Take Two: Zenni Optical Shades

After my eyeglasses faux pas a few weeks ago, I decided to try again to order my prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. (Find the Zenni Optical Web site here).

While I'm happy with the tinted shades, I have to admit I kind of like the untinted glasses better. Overall though, for $20, I'm a happy (and no-longer-squinting-in-the-sunlight) girl. Plus, the not totally opaque amber lenses feel vintagey to me.

(As a reminder, here are the same frames, sans tinted lenses).

My First Blog Giveaway - Win $80 Gift Certificate to CSNStores.com

Exciting stuff!

I'm doing my first giveaway on A Life Fulfilled — I'm giving away a $80 gift certificate to CSNstores.com!

CSN is a network of 200+ retailers that offers a wide variety of items. Looking for a coffee table? Nifty cooking gadgets? Fitness and workout gear? Luggage? Other furniture and interior decor accessories? CSN covers all these areas and more. Seriously - they have tons of stuff. They also pride themselves on competitive prices (you guys know how much I appreciate a deal).

This is a simple giveaway*. Simply comment on this post with a link or explanation of something you would buy from CSNstores.com if you won the gift certificate. Be sure to include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. I will draw a winner at random on Sunday, September 26 at 9pm.

Here are some things I would buy if I won (and at these prices, I could buy more than one thing).

5-piece Ginsu knife set (the steak knives we registered for are awful and I would love to get some different/better ones). These have great reviews. $14.99.

Shoes... need I say more? These Diba snakeskin material boots would be killer to wear under or over jeans this fall and winter. $68.

Who can say no to a sassy apron? And if you're as clumsy as I am, you'll appreciate this shielding your clothes from renegade spaghetti sauce. $29.99.

If you read my other blog, you know I have been globe/map crazy lately. I'm ga-gah over this one for $49.50.

You can't go wrong with stemless wine glasses. (Harder to break, easy to wash in the dishwasher.) Set of 8 for $34.99.

Good luck! You could keep the winnings for yourself (I would!) or use 'em toward Christmas (not a bad idea either!).

(*Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers only. If you're a Canadian reader, international shipping rates may apply to your purchase).

Cheap Shades and Rx Glasses

I've been pondering ordering a pair of eyes from Zenni Optical* for about 8 months.

Zenni offers prescription glasses and sunglasses for $10 to $40. They have fashion-forward frames, traditional frames, funky frames — no lie. Considering I paid about $300 for my prescription glasses at a major eyeglass retailer, I've been damn curious about their offerings.

My glasses have been great — but since I need my glasses especially for distance and driving — a pair of sunnies have been in order.

I have no idea why, but I put it off and put it off...

I finally bit the bullet about a month ago, anticipating a trip to sunny Santa Barbara, California. I ordered a pair of glasses for $9.00 plus shipping (totaling around $20).

Well, dum dum me forgot to check the box for "80% tint - amber" to make them sunglasses — so instead of a pair of retro funky sunnies, I ended up with some geek chic (okay, maybe that's stretching it...) googles. Whoops!

I feel a little Kanye West up in this piece...

And for reference, my regular Donna Karan glasses:

If you're wondering how to read your prescription, see below. Lucky for me, my mother-in-law used to work for Lens Crafters and was able to translate for me.

My RX:

OD -0.25 -0.25 x100 -- Right eye

OS plano -o.75 x80 -- Left eye

pd or pupillary distance is 59 -- this is the distance between my pupils and is needed for glasses

(Click to enlarge my prescription write-up)

Considering the prescription was write-on, I recently RE-ordered the glasses and remembered to fill in the lenses tent field so I can get sunglasses this next time. :)

But what's the verdict on this pair?

- So nerdy they're cool

- So nerdy you should throw them away

- Meh

*Hat tips to my girls Megan and Olivia for recommending this site.

Magic (Econo) Carpet Ride

I gave up rug hunting a few months ago, beaten down by the prices and options.

The husband, however, hadn't given up faith. "Wanna go check out that rug place?" he asked two weekends ago.

Whatever. Sure. Blah. Blah. I guess it had been long enough to where I could try again.

