Shinies! (aka Christmas Gifts Part I)

Shinies. Coveted, beautiful, sparkly things that girls love. With Christmas (the Holidays if you prefer) coming up, I'll definitely be talking about lots of different gift ideas, including nice homemade ideas. However, for this post I'm going to stick to gold jewelry.

Gold made a resurgence in popularity a few years ago and shows no signs of going away, much to my delight. I used to wear a lot of silver, but I've been very into gold since late high school and I'm on my second, shiny gold MK watch.

BCBG is doing a spectacular job of refined and affordable gold jewelry right now. They have some really nice dainty pieces as well, continuing the trend of minimalist statement necklaces and accessories. For this post, I'm just going to highlight BCBG, but stay tuned for different options soon. 

For now, though, SHINIES!

Heart Charm Necklace - $34.00

This delicate heart charm necklace is sweet without being twee and the clasp detail adds interest to an ordinary necklace clasp. The size lets it be very versatile because it won't take over an outfit, but the fact that it sits slightly off-center adds intrigue to what could be a very ordinary necklace:

 

Puzzle Piece Earrings - $16.00

These earrings are a fun, quirky design that's just abstract enough to pass as modern and artsy.  I'm also curious about what they'd look like if you wore them vertically instead of horizontally.

 

 Ninja-Star Ring Set - $28.00

I really like this ring set because first, it's three gifts in one! Second, three metals together make for a cool effect in a stacked ring set. I actually have a similar one that I wear but instead of ninja-stars it is small flowers.  Third, ninja-stars. Who doesn't like them? These have a nice feminine hint to them with what looks to me like a burnished copper on the far right ring for a softer look and slightly rounded points on the stars. Fourth, the rings are adjustable to any finger which makes them a foolproof gift!

 

 

Enamel Bow Ring - $18.00

This ring is very feminine (it is a bow, after all) and I like the mix of white and gold, as well as the elevation of the bow that you can see in the second picture. Simple and cute!

 

 

"The Moon and Back" Bangle - $34.00

This bangle is rose gold, which normally I don't like but it's such a simple piece that I think it would easily add a touch of class to any look. It also has an adjustable lobster clasp so it will fit most anyone. The best part about this bangle is the inscription on the inside that is engraved (in capital letters), "I love you to the moon and back." The inscription makes it a romantic present that is private at the same time. If you're interested in a gift of two bangles, BCBG also sells a similar bangle in gold that says (also in caps), "Fill every moment with love."

 

So these are my picks for presents out of BCBG's "Gold Crush" feature. My personal favorites (that is, the ones I could most see myself wearing) are probably the necklace, this bangle above, and the ninja-star ring set.  If you're interested in seeing more from BCBG's "Gold Crush" (which I really recommend checking out), including a really cool snake head belt, check it out here.

Happy shopping!

Weird faces

Sometimes when browsing the vast online shopping realm that is the internet, I happen upon an article of clothing that I just cannot take seriously, like this:

They hid her face to preserve her anonymity. 

Because everyone wants long strings coming from their waist that cover their crotch like an ineffective loin cloth. We call it "Pocahontas in Tatters".  Or, "The Fugly Waist Beard".  This beauty brought to you from Urban Outfitters, $69.

But the real treasure is crazy model faces. You know, when you can just tell they are confused because the photographer has told them "SMIZE! IMAGINE HOT SEXY PENGUINS SLIPPING DOWN A WATERFALL OF SENSATION!" Or they are fed up after hundreds of takes, scores of clothing changes, and lots of bright lights. Or, sometimes, they just don't have a clue. This of course happens all the time in regular print ads in magazines or newspapers, but often goes unnoticed in online shopping. No more!

Behold:

<Insert Halo Here>

"I am angelic, virginal, pure....hamburgers....I mean, serenity! Innocence! You can have it all if you buy this bow! Just not my hamburger. Get your own!"

 The Aggressively Over-bleached "Sex Pot"

"Yeah, I'm sexy. Seducing you right now. You are so convinced. You are mesmerized..."  

The "WE ARE SO COOL" Girls who secretly hate each other

Girl on the Left: OMG I'm so over it but LOOK AT THIS NECKLACE!

Girl on the Right: UGH how DARE she be in this shot with me can't she see I'm WORKING IT HERE?!

