Weekend shopping links
As you know, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, traditionally the day upon which retailers start making money (although that is certainly not the case nowadays), but now the day on which big-box stores try to usurp each other with outlandish promotional stunts, all in an effort to kick off the holiday season and end up on the local news broadcast. I am not one to wake up for a 5 a.m. mall run, but if you are, BlackFriday.info is one of the more user-friendly sites listing all the early-bird specials.

Citysearch also has a New York-centric listing of Black Friday events.

But if you like to take your time, I highly recommend picking up this week's New York Magazine, which features an incredibly thorough and well-edited selection of gifts, including an always-useful 100 under $100.

The following Monday is what's now known as Cyber Monday, so expect nearly every website to be offering some sort of deal, particularly free shipping. As for sample sales, next week is going to be a doozy (think Y3, Inhabit, Valentino, and more to come)...