Top – F21; Vest – AE; Jeans – Guess; Shoes – Payless.

First off, a heart warm welcome to my newest readers!  I’m so pleased to get to know you and can’t wait for our relationship to grow!  Let’s jump right into things…

How do you feel about knock offs?  You know, those purses that look like Chanel but are less than $100?  I read recently in Marie Claire’s December issue that these knock offs cost “the world economy a whopping $610 billion a year.”  That’s a lot of dollar bills, or loonies since we don’t have 1 dollar bills in Canada.

These knock offs are so good that even the pros have a hard time telling the differences.  They’re that good.  One thought: how about making a really good quality affordable version of your own line?  That way you’d take the wind out of the pirated goods.  If I can get a genuine budget Chanel, I’d get that.  There would be no temptation to get the fakes at all if you could get the real thing.

That’s just a thought. What do you think?  I really don’t know too much about it since I’m not really one for branded things all that much, as long as it’s pretty.  Pretty!

p.s. check out my fabulous *if I do say so myself* post about Christmas traditions on Blue Eyed Owl.

p.p.s  I said there would be a giveaway when I hit 200 on GFC, and I meant it.  But I’m doing two right now *one currently, and one yesterday on another blog* , so I’m going to wait until the New Year.  We’ll have one very early in the New Year to celebrate 200 GFC friends!