Hi, Tech

Kate Spade just released their newest collection of tech-accessories on its website yesterday, meaning that all KS obsessives like myself are swooning over the just-released iPhone cases. I'm always impressed by their ability to be creative and witty in all of their case designs, but then I noticed something better this time-- they have came out with their very own earbuds. They're totally unnecessary, as my white Apples ones are just fine, but how could you not want a pair of these?

As for the iPhone cases, this one is my favorite, what about yours? Check out the collection here.

Photos from katespade.com.

Meet DANNIJO

Imagine “tribal themed” meets glam. It doesn’t sound like the most attractive combo for designing jewelry, but the creators of DANNIJO have taken these two elements and designed beautiful accessories with it. Everything they sell is a statement piece in itself, from the bib necklaces to the metal cuffs, and while it is pretty expensive, it'd be worth it to invest in one of their pieces. Katie Couric has her one-of-a-kind "Gavina bib," and you can too for a very pretty penny. 

Invest away. :)

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Photos from dannijo.com.

White Deskspaces

Lately I've had a thing for redesigning and reorganizing my desk space in my apartment. My older brother gave me his old corner desk that has a glass-top, so really I had a lot to work with. My old desk from when I was a teenager had a bulky hutch, so the space became confined and somewhat un-customizable.

While I love my glass top desk, I'm really into the simplicity of a white desktop, because there's so much you can do with it. Add a DIY dry-erase board, a messy inspiration board or a vase atop a pile of your favorite magazines for some added color.

Here's a little bit of office space inspiration, along with a few white desks (ranging from cheap to super-pricey!).

            

          

All images via

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Photos from ikea.com and pbteen.com.

Style inspiration: Julia Engel

Julia Engel makes my top-three for favorite blogger style. The outfits she posts on her blog, Gal Meets Glam, are effortless and original. My favorite look recently has to be her ASOS ice cream top, captured in the first of the photos below. Paired with white pants, she pulls it off perfectly (plus, it's on sale now!). If you haven't checked out her blog, be sure to head on over.

          

          

Photos from Pinterest, via Gal Meets Glam. 

Menswear Wednesday: Kiel James Patrick

Kiel James Patrick is a young man hell-bent on his mission of bringing all-American fashion back into our wardrobes and closets. Along with his fashionably preppy gang of friends, the young entrepreneur created the brand in Rhode Island and currently sells sailing belts, bracelets, bags and accessories. I'm hoping he and gf Sarah Vickers begin designing clothing soon-- their style is impeccable!

Perhaps one of their most popular items are the Croffix Sailing Belts, hand braided to perfection with different colored ropes. At $88, their a bit pricey, but you're paying for that all-American, hand crafted quality. Do you own anything KJP?

xxo

Photos from kieljamespatrick.com.

A pop of {cheap} style: The bubble necklace

If you're a J.Crew frequenter, or following any of my favorite blogs, chances are you've seen J.Crew's Bubble Necklace. The perfect statement piece, the necklace that can make an outfit, but is infamously expensive at $150.

Lucky for us, there's a loophole: knockoffs. Many blogs have featured the exact same necklace, only this time there's a different price tag that looks a little easier on our wallets. Ily Couture is one of many websites, taking the same necklace but creating it at a more affordable price... how does $37-$49 sound? Yes please!

And they come in a wide array of colors, so you could buy three for the price of one of J.Crew's bubble necklaces.

xxo

Find them here.

Photos courtesy of Ily Couture.

Weddings & Anniversaries

This weekend was the start of a major part of being a "twenty something:" weddings. My friend Mary married her best friend Mena this weekend, and was the first of my friends to get married. It sounds crazy because we're only 22, but I guess people get married at all certain ages today. The funniest part was that the maid of honor's name was Mary, and the best man's name was Mena! Unfortunately she's moving to WI and will be leaving us, but I'm excited for the new adventures she's going to have with her hubby. 

And speaking of weddings, these two goons--also known as my parents--are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary today. They've been together since high school in the 70s, which is when I think this photo was taken (I'd kill to see that cape my mom is wearing... she made that herself!) 

Chambray is not over yet

From the looks of it, Chambray is not going out of style anytime soon. It was the stylish button-down of choice in the spring, and Madewell is making sure the lightweight shirt with the denim look is making its way into the fall season. My favorite is The Popover, what about you?

xxo

{The Boyshirt}, {The Popover}, {The Perfect Shirt}, {The Western Shirt}, {The Cargo Shirt}

Photos from madewell.com.

