I'm a sucker for shopping online. I know if the term 'Retail Therapy' hadn't already been created, I would have coined it myself. I find it enormously relaxing to surf around, add stuff to my cart and then leave. I'm sure all those sites are pouring through their data and wondering why customers are doing this - so I apologize - but hey, drop your prices and maybe I'll actually push the checkout button! Anyhow, some days I end up at Forever 21 because if something's trendy, they have it and they have it cheap. However, seeing as how I'm pretty much not their target age demographic, in fact, I'm pretty much off their radar LOL, I do feel stupid (hence, no actual brick & mortar store visits - that music is horrible in the stores! Forever39 anyone?!) Anyhow, I often end up at Newport News. They do have some neat stuff but like I said with the stoop sales, you have to dig. I mean, they have so many trendy things but they often are *this close* and then they add something bizarre like chains or snake skin and it's lost on me. But I found this dress and it's pretty cute - in the white or the brown. It looks like it might be not so clingy as to highlight the post-baby tire I've accumulated. I might put it in the cart - visit it every few days and then maybe I'll buy it??

Stoop sales. Fashionista Heaven.

I love a good stoop sale. In the Midwest we called them garage sales, but since space is about $400 a square foot in the NY area, garages are pretty scarce. So we call stoop sales any time the contents of one's house is brought out to sell out onto the sidewalk and stoop. Mid-spring marks the beginning of the season here in Brooklyn but things really pick up at the beginning of summer right before the kids get out of school. This is an important detail to note because if one plans on walking all over miles of neighborhoods rooting through people's junk, it would behoove one (I love saying that) to go on the days that the rich people purge their big homes before heading out to the Hamptons to fill up their other big homes. See - stoop sales help the little people like me benefit from the frivolous seasonal whims of the wealthy - and I usually find scores for about $5. Earlier this summer, my planning and theory, factored in with a sunny but low 70s temperature created the perfect stoop sale vortex of great success. I left with my big empty tote bag (rule #1 for stoop sales: don't ask for a bag. Come on!) and 3 hours later returned with a brand new black patent leather Nine West handbag for $10, 1 pretty glass French Press coffee maker ($3), 1 brightly colored mexican planter ($2), 1 tall square basket ($2) and 3 jewelry molds that will make some awesome wall art for the bathroom ($9). Major scores. It was about 4 years ago that I was enlightened to the hidden potential of the stoop sale. I was walking to the grocery store and came across a stoop sale. I walked away with a beautiful yellow designer dress by Catherine Malandrino - for $20. I promptly googled it when I got home and realized I just got the bargain of the century: It retailed for $250. We also once scored a beautiful black button tufted leather club chair - for $10 because the sellers had been out there all day and were moving and wanted it gone. Score! So, some may call it dumpster diving, but not me. If you wash the clothes immediately and wipe down anything else you get before using, what's not to love? Especially on a budget.