Outfit Post: NOLA Night Out

Have you ever bought an item thinking, "I'll wear this all the time!" and then it sits in your closet?  My cousin, Chelsea, and I were shopping at Bergdorf Goodman a few months back when I spotted this sparkly stunner on sale in the 5F section. Back in the college days this would've fallen into the "Going Out Tops" category and 21 year-old me decided that I had to have this fabulous Elizabeth and James top.

It's called the "Maggie" top, but I prefer Magpie - so shiny!

Unfortunately, 31 year old me does not have quite as many opportunities to sport such an item (I mean, I could wear it on a random Wednesday, but the sequins might get stuck to my couch). When V and I decided to visit friends in New Orleans for New Year's and I knew I'd finally get to bust this bad boy out.

I kept it simple with jeans and my favorite Guccis and the amazing Gucci Soho Leather Disco bag that V bought me for Christmas (lucky girl, right?). I'm also wearing these super-fun Elizabeth Cole Mohawk earrings that I'd scored from a Gilt sale awhile back, but the new layered hair makes them difficult to see (womp, womp). Maybe now that I broke the seal on this top I'll be more adventurous with the styling.

Top: Elizabeth and James Jeans: American Eagle Heels: Gucci [Not pictured] Bag: Gucci Earrings: Elizabeth Cole

A Ring Thing

Christina Applegate was so cool in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and I loved everything about her style (okay, maybe not maybe not the hats, the hats were pretty terrible). Ever since the video camera zoomed in on Sue Ellen Crandell typing up her fake resume (in which claimed to be a Vassar alum) I have wanted to wear a midi ring. 

Since I have teeny tiny hands it's hard enough finding a ring small enough to fit my ring finger let alone the first half of my pointer, so for years I just had to dream of looking like one of the coolest 90's teens ever... and then the midi ring craze hit and for a mere $7 in Nordstrom's B.P. department I am now able to emulate Sue'Ell.

Unfortunately this is one of those trends that was not meant to be. It drove me nuts all day. It kept spinning around, to the point where I just kept my finger awkwardly bent (you know on Friends when Phoebe teaches Joey to play guitar? Think "old lady" pose.)  so it wouldn't fall off (which it did, repeatedly).

Midi ring on top, cork ring on the bottom

I had all but resigned myself to my old ring uniform of my single Hawaiian band on my ring finger when my parents came home from their Tauck small ship cruise of the Mediterranean with this amazing silver and cork number from Bonifacio (apparently cork is a thing there). It's my new go-to, I'm totally obsessed, I highly recommend that you get yourself to Corsica posthaste to get one for yourself (or, you know, the internet).

Aloha - I'm Back!

Summertime is for relaxing and since I can't seem to unwind when I'm near a computer I jumped at the chance to take a real vacation (for the first time in over 2 years) to Hawaii with the old roomies.

Hawaii was everything we'd hoped for and more - beautiful weather, great food and adventures abound. On Oahu we swam with the dolphins at Sea Life Park (where 50 First Dates was filmed), paid homage to fallen heroes at Pearl Harbor, and hiked Diamond Head.

We were supposed to go zip lining in Maui, but the winds were too strong so the more adventurous of us went ATV-ing instead. We did the Road to Hana: a 68 mile drive along highway that included stops at a the black sand beaches, waterfall we could swim in, and winery, attended a Luau at the Hyatt and at the end of our trip we watched the sun rise over Haleakala, aka the East Maui Volcano, and then biked down 23 miles.

On both islands we stayed in Aston properties. While I would definitely recommend the Aston Kaanapali Shores on Maui, which were basically cute and very well maintained condos, I have mixed emotions about the Aston Waikiki Beach hotel.

Allow me to start with the positive: the decor was cute and kitschy and the restaurant/tiki bar was delicious (food and beverage-wise). However, the whole place was like a hotel version of trading spaces. It was like they slapped on new bedding and threw some surfboards up as decor, but didn't bother fixing the bathrooms because the websites don't show those anyway. Our bathroom was almost scary; the shower head was violent (in both pressure and the fact that for some odd reason it sprayed out the side as well as straight down) and the shower curtain rod was so rusted one might get Tetanus just from looking at it (okay so apparently the whole tetanus = rust thing is a myth, but you get my point.

The bathroom didn't ruin our visit by any means, we just kept it quick and made sure not to touch the rod (a safe rule for any group if single girls on vacation *couldn't resist*). Besides, after the Aston Waikiki Beach we were all too excited to see our fancy Florida-meets-Hawaii condo in Maui. Well played Liberty Travel agent.

