Better than a Blue Velvet Blazer

For Willow's upcoming birthday, we decided to take an overnight trip to Beltway Burb (land of Willow's young life) to do some shopping, since here, we're limited to TJ Maxx, Target and Belk. Hardly high end fashion, and always overpriced, particularly for the quality.

In Beltway Burb, we decided to hit Nordstrom Rack and Lohman's to update our wardrobes, hers for the potential for increased professional activity, and mine to reflect (ostensibly) the weight loss (which at this point is again aspirational).

We had budgeted for this, so I'm not too terribly upset at the money we spent, and really it is all worth it for this blazer, which is now mine:


It's a bit more burgundy than this picture indicates, but damn! it's a fine item, and I paid roughly 30% the retail price for it, so...

Add to that four or five high-interest dress-shirts (a green houndstooth pattern, a white tone-on-tone stripe, etc.) a casual khaki-stripe linen suit, and a lovely spring green tie, and I am one happy camper. And since it's going back down to the 40s for a couple of days here, I may even have opportunity to wear that blazer before next October!

Willow did similarly well, although she didn't get the little patent spectator flats--but because it was her birthday this week, she did get an extra 15% off at Lohmann's. Basically a free pair of jeans for her. So that was nice.

We also got to dine with Jason and Lisa, whom we'll see in a couple of weeks when we return to the Burb for a wedding I'm in. For a 28 hour trip, this was a grand slam.