Perfect Patent

The newish Kate Spade patent handbags are out in a variety of juicy colors that have been tempting me for weeks now. I love the bright yellow, and punchy salmon, but decided to go with the more versatile Doe colored Harrison Street Wren.

It will be the perfect addition to add to my insanely growing bag collection. Hey, some people collect stamps, some people collect creepy figurines - aren't gorgeous sqooshy purses a zillion times better than either of those?

Up next, think I might need to add something in they beautiful sunshine colorway - I'm leaning towards this or this



And for Pete's sake, definitely don't forget to use ebates before purchasing anything on endless.com to get 7.5% cashback. It's like they are paying you to splurge! Kind of...?

Buon Giorno! A sneak peek of my Bella's...

Our trip to Italy was amazing.

Beautiful weather, amazing sites, delicious meals of pasta and tasty house wines... oh and some unforgettable shopping. We found (and purchased, cha-ching) my first year wedding anniversary (which is right around the corner since we opted for a delayed honeymoon), and I also picked up a couple of other amazing jewelery pieces and two great bags, including a 60s-style one-of-a-kind pocketbook, from a well-known artesian in wonderful, wonderful Firenze. The bag is, as I type, currently being custom-made for me in Florence, and shipped in early October.

How freaking amazing and decadant is that?

Through one of my many guidebooks I came across a Florence-based leather store, Cellerini, which has been around since the 50s, and are known for their impeccable quality, Hermes-style bags (but not Hermes-style prices), and their high level of customization. Upon finding the store, I worked with the lovely and debonair Allesandro (such a delightful man!), to select the style, leather, color, color of stitching (seriously?!?!), and length of strap. And voila, my purse goes into the creation stage. Needless to say, I can't wait for it to arrive, and will post pics asap.

In the meantime, wanted to post my other treasures I picked up along our Italian adventure. Obviously, I went the jewelry-route, but in addition to my Cellerini bag, also picked up an amazing Balanciaga dupe.






Apologies for the uber-grainy amateur photos... obv don't do the goodies the justice they deserve!

That's it for now. Blog will be back up in running now that I'm home... thanks for sticking it out while I was traveling!

Spaghetti and Sequins

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Sorry I've been a neglectful blogger of late. Life has been... busy. Good busy. But nevertheless, busy. And some things have fallen to the wayside, like blogging. And ironing. Yea, I said (read: typed) ironing. In fact, as I was trying to find something to wear today, I literally felt shame when I realized just how wrinkly everything in my closet is right now. And on my walk to the train, I actually put a notice on my blackberry for Saturday morning, to IRON.

Yes, I am lame.

And OCD.

So this little busy-bee has been slowly checking off the to-do's to ready me and hubs for our upcoming trip (yippee!!). If I haven't talked about it enough already, here's the scoop: we're taking our delayed honeymoon and heading to sweet, gorgeous Italy. Ah, I can't freaking wait to drown myself in a bottle of wine AND a bowl of pasta. At that same time. Every night for the 2 weeks we're there. So, in the anticipation of what is easily the biggest daddy of a vacation we've ever taken, I've been collecting travel-sized toiletries, researching for the best most functional bags we can carry, AND of course stocking up on a new wardrobe... just for this one trip. And one of my favoritest, yes favoritest, purchases is this fab gold sequined scarf. I know for travel, comfort rules. Comfort and neutral ... so I thought this adorable, trendy scarf would be the perfect little accessory to take my daytime duds to something fun and suitable for an evening out of gnocchi and Chianti.



Sequins are all the rage right now, and I personally love the trend. I don't want to overdo it with the glitter, no way, but I have to admit, I now own 4 sequined items in my wardrobe - a cardi, a scarf (see above), a fab top from Tory Burch, and a funky little tank from JC... Please note, if more than one of these come with me to Italia, I swear an oath to all that I hold holy, that I wont wear more than one piece at a time.

Anyhow, back to where I was going. Besides overdoing it with the sparkles, you can also go wrong when playing with sequins. And for your reading pleasure, I've also identified some other unforgivable sequin "don'ts":

First, this hat. Other than a headband, ladies (and gents I guess) do NOT put sequins on thy head. Of note, this hat was being sold on a Disney website (I wont name it, so as not to incur the wrath of the mouse, but I just had to chuckle because I'm sure there are several people at the Magical Kingdom RIGHT NOW wearing this hideous fashion fug.


And then, I found this puppy. And guess what readers, this sweet thang is on sale! For just $524 you can own this designer gold sequin jumper. Holy cripes. Need I say more?


That's all I've got for now, though I could go on and on. Do any of you have the same affinity to sequins that I seem to have? Or do you think I need an intervention given my expanding sparkly wardrobe?

Outfit inspiration: Gray Matter

I ordered these gray jeans from Banana Republic over the weekend and crossing my fingers they deliver on fit and style. In my mind they are adorable and flattering; simple but just a touch above bourgeois; and therefore a must-pack for my upcoming trip to Italy. Online purchase reviews are solid PLUS I had a discount code (BR is insane with those of late), so now I just need them to be fantastic in real-life so I don't add another return to my pile/to-do list.

Holy batman, what is the meaning of this???

My husband and I are traveling to Italy in about a month (eek), and beyond a financial windfall, we also need some good city maps for our adventures. So late last week, I hopped on Tripadvisor.com to do some research, deciding on the Rough Guide Maps... great reviews, waterproof, awesome.

So I ordered one for Rome, Florence, Venice.

Perfect.

Or so I thought. I received a puzzling note about how two shipped, and I thought, hm wonder when the other will. Check it out.

Seriously?? Amazon, you kill me with your free-but-entirely-crappy shipping.

Eye Candy!

Happy Monday to everyone. I'm trying to stay focused on work, though the temptation of the upcoming long weekend is proving hard to ignore. Back to the grind in a few, but I took a quick break over my lunch, and how cute are these twosome rings on Gilt Groupe today!? Now, which to buy...

Sorry for my negligence...

But I've been up to my eyes in work and summer outings with friends... leaving me little time to pull together cutes outfits A(I'm doing it!, just not photoing them!) or time to blog. So my blog is suffering big time. To make up for it, Come this weekend, I'm going to announce the very first Spilling the Beans Giveaway. I'm a virgin sweeps holder!! I have a lovely grand prize I've been hanging on to for this moment, as well as a few runners up prizes -- all are some of my most favorite items or must haves, But more to come lady this weekend. For now, please cross your fingers OR do a no-rain dance OR pray to whoever that my travels from here on out are on the way up...

So that's it for now. I'm running off of 2.5 hours of sleep, so ready to curl up and fall asleep to Law and Order Reruns. Until this weekend, forgive my absentee blog!!



Emily