Forever Frugal Friday

Today we had rain in LA, which made it all the more fun to pull on my new boots and favorite wool jacket. I am going to see Enchanted after work today with some friends, and was trying to plan out what I should wear that would be cozy (since theatres are so chilly!), yet still cute if we got drinks afterwards.



This sweater is EXACTLY what I had in mind. You could wear a fun/fancy tank underneath in case you hit the bars later, but stay comfy and warm while watching the movie. I love the wide sleeves, fold down collar and kangaroo pockets, and I have to say at $29.80 it is a total steal of a deal!

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm everybody! December is here, time for some holiday cheer!

Project Runway Rundown

Have I mentioned how much I love this show? It is seriously, SO GOOD!

So last nights challenge was to design an outfit for Today Show correspondent Tiki Barber. Most of the designers FREAKED out at the thought of designing an outfit for a male, which made all for better television viewing.

The winning designer was Jack:

I thought this outfit was nice enough, but not very original.

My personal favorite was by Kit (the runner up):

I thought the whole ensemble was classic, sharp and sporty. Plus the jacket was made from fleece material, so comfy!

Another one I loved (although not for Tiki Barber) was Kevin's:

This outfit was so rocker, school-boy chic and I loved it! The best part of the evening came when Heidi Klum said she would not like her husband Seal in this outfit. She is seriously too cute!

The Auf'ed design belonged to Carmen:

Awful! She totally ran out of time and couldn't complete a shirt, the pants fit awful and the jacket was just not doing it for anyone.

What do you think? Do you agree with the judges? What was your favorite look? Rate the runway yourself at Bravo TV.

Until next week, in the words of Tim Gunn, "Carry On!".

Wino Wednesday

I love this time of the year because it gives me even more excuses to drink champagne. Let's be honest here, basic math teaches us, Champagne = Celebration Time.

We recently had some friends over for a blind wine tasting, to help us choose our wedding wines (posting on this event is soon to follow). We had selected four sparkling wines for our guests to sample and rate either: 1(hate it), 3(ok), 5(love it). We had nine judges (including Elon & me), and let me just tell you that the Yellow Tail Sparkling White Wine scored 5 points from almost everyone (except my good friend over at Coco+Kelley who gave it a 1!).

I loved this sparkling wine for many reasons:

1. The name is Yellow Tail, my favorite color is yellow, as is the main color for my wedding :)
2. The label is pretty and fun, I mean who doesn't love kangaroo's?
3. It was fruity, bubbly, refreshing and fun!
4. So cheap! I bought it for $7.99 a bottle at BevMo!

Yellow Tail's mission with this sparkling wine, is to allow everyone the opportunity to enjoy sparkling wine not only on special occasions. Come to think of it, shouldn't we be celebrating life everyday?

Pick up a bottle for your next celebration, whatever it may be :)

Total Splurge vs Total Steal

I was in New York for the first time ever in September, and experienced this great store Scoop. I instantly fell in love with these adorable Anya Hindmarch pouches sitting at the checkout counter. They came in a variety of colors and had such cute labels, that I couldn't wait to take one home with me. I loved this one the most:

Unfortunately for me, if I had purchased this sweet pouch, I wouldn't have had any dollars to put in it. I also loved all the designs below, which are available at Shop Bop.

A place for all your Bits & Bobs sounds good to me!

Need a place for all your Lotions & Potions? Look no further!

Now, while I would love to receive one of these as a present (hint, hint), I was happily surprised when I was perusing Target the other day and found these!

I sure do love me some Isaac Mizrahi. These pouches are total knockoffs of the Anya Hindmarch pouches and while they are not labeled with cute quotes or sayings, they are an absolute steal at 3 for $15.99 right now!

If you are not a fan of the bright pink, why not try this set instead?

The tweed is a little classier, yet the addition of the silver and gold still makes it fun and flashy. I am thinking I might just buy both sets, stuff them with some little trinkets and hand them out to my friends as gifts this season.

Whether you choose to splurge on the real thing or save on the knockoffs, you definitely won't be dissatisfied with these sweet pouches!

This is a Story....

Of a girl and her quest for the perfect black boots. This story begins back in fall of 2003 and ends on a brisk evening in Redondo Beach.

Is it just me or is it damn near impossible to find high black boots that fit? I felt like Prince Charming looking for Cinderella... this boot was too high for my short legs, or this boot didn't have a high enough heel, or this boot didn't have the right toe shape.

Leave it to my good friend Jaime who is always on top of the trends to find the PERFECT boot! This past September, Jaime trotted into Nikki Beach wearing them and I instantly fell in love. Jaime being the kind soul that she is, gave me the thumbs up to copy her awesome style and purchase the boots also. The only problem, they were already sold out online and in the stores in my size.

Fast forward two months, I was browsing my local Nordstrom when I saw the Jeffrey Campbell "Flawless" boots in turquoise. I quickly snatched up the boot and begged the sales associate to find me this boot in black, size seven. After calling ten different stores, victory was ours!

My boots are currently en route to my home and I cannot WAIT to pull these puppies over my skinny jeans, or pair them with some tights and a fun dress and walk all over town.

Wino Wednesday

I just recently tried the Liberty School Chardonnay, which was absolute bliss to my taste buds. I love, love, love how buttery and smooth this chardonnay was. Liberty School Chardonnay is fruity and lively on the tongue, but has strong notes of vanilla and oak that are lacking in other chardonnays on the market. It makes for a fantastic wine to drink alone or paired with a chicken or pasta dish. Liberty School has jumped to the top of my favorite wines and you better believe I will keep a bottle always on hand for enjoyment.

I have found this wine at Ralphs, Pavillions, BevMo and Cost Plus World Market for about $11.99-$17.99. So go swing by and try it out yourself. I would love to hear what you think!

Turkey Time? It's All Gravy Baby!

In 2003 Elon and I hosted our first "Orphan Thanksgiving" with all our friends who would also be spending their Thanksgiving away from the family. It was kind of a big deal for us both, and we had no idea where to begin with the turkey. Enter Williams Sonoma .

If you are ever hosting a dinner or Thanksgiving of your own and feel hopeless or unsure of what to do with food, look no further than your local Williams Sonoma. We knew we were in good hands when the whole front half of the store was Thanksgiving themed, full of ideas to try out and best of all lots of samples to taste of all the goods!

I found this jar full of dried fruit, salt and sugar and asked the sales associate, "What is this?".
She explained that it was a brining mixture, a popular method of marinating meat. I thought the idea was genius and of course bought the jar. The directions couldn't have been easier to follow, and the results were fantastic (some of our friends said it was better than their parents - which was music to my ears). You can buy the brining mixture at the store or find brining recipes online and make your own. Brining was such a success that we have continued the tradition of brining year after year.

The next addition to my basket were these yummy herbs which I added to some softened butter and spread all over the outside of the turkey as well as a little bit inside of the turkey for that golden, delicious taste. Elon's secret trick (not so secret), was to puncture a can of beer and stuff it half way into the turkey (so you can pull it out). As the turkey heats up the can releases some of the beer, assuring you a moist turkey to enjoy.

Being our first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner, we did have one major error...the gravy. Who knew it was so difficult to make good gravy?

Problem solved with Williams Sonoma's Turkey Gravy Base. You just add turkey drippings, some milk/cream and viola! It tastes like you are a seasoned gravy-making pro, and once you throw it in a gravy boat, no one has to know that you didn't make it from scratch!

So if you are hosting your first Thanksgiving dinner, try out the items above and I promise your guest will gobble, gobble, gobble all the food right up!