Jewelry Shopping - Fall Trends

For Labor Day weekend I am going to New York City with my mother for a fun weekend of shopping and relaxing. One of the things I most look forward to about New York are the fabulous bead and jewelry supply shops. With store after store of floor-to-ceiling beads, charms, chains, ribbons, and anything you could possibly want to make jewelry with it can get overwhelming! So, this week I'm making a shopping list - here are a few things I'll be on the lookout for.

Sterling Charms:

Dyed Coin Pearls in wintery colors:

Faceted Amethyst beads:

Summer Evening

Last Friday night I hosted a small dinner for a couple of my oldest and closest friends. We enjoyed appetizers and cosmopolitans by candlelight and Christmas lights outside. I had found martini glasses at TJ Maxx on clearance just a few days before and I had been looking for an occasion to use my Lilly Pulitzer napkins all summer! One of my friends brought cheeseballs made with cream cheese, peppers, pineapple, and nuts. It was a very unlikely combination, but oddly tasty. I made a very simple artichoke and parmesan spread that everyone agreed was delicious. It was very light and perfect for a hot summer evening.

Artichoke and Parmesan Spread (from Real Simple):
- 2 14-ounce cans of artichoke hearts
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Drain 2 14-ounce cans of artichoke hearts. Cut the artichokes in large pieces. Combine with the remaining ingredients. I actually cut the recipe in half and it was still a good size (it just about filled a quart-size tupperware) and was a bit on the generous side with the olive oil. Serve with crackers, pita chips, or mini-pitas.

Now, of course, we ate this light artichoke spread with the cheeseballs, calzones, veggies fresh from my parents' garden, cake, chocolate-covered almonds, and watermelon. Needless to say we were stuffed by the end of the evening!

Design Your Own Ballet Flats

I am loving the new Eliza B Allez Flats - you can choose from about 100(!) different fabrics and colors of patent leather, choose the color leather trim you want, and choose your sole color. The sole is apparently the same sole as on Eliza B's ultra-comfortable flip flops with an added bit of heel. You can even send them your own fabric. Their website mentions sending them a swatch of your wedding gown, what a nice memento that would be! Custom shoes for $110 - that's not too shabby!

p.s. It seems that some of my daily reads have disappeared over the past few months. (Where did you go Landlocked Mermaid??) I miss all you lovely bloggers who have gone private! It seems that the blog world is not as friendly a place as it used to be, I've been wondering if I should jump on the bandwagon and start comment moderation. I haven't gotten too many "spam" comments, but they are annoying!

Will you follow this trend?

Over the past year or so I've gotten very into headbands. Although I used to wear them fairly frequently as I sported the classic chin-length bob for most of my pre-teen and teen years, years had gone by without me wearing one even once! For a couple of years I had a Meg Ryan circa You've Got Mail shag which was rather trendy at the time, but definitely not a style conducive to headband-wearing! Now though, in every store I go I am always checking out the headbands and even made some myself for my Etsy store.

Recently, I've been seeing lots of feather headbands. I love this new one from J Crew:


I think it's a little less bold than this one on Jessica Alba:

What do you think? Will you try this new style?

Planning a Big Apple Trip?

If you are planning a trip to New York City in the future and plan to see a Broadway show, you must stop by Nytix.com. For a $4 subscription fee, you get access to all available discount codes for Broadway. I'm planning a Labor Day weekend trip and just bought Mamma Mia tickets at 45% off! I know that the same-day ticket sales place in Times Square is a great resource for discounted tickets, but who wants to spend time standing in line when they could be shopping or visiting a museum? My trips to New York are always jam-packed so I've used NYTix since a friend used the website to get us 10th row seats to The Producers for under $50 a few years ago. They also offer a number of free codes that you don't need to subscribe in order to get - like right now they are offering a 40% off code for Chicago.