Girl on the Left:  *Eye roll*

Girl on the Right: Rude.

Miss Attitude

Buy this dress or I mess you up with my awkward hand-claw. Be afraid. 

Depressed Elegance

 This dress makes me so happy. No, really.

Ophelia

Mayhaps Hamlet shalt returneth if I but pull my hair in a forlorn manner. Mayhaps thou wilst purchase this dress?

Wounded Chic

This totally vintage, used head wrap from the Civil War can be yours for just $29.99! Natural dyes only. 

The Horse

 Ignore the fact that I look like a horse, just focus on how sexy I am. Now buy this dress. Put the YAY in NEIGH!

Dazed and Confused

...uh...huh?

Some of my all-time favorites, though, come from browsing "club wear" websites. They have less money to pay more professional models and give more direction like "Look sexy!", "Look HOT!", "Imagine you're seeing a hot guy you wanna go home with!" Or at least that's what I imagine they've been told when I see the following facial expressions:

Me....ow?

Hey boys. I have to pee. One sec.

This is a real person, not a wax figurine. She will bring all the boys to the yard, someday. 

Honorable Mention goes to Coco Rocha, who for sheer weirdness of face I could not leave out of this post. She's an international, incredibly famous supermodel, considered very beautiful by many. I think she looks crazy. She's normally a great model though. As the infallible Tyra Banks has said, "Coco is not afraid of the ugly/pretty." Yes, there is such a thing as going "ugly/pretty," and unlike retard, you must go full. I think Coco was blessed with the instinctual ability to do so in most of her photos. 

Sexy Gone Strange

Ello, lovaz. I am selling nail polish, een case you ver not avare. I am squeenting my eyez to make zem look sexee. Alzo, steeking my finger in my mouth vill tempt you to buy zees nail polish.  

Now for sheer weirdness that actually shows what her face looks like 70% of the time in ads and on the runway:

"The Banshee"

I had a pretty good time writing this post because this is something I've been thinking about for a while. If you guys find any crazy faces of your own while browsing, let me know in the comments and I'll post them up!


Happy shopping,
Alexandra

Breakfast Sandwiches

Hello all,

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of Harvard students are less than thrilled about their daily breakfast offerings. With the exception of freshmen who still get hot breakfast, in the upperclassman dining halls the food can be less than appetizing five days out of seven. It is an unchanging offering of cold hard boiled eggs, un-shelled warm hard boiled eggs, cold cuts, sandwich cheese, tomatoes, refried beans, hummus, bread stuffs, cream cheese, jam, jelly, butter, and margarine. Oatmeal or some variation thereof if you want it, and the ever-present cereals. Now if that were what we had to eat a few days out of the week, it might not be so bad. But really, who wants cold cuts and oatmeal every single morning? Especially when Harvard's reasoning for cutting hot breakfast is that it's poor with an endowment of just $35 billion. Yeah, right.

Since I like breakfast, I've gotten creative over the years. This year though, I think I've really hit the jackpot. I make a delicious breakfast sandwich every morning that is piping hot and delicious. It starts off like this:

The start of a very beautiful, very short relationship with a sandwich.

What is all of this? Well, here's an enumerated ingredients list:

2 slices of turkey (or ham)

2 slices of cheese

~3 tablespoons of refried beans 

Sriracha or Frank's or Tabasco to taste

2 slices of tomato

1 hardboiled egg sliced in your dhall's handy dandy egg slicer

1 english muffin or wheat thin, toasted

The first thing I do is mix hot sauce with refried beans. Coming from Texas I find the refried bean offering pretty bland, so I hit it with some hot sauce to make it taste better. While I'm doing this, I've got my bread toasting in the toaster until it's extra crispy (since it's going to go in the microwave I overdo it so that it resists sogginess). 

Next, I dry off the tomatoes with some napkins, because when I microwave the sandwich all the water just leaks out of the tomatoes and gets everything wet. Then, I pepper or salt the tomatoes and egg, depending on my mood. Sometimes I leave it plain.

To assemble:

Put the refried beans on one piece of the bread, then put a slice of cheese down followed by either ham or eggs, then tomatoes, then another slice of cheese, and then the other half of the bread.

Zap it in the microwave for about 35 seconds to get the cheese melted and everything heated up without un-crisping the bread. You can also patiently wait on the panini press if you so choose, which will keep crisping up your bread, but I usually don't have time for that in the mornings.

