Last week, I posted this shot to Instagram:

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It’s not exactly a great picture, and you can’t even see the most exciting part—AKA: the part where it says that all sale items are an EXTRA 60% off. Now, that’s my kind of sale.

I was only supposed to duck in to buy a gift for a friend, but the twins and I ended up having a marathon trying-on session in the dressing room (interrupted by nursing sessions, diaper-changing sessions, and no-don’t-eat-that-tag! sessions; in other words, the salesgirl thought that we had taken up permanent residence in there).

And I posted some of the dressing room shots to IG (and Facebook) so you guys could vote in real time on your favorite looks.

They looked a little something like this:

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LOTS of stripes of various widths and LOTS of color (big surprise there).

So, what did you like? That yellow and white striped dress, for sure. Everybody practically screamed GO FOR IT on that one.

It was a bit pricey, so I wasn’t sure (even though I loved it), but when I sent a text to the hubs with the question: “On a scale of 1-10, what’s this dress for you?”

And he answered back: “An 8 or above,” I knew I had to splurge. It ended up being half off, but at a little less than $50, it was still more than I like to pay for one little ol’ dress. As you might have noticed from Monday’s post, though, I immediately put it to use, wearing it on our anniversary date with a jeans jacket, a statement necklace, and a pair of sky-high wedges (that were so comfortable that I wore them for 6 hours and felt like I was wearing flats the whole time).

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Of the other items in the pictures, I only bought one more—the pink cotton top with the lace bib detailing. But I also bought a fun belt and coordinating clutch and wore all of it together to the birthday lunch for the friend whose present-buying got me into this predicament in the first place (thanks, Liz! :)).

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Pardon our back yard. Shaun is in the middle of redoing our back patio, and, although it will be amazing, it’s all a bit of a hot mess at the moment.

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The belt was on major clearance ($5), and the clutch was part of storewide 40% off deal, plus I had another coupon, so it ended up being $14…not too bad.

I didn’t even post the last thing I bought to IG, but I just couldn’t pass up such a pretty blouse in a shade of my favorite color:

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I wore it with a pair of boyfriend jeans and Goodwill wedges I already had when my brother and his fiance came over to have me take some engagement pics for them (you’ll see more of that tomorrow).

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Here I am, rocking a ginormous bun (it was crazy humid!), with my gorgeous sis-in-law-to-be looking all pretty and fresh beside me.

The honest-to-goodness truth is that these are the first things I’ve actually bought from Ann Taylor LOFT in…I don’t know how long. Their prices are always just a bit too steep for me. But with all my discounts piled up, I ended up getting a great deal on everything (minus the dress), and I can see myself wearing it all over and over again with different combinations all summer.

So, I’m going to call it a win.

So, how about you guys? Does your willpower soften when you’re buying presents and see something you like too?

Or am I just weak?

8 Comments

  1. Love all of your pics! And smiling at the pics of the girls in the Loft dressing room 🙂 Too cute!
    The striped dress is awesome…..so are your other finds.
    I HEART Loft! Up until about a year ago, I had not purchased much from there, but I fell in love w/ their jeans. So, I became an email subscriber….and the rest is history. They have good sales. Once I went to an outlet & I was in heaven! It was awesome! Lost my willpower there for sure 🙂
    I also have a hard time w/ willpower when buying girlfriend gifts…..especially at LOFT!

  2. Funny story – Up until this past December, I had no problem going to a store within the singular mission of purchasing a gift for someone. I may have glanced around, flipped a few tags…but ultimately, I would have no issues with willpower. I really disliked shopping, and so the sooner I could get what I needed and get out, the better.

    Then it seemed after a lifetime of “hating shopping,” the closet shopaholic in me decided to come out…and willpower was swept away in one fell swoop. No warning whatsoever. To this day I wonder where in the world she came from.

    Luckily, after about 4 months of being at the whim of this new me that couldn’t go a week without heading to the outlet mall, I finally gained some willpower back…and gift shopping became a lot easier on my bank account (mainly because it didn’t end up becoming a shopping spree for me). I still am more likely to “give in” now than in my days where I would experience bouts of nausea by stepping into a department store (sometimes literally), but I’ve reined the shopaholic within.

    Still, I do appreciate the wardrobe she left behind. 😀

  3. I don’t splurge anymore, but I used to!! Now that I have to repay my massive amount of student loan debt, my “splurges” consist of a new t-shirt from Old Navy…LOL

  4. I LOVE Loft, but I live near a Loft outlet, which means crazy clearance deals. Like dresses for $10-15, and shirts/sweaters down to $5-10. So yea. And I do agree with all your purchases! 🙂

  5. I don’t usually splurge on jeans, but I bought a pair of the Loft boyfriend jeans last year for about $35. They are my FAVORITES! So comfy and you can dress them up with heels or down with flats.
    I love Loft!

  6. I find when I’m shopping for other people I find things I like more often than when I just go shopping looking for something for myself!
    My view is that if you find something that is a great deal, you really like, and look good in, buy it! Even if you aren’t necessarily looking for a dress, blouse, etc at the moment, I would rather open my closet and find something when I am looking than have to go shopping in a rush and just end up buying something that will do but isn’t that great because I need it right! now!

I love hearing from you guys!