‘TJ Maxx’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Food Writers’ Road Trip: Weekend Photos in Review

July 25, 2011 · Narrative

So what happens when three food writers set off on a Boston road trip? We come back with a ton of stories and a scant amount of pictures. A normal weekend usually nets me a minimum of 200 pictures. This weekend? I barely scraped a hundred. And forty or so of those were from the ride home. The laughs and the characters we met along the way, however, more than made up for it. And when I say characters, I mean characters.

That’s Joanne from Eats Well with Others and Patsy from Family, Friends and Food, by the way. If you’re not a reader of their web sites already, do check them out.

On the way to pick up Joanne in NYC, we may or may not have made a wrong turn. Twice. I blame the music. And Patsy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Our next picture didn’t happen until we reached the Mass Pike. A pathetic excuse for a freelance photographer I am. This time, Joanne was in the car too, so I’m blaming both of them. Too much talking! We sadly missed every “Welcome to…” state sign on the whole ride down. Three states. Three signs. I’d like to say we made up for it on the ride home. We kinda didn’t.

My Dad works in engineering, so when I saw these pastel-colored storage tanks as we neared our destination, I had to take a picture for him. Well, actually I stopped on the highway so Patsy could take it. You know, Safe Driving 101 and all.

After two days with me, the girls might be now used to my “wait, we have to stop everything and take pictures of the sky” problem fascination.

Just no getting away from Mystic.

What do three food writers eat for dinner when they head to Boston for a food conference? Lobster? No. Chow-dah? Nope. Steamers? Negatory. Homemade granola bars and strawberries brought from home. At 10:30 pm. I wish I was kidding, but the best food we had all weekend was likely the roasted vegetable wraps from the rest stop on our drive home. Sad. Very sad. But great fodder for blog posts, coming to a web site near you.

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You’ve Got Questions, I’ve Got Answers

June 24, 2011 · Narrative

Or at least some of the time I do.

Amy asked where my shoes come from in the photo of Madeline above. They are made by Naturalizer and I bought them at Famous Footwear. Love them. Took me forever to find the exact pair of wedges that I liked.

Sarah asked where this shirt of Madeline’s comes from… TJ Maxx. I can’t get her to wear it often, but it’s totally her wild child personality.

Someone asked a few months back where I shop for jeans. I discovered True Jean Company and Arizona Jean Company, both at JC Penney, awhile back and love them. Good for girls with a bit ‘o hip but without making you look wide. In my humble opinion, of course. I also love Old Navy for pants and jeans. A lot of my pants for the office come from there actually, and my favorite pair of (now) deceased jeans are from there. Last year, they had a line that was called Boyfriend/Weekender jeans that were awesome. Relaxed fit in the hips and broken in with a few holes here and there. Unfortunately they discontinued them, so if you see them on a clearance rack or eBay, grab them. I bought them in a few smaller sizes ’cause I loved them so much. Best fit ever.

My newest favorite shoes are pictured below. Can you guess which ones are mine? The fuschia sparkly ones. I bought them the day before I went to Atlanta for the Coca-Cola conference. Mystic calls them my ruby slippers. I think everyone needs a pair of ruby slippers. After all, they worked for Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, right? Those are from Payless, $14.99! They had a grey pair as well, and I couldn’t decide whether or not to get them too. Even with their Buy One, Get One Half Off sale. I ended up going back the next day, an hour before my car service came, to get them. I wear both of them a lot, so for fifteen bucks, a wise investment. While we were waiting for our second morning at Coke to begin, we started discussing shoes and it turned out we all wore a 10, 11 or 12, which is pretty unusual. Usually I’m the only one with big feet! Hence the picture.

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Wordless Wednesday, Otherwise Known as Clever Ways to Store Jewelry

January 26, 2011 · Narrative

I have never been a jewelry person. I could just never get into using jewelry as a daily rotating accessory, and once I put something on, it stayed forever and a day.

My wedding ring? Gave it back to my Dad (it was from his mom) when The Ex and I separated.

My engagement ring? Sold it long ago.

The ring The Ex gave me our first wedded Valentine’s Day? Sold.

No attachment anymore to any of it, and totally bad juju for repurposing.

I did keep a cross he gave me one Easter when we were dating, only because I thought I could pass it on to Madeline, perhaps for her Communion or Confirmation.

Sometimes I wear studs in my ears. Most days, I forget.

I usually wear a necklace with tags that have the kids’ name on them, their birth dates and their birthstones. Color me lower than low maintenance. At least in the jewelry department.

But over the course of the past year or so, I have branched out a bit. Wearing the odd bracelet or necklace, mixing and matching, changing it up.

I have this Pottery Barn jewelry box that I bought eons ago, and the glass top was engraved with my old (married) initials. Lot of good that does me now. I hated to throw it away, but didn’t want to see it daily either. What to do?

Last weekend, when returning something to TJ Maxx with Madeline, I discovered these jewelry organizers.

Where the heck have they been all my life? Probably never noticed them because I wasn’t into jewelry much and therefore had no need.

But for $14.99, it is the perfect organizer to hang in my closet and keep all my accessories, you know, organized. They had a crazy assortment of prints to choose from, and I ended up with the turquoise paisley one that accidentally matched the new color of my bathroom walls (more reveal once it’s completely done). Lovin’ it and the accompanying price tag.

And as usual, my girl Sarah and I were of the same mind, because she recently wrote about accessories on her new site, Sassy Closet. Great minds and all that.

I had a $13 JC Penney necklace that I bought last year that I love and wore to the office sometimes. Unfortunately it broke a few weeks back. Found this similar one at the Banana Republic outlet last weekend. Regularly $39.99, and it was 40% off. Score! I might be more interested in accessorizing, but keeping it budget-friendly is of much greater interest.

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