Searle
September 30th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Was watching What Not to Wear the other day and realized that I inevitably love whatever the guest buys at Searle, so I decided to venture online and see what they were all about. Actually I thought Searle was a brand but turns out they are just a shop that sells high-endy brands like Cynthia Steffe and Nicole Miller. Sweet! I especially loved these looks…
First–my FAVORITE!!! I LOVE this dress (from Walter), and this cute one from Magaschoni!
Nicole Miller and Cynthia Steffe
Searle (house brand?) and Walter again…so cute and fun!
Anyone ever been to Searle? How was it? I think they are only in NY, but someday I definitely plan on a visit!
Handmade Holidays
November 18th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Okay! So I’ve gotten a pretty good response to the idea of giving all handmade gifts for the holidays, so I’ve decided to do a little gift guide series. I’m hoping to include ideas for things you can buy (mostly from Etsy, but if you have other handmade/vintage resources, please let me know!) as well as make yourself. I’m quite excited about it, so I hope you are too. 
Today’s gift idea is: pretty wall and desk calendars! I think this would be a great gift for friends, coworkers (to brighten up the drab cubicle!), or yourself! Here are a few I liked–click on the picture to go to the listing, and enjoy!
Lately I've been uber into silhouette art, so this calendar was a perfect match! From Saratams's Etsy shop.
Although expensive, I love how this calendar props itself up--would be so cute on a desk! From norawhynot's Etsy shop.
Cute little cards to hang up on your bulletin board at home! From JessGonacha's Etsy shop.
I love the font and poppy prints of this one. From MichelleBrusegaard's Etsy shop.
Cute little owls and other repeating patterns on this adorable calendar (I like the stand too!). From PSPaperGoods's Etsy shop.
Soothing bottanical prints on this calendar--comes with jewel case stand. From Annacote's Etsy shop.
Probably my favorite...wonderful, saturated colors with "modern minimalist" prints. From SureAsBlue's Etsy shop.
Another one from SureAsBlue.
A bit more natural and regal looking. From Siskastudio's Etsy shop.
Cute and petite. Another one to hang on the cubicle wall From turtlepapers's Etsy shop.
Vintage Shopping in Chicago
August 11th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Must remember to visit White Attic sometime, I just love these pieces I saw over on Apartment Therapy! One day I will be bold and paint a piece of furniture white–I love the contrast between the brown and white 
personal stylists
June 14th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
this is why i love computers. yesterday i received two emails about “personal stylists” from neiman marcus and anthropologie, where based on your browsing history they’ll send you emails with the stylist’s latest finds for you. basically a “you may also like” section, via email! the one from anthropologie works a bit different, in that a stylist at the store nearest you will actually pull the items for you to come in and look at. probably more people will use the one at neiman’s, but the conversion rate once you actually get people in the stores would probably be higher at anthro. oh, i love marketing. someone pay me to come up with programs like this. (actually, last night i had a dream about gap installing little screens in their dressing rooms where you could scan in each item of clothing you were trying on, and then give feedback about what you liked/disliked, and whether you were going to buy the item…but then i thought this morning, what if you had a crapload of stuff to try on? then it’d be a little cumbersome to enter in all that info by hand…so maybe it could record what you thought out loud, and then you’d need a voice recognition software to turn that stuff all into words so you could categorize it and make reports people could actually use…hmm, what do you think? i’m really excited for the future. i can’t wait to see what people will come up with to transform life as we know it! another random aside–as i was walking to class the other day i was thinking about crime and punishment and whether at some point we’ll live in more of a “truman show” world where everything is recorded and we could use that information to incriminate the right people. would this lead to a loss of privacy? should privacy exist? i wonder…).
anyway, i thought the suggestions from neiman marcus were pretty darn cute, and i especially liked the last two.
the email i got from anthropologie:
clothes
May 23rd, 2008 § 2 Comments
So, in the special body image issue of InStyle, they did a big feature of top 20 online shopping sites for different categories. My favorites were:
BEST FOR DRESSES: shopbop.com
I had heard of shopbop before, but I guess didn’t know what I was missing because it is amazing! Definitely a great place to find a LOT of discounted higher end dresses (though I wonder if it’s like that all the time, or just now because of our economy…). Anyway, the following ensembles really caught my eye!
BEST FOR ON-THE-RADAR DESIGNERS: net-a-porter.com
Again, I had heard of this one because I think that was Milly‘s first big client, but had never really gone there to shop. They also have a great selection! Actually, I was fully prepared to buy this dress until I saw that it was sold out in my size! What a bummer…
BEST FOR SLEEPWEAR: gapbody.com
The only bras that fit, really cute undergarments in general, as well as pajamas!
BEST FOR ARTSY ONE-OF-A-KINDS: etsy.com
A lot of stuff to wade through, but favorite-ing artists makes it easier to shop around. Have bought multiple gifts there, and I’m sure I’ll be back. It’s really like a breath of fresh air shopping on etsy, because everything is so beautiful and you can tell someone put their heart and soul into making some of the pieces. Also, a cool interface, especially with the showcase and treasury galleries.
Still, MY FAVORITE place to shop online is probably nordstrom.com, because their search is way better than everyone else’s (you can do it by size, color, shape, brand, price, etc.), their preview pictures are large and not flash movies (it always annoys me when i can’t save pictures to my desktop…one reason i don’t have very many images from needless markup on here, and when i do, they’re small), and they also have a huge dress shop, which is what I most enjoy shopping for. In fact, I kind of fell in love with this Zac Posen dress the other day, though I think it’s just a *bit* outside my price range…hahaha
And, also, random vest from Forever 21. I really should go in there one of these days and see what good deals I can find.
shopping trip
May 22nd, 2008 § Leave a Comment
shirt and skirt from ann taylor; scarf from gap; trina turk shirt, armani exchange sunglasses, and lily dress from nordstrom rack
Frank Lloyd Wright, Valentines, and Sprout Home
March 20th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
A bit of a random mix this time, but I have some extra things I’ve accumulated over finals week that I haven’t gotten a chance to post until now. First, really enjoy this house by Frank Lloyd Wright. I’ve decided I’m not the biggest fan of his architecture in general, and I find some of his furniture pieces really boring, but I really like this one. Reminds me of the Robie House, which is located right next to the GSB. Yay for culture just next door! Hahaha. Also, thought these valentines were pretty darn cute. I’ll have to use the idea next year, or incorporate it into some other party/celebration. Reminds me of something Pam and Jim would do. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with The Office. In fact I’ve downloaded and watched the first three and a half seasons (still have a few more to go on the fourth before I’m up to date) in the past few weeks, and, man, is it good. It’s actually really nice that I’m getting into it now, after Jim and Pam have gotten together. I don’t think I would have been able to wait in real time. They’re still uber cute though And finally, I really like this flower pot from Sprout Home, which apparently is located here in Chicago but as it’s way uber expensive and I don’t have a car, I don’t thin I’ll be visiting it anytime soon. I still do want to start a little herb garden in the kitchen, but I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. I really should look into that. Especially if Colleen isn’t going to be here in June. Hmmmm. Also need to find a source of income during school year, that would be ideal.
A Fun Way To Spend A Few Moments
March 12th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Believe it or not, but I came across Style Feeder off of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s site (can’t remember why i was on there…oh yes, I was looking to see about some leather leggings of theirs I saw someone wearing…turns out, they’re like $3000. Woops.) Anyway, I’m a fan, and now that I’ve actually figured out how to add things, I’ll probably be on there more regularly. hooray!
