AllyG: From time to time, we will entertain guest posts from our loved ones. We will make sure that these posts are not as funny as ours so that our readers will not like the guest writers better than us. Our first guest poster is Eden. We love Eden. Since we love Eden we will not make her post less awesome. Just this once she can have an awesome post. In the future, Eden should be prepared to have her posts “dumbed down” so that L-A and I look real smart-like. This will include inserting random spelling errors and plain ignorant comments. Anyhoo – we are excited to have an appearance from Eden. She is super pretty and super chic as well as one of the hippest chicks I know.

Eden: I’m a thrift store junkie, to my dying day.  At least half of my clothes are second-hand.  And recently I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon – if you look at the labels on the stuff I pick up at thrift stores, things I’ve bought because they are cute and look good on me, the vast majority of those labels feature the name Jacob – be it Jacob, Jacob Annexe, Jacob Connexion, or occasionally Jacob Lingerie (do not judge me for buying second-hand bras.)

So I started going into Jacob when I was at the mall, striking it from my list of Grownup Stores I Can’t Afford.  And you know what?  Turns out I AM a grownup, and I sort of can afford it.

It’s not actually any more expensive than Le Chateau, my usual mall standby.  And yes, Ally, I think we are too old for LC at this point.

Jacob is a reasonably priced answer to those investment pieces L-A is always on about.
Check out this perfect little silk circle skirt:

And this amazing hammered-silk shift dress (since when am I into silk?):

And last, cardigans over strapless dresses? ALWAYS A YES.:

If nothing else, Jacob helps to further my ambitions to look as much as possible like  Charlotte York Goldenblatt:

She is the most adorable.  I love her.

Back to you, ladies!

AllyG: So, I was doing laundry on Saturday and took a short break to watch some Sex and the City. Hubby bought the full series for me on DVD for Christmas after I dropped hint #1,457. I have come to realize that my favorite episode is One, when Carrie has her first date with Aleksander Petrovsky (I’m not even bothering with spell check on that one) and Charlotte suffers a miscarriage but comes alive again after watching the True Hollywood Story on Elizabeth Taylor. Sadly, this is the type of shit I find inspirational. How Charlotte scrapes herself off the couch and puts on her best strapless, heartshaped, pink minidress and pulls her hair back into a chic chignon finishing the look off with the classic Jackie O shades to make her way over to Miranda’s house for Brady’s first birthday. I bawl everytime I watch this. Seriously, it makes me want to pack my bags and move to NYC where EVERYTHING WILL WORK ITSELF OUT. I have to state that this could be one of my favorite outfits from the series. I know. That’s bold.

I have no idea how I found that clip, but it took me forever so you should all love me for equally as long. It starts at 2:15 for you lazy bitches. See the head tilt as she passes the doorman? The inspiration! I swear I am walking out of my house like that tomorrow. (note: do not watch this around children as there is an uncomfortable discussion about Samantha’s girly part dye job as well as foul language. See? A disclaimer! I will be le awesome mom!)

I’ll look to L-A to bring this post back on track. She loves when I go off-topic! Yay!

L-A: I have no idea where to start bringing this back on track. What was the track? I fully agree with Eden on Jacob and shopping at “grown up” stores.  Isn’t it weird when you figure out that you’re a grown up? I don’t know much about the affording things, but I’m sure I will enjoy it when I get there.   Le Chateau is fun, but I think there comes a time when you realize that maybe it’s for grown ups who are younger than you.  A store I enjoy that is for grown ups who don’t want to look like they’re old is Club Monaco (who, incidentally, have a discount for students. As does J.Crew, if you happen to be shopping States-side).

I also agree on dressing like Charlotte Yorke Goldenblatt.  I’ve always enjoyed Charlotte’s wardrobe. It fits with the whole classic prepster look that makes you want to play football Kennedy-style. And this is where I’m going to fully turn this into a post on Sex and the City. And I’m going to admit something to you, but before I do and before y’all start gathering pitchforks and a mob, I did love the series as much as the next girl. It was good times. I don’t recommend watching it with your dad (hello! uncomfortable!), but it was fully enjoyable and fun and full on merangue. But here’s my admission: I did not love the movie. And, I’m pretty much over the whole phenomenon.  I went to the movie and it was cute and I enjoyed seeing some storylines wrapped up, but it’s hard to turn what worked as a half hour episodic series into a feature length movie. It’s the same thing that plagues SNL sketches that are turned into movies. It just doesn’t work the way the original does. And the characters I previously enjoyed had been turned into caricatures that weren’t nearly as entertaining. Which is why I was a bit horrified to hear that there might be a beating of a dead horse sequel.

Okay, y’all hate me now don’t you? But hear me out.  Here is my biggest problem with the series/cash cow movies:

So, as you were exclaiming, “Sweet Jesus in a Breadbasket! What is that trainwreck?” did you hear a sizzling sound? Because if you did, that was your retinas burning at the sight of Patricia Field. This is the woman who created the wardrobes of Sex and the City.  And while she did a solid job on the other three characters, she lost the plot along the way with Carrie Bradshaw. What was once a fun, “fashion-forward” (hate that phrase), and a bit quirky:

Turned into this:

Yep. Dressing like a bag lady. A bag lady with expensive shoes, but bag lady chic for sure. (oh, you can buy the bag and socks on Patricia Field’s website). My theory is that Patricia Field just started dressing Carrie like she dresses herself. So you know what that means? This is what Carrie would end up looking like if she were a real person who aged:

Awww…Cynthia Nixon totally has the look on her face that you get when someone who is batshit crazy won’t leave you alone. She is seriously wishing that this was not the woman responsible for a large part of her fame and fortune.

So here’s what gets me. I hear about how some folks wish they were “a Carrie”, but I have the ask: seriously? They seriously want to go out of the house looking like this?

I don’t care how much it cost or who made it, there is no excuse for dressing like you picked things out of the closet with your eyes closed.  The best part of all this is that Patricia Field has totally drank her own Kool-Aid and is making her style accessible to the masses:

The only thing left to say is: dear. God. no.

This Home Shopping Network line looks like Le Chateau threw up. Or, actually, looks like someone took scissors to the worst of Le Chateau and sewed it back together while blindfolded.  (and voila! we have come full circle. A big thank you to our guest poster and generally fabulous person, Eden. She’s awesome!).