With our super secret trip to the mountains in January in the works, I’m on the move to secretly buy what we need in advance. I need to size up the kids and make sure that the ski bibs from last year will still fit. I’ll need to figure out a way to get the girls to try on their winter coats, to make sure we don’t need new ones. And Jim needs some things as well…at least he knows about the trip so I can get him to shop for his own things. He does want a pair of boots suitable for cold weather and snow. He wore his sneakers last year and those don’t really cut it for ice and snow. These Danner boots are along the lines of what he would like to buy. Looks like you could do some hiking in those Danner boots, right? Good thing, since the kids love to drag him around outside when we go to the mountains. The site offers free shipping for orders over $100, so we’d save some cash on that. The boots have Goretex in them, so they’ll keep your feet warm and toasty in bed weather, and the sole is made for being outside.

My husband and I are attending his high school reunion next week (20 years!) and that occasion was enough for me to shop at Ann Taylor. Now, I’ve said in the past that I think Ann Taylor and her clothes are too spendy for me, but this is a special occasion. I still think $150 for a casual outfit is too much money, but $100 for a dress for a special event isn’t bad, right?

This is the dress I picked out:

Then I went to Macy’s and got these shoes to wear with it:

I *almost* didn’t buy those shoes when I saw they were from Jessica Simpson’s new line. I can’t stand her. But they were cute, and they were perfect for the dress, so I had to give in, even thought they cost almost as much as the dress did. Yeah, that about killed this bargain shopper.

The dress is for Saturday night - there’s going to be a dinner and dance. No clue what I’m going to wear for Friday night, which is just a get together at a huge bar on Clearwater Beach. I had my 8 year old with me while I was shopping and by the time I got the dress and the shoes he was done, so I didn’t get to worry about clothing for Friday night.

Matthew and I hit a fantastic sale at the Skechers Outlet on Friday night, and came home with all sorts of goodies. The black bikers I bought months ago were getting kind of worn out, so I was thrilled to find a pair in my size on the clearance rack. Not only were they marked down, but the store was offering an additional 50% off all women’s shoes on clearance, and an additional 30% on all kids shoes on clearance. Score!

I paid $15 for my new pair of bikers, and decided to snag a pair in the next size up for Catherine. These are shoes that we regularly pay OVER FIFTY DOLLARS for, and we got them for $15! I got a pair of dressy flats for $8, and 2 pairs of shoes for the boy, and a pair of sneakers for Gracie.

If you’ve got a Skechers outlet in your town, it’s worth checking out!

We went to the Skechers outlet store while we were in Orlando this weekend, and three of us ended up with new shoes. My 11 year old, to my surprise, picked out the exact same pair of black bikers (style name: Sightsee) I already have (and love). The bigger surprise? She got them in a women’s size SEVEN. I wear an eight! It’s only a matter of time before she’s raiding my shoe collection. I never got to that point with my own mom - she wore a 9 and I stopped growing at a 7 1/2. My feet grew another half size after I had my kids. When I was my daughter’s age, my feet were a size 5 - I remember that because my grandmother gave me a pair of purple Keds she wore once. LOL!

Anyway, I took the opportunity to tease my oldest a LOT about how cool I am and she’s trying to be JUST like me by wearing the same shoes. She’s a good sport.

Speaking of shoes, they were having a sale - buy one pair, get one half off. So I bought myself these brown shoes for work:

Yes, they’re just like the black bikers, and my white ones, but the design is slightly different. A little bit dressier for work, and oooooh so comfy! I’m wearing them today fact. And sandals were 30% off, so my son picked out a pair for the summer and they came to only $13. Not bad!

I wore one of my new shirts to the office that I purchased in my shopping spree this weekend at Marshalls. I wore my new shoes too, which unfortunately, gave me some hot spots on my feet. The only shoes that I can put on brand new, out of the box, and be comfy in for hours are Skechers. Unfortunately, they don’t make high heels. They should! I’d buy those!

What do you think about Crocs? Most people seem to love them, or hate them - there’s no middle ground. I’ve tried them on at the store, but I haven’t bought myself a pair. I’m a little bit leery, because I see all of these kids wearing them around the hockey arena and they’re always losing the shoes and tripping. I’m klutzy enough without wearing shoes that are going to make me fall flat on my butt.

I can see why they’re so popular though - they’re almost as good as going barefoot (my preference!) You can get them in just about every color, and you can even get special Disney versions. And you’re not stuck with the original “Beach” style either, because now there are sandals and thongs available. You can even get decorations, called Jibbitz, for your crocs!

The company must be doing something right - sales were up $200 million last year.