So we ventured down to Myer's Carpet (1500 Northside Drive; Atlanta 30318; 404-352-8141). I'd been there once before (see the post here) and the hubs had only seen the samples I brought back. Last time I visited, I was sticker shocked; the least expensive scrap rugs cut to my custom 8 x 11 size would have still been nearly $300!

We wandered around the expansive back warehouse, barely getting a "let me know if you need anything!" from some employee off in the distance. (If you read their google reviews, you'll see a few mentions of lax customer service/attentiveness.)

One piece of good news here is that we realized the pre-made rugs rolled up and stacked against the walls were more reasonable than I remembered. We found some neutral, durable 9 x 12 rugs for anywhere from $250 to $600. Of course none of these were your fancy orientals or fine fibers — but they would have done the job of covering our master bedroom floor just fine.

A $250 pre-made rug from Myer's Carpet we almost bought (9 x 12).

However, we weren't enthralled. There wasn't one rug that begged, "take me home!"

I casually mentioned to Dan that we could maybe check out Excel Carpet in Dunwoody before we called it a day. I called and asked, "Do you have pre-made rugs, say 8 by 11 or 9 by 12?" A friendly voice said something to the effect of, "No, I don't think we have any pre-made ones in today... but I could tell you how much having one made would cost." (I anticipated a tough-to-stomach number but asked for more detail anyway). "Sure, what's the average price?" I asked.

When we heard, "Oh, probably $175 or $200," we were sold.

Since we didn't have anywhere to be that particular Saturday, we made the trek up 400 to Excel Carpet (8345 Roswell Road; 30350; 770-650-5959). If I would have visited the Kudzu page for Excel in advance, I would have seen 76 5-star ratings.

The show room and remnant "warehouse" at Excel are about an eighth of the size of Myers', but they made up for it in price and customer service.

We were greeted by a friendly employee named Russ, who helped us in a not-overly-salesmany way throughout our entire visit. We asked for quotes on a few rugs — and he looked hesitant to tell us when a rug would be closer to $200 than $175. We told him not to fear, that the prices were still very reasonable. He answered our questions, told us what was most popular and walked us through the timeline (rugs are usually ready the Wednesday after you order them).

Excel works like this: remnants stacked along the wall are marked with their dimensions and prices. You buy the WHOLE remnant (even if it's a little too big) but the binding is at no additional charge. And we saw big ole remants (14 x 8 and crazy sizes like that) for under $300. You can also shop from large rolls of their popular carpets — these are sold by the foot and do not include binding. Then there are seagrass options, for which they only charge for binding. (To put some numbers around that, a 11 x 7 foot seagrass rug would have been about $180 for the binding). Excel carries berbers, polyesters, etc. etc. in mostly neutrals but a few patterned carpets. And I should also point out that while Excel has nice items, Myers has more in terms of high-end/expensive options.

Shaggy, multi-colored fiber carpet that can be made into rugs per your specs.

One seagrass option. With seagrass, you get to pick what color ribbon/cloth binding to put around the edges (hunter green, burgandy, black, chocolate, etc.)

We opted to buy some slightly shaggy, multicolored carpet (off a large roll) in 11 x 7 versus 9 x 12. That way the rug would be about 20 inches from each wall in our master bedroom. With the the necessary binding it was $183. We also have our eyes on a nice, large berber roll that is $179 (would have free binding).

If we were to come into some money and need a new living room rug, I'd get one in this pattern made. Love.

We left Excel feeling good about the customer service, selection, pricing and information. I didn't know to to dislike our other store experience until we went to a place with a much more customer-focused vibe.

Picked up the finished rug/carpet Tuesday:

The fibers.

Our one regret is that we didn't REALLY diagram where our furniture was, how deep each piece is, etc. We would have maybe made the rug just a little bit wider — not because it HAD to be wider but because aesthetically it may have made more sense. Still, we're very happy.

And for fun, pre-rug:

Sweet Elegance Bridal

Gotta tell you locals about Sweet Elegance Bridal.

No, I'm not renewing my vows after less than two years; I went wedding dress shopping last weekend with one of my besties.


