But before I go, here's a sneak peak of a new top that I ordered!

Can't wait to bring this great looking grecian styled top to you! More to come!

Heading to The OC!

I've been wanting a trip to California, I love LA, and its no secret ultimately i want to move there. I've been lucky enough to go for B.Dazzled several times but with the economy, i've skipped the last 2 years of trips. I'm long overdue!

I'm not lucky, I say that all the time, never win raffles, certainly not lucky in love, at least not yet and usually not in the right spot at the right time. That being said, the stars must have lined up because tomorrow is my birthday and the day after i'm heading out to Newport Beach, California for a conference. I'm not 100% certain what the conference is about, except that is has to do with courts and children and best practices! What I am certain of is, i've got a car, have mapquested directiosn to South Coast Plaza, Sprinkles and Fashion Island. I've found restaurants and even a ferry ride and directions to Laguna Beach!

I've become a blogger addict!

I'm not great at blogging here. Sometimes i'm funny, other times just boring. I think about putting out really juicy stuff, cause I know tons of stuff but then I wonder who will be mad or offended, even without using names. Juicy stuff just finds its way to me. For instance over the last 2 days I pieced together a big secret regarding a secret relationship! And yet, i'm keeping it to myself. So to those of you that always say i have a big mouth, TOUCHE!

So, instead of blogging about stuff, i've become addicted to blogs of others. And random blogs too! It started out with Stephanie Klein, (a shoutout to my friend Allison M in in NY, who got me hooked) and for those of you who aren't hooked its a good place to start www.stephanieklein.blogs.com. But it's mushroomed, i follow legal blogs, jewlery blogs, blogs of artists who i've met at tradeshows, blogs of people i know and friends of friends who blog about love, laugh and too often illness. And all these bloggers give you leads to new bloggers. I'm fascinated by their stories, i tune in every day, just like i tune into the news. I have a morning agenda, Yahoo mail, aol mail, facebook and my blogs!

Dating Fall Television

It used to be that I only had to have a round of first dates with new tv series every fall, but somehow shows come out all year round nowadays. Fall still has the most releases and I make a point of dating each new show of interest at least once. I'm constantly looking in the newspaper in early august for the guide that talks about all the new shows. This fall i've started with The Good Wife, Mercy, Melrose Place, and The Beautiful Life (TBL). Sadly TBL has been cut already, and oddly I found it worth watching.

Another show i've found and am now obsessed with is Sons of Anarchy! Amazingly written show about a biker club in California. Believe it or not, makes me want to maybe meet a biker for a new experience!

when 3 inches is considered huge!

Don't believe people who say size doesn't matter, it does! And in this case 3 inches was HUGE! Friday night baby g, my infamous silver tabby was running around my room like a maniac talking away. Well she'd found something and it was a 3 inch palmetto bug! HUGE! FREAKIN HUGE! Now, at least this cat is smarter than my first cat Lipstick. Lipstick once saw a bug and ran under the bed. This time I got a cat who could find and chase the bug but failed to get it!!!!!! I started to sweat, scooped up the cat and armed myself with scrubbing bubbles and a broom. i have no idea what i thought the scrubbing bubbles would accomplish but I had it. Then I called security, not sure what I thought they would do! So here's how it played out. Security showed up and the nice gentleman looked more scared than me. He couldn't find it, he suggested roach spray, a real genius! What i can't figure out is how that damn bug ended up on the 9th floor of a high rise building. I slept on the couch friday night, better than i'd slept in a week I might add. Saturday included a trip to TARGET for roach traps and roach spray. My room is now booby trapped for that damn palmetto bug, traps in every corner, spray along all the baseboards!

Hopefully i'll be back to sleeping in my bed soon. Because i'm dreaming about bugs, which is not a good thing! I wonder how long the palmetto can last inside. I googled the bug, which turned out to be worse than googling an illness because then i feared that the palmetto was pregnant and laying eggs!

ARGHHHHHHH!

Some days everything doesn't come up roses and daffidols!

