Went Shopping at The Garden State Plaza!

And what a shopping experience THAT was!

Last week, my husband went to New Jersey on a business trip (he travels for work) and so I decided to go with him. I knew that the Hyatt hotel he was going to be staying at was just miles from the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus NJ. I had heard about the wonder that is the Garden State Plaza Mall, so I jumped at the opportunity to go!

The 3 hour drive wasn’t fun with an 11 month old, but we made it there in one piece. And the hotel was pretty nice as far as hotels go. Nice living room area with a 42″ flat screen tv, really comfy pillow top bed, granite counter tops in the bathroom, etc so all in all, not a bad place to spend 4 days. Oh yes, there was an indoor pool too!

So Monday night, after my husband was finished with work, we went to the Garden State Plaza Mall.

There has to be 200+ stores in that mall… It’s 3 stories with 6 anchor stores including Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, and Neiman Marcus. My local mall doesn’t have any of those stores!

It took us 4 hours to just walk around the entire 2nd floor of the mall. We had just enough time to window shop and walk through a few stores like Juicy Couture and Louis Vuitton before the mall closed. I knew I would have to go back later to check out the rest of the mall…
During our travels we found another shopping discovery… Daffy’s. I spent 3 hours in that store and barely got through the 2 stories of fantastic bargains. If you live in Manhattan or somewhere in New Jersey, then find a store near you. And even if you don’t live near one, definitely plan a day trip to go shopping there. It’s seriously that wonderful. I purchased a pair of brand new Guess sunglasses for $20, that retail for $95. How cool is that? And I found a super comfy pair of flats from Blowfish for only $10.

Thursday morning we had to check out of the hotel, but my husband had a few more work things to do before we could drive home, so he dropped me off at the The Garden State Plaza Mall.

I was there for 6 and a half hours and thankfully, my 11 month old daughter was fantastic! She love riding around in the stroller. Plus, she slept for about 2 and a half hours and just about every 5th person that walked by stopped to say “Hello” to her. She’s such a doll…

My first stop was Forever 21, which I had never shopped in before. I’ve ordered things online, but have never been in one of their stores. It’s fantastic! It’s kinda like shopping in someone’s closet. All the racks have like a mixed bag of items to choose from and you just go from rack to rack, poking around for interesting things. I spent nearly $150 in there! The first thing I picked up was this canvas tote except mine has little motorcycles on it. I couldn’t find it online though… It’s soooo cute though! You can see the motorcycles on the wallet though.

I also got 4 really nice dresses! (this one in yellow, this tribal dress in a different print, and 2 maxi tube dresses – one in navy and one in brown.) I also bought 2 basic tees and a cami in olive green to try layering under the maxi tube dresses I bought. I also found a really neat tunic in a giraffe print.

I almost bought this Carmine Floral Top but decided not because I already have a very similar shirt and I wasn’t crazy about the banded bottom. And I almost bought this Ethnic Print Maxi Dress but decided I had already spent too much and didn’t want to put back anything in my arms! It was really pretty though…

On my way to check out H&M, I stopped at the Herbal Pack Aromatherapy booth. I was so impressed with the aroma from these packs and the calming heat, that I bought the shoulder pack and the mint pack. They wanted $60 for the shoulder pack and $30 for the mint pack, but I haggled the lady for 10 minutes until she agreed to give me both for $40! I will post more about these later.

I thought I would find a lot that I wanted in H&M, but I was actually pretty unimpressed. There wasn’t very much to see and everything kinda looked the same. There were lots of items in magenta and tribal prints. I found a yellow jacket I liked, and it was on sale for $30, but I decided not to get it not knowing whether yellow would be popular in the Fall and Spring 2009.

I really wanted to get some new shoes, but try shoe shopping and trying them on with an antsy 11 month old. Not gonna happen… I had to keep that stroller moving at all times!

To wrap it up, I ended up buying a fabulous Guess pocketbook (which I will show you later) that they wanted $40 for and I haggled the girl into giving it to me for $30!

Then I got 4 totally awesome products from Seacret Spa, a unique collection of skin care and spa products, with nutrients essential to the health of your skin and body. Minerals such as Magnesium, Bromine, Potassium, Calcium, Sodium, Zinc, Sulfur, Iodine, Strontium, Boron, and Iron have been scientifically proven to contribute measurably to feeling and looking your best. This was another point at which I haggled a great deal. I got the Salt and Oil Scrub ($50), the Body Lotion ($20), the Facial Peeling Gel ($65), and the Facial Serum ($85). That’s $220 worth of products and guess how much I paid… $100! Yeah, now that’s some serious haggling in action there! I will post all about these products later.

So I spent quite a bit of money and I used $22 more than was in my account (I keep most of my money in my savings account!) so it was fun. I never get to go shopping like that anymore. Babies change lives!!

Have any of you been to the Garden State Plaza Mall?

If you want any information about any of the products I mentioned, just leave me a comment!