I heard about the new must have shoe on the radio this morning, and women are falling all over themselves to have a pair. The shoe is by Yves St. Laurent, and it’s a high heel called “Tribute”. The shoe comes in two styles - slingback, or not, and retails for around $650. If you can get your hands on a pair (doubtful) you’ll notice that the heel is extremely high - either four inches, or 5 1/2 inches. Add in the one and a half inch platform that the ball of your foot rests on, and these are some knockout shoes. (As in, you may fall down on your ass and knock yourself out when you wear them!)

The shoes are a peep-toe heel and sexy as hell, but I’d be concerned about falling over. Ladies have their choices of black, red, or purple, and I think there’s a lime green version as well. If the shoes were clear plastic, we’d all be turning up our noses and saying they looked like stripper shoes. But a little bit of leather and suede, and women everywhere are jumping on waiting lists to spend $650 a pair! If you don’t want to get on a waiting list (some are 200 names long) you can buy the shoes on eBay, and they’re going for over $1200 a pair.

I’m going to think twice about ordering from Skechers.com again. Despite sending an email to their customer service department complaining about the slow shipping time, I didn’t hear a thing. I got a little automated reply, but I didn’t hear from a real person. I called their customer service # yesterday, during the VERY convenient hours of 8am and 1pm Pacific time and was on hold for 20 minutes before I gave up. I can’t even reach someone to complain, so I don’t have high hopes for any future orders.

I sent an email off tonight to Skecher’s customer service complaining about how long it took to get my new shoes. I laid out the timeline of events in my email and realized when I typed things up that it took just shy of two weeks to get my shoes. In this day and age of lightning speed shipping, that’s SLOOOOOOOOOOOW!

I’ve raved a lot here about the Skechers I bought myself last year. I wear them DAILY! I like the style so much, I decided to get another pair, but I was waiting for a good sale. That came along last night - I was emailed about getting free shipping AND saving 10% off at Skechers with the code “SAVE10″. After looking at their selection for a bit, I decided on a similar style to what I already have, but a slightly different design. It’s called Bikers Blush, and I got them in white:

Cute, huh? As I was checking out, I remembered that when I bought the last pair, I got 20% off, and the code was “SAVE20″. I decided to try that code first to see if it worked, and it DID! So instead of getting the 10% off that was advertised, I got 20% and the free shipping. Go me!

I chose wisely when I bought my Skechers before Christmas. They’re not only comfy and look great with almost any outfit, but I paid a lot less for them than I could have. I saw the exact same pair that I have in Beall’s and in Kohl’s - $54 in both stores! I got mine for less than that…way less. I’m just kicking myself for not buying another pair when I got the deal.

Despite the rain and gloom today here in my part of Florida, I am thinking about summer. Planning a vacation will do that too you! With summer comes a need for flip flops and sandals. For me, there’s no reason to wear socks and shoes during the summer time - feet were meant to be free! In the past few years, I’ve branched out a bit in my flip flop selection and had a few pairs dressy enough to be worn out to dinner or for a party. I bought a pair a few months back that had little palms trees on them, and I’ve got another pair with some fake bling bling. A major brand name on the beaches around here is Reef - you can buy reef sandals online, and you’re sure to see Reef sandals and gear on the beaches. It’s a surf inspired line that’s cool, casual, and affordable too. My daughter would love these Reef sandals with glitter, but I prefer the tropical design on these casual Reef sandals for myself. What can I say? They had me at arch support. The site has plenty more too - a huge selection in fact, as well as sandals in my favorite category - CLEARANCE!

I love Skechers - they’re some of the most comfy sneakers and shoes I’ve ever worn. We have a great outlet here in Tampa and I’ve been able to get Skechers on clearance there for some crazy low prices. Being that it’s an outlet of course, they don’t usually have a big selection on the regular styles, and I’ve been coveting these shoes (Bikers) since I saw them a year ago. I just couldn’t see myself spending $50 on a pair of shoes though, regardless of how much I liked them or how comfy they were.

Today, that all changed. I got an email from MyPoints offering me 500 points to make a purchase at Skechers.com, AND there was a coupon code on the website offering 15% off any order over $60, free shipping, and NO sales tax! If you’re interested in buying something there, use code THANKS15. If you’re a MyPoints member, you can save 20% using the coupon code MYPTSGIFT, and you’ll also get free shipping and pay no sales tax. When I put my shoes into my online cart, I was also told that I’d get a free Skechers watch with any shoe order over $65.00 (not including tax and shipping fees). So I picked out the pair shown above for me (BIKERS - SIGHTSEE) and picked out a pair for the boy (ANNEX - STRIKER) that he had liked in Kohl’s, but they didn’t have his size.

My total before the discount was $92.00

My total after was $73.60

Not bad!