It's the Jewish Holidays. Time to start a new, repent, ask for forgiveness and the time to determine who shall be inscribed in the book of life. In the last two weeks I've been directed to the blogs of 2 friends of friends who have recently been diagnosed with and are fighting cancer. It makes me sad, no one deserves to get sick or have bad things happen to them. When I read their stories i am so inspired by the strength they personfiy when faced with the reality of literally fighting for their lives. I have them in my thoughts and prayers, and now on my favorite websites so i can follow their journey and root them on each step of the way! I'm a firm believer in paying it forward and every little bit counts!

So while in Gypsy everything was coming up roses and daffidols, not so much today!

Here's to a sweet new year for everyone I know!

Happy to Report i looked good and I have a super new item for all of you!

NY was a success, my clothes were appropriate and even garnered a few compliments from the garmento's! Found some great stuff and wanted to show you the newest bracelets that will be arriving shortly they are INCREDIBLE and sold at Fred Segal, Bendels and Shop Bop!

My fear of looking like a farmer!

It's that time of year again, actually that time of year happens twice a year for me. May and September. I go to New York and I dread the thought of what to pack, what to wear and sticking out like a farmer from Kansas. I like to think i'm pretty fashionable, but here in Miami it's 88 degrees on a cool day in September. It's not that it's cold in NY right now, but they are ready for fall, labor day is over and they are in transitional clothing and the women all look SO RIGHT! I fret about do i wear short sleeves and stick out, will I be hot in long sleeves, do i layer or is layering so 2008? Do i stick with basic black and white or do i go for fall color? Are they wearing fall color yet in NY? Do i focus on the accessories so that the clothes aren't the focus?

It never fails, i have the same problem in May, long sleeves, shortsleeves, light colors, what fabrics?

Here's the truth, NO ONE IS LOOKING AT ME, and this is all in my own mind, but it's stressful nonetheless.

Off to pack!

Ahhhh, this show brings me back to college!

So tonight was the big one, the one i've actually been waiting for since my days of sorority formals, rush songs and off-campus apartments! Melrose Place 2009! Let me just say, it was good and i'm certain that many a ladies in their 20's 30's and 40's either watched or tivo'd! I'm not afraid to admit it! We went back because we have so many great memories of watching the mindless show with our friends, talking about it the next day and to be young and carefree again!

Most of you won't believe this, but the last episode of the original Melrose Place aired on May 24th, 1999. 10 Years! Sydney and Michael didn't look much older! That must mean neither do we! Ohhhhhhhhhh, the thrill of being transported back! So go ahead, kick off your shoes, curl up on the couch, invite your girls over for a glass of proseca and indulge! This time we are legal!

See you next tuesday!

Raised Brows!

To me eyebrows are like toes, kinda ugly but ultimately require attention. Of course there are different levels of attention. You can do your own pedicure or opt for a Korean quickie or a luxurious spa pedicure. Eyebrows are the same, you can pluck in your mirror, go to the local wax-o-rama in your city, be hip and get threaded.

The eyebrows have always been a chore for me, but I have a solution for all and am telling you i am now a TRUE BELIEVER. Anastasia of Beverly Hills has outposts in Nordstrom. Besides selling all of her products, from simple brow pens to stencil kits (that is a bit much!) they do waxing right there on site with a registered aestitican. First they start by measuring your eyebrows, (they show you these drawings on your eyebrows, but don't be scared!) but within 20 minutes your eyebrows look great! they also wax anything above the neck, they tell me!

This is a must and really professional so I really suggest you check it out!

Taking Fashion cues from a Funeral

For those of you who don't know me personally but read my blog, THANK YOU! But more importantly, what you may not know is that I'm from Boston, no worries i never had that accent. As a Bostonian who grew up on Cape Cod, i've got democrat running through my blood and like most have some Kennedy fever. As a little kid I got to stand outside the church on the day Maria Shriver got married, I'd seen Ted Kennedy walking down the pier to his boat and no visit from friends and family was complete without taking them by the Kennedy Compound. So i sat by my television last night watching the Celebration of Life at the Kennedy Memorial Library and the funeral today. Boy I picked up a lot!

First, pearls are the accessory of the season, every one of the Kennedy clan woman had long strands doubled. There really is nowhere good to buy a fashionable black suit if you live on Cape Cod, and HUGE bows are just not approrpiate at funerals, I mean the First Lady looked like a clown! I did see that Maria Shriver has fabulous color and highlights and impeccable taste in pocketbooks. Not so much for Caroline Kennedy, she needs a few tips on hair, makeup and accessories, I mean her mom was a fashion icon, you'ld think she'd have it a bit more together.

