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A PurpleBerry!!!!!

March 9, 2010

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little obsessed with the color purple.  My website, my blog and my Twitter page are all purple.  I don’t really know why I’m obsessed with all things purple.  I just am.  Other people like pink, blue, green, grey, brown, red, orange, yellow and black.  I like purple.   I’ve loved the color purple, and anything purple (with the exception of many grape flavored things), since I was a little girl.  If I had to pinpoint my first purple memory, it’s of my father and his fraternity brothers – Omega Psi Phi.  Their colors are purple and gold (and yes, my wedding colors were purple and gold, sounds tacky but it really was quite tasteful if I do say so myself .. come on, I’m a stylist, I have an eye for combining the not-so-obvious!).  I’m a daddy’s girl, so I guess it’s not surprising that I adopted purple as my favorite color.  Oh, and my niece Jada recently informed me that her favorite color is purple – go Jada!   I’m in good company;the artist formerly known as Prince loves purple and based on the eggplant craze, apparently lots of other folks are also obsessed with this vibrant hue.  And the folks at RIM finally got it!  They’ve created a purple, yes a purple Blackberry!  A PurpleBerry!  I’m gaga.  I absolutely LOVE my gold leopard print rhinestone Blackberry cover – it’s soooo sparkly – but I may have to trade that bad boy in and trade up to a purple BlackBerry Curve 8530.  Decisions, decisions …

Advice?!?!?!

Posted in Life Is Good, Style Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Stylishly Bookish

March 7, 2010

I love to read.  I usually read 3 or 4 books at a time.  My voracious reading habit is part of what makes owning a Kindle so perfect for someone like me.  But, if I do pick up an actual book, I’m one of those weird people who prefers to read a hardcover book without the paper wrapping; and, what better way to do so than with a pretty cloth-bound book like the ones above?  They’ll look great perched just-so on my bookshelf in their rainbow of shimmer and I know one would look great peaking out of my bag too -although it will certainly weigh my bag down more than my Kindle.

As much as I love my Kindle, these new clothbound Penguin Classic books made my heart flutter when I saw them.  They’re soooo pretty.  The covers and spines are printed with matte colored foil on cloth with designs that are timeless yet modern. I truly want to own each and every one of them.  The covers were designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, a self-proclaimed detail enthusiast.  Her penchant for detail does not disappoint.  What makes the collection so unique is that the cover of each book depicts an a central theme of the novel – waves for Homer’s The Odyssey, peacock feathers for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Scissors for Little Women and so on.  So very cool and oh so stylish!

And to think, you thought style was just about clothes.  Maybe I can convince my book club to agree that we should re-read the classics  . . .

[images courtesy of Penguin Books]

Posted in Home STYLE, Life Is Good, Style Tips | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Stylish Work Spaces

February 28, 2010

What does your work space say about your personal stye?  Whether you work from home, in a cubicle, at a desk or in your own office – does your work space speak to who you are?  Are you motivated to work efficiently and effectively in your workspace?

If my desk is a mess I cant think straight.  I subscribe to the theory that a messy desk means a mind filled with chaos.  During my law firm days, unless I was totally swamped and working around the clock, I cleaned off my desk every night before heading home.  To get a jump start on the next day’s challenges, I also created a “to do” list.  Old habits die hard; although I work from home, I still try to clean my desk off regularly and make my nightly “to do” list.  Fresh flowers, photos of family and friends, interesting paperweights and a place for everything also helps to make an office your own private oasis.

Yes, that’s me sitting at my desk in my home office where I pen most of my posts. I LOVE my new office thanks to the generosity of my husband and the interior design genius of Ghislaine Vinas.  Believe it or not, I used to sit facing a brick wall at a rickety West Elm desk that had seen one too many moves.  However, it took home and office organizing expert, Lynda Foxman, to help us find a space in our home that would be an ideal work space for me but not interfere with the general flow of the apartment.

I’m a fan of the desk accessories and paper goods at Muji, The Container Store, Jonathan Adler and Unica Home.  OneKingsLane, the Gilt Groupe of home goods, also has great finds on a regular basis.  Lynda Foxman convinced me to buy file folders, paperclips and pens that fit my personality (they’re all purple of course!).  At first it seemed like a waste of money since I already had just plain old manila folders, but I found some purple folders on sale at Target and have been converted ever since.  It is nice to have folders I like to stack my papers and bills in.  There was a partner at my old law firm who only used pink legal pads, I thought she was being a bit eccentric, but maybe  her pink legal pads bring a little smile to her face while she’s burning the midnight oil.

Artwork can make a big difference too.  I know most people hang their diplomas and whatnot, but really is that what you want to look at everyday?  You know where you went to school and when you graduated; if someone else really wants to know what your alma mater is, they’ll either ask you or Google you.  Find some art that inspires you, makes you smile or makes your office inviting for both you and any visitors you may have.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for your office, check out Cococozy.  A great interior design blog and website focused on stylish ideas for home and office.

