Fashion Forward

Lately, I’ve seen this photo popping up around the web:

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and was happy to find an article on Shine from Yahoo! about these futuristic heels. Designed by Polly Verity, I hope this model didn’t have to catwalk in them. I would also be concerned about my poor toes falling out the sides.

The article/slide show also showcases eco-friendly shoes from Stockholm designers Naim Josefi & Souzan Youssouf that are made from only one material. And the Mojito shoe is like Birkenstocks, except not:

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Designed by British architect Julian Hakes, the shoe molds to your foot. I’m a big fan of Rainbow sandals which similarly conform to accommodate the unique arch in each wearer’s foot. I’d definitely try these on, but maybe just wear them around the house. For now, I think we’re all safe in our pumps, flats, and flip-flops. Have you seen other futuristic fashion taking over?

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Wow

I wanted to share a few fun links today from across the web. The first is an interesting event blog called The Pink Toast. You can read about Danielle’s Bat Mitzvah in 5 installments, but here’s a sneak peak:

I can only imagine what this 13-year-old will grow up thinking about her wedding. I wish there was a way to check back in 10 or 15 yaers from now…

On to our next link, The Knotty Bride posted up a brief article on lingerie which was mildly inspiring. Alison led me to a great new online shop asos from the UK. They have dresses from £15 to £250 (about $30 – $500) I did find this cute jersey dress I’d love to have for the holidays:

and at £26, it’s not at a bad price either. And along with this great jumpsuit (which doesn’t look like a jumpsuit at all):

at £50, I’d sure make my British friends proud for at least stepping away from my pearls and cardis.

And of course, last night’s Emmy Awards has people talking fashion. This Oscar de la Renta on Lea Michele from GLEE made me a little giddy and Emily Blunt’s flowing Christian Dior one-shoulder dress wished I had my other half around to float around in a bedsheet pretending to be a Grecian goddess. InStyle of course has a great gallery up of photos from the red carpet.

Hopefully this has give you a bit of inspiration for a happy Monday!

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Love is in the Air?

This summer has definitely been a big one for romance. In June, a classmate of mine Andrea got married in Greensboro, and yesterday Southern Weddings posted photos of her wedding shot by Abigail Seymour. I love the classic monogram:

and these adorable Elon cupcakes:

and who could resist these traditional North Carolina favors: Krispy Kreme doughnuts in adorable boxes reading “Glazed and delicious from the new Mr. & Mrs.” So precious!

Next to their cute favor boxes, I just had to leave this great photo of Andrea throwing her bouquet. Check out more photos in the Southern Weddings post and on Abigail Seymour’s blog. Congratulations! I can’t wait to borrow some of your fabulous ideas!

In July, Adam and I went to Jake & Kim’s wedding down in Durham. You saw a photo peek here, and here’s a snapshot of me and Adam all dressed to the nines:

and I snagged this adorable photo of the happy couple off Facebook (all my pictures were blurry thanks to the ambient low lighting and my point & shoot camera) thanks to Brian Mullins Photography:

There are some amazing shots up on Brian’s blog! I love how you can see the reflection of Kim and Jake in the piano. So classic! And to top it all off, the next day, Adam proposed in the Duke Gardens!

Then in the last two weeks, I had two sorority sisters get engaged as well. Congratulation Lisa and Alison! You can read Alison’s adorable engagement story here. And to top it off, The Wedding Chicks are giving away customized DIY wedding invitations with this classic bicycle built for two design:

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Just enter in your info, pick your colors, and each file will be emailed to your address. Get your invitations here.

So all this romance has to make a girl wonder, is there more in the summer air than just humidity?

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Back From the Nap…

So I wanted to apologize for my hiatus the last few days. I’ve been in a blogging nap, both from lack of inspiration and from being busy in real life (sort of). Here is a mini life-update:

Friday, we took our usual office outing to Murphy’s Irish Pub, where I of course followed along with The Unicorn Song, doing all the hand motions. I even went to bed at a sensible hour.

Saturday, I attempted to bleach my hair with good old-fashioned lemon juice

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but alas the sun was not cooperating on the project. I also successfully organized my scrapbooking stuff, which I will begin to work on tonight. Then we had an office-sponsored Washington Nationals versus the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game.

  vs   

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The Nats lost 2-9. And later that night, I attempted diplomacy with my fiance’s friends. I also learned that ‘tear-away jorts’ are in fact my biggest fear.

