Jessica Simpson Must-Haves

Shocking confession here: I heart Jessica Simpson.

Even more so, I double love these shoes:

On sale for $118.30 at Macy's. Super bumming that they don't appear to be available in the "Milk Chocolate" brown anymore, just black and grey. Shoot. :-(

These are super cute, too:

Maybe a little high at $75.00, but I would totally pick them up if they went on sale at Macy's. Also available in black.

PS: Update for Lisa S. and my mom (who asked if I was hinting at these for Christmas). As some of you may remember, I made a commitment to not purchase any leather goods anymore, because there are so many non-animal alternatives out there. Both of these shoes are leather products, so I wouldn't buy them for myself nor would I wishlist them. I'm surprised that both are actually real leather, to be honest. Many, many products now are made from vinyl or faux products, so keep an eye out for those and let me know if any look like these cute shoes. Love the style, not a fan of the raw materials. ;-)

Holiday Deals are Already Over?

WTF Best Buy... too early.

I'm not joking, this subject line was in my inbox yesterday:

Subject: Last Chance. Amazing Holiday Deals End Today.

PS: My neighbors across the street put up (and lit for the entire evening) their Christmas lights yesterday.

PS #2: I didn't open the email. I don't like high-pressure sales tactics ;-)

Go Banana!

Well done, Banana Republic! My little green heart thanks you!

"Greener. One Step At A Time.
We changed our bag to eliminate 500,000 pounds of plastic each year.
You too can help by reusing or recycling this bag."

My sister was outlet shopping last week and picked me up a great pair of linen-style black pants (trouser-style fit, draw-string but fitted waist) that look great with patent black heels that I wore today, but of course I can't find any pictures of outlet products on their site. I'll take an outfit picture next time I wear them for a follow up post :-)

Red!

(Sidebar: My post from last night was fabulous number 300 - have you been around since post #1... way back in May, 2007?)

I was reading over this week's fashion columns in the Lifestyle section of the N&O and was delighted to find an entire feature dedicated to RED! As all Wolfpack girls know, red is a statement color with free reign to wear at any time. This popular fall trend color happens to extend that privilege to everyone... regardless of their love for NCSU! ;-)

This feature was an affiliate piece from the Charlotte Observer (a sister publication of the N&O), so unfortunately it only included looks from national chain retailers... but I did find a few things to love!


http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/746749/red-101710.html?index=16
These earrings from Target ($29.99) are appropriately titled "Pomegranate Drop Earrings"... they look just like the inside of poms! (by Temple St. Clair for Target)
Buy online


http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/746749/red-101710.html?index=2
Also $29.99 at Target. (by Temple St. Clair for Target)
Buy online


http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/746749/red-101710.html?index=1
Love this belt from the September/October H&M collection! No price given, didn't see it on their website. (Random note: You can only shop online with H&M if you're OUTSIDE of the US? How often do you see that?)


http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/746749/red-101710.html?index=4
Worthington Black Houndstooth Dress - $49.99, August Worthington Double Breasted Coat (buy online) - $149.9... both from JCPenney. (But I really love the scarf the most - this is as close as I could find on the site, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same scarf.)

A Kourtney Kardashian Outfit that I'd SO Wear...

Love those boots with that tunic!

I have to admit, I love watching to crazy Kardashian girls on E!. They're such hot messes, but some of their crazy antics remind me of my girlfriends and even my the ridiculous that my sister and I may or may not have caused on occasion. We hardworkin' ladies deserve a little mindless TV every once in a while, no? See http://officialkourtneyk.celebuzz.com/2010/10/kourtney-kardashian-mason-airport-nyc/ for brands that Kourtney and kiddo Mason are rockin'.

image via http://officialkourtneyk.celebuzz.com/2010/10/kourtney-kardashian-mason-airport-nyc/kim-kourtney-101610-12/?bfm_index=2&bfm_page=0

Holy Shizzle!

Or should I say, ShoeDazzle?

Anyways, it's sort of like Netflix for shoes. Except that they're not used and you get to keep them. Ok, so they're actually more like an assumed grocery delivery service/CSA program. Essentially, every month they send you personalized picks based on your style profile and then you pick a pair you actually want to own and it's shipped to you for $39.95 -- with free shipping. (And what they call "easy exchanges", but I can't speak for that... yet.)

The only catch is that you have to "skip" if you don't want the recurring charge (so from a revenue perspective they're probably banking on you just forgetting to do so within the 1st and 5th of the month), but for shoes... I feel like I could make this a regular thing. Or end up with a pair of shoes. Win-win? Yes, yes!

Today's recommendations based on my style quiz results (first below) that I would so say "yes" to:









The only thing that doesn't work on me is buying 12 new pairs of shoes in a year, potentially. As much as I love shoes, I actually don't buy THAT many a year. Again, I could make this work and not end up with 12 pairs of shoes... or maybe some great gifts for my fellow Size 8 ladies? (Actually, I think you can select which size you want for each order. So the gift idea would certainly work!)

So, what do you readers think? Sold? If I take the plunge and commit to the first pair, you can bet I'll be following up this post with a few pictures of the newly arrived shoe goodness and a review of the quality and ShoeDazzle experience!

