Can we just talk about a few things?

First of all, no one has any money right now. This I know. And I think it's just plain mean for designers to keep coming out with cute things that they KNOW we are all going to want to buy. Bastards! Since having Jack, and buying a house, and contributing to a retirement fund, so we don't end up like Jean Valjean, I don't have a lot of money laying around for pretty things anymore. There was a time in my life when I thought it was a totally appropriate treat to buy myself an $700 handbag, because I thought "Hey Sassafras, you've earned it". How I thought I had earned it, I'm still puzzling out, but none the less, my life was filled with pretty little treasures.

Nowadays, I'm agonizing over the sale prices on baby clothes, and trading in my former trinkets for new drywall, and better plumbing. But there are few small things, I've decided I can't get through the winter without, and I thought I'd share.

The first item is a pair of Marc by Marc Jacobs tights. Sadie saw them in the runway show, and emailed them to me. Both of us figured they would never actually sell them in the store, and they would just be another awesome runway accessory that we'd have to dream about. Last week, Sadie got a call that a dress she had ordered was in at the MJ store. Since it was more expensive than their usual stuff, she asked me to come along and tell her if it was worth it. It was a lucky day for both of us. The dress was cute, but it wasn't cute enough for what they were asking. BUT, there on the wall were our tights! We took a pair in each color into the dressing room and tried them on. They are thick like leggings. half silk, half cotton. They look like raggedy ann, dressing for fall. I got the turquoise and she got the violet, and we swear we are going to share them. RECESSION LEGGINGS!!!!

The next little treasure only set me back about $6. It's a new color by OPI called Russian Navy. I like to keep my nails super short because I can't stand the feeling of them catching on things, they don't chip as easily, oh, and, I think it looks tres chic with a dark color like this.

The next piece, is a little bit of a splurge, but it was heavily subsidized by a birthday gift from Nipper's mom (thanks Meema!) They are made by Fiorentini + Baker, and they are apparently very well made, but I don't really care about that because they are cute, cute, cute. Nipper Knapp asks me how things are going on Tatooine when I where them. Sometimes he just shouts "Luke, I am your father" as I pass by. What does he know. Sadie got them in dark brown, but I couldn't resist this delicate grey suede. SO girly for a motorcycle boot.

The last item up for bids is so pretty that my chest actually hurts a little bit when I look at it. My chest also hurts because of the hefty price tag and the knowledge that this little doodad will not be keeping my wrist warm this winter. J Crew is offering this through their personal shoppers. It's $2800. Which is, I'm told, a GREAT price for a vintage Rolex. Whatever. I had to include it anyway. I'm not usually big on jewelry. I'd rather accessorize with shoes, or a scarf, or a toddler. Also damn you all the hell J Crew. Quit trying to ruin my life...

I'm so glamorous, you might as well dip me in glitter

So recent events in the economy have gotten me thinking. Just how many marc jacobs bags can you have? How many pairs of shoes does it take to make one woman feel happy and secure in the fact that she will never be a bag lady? The answer is of course, that you can never have enough shoes and handbags, because they don't make you look fat,ever, period. BUT, I've still been feeling like a little economizing is in order. Nipper Knapp and I make our living primarily as actors, and really, in advertising. The recent contract negotiations, economic downturn, and the appearance of tiny little wrinkles that promise to swallow my face whole by next year, pretty much guarantee that things are changing. And so maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if we had a little safety net, a back up plan, maybe a penny or two for a rainy day...

In the spirit of saving, NY Times article be damned, we let go of our cleaning lady. To save money, but also because she hated us, and did all sorts of strange things that made us feel sad when we came home. Nothing extreme, just little gestures to let us know that she thought we were assholes. SO, cleaning lady, banished! That saved us $160 a month. Ok so that's not going to be enough to retire on, but it's a start. 

Then I started demanding we eat at home more. In order to save a little money, but also so that Jack wouldn't think that food only came from Larchmont Pizza, Sharkey's, and In-Out Burger. I mean seriously, how did this happen? We used to eat sushi, and things that involved truffle butter. Since Jack was born it's been more like "me hungry, food, face, NOW!"  SO we planted the vegetable garden, got a few great cookbooks, and started eating at home more. I didn't think it was really doing much, and it was irritating to have to go to the store almost every day at first, because we had nothing in the kitchen at all. But the other day, I looked at our summary from the bank, and we've been saving $400 a month. That's 400 fast food dollars. Gross.

So that, combined with the the cleaning lady savings, and, hey diddle diddle ,we've saved enough for like 3 new Chloe bags a year!!!! I mean college savings for Jack. Berkeley baby! Not that I've thought about it...

Which leads me to my recession dress. About a month ago, Sadie and I got together for a girls day out. Which sounds very sex in the city-ish. But in reality, was two cranky moms, eating tacos at the Not Grove, and browsing at Anthropologie because one of us had a gift card (thanks sis!). 

So we wander into Barney's Co-op, and spot this dress. It's by A.P.C. Madras, and we've both been eyeing it for months. I mention that I love it, and she says she does too, but we both assumed it was a $500 dress, and was something our husbands would hate (the $500 part aside) and so never bothered to try it on. Well internet, that dress had a $170 price tag, which was enough to get us in the dressing room together. We tried it on. We fell in love. We started saying things like "I'll wear this dress forever!!!" And so we decided to SHARE the dress. I know. Idiots. We got all excited in that dressing room. We were swept up in the saving zeitgeist. FIRE the help! Plant your own vegetables! Share that dress from Barney's with your friend! Everyone's doing it!!! No. No one is doing that. You know why? Because it's stupid, and three minutes after Sadie said "Hey, can I have the dress this month, while it's still cold, so I can wear it with boots", I died a little on the inside, and started trying to figure out how to have her taken out mob style. Well, lucky for everyone involved, Sadie wore the dress one time, and decided it didn't fit right. And so I will be wearing my recession dress every day, in order to make it pay for itself. I'll be the one vacuuming, and picking peppers in a dress from Barney's. That's the story I'll tell my grandkids. "Why, I wore the same dress every day one year! The same dress!" Wow, grammy, that sounds TERRIBLE!