Vicki Kennedy looked visibly shaken today and my heart went out to her, but she got a 10 for looking like a lady through and through,

Was it just me or do you sense there is a little cousin a cousin rivalry between Maria and Carolyn? I think Rory is adorable but boy does Kara need some help!

What I know is this, there's a huge table up in heaven tonight, candles lit, candelabra and chandeliers and the boys are sitting at the table in white dinner jackets and Jackie is the hostess in a fabulous Chanel gown and they are toasting and welcoming Ted!

Rest in peace!

Sure Hits and Disposable Clothing!

I've taken most of the summer to gather information. I am a huge believer in gathering! And here is what i can tell you are the fall hits; purple, any shade of gray, (ode to Liz the editor who will be happy I spelled it correctly), studding, sequins, grommets, fringe, ruffles, embellishments, vests and lots and lots of pearls!

Let me say that if you haven't been lately, take a walk into J. Crew, they have hit the nail on the head! I never wear J. Crew, in fact its too reminiscent of my childhood in WASPville MA, but when i walk in the store now i'm amazed. First off, who did they kidnap to design their jewelry because its FABULOUS! I want every piece of it when I walk in there! Second they have the right mix of feminine detail mixed with crisp prepster. The shirts and sweaters have great detail.

Now on the other hand, Banana Republic should just close shop until the holiday shipment arrives because the entire store is Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Nothing is noteworthy, the color palette is off, the jewelry which is usually great is dull. Time to hear a new design and creative team!

Another talent for the fall for you ladies that work is TALBOTS. I got a sneak peak of the fall catalog before it went public this past Monday and i must say its GREAT. Now, it might be that they focused on my three favorite fall clothing colors, orange, brown and green, but the shoes look SUPER and an orange plaid short jacket caught my eye, sweaters with silk printed ties, cords, yummmmmmmmmm can't wait to get to Short Hills Mall in a few weeks to gather some goodies!

Finally, disposable clothing. Stil chic! All summer i brought you girls long dresses at under $70. You girls bought, wore, looked amazing and felt great. These dresses were fun and flirty and easy on the wallet. Fall is bringing the same great style just not in long dresses. Nothing feels better than when we can buy hip new pieces for our wardrobe that don't break the bank and look just as good as the version in Saks and Neiman's that cost several hundred dollars. It's hip to wear disposable and save!

Exciting post was supposed to be about furniture only but Sarah Palin rained on that parade!

Today was meant to be all about a great new store I found, www.eq3.com this is a canadian based sleek and modern store with great accessories to. According to the cheery sales associate who wanted to tell me all about the store (while she was applying lipgloss) they specialize in customizing furniture with fabric and leathers! That isn't what sold me but i did love the store and if you are local in Miami it's accross from Midtown! If you aren't local they appear to have their furniture in lots of stores in the statesm but from what I can tell, not too many free standing stores!

Now onto the bigger news of the day! Sarah Palin has decided to leave the good people of Alaska in the middle of her term. Her logic was something along the lines of since I'm not running again i don't want to be a lame duck governor, although the election is a far way off! I'm hoping all of the scandal involving the fact that she doesn't know any national publications, she has a new baby and grandbaby to raise and the fact that her husband is a political detriment have perhaps caused her to go out and shoot some moose!

Thoughts on The Hills Finale

My absolute favorite scene was the one with Brody where he tells Spencer you are so full of it, you haven't changed. The wedding was so tv series and not a real-life wedding. She wears loaned jewels, Lauren takes a car service to the wedding, KRISTIN shows up, it comes together in a week, need I say more. Stacy comes! But it was delicious fun!

School's Out, Take One

Well, today was the last day of preschool. Otherwise known as the end of "me time." I really did it up right, too, with a facial and polish change. That was my reward for running about 1,000 errands in the last week or so. I have been trying to tackle a monster to-do list in advance of leaving town. Why is it that everyone who learns of our summer plans gives me a look that screams, "You are out of your mind!"? Looking forward to a weekend away with the hubby before the family road trip begins.

