La la la la la.

I have the attention span of a flea these days, and every time I plan to write something for this blog, my mind skitters off and I can’t complete the thought. So I don’t write. It’s time for me to exercise a little willpower over my gray matter, though, and work to whip it back into some semblance of an adult, functioning brain.

But let’s start slow.

Have you heard of Rue La La? This business has an interesting concept that is clearly designed to get silly women (like me) to buy shit they never needed. Every day their website displays two or three new “boutiques,” each selling one brand of clothing or accessories at heavily reduced prices. Perusing the boutiques (which you can only do if you are a member – how exclusive!), I get the impression that the merchandise isn’t always the most coveted items from a designer’s line. In fact, I wonder if it’s like the January sales in Europe, where in addition to the good stuff the stores are clearly trying to empty their storerooms of the last several years’ worth of crap nobody wanted to buy the first time around. Still, the designers/brands themselves are desirable, including as they have in the last few days Marc Jacobs and 7 for All Mankind, and next week, Tory Burch.

In each boutique there are only a few of each item, and as they are sold a tag under each product proclaims “Only 6 left!” or “Sold out!” All of which lends an air of exclusivity and desirability to the clothes and accessories that they would undoubtedly be lacking on the sale racks. Which is what led me to buy a Marc Jacobs purse without reading the description adequately, because the one I really wanted was SOLD OUT, this one was the shoulder bag version of the one I wanted, and there were ONLY 2 LEFT. I can’t even find a picture of the bag on the internet, it’s so undesirable. Here’s the one I really wanted, which in retrospect was still not wholly desirable:



















So I impetuously bought the one so ugly that no one has the energy to photograph or sell it, it arrived, it was indeed the ugly stepsister to the original, and now I can only return it for a credit because it is so exclusive! Live and learn.

In other, equally fascinating news, you should try the recipe on the cover of last month’s Bon Appétit. It is fabulous.