After the Victorian Tea event at Your Big Sister’s Closet last month, I met a delightful lady with whom an instant friendship was born. Turns out this chick, Annika Reid is the chief designer and owner of Candi Apple Couture (who was soon to be launching into the bloggosphere) struggles with finding affordable bra options in Toronto. Naturally, our tea-time conversation quickly turned to planning a road trip to Buffalo to empty all of the Lane Bryant locations of their Cicaque bras!!! Annika had yet to learn of the magic of this brand – and I was more than happy to show her what a proper fitting bra could do. :)
So we took a day off work and left for the border bright and early …. but first a stop at currency exchange followed by the church of i.HOP…their Strawberry Banana Cream Pie Pancakes is an AMAZING and religious experience! God is Good!
Now…this was meant to be a very purposeful and focused cross border trip. There is absolutely no reason for me to be shopping. My closet is full and my shoe selection ample. This trip’s Mission was strictly for Over-The-Shoulder-Boulder-Holders! Buuuuut some how the following sofa-full of bags ended up coming home with me….
My Shoe Haul!
The deals on footwear in my size were just too good to pass up friends…. soooo this happened:
This was my very first time visiting Torrid … and I must say, when they throw a sale…they mean business!! Check out these two pairs I got from them:
Torrid: Black High-top platform kicks $14!!!
From Torrid: suede black sling-backs with gold pointed studs were $5! (I signed up for their store card…and got them for $2.50!!! Crazytown!)
Payless: each pair was $17!!!! Naturally I had to get them in ever colour that fit my feet!! :)
Then of course, we had to stop at the NineWest Outlet … they’ve never let me down yet…and with their Buy one Get one 1/2 off, these two babies became mine:
Kate Spade New York
I’ve been eyeing the Kate Spade bags for sometime now, but wasn’t sure if I was a “Kate Spade kinda girl”. But then I saw this paten-leather stripped beauty in the window, whist waiting for the girls to find WiFi service within the mall…..and I was hooked. I visited this shop TWICE before making my decision. I cradled and petted it. Wore it with its detachable cross-body strap. Held it by its handle and walked around the store a bit to see if I liked the look and weight of it. It was beautiful. But, did I really need another designer purse?
Then a conveniently placed shop-girl quickly informed me that this particular bag was not only discounted at 40%….but there was an ADDITIONAL 20% off this bag TODAY ONLY!!!! Well…that did it friends! She. Was. Mine! :)
Dresses
As I mentioned above, I truly set off with good intentions to keep my wallet tight….I had no intention of buying additional clothes this trip. Buuuuut then this happened….
The girls took me to a shop I’d never been before called: Rainbow. I was immediately drawn to this fantastic nautical cut-out hi-low dress….but at first glance I was too intimidated by it. But upon trying it on – I really really really loved it! And have been kicking myself for not buying it in the summer-tastic teal colour it came in as well as the navy I picked up. It pays to go shopping with two pushy chicks I tell ya ;) (Thanks again ladies! You make be brave!)
Rainbow: Hi-low nautical stripes cut-out dress was $16!!!
I did end up buying TWO more dresses….a scalloped neck and hemlines lace dress from DressBarn ($39) and a coral-navy patterned faux wrap dress from Rainbow ($15!). I ended up wearing this one to this Speed Dating Event I recently attended …. stay tuned on my blog post on that friends ;)
Oh…did we buy bras? You bet we did!!! Lane Bryant’s Cacique bra selection goes right up to F, G and H-cup …. and they often have Buy one, Get one 1/2 off sales also! Which typically means this girl can get up to FOUR bras for less than the price of one in Toronto that doesn’t need to be custom ordered and fitted by a pricy lingerie shop.
Sadly, the selection was rather limited in terms of the styles vs. sizes needed this time around — strongly recommend you pre-order if you’re making a trip out there specifically for bras friends. I did pick up a deep plunge for those dresses that are cleavage specific, a perfect tee-shirt bra, a racer back lace french cut and a regular lace french cut. Curious of what these look like? Click here and visit their site friends ;)
All smiles with full bellies, empty wallets, and sore voices from all the Car-aoke singing all the way back to Toronto. ROAD TRIP COMPLETE! Woot! Woot!
There you have it! A Breakdown of my Cross-Border Extravaganza and Shopping Haul! It was a fantastic day. How many of y’all go cross border shopping on the regular? Would anyone be interested in coming along if Petite Plus, Meow! + Candi Apple Couture were to HOST a cross border shopping trip in the near future? Tell us what you think of this idea in the comments section friends….and we’ll take it from there :)
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