I Want an iPad

Much as one might prepare for the impending arrival of a baby by purchasing clothes, diapers, a crib and whatnot, I have started preparing for a new iPad by hoarding buying cute cases. I'm not buying up cases willy nilly though. I've been thinking about an iPad for a few months now and am inching closer to an actual purchase. Honestly, I'm beginning to think that part of the reason why I even want an iPad in the first place is because of the amazing variety of cases out there! Check out the cases that I bought.

First up is this padded pouch-style case by Pilcro and the Letterpress from Anthropologie. I love the colors and the fun almost safari/leaf type design. The only thing that we cannot agree on is if the animal on the front is a giraffe or a dog. I'm thinking it's a dog because the neck isn't long enough to be a giraffe and he appears to be wearing some sort of collar. I really like the leather wrist strap for when you want to tote around your iPad/tablet without putting it in another bag or carrying something more bulky. This was originally $48, but marked down to $9.95.

The second cover was purchased for a RIDICULOUS price which I will get to shortly. I've been wanting one of Rebecca Minkoff's pouches with the cute sayings for a while, but haven't brought myself to buy one because 1) they are kind of pricey and 2) I don't know what I would put in it! So when I saw this case at Nordstrom Rack, I immediately snatched it up. It is a really nice black leather with the words "touch & go" on the front - how appropriate! This one isn't padded and it's quite slim so it would be perfect for carrything your iPad in your bag.

Okay, now onto the price. Originally this baby retailed for $165. Peeling back layers of stickers it looks like it was on sale for $79.97, then marked down again to something like $66, then again to $41.25 and then further reduced to $24.75. I thought $25 for a Rebecca Minkoff iPad case was a huge bargain, but I got to the register and it rang up as $0.01. Yes, you read that correctly - ONE PENNY. WTF?! That is like a 99.99% discount! I'm guessing it was some kind of error, but the girl at the register didn't say anything (I purchased a few other things at the same time). I guess sometimes you just get lucky. My friend told me she once bought something at Nordstrom Rack for a penny and I bought a pair of golf shorts at Dick's for a nickel.

If this is not an awesome Markdown Monday post then I don't know what is! Now I just need to get one of those pesky iPads...

TOMS Warehouse Sale

I decided to start having a theme to every day of the week in order to inspire and encourage me to blog more. For some reason, I had the hardest time thinking of theme for Mondays. Makeup Mondays would be the most obvious and I'm definitely going to do some of those, but when I think of "Monday" the denim brand, Cheap Monday always comes to mind. Then I started thinking maybe I could do like a Markdown Monday where I blog about some deals that I scored recently. The unfortunate thing about this is that the deal might be over by the time you read this which kind of sucks. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually.

So for my first Markdown Monday, I'd like to present the TOMS Warehouse sale which took place this past weekend. Let's look at some pictures of the craziness.

Great prices!

Crazy long line

Finally got in!

A look at some of the styles

My haul

I enlisted the companionship of a dear friend and we braved crowds, poor parking, rain and I kid you not, HAIL to get our shoes. We arrived shortly before the opening time of 10 AM on Friday and discovered that hundreds, possibly thousands of other shoppers had beaten us to the punch. We estimated what time we would get in to the actual shopping area - I said 11:30, she said noon. We didn't get in until 2 PM! We waiting in line for FOUR FREAKING HOURS!!! And that is four hours without water, lunch or a bathroom break. I was stressing out and getting hangry.

Well we finally made it in only to discover another huge line to pay. My friend and I decided to tag team and take turns waiting in line and shopping. Ultimately, I was disappointed by the selection. There were no solid classic TOMS which is what I really wanted to get. I ended up buying 5 pairs - 3 for myself and 2 pairs for my mom, plus a pair of sunglasses. The coral shoes are my mom's and I also got her a pair of black suede Botas, but I guess she wore them to work today. The black slip ons with skulls are actually from the Youth section and were only $15. Oh and it took us 2.5 hours to pay so in total we ended up spending over 6.5 hours at the sale and didn't leave until 4:30. The lesson learned is NEVER AGAIN. It really wasn't worth it for me and I most definitely won't be returning. I guess you will have to determine that for yourself though because there were people who were buying loads of shoes. That's all for my first Markdown Monday - I hope you enjoyed!