A Little Weekend Trip: San Antonio, Texas & Outlet Shopping Success! (Plus, I'm Obsessed with Belts)

Happy Labor Day lovely readers!  As you might have noticed, I've been MIA.  The wonderful husband and I decided to book a last minute trip to San Antonio for some much needed R&R.  I don't get a lot of vacation time (5 days a year, to be exact) so we decided to try and get away for a long weekend in addition to the one larger trip we get to take each year.

We had such a blast and it was so awesome to go on a trip just the two of us.  I feel like I've been really getting burned out lately so this was such a nice stress reliever.

Day 1, we visited the Alamo, did a little shopping, walked around the River Walk and went out for lunch and dinner.  What a beautiful city!

At the Alamo:

A little ice-cream break (Hagen-Das raspberry sorbet)

While shopping, I picked up this adorable purple ruffle dress from Papaya.  I bought it because I loved the brown belt so much (I didn't own a brown belt).  It's so versatile!  It cost $25.99. I wore it to dinner that night (you didn't think I'd leave out my OOTD photos did you!? I made sure to take them!) I also picked up that cute gold heart locket necklace at Forever 21. I absolutely love it and have worn it everyday since.

I also picked up this sweater-jacket at GAP that day. I used my Groupon to get it. It was on display in the store's window and I just loved the collar.  It's very comfy.

The next day we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas but unfortunately due to their stupid rules (which, by the way, have totally prompted me to write a letter) I didn't get any photos.  Unlike Paramount Canada's Wonderland which has an AWESOME system for storage of your personal articles on rides, this Six Flags was a massive fail and we ended up going back tot he car and leaving all of our things there except for a wallet, our sunglasses and car key.  There is NO WAY I was paying $1 for a locker every time I wanted to go on a ride.  PSA to Six Flags: take a note from the Canadians and learn to do it right.  We did have a blast at the park though. We left at about 4:30 because I think we both had sun stroke or something, it was blazing hot!

H won me these cute toys and won a basketball and football for himself. Yay for his athletic abilities!

That night, I wore one of my favorite dresses, this floral ruffle print dress from Zara (with my awesome new brown belt, of course):

H and I:

Today (Monday) we went to the San Marcos outlets (I had to beg, but H finally agreed- and hey, he got a Lacoste polo shirt out of it!)

I wore this cute ROXY  halter top I bought at Six Flags (all of the ROXY stuff was 25% off!)

(New earrings I got for $3.50 at Forever21)

I never have good luck when I shop at outlets. I go from store to store either not thinking the prices are right or generally just unimpressed with the offerings. Today was no exception.  I did pick up two items I am thrilled with and I think it's safe to say that it was a weekend of belts, since that's all I seemed to buy.  The other stores were a bust, but these belts made it all worth it.

First was this pretty gold metallic belt from the J. Crew outlet (which by the way I think isn't great and the prices are awful. $69.50 cardigans? Thanks, I can get that at the actual store.) I've wanted a skinny gold belt for awhile, so I was glad to have scored this for $14.50:

BTW- on a tangent here, but I swear every single girl in San Antonio was wearing Essie's Pink Parka on her toes (and nails.)  Fluorescent pink nails were bountiful.  It is my favorite polish for the summer and I guess I'm not alone.

My only other purchase at the outlets is one that I am really proud of and excited about. Check out the original price tag...

$295.00!!!! Eeeekkk!  I would have never paid that much for this belt...but oh is it ever so lovely:

I got this gorgeous Tory Burch belt for $79!!! Can you believe it?  It's so versatile because of the tan, black and gold combo. I can see it cinching sweaters at the waist and jackets and trenches as well.  I can't wait to wear it! Very happy with this find :) It totally turned my "I suck at outlet shopping" attitude around.

Oh, and another tangent- WHAT IS UP WITH THE COACH STORE!!?? Seriously. It was like a mob in there.  Women clutching 3 bags all over the place and confused looking men and screaming kids.  I was in awe.  I like some of Coach's leather bags...but these were just "eh" bags and people were going crazy!  I uh, guess people love Coach. 

Speaking of screaming kids, they were everywhere. It reminded me of the Sex and the City episode where Carrie says:

"...and then the couple has to tell each other something that all potential parents have to say in order to procreate- don't worry, our kids will be different."

H and I just looked at each other and I said, "let's just have one." As an only child, I know how easy it was for my parents to take me everywhere and I was always well-behaved and knew how to behave around adults.  I think parents need to read the Duggar's books on parenting (if they exist) because when you have 19 pretty well behaved kids, you have to be doing something right, right? OK, tangent done.

We left the outlets all smiles:

The drive home was quite awful. Two accidents, horrible traffic. But the clouds were gorgeous, I snapped a few shots of them:

Pretty, huh?

I hope everyone had a SAFE & HAPPY weekend!  Let me know what you did in the comment below...and of course let me know what you bought if you took advantage of some of the labor day sales!

I missed all of you and your lovely comments while I was MIA! Hope this massive posts makes up for it :)

xoxo,

Veronika.