Quick One

Just a quick post to tell you to head on over to 4 Men 1 Lady for a Black and Decker Laser Level giveaway!

And while you're there, you might wanna stick around and feast on tons of eye-candy slash decoration and design inspiration.


You're welcome.  :)

Target, you are dead to me!

Do you remember my little incident with target and my birthday present last year? At the time, I put the shoes on a wishlist, hoping that they would one day come back in stock. Well apparently target redesigned their website this year and that caused (and is still causing) major issues, including people not being able to access their registries or wishlists. So you can imagine my surprise when in the first week of September of this year, I got an email apologizing for the difficulties of the website and giving me a discount on the purchase of the items on my wishlist. I didn’t know what wishlist they were talking about, so I logged onto my target account. I thought that I had hit the jackpot when I saw that the flats, my beloved flats, were back in stock after nearly a year! (Imagine the clouds parting and a ray of sunshine beaming onto my face)

I hurried up and ordered the flats. These shoes are not available in stores so I couldn’t try them on, but I remembered that all the reviews said to order half a size larger than your normal size, because they ran small. So since I wear a size 7, I ordered a 7 ½. Fast forward to a week and a half later, my husband calls to tell me I got a package. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to get home and have those shoes in my hot little hands, er… try them on.

This, my friends, is when shit began to hit the fan. The shoes didn’t fit. How could they not fit?!?! I did like the reviews said and ordered a half size larger. It didn’t matter – they were still too tight. I was disappointed, but I didn’t get upset. I called target.com’s customer service, figuring that they could just do an even exchange for a pair of the flats in size 8, like any other online company, right?

Wrong.

After being on hold for-ev-er, I finally got a rep who was obviously not in the US. {SIDEBAR: Can I just say how much I absolutely HATE having to talk to customer service reps in India??? They may speak English, but they don’t always *understand* English. } She informed me that I could return the pair I had to the store, get a refund and then REORDER, as in pay shipping again, the pair of flats. I told her no, I just wanted to do an exchange. She said target.com does not do exchanges. Whaaaa? This, however, was not the icing on the cake. Oh no. They also wanted me to pay full price for the second pair of shoes. Picture me smiling a really condescending smile right here. I mean, isn’t it obvious? Since they don’t do exchanges, they don’t have to honor the original purchase price with the reorder. I finally got too frustrated and ended the call before I said something really mean.

I went to the store and attempted to do the return there. Now you might be saying, ‘Okay, you went to the store. How much further down could they kick you?’ Apparently there was still room. Those poor customer service girls. I could tell they felt really bad, but they could only refund me 60% of the total price I originally paid AND it could only be in the form of a target gift card. Are you kidding me? I didn’t want a freaking gift card, I wanted my money! After an hour spent there, including being on hold with India *again* waiting for a supervisor for 37 minutes and then just hanging up, they finally told me that they could only give me that partial amount and only on the gift card because I had made a grave mistake. I had paid via a PayPal instant bank transfer, meaning the money went instantly from my bank account and directly to target. The official answer was “we don’t know what happens between you and PayPal, so we can only offer store credit.” I finally said, “F this.” and left with the shoes.

I went home and tried my last recourse. A comment on Facebook. Yeah, that went nowhere:

I still can’t believe that the same item of a different size is considered, by them, a completely different item. After all this running around and back and forth, I decided that my only option left was to open a dispute on PayPal. I told PayPal what happened and stated that I wanted a full refund, including shipping price, because the shoes were not the size they were marked. Target disputed my statement! It went on and on over this past month. Last week I finally got an email from PayPal stating that they were resolving my dispute and refunding me the full amount, plus shipping costs. But I had to ship the package back to target at my own cost and provide a tracking number to them, so in the end I still didn’t really get my full amount back. I marched that bad boy over to the post office, wrapped in shipping paper and told them to ship it as cheaply as possible. On Friday I got an email stating that my refund had been processed.

I really cannot believe how much target’s customer service has degraded. I don’t know what is going on there, but by the look of their Facebook page, hundreds of other customers are experiencing the same poor quality that I did.

Be cautious of ordering through target.com – you might end up with the same crappy service that I did.

On The Move

Who likes to look cute? (Raises hand) Who also likes to exercise? (lowers hand). LOL. Okay, I admit it, working out isn’t always the most fun thing to do. But while you are working your butt off (literally), you might as well look good doing it, right?


That is where Old Navy’s new line of active wear, Active by Old Navy, comes in! Old Navy just released this new line of super cute active wear, including compression pants! If you don’t know about compression pants, you need to get to know. I was given the opportunity to try some of these cool pants out, as well as a top. Now Old Navy has tons of options in store and online, but here is the set that I picked: charcoal gray and turquoise compression pants with a matching running jacket (Not available online).

I swear I am not pissed.  I just got braces and I am trying to hide them.

These compression pants are super cool. They are super comfortable, but at the same time they give you great support. They fit to your legs and booty like a second skin, and can even help lift and shape if you need that kind of thing. My pants were also cool because they have a little change pocket in the back of the waistband! Love this – it keeps things out of the way!

