Would all our shopping expeditions be in a place like this!

Yesterday on the way to the mall, as I told my husband the best route to avoid the traffic into the parking lot, he said I was a “professional shopper.”  I told him I did not think that I shopped enough to qualify as one, yet,  but that I was pretty good at it.  He lovingly replied with a smile that he hoped someday to be able to fully fund my ambitions.

So we continued on to the glorious haven of brightly lit stores filled with all kinds of delicious things to tempt our senses.  Large red “SALE” banners tried to lure us in to any and all stores, but I was on a mission.  Not a shopping mission, a buying mission.  4 hours, 5 stores, 3 full shopping bags, and 1 pretzel (Wetzels are the BEST!) later, we left satisfied with a productive afternoon together.  We did not shop.  We bought.

“I’m Overwhelmed!”

Today as I sat chatting with my manicurist, she told me how she has been working on cleaning out her closet.  Her philosophy of clothing has changed in the past year.  She is done with the “more is better” thinking (BRAVO), and wants to start shopping for quality pieces.  But now she is feeling stuck.  Her exact words to me were, “I get in the stores with all of the racks, and clearance signs, and I just get overwhelmed.  I don’t even know where to start.”

“Pronti! Ai posti! Via!”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this before.  But I can tell you that if I don’t keep my focus, I can start feeling that way too.  It makes you want to turn around and give up completely.  So I thought I would take a couple of days to give you some of my shopping, or rather, BUYing secrets.  Ok, well they are not secrets, but they are the ways to keep my sanity while swimming through a sea of clothes.  Soooooooo…….. here goes!

#1.  Make a List:

Before you hop in the car, or onto the subway, and head to the stores, you need to survey your closet and figure out what you need.  Buying, unlike shopping, has a specific purpose.  Make a very specific list, number, size, color.  This was my list for yesterday:

Gold leather handbag

Dark wash skinny jeans

Dark wash boot cut jeans

Pair of fun, decorated jeans

Long sleeved, fitted, button down, collared shirts (white, black and other)

Black, comfortable bra

Red Leather Snakeskin Boots with low heel

2 watch batteries

Pair of Ecco golf/street shoes for Hubby

2 Pairs of jeans for Hubby

#2.  Get Dressed!

Stilettos, false lashes and red lips may work for strolling through the boutiques on a girls night out, but they don’t work when you are out on a buying mission.  Your feet will be yelling at you all day and you will go home with a strange caterpillar crawling on your cheek next to red streaks of lipstick from pulling blouses over your head.

Wear comfortable shoes that will slip on and off easily.

If you plan on trying on shoes, wear or bring the appropriate socks for the shoes you want, and be sure to bring any insoles you plan on wearing in them.

Have great under garments on.  Nothing can make clothes look worse than a sagging bust line or major panty lines.  A good bra, seamless panties and even some Spanx will help you visualize how things will look.

Wear a button down top so there is one less thing you have to pull over your head.

Look nice.  There is nothing like putting on a fabulous outfit and then looking in the mirror to find a haggard face and a rat’s nest on your head.  It is hard to picture how great something looks on you when you can’t get past the mess.  Go for a clean, fresh face with simple make up.  Stick with a light colored lip gloss to prevent smudging and smearing.

Don’t forget the deodorant!  You may very likely break a sweat!

#3.  Bring a Friend

Having a shopping buddy will help things go smoother.  Finding a sales associate to run and get you another size while you are in the changing room or do a price check for you can be difficult these days.  So having a friend or husband along to carry bags and be a second set of eyes can be very helpful.  Either take turns helping each other out during the day, or make one outing just for you and another outing just for her.

And last for tonight……

#4.  Pray for my Parking Anointing!

I am anointed for great parking spots.  I never have to look long and I always end up right up close so I don’t have to walk very far.  This is a handy thing to have.  Ask and you shall receive!!  Ha, ha!!!  But seriously, I’m not kidding!

Stay tuned for the next installment when we actually get into the stores and find out how much of my list I was able to check off yesterday.

Do you have a bad taste in your mouth for “New Year’s Resolutions?”  They often seem to get a bad rap.  We don’t keep them very long and then we decide they are pointless or worthless words.  I have made ‘resolutions’ in the past.  Some I’ve kept and some I have not.  Do we throw them out completely because of failure?