I've actually seen the touring version of Mamma Mia in Boston, but am looking forward to seeing it on Broadway!

p.s. this is not a paid advertisement for the website or anything - just me sharing a bargain! :)

Girls Night Out

Last Thursday night a few friends and I went to Shecky's Girls Night Out in Boston, which I've attended twice before. There are lots of independent and smaller designers showing their wares, free drinks, goodie bags, and beauty demonstrations. The events are in about 10 or so cities throughout the country twice a year, I highly recommend checking one out if it comes to your city. If you sign up to for Shecky's mailing list you can get free admission, so even if you don't buy anything, you can still enjoy free cocktails and a fun evening with friends. I actually didn't buy anything this year, as I've instituted a new personal policy that if I'm not 100% sure about something I won't get it (and I'm also saving my shopping budget for an upcoming NYC trip) - but I still had a great time! Some of the vendors are a bit hit or miss: while some are truly independent emerging designers offering unique items, other vendors are of the type you could find anywhere (i.e. there was a Lia Sophia table - which is an Avon-type home jewelry sales company). Last year I bought this gold necklace by Lucid New York:


Lucid was back this year and I was very tempted by these chandelier earrings, aren't they so fun?

There is another similar Girls Night Out event run by StyleFixx. I haven't been, but I've heard it's fun too!

Sales and More Sales

Everywhere I look stores seem to be having huge sales right now! Just a quick note for you Boston-area ladies, chic shoe boutique Moxie (of Boston and Wellesley) is offering a friends and family discount of 70% off all sale shoes and bags (just mention the friends and family sale). When I stopped in on Monday they had a fairly good selection of sale shoes in all sizes - so shop, shop, shop if you are in need of some new shoes!

p.s. Fellow bloggers: I haven't had too much time to comment on your blogs recently, but please know I'm still here and reading all your fabulous posts on my Blackberry during my morning commute!

Fall Shopping Favorites

I must admit I was not the biggest fan of much of J Crew's summer collection. Too many creams, grays, and soft pinks that looked washed out on me and too many super casual items. Of course, I stocked up on chino shorts and polos as usual, but other than that I didn't indulge in much. J Crew's fall collection, on the other hand, already has me drooling. I have my fingers crossed that the Velvet Eden Blazer will be discounted, even slightly, sooner rather than later so that I can bring it home in Iris (a gorgeous deep purple). I love all the feminine details like the shirred waist:

Jeans, Jeans, Jeans

While taking a walk during lunch last week I noticed a sale sign in one my favorite Beacon Hill boutiques, Wish, and upon stopping in for a browse I discovered a whole rack of items at 75% off. I ended up purchasing two pairs of Joe's Jeans for just over $40 each: The Visionaire, a high waist boot cut style (I have a long torso so the high waist isn't really so high on me) and The Honey - which according to the Joe's Jeans website "flatters a woman with a voluptuous silhouette" - my figure is anything by voluptuous, it is straight with nary a curve in sight. Nonetheless the jeans fit me perfectly and at such a deep discount, who could resist? Both are in dark washes that will be perfect for fall.

Sales like these are one of the reasons I love shopping in little boutiques. In my experience most big department stores seem to ship off jeans to their outlets before marking them down that steeply. The Saks outlet always has racks and racks of jeans still marked at $75 to $125.

The Dog Days of Summer?

Hope your weekend has been as relaxing as mine and Pink Maple Puppy's! Dinner on Friday evening outside, a little sunshine on Saturday, and a bit of shopping on Sunday = a great weekend!

Concert in the Park

I'm seeing the Paul McCartney concert tonight at Fenway Park in Boston! I can't wait!

photo from NY Daily News

Stepping Back in Time

On our way to a nearby vineyard, we happened upon Gaspereau Valley Fibres Farm Wool Shop. A quaint wool farm with a shop on-site featuring absolutely gorgeous locally spun and hand-dyed yarns. My mom found beautiful cream-colored fine wool that was literally the softest wool I've ever felt and Nova Scotia Cotswold wool from the farm's own sheep hand-dyed in luminous pinks and greens. Needless to say, my mother, ever the avid crocheter was beyond excitement at such a find! There are sure to be some pretty new woolen hats in our Etsy shop this fall!