Nutella-Banana green drink

I haven't been as loyal of a green-drink blogger as I claimed to be, but this delicious new addition was worth posting, so I thought I'd share it. Essentially, it's a milkshake with kale and spinach, but it has all of the vitamins any other green drink contains. It doesn't taste healthy, but I can assure you it is packed with more nutrients than your typical ice-cream shop shake. Enjoy!

xxo

Nutella-Banana green drink


1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup kale
1 frozen banana
1/3 cup Nutella
1 cup milk
2 heaping scoops of vanilla ice cream
1/2 t of vanilla

--Blend together and serve

Coffee table fashion statement

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You can call me a bibliophile. If I walk into a bookstore, I can't help but buy something, especially if it catches my eye. Independent bookstores are almost even worse, because half of the books are used, and for some reason, I'm more into buying tattered and worn books because they have "character." I recently bought a first edition of Profiles of Courage because it was written by then-Senator Kennedy and looked vintage.

I've accepted the fact that I judge books by their covers, and now I'm into buying style books based on just that. Large fashion hardcovers with striking facades can be artfully displayed on a coffee table. I'm slowly working my way up to my very own collection, but here are a few of the ones I'd choose.

xxo

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Sisterhood of the Traveling... hoodies

Remember the high school days when girls had groups of friends known as "cliques" by the rest of the student population? As much as my high school girlfriends and I deny it, we were technically those girls. Not that we were bullies or exclusive, we were simply best friends.

There were seven of us, and we started calling ourselves "the seven" because it was convenient when making plans and figuring out who--from our large group of friends-- were joining in. Other groups of girls were doing the same thing, only we decided to take it to the next level, and planned one night every year we'd spend together... going out to dinner, watching movies, taking tons of pictures and talking about our futures. For us, it was July 17th (7.17). It seemed fitting!

I think this was around the time of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" craze, so we decided to buy a piece of clothing that would tie us all together. Obviously a pair of pants couldn't fit us all, so we went with the trends of high school and purchased an Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie. We wrote our names inside of it, and would rotate it between the seven of us.

 

This began in 2005, and each 7.17 after, we would buy a new hoodie and write our names in a new spot. 

The summer before we left for college, we bought three hoodies, so we'd have enough of them to rotate through our college years, as almost all of us went on to different universities. 

Crazy idea, right? I think when we went on to make friends in college, they thought it was ridiculous. To us though, it was just a night of fun shared between seven {eventually it turned to six though...;)} friends.

xxo

Kate Spade enters new season with new arrivals

Besides the harrowing title of "recent college grad," my other current title seems to belong to that of many early twenty-somethings: unemployed. I have a slew of other part-time positions, including freelancing for my city's magazine, Cleveland Magazine. I knew I wanted to delve into the editorial world, so today I applied for an editorial position with Kate Spade, my favorite company when it comes to marketing its products. I cannot think of a company that does a better job of keeping their marketing/pr campaigns so sophisticated yet enticingly witty. 

They just came out with a few new arrivals, here are a few that caught my eye. What do you think of KS?

xxo

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Photos from Kate Spade.

Currently lusting: nautical-inspired arm wear

The nautical trend seems to always be in style. The "arm party" look is still prevalent, with stores everywhere bringing in more stackable bracelets with the crafty, handmade look. The east coast has taken this idea and gone to sea with it, using nautical-inspired themes with anchor clasps and marine ropes. Here are a few favorites I've found, links to purchase are below.  

xxo

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Photos from Etsy, Pink Pineapple, The Ropes, and Kiel James Patrick.

Sweet tooth

I don't believe I've made note of where I'm from: Cleveland. To any readers out there currently cringing over the fact that this girl lives in "the mistake on the lake," please don't. Sure, we have sports teams that cannot seem to win anything--ever, and a large portion of our population still loathes our former self-proclaimed "king" LeBron James.

That is where these negative opinions of Cleveland come from; people focus on the sports and the money, and never gain sight about what the city does have, like nationally-known restaurants, amazing vintage boutiques, and Sweet Moses Soda Fountain & Treat Shop, which is Cleveland's best ice cream-- there's just no contest.

Suitably named after Moses Cleaveland, the city's founder, it was designed to take customers back in time with the atmosphere of a 1950s fountain shop. Homemade root beer is served right from the barrel, and your order is taken before a vintage cash register. The portions were huge, but it was well worth it-- you could literally taste the butter in the butter pecan ice cream... does it get any better than that?

Charles Philip Shanghai loafers

I saw my first pair of Charles Philip Shanghai loafers when I was at a Bloomingdales in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of D.C. Not too many people are aware of his line of flats, as they are only carried at boutiques and high-end department stores in the US... you can't even find them at Nordstrom.