Here comes summer

A friend of mine had an interesting observation: When you are the parent of a school-age child, you think in terms of school years, rather than calendar years. So, even though it is just May, my mom friends and I are counting down to the end of the year. My preschooler will be done on Wednesday; my 4th grader the following week.

We are kicking off the summer with a two-week road trip to visit family and friends. Should be quite the adventure.

More Cuts- This time its Salary

I'm addicted to the internet and all its subcategories, email, facebook,google! But i also love to read the newspaper, even though by the time i get to the newspaper at night, i've seen much of the news already from browsing online during the day.

This past week there was an article that I dound very disturbing. The Miami Herald is letting 205 employees go by July 1, 2009. They are allowing the people to retire and take severance and if they don't do that then the company will decide who goes. The BIGGER and UGLIER news is that all remaining employees will take paycuts. If you make under $50,000 you will get a 3% pay cut and if you make over $50,000 you will get a 5% paycut. Oh yes and the newspaper will shrink the margins by an inch so we get less news! I have a friend at a major medical institution and she also told me that the institution is facing huge deficits and one of the options is for employees to have their pay reduced! The School Board in Miami is still trying to negotiate teachers taking 3 furlough days without pay!

Now I try to put this into context, things cost more, people need to pay for daycare, after care, gas, and one of the current OBAMA cabinet members has said that pay has not risen at an appropriate rate for workers and now Companies have decided that the way to fix their financial problems is to give less money to the people who work hard every day!

Something is very wrong with this picture!

Its Sunday March 15th and depending on the city here is what they are celebrating!

I grew up in a very small town 10 miles west of Boston, MA. It was very norman rockwell! We graduated high school on the town green wearing white dresses and a bag piper lead us in! I grew up with many kids who were second generation to our town and in fact are now raising their own children there.

I moved to South Florida for law school, and its a cultural divide from New England to say the least. Miami is a cultural melting pot, as an example when I walk into a grocery store blocks from the business District of Brickell, the cashiers speak to me entirely in spanish. I find that many of my sentences are mixed with spanglish phrases and while my conversation isn't great, i understand a great deal!

So today is Sunday March 15th! In Miami they are celebrating Calle Ocho on SW 8th Street, a huge parade and festival that celebrates the hispanic culture. In Boston they are also having a parade but with green beer and green carnations celebrating the luck of the irish!

And so many years later, i find that while I live in the South, I will always be a northerner in my heart!

Sunday Styles No Longer a Guilty Pleasure

I have a ritual! I love sunday mornings, i get out of bed, open the door and bring in the NY TIMES and climb back into my fabulous bed to indulge! I read the Sunday Style Section First. It used to be filled with stories of fashion, new restaurants, grand parties and EXCESS! It was my guilty pleasure, what connected me to the goings on of the Fashion, Fabulous and Famous in NYC!

Lately when I open the Sunday Times I want to crawl under my bed instead of just under my amazing duvet! Take for instance last week, there was an article on how families could no longer afford to send their children to private school and instead were choosing parochial schools or public schools and how embarassing it was for the children! I don't know, i went to public school and it wasn't embarassing in the least bit! Another article was about how there was a huge job fair at the Sheraton, fewer companies participated and the room held 1000, at the last fair 2000 people showed up and at this fair there were 5000! They were lined up around the block of the hotel and it took hours for them to get inside!

I'm afraid to see what this Sunday will bring!

Violated and the customer service industry

i went to the bank yesterday to discover that i had been the victim of identity theft! A pretty sophisticated identity theft in my opinion! Bad things happen in three's! This is the third bad thing that has happened in 3 weeks and i'm hoping that it's the last for me! Otherwise the bad things in three's theory is out the door!

In any event, aside from the complete violation of my personal information and the ridiculous hassle of cleaning up this problem, it reminded me about our great nation and customer service.

Ever tried to actually get a human on the phone at a bank? first its almost impossible, they make those dial and press deals so complicated, but when you finally get one, they have a very thick accent and are often in INDIA or PAKISTAN!

Several months ago I called an airline to follow-up on a delayed flight I was scheduled to take. The customer service agent was in INDIA and told me that my flight was scheduled to leave at 3:20 pm, the problem was that at the moment he told me that it was already 5:00 pm.