This little farm shop was just one of the many reasons why I found my trip to Nova Scotia to feel like truly a step back in time, from the home-grown vegetables and homemade bread and pickles to the classic Acadian dishes that people have been enjoying in that area for decades, it was so relaxing to leave the craziness of urban and suburban life behind! (Of course, I should note that this city girl could probably not last long living where the nearest town had but one pharmacy carrying but one brand of makeup, Cover Girl, and no J Crew in sight!! Ha, ha!)

Calling all Lilly Historians

On my trip to Nova Scotia, I did a tiny bit of shopping in a college town, Wolfville, about two hours from where we were staying. I couldn't resist picking up this Lilly Pulitzer dress in a vintage store I stopped into:



Any Lilly fans out there know when this dress might date back to? Maybe the late 60's? The tag says: "The Lilly, Lilly Pulitzer Inc. and there's a separate tag that says "Sports and Country Clothes, Lord and Taylor, Fifth Avenue." I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with it as it's way too big for me - it just struck me as such a find that I had to buy it (and let's just say that because the only other "shopping" I did was to get a few bottles of wine after our vineyard tour, I was shopping-deprived!!) Any ideas for tailoring it to make it more modern? I'm a bit afraid of ruining the original dress by changing it too much, so I may resort to EBay so that a vintage lover who would fit into it could enjoy it.

Postcard-Perfect Wineries

Somewhat surprisingly, Nova Scotia has a number of thriving wineries. They are all on the smaller side, but are really scenic and were definitely worth the visit on my vacation.

First, I visited Gaspereau Vineyards - which is located in a beautiful valley on a winding country road. The wine shop was housed in a classic big red barn and the whole vineyard was postcard-perfect. It was one of those places that makes you want to quit your day job, move to a foreign country, and open your own vineyard!


Then we visited Domaine de Grand Pré, which was a somewhat more chic winery with a gourmet restaurant on-site and outdoor space for weddings and other events. I took a tour there through the beautiful rows of grape vines and enjoyed a wine tasting afterward. Their ice wine, harvested in late December, was truly fantastic!



p.s. If you're a wine fan and a newer blog reader, check out my post from my previous trip to Nova Scotia last summer when I visited Bear River Vineyards.

I'm Back!

After a long drive home yesterday (a 3 hr ferry, a 1.5 hr wait at the US-Canada border, and 8 hrs of driving!) I'm back from my vacation in Nova Scotia, Canada. It was a very fun and relaxing week - I read on our cottage's deck overlooking the water, feasted on my aunts' home cooking, and enjoyed day trips to two vineyards and a wool farm.


This is a photo of the lovely cottage where I stayed with my family - there are 3 next to each other overlooking the bay and the owner decorated each one in a different style: nautical, contemporary, and victorian. We stayed in the modern one this year and the nautical one last year. They were both outfitted with everything we could possibly need, a week's worth of fresh towels, a kitchen with every gadget for cooking, movies to watch, magazines to read . . . it was quite a contrast from the awful motel we stopped at Friday night on our trip there. The motel was just over the Canadian border from Maine and had good reviews on Trip Advisor, but let's just say that I slept in my clothes under a beach towel because I refused to get in the bed and there was quite the stench from people having a party all night down the hall. We arrived at 12:30 am so really had no choice to stay because the next nearest motel would have been another hour away atleast and we wouldn't have known where we were going. Now usually when I travel with my parents, my father is always waiting at the door impatiently while we ladies are still getting ready, but the next morning my mother and I could not wait to get out of there so we were out of bed at 5:00am and had the car packed by 6:00 while my father slept soundly (men can sleep anywhere it seems!). As I mentioned in my last post before my trip, Nova Scotia isn't the easiest place to get to and we'll have to find a different way on our next visit because we will NOT be taking the route through New Brunswick that requires us to stop at that motel again!!

I'll have more photos to share this week!