Their look is casual but they're also ideal for the office scene. Don't you just love the tassels? Check out their summer collection, or browse the options available at Bloomingdales. I'm a fan of the fall collection, which is pictured above.

xxo

Photo from charlesphilipshanghai.com

Menswear Wednesday: Ralph Lauren Rugby

When I was interning with C-SPAN in the spring in Washington, D.C., my go-to weekend activity was shopping in Georgetown. If I wasn't at the Lincoln Memorial or strolling down the National Mall, I was walking up and down M Street.

It's honestly a shopper's paradise-- thank God I didn't go to Georgetown University. M Street had mostly every store my outdoor shopping mall at home has, but when I first laid eyes on the Ralph Lauren Rugby store, I think I had a minor heart attack.

My over-exaggerated, dramatic reaction went a little like this: 

"WHAT? THIS PLACE EXISTS SOMEWHERE ELSE BESIDES THE INTERNET??! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, WE MUST GO INSIDE."

I don't think my friends were as excited as me. Needless to say, I was hooked on how unique the clothes were, and how different from normal Ralph Lauren clothing most of the items were. Sadly, I think I fell in love more with the men's line than the women's, which isn't too surprising. I've had this odd attraction to men's clothes since I started college-- not wearing it of course, but rather putting outfits together. 


I guess I can blame it on the guys I hung around...sometimes they can be as fashion-conscious as women when trying to figure what to wear when we go out. And I'm not joking when I say they all suit-up in Polo button-downs and say it's "Ralph on Ralph on Ralph."

I wanted to dedicate a time each week to feature something on men's fashion, so I've decided to create "Menswear Wednesdays." I wasn't planning on garnering a huge following of male bloggers, but who knows, maybe there's a few guys in the blogosphere similar to my friends. 

                

All three looks are great for the late summer months going into the fall. 


Look 1: Navy & white striped sweater with white pants, the latter of the two should be worn on every occasion possible in the summer. :)
Look 2: Crewneck sweatshirt paired with chino shorts and a red, lightweight jacket. 
Look 3: Forget about the sleeveless sweater vest (those went out of style after Jim Tressel left OSU), but you can never go wrong with nantucket reds!


Photos from rugby.com.

Bacon-wrapped hot dogs

I grew up on hot dogs. It clearly explains the almost-never-ending baby fat stage I went through, but after all of these years, I've never grown sick of eating them. They're almost always a staple in my refrigerator, and while they may not be the healthiest choice, they sure are easy to make.

So I figured... since they're not healthy from the start, why not make a completely unhealthy meal out of it by wrapping them in bacon?

Sure, why not.

This was an idea I snagged from one of my many favorite kitchen blogs, and it has all of the makings of the ideal summer recipe: grilled, quick and cheap. (Although I'm pretty sure we like quick and cheap every season of the year.)

Since my apartment didn't come with a grill, I used my handy dandy George Foreman instead.

Serve it with watermelon or a spinach salad with strawberries and candied walnuts (or both!).

xxo

Bacon-wrapped hot dogs


2 hot dogs
2 thin slices of bacon
1/3 white onion, medium sliced
1/3 red pepper, medium sliced
1/3 yellow pepper, medium sliced
2 hot dog buns (forget the health kick, and buy ones almost the size of sub rolls!)
2T olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Wrap the hot dogs with one slice of bacon.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet/pan over high heat. Add onions and peppers, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for six minutes, until they are softened.

3. Grill the bacon-wrapped hot dogs until they are heated through (about seven minutes), making sure you cook the hot dogs on all sides. While you're doing this, toast the buns on the grill or in a separate pan on the stove top.

4. Serve hot dogs in toasted bun and top with the onion/pepper mixture.

-- Makes enough for two.

A pop of {cheap} style: summer dresses for a steal

I can walk into Target with only laundry detergent and shampoo on my shopping list, and come out with at least three other finds in my bag. Why is it that this happens at Target and no where else? Those who know me can say this is my number one weakness, but I blame it on Target's exceptionally good branding and marketing tactics.

Honestly, if this wasn't a real issue, would there be an e-card about it?

Not-so-long-story short, I left Target with a sundress I didn't need. I'm sure glad I tried it on though, because it's been my summer staple. I've had many compliments on it, and I love seeing people's surprised faces when I tell them it's from Target. Unfortunately it didn't come in different colors (without a doubt I would have bought every color), but, as is always the case with Target, there's plenty more choices to choose from. Each of the six dresses below are between $20-$25, so you don't have to put a dent in your wallet! 

xxo

Photos from target.com.

Girl to watch: Rebel Wilson

We know her as that horrible Australian roommate with the infected tattoo from Bridesmaids, but the Aussie girl has another movie coming up, and let's just say she has got the octaves of Adele. Wilson will be joining A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Brittany Snow and Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect, due out this fall.

Can't wait until then to hear more from her? Watch the trailer, and follow her on Twitter: @rebelwilson.