So, there are a few things you should know about me….I love to cook and bake, some would say I am even decent at it. BUT I cannot brew a pot of GOOD coffee to save my life, thank the Lord for Keurig! I am obsessed with jewelry – the cheaper, more costumey, the better! I am petrified of birds. And, most importantly I HATE to shop, I mean hate, hate, hate to shop for clothes. Now that you know all that, I think you will find the humor in this story – enjoy!

In addition to just plain hating to shop, I also have zero sense of style – I need to look at magazines, Pinterest or the mannequins for inspiration, no way can I just “pull” a look together – and I do not have much time. The funny thing is, every day I am in different stores shopping….produce stores, specialty shops, Whole Foods, Wegmans….9x out of 10 I am either dressed in my chef coat or in my all black Eat Your Heart Out Edibles Uniform, and I can be found running frantically through the store looking for that “one” ingredient to complete my shopping so I can get into my client’s home and get cooking! The point is how “not cute” and 26 years old I look during work hours. However, I discovered that is not the case for the rest of the clientele at my local Wholefoods and Wegmans!

I should have learned the hard way last year – I was sorting through the avocados when this beautiful brown leather satchel purse caught my eye from across the produce section – next to the broccoli to be exact. So there I am with a cart full of organic veggies, in my chef coat with a mile-long shopping list in hand, as I walk over to this very well-groomed, put-together woman. I tell her I LOVE her purse and have been looking for one just like it and asked her where it was from. I had never heard of the brand before, but the name reminded me of “hermit” (as in hermit crabs LOL). After work that night I Googled “hermit purses”, only to find that it was not hermit but Hermes Paris, annnnd the purse cost over $2,000! HA! So that was the last time I’ll ever ask about anyone’s clothing or accessories at Wegmans…or so I thought.

A whole year has passed where I have secretly taken style notes of the classy ladies in my local super-markets. I would often find myself writing down “looks” on my shopping list to go home and try to recreate. Pretty sad, I know, but hey, you can’t say I do not make the most of my time perusing the canned goods aisle. But it happened again, just last month as I was searching for gluten-free Tamari….I saw this adorable dress on a customer in Wegmans. I mean I loved it, it was plain, simple and classy, and perfect for me to deck out with jewelry, and I just needed to know where it was from. I debated putting myself through the excitement/let-down cycle again, but I have thick skin and so I went for it! This time the response was not as bad as last, I even knew the name of the store – J Crew. Again I went online, only to find the dress cost $120 before S&H, annnnnnd that it was sold out. Bummer. BUT then my genius mom told me to look on E-bay; lo and behold, there it was for $89. Honestly more money than I thought it was worth, but I really wanted it, so I went ahead with the purchase.

After two weeks had gone by, I realized I had missed a message from the vendor telling me that as she was packaging the dress for shipment, she had found a tear under the armpit and did not want to sell the dress to me damaged. I was so disappointed. Lucky for me though, my amazing mother just so happens to be an amazing seamstress and she told me she thought she could fix the tear. $95 in savings later, I have a brand spanking new (with tags) J Crew denim shirt dress, in my size, the tear is barely noticeable and I have already worn the dress three times! BOOM, that’s how it is done!

Out for the evening with my stylish Mom!

Next time you are in need of a new wardrobe and have no time to shop, just take a look at your surroundings for some inspiration. You just never know where style may linger – maybe even at Home Depot!

Personal Chef Fashionista!