BACK FROM BOSTON

SUNDAY #1

Going down to the harbour. I loved Boston, it was 10x nicer then I expected and it's got a cool New England feel to it. Sometimes I felt like I was running into more Brits then actual Bostonians. The Boston accent is interesting, but it also sounds very much like the New York one or Italian? I don't know! People there are surprisingly friendly, I always get a little nervous when I go to America because everywhere is so different, but I'll probably want to visit again.

The airport faces the harbour, you can sit around for ages watching planes land and take off.

The city, it's so clean and well structured.

I love that fact that it's all one way streets, so you can pretty much cross whenever there is a break in traffic. I find it strange when cars stop for you even if it's their light. haha.

Waiting for the train, the green line is the most confusing line I've ever taken in my life and I've taken subways many different countries. You get use to it after a while though.

View from the Prudential tower.

The Massachusetts state house.

Of course we went and had a drink at Cheers, the original bar!

I went walking around the North section of town looking for a thrift shop I randomly googled. When I got there I was sad and unimpressed there was hardly any stock and what was in there was very expensive. I still enjoyed the walk though, and it was a gorgeous day.

Harvard!! I felt strange walking around all those intellectuals, there were really any tourist around since it was Halloween. The students were getting ready for the festivities and various parties on Campus. There is so much stuff around Harvard square, the students don't even really need to leave the Campus. I hear sometimes you can run into some celebrities that attended Harvard (Christina Ricci, Natalie Portman, Tatiana Ali went there, among others) but we didn't see any. I have to say though, the student here really are what you would stereotypically expect. It's amazing to know that most of them have dedicated their whole lives to their studies either that or daddy's money or connections got them in;)

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SHOPPING

Can you believe this See by Chloe dress is a size 6? It's massive! Like a tent, I don't even think a belt coud save it.

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you know I do most of my shopping out of town. I found however that the shopping for me in America isn't what it use to be. Back in the day maybe 8-10 years ago the only good American store we had in Canada was The Gap. So when you went to the America you went crazy and brought everything you needed. Nowadays I find it hard to find a chain store in America that we also don't have, everything has taken over like Payless, Gap, American Eagle, BR, Old Navy, Forever 21, H & M, Lucky Brand, Winners (TJ Maxx) etc. I also find it to be the case the other way around, a lot of Canadian stores have opened up in the states as well like Aldo Group (Includes Spring, feet first, Transit, Globo etc), Club Monaco, La Senza, Le Chateau and Jacob (Huge surprise).

So when I got to Boston my first stop was Filenes Basement at Downtown Crossing. After reading some information online I found out this was the place to shop in Boston and it's practically a tourist attraction. You can get major discounts on designer duds, if you are lucky sometimes an entire Versace outfit for 100$. Imagine my disappointment when I got there and found out it was closed, all the signs were there, but the graffiti over it said "No More" as in No more Filenes Basement which I'm sure leaves many tourists confused. I went back to the hotel and did my research and found out that it was closed back in 2007 and is due to re-open in March 2009 after major renovations.

From the looks of it I didn't really see very many renovations going on, but what do I know. On the good front I did find out there was a smaller location on Boylston street. I looked around, I found your typical discounted designer brands like Calvin Klein and Jones New York then a bunch of other designers I didn't recognize. There was some good stuff from Twelve Street by Cynthia Vincent and Theory, but the price tag was still around 100$ There were some good Michael Kors pieces and coats at cheap prices. I found a lot of the stuff they were selling were designer left overs, you know the stuff they could not sell;) After wandering around for a while and trying some stuff on I discovered a while new section to the store, where the high end designers were being held (well really just thrown around). There were some nice pieces, but then finding the size you want is another problem. I became very sad when I saw this $1500 Monique Lhuillier dress just thrown in like it was nothing...tragic. Just to give you a picture, The Salvation Army looks more organized and put together then this place. It's interesting seeing these designer clothes looking so sad.

In the end I decided that Filene's Basement is good if your looking for a nice designer dress for a special occasion because you will get serious discounts. Don't expect to find day to day designer stuff for rock bottom prices. I will admit, you probably needs to come often and do a lot of digging, you never know what you'll find.

I'm not sure what the actual discount was on this dress.

I was back at my hotel when they flashed a picture of Michelle Obama on TV. I immediately recognized the dress from my H & M excursion the day before. Well I had to go back and try it on, unfortunately they didn't have many sizes left and the dress was too big on top.


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WHAT I BROUGHT BACK

My boyfriend bought me this book at Anthropologie as a surprise.

RAIDING H & MThere is no H & M in my city, they are trying to make us suffer so I stock up when I get the chance. This sweater was a little pricey, but I think it will come in handy this winter, especially with a little mini skirt and tights underneath.

I love a good little cropped cardigan, they look great over summer dresses in the winter.

I bought this top in a sort of pinkish color originally, but when I got to the hotel there was a huge hole in it, maybe from the security tag. I brought it back, but unfortunately they didn't have the color I wanted left. I still like this grey though.

I thought these tops extra big and long, they almost double as mini dresses, I think it will look awesome over thick winter tights.

Blazer and some thick winter tights.

I'm a little disappointed with my two necklaces the large cold chain makes it look a little tacky.

OTHER STUFF

Marc Jacobs tank.

JCrew top

The only thing I bought at Filene's

My souvenir tops!

Shoes from Urban Outfitters.

I got these cups at Anthropologie.

It says milk in different languages.

I also got these jars at Anthropologie also. I wish I could have gotten more stuff here, but I ran out of time.

Things were getting crazy full in my closet and drawers, my poor little boyfriend was running out of room to put his things so I bought this closet on wheels at Ikea. It's so deep and we have so much extra space. I recommend it if you have the same problem I do, it's only 49.99.