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Sunday, I came into the office for a few hours to jumpstart some work for this week. My massive allergy attack that ensued prompted me to pop a Benadryl when I got home. I woke up several hours later with my best friend banging on my apartment door coming to borrow a dress for a wedding San Francisco this weekend.

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So now we are back at Monday. I have successfully tapped my beauty-product-obsessed sister for skin care advice, and will try to persuade her to write a few guest posts to share her knowledge with you. I have also scheduled a job interview for a position in Colorado starting in January, which means I don’t have to feel guilty going to Monument with Adam or about spending two months with him in China at the end of this year.

I have also decided to put John Frieda to the test. I’ve been unhappy with my hair color for a while now, and I’ve never dyed it (that’s right, 100% natural blonde here folks). So I’ll be testing out some of the JF products to see if they do in fact improve my blonde from a brassy corn field color back to a more champaign beach blonde shade. So keep posted for that project.

Photo source.

Anything exciting happen yet on your Monday?

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

If It Comes In Pink

Photo source: Lil Bit Old Lil Bit New

My friend Chelsea just unknowingly introduced me to my new favorite website: Make Mine Pink. This is a great little place full of online vendors whose wares are, of course, pink! Be careful wandering around the marketplace, the system for searching these stores is pretty basic. But if you’re looking for something particular, it’s a great place to start.

Some things I found that I love include these great Fleur-de-Lis bookends ($19.99) from Vintage to Vogue:

Photo source: Vintage to Vogue

this Alice in Wonderland style teacup bird feeder ($18) from Forget Me Not Dreams:

Photo source: Forget Me Not Dreams

and even these fun rose rings ($12) from CarolineAlexander:

Photo source: CarolineAlexander

These boutiques are a great place to find vintage and hand-crafted items of all sorts and at reasonable prices. There are even vendors for furniture! I’m sure Adam will love that. Happy pink hunting!

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

An Interesting Engagement

I’ve signed up for the Daily Candy emails, half out of curiosity, and half out of truly searching for a good bargain. Today, they sent out a piece published yesterday about engagement rings. There were some interesting options available for the traditional, the vintage, the romantic, and the modern boy looking to ‘put a ring on it.’ Here are some highlights:

Doyle & Doyle Vintage Engagement Ring

Just try to say no to a platinum, vintage, emerald-cut, 1.31-carat looker with square and round diamonds creeping up the sides. Not possible.

Available at doyledoyle.com, $10,500.
Photo: Courtesy of Doyle & Doyle

For the Twi-hards out there, there’s the

Bittersweets New York The Vampress Ring

Choose fourteen carat white, rose, or yellow gold to bite down on the .50-carat, brilliant-cut garnet or white or black diamond. For the Twilight/True Blood fans out there.

Available at bittersweetsny.com, $800-$2,000.
Photo: Courtesy of Bittersweets New York

St. Kilda Rapture Ring

Cleopatra may have started the snake jewelry trend, but this updated version with an oval-cut, .53-carat stone clasped in the jaws of blackened rose gold serpents is a band for the ages.

Available at stkildajewelry.com, $6,255.
Photo: Heather Colmar / Courtesy of St. Kilda

Erica Courtney Cate Ring

What’s the difference between puttin’ on the ritz and puttin’ on this ring? There isn’t one. The maker even saved a little surface area in the platinum setting for engraving (not visible in this photo, thanks to all those diamonds).

Available by phone order (323-938-2373), $13,500-$56,200. For more information, go to ericacourtney.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Erica Courtney

Check out the entire gallery here. Good luck shopping now boys!

Cheers, Kate

Vogue Heritage Must-Haves

Last week, Vogue issued a list of ‘heritage brand must-haves,’ and I have to say I’m a fan. Jenna Lyons (my idol), the new president of J. Crew, sorted through some classics that have been around for quite a while. She put together a few looks using the J. Crew couture line. So if nothing else, you get to peruse through some exclusive, expensive items. Take a peek here:

And flip through the modern look-book of some of fashion’s oldest brands including Timex, Baracuta, Barbour, and Saint James: Vogue Heritage Must-Haves.  Anything you felt should have been on this list?

