I love my new coat!

I can hardly contain my excitement about the new coat I just bought. I wanted to add a picture, but I don't know how to grab it from the Lacoste website :(

More importantly, today is the beginning of the twice-a-year soldes season in France. Sales, which are regulated by the government, are definitely something to look forward to in this cold cold wintertime. Starting today, they'll last for the next four weeks, with clothes at even the most exclusive brands going on sale for up to 70 percent. I realize this sounds like a really girly thing to be posting about, but it actually is a pretty important period in the French cultural calendar, especially when you think about how serious the French are about fashion.

I've had my eye on this coat since trying it on at the Duty Free at Charles de Gaulle before our flight to Spain. I have an exam tomorrow, so I thought I'd go over to the Lacoste store first thing in the morning to see what the prices looked like. Leaving the apartment, the first store I passed was for baby clothing, and there were more people in there than I've seen all year. It looked almost like Black Friday in the states, but more refined -- people were searching anxiously for sizes, but it was as if they didn't want other people to be able to tell how desperate they were to find them.

Then, walking across Bellecour, almost every woman I passed heading in the opposite direction was carrying at least two or three shopping backs and wearing a contented smile. And this is at 10 in the morning! On a Wednesday! Don't these people have work?

Lacoste was just opening, and within 5 minutes, there were plenty of people buzzing around. It took me only 10 minutes to try on, decide, and swipe my (dad's) credit card. On the way back, glowing with the happiness that comes with a new purchase, I trotted back to the apartment, huge bright blue Lacoste shopping bag in hand. Lost in my thoughts, I only barely heard a woman say "Excusez-moi." I stopped. She asked me where the Lacoste store was, and I was happy to point her the way.