So before I get started on my rant, and yes, this is going to be a good ol' rant, let me just explain the title...

One of my FAVORITE websites is www.gofugyourself.com Heather & Jessica are the wittiest writers & I crack up laughing at their reviews of celebrity fashion disasters. Whenever they want to "fug" something they somehow incorporate that into the name hence, Neihman Farcus becuase of their fugging awful customer service.

So let the rant begin...

I fell in love with a pair of shoes that were in Lucky Magazine last month, the Michael Kors Tisbury Pumps, GORGEOUS! Well they had a "Lucky Breaks" deal where you got 25% off of them when you ordered from Emily Grace. Well, I guess they sold out quicker than expected because by the time I placed my order they had to refund my money due to "unexpected high demand" (which seriously, if you put an ad in a nationally distributed magazine that youre discounting a hot pair of shoes wouldnt you expect the demand to go up!?) So anyway, by that time it was too late, I was in love with them! They only place I could find them in black in my size was Neihman Marcus so I talked myself into spending full price, (I just got a new job so those would be my reward!) found a coupon code online for free shipping and ordered away! A week or so later they came...too small. ):  

So I decided to go to the Chevy Chase Neihman's on my lunch break to see if they had them in the store, now let me just say that I've NEVER EVER liked going to Neihmans. I feel like they can somehow see my checking acocunt in a little bubble above my head and they know I'm not going to be buying any Jimmy Choos or Manolos so they won't even look me in the eye much less ask if I need any help but I decided to give them another chance. I was dressed up for work so I thought maybe that'd throw them for a loop and buy me some service.

I walked into the store and walked around aimlessly for awhile looking for the shoe dept, not one sales assoc even asked if I needed help but whatever, I was on a mission, so I got to the shoe dept and a tall man was standing there in a suit, obviously worked there, but he wouldnt look at me. I perused around the mostly empty dept looking for the Michael Kors area, walking past him a couple of times, obviously looking for something, but nothing...he wouldn't even look at me. Finally I pulled out the shoebox and started to say, "Hi, I ordered these onlin..." when he cut me off and said, "We don't sell those here" "Well, can I exhang..." "You can go upstairs to customer service for a refund" "Well, can you see if they have the size I need in another store mayb..." "No, you can go upstairs and they'll give you your money back or you can mail them in to exchange them" "Well, can't I exchange them here?" "No." All this time he didn't not move and did not even look at me.

I was disgusted. Seriously, where do they get off selling such freakin' expensive stuff and not at least giving good customer service in return?! Obviously, I had spent money with them, I had the box in my hand! I would've liked first of all for some eye contact, (not a lot to ask, right?) and second go over to your little computer and see if another store has them or if they even have the next size up online. Why would I pay shipping to send them off if they don't even have my size to exchange them, if that's the case I'd just return them right then and there in the store. When I shop at Nordstrom's and the shoes don't fit they go so far out of their way to track down the size I need, they ship them to me, call me when they find them in another store...good customer service. Same with JCrew, did you know if you find a sale item in the store but they're out of your size they will call their online resource and if your size is available online they'll ship it to you! AND even if the item is only on sale in the store but not online you still get the sale price. GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I'm going to go back to Neihman's this week to turn in the shoes (I looked online and their completely sold out) but after that I do not plan on ever ever stepping foot in a Neihman's again. I don't care how cute the shoes are. I do feel better though now that I've shared this crappy experince with all of you, little did that snooty man know that I had a hotspot....BuahHaHAhahaha! (to sound like evil laugh)

Hooray!!! After much wishing, hoping and trying www.VivaLaKitty.com
is finally up & running for business!

A few years ago when Kane & I first became engaged I started looking
around for a very specific necklace for my dress. I had a deep v in
the back of my dress and I wanted something sparkly to dangle down my
back, like something beautiful someone in the 1920's would've worn. I
started shopping around but could not find anything like it anywhere.
I started speaking with a custom crystal jewelry designer and after
getting a price quote from her I decided that it was ridiculous what
custom designers were charging and I would do it myself!

After some swarovski crystal research and wire wrapping classes the
"Everything Lariat" was born. That's when I thought of the concept of
designing customizable crystal jewelry that incorporates your wedding
colors. I made beautiful earrings, necklaces, bracelets & rings for my
wedding party and family that were all in our spring color palette.
(pale pink & champagne, sooo pretty) The other great thing was that
although Swarovski crystal isn't cheap (and it shouldn't be for that
amazing quality it gives) it didn't need to be so darn expensive for
custom pieces! So I started writing a business plan and really doing
some reading & research about what I was getting into, who my
competition was and designing an initial 45 piece collection when I
hit a wall.

I needed a website and it was not going to be cheap!

Web designer quotes started at 2 grand and I was already spending all
of my free money on supplies, the whole project kind of was on hold
until I lost my job last month. (see angry blog below...) With so much
time on my hands I started trying to figure out how to make my own
webpage, turns out with the help of iWeb on the Mac it's actually not
that hard! With this program all you have to do it is upload your pics
and click and drag them into place, same with text boxes...then you
click "publish", it turns it all into HTML code and wah-lah! A website
it born. Now it's still in it's infant phase so don't hate if things
aren't perfect...I'm just so happy to actually be able to give people
a place to see my work. Take a peak and let me know what you guys
think, I'd love your feedback!