Cheers, Kate

New Edition from J. Crew

If you know me, you know J. Crew is part of my religion. And as I am now psychotically stalking their weddings and parties collection, I have found my new love: the Silk Chiffon Arabelle gown:

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While I look good in white, I’m trying to mix up my wardrobe color palate. I’d pick it in Spiced Wine. There is another new dress in the fall W&P line that I’m super excited about: the Silk Taffeta Selma Dress:

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Here it is in a beautiful color called Matisse Blue. I’ve been to the Matisse museum in Southern France, and this is certainly a color he’d approve of.  Now I’m just waiting for a reason to order them!

Also in the new arrivals on J. Crew are Bobbi Brown lip gloss in colors buff and rosey, and Cosabella cutie lowrider thongs, in colors black, olive moss, barely peach, melon, shocking pink, and radiant orchid. J. Crew is truly turning themselves into a one-stop shop for the fashionista looking for a chic, semi-casual look. Any new favorites of yours for the fall line?

Cheers, Kate

Pink Living

Sorry for the delay in posting, I’ve had a busy weekend. Adam and I went down to Duke for a wedding on Saturday night. We also made a pit-stop at the J.Crew Warehouse sale in Winston-Salem where I scored a few good items including:

the Impressionist Floral Silk Dress (which I wore to the wedding on Saturday night):

the Black Blossoms cardigan:

The silk Blakely Wrap Blouse:

As well as a pink haberdashery blouse, black skinny pants, and a perfect tan ruffle neck racket that I have been eyeing for a while. Some serious finds!

The wedding was beautiful, the bride very gracious and Southern, the groom his usual goofball self. We had salad to start, and I’m aching to find out the vinaigrette recipe, followed by delicious chicken and crab cakes for dinner, with a yummy wedding cake finish. I’m proud to say I’m one of the few ladies in attendance who kept my heels on all night.

On Sunday, we went to the Duke gardens for an adorable picnic lunch:

We went for a stroll through the grounds. Here, Adam asked me to go to his fraternity formal with him, and I was hesitant to say yes. Here, we played bocce and drank cheap wine in the middle of the day to relax from senior year stress. Here, we began our graduation festivities with a reception held for the Duke 2009 seniors. This place has quite a few fond memories.

And five minutes after this photo:

He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Then he even had champagne waiting back in the picnic basket. How perfect! My awesome pink engagement dress? A flirty INC floral jersey knit. All weekend I carted around my new pink Coach bag Adam gave me when he first got home last week, just to take my pink to a new level. My mom did tell me to wear something cute just in case!

Sunday night we went out to celebrate at Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle for lots of margaritas, another bottle of champagne and a few good friends. And, as if the phone hadn’t been ringing enough all Sunday, Monday morning at 8:30 am I had my first “Wedding planning!” text from my mother. I’m glad she’s so excited too!

My future husband is being sweet enough to let me use pink in our color scheme, and I’m going to try to ease him into the idea of letting pink be part of our more daily life. Today I found a great new photography blog for company Enchanted Dream Weddings & Affairs with some amazing interior design photos of how to incorporate pink into your lifestyle. This is my favorite:

Hopefully this helps make pink seem less intimidating, hunny. I’m so excited to start planning!

Cheers, Kate

Top Etsy Finds: From Camper Vans to Cameos

Popular boutique shopping site Etsy posted up a list of the most popular items on their site. Here are my favorites from each of the categories:

Charms: 24k Gold Acorn necklace

$85 from GurKimel.

Campers: Vintage Camper Birdhouse

 

This item has already sold. I also like The Little Old Trailer desk caddy for $23.50.

Animal Prints: Lisbon Falls. Hand Blown Leopard Hanging Pendant with Chain and Canopy

$59 from Lamp Goods.

Salt: Jalapeno Lime Finishing Salt

This item has already been sold, but check out this seller’s other gourmet finishing salts and spice blends.

Folk and Bohemian: Victorian Ornament Flourishing Folk Porcelain Egg Cup

This item has already been sold. Check out other Victorian egg cups here. The seller VisuaLingual has some great graphic design and screen printing work. I love this ‘Cincinnati Is My Home’ print on vintage wallpaper:

$50 from VisuaLingual

Cameo: 1 dozen Silhouette Cookies

$30 by TabbyCat13.

Hope you enjoy all these fun finds and check out these cool Etsy companies!

Cheers, Kate