Don't believe the hype

I had a great weekend. My mother, who I will refer to as "Ma" to protect her anonymity and stress her Italian-ness, came to visit me. As is typical of New York, we had good meals, bad service, saw a musical and did a bunch of shopping. But we went budget shopping. Ma did great at Century 21, the downtown discount clothing store (Think the clothes of Filene's Basement, Saks Off Fifth and whatever fell off the Prada truck with the crazed attitude of a bridal gown sample sale). It's kinda insane, but you can definitely trade your cash (and sanity) for really good stuff. Case in point, my Ma's furry Michael Korrs boots. They are so cool. They will be perfect snow bunny boots on our annual ski trip this year. I liked a pair of tall Born boots, but since I have a normal size 7.5 foot they didn't come in the color I wanted. Curses.

The day after Century 21 we decided to check out the Barney's Warehouse Sale, heralded as THE place to pick up cheap designer stuff. The prices were good compared to the original prices, but the stuff was all old. And torn. And stained. I couldn't believe the herds of women winding through the racks for 4-year old off-season stuff that looked like it belonged at the Salvation Army, but somehow still cost over $150. We didn't get it. Although we just don't care about labels. If my shirt looks good I don't care if it says H&M or Dolce and Gabbana on the label. So needless to say, we struck out there, and won't ever go back. But we did walk out saying, "It was a New York experience."

We also made time for a Broadway show, Sweeney Todd, a musical about the demon barber of Fleet Street in London. As you can imagine, it wasn't a happy story, but very well executed. The leads were great, and the cast served as the orchestra, playing all the instruments on stage. Its run is over in 2 weeks so we are glad to have caught it in the nick of time. I may be careful who I book my next haircut with...