On a cost per wear basis they’re really not that expensive

So this weekend, I was an all 'round busy bee preparing for the conference in California. I did my laundry, picked up my dry cleaning, had my shoes heeled, got a manicure pedicure – it’s a tough life I lead – and, oh yeah, on Sunday I spent the day working on my presentation.

There’s nothing like leaving it to the last minute is there? Not that it was my intention to leave it until the eleventh hour, but I’ve been too busy at work this week to give it much attention until now, although truth be told I could have spent some time on it on Saturday instead of going shopping and dropping a heap of cash on fancy jeans, but quite frankly the US economy needed me, it’s not that I need fancy jeans I just felt it was my duty to do my bit for my adopted country in it’s hour of financial distress. Ahem!!

The jeans were a total impulse purchase. I’d headed down to SoHo first thing on Saturday to return a cardigan to J Crew that I’d bought online and was contemplating popping over to Christoper and Bleeker in the village to see if there was anything left at the Satya Jewellery sample sale. However, I was sufficiently seduced by the relative peace of the SoHo streets – usually I can’t stand weekend shopping in SoHo as the area is chocka with people and the crowds make me impatient…well, more impatient than usual, but at 11.30am it’s still fairly quiet – to stick around a bit longer, so instead of heading west to check out gems I got sidetracked and before I knew it I was browsing around the Anthropologie store on West Broadway.

Now until this past weekend I’d completely shunned the extortionately-priced denim trend that's taken hold of New York in the last 5years or so. Not to say that I haven't given it pause for thought on occasion, but as a woman of a thrifty Northern working class heritage I’ve always been put off by the price; the way the pockets don’t generally tend to flatter the wearer’s arse - extending way below the cheek and giving the posterior a pancake like appearance - and the abrupt way the wash often changes from dark to light in the leg, which may well be fashionable, but looks to me like a bad dye job, but what do I know? Prior to my trip to Anthropologie this weekend, I’d been perfectly content with my $50 Gap jeans and before I bought those I was more than happy to wander the streets in a pair from Urban Outfitters, which I loved to bits and which cost me a whopping $14. Admittedly the arse did almost fall out of this pair when I sat down quite suddenly one day. However this was all before I happened upon the Socialite Gigi jean by Joe, nonchalantly lying on a table in Anthropologie and looking divine. “Try me on” the jeans whispered as I walked by the table and trailed my fingertips across the ohhh so very soft and perfectly faded denim. I walked away, circled the store and returned and before I knew it I was flipping manically through the pile looking for my size while simultaneously balking at the $158 price tag.

“Its okay” I reassured myself, “there’s no way you’ll succumb to pricey denim. You’ve tried Joe’s Jeans on before, they didn’t look good. The pockets were half way down the back of your thighs and they made your arse look flat, these will be the same, you’ll see.”

Bollocks!!

Yup, pricey jeans finally proved me wrong. Not only did this pair make my behind look pertly fantastic, they also made my legs look thinner and longer. Yes...thinner and longer!! How could any woman resist that? I was smitten. Wild horses could not have prevented me from making this purchase and before I knew it I was at the counter handing over my credit card.

Yikes, $158 for JEANS!!!!!

Ah well, on a cost per wear basis they're much cheaper than some of the things I have in my wardrobe, the $200 dress I bought for Val's wedding for example, which I love, but have worn once!!! Besides, if I hadn’t have bought the jeans I’d have blown the money at the Satya Jewellery sample sale and I stayed in Saturday night so financially my weekend probably balanced out. Hmmmm!! I can talk myself into anything I really can.

Sunday, I spent a good part of the day working on my presentation for the conference and at the rate I’m going I'll be writing it on the plane out to California tomorrow. It’s not that I lack material, not at all; no, my biggest problem is making it vibrant and entertaining enough that I don’t lose my audience, a real issue since I’m the second to last person to present on the final day of the conference you see, a time when any sane person, after 2 days holed up in a conference room in wine country, is going to be either itching to get to the airport for their flight home, or itching to get out to a vineyard to quaff a few cases of cabernet.

Would you like to know what my mother’s suggestion was for making my presentation sparkle? That I should do it in the form of a rap!!

Eye-roll!! A rap!! A rap!!! Good grief woman I’m a serious marketing professional. Can you imagine….

Yo, I’m here today
In Cal-i-for-ni-aaaaa
To talk to y’all about
…

Um…yeah, okay, I think I’ve proved unequivocally that I’m not cut out for rapping through my presentation. Sigh, I’ll just have to rely heavily on the power of humorous Clipart to keep the attention of my audience ;-)