STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

HeatherLynn · Gucci

RE: Back after loooong shopping sabbatical . . .

blubirde · Chanel

I love gray patent leather. I say get it. Good to see you back!

Have you managed to pick up any local fashions/materials/goods/etc.?

alb · Marc Jacobs

i LOVE your philosophy, heatherlynn! i got the bag, and have another one on hold which i will get tomorrow.

blubirde--let's see, i've done quite a bit of shopping here. i've bought the following:

-2 oil paintings by a local egyptian artist;
-1 oil painting that my friend, an artist from jordan, custom made for me;
-1 huge contemporary oil painting by another friend, a real artist from croatia who features her paintings in exhibits (this was a recent gift, and we are elated about it);
-a custom made white gold and diamond pendant necklace;
-a lot of egyptian cotton scarves;
-some handmade alabaster;
-an antique-ey looking silver locket;
-a chunky brown agate necklace;
-a few decorative things for the house (a huge round painted tray and a ceramic bowl with a bird painted on it);
-slipcovers for the couch (grass green suede, which cost me $50 for a couch and two chairs!);
-a set of b & w photos from cairo in the 50's (a gift from my husband);
-a custom made twin bed for my daughter - a copy of the "Anderson" bed from PBK;
-a custom made bedside table also copied from PBK catalog;
-two contemporary looking wooden "library chairs" for kids copied from a montessori catalog;
-copy of a kid's bookshelf (also from PBK);
-a print of an antique egyptian postage stamp (in french, from the french library here);
-some custom made picture frames--white with white matting, also copied from PBK;
-some adorable bright painted kids chairs;
-a few local wooden childrens' toys (hand painted maracas, etc.);
-glass christmas ornaments (apparently exported to bloomingdales);
-two simple, snakeskin clutches custom made (black and tan)-cost about $30 each;
-bright red patent leather tote bag (this is a simple tote which makes a great diaper bag, though it will be sort of replaced by the grey one); and
-my new grey patent leather handbag.

sorry if this was much more than you wanted to know but it was really fun for me to do this inventory! i hardly did any clothes shopping at all believe it or not, b/c the only clothes worth buying are clothes from Mango, Esprit, Benetton, and a British chain called Next. Mango and Next, and especially Esprit are pretty expensive--for things you can get much cheaper in the US, so i only bought things when desparate. the Benetton here is cheaper for some reason, however, so I got a few things here and there from that store. I think I've bought fewer clothes in the past two yrs than ever in my entire life!

FashionPrincess · Hermes

So glad to see you again!!! Sounds like you got some great pieces during your stay there! Can't wait to see pics and see you around here more

We also need some updated kiddo pics!

kenzie · Chanel

Welcome back, alb! I can't believe it's been 2 years.

blubirde · Chanel

alb wrote:

i LOVE your philosophy, heatherlynn! i got the bag, and have another one on hold which i will get tomorrow.

blubirde--let's see, i've done quite a bit of shopping here. i've bought the following:

-2 oil paintings by a local egyptian artist;
-1 oil painting that my friend, an artist from jordan, custom made for me;
-1 huge contemporary oil painting by another friend, a real artist from croatia who features her paintings in exhibits (this was a recent gift, and we are elated about it);
-a custom made white gold and diamond pendant necklace;
-a lot of egyptian cotton scarves;
-some handmade alabaster;
-an antique-ey looking silver locket;
-a chunky brown agate necklace;
-a few decorative things for the house (a huge round painted tray and a ceramic bowl with a bird painted on it);
-slipcovers for the couch (grass green suede, which cost me $50 for a couch and two chairs!);
-a set of b & w photos from cairo in the 50's (a gift from my husband);
-a custom made twin bed for my daughter - a copy of the "Anderson" bed from PBK;
-a custom made bedside table also copied from PBK catalog;
-two contemporary looking wooden "library chairs" for kids copied from a montessori catalog;
-copy of a kid's bookshelf (also from PBK);
-a print of an antique egyptian postage stamp (in french, from the french library here);
-some custom made picture frames--white with white matting, also copied from PBK;
-some adorable bright painted kids chairs;
-a few local wooden childrens' toys (hand painted maracas, etc.);
-glass christmas ornaments (apparently exported to bloomingdales);
-two simple, snakeskin clutches custom made (black and tan)-cost about $30 each;
-bright red patent leather tote bag (this is a simple tote which makes a great diaper bag, though it will be sort of replaced by the grey one); and
-my new grey patent leather handbag.

sorry if this was much more than you wanted to know but it was really fun for me to do this inventory! i hardly did any clothes shopping at all believe it or not, b/c the only clothes worth buying are clothes from Mango, Esprit, Benetton, and a British chain called Next. Mango and Next, and especially Esprit are pretty expensive--for things you can get much cheaper in the US, so i only bought things when desparate. the Benetton here is cheaper for some reason, however, so I got a few things here and there from that store. I think I've bought fewer clothes in the past two yrs than ever in my entire life!

