Dirt cheap is pretty much the only shopping category I'm allowing myself these days. That was a whole lotta frustrating given the great sales at the Off Saks in Nashville, but it was where we finally found the dress my mother will wear for Brenna's wedding in September. It was such a score: a black silk Armani dress, to the knee, with the most gorgeous embellishment at the neck..originally more than $3,000. The tag at the store read a more reasonable but still way pricey $890-something. By the time the final markdown had been applied and my mom had applied for whatever card and gotten THAT additional discount, we walked (floated?) out of the store with a $360-something dress.

I found my bridesmaid dress too: A Marilyn-Monroe style dress in black (we have the exact the exact-same size hands, I discovered, when I went to the Walk of Fame in college). It's a halter style in whatever that microfiber is that never seems to wrinkle, with a silky high waist cummerbundish thing and a skirt that flows down from there right below the knee. Stylish, flattering and comfortable, and $99. It was the first dress I tried on. DONE. More and more these days, I love to find something right away and be done with it! Well, maybe it's just the things that I "need"...