Winning the Motherload: Jami Rodriguez Jewelry

Recently, the fashion community Stylehive.com held a contest to write about your favorite "Style Hiver" - who they were, what you liked about them, and why. The prize they were offering was too good to pass up - $500 worth of jewelry from the amazing designer Jami Rodriguez. So, I grabbed my keyboard and set to work. I decided to write about a member named BusyBee, who has remarkably great taste and a superb collection of items she showcases on the site.

Lo and behold, I just found out I won! In a few short days time, this amazing hoard of gorgeous jewelry will be making its way to yours truly. Talk about an amazing birthday gift!!


Jami Rodriguez Jewelry Collection

I can't tell you how delighted I am. I am very particular when it comes to jewelry, but Rodriquez's line feels like it was made for me - the pieces are so unique, dramatic, with a sophisticated sense of whimsy. I can barely wait to start wearing these bad boys!

StyleHive has a great interview with Jami Rodriguez, which you can read here.
To view Rodriguez's complete jewelry line, click here.

Full review of the pieces and pics coming soon!

Claimed! Miss Sixty Adrian Boots

I love buying things out of season. Nothing makes me happier for the upcoming weather than picking up something warm in the cold months and cold in the warm ones. Well ok, there is one other thing that is as wonderful: the fact that the particular item is usually over 50% off its original price!

So, you can only imagine my sheer, unadulterated joy when I picked up these babies at a sample sale a few weeks ago:



I have long been in need of a pair of big, black boots. These Miss Sixty Adrian boots are simply amazing, and everything I was coveting. The leather is the softest stuff I have ever encountered, and they are super tall and super comfy. My wallet would have been hurting something awful picking them up at their retail price, but I managed to snatch these up for a song.



My particular favorite part about these boots is the detailing around the ankle. I love the straps, buckles, but especially the charm that hangs from one of the shoes. It is such a cute and sweet little detail, and even makes a chiming click when I walk about. I actually have become rather inspired with the idea charms on boots: perhaps I will decorate the entire pair with little gold and silver charms along the straps. You will then hear me coming from a mile away.



I can barely wait until the weather cools down so I can start stomping around in these beauts. I am a summer child, but there's nothing like a good pair of boots to help heal that hurt round end of the season.

Weekend Buys

Had a really nice weekend - went and saw Sex in the City with Gala, Gilda and friends, followed up by a rather awesome roof party hosted by my pal Brian. Saturday and Sunday I stayed mainly in the house, apart from a brief excursion with Boyfriend Kaboom to Barnes and Noble where I picked up some awesome goodies.



I snatched up the Martin Millar's new book "Lonely Werewolf Girl" (which I am super excited to read even though I hate the cover), a new leather-bound edition of the complete works of the Brothers Grimm, a pack of Moleskine cahier books, and a set of lovely glittery notecards.

I am most excited by the collection of Grimm's tales. I already had a copy of these, but I took one look at this book and knew I needed to replace it immediately.



The book is wrapped in forest green leather, and embossed in silver and gold. The pages are gold leafed and it has a ribbon bookmark.





The end pages are covered with gorgeous forest scenes (even Haiku liked them). I am so in love with this book - I can't imagine a more perfect way to house such wonderful stories.



Haiku is such a ham.

I'm Smelly...

...in a good way. My signature scent is Prada perfume - I find it simply irresistible, have worn it for well over 3 years and still love it as much as the first time I caught a whiff in a magazine. It is a heady, layered scent of sandalwood and patchouli that encapsulates everything I desire in a perfume - it's spicy, sweet and warm. However, as absolutely perfect as I find this scent, it has one major drawback - it is very dense, and not at all appropriate for the warmer months. I simply can't bring myself to wear it anytime after May, as it feels the olfactory equivalent of wearing a fur stole to the beach.

Thus began my search for the ideal summer fragrance. This hunt has been going on for well over a year now. Some girls are perfectly happy flirting around with a different perfume each day, but not me. I am all about commitment, baby. It took me YEARS to discover the perfect perfume in Prada, and I certainly didn't intend to throw on just any old fragrance for the other half of the year.

In the process of searching, I have had my brief flings: first with a
Voluspa I picked up on the Jersey Boardwalk on a whim. While Mimosa Martini's intoxicatingly sweet and buttery scent made me feel like I was perpetually fresh off the sand, it was a bit too wild for my tastes: she was the one dancing on the bar by the end of the night, while I was longing to curl up with a book and a cup of tea.