As I pondered this question this morning, I wondered if we really have a good understanding of what it means to make a resolution.  I was prompted to look up the definition.

RESOLU’TION, n. (From Webster’s American Dictionary of English Language, 1828)

6. Fixed purpose or determination of mind ; as a resolution to reform our lives ; a resolution to undertake an expedition.

7.  The effect of fixed purpose ; firmness, steadiness or constancy in execution, implying courage.

That is a powerful word.  To have a “fixed purpose,” “firmness,” “steadiness,” …. “courage!”  These are GREAT things!  I wonder how many of our past resolutions failed because we had not fixed a purpose to the words.

FIX, v.t.

1.  To make stable; to set or establish immovably.  The universe is governed by fixed laws.

2.  To set or place permanently ; to establish.

3.  To make fast ; to fasten ; to attach firmly ; as to fix a cord or line or hook.

4.  To set or place steadily ; to direct, as the eye, without moving it

Or maybe we did not fix a worthy enough purpose to the words so eventually they became unimportant to us.  If the purpose is powerful enough, the words will truly be a “resolution.”

Psalm 141:8
But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Hebrews 3:1
[ Jesus Greater Than Moses ] Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

I hope you can find a worthy enough purpose for 2012 so that you can resolve to not let yourself be moved.

Have courage, have faith!!!

New Year’s Resolutions???  Well I don’t tend to make major resolutions, I more like evaluate the year and analyze what I want to do next.  But this year, I am making a BIG one.  In one word, I want to make everything about the Salt & Light by Lori Delisle line more …

…FABULOUS!!!

I am so stoked to make everything about your experience with Salt & Light by Lori Delisle a whole new level of LUXURY, from your shopping experiences to the pieces you purchase.  This year is about giving you the best!!

The Preparation

Part of the my preparations to get the shops and line ready for these great new changes is to clear out a large number of pieces from my current line.  There are now 23 pieces in my SALE section!!  Once they are gone, they are gone for good, so snag them up quick!!

sale . sale . sale

Check out all these and more for some great deals.  All are available in my Artfire and Etsy shops!

Turquoise & Marcasite Necklace - Provision- Originally $230, now $199!

Sterling Silver and Red Coral Rose Earrings - Rose of Sharon - Originally $17.50, now $15

Sterling Silver and Citrine, Golden Quartz Necklace - Vessels of Oil - Originally $88, now $75

Floating Sterling Silver and Leather Necklace - Hooked on Jesus - Originally $45, now $35

Enjoy the Fabulous Deals!!!

In case you need a little break from red and green right now, here is another winter color combo to brighten your winter!

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The December 2011 issue of Glamour magazine has an article in it that put a bit of a lump in my throat.  The writer, Sarah Hepola, had the guts to tell the real side of boozing.  Her article, “20 Things You Notice When You’re Not Drinking,” (pg. 236)says every thing I’ve ever wanted to say, but didn’t dare, because frankly, I have only been on one side of the glass.

Sarah was there.   She loved how “liquor with a big bow” made her and her friends “light up inside like a Christmas tree.”  She loved the glamor of party dresses and martinis but the alcohol began to take its toll.  As Sarah put it “I loved losing myself in alcohol, but I was starting to loose myself, period.  And so I quit drinking.”

Alcohol has never been a temptation for me.  Even more so after I started dating my husband.  He loved to party.  In high school his best friend got drunk and shot himself in the head, after his father did the same 2 weeks prior.  Their deaths were horribly painful for him and a major eye opener.  He quit drinking all together and  I did not have a sip of even wine for years in support of my husband’s abstention.

Eventually I allowed myself to enjoy a tasty drink from time to time but never to excess.  And all through the years I painfully watched others make utter fools of themselves.  You now you’ve hit a low point when you are hitting on your friend’s wife, IN FRONT OF HIM.  As Sarah puts it, “People aren’t attractive when they drink a lot… even the most devastating woman at the party looks bad falling off a bar stool.”

All of Sarah’s observations, like it is nearly impossible to find a man hot when he is slurring his words and you are sober, I wanted to say so many times, but didn’t dare.  I never felt I had the right to, since alcohol was never my weakness.  I never felt the peer pressure, or at least never gave in.  I have never felt the need to drown away the pain or become more charming or clever.  Right or wrong, I held my tongue.

So before you go to that next Christmas party and get sloshed, think again.  Don’t take my word for it, take Sarah’s.