What have you done to make your work space reflect your personal style?

[Photo by Mel Barlow]

Posted in Home STYLE, Style Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

February 21, 2010

dvf-nomad-hat

Is it just me, or are we having a particularly harsh Winter?  I can’t seem to stay warm.  I am the queen of layers.   But, I’ve  learned over the years that if my head is covered and my feet are warm I’m usually good to go.  The problem is looking stylish while trying to stay warm.  It’s almost as if people just give up in this kind of weather  . . . I must admit, there are days when I’m tempted to just throw on anything to keep warm before I head out into the tundra, but I’ve done that one too many times and bumped into the wrong person (you know:  ex-boyfriend, potential client, former boss, etc).  So, I decided to take the bull by the horns and spent some time finding stylish hats, coats and boots so that I no longer have to think about what I put on when I’m heading out to fight the elements.

I got married last Fall and was consumed with All Things Bridal, so I missed much of what was on the runways for Winter 2010.  I discovered the Diane von Furstenburg Gallinet Nomad hat above, along with DIY step-by-step instructions for the frugalista, from Jazzi McG recently.  I absolutely LOVE this hat, and while the $200 price tag is a bit steep, not to mention that it’s likely out of stock, if I can find one I plan to snatch it up!  I look at it like this – finding stylish Winter hats is sometimes like looking for a needle in a haystack . . .   I LOVE this DVF hat and would wear all of the time, so I’d definitely get my money’s worth over the course of a Winter; remember Kalyn’s Rate of Return?  But, if I can’t find the Gallinet Nomad hat, I’ll do just what Jazzi did and attempt to make one.

My point is while this hat may be a bit much for you, literally and figuratively, stylish Winter accessories will make braving the elements so much more bearable. How?  Now, honestly, that I can’t really articulate.  But you know what it feels like to wear something and just feel good in it.  Imagine that feeling every day when you walk out your door and it’s 30 degrees but with the windchill factor it feels like 9 degrees.  It’s that je ne sais quoi that I’m talking about here.

This is the hat I fell in LOVE with last Winter – my friend Mia (one of the most stylish women I know) had it on in purple (you know I’m a sucker for purple) and I just about beat at path to Barneys to get one the next day (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery).  It’s by Fred Bare Headware, a UK company – those funky Brits again! And yes, it cost a pretty penny but I wore this hat almost every day last Winter and until I get or make the DVF one above, it will be worn just about every day this Winter.

Do your Winter accessories make your heart leap?

[images from Elle and Kalyn Johnson]

Posted in Fashion Tips, Style Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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The Virtues of Stylish Workout Gear

February 7, 2010

woman_working_out

If working out on a regular basis is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you’re not alone.  Every January, gym memberships peek as people come off of their holiday highs hoping to drop a few lbs before swimsuit season hits again.  Making the resolution is easy, following through on it is the challenge.

Crazy as this may sound, I always feel better about dragging myself out of bed to walk to the gym on dark cold mornings if I know that, while I may be a tad bit out of shape, my workout clothes are slammin’!  (For the record, James, my instructor at Physique 57, said I was his best-dressed student, what he was too nice to say is that I’m probably the least coordinated!  But I digress).  Working out in old t-shirts and ratty sweats doesn’t do it for me.  Some might argue that it doesn’t matter what you workout in just as long as you workout.  Agreed.  All I’m saying is that it’s much easier to get myself to the gym if I’m in workout gear that makes me feel good.

Workout clothes don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg – although I have seen some pretty FAB gear that I’ve just had to walk away from before I convinced myself that I would be able to run longer and faster on the treadmill if I wore it.  Now, I can be a little cheap when it comes to work out clothes; this is an area where I’m definitely looking for a bargain.  Truth be told, I’ve purchased my fair share of workout clothes from Equinox because in my haste to get there, I left a vital piece at home (um, shorts for example).  So, to balance those pricey purchases, I shop for workout gear at my favorite discount stores - Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Target. Black is slimming, or so they say, so much of my workout wardrobe consists of black items with pops of color here and there. This also makes it very easy to get dressed while I’m half asleep because just about everything goes together so I don’t have to put thought into looking good, I just have to get to the gym.  And if I fall off the wagon, I don’t feel badly about having wasted money on expensive workout clothes . . .

Now, if none of this is your cup of tea, our friends on the other side of the pond conducted a study found shopping to be healthy exercise – we burn 5 calories for every minute of shopping (who knew?!?!).  So, rather than go to the gym, grab your purse and your best shopping bud and head to the nearest mall to burn off those extra lbs!

[image from WellSphere]

Posted in Fashion Tips, Shopping Tips, Style Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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