Voluspa Mimosa Martini

Next came a stint with the more subdued Sugar Lemon. Fresh's scent was a nice change of pace from Mimosa's tango-stylings, and it's fresh lemon scent made me think of porch-swings and grassy yards. However, in the end there was no...magic. Lemon Sugar was just that - sweet lemons. No subtle notes, no implied hints, and in the end it's lack of layers just bored me. We parted on the best of terms, though.



Sugar Lemon by Fresh

Fortunately, by the end of these two romances, the leaves had started to change, and I could once again return to my old love. But here we are, almost June again, and driven by an empty bottle of Prada I took up my search afresh (my sample bottle of Chloe was only going to last so long). So yesterday found me at Sephora with my friend Sundari, spraying and whiffing away once more for the perfect perfume. And suddenly, between a handful of paper sticks and a ticklish nose, BAM. Found it.

Michael Kors by Michael Kors

I have to be honest, I generally find Michael Kors fashion a bit of a snooze-fest. But damn, can he make some perfume. Michael Kors by Micheal Kors is a lovely, rich fragrance that perfectly blends floral and spice. The moment I smelled it, I practically swooned. It has freesia in it, which is one of my favorite scents, and just a hint of musk to give it weight. I was surprised to discover tuberose was the main ingredient, as I am not generally drawn to scents with floral bases, but I think that just shows how well the scents in the fragrance compliment each other. To me, it's just perfect: sweet and blamy, like a warm summer night.


Lolita Lempicka's L Perfume

Honorable mention goes to Lolita Lempicka's new fragrance, L. I have been enamored by this fragrance for months now, and came very close to purchasing it on several occasions. This scent has a base in bitter orange, much like my beloved Prada, and the fragrance reminds me of warm sugar and evergreen and awesome. However, like Prada, it is a very strong scent, and I think much more appropriate for the cooler months. Maybe I can have 2 winter scents after all...

My Daily Covet (Claimed!): LG enV Mobile Phone

Ever since my pal Sue got the LG enV, I have been obsessively desiring it. She wouldn't even let me hold it anymore because I was drooling over it so much. But I was having an internal conundrum about purchasing it, since it was a wee bit out of my phone budget. I had since resigned myself to trying to figure out how I would continue to exist without possessing this sweet little piece of technology.

This weekend some plans got canceled, and I found myself stuck on 6th Avenue with not a darn thing to do. So I walked into the nearest Verizon store to browse my other upgrade possibilities. Lo and behold, my dear little phone was on sale! Suddenly the phone I coveted so was quite suddenly in my price range. Score!

Here's the enV in all its grandeur:



Why this phone rules:

The Color: it is by far the most colorful phone in Verizon's offerings, available in a popping orange, and lush olive, and a cool silver (I got the olive one).

Keypad Goodness: The phone flips open to reveal a full alpha-numeric keypad, with calendar capabilities. I have since started texting like an insane person.



The Camera: The phone contains a 2.0 megapixel camera, complete with autfocus and flash. Flip the phone, and suddenly you have a very competent camera



The Size: My last phone was a Rzr, and taught me that there is such a thing as a phone that's too small. The thing was so light and flimsy, I was constantly dropping it, where it would immediately shatter into 18 pieces all over the floor. The enV has quite a bit of bulk to it, and I honestly couldn't be happier. It's nice to have a phone that seems like it can take a beating.

Now, if you need me, I'll be texting everyone in my contacts list my grocery list. Just 'cause.

My Daily Covet (Claimed!): Delia's Solid Skirted One-Piece

Apparently, one-piece bathing suits are made from unicorn hair, which is the only rational explanation I’ve come up with as to why every one I look at costs about a thousand dollars. However, I have finally triumphed! I recently picked up this little number from Delias.com, which rang in at a lovely 40 chicken bones:




Here are the things that are awesome about this suit:

BLACK. Never goes out of style

If black isn’t your thang, they also have this in an edible candy apple red heart pattern:

the neck strap is removable, so one can get a sweet tan but not lose the suit when you decide to take a dip.

The SCRUNCHING. This suit is double lined with an outer scrunching layer of suit-stuff, which means the bottom frill is actually length-adjustable. The above image has the fringe worn rather high, but when I tried it on I was delighted to discover I could pull it all the way over my butt for a totally retro-looking little skirt-suit. (Like this, but without the torpedo-boobies):

That’s totally what's it's like when I am at the beach.

Though they don’t have it for this suit, Delia’s also offers many of their other one-piece’s in different trunk lengths, which is a dream-come-true for a petite little dwarf like myself.

Now I am counting the days until I can get some sand in my butt…

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