OMFG Free People socks!!

Free People, owned by Urban Outfitters*, who also owns Anthropologie, is a little hippie for me. Yet I still receive their catalog in the mail (probably because I do drop quite a bit of cash at Anthropologie) and love to look through its photos of the crazy things the kids are wearing these days, and in the latest issue, the back cover sports the cutest socks I've ever seen.

Here is what I mean:


It's nearing tall boot weather, people. I have tall boots in black and brown leather. 4" heels. This is what I'm talking about, guys.


To die for, right? Luckily, one need not die: one need only spend $24-$28 per pair. Next to death, that seems like nothing.

I just realized that I'm not sure any of my blog readers are female. Oh wait, yes, of course they are. I can think of three.

Anyway, for all my marketing friends, if nothing else, I offer you this: this is proof that even to this die-hard internet-shopper, printed catalogs still serve a purpose if they drive you to the web site.

*For the sake of completion, I'm "meh" on Urban Outfitters. I only shop there when I'm in Vegas, because there's a store in the hotel we usually stay in. I find them mostly miss on a hit-or-miss scale.

Increase your stimulus check amount by 10%

In an unprecedented event, I am posting to my blog twice in the same day. I am doing so because I want to help spread this bit of information before it gets any later in the week.

With all the hubbub over the economic stimulus checks that most of us in the United States will be receiving beginning this week, the most underreported news about them is that many retailers are offering additional dollars if you spend those checks at their stores.

Sears is the big one. Give them your check and they'll give you Sears gift cards for 110% your check's value.

I hear Kmart, Lands' End, Kroger (and related supermarkets), Staples and Radio Shack have similar offers.

Wisebread posted about this yesterday afternoon, and I hope their comments will fill up with additional information. If you know of any other offers, please do post them here and/or at Wisebread.

I myself am technically in the market for both a dishwasher and a clothes dryer, but I spent a lot of money recently so I think my check is going to have to go to credit card payments, out of necessity. The dishwasher and dryer aren't dead yet anyway, so I keep pushing that back. Now, if The Container Store were offering money for checks, I'd take them up on it. I have a major purchase coming up there in the next couple months. (Metro Shelving...I've been asking for Container Store gift cards since Christmas, to no avail.)