In My Online Absence

While I was on my unintentional blogging break I went to Vegas for a friend's 30th birthday. We stayed at The Hard Rock, where I had never stayed before, and I loved it!

Since The Hard Rock is a boutique hotel it was the perfect place for us to stay. We were a group of about 10 so the small size of the hotel made it easy to meet up at any given point.

We had (2) regular rooms and a suite and they were all really nicely designed; they kept with the rock and roll theme and had fabulous bed linens and great stereos (the suite even had a touch screen stereo that you could hook your ipod up to!).



I particularly enjoyed gambling there because their roulette table was just a $5 minimum bet all day and night. I'm not sure if it was because we were there in the office season or because they're located off the strip, or a combination of the two, but this allowed me to play for quite awhile.

Everyone who worked there was beyond friendly in a chill, relaxed way, rather than an overcompensating customer service way, which I see as a huge plus.


Saturday night we ate at Nobu and there was a plate for every price point and delicious drinks as well. Think kobe beef, sushi, tuna tacos, and even the more basic dishes with chicken looked and smelled amazing.

After dinner we headed up to the suite for a few pre-club cocktails (and a mini photo shoot, my friends crack me up) and then headed down to Vanity, the nightclub at The Hard Rock.

A good friend had been to Vanity over the summer and did not like it, she even went so far as to warn me against it, and I seriously trust her opinion and taste level. Due to this information I went in with low expectations, but I am happy to report that it far exceeded them!

The crowd outside resembled a bunch of Rock of Love rejects, but that's to be expected. I was a happy little fashionista dressed in Gucci H2T, and my friends all looked amazing as well, so I didn't really care about anyone else.


Once inside the design was very cool, very Vegas, total excess. Mirrors, LED lights in waves on the ceiling, velvet seats and an enormous chandelier as the centerpiece. The bathroom was quite literally a vanity with huge mirrors with round light bulbs going up either side and stations to sit and fix your make-up. Cute without being kitsch.

Ladies drank free champagne until midnight so we squeezed a glass in before they cut that off. You cannot be sad while sipping a glass of champagne (or prosecco or cava or any other country's version of sparkling wine for that matter), and I was in a good mood to start, so the night continued to go up from there.

They played a great mix of dance and rock and the crowd was attractive and well dressed (for the most part, that can't keep all the riff raff out) and we danced into the morning before heading back down to the casino to gamble a bit before bed.

Merci Mama!

Merci Mama! by KimboNotKimmy featuring a short sleeve tee

Merci!

Monday my mother came back from Paris and she brought me a fabulous present; a flowy, asymmetrical hemmed, white t-shirt with a black and white image of Coco Chanel on it. LOVE!

It is going to look amazing with my new black skinny Joe's and the combat boots I ordered from Nordstrom. Obviously a polyvore collage is in order, look for it later today...

Merci Mama!

Rush, Rush

"No Time! There's Never Any Time!" - Jessie Spano

I am notoriously waiting til the last minute to do things and today is no exception. Tomorrow morning we leave for Vegas for the wedding (doesn't it seem like I've been talking about this forever) and tonight I have to perform several beauty-related tasks, see my friend's newborn baby (congrats Karen and Phil!) and actually pack (because I only fake-packed last night, which means I retrieved some of the items already on my packing list from my closet).

So tonight I'm sure I'll be up til 1am or so and tomorrow I'll be exhausted as I drive to Queens (probably running late again) so we can get a ride the rest of the way to the airport.

On the plus side, we are flying Virgin America and I can't wait to report back on how it goes. I've wanted to fly them since they launched in August of '07. Until my cousin launches his kid-free airline I'm sure that this will be favorite (or so I hope).

The Pre-Metallics Era

When I was growing up when getting dressed for a formal event (whether it be a bat mitzvah or a sweet 16), you wore black shoes. There were no fancy metallic options unless they were of the Nina brand bridal shoe variety and therefor, to be avoided.

Then, somewhere between High School and College, right around the same time "black pants" were replaced by jeans as the new going out attire, metallics were reintroduced to the fashion canon. And so black shoes became the footwear equivalent of a dirty word to me.

Black shoes with a pink dress? Ew, what was I, like, 40 or something?

Now, several years later, I have come to appreciate the black shoe again, but in a different way. Now black is used as an accent, a statement of contrast, like it's used with pink at Victoria's Secret or as a color scheme for a wedding.

With this in mind I am choosing to wear black shoes with a blue dress to an upcoming family wedding in Florida. The dress is from last season, but I'll attempt to create a collage that's as close to the real thing as possible on Polyvore and post in a bit.

I guess when it comes to black, you can go back.