Best Clothing Boutique
Estate sale paperwork has been at the forefront once again but I am making headway. I completed six packages this week and plan to finish a seventh today. Then on to the following week when we had five sales! It is a very time-consuming process but I am a big believer in providing good information to our clients after the sales, detailed but not too detailed. It is definitely the IT side of me coming out! The plan will be to work on one package each evening next week so I can get back to jewelry work in between my usual daily estate sale work. I have not been able to price any new jewelry since I have been back to Chicago and I am especially excited to share all of the wonderful pieces from Tucson with everyone. I am thinking about doing an informal pop-up sale in two weeks to introduce it all because we will be hosting a fun sale just over the border in Des Plaines a stone's throw from home base. Mother and I have been cleaning out our closets and we both have a lot of nice items such as clothing, purses and shoes which have either never been worn or were gently worn but in great condition. I would have my work cut out for me but I always enjoy a good challenge! I will post the decision next time but it will probably be a go.
I have turned over my wardrobes for both Scottsdale and here to one amazing place - Macoma Boutique. I no longer shop for clothing anywhere else. Somehow I stumbled across them on Facebook last summer and I have been hooked ever since. The clothing is not inexpensive, most tops are in the low $20s to mid $30s but the quality is nice and they represent several different manufacturers so there is a great variety of styles. They love what I love - leopard and cheetah prints, tie dye, camo. I have never been a jeans person but they offer really cute jeans that are stretchy and actually comfortable. I am between sizes at the moment so I either need to have the pair that is too large tailored or lose a few so the others fit around the waist! I have been mainly focusing on tops and their light jackets are perfect for Arizona weather. They are located in Florida so they relate. The owner Ashley is only 33 and I admire the amazing business that she has built up in only three years while raising two young boys. Macoma Boutique has an app through CommentSold and it is so easy to shop (too easy!) I watch their live sales while I am working and when they show something I like, just a couple of clicks and it will be in my hands in a few days as they typically ship the next day. Ashley believes in making fashion accessible for women of all ages and sizes, she is a size Small in tops and 2 in bottoms and Rachel her plus-size model is a 2X in tops and an 18 in bottoms. She has other models in between sizes as well. I have learned to look at how the clothing fits Rachel to determine how it will fit me, I have found sizing down to Large or Extra Large works well depending upon the brand. If something does not work out, most items can be returned for store credit in two weeks but most everything has worked out. Customer service is great! Each item has a cute name, they are usually named after songs. So much more refreshing than most people who give their items girls names. They have cart reimbursement giveaways to one person each live sale and I have actually won three times!
I have turned over my wardrobes for both Scottsdale and here to one amazing place - Macoma Boutique. I no longer shop for clothing anywhere else. Somehow I stumbled across them on Facebook last summer and I have been hooked ever since. The clothing is not inexpensive, most tops are in the low $20s to mid $30s but the quality is nice and they represent several different manufacturers so there is a great variety of styles. They love what I love - leopard and cheetah prints, tie dye, camo. I have never been a jeans person but they offer really cute jeans that are stretchy and actually comfortable. I am between sizes at the moment so I either need to have the pair that is too large tailored or lose a few so the others fit around the waist! I have been mainly focusing on tops and their light jackets are perfect for Arizona weather. They are located in Florida so they relate. The owner Ashley is only 33 and I admire the amazing business that she has built up in only three years while raising two young boys. Macoma Boutique has an app through CommentSold and it is so easy to shop (too easy!) I watch their live sales while I am working and when they show something I like, just a couple of clicks and it will be in my hands in a few days as they typically ship the next day. Ashley believes in making fashion accessible for women of all ages and sizes, she is a size Small in tops and 2 in bottoms and Rachel her plus-size model is a 2X in tops and an 18 in bottoms. She has other models in between sizes as well. I have learned to look at how the clothing fits Rachel to determine how it will fit me, I have found sizing down to Large or Extra Large works well depending upon the brand. If something does not work out, most items can be returned for store credit in two weeks but most everything has worked out. Customer service is great! Each item has a cute name, they are usually named after songs. So much more refreshing than most people who give their items girls names. They have cart reimbursement giveaways to one person each live sale and I have actually won three times!
I am finding though that I have amassed so many cute pieces that deciding what to wear each morning is a challenge. I saved the lighter color and more bohemian pieces for Scottsdale and the brighter and darker colors for here. I have gotten a couple of cute pairs of sneakers as well which look great with the clothes. They sometimes do live sales from markets in Dallas, Atlanta or Las Vegas and show different products. I recently got a black leather crossbody bag which has interchangeable guitar straps in different patterns. I never have time to change my purse so now all I have to do is change the strap to match what I am wearing. So far I have received two straps (brown leopard and hot pink leopard) and I am waiting for a third, grey leopard. I saw some more choices on Etsy as well. I hope Ashley will not mind if I borrow her photo, I wore this top yesterday and love it. It has a faux placket going down the back with buttons. I could not recommend Macoma Boutique more highly. When I first started buying my credit card company thought someone had stolen my card but they are used to it now!
On Friday one of my sterling jewelry sellers stopped by with new goodies. Last time he visited I was in Arizona and we did a phone chat with Mother from home base. However I still had not seen what I purchased from that chat until yesterday! I was looking all over the house and garage for the jewelry and then Mother remembered that she put the bag in the office. It was mixed in with a bunch of papers in bags that I need to file from when I was gone so I did not even realize it was jewelry. Between this lot and the lot I selected yesterday, there is so much good stuff. I have a lot to do now!
On Saturday I took Mother to the 50th Annual Antiques & Collectibles Flea Market at Hodges Park in front of City Hall in Park Ridge. I would say the park was about 60% full but there were still enough vendor booths to peruse. We have participated in this show in the past. I saw a couple of vendors that I know but the rest were all new to me. I bought an Asian-style original painting with a newer frame for the garage from one booth and an awesome MCM lamp base and a pair of cool salt and pepper shakers from another booth. Mother got a couple of different plant stands which are both very cute. We did not bring enough money and had to go to the bank to get some cash. The jewelry was mostly costume, very little in the way of sterling. By the time we were finished at the flea market it was getting kind of late but I still drove over to the Park Ridge farmer's market which was going on nearby. But Mother was tired and did not feel like walking around so we did not go. After some driving around Uptown and not finding parking anywhere we ended up going out of the city center to Lola's Diner on Busse Hwy. I have been to Lola's a handful of times in the past, under both the current and previous owners. It really has a 1950s soda shop vibe. On this particular visit our food was solidly good. I had a "nest" which is scrambled eggs, sausage, onions and cheddar cheese with hash browns wrapped around it and a side of pancakes. Mother had a Greek skillet which had gyro meat, potatoes, tomatoes, Feta cheese and eggs her way, also with a side of pancakes. I guess I was hungry because I ate 95% off the nest and both pancakes. Mother ate all of the potatoes and some of the pancakes, we put all of the rest in a to-go box for Kuochun and he ate it for lunch today.
Well it is almost time for my liquid lunch (I will talk about that another time) and I was about to sign off for today but I just realized I was going to talk about our Tucson trip starting today. Looks like it will have to be next week. Until then!