Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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Garage Sale, Tag Sale, Estate Sale – It's All Good

March 6, 2011

When I lived in the New York area, we called them tag sales. In Florida, everybody used the term “garage sales.” But here in Santa Barbara? The merchandise may be sitting outside a garage and it will definitely have tags on it, but – make no mistake – it’s being offered at an estate sale. Even if nobody died and there’s no estate being liquidated. Even if the house is modest and “estate” would be exaggerating. Even if the stuff being sold includes an old Frisbee. It’s an “estate sale” because that’s how you get people to come – people who would otherwise be spending a sunny weekend afternoon playing golf or tennis.

Why am I bringing this up? A friend was having an estate sale yesterday and I went. And let me tell you I enjoyed myself immensely. I don’t know what it is about sifting through other people’s belongings, but I could have stayed there for hours. She had clothes, shoes, dishes, antique furnishings, luggage, you name it – all the more enticing because this particular friend has beautiful taste.

Poor Michael. He came along with me because I’d told him our friend was selling camera equipment and an Apple computer monitor, which was true. But he was ready to leave after two minutes and ended up having to watch me hold up a china platter and a copper pot and a wicker basket and say about each, “What do you think? Should we get this?” In every case, he nodded and said, “Can we go now?”

We couldn’t go. I was on a mission to look at anything and everything for fear of missing some gem. When I spotted a fabulous looking sweater/coat hanging on a rack, I practically attacked it.

“What do you think?” I asked Michael as I modeled it. “Should I get this?”

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

“I’m serious. You don’t think it’s too big on me?”

“No.”

“You sure? It’s kind of long.”

“Looks fine.”

“What about the buttons? I could change them.”

“You could.”

Okay, I need to mention that he wasn’t even looking at me or the garment or its buttons. He was studying his watch – avidly.

I bought the sweater/coat and a couple of other items and went home. The best part? The bargains. I’d forgotten how much I love a bargain.

Filed Under: Fashion, Lifestyle, Mainly Jane, Popular culture Tagged With: estate sales, garage sales, Santa Barbara, tag sales

Court Attire

February 10, 2011

No, I’m not talking about Venus Williams’ most recent fashion statement at the Australian Open – the one she said was inspired by “Alice in Wonderland.”

(courtesy: Huffington Post)

I’m talking about Lindsay Lohan’s body-hugging white number – the one she wore today to her latest gig in a courtroom.

(courtesy: Flvnet A)

She said she wore white to express her “innocence.” Nobody was buying it. The media has been all over the inappropriateness of her wardrobe selection. Apparently, people expected her to dress for church.

I’m not about to get into what celebrities should wear to their trials or arraignments or whatever; when Michael Jackson was on trial here in Santa Barbara County he wore pajamas, remember?

(courtesy: womendonthavefriends.com)

Hard to top that. What’s amazing to me is the absolute craze Lohan’s dress has started. Women have been ordering it in record numbers and sales have gone through the roof in the past 24 hours alone.

It’s a cute dress. Fine. But are women really desperate enough to make Lindsay Lohan their fashion role model as she tries to wriggle out of yet another date with prison?

I can’t help thinking about the women in Egypt, because I’ve been glued to CNN for hours watching the demonstrators and wondering what tomorrow will bring for them. What the women in that country wouldn’t give for the opportunity to wear a cute little white dress if they felt like it. On them, it might actually stand for something.

Filed Under: Fashion, Mainly Jane, News stories Tagged With: Egypt, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jackson, Venus Williams, white dress

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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