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My Experience at Christmas Village 2016

I had major plans of taking lots and lots of pictures while I was at Christmas Village on Friday, November 4th….but I didn’t realize how insane Christmas Village would actually be!  

I honestly pictured myself strolling through the civic center and taking pictures of cute things I found.  But reality was it was super crowded with lots of strange people and Mom and I kept trying to keep up with one another.


Painting my nails in the car on the way there.  You know, just doing what’s normal 🙂



 This was taken from the elevator going up to the 2nd floor.  We were told to start there first and then work our way down to the bottom floor.  Upstairs was just as massive as this downstairs!



 I came across this vendor who sold these cute frames.  But I didn’t feel like paying $170 for these frames…even though they were so cute!  (This is the same vendor where I bought my painting from!)



We survived hours of walking through crowds of crazy women!  And then we drove home and rested ha!



A few of my goodies!  A dough bowl for the new table, a sugar mold, and a painting!  I can’t wait to get it framed and then try to figure out where I’m going to put it.  I have 2 other paintings to take to get framed, too 🙂

I also bought 2 blocks of cheese and dip mix ha!


Observations from Christmas Village:

-Some women coordinated in matching monogrammed shirts.  I love a good monogram, but I am not for matching shirts with massive monograms.  Maybe because it’s trendy and I’m not into trendy things?
-Some women came prepared with rolling suitcases.  Obviously they had been before and came prepared with a suitcase to put in all of their buys.
-Christmas Village would be perfect if you had small children.  Lots and lots of vendors had gorgeous smocked clothing and even jon jons with appliqués.  None of that applied to Mom or I so we walked on by those vendors.
-Take advantage of the free holding areas for your purchases.  I bought my heavy stuff right off the bat and didn’t want to tote it around the entire time.  We took it to one of these areas. They bagged it and gave me a ticket, and when we were ready to go, we handed them the ticket and they retrieved our things!  Genius idea!

Sense of Sarah: My Journey to Find the Perfect Blue Jean

For some reason, blue jean shopping has felt pretty impossible lately.  I hadn’t bought actual blue jeans in about two years because I’ve just been wearing a lot of my older pairs.  The jeans I have been buying recently have been white jeans or colored jeans for school, and through my research (yes, I researched), the denim fabric of colored jeans is different than blue jean fabric.  I spent the last few weeks of summer on the hunt for a new pair of blue jeans and want to share my findings with y’all!



Problem:  Two of my old pairs of blue jeans have ripped.

Back Story:  I’m very picky about how my jeans fit me.  My jeans have to be stretchy, and I prefer the legging jean or one that is slightly loose around the ankle but still tight and stretchy in other places.  The majority of my blue jeans are from GAP because I liked the way they fit my body–plus the price tag didn’t hurt either!

I went and tried on blue jeans everywhere over the course of a couple of weeks before I finally found the perfect pair!

Note: I forgot to take pictures of myself in each pair of jeans that I tried on–probably out of frustration that they weren’t working!  Just take my word!


ONE

My first stop was to JCrew since I bought a pair of their white jeans before school let out and loved them!  After reading about the fabric online and then talking to a salesperson, the white jeans were made out of a completely different fabric than the toothpick dark rinse jeans.  


I was surprised to find how stiff the dark rinse jeans were compared to the stretchiness of the white jeans.  I also had a hard time with sizing.  I tried on my normal size and then the size up and still was so unhappy with how they looked and felt.

Verdict:  Big negative!


TWO

My second stop was back to GAP since their jeans had always worked for me.  Apparently they have changed the way they make jeans because I couldn’t find a pair that was even close to my old Legging Jean from there.


The rise was a little higher than what I was used to but not so much that it was a deal breaker.  But….these just felt weird.  And weren’t the most flattering, in my opinion.

Verdict:  I could have settled on these but probably wouldn’t have worn them more than twice.


THREE

While we were out eating for our anniversary back in July, I stopped into Madewell to check out their jeans since they are know for being a denim company.  Plus, I have a leather purse from there and love it, so I assumed their jeans would be awesome.


I explained to the sales lady that I wanted a comfortable fabric that was stretchy.  She brought me a pair of the high-rise jeans with a 9″ rise.  Yes, the fabric was amazing but they came above my belly button.  I’m not ready for jeans that do that just yet 🙂  But if you are, then the fabric on these were wonderful!

Verdict:  Would have bought if they were a mid to low rise jean.


FOUR

A week later I went back to my local J. Crew to see if there was something I was missing.  I realized I still hated the toothpick dark wash and probably always will, but loved the toothpick in a classic rinse–much softer fabric!  So I tried them on…


And I loved them!  The only problem?  I was hunting for jeans that I could wear to school on Fridays and the ripped knees don’t cut it for teachers.  Sadly, I had to put these back, but maybe for my birthday?? 😉

Verdict:  I still want these!


FIVE

The last place I went to go check out jeans was Anthropologie and it actually was a perfect day for me to go in there because they were rolling out their fall denim.  After searching the wall display for a jean that met my qualifications, I settled on this pair:


I put these on and they fit!!  Whoop Whoop!  They have very little distress and absolutely no skin shows through.  They are still a dark wash and I believe can be worn throughout the entire year–perfect for all seasons!  They are so soft and stretchy, and I told Dustin that Pilcro may be my new favorite jean brand since I already own a pair of bell bottomed Pilcros.

Verdict:  I’m so glad I bought these–well worth the money!

As you can see, jean shopping was very exhaustive for me because I’m so picky about how my jeans fit.  I think we all get to be picky about jeans because we want them to be so comfortable–no one wants an uncomfortable pair of jeans!

Tell me, what’s your favorite pair of blue jeans that you own?

Click here to see my other Sense of Sarah posts



Linking up with Jenn and The Pleated Poppy