The jacket is also pretty cool. It has a hoodie and extra long shirred sleeves with thumb-holes, so you can keep your hands warm while running, as well as keep the sleeves from moving around. This is good if you run like Phoebe Buffay, haha. It also has pockets and the neat thing about these pockets is that not only do they zip up, but they are also hidden into a seam, so they don’t detract from the sleek look of the jacket. I am really excited about wearing it to run in the cooler weather.

Now, you know I am not afraid to say if something fits bad, or I have a bad experience with something. But so far, I can’t find anything wrong with these pants or the jacket! I am seriously in strong like. And the best part of this line is not the cute styles or the fab fit, but how affordable they are! I don’t really have any “designated” work out gear because of how expensive that stuff usually is, but the Old Navy line is very reasonably priced and not cost prohibitive at all. With the holidays coming up, it could even make a great gift idea for someone.  I really hope you stop by your closest Old Navy to check this cool-kid gear out. I’m not promising that these workout clothes are going to get you into shape, but they might just inspire you to step it up!

***Disclaimer***
I am a member of CrowdTap for Old Navy and participate in market studies. I am compensated for my time and participation with free products. The opinions presented are 100% mine and I have not been paid to make a positive review. If you would like to become a member of CrowdTap and get your own free stuff, click here!

A Big To Do

What is it about the Holidays approaching that lights a fire under you? With Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) rapidly coming, I have started making a list of the things I want to get done before then.


- Paint Master Bedroom (finally found the perfect gray! More on that later)

- Paint hallway

- Finish installing baseboards

- Finish installing window frames in Master Bedroom

- Finish curtains in great room

- Paint mirror

- Paint picture frames

- Hem curtains in Master Bedroom
- Fix caulking in Master Bathroom
- Find (and paint if necessary) a console table

So that is what I will be working on over the next month. Hopefully I can get it done soon! And hopefully I will remember to blog about it along the way. I realized that I have told you about lots of projects but never followed up on telling you all what happened with them.

Anyhow, all these things are steps on my quest to make my house look and feel like a home. I am wrangling my husband to help out with completing them. Hopefully we get all these things done in time…. Looks like we will be spending a lot of time painting!

Sidebar

Sidebar:

When I was a little girl, I thought the show "Murder She Wrote" was called "Murder Sherow".

Maybe my ears were dirty.

Or maybe it's because I was obsessed with She-Ra.

*shrugs*

Remembering

Ten years ago today, I was in my dorm room, barely waking up.  I had just started my freshman year of college not even a month earlier.  It was my late day so I decided to lay in bed a little longer and watch some TV.  Still in a little bit of a sleep stupor, I lazily turned on the TV.  The scene I saw on the screen made me think I must have left the channel on a movie channel - there were giant clouds of smoke, explosions and some buildings were on fire.  I didn't really feel like watching a war movie, so I changed the channel... only to see the same scenes on every. single. channel.

I quickly woke all the way up and realized something was wrong.  I can't really remember what I did after that.  I know I eventually got dressed and made my way to class.  The campus seemed really bare and quiet, and those I did see walking around seemed to be in a daze.  In class, the teacher was having a hard time keeping our focus.  My school was close to an Air Force base and in it's flight path.  The planes would fly close to the school because their landing was approaching.  We heard airplanes flying overhead all day.  The noise had been innocuous before, but now it caused everyone to flinch.

I remember how in the days that followed 9/11, there was a sense of unity and togetherness unlike ever before.  I remember that people were polite, helped each other and stood up for one another.  It was an amazing time, for so many reasons.  I feel a little sad that we have lost that in the years since.  People are rude to each other, like nothing, and brashness is considered desirable.  I miss the days following the attacks, as horrible as they were.  We were strong then.

It is hard for me to believe it has been ten years since then.  In some ways it still seems like yesterday.  Today, take a moment to hug your family, friends and loved ones.  Be thankful for all that we have.  Take a moment to reflect on the day, on those who lost their lives, and those who rushed to help without even a second thought.  If you live in the Phoenix area, participate in The Tulip Tree's Pass It On Day, in honor of 9/11.

We were strong then.  We are still strong now.  May God bless America.

May we never forget.

Sadsies

Sigh...

I am SO over this heat.  While it seems like everywhere else is starting to experience the first hints of fall and busting out all the fall decor and crafts, we here in Phoenix, AZ are still experiencing horrible heat.  I mean, last week it hit at least 115 degrees every. single. day.  What gives?

Sometimes I think I belong in another climate.  Every year at this time, my internal clock starts to tell me that it should be cooler outside.  So sometimes I am honestly surprised when I go outside and it is still blisteringly hot outside.  It also doesn't help that all the fab fall catalogs come out at this time of year.  I long to be able to get some cool fall digs.  In fact, last week I broke down and bought a fab leopard print scarf... even though I am not sure when I will be able to wear it.  Sad face.

Hopefully we catch a break soon and start to get some relief from this nasty heat.  In fact, this week it has been 110 or less.  I'd say that's progress, wouldn't you?

***fingers crossed***