(And no that wasn't supposed to be a political comment.)
My office decided to allow costumes this year. In fact it was so strongly encouraged that it became mandatory-voluntary (you don't have to but everyone else will...) So I had to think what kind of costume could I put together without too much thought and with no extra money spent. (Since the only costume I actually own is not work appropriate. Very much so the "sexy such and such" category. And hey I wore it the first time Hubby and I really hung out, so it certainly didn't hurt in those efforts.)
I tried to think of the easy things. Olympian? (I could use some fake gold metals Hubby won on our honeymoon) Flower Power 70's person? (Hair down, big sunglasses, blousey dress without the belt, etc.) They all seemed a bit lame. Things that required a tiny bit more effort than I was willing to put out. (I'd have to make fake "USA" and other patches? Um no, that's not happening) Oh and it's cold out all of a sudden so it had to be suitably warm. So instead I went with this:
I found a few examples around the interwebs, things similar to this. Actually I got a really similar headband from Modcloth and decided I'd make this as my costume. I took a grey/chambray (?) shirt (super comfy and super cute, normally a real snazzy top) with old jeans and decided with my headband I'd made a costume.
Of course it wasn't easy breezie (color girl) and there was one catch. In the Great Moving Purge I threw out the only red lipstick I owned (at the time I thought it was 3-8 years old, exact age unknown, and not used since then so it was time to be thrown out). So I had to fake red lips with some lip liner and gloss and thoroughly rosied up my cheeks with two types of blush.
That, ladies and germs, is what I am for Halloween today. I may or may not stay in this tonight while waiting (and hoping, fingers crossed) we get some trick-or-treaters.
Did you dress up? At work (does you work allow it? support and encourage it? forbid it?) Tonight?
If you scan the interwebs and read some of the popular blogs and/or pinterest there are certain things you're aware of. Wait, I guess if you're one to surf the interwebs that's how you became aware of Pinterest in the first place. Anyway, another thing that you're sure to know about is ModCloth. It's all the buzz. "Oh I got this amazing [clothing item] from ModCloth." "Oh this insanely perfect [item], it's from ModCloth of course!" (In my head I imagine these kinds of statement followed by "It's so hip/popular/trendy, ModCloth is the place to get such hip/popular/trendy items from! If you shop there you're totally cool!")
Since I've heard how amazing ModCloth is I've been stalking the website. I'm a bit fashion fearful, if it's "out there" aka fashionable I'm probably not going to try it. It takes me months or years to accept a trend and try wearing something in that style myself. So I'm always a bit leary of "hip" things, aka everything on their website. But there are a few styles that seemed cute, but since I had no clue how they'd look on me and their pricing is a bit high for my pathetic wallet right now I didn't go through with any purchases. But I kept stalking their website. And one day when I
was feeling especially bad I decided I wanted a little retail therapy.
(Even if I couldn't exactly afford such a splurge.)
So I ordered a pair of wedges that looked cute and had great reviews . (And purchased another pair of cute shoes to get free shipping.) I even featured them in last week's High Five For Friday. I ordered them Sunday and they arrived Friday. I very eagerly opened my pretty ModCloth box.
I opened the shoe box with the wedges inside and became sad as I realized each of the shoes were damaged one way or the other. Then I opened my "to get free shipping" shoes and while they were cute they just didn't look great on my feet. (Certainly not enough to keep them, especially when I just purchased them for the free shipping. But of course if they were amazing on I'd have kept them!) So off I went to try getting another pair. But wait! The shoes were now out of stock! *gasp* Not that it really helped but I then signed up to be notified when they came back into stock.
Customer Service Experience 1: I called trying to see if maybe there was another pair in my size of these wedges that I could get to exchange for my damaged shoes. The lovely customer service woman was super sweet but informed me they were totally out of stock. So I had no choice and had to return them both for refunds. I printed up my free return shipping label, got out the packing tape, and sealed my box up. Less than 2 hours later I got an email informing me that the wedges were back in stock with a limited supply. Hurray!
Customer Service Experience 2: I called trying to see how I could work out exchanging the wedges and returning the flats. This other equally sweet and helpful customer service girl (woman?) told me she processed my exchange and a new pair was already being processed to get back to me. I was just told to ship off my shoes and label the wedges for exchange (because they were damaged) and return for a refund the flats.
Monday morning my box went back to ModCloth. Yesterday, Wednesday, my new wedges arrived. That was quick, yay! I opened my ModCloth box with baited breath, would these be damaged too?! No, they were perfect! They're pretty in
a classic and sophisticated way, with a bit of an edge. So they're sort
of my type with a bit of a modern fashion forward way. I'd purchased
them for good work shoes, shoes that were comfortable and fashionable
and would work for just about anything. That said now that they've
arrived I'm not sure when I'll wear them. But whenever I do I'll enjoy
them!
Now when I opened the box I also found a plastic bag that had something black and white inside of it with a tag that says "A gift just for you!"
What!?! That was sweet and totally worked to butter me up after my first
purchase was a dude due to crazy damage. I'm pretty sure it's a
headband, I think it's this:
But I'm not sure I can carry such a funky headband. But it was free, so who cares!
Moral of this story, ModCloth has amazing customer service. I may be on the fence about many of their items but I can attest that they're really amazing with their customer service. Seriously amazing. Amazing enough that I'd eagerly order from them again, if I found an item I liked enough. *
*In this day of the interwebs and disclosure and what not I find it silly but important to point out I paid my own hard earned money for my items. As much as I'm praising ModCloth they have not asked me or provided me any incentive (money or otherwise) to post this.
