oh, it's on baby!

The Coat Challenge, as Alicia posted on her blog, is on. I hurried home from the Cottage to show you some of mine...

I love coats and I've missed mine all summer. This one is a fun one to wear. It's so swingy! I bought it years ago at an after-Christmas sale.

I got this cape last year. It's handmade and, while I do love it, I don't find it particularly wearable. I feel like I'm hiding under a tent. And it cost me small fortune. No kidding.

I just bought this one last Thursday. Nordstrom Rack for $35! I love the buttons most of all. The funny thing is that I bought the very same jacket for my sister for Christmas last year and paid full price.

I bought this last year. You'll never guess where...Target! It was really cheap. When I put it on the first time, Rich fell on the floor laughing. He thought I was joking. When I can muster enough nerve, I do wear it. And I ignore Rich's snickering.

As long as we're confessing things like coat obsessions, I'll make another confession. I am a recovering QVC-addict. It all started very innocently. Rich called one day, and in the middle of channel-changing, I had on QVC. He could hear it in the background and said that it sounded like a real office. Hmmm. I like the idea of sounding like a real office. Next thing you know, it's on all the time and I'm buying things like crazy. (I'm a really easy sell...don't even get me started on me and infomercials!) This coat was a TSV (today's special value) a couple of years ago. It really is nice and people ask me all the time if it is vintage.

My godmother, Aunt Martha, who is about 4 feet tall, routinely gives my mother bagloads of clothes to give to me (5'9"). She once gave me a trash bag full of lacy slips and underwear from the 1950s and 60s, including a pair of sheer panties with a poodle embroidered on it. I'm not making this up.
This coat was in a bag of moth-ball smelling suits. I sent everything else to Goodwill, but I like this coat (minus the fur! which sheds like nobody's business!) Maybe this year I'll find a way to clip off the fur.

I saved the best for last. This is my all-time, hands-down favorite coat. I bought it from Anthropologie a couple of seasons ago. I saw it when shopping with my friend Debbie. It went something like this: "Oh Amy! You have to try this on...it is so YOU!" "You think so? Okay" "Oh...My...God! Amy you have GOT to get that coat! It looks so cute on you!" "I don't know. I will think on it." A few weeks go by. I go back to the store and the coat has vanished from the shelves. Gone. Poof. I find it online. It is backordered for a ridiculously long time. So long that I forget completely about it until it shows up one fine day. My life hasn't been the same since. I am completely cute in this coat. Exhibit A