Yes, it is that time of the year. All of the fall merchandise hits the floor at my favorite stores. My favorite shopping channels start with broadcasts of what you absolutely Must Have for a perfect fall season!!

The biggest kick off for me is the Nordstrom Pre-Fall sale. There are many items selected from new fall offerings that are put on sale prior to the actual fall season. When the catalog for the sale hits my mailbox  I start to feel the excitement. There is usually one item that knocks me out and I know I have to pick it up. Since I am a “regular” I get to purchase the sale items before they actually go on sale. This year took some extra planning on my part because we were leaving on a trip the day after the presale started. But, I worked it out to get there the day before we left.  The item is a light weight denim zip front poncho from Treasure&Bond. Regular price $98.00, sale price $59.90. What a steal! When I got to my local Nordstrom  I looked for it and could not find it. I asked for assistance. It had sold out.  The sales associate told me she would get it from another store and ship it to me. Phew! that was a close one. The next morning I checked my emails before we left and there was a note from Nordstrom telling me all the other stores were sold out too. I figured this was either a very hot item or the manufacturer was late in getting their full order shipped to the stores. Lucky for me it was also in their on line catalog and they had stock. I am the happy owner of this denim poncho purchased at the pre-fall price. Now I can’t wait for the temperature to drop so that I can wear it.

There was also a good selection of neck wear in some new looks for this season. The skinny scarfs are back and looking fresh. There was a rayon ombre loosely woven fringe scarf made by Collection XIIX that is now part of my accessory collection. I saw a triangle sueded fringed item with embroidered ribbon trim that looked great and I did like this look that was popular many, many years ago. Nordstrom had it for $48.00, but I thought this was a bit steep. But, lucky me. I went into JCPenney next and there it was. The exact same neck piece selling for $28.00 and on sale  for 20% off and I had a Rewards Coupon. Made my day!

Another department that I stopped where a friend is the department manager, was kids’shoes. Such high fashion for the little girls. Hot items for the pre-season sale were boots by Stuart Weitzman and Michael Kors. There are biker boots and wedges just like mom will be wearing. But my favorite one is a pair of mary janes. One foot has the head of Minnie Mouse, the other foot has Mickey Mouse, and when the feet are next to each other the characters are puckered up for a kiss! Wish I had a little girl in the family.

In the home department I always find some items that are must-haves for  gifts. The barware was really good and we picked up a gift for a friend. LED Marquee Letters are on sale again this year ($35.00 per letter). They were a very big decorating item last fall too. Another item I saw was Readers Digest Books ($8.90 for the presale, $15.00 regular price).  The covers were decorated with artsy motifs such as initials and hearts. Why didn’t I think of this when we cleaned out my parents’ home and disposed of hundreds of these books!!

LOVE the start of the fall season. Next I will share some of the trends for fall 2016.