Megan had a few pre-reqs for her wedding dress, all of which are reasonable: flattering cut, fair price tag, elegant style... and good customer service from the bridal shop where she's buying. (The latter seems like it would be easy, but we've had too many frustrating experiences with wedding dress shopping and bridesmaid dress shopping. Note: stay away from New Natalie's.)

I digress. When Megan did her preliminary wedding dress hunting online, she kept seeing that the dresses she liked were carried at a Decatur shop called "Sweet Elegance." So she made it the first stop on her wedding dress journey.


Sweet Elegance is a small bridal boutique on Church Street in Decatur, Georgia. Amidst a sea of car dealerships, you could almost miss this gem of a shop -- not to mention its simple black awning and strip mall locale doesn't do its interior or experience any justice. The store specializes in dresses from $400 to $5,000 in a variety of styles and cuts.

The shop is owned by a mother/daughter team. Aimee, the mother of the duo, opened the shop about five years ago when she felt a void needed to be filled in Atlanta. She and her daughter felt as though all the bridal boutiques were overpriced, provided horrible customer service and/or didn't carry flattering and elegant styles.


When a bride makes an appointment at Sweet Elegance, she isn't rushed or pressured to try on dresses far out of her price range. Also, because the boutiques are experts at understanding the female body, they choose the dresses they feel would most flatter the bride.


Megan's experience was no different. She only had to try on four dresses to find "the one." Aimee showed us how Megan could alter the skirt of the dress for an even more "wow" silhouette. The sales staff was friendly and courteous and really made the experience feel special for Megan. She tried on veils and earrings and even did a little silly practice walk "down the aisle." And her mom was comfortable with the price.


Of course I can't post a photo of Megan on this blog until after her Spring 2011 wedding -- but I CAN show you a teeny crops of a photo. Isn't that the face of a gal who's found the right dress? Mike is going to have his socks blown off when he sees her walking down the aisle!

Sweet Elegance

1652 Church Street

Decatur, GA 30033

(404) 292 - 8424

Appointments Mon. - Wed. from 10:30 to 6; Thurs. - Friday 10:30 to 7; Saturday 10 to 6. Closed Sundays.

Saturday Consignment Shopping Adventure

In advance of her visit, friend Lauren agreed to my "let's go check out some consignment and upscale secondhand stores for my blog" plan. (Thanks, Lauren.) So at 10:30 on Saturday morning, we headed in the direction of Chamblee, Georgia. For those of you unfamiliar, if you thought of 285 as the face of a clock, Chamblee would be just south of 1 o'clock.


The destination: My Sister's Closet (5350 Peachtree Rd.; Chamblee, GA).

To be honest, the first two minutes in the store gave me a so/so vibe about the place. Some front-of-the-store items looked less young than we'd envisioned. And we hoped that the first item we picked up (a pink Dana Buchman trench coat) didn't have a price ($180) reflective of the rest of the store. Would the rest of the store be expensive and stodgy?

Lauren models the Dana Buchman trench (too big... and a lot too expensive).

Good thing our first impression was wrong!

We were given a quick rundown of the store by Tee, the fabulous and fashion saavy owner. While pointing out the shoes, purses, hats, furs, vintage duds and other clothing, Tee shared a little background on the shop. Many of the items were gently loved (versus previously worn) and some items may have been worn by their clothes horse previous owners only once or twice before showing up in My Sister's Closet.

Lauren and I spent the most time in the shoe and vintage sections of the store. Tee let us know that she's been doing more in the vintage clothing arena. And she had some fabulous items to boot! Fedoras, fur stoles, maxi dresses and more — this area was a lot of fun to explore. The shop is bigger than it looks with many eclectic and fashion-safe items to choose from.

In my opinion, these were the find of the day. Never-worn, plaid, platform Michael Antonio heels for $20. New shoes by this guy are $55 and up. Lauren had to take these home with her.

One of the vintage shoe sections.

Oooh shoes from Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. line (I was too nervous to ask about price).

I think I could be a hat girl... maybe not this hat... hmmm.

A basically new $80 Louis

Lauren, are you regretting not buying this super cute early-90s Express dress for $18? Super cute.

Lauren and super cute dress, pictured with shop owner Tee.

I bought this deep purple (lined) vintage velvet dress with a cinched waist ($34). I didn't buy the white belt — hoping to instead snag a purple or beige satin ribbon and brooch to secure it with. I feel like this is evening wear for Mad Men's Joan.