After that, you're all done! Voila! Your beautiful, delicious breakfast sandwich awaits you:

Take that, cold breakfast. Mmmmmm....

If you want a neater sandwich to eat, just leave out the egg and/or tomatoes to make it flatter and more stable.

Happy eating!

Totally Useless Kitchen Equipment

As Thanksgiving rolls around, many of us will be in the kitchen cooking up traditional Turkey Day favorites like mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, turkey, and pumpkin pie. If your family is more like mine, however, no one in your family likes turkey and stuffing leaves you unenthusiastic, so you do non-traditional feasts for Thanksgiving. Last year, my mom and I made a clam bake for Thanksgiving! I wish I had photographs to show you all, it was so delicious. Previous family Thanksgivings have also included roast duck, rack of lamb, and pernil.

Regardless of what you and your family make for Thanksgiving, cooking the meal is usually a monumental task that uses up lots of dishes, utensils, and kitchen implements. Places like Williams Sonoma and Sur la Table sell lots of nifty gadgets to make your cooking expedition easier. Sometimes though, their inventions are totally useless, but at least they lead to a lot of hilarity when browsing your local crockery/cookware shop!

The Huffington Post in this article has compiled a list of 10 of the most useless cooking devices of all time (and the last one contains three-in-one!). I think my favorite is the Roll 'N Pour, for those of us who just can't manage to pour soda out of bottles or milk out of half gallons:

/Edit @ 3:53 pm check out the cabinets behind this guy! SO INTENSE!

Yup, I've definitely gotta get me one of those!

Happy cooking!

What's covered in Fur, Leather, and Lace?

What in the world could I want to talk about today with this sort of title? Well, coats. For this winter (and the next) coats with fur, leather, and lace accents are definitely "in" (props to the lovely Nancy for suggesting this subject). This summer at my internship in NYC I compiled a presentation with pictures from designers' winter runway show that illustrated this point.  It was used as a presentation for a conference of store managers and top sales associates to show them what was going to be hot for the winter (hah hah). Below are some of my favorite picks for this winter in a variety of styles and colors.

First up, Fabulous (Faux) Fur:

/Edit @ 3:40 pm 11/05/11

Ann Taylor is having a 50% off special on all faux fur! It's like the read my mind! And this coat (with 50% off is $124) with a detachable fur ruff is sooo beautiful I can't believe I missed it:

#1 "Manors and Etiquette" coat from Modcloth @ $189.99. I like this coat a lot as an example of an elegant fur statement that's very feminine without being overwhelming.

#2 is a mega fur statement called "Chevron Stripe Faux Fur Jacket" by a brand called Willow & Clay. It can be found at Nordstrom for $128. I really like this for some reason although it's totally over-the-top, but maybe that's why. It's also 3/4 length sleeves which add a retro touch and keep the fur from totally taking you over.

#3 from Bebe doesn't have a name really, but it makes up for it with a punchy red color and glossy black trim:

I have deliberately not included the ubiquitous fur vest in this post because while I think they are cute, they are totally impractical for more than three weeks of the year in Cambridge, MA and I refuse to advocate for cold arms. Similarly, I refuse to advocate Bear Arms:

"UGH I am SO MAD that they made me go full Chewbaca. This was not what I signed up for!"

Time for leather!

#1 is the "Leather Jacket" from Ann Taylor which I like because it's a nice example of mixing leather and normal fabric without overdoing either. If you want it, I recommend waiting for a sale since it's $398 right now.

#2 is the "Mackage Single-Breasted Coat" from Bloomingdale's. While expensive at $590, it does at least give a good idea of what I'm thinking when I mean leather accents:

#3 is the "Maria Stand Collar Coat" by Via Spiga whose boots were featured already on this blog. Also from Bloomingdale's, this coat is more affordable than the previous at $313 and comes in this color as well as black:

And last but not least, Lace:

#1 is the "Emmett Lace Trench Coat" for $488 by BCBG, which is just shy of being overdone but is still pretty. 

Example #2 comes from Asos, which is a great site if you haven't heard of it.  It's called the "Wool and Lace Jacket" by LiLee for Asos and it's pretty affordable at $129.38.

