Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Get 50% Off Now at Nau

It looks like after just one year the environmentally-conscious high-end retailer NAU is going out of business. What does that mean for you and me, my dear readers? 50% off, yo! Now you might be able to buy one of those super-cool, streamlined jackets they sell. I stress the word "maybe" because in the case of the price of these jackets, one-half off might not make too much of a difference. I suspect the discount will get deeper as they get closer to having to completely shut down ops.

What does this mean for the bigger picture? Well, I guess the green movement is important to many, but not when it comes to paying $300 for a jacket or $150 for a jean skirt. Or perhaps, since the founders of NAU were apparently Patagucci defectors, Patagonia and North Face do indeed have a stranglehold on the big-ticket jacket market.

I would like to formally credit Smiles with sending me the information about this sale. For those of you who know him, how awesome is it that he's the shopping source?! Smiles would like you to note that if Nau is out of the color of the item you'd like to buy, try another color. Another tip is that it took me about 4 tries before my order was actually processed online. So stick with it little shopper bees!

Monday, May 05, 2008

Buy a House, Go on Vacation in France

What's the most logical thing to do when you've sunk the bulk of your savings account into buying a new house? Why go on vacation to France, of course! Phooey on the weak dollar, I need to eat some cheese.

Ok, so that's not really the thought process my husband and I had when we planned our brief trip to France many months ago. In fact, at that point I'm not sure we fully realized that if we planned to buy the house we were then looking at, we'd have to close about 2 weeks before our big trip. Quelle dommage, as they say.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen it about 1 million times, here's a shot of our new house. Picture it w/o the palmetto tree, please (i.e. don't get attached to that thing because it's coming out!).



It's on Park Street in the historic neighborhood, Elmwood Park. I love this house, y'all.

As for our France trip, we fly into and out of Paris and for the weekend, we'll take the train to Besancon, which is in the Franche-Comte region. As in comte cheese. Oui, c'est vrai.

At this point, the primary concern is how to pack. EJ insists we pack light in order to carry on, and thanks to the exchange rate I can't go nutty shopping in Paris, so the question is: just how many scarves do I bring?