While Tee said they carried items "ranging from two dollars to two thousand dollars," we didn't see many items in the under $20 price point. We did see some fantastic high-end items such as some L.A.M.B. platforms ("straight off the runway in New York"), barely used Louis Vuitton purses and designer costume jewelry.

Yes, there was a variety of casual and sportswear from the likes of Banana Republic, J. Crew and Ann Taylor Loft, but I'd stick to The Nearly New Store and its prices for those items. The real fantastic finds here are the vintage dresses, footwear and accessories (the belts and hats were rather fabulous). I'm a sucker for all of these (and would like to see what else Tee brings in), so I'll be back. Lauren also gives a two thumbs up.

Pros: something for all tastes and budgets, an owner's unique eye and fashion sense

Cons: a slightly confusing store layout, possibly prices that have too large of a range for the budget shopper

(Check out My Sister's Closet's Web site to get a better feel for their offerings: http://www.mysistersclosetonline.com/)

Part two of our gently-used adventure later this week...

Sally Jane Vintage

Photos from here. Ferosh.

I stumbled upon Sally Jane Vintage's blog tonight. Wow.

Check out this stuff she posted on eBay on Friday. I would like to put on the record that I'd like to own each and every one of the 15 items she's posting. SJV giving Maegan a run for her money in these photos. Talk about fierce (and eccentric-fashionable... just my speed).

p.s. found her eBay listings on her site, here.

6pm — No Better Time (or Place) to Shop

I couldn't resist the really bad pun...

6pm is actually a retail closeout site, mostly for shoes. I was turned onto it by my Atlanta shopping soulmate (Jessica Shops Atlanta) while listening to the Bert Show a while back.

My first visit to the site had a simple mission: find sandals to wear in my best friend Moeko's wedding. My few criteria were silver color (to match our lavender dresses), low heel (the groom's sisters are very petite so the taller girls are wearing shorter heels to offset the height differences) and moderate price. From what I heard Jessica say, I didn't think it should be a problem.

Voila! Found 'em in under five minutes, and for a fabulous $15.01, nonetheless. 

While I was at it, I decided to peruse some career heels. My simple, black, medium-height heels had long been in distress and expired long ago. Found those, too! A pair of Fitzwells for $25.46.

Grand total with $6.95 standard shipping was $47.42. I ordered my shoes Sunday night and they arrived today (Wednesday). The shoes fit well, are uber comfortable and arrived in a flash. I'm one satisfied customer.

Two Cheers for Two Chairs!

Some of you may remember that I wrote a post back in November about the fabulous table we purchased from Underpriced Furniture. We've really enjoyed the table, its design and functionality — plus it goes so well with the rest of the living room and dining room furniture.

Well, about six weeks ago, I was taking a nap when Dan burst into the room holding his cell phone. He said, "you have to listen to this voicemail!" I had no idea what it could be about and was, at the time, rather content sleeping.

He played the voicemail on speakerphone. I can't remember the exact words used, but it went something like this:

Hi Dan, this is Tim. I'm the owner of Underpriced Furniture. I believe your wife wrote a blog recently about the table you purchased at our store. We are so glad to hear that you all had a good experience and really appreciate that she took the time to write about it. I believe she mentioned that you all would like to purchase two more chairs. If you purchase one more chair, we would like to give one free. Just give me a call if this works for you and I'll put in the order for you. 

He proceeded to give us his personal cell phone number. 

Well, we picked up our BOGO chairs on Saturday from Underpriced's warehouse in Norcross. I'm stoked that we have the last two chairs to round out the "set" — not to mention how fabulous it is that Tim gave us one of the chairs at no cost.

Fabulous Candles in Decatur (and another good deal)

I heard another great tip from Jessica Shops Atlanta—the upscale candle company PaddyWax has an outlet in Decatur! 

An 8-ounce PaddyWax candle in a glass container, for example, will run you upwards of $20 or more on the PaddyWax web site or in a nice boutique. At the outlet, however, the same candles are priced around $8.00. The shop also offers tinned candles for traveling, gift sets and pillar candles of all sizes. 

