AFDC 2005 Recap :–)

It was wonderful – a smaller than usual group because probably it was
Memorial day weekend but we had about 10; EMD, Michele H, MKUPMAVEN,
Jaqueline in Baltimore, Think_anyth...@yahoo.com aka Cindy, Shalini,
Stacy F., my pal Clare and Lisa H. who hasn't posted in awhile but
still made it to some of the events. Of course little Clare and I were
there too.
We started the weekend w/ a Friday night gathering at my abode and a
huuuge pile o' crap with some truly awesome stuff. I ended up with a
raspberry Coach cellphone case, courtesy of Stacy who got a new phone
and had to give it up, the L'Oreal glycolic peel, an illuminare blush
and eye shadow and loads of other fun goodies.
Saturday we went to Leesburg Premium Outlets and focused our efforts on
BR, Aerosoles, 9 West, Bass, The Cosmetics Company Store, Burberry,
Donald J. Pliner and the Barney's outlets. I scored some Aerosole
slides to replace some others I have that are ready for the garbage
heap. Black smooth leather (haha, what else?) with a black wedge and a
pewter buckle on the slide, a nice change from the plain, stretchy
material my "old" ones came in. We were giving Baby Clare things to
play with in each store and it's a miracle I didn't accidentally walk
out of any of the stores w/ "toys" for her I wasn't planning to buy
;–).
Saturday night we went to my pal Clare's for her awesome tamale pie,
margeritas and a demo from Silpada silver jewelry (more at
www.silpada.com) and all of us found some great goodies; I picked up
two pair of earrings, one a silver stud w/ round MOP dangle and the
other fish hook style with tumbled rose quartz and silver bead drops.
These will nicely round out my earring wardrobe...for now anyway, lol.
Sunday we had the now annual Awake event at NM, Tyson's corner and
found some GREAT new items; a eucalyptus body lotion, plumping lip
glosses, and powdery shadows that can be applied w/ fingers instead of
a brush. Very cool indeed because like EMD, I'm more about applying
makeup w/ fingers not brushes these days. I got the lipgloss in
Honeysuckle (brilliant gold) and a shadow in the copper color w/ bronze
microglitter. I don't recall the name but I think I can make it work w/
my oversensitive eyes as a wash of color over the eyelid and avoid my
eyelash area. I'll finish the face w/ bronzer and the Honeysuckle lip
plumper gloss. Voila, my summer face.
Sunday after the Awake gathering the little one had just about had it
w/ shopping so I took her home for a much needed nap and Grandma time.
EMD and I headed back out to the mall and puttered in Anthropologie, my
new fave place to chill, smell candles, play in fragrances and lotions.
And find that yes, I can fit into some of their clothes. They have
alot of drapey tops in ice cream–y shades I'm going to keep in mind if
I have any 'do's to go to this summer. After this, we hooked up with
Shalini and Cindy for dinner at PF Chang's, which I had been having a
massive jones for and mmmmm...it was worth the wait – we had dandan
noodles, veggie chow fun, shangai dumplings and a Great Wall of China
chocolate dessert we had a terrible time finishing even though there
were four of us and I think this was a single portion (!!! It was
HUGE).
A fun and much needed weekend after what was a rather rough May for me.
Thanks everyone, for making it another fun AFDC.
Vicki in DC

"Vicki in DC" <Nickycharles2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1117740855.717671.299...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
It sounds like a wonderful alt.fashion weekend. I'm going to take a look
at Awake products on Saturday. I've been wearing Chantecaille copper for
the past month and would love to play with the Awake shadow.
Audrey

"Vicki in DC" <Nickycharles2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1117740855.717671.299...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
It sounds like a blast. Hopefully next year I can be part of the group.