#3 I had a hard time finding without caving and showing you Valentino, who basically kicked off this whole trend with a host of fabulous lace coats, because I'm committed to showing you guys things you might actually be able to afford.  Unfortunately, attractive lace coats jump to $5000 pretty easily (Valentino). So I've compromised. Here's a Jason Wu for $2550 from Kirna Zabete, which I've never heard of before:

So there are my picks for coats that have nice fur, leather, or lace detail. I'm inspired now after all this hunting for nice coats to make a second post about colorful coats or particularly unique styles. That'll be tomorrow's project. 

Happy shopping!

What are pants? Baby don't hurt me no more...

Hi everyone,


I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday. Tuesdays are pretty busy for me and I forgot that I had to go sleep in a lab at 10 pm for $$ so I didn't have internet for the night. Apparently though, I am really skilled at taking sensors out of caps on my head while I'm sleeping that are supposed to be reading brainwaves. Who knew?

Today I would like to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart: leggings. Specifically, why leggings are NOT pants, and why you should NOT treat them as such. All that I am about to say also applies to jeggings. To clarify before I begin: I have no problem with leggings under skirts, under shirts that cover your butt, dresses, pants (for warmth), or thick, athletic leggings to exercise in. But leggings as pants IS NOT AND SHOULD NOT be a thing.


Reason #1: THEY ARE SEE-THROUGH

Exhibit A:

Why didn't you just go pantsless? At least make it look like you did it on purpose.

Exhibit B (courtesy of Paris Hilton):

Oh Paris. I don't think anyone is surprised by your lack of underwear anymore. I would just like to point out that it's TOTALLY GROSS to go shopping commando. YOU HAVE TO TRY ON CLOTHES THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY TRIED ON AND WILL IN THE FUTURE. Okay, caption rant done.

If those photos aren't convincing, there's more....

The Corollary: THIS guy is RIGHT behind you!

I can see everything. Everything. Eeeeveeerryyyythiiiiiinggg.....

Okay, so THAT particular guy is probably not right behind you, but men are. So are women, small children, and innocent animals. NONE of these folks/innocent animals need to see your butt, underwear, or cellulite.  Guys will take any excuse to check you out, and they do it anyway. They don't need your help to picture you naked!  Plus, leggings aren't all that flattering, as you'll see next:

/EDIT @ 11:34 am EST

FB conversation with a boy:

Boy: 

u made your first fashion faux pas on your blog

leggings are pants

Me: 

yeah cuz guys are creepers

Boy:

.......

we just appreciate a good fashion sense

which includes leggings

Me:

creeper

BUSTED

Boy:          er......it wasn't me!          

Reason #2:  LEGGINGS ARE UNFLATTERING

Exhibit A:

She probably has a great butt and nice legs. Now she just looks like vacuum-wrapping gone wrong.

Exhibit B (courtesy of Mischa Barton):

Not only does this reveal she has no butt, it also makes her look like she has cankles!

The Corollary:

Yes, there are exceptions. Kim Kardashian will always look curvaceous and fit in leggings. She is Kim Kardashian and that is her job. However, leggings are a problem if you are not a celebrity, are not a celebrity who looks like Kim Kardashian, if you have no butt, if you have a really jiggly butt, if you have a big butt and are wearing leggings that are too small so that you get problem #1 (as seen above), if you have panty lines, or if you get a wedgie:

AHH THERE IS DAYLIGHT BETWEEN NICOLE RICHIE'S BUTT CHEEKS AHHH!  Crack kills, people!

Okay. Now, hopefully, you are all ready to wear leggings in any way BUT as pants. Just one last word of advice. Stay away from this kind of godforsaken legging: capri or calf-length.

Did I forget to mention that the only acceptable colors of leggings are black, dark gray, and dark brown? 

These hideous capri leggings are unflattering for EVERYONE. They make your calves look big and are just an awkward length with anything. Also if you wear boots, they stick out of the tops of your boots and it just looks bad. STAY AWAY. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STAY AWAY.

I bet she wishes she hadn't done that. Also, leggings with any sort of pattern are a bad call.

Okay, there you have it. NO LEGGINGS AS PANTS! NO LEGGINGS AS PANTS! NO! BAD! NO! If you don't think these reasons apply to you, that your leggings are never see-through, or that you are like Kim Kardashian, think again. I promise. Got it? Good. Done ranting now, honest.