Before Christmas, I spent some quality time picking out the most perfect outfits for my teenage daughter, Jenna, who happens to be the MOST pickiest girl that I ever met. NO JOKE! I love Jenna dearly, but, oh, my gosh...... this kid is driving me crazy with her little pet peeves with fashion!

I consider myself a pretty “hip” mom who has a very good eye for color, fashion and coordinating stylish outfits. Jenna and I have spent much time watching “WHAT NOT TO WEAR” and critiquing the styles and outfits on the show. We have a great time putting together our own little idea’s about what looks good or what just does not look right on each chosen candidate on What Not To Wear.

So here it is, a few days after Christmas and what happens........ Jenna decides that she doesn’t like any of the sweaters that I gave her for Christmas! Excuse me..... How could this be possible after I spent hours shopping and handpicking the most cutest, adorable, stunning outfits at the local mall?????

As any mother would react, I suggested, “Let’s go to the mall and return the shirts. You can pick out some shirts that you do like.” That sounds reasonable, right? So off we go, me, Jenna and her little sister Ryanna to the local mall for a fun day of shopping. Did I just say the word FUN???

Well, my day was anything, but fun!!! My hard-to-please teenage daughter, Jenna, had me all over the mall looking for clothes, but she didn’t find a solid thing that she considered worthy for her to wear! No kidding! My teenage daughter had me hiking in my heels and my new zebra-colored silk shirt in and out of all different shops searching for a wonderful shirt or sweater.

Finally, after I grew exhausted from endlessly looking at clothes that Jenna continued to stick her nose up to, I suggested that we have her younger sister, Ryanna, try on some clothes. Did I mention that Ryanna has the hyperactive ADHD? Oh, what fun shopping can be for the cool mother with her ADHD extra hyper 10 year old daughter and her extra-picky, uncooperative 13 year old daughter!

Ryanna was a delight! This spunky ten year old just zipped around the girls department finding the most adorable of outfits! All three of us went into the dressing room for Ryanna to begin her little fashion show for us by trying on each new outfit. Jenna sulked in the corner saying, “I thought that we were here to shop for me!?” I firmly stated, “Since you have not found one single outfit, let your sister use the store credit. She needs a new pair of jeans, anyways.”

Once Ryanna and I decided on a stylish outfit, we exchanged Jenna’s returns for Ryanna’s new clothes. I sincerely wanted to help Jenna pick out some clothes so I willingly went to another store. Fortunately, Limited Too had a terrific sale. I was just loving all the great sales and walking through the store to check out all of the “after Christmas sales“, when Jenna stubbornly stated, “I don’t like their clothes!” (What??? You don’t like these gorgeous clothes that MOST girls would die for!?) I marched my girls right out of that store and headed for a quick fix.

My quick fix for my moment of teen induced stress was COSMETICS and BEAUTY PRODUCTS! Awwww.....there is nothing like a brand new sparkling eye shadow to calm my ragged nerves! Something about strolling through Ulta’s Cosmetic shop brought me a since of peace that only a true makeup lover could relate to.  A little Urban Decay black eyeliner was bound to bring a smile upon any females face. Hmmm.... That is anyone other than my teenage daughter who was grumbling and mumbling some pretty nasty words to me at this point of our shopping frenzy!

It looks like my teenager had chosen to wear her new pair of black heels that I just gave her for Christmas. (She picked the shoes out in advance so I did fine on this choice of gifts!) However, her feet were aching and she learned the hard way that you DO NOT break in a new pair of heels on a shopping frenzy with mom!

As our day of shopping was drawing near to an end, my day could not be perfect, unless I visited my favorite of all favorite places..... STARBUCKS! So Ryanna was happy holding her new bag of cute clothes, I had some new stunning eyeshadow and smudge-proof black liner to add to my cosmetic stash, while Jenna sat empty-handed, sulking, aching feet and an attitude to go right along with it!

Perhaps, my day was pointless since I was not able to talk my stubborn teenager into purchasing new clothes? Perhaps, I allowed myself to waste a very nice Sunday afternoon on a daughter who does not appreciate my savvy sense of style, but as I sipped my delicious white mocha latte, all was well with me. Just a little StarBucks fix along with some terrific cosmetics can turn any chaotic shopping frenzy into an extraordinary day!