and the shopping gods were against her.

I had an unexpected free night last night, so I took a stroll down to Michigan Ave to see what I could find for my "color" ensemble. Let me just preface this post by saying I was wearing 3-inch heels, a pencil skirt and tights- not the optimal outfit for trying things on or walking all over the city.

My first stop was Zara. I had gone to the State St store on Monday during lunch, and the sales associate there told me the Michigan Ave store had a much better selection/variety of sizes. And he was right- they had a ton of great pieces in bright, fun colors. My fitting room looked like the rainbow by the time I was done with my first lap around the store. I literally tried on 15 different things- dresses, skirts, tops, pants, you name it. However, they only let you bring 6 things in to the fitting room at a time, which was annoying because I like to mix and match and see what looks good together. Even more annoying, they never have my size!!! They sell out so quickly, they don't have an online store AND they won't take ANYTHING off the mannequin even if it's your size and you are begging/whining/crying. Long story short, I'm boycotting Zara for awhile. Here are some of the things I tried on:

Super cute skirt that I knew I'd wear again and again (sandals in the summer, tights in the winter/spring), but surprise, surprise they didn't have my size.

Really liked this dress, but they didn't have my size.

Loved this! So comfortable, and I could dress it up or down. But what do you know...no sizes for Lauren.

Almost bought this shirt when I was shopping at lunch on Monday, but when I tried it on again it just looked baggy and blah.

The one thing I tried on that fit like a glove, but I was hesitant to buy it without an idea for bottoms.

The only thing I bought! It was $30 and very soft, I also love polka dots :) I'm thinking this would be great with an orange dress...

Feeling a little down after leaving Zara, I decided to head to Water Tower for Akira (Chicago based store), Aritzia (boutique originally started in Canada) and Cusp (by Neiman Marcus). I tried on a dress in Akira and a skirt in Aritzia...neither worked. I absolutely love Cusp, but a lot of their dresses were above my budget (I only have $110 left after the scarf and yellow tank from Target). They were, however, having an awesome sale and I thought I might hit it big, but these two dresses didn't work out:

Really soft material and I loved the color, but it did absolutely nothing for my figure.

This DVF dress was a little too long for my liking :)

Feeling even more depressed at this point, I headed to my mecca: J.Crew. I saw this skirt there over the weekend that I thought might work, but I decided it was a cop-out. The polka dots (which are hard to see in this picture) are bright pink and orange, but it's mostly black and didn't fulfill my desire for color.

I also tried on this orange silk blazer at J.Crew, and while adorable, it was over $150 and I just couldn't blow my budget on my second attempt (I am very pleased with my self-control).

I walked out of the mall feeling very defeated and very tired. But today is a new day and I'm ready to go again! Hopefully the shopping gods are on my side this time...