If you want to give it a try, I would certainly love for you to use my referral link (http://www.shoedazzle.com/invite/3kczidfyp) because naturally, referrals rock.

Party Perfect Dresses!

I awoke to an email from my gal pal Kristin this morning sharing the LuLu's site with me... thank you, Kristin!

The site features dresses, shoes, tops, bottoms, denim, accessories, and jewelry, but I was totally sold on the dresses. There were over 500 on the site (500!) and I have yet to see one over $100.00. (Woohoo!) While targeting juniors, there are SEVERAL dresses that I myself would totally wear for a night out. Most are tiny dresses, so with fall approaching, lots of these would look great with tights or leggings.

A few of my favorites:


$43.00 Also love it in red!
http://www.lulus.com/products/fire-and-ice-teal-one-shoulder-dress/28642.html


$38.00 Pair with dark gray tights.... love!
http://www.lulus.com/products/hot-for-hieroglyphs-black-dress/28634.html


$79.00 Never too late for a little summer fun! (Hello fall/winter warm vacation destination!)
http://www.lulus.com/products/islands-are-forever-silk-party-dress/28511.html


$38.00 Party perfect or great for work with a cardigan!
http://www.lulus.com/products/haute-bouquet-party-dress/28488.html


$79.00 Sold out... bummer. This was by far one of my FAVORITES!
http://www.lulus.com/products/global-dj-gold-sequin-dress/28149.html


I may be a *tad* bit early, but it never hurts to look for New Year's Eve party dresses! ;-)

PS - The retail genius who decided to put a wish list and "to be notified when this item is back in stock" on LuLu's.... VERY SMART!

Oscar for the Home

Oscar de la Renta is one of my high-end favorites, so it was no surprise when I loved the back cover ad of this month's Traditional Home magazine (actually, it's technically the October 2010 issue)... it's a Lee Jofa home textiles collection inspired by De la Renta's fashion.



On page 34 of the magazine, there was an inset that read:

Ball skirts made with De la Renta's fabrics for Lee Jofa will be auctioned off to benefit Casa del Nino, a child assistance program the designer co-founded in his native Dominican Republic. For additional details visit LeeJofa.com.

How cool!

Overstock.com Joins the Private Sale Bandwagon

Thanks to FurnitureToday.com's article on the dot com discount retailer launching its own private sale website, I now have yet another daily/weekly email list that will be filling up my commercial email inbox - and judging by the first look I just took at Eziba.com... I'm totally cool with that.



Chi flat irons, home textiles, and kitchen counter-top appliances. I think they just rolled all of my budget vices into one private sale. Eek!

5 Ways to Add Elegance to Dresses

You will laugh at this for one of two reasons:

1 - You may have studied fashion, apparel, or textiles at some point
2 - You have five fingers

(Or both of the reasons above.)



I don't know about y'all, but I'm LOVING this ongoing advertising campaign from Zappos (official Zappos site). Hi-larious!

Window Shopping: ZGallerie Summer Sale

ZGallerie.com (with a great sale going on right now!) is one of my favorites to "window shop" online for modern accessories and style inspiration (and they have someone super helpful running their @ZGallerie twitter account, too - they got me taken care of in less than a day when I couldn't join the email list)!


SUPER cute laptop bag - $12.39
http://www.zgallerie.com/p-9144-everglades-laptop-bag-black.aspx
(And it's faux croc - which means I can purchase it with a clean conscience!)


Cute cupcake tray! - $9.99
A fun and super affordable accessory for the entertaining gal.


Round lacquer trays - $12.39
One in each color, please!

Just Sayin' Saturday

{via SwaggerGifts}

Just sayin'...

mark. Goes Fair Trade

I am SUPER excited about this!



If you've been reading for some time, you know that I'm all about "voting with my consumer dollars" and that mark. is my choice for beauty products because they were one of the first to have a strong position against animal testing.

Launching a line of fair trade products? Just as cool!

Can't wait to get my hands on these. I hear the "Do the Right Thing" Smoothing Body Lotion with SPF 15 is going to be my new favorite because it's so much like the "For Goodness Face" lightweight moisturizer with SPF built-in.

If you want to check out this line, visit my mark page and search "fair trade" (I'd link it for you, but mark doesn't have the best options for deep-linking directly to products.)

Geekin' Out: Wine Bottle USB Flash Drive

I would NEVER spend $50 on a flash drive (especially when they often come free these days as merchandise add-ons and promo items), but darn if it don't want this thing!



PS - If I was a wine rep and was calling on restaurants, bars, and retailers daily to sell bottles of vino, I'd make my company buy me one of these... and put their logo on the bottle's label of course! :-)

{Credits: Image via http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/06/wine-bottle-flash-drive-too-sweet-for-our-tastes/, official site for this usb flash drive at http://www.bewineconnected.com/en/content/bewineusb.aspx, but I'm pretty sure I stumbled upon this find at trendhunter.com.}

Giveaway!

Just a quick note to let you fab readers know that I'm hosting TWO giveaways this evening over on the facebook page for I Heart Retail (my new project I told y'all about back at the end of last year).



The gettin' is good... so make sure you come check it out!