While browsing through the outlet's merchandise, I couldn't help but pick up several candles for last-minute Christmas gifts. The eight candles I bought set me back $48. Not bad for really quality merchandise.

I complimented the shop as a woman rung up my order. I asked why the outlet was located in Decatur and how the prices were so much different than in retail stores. She responded saying the factory is in Decatur, attached to the outlet actually, and that she was a corporate employee. When I mentioned that I hadn't noticed the outlet store before even though I drive by almost weekly, she said that they don't really advertise and get most of their business through word of mouth.

One downside to this deal savvy place are its hours of operation. PaddyWax is open Monday through Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 4pm and closed on Sundays.  Another is the strong mix of scents that hit your nostrils the moment you walk through the door. Like walking through the perfume section of Macy's, you may end up with a mild headache for the next half hour. 

235 Dekalb Industrial Wy
Decatur, GA 30030

(404) 378-7422

www.paddywax.com

Vendor Fun: VistaPrint

Boy do I love VistaPrint. Sure, you have to wade through some cheese-tastic templates, but the online printing vendor has lots of fun options for holiday cards, party invitations, business cards, promotional collateral and more.

Dan ordered our Christmas cards from VistaPrint last night. I insisted he also throw some gift labels and return address labels into our "cart" because they were too cute not to include in our order. Check out how you can jazz up your Christmas gift giving with some fun labels.

(Gift labels and return address labels are $6.24—plus shipping—for 140)

Dining Room Table Via Underpriced Furniture

Our weekend mission: find a functional, affordable and color appropriate dining room table for our smallish living room.

Friday night, I was eager to visit our first target store, Cost Plus World Market, only to be a little disappointed. Loved the store and the style of—wasn't head-over-heels for the dining room table I'd seen in the previous weekend's Sunday paper. The Chemia table was a little more "country" than our tastes and didn't seem terribly durable. The price was almost right (somewhere around $750) but the quality of the wood didn't feel quite right to us, and we also thought we could find a look that was more "us." 

A quick stop by American Signature Furniture yielded similar results. We headed home, empty-handed, not that we would have been able to fit a table and six chairs in the Saab. 

Saturday was mostly spent helping my younger brother move. But it was just our luck that he rented a Uhaul for the day, needing to return it mid-Sunday morning. After finishing moving him around 3 or 3:30 that afternoon, we decided to take advantage of said "free" Uhaul. 

Our destination: Underpriced Furniture*. We'd been there once before on a hunt for a book case. And a book case we found! We picked up an espresso-colored floor-to-ceiling (the same as Haverty's advertises except for without the name branded on the bottom and without the Haverty's pricetag). Our bookcase set us back a bragworthy $220. Knowing we passed by some sharp-looking dining room tables during our visit a year before, we thought the Norcross-based furniture vendor was worth a shot.

The night before, Dan and I discussed how fabric cushions can be annoying to clean—and a major pain to replace. He wasn't sold on seats without built-in cushions because they just didn't seem as comfortable. 

Underpriced had a few tables that fit our bill. We decided on an espresso/cherry-colored table with a leaf. Without its leaf, the table is your standard rectangular table. The leaf, however, goes in lengthwise, giving you a large, square-shaped table. The chairs have built-in black leather cushions, a perfectly happy medium for what Dan and I discussed. 

Since our choice table was out of stock, we went home with the floor model and all six of its available chairs. The table was on sale for $699, including four chairs (with each additional chair costing $74)—so about $847. Dan asked if we could get a little bit of a discount since we bought the floor model. The salesperson rather quickly conceded, giving us the the equivalent of one "free" chair in our final price (about $773 total). 

We enjoyed dinner with visiting family on the new table that night. I think we'll be back to grab two more chairs since the square-shaped configuration allows for 8 chairs comfortably.

LOVE our new table!

*Web site isn't all that great or accurate with what's available in the store, so I suggest you make the trek up to Interstate 85 North's Jimmy Carter exit to check out what they have in-store. 

Camera Arrived!

Just in time for a quick weekend trip to visit the inlaws, our new camera arrived! It's exactly what I ordered and arrived in a mere two days. Thank you, Buy Dig, for not giving me the runaround.