Its time to bring call centers back to the good ole' USA! Provide not only jobs to Americans who are suffering, but provide information to consumers that is relevant and understandable!

Valentines Day amd the End of Hibernation

I have always said that i'd like to hibernate from the day before thanksgiving until the day after valentines day! Mostly its because I don't come from a big family.

There is no festive Thanksgiving celebration with relatives who travel from near and far and you are excited to see, in fact for my family Thanksgiving usually exists of a trip to avoid the reality of the weekend!

Christmas and New Years come with the same set of facts, but coupled with working for a government agency means no big extravagant cocktail christmas celebrations. In fact in our office its a pot luck and I have a thing about eating food which is cooked in other people's homes, who I don't know! New Years is always a holiday when if i go out i want to be on the road at 12:01 a.m.. to avoid the drunks!

And then Valentines Day, so much hype over a hallmark holiday! My parents asked me to go out to dinner for Valentines Day, how horrifying is that? Although, I have to tell you that the older I get the less I care about Valentines Day. In fact, I was on the phone today and mentioned to a guy who i occasionally hook up with to call me over the weekend since he was sans children. His response was definitely not on Saturday, i'm staying home all day and not seeing anyone its Valentines Day! I started to laugh and said who cares about that!

I guess i'm sort of like the groundhog who comes out on Feb 2, except I come out on Feb 15th every year and don't worry if there is a shadow or not!

The State of Affairs!

I have been listening, reading, watching! What I gather is this, the first round of the bank bailout wasn't very successful, the banks put the money deep into their pockets and didn't use it to make loans super available, and the loans that they did make were only for people who could afford lots of money down and who had good credit! So now the Government is going to fund the next bailout to the banks, not so sure things will be different this time around!

From what I can tell, the new Administration wants to create 4 million jobs, how are those people going to get paid? And lots of pell grants for students, an extension of unemployment benefits, which in the State of Florida amounts to a maximum $265.00 a week! Luckily, I am not on unemployment but can't quite gather how if a family of 4 has only 1 working parent who gets laid off, how such little money will pay for their food, housing, electricity, clothing and basic needs! If you make under $70,000 (don't quote me on the exact #) you gate a tax rebate or if you are super rich you get a rebate!

Where is the stimulus for the majority of Americans? For the hardworking people, who aren't in foreclosure but every week and every month pay their bills but aren't getting ahead!

I read in today's paper that one of the Cabinet members finally realized that the problem is that salaries have never increased at the proper rate for people! I could have told them that!

Today's Paper also said that in Miami Dade County Florida, the school board has voted in favor of deferring part of teacher salaries until after the end of their fiscal year, which ends on June 30th, 2009. So teachers are going to work, and have some of their regular pay deferred, that of course is assuming that there will be money to give them their rightfully owed deferred compensation! How are the teachers supposed to pay their mortgage? Why would they do that to the very people who dedicate their lives to teaching kids in hopes of making successful and educated future generations! How about asking bankers and wallstreet suits and movie stars to defer their excessive salaries, as opposed to teachers!

I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel! I go to bed and hope every day that in the morning the light will be there!

Don't sweat the small stuff and just let go!

I don't make new years resolutions, because i break them! But with the 44th President being sworn in tomorrow, I've decided that there are a few things that would make life so much more pleasant if we all just did them. Remember the movie, Pay It Forward, well I think its time for all of us to pay it forward! Let me give you an example.

This morning I was pulling into the parking lot to pickup / drop-off dry cleaning. The lot is bad, its small, and is home to a kosher grocery, Walgreens, a salon, and the drycleaner. There was a large truck that was pulled far over to the left and so i scooted by it, the lady started honking and i could see she was furiously screaming in her car! When I finally pulled around to park I noted that her truck was parked and hanging from the rear view mirror was a jewish star, clearly made by a child, likely in school!

First, how much time did she lose by me scooting around her, 2 seconds? No big deal! Second, that Jewish Star should have reminded her to be the best person she can be, to be patient and calm and kind and to heal the world! All the negative energy she exerted on honking and raising her hands and clearly screaming at me in her car, was really pointless in the scheme of things!

So here's my suggestion for all of us!

