
Pretty hot shoes huh?? This was like a task from heaven and I took my job very seriously. After surfing the net to get ideas and see what styles were out there, I went to Saks Fifth Avenue on Michigan Avenue with my soror Micky and our new friend/sales associate "Anthony" quickly joined in on the fun. I had narrowed my search to the "Rolondo" and the "Ron Ron" but found out just before heading to Saks that the Rolondo was only available as a PRE-order for freakin NOVEMBER. What????? Ok, so that changes things. As soon as I walked into the CL section of the women's shoe department I saw "THE SHOE". It was the "Ron Ron" in a "tortoise" bronze print that I can't even find anywhere online!! Such a SEXY shoe! Since we wear the same size its only right that I try it on to make sure it will fit her, right? :-) After prancing the aisles a few times I was in love and I knew Gabbi would LOVE this shoe... here are some pics I took of it in the store.
One down, one to go... and as I walk past a table of Stuart Weitzman shoes I see what I call the elegant version of a high heeled gladiator sandal called "Zoom" - some of them tend to have too many straps or appear too bulky but this one is gorgeous in black patent with white piping (I'll have to get Gabbi to send me a pic since I don't have a very good one below). This week I opened the July issue of LUCKY magazine last week and saw this same shoe featured! Pretty good, huh??? **brushing my shoulders off**
Now of course I couldn't do all of that shopping and not find things I loved for myself. Right now, money won't allow it but IF it did, I would run to Nordstrom and buy this Marc by Marc Jacobs Totally Turnlock Mini Quinn bag in this hot pink color called Cranberry IMMEDIATELY!!! Maybe it will fall out of the sky or something.... I'm not gonna hold my breath but I will keep my fingers crossed! LOL
This week I will be in MIAMI starting my holiday parties a week early! Have a great time wherever you are and make this holiday a safe one!