No, that's a great list! However are you going to get it all back? If you get a chance, post some pics of the stuff you listed, esp. the art and the household things. I think my perfect job would involve traveling the world for distinctive items for my "world boutique." I have some beautiful paper art scarabs from Egypt (from when a friend visited last year) and the detail and colors are amazing. It's one of my most favorite items evah!

alb · Marc Jacobs

Hey blubirde - i think i can picture what your scarab might look like. is it a papyrus painting? those are really popular here (as are scarabs). i'm sure it's lovely! we have actually packed almost all of our stuff - the packers were here for 3 days and finished yesterday, so all of our furniture and most of the stuff i described is gone. it is going to a storage facility owned by the us government in europe for a year and then will be sent to our next overseas post, istanbul, in june of 2009. so i won't see it until then :(

the rest of our stuff (our clothes, etc.) will go to washington dc with us. we will only be there for 11 months, just long enough so that my husband can learn turkish (and i plan to take lessons as well). hence the reason we are trying to rent a furnished apt. a pita, but worth it to have a break and be in the us for a while!

Hermione · Kate Spade

WOW - istanbul is next? that is fantastic! i'm super jealous! It is nice they're giving you a breather for awhile though - I bet it will be somewhat comforting to come back and see things that are familiar, even to shop at Trader Joe's and places like that!

blubirde · Chanel

alb wrote:

Hey blubirde - i think i can picture what your scarab might look like. is it a papyrus painting? those are really popular here (as are scarabs). i'm sure it's lovely! we have actually packed almost all of our stuff - the packers were here for 3 days and finished yesterday, so all of our furniture and most of the stuff i described is gone. it is going to a storage facility owned by the us government in europe for a year and then will be sent to our next overseas post, istanbul, in june of 2009. so i won't see it until then :(

the rest of our stuff (our clothes, etc.) will go to washington dc with us. we will only be there for 11 months, just long enough so that my husband can learn turkish (and i plan to take lessons as well). hence the reason we are trying to rent a furnished apt. a pita, but worth it to have a break and be in the us for a while!

Yes! It's on papyrus. It's so beautiful, even if it is a bug - a lucky bug though.

Istanbul! Exciting. I've always wanted to go to Istanbul. Do you think I could get by with a passing attempt at French? It's my only language other than English...

alb · Marc Jacobs

Hermione wrote:

WOW - istanbul is next? that is fantastic! i'm super jealous! It is nice they're giving you a breather for awhile though - I bet it will be somewhat comforting to come back and see things that are familiar, even to shop at Trader Joe's and places like that!

Exaclty! I'm dying to go to TJs and have already made my list. Ikea, Target, and Starbucks are also top priorities. They have Starbucks here, but it's a pain to get to (there are only two in the whole city of Cairo - which is huge with 18 million people so you can imagine the traffic) and they don't have my chai lattes. Yeah - Istanbul it is! We're very excited.

Exactly! I'm dying to go to

alb · Marc Jacobs

blubirde wrote:

alb wrote:

Hey blubirde - i think i can picture what your scarab might look like. is it a papyrus painting? those are really popular here (as are scarabs). i'm sure it's lovely! we have actually packed almost all of our stuff - the packers were here for 3 days and finished yesterday, so all of our furniture and most of the stuff i described is gone. it is going to a storage facility owned by the us government in europe for a year and then will be sent to our next overseas post, istanbul, in june of 2009. so i won't see it until then :(

the rest of our stuff (our clothes, etc.) will go to washington dc with us. we will only be there for 11 months, just long enough so that my husband can learn turkish (and i plan to take lessons as well). hence the reason we are trying to rent a furnished apt. a pita, but worth it to have a break and be in the us for a while!

Yes! It's on papyrus. It's so beautiful, even if it is a bug - a lucky bug though.
Istanbul! Exciting. I've always wanted to go to Istanbul. Do you think I could get by with a passing attempt at French? It's my only language other than English...

I like them (scarabs) - I've got a silver one that goes on a chain as a pendant. I think English is probably spoken pretty widely in Istanbul, not sure about French but I wouldn't be surprised. There are tons of ppl who speak French here (mainly the French expats but some Egyptians). I actually haven't had time to learn much about it yet, but I will start soon. If you plan a trip, definitely let me know! We will be there for 3 yrs.

alb · Marc Jacobs

FashionPrincess wrote:

So glad to see you again!!! Sounds like you got some great pieces during your stay there! Can't wait to see pics and see you around here more We also need some updated kiddo pics!

Thanks, fashion princess! i'm glad you are still here! how do you like being a mom? are you working or do you stay at home with your son? your little boy is adorable btw!!

alb · Marc Jacobs

kenzie wrote:

Welcome back, alb! I can't believe it's been 2 years.

Thanks, Kenzie! I know - time flies.

JMR · Dooney & Bourke

Hey Alb!! Not sure if you remember me (I am not on the site too often either unfortunately)...so glad to hear you are coming back to the states. How is your daughter (Lucy right??) I hope I remember that correctly. confused

alb · Marc Jacobs

JMR wrote:

Hey Alb!! Not sure if you remember me (I am not on the site too often either unfortunately)...so glad to hear you are coming back to the states. How is your daughter (Lucy right??) I hope I remember that correctly.

hey Jen - of course i remember you! how are you doing? do you still have your jewelry business? lucy is doing well, i can't believe she is 3 now. how is your little girl? she's about the same age as lucy, right? i hope to see you around!

JMR · Dooney & Bourke

Yes! Talia will be 3 in sept!! I can't even believe it.

I am still doing jewelry here and there - but not as much since I had Talia. GOod to see you - keep in touch!!

alb · Marc Jacobs

Will do! Send pics of Talia when you get a chance!