What can I say except that this was a huuuuuuuuugely fun AFDC event for
me, particularly because it was a long weekend, allowing me to stay for
the Awake event. And yes, yes, yes! The Awake silky powder eye
shadows are terrific! I got all three of them, the only colors
available in this formula so far: the bronze that Miss Vicki
described, a pale shimmery aqua and a medium shimmery blue. Can't wait
for more colors to arrive in the fall––I'm so not into using brushes
any more for eye makeup.
I also had good luck at Leesburg on Saturday, scoring a wonderful denim
skirt and a pale pink sheer long–sleeve shirt at the BR outlet, then a
bunch of very cute short–sleeve tees in several styles/fabrics at, of
all places, the Bass outlet. Then, after the Sunday Awake event, more
good luck at Sisley (two great shirts and a scarf) and Anthropologie
(two pairs of summer pants).
Also ordered a stack of rings and a pair of earrings at the Silpada
party––and here I add my thanks to Big Clare for making me a non–meat
version of her great tamale pie!
All in all, this was a TERRIFIC event, Miss Vicki, and you are a
TERRIFIC woman!

"Vicki in DC" <Nickycharles2...@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:1117740855.717671.299...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
Major props to Vicki, and Vicki's fabulous mom, for a great spread of
food, including awesome quiche and to–die–for cheesecake. I wish I had
your house, Vicki!
This year I was ruthless on donating goods to the Pile O'Crap, and I'm
proud that it resulted in 3 full shopping bags full of new and nearly new
beauty and skin products, as well as three handbags. Speaking of
which...
The best part for me was that I donated 3 handbags to Le Pile and only
left with one (can't resist Kate Spade totes). Hooray for downsizing!
<snip cause I missed the outlet shopping for a playdate with my son>
I was fortunate enough to arrive at Clare's just as Karen, the nice lady
from Silpada, was calling to find out how in the heck to find the apt
from the rather confusing parking lot. It was fortunate, because Karen
had a LOT of stuff to haul a not–insubstantial distance from her van, and
there's no way she and Clare could have done it in one trip without
another person. It took Karen over an hour to setup, and I'm told it was
at least another hour to put it all away again. Wowsers.
I'd never heard of Silpada jewelry before AFDC, but I ordered some tiny
"huggie" hinged hoops, and a nice heart pendant (with very necessary
extender addition). Can't wait until the package arrives (soon? yes?).
Since I still have more makeup than I can ever wear in a lifetime (and a
goodly percentage of that is Awake), I settled for the skin care kit
which had deluxe sizes of several products (the line name of which I
can't remember at the moment, and darn it, it's not on the website). One
of the products is black soap, and yes, EMD and I did not let the moment
pass without a Woody Allen / Annie Hall shoutout.
While Vicki and EMD were taking care of little Clare, the rest of us
(Jacqueline, Stacy, Shalini and I) did some Galleria puttering, which
mostly consisted of stores that one of us wanted to visit (me: Coach,
Tumi, Saks, and, um, Chanel; Shalini/Stacy: Donald J Pliner, and a
really cool jewelry store whose name escapes me). I had already been
stalking the Tumi women's slim brief laptop case online, as I have a
newly acquired laptop provided as part of my bitchen new job (heh), so
when I got to Tumi, it only took about 10 minutes to complete the
purchase. I think Jacqueline was surprised at the speed of the decision,
but that was nothing compared to when we hit Chanel later (heh).
Shalini got some totally adorable canvas logo loafers at the Coach store,
and I would have bought some shoes there myself (several pairs were half
off retail) but they were all out of size 11 as usual. Feh.
And then of course, there's the now infamous Chanel visit, where I
fondled a real Chanel bag in a real Chanel store for the very first time,
and then immediately decided to buy it. I'm still surprised that nobody
even tried to stop me, not that I would have listened. Combine a
shopping fugue state with the event of an impending 40th birthday, and
you can't beat a perfect large black caviar leather Chanel 2.55 bag.
Seriously.
After Chanel, we were all starving (it was nearly 3pm, IIRC) so the four
of us adjourned to the lovely NM Cafe, where soup and monkey bread (aka
popovers?) were enjoyed by all. Can't beat the NM Cafe for fast and
yummy food in the Galleria.
Thanks to *you*, Miss Vicki, for making it all happen once again, even in
the midst of what has to be one of the worst Mays on record. Hang in
there, sweetie, and give that beautiful girl of yours a big hug. And
please give our best to Miss Clare for hosting such a wonderful party
under less than optimal circumstances.
Here's to AFDC 2005, and looking forward to AFDC 2006!
Michele