Don't sweat the small stuff

If someone cuts you off, and its not going to cause an accident, let it slide, all you really lost was a second or two and in the scheme of things, that's nothing!

Hold the door open for someone, say thank you to people who help you in the grocery store, be patient with people, speak to people the way you wish to be spoken to, when people are rude and treat you poorly, don't engage, you deserve respect! And realize, it takes so much more of our energy to sweat the small stuff then it does to let it go!

I think that's the change we all need to focus on, and I believe, just that little change will make day to day living so much more pleasant!

At the core, people are good!

Like most of you, i've been captivated by the US Airways plane that went down in the Hudson River. The event has sucked me in for a variety of reasons, I fly from Laguardia often, I am on business on the west side of NY, right near and often on those very piers where the plane went down, and because its hard to imagine that a plane can really land in a river, and everyone can get out safely.

But what has really sucked me in is the fact that at the very core people are good and selfless. I think about all those people who run the ferry boats in NY, who immeadiately headed over to the sinking plane and helped to save every last one of them, dockhands, captains, even the ticket takers, they acted flawlessly and with ease, to just help!

It speaks volumes about human nature. I think it is an innate characteristic that we all have, but rarely are we tested on!

So i raise a glass to all of you, the people of the New York Waterways, and say KUDOS for not only a job AMAZINGLY DONE, but for reminding all of us, what teamwork, and selflessness and the goodness of mankind is all about!

A few Good Ideas!

So i'm getting ready to head to New York next week for the NY International Gift Show! Its a daunting task, and for those of you have never been, picture a huge huge convention center set up with thousands of booths that are 10 x 10 filled with everything you can imagine. I have often thought of pitching a reality game show where you are given an empty house and then you and other contestants are given a certain budget and a time frame to race through and furnish the house, but not just with furniture, you must get everything, and the gift show has it all! Beds, bedding, towels, kitchen sets and placesettings, frames, mirrors, utensils, food for the cupboard, clothing, accessories for the living room and family room! At the end of the show, they deliver everything and they see if you stayed in budget! Admit it sounds sort of fun!

So the problem i face is, i'm out of ideas of new cool gifts to buy, so if you have a favorite product or gift you like to give, a keepsake that's so cute or something fabulous for the desk in your office, email me and let me know so i can find it!

Not sure where to start, so i'll take Revolutionary Road for 100!

So the other night I saw the DiCaprio Winslet much ado about nothing movie Revoltionary Road, the big screen adaptation of Richard Yates' novel. It tells the age old story of people in an unhappy marriage. I will say, it was an excellent character study of the furiously bored. Here's what i take from the movie and can see it applied to so many people I know, but who keep it all a secret hush hush!

Many people think they are destined for something big, something important in their lives, career, philanthropy, world travel, fame, fortune! The truth is, really we are all just human, except for the very few who either by fate or by lots of hard work and devotion, and perhaps a bit of luck become bigger than themselves in life. Most of us go to college, maybe onto graduate school, have our first apartment and our first job, do the 20 something social scene. For some its just regular and for others, its a very impressive high life. But in the end, most people trade it in for a house in the suburbs, 2 kids, a dog, a husband who works very hard to provide a good life, a few trips and some great friends.

There are choices that we make and sacrifices. And in the end, some except the road they've chosen and realize that they are good and kind and hard worker, but really no different than the majority of people. For those that are different, we oooh and ahhh over their lives and sometimes feel a twinge of envy. The ones who suffer are the ones who can't accept who they are and what life is.

2009, full steam ahead!

Happy New Year! I actually like New Years Day, much better than New Years Eve. I like to stay home, enjoy the peace and quiet, clean out the old, organize the new and get ready for the new days ahead. I don't believe in resolutions, mainly because I seem to break them much faster than the time it took me to come up with them. I'll make some general goals, which i'll share with you. Get to the gym more often, don't sweat the small stuff, release negative energy, don't surround myself with people who either stress me out or just make me feel bad, stop and smell the fresh air, aprreciate each day, BLOG MORE!

In honesty, i feel like New Years Day is my day at the Ashram, no talking, no working, no stressing, just being, just flopping in bed, reading the paper, reading a book, decluttering the mind and soul!

I hope you had the same type of day!