Gifts That Give Back

                                                                    (via) 

The holidays are just around the corner as the second week of December comes to a close. The temperatures here in Los Angeles are still abnormally high and we continue to face the devastation of spreading wildfires so in effort to remain positive and do our best to get in the Holiday spirit what better that putting together a gift guide that gives back!  Who doesn’t love to not only give a gift that gives back, but receive one as well! From humanitarian organizations to non-profits giving back to those in need – this season of giving I'm helping you find the perfect gifts that gives beyond the one person its intended for!   

LULAS GARDEN

 Lula’s Garden proudly supports organizations that help improve lives around the world by providing access to safe water.

LUSH CHARITY POT

With every purchase of Charity Pot, LUSH donates 100% of the price (minus the taxes) to small grassroots organizations working in the areas of environmental conservation, animal welfare and human rights.

LOVE YOUR MELON

If you don't already know about the beautiful souls behind Love Your Melon than I am glad to make you aware! Love Your Melon is an apparel brand dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America as well as supporting nonprofit organizations who lead the fight against pediatric cancer. Tis the season stay warm and this organization does it right! 

THE STARLING PROJECT

The Startling Projects fragrant soy candles help provide solar energy to under-resourced countries across the globe, granting needy communities access to electricity, clean water, safety, health, education, and more!

FOUND MY ANIMAL 

And last but not least for that animal love in your life FOUND MY ANIMAL supports animal adoption and donates profits from colorful rope and leather collars, harnesses, and other pet accessories to animal rescue organizations around the country! 

Guide to Flea Market Shopping: Vintage Treasure Hunting

I wouldn't call myself a beginner when it comes to flea market shopping or vintage treasure hunting for that matter as bargain shopping of any kind is enough to get me up and out the door early on an otherwise sleepy Sunday morning well before the rest of the world has a chance to even hit the snooze button. Shopping someone else’s once loved items can be a bit scary (for many reason which I won’t get into)… but there is nothing I love more than a GREAT vintage find. Trust me, it takes work to find the right thing, but seeing your collected treasured come together to create or complete a look that didn’t break the bank is a wonderful feeling. There are few things I think you should know if you’re planning a vintage treasure hunt of your own in the near future and these little “insider” tips will set you down a path of enjoying the hunt just as much as I do!

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Get There Early: The Early Bird Gets the Worm or in our case gets the Antlers! If you get there when the doors open, earlier if possible you’ve got a head start over the rest of the vintage pickers and will get first dibs on the days treasures.  Remember, the early bird gets the worm!

Go Green: As in bring cash. While it’s more and more these days you will come across vendor with a means of accepting plastic but having cash can benefit you on many levels for example when striking a deal. And don’t forget to bring a variety of bills, lots of ones and fives.

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Don’t Hesitate: If you see something you love, buy it! If you don’t, chances are someone else will!

Prior Proper Planning: This applies to a lot of things, from bringing your own sturdy bag for potential finds to knowing what you plan to buy and driving a car that day if what you plan to buy might only fit in the flat bed of a truck. Its important to make a list so you don’t forget what you’re looking for, but don’t be afraid to stray from your list. You never know what you will come across at the flea market!

Take pride in breathing new life into forgotten treasures and done be afraid get creative!

Wedding Season: Dress Code Edition

Wedding season is upon us and with 3 weddings on my calendar in the next few months, dress shopping is upon me! I often look to celebrity looks, red carpet looks in particular for inspiration around my wedding guest attire. Picking the perfect dress can be a challenge and accessorizing can sometimes seem impossible and choosing the right color and cut are just half the battle. Will you go with the One Shoulder Dress... Will you opt for a dress that is Strapless We all know choosing the right accessories can be challenging on a daily basis, but even more difficult when it comes to certain looks. 

A few things to consider when looking for jewelry to complete your look: Consider the neckline of the dress... Is it sleeveless, short sleeve or long sleeve? And what is the overall look you are attempting to achieve? Keep these questions in mind as well as my following recommendations and I am sure you will find the perfect bling to bring out the beauty and sophistication of the look you choose.

Necklace and the One Shoulder Dress:
First of all, I would suggest skipping the necklace unless you have the appropriate time to spend searching for one that is just right. And if you do... may I recommend the following:

Choker: Keeping in mind A choker lays close to the neck without interfering with a slanting neckline. A choker works well with a slender neck and brings attention to the face.

Bold Cuff: Like the the Malene Birger Hacia Cut Out Cuff from INTERMIX. One shoulder dress are made to look and feel uneven with an edgy fashion take, but a bold cuff can provide just the perfect amount a balance to dance the night away.

Ear Cuff: Red carpet ready is always a look I like to go for when an opportunity to dress up is on the horizon. And with the elegant yet edgy look Giuliana Rancic pulls off an ear cuff is all she needed. Sometimes and ear cuff is just enough to pull the attention back up to your face and adding the right touch of layered rings is a no brainer.  

Naked-Chic: Dare to be daring! Recently one of the biggest trends from the Met Gala 2015! Naked Chic! Stars like Jennifer Lopez, Kim K, and Beyonce showed up baring a lot of skin and I thing the right mix of naked chic may be a bit daring for a wedding but hey like I said, its all about what over all look you are trying to achieve. Below I have included a couple of fail safe naked chic dresses and one bold look from Bey! 

Sage and Sparkle

Here is Beys version of naked chic at Met Gala! 

BCBG and Wendy do naked chic just right! 

I Got It For My Mama: Mothers Day Gift Guide

Moms should be celebrated all year round, but picking out the right gift for your Mom on Mothers Day can get tricky! Weather you're honoring your own mom or maybe motherhood among your friends or even moms near and far, taking a moment to honor the women who give so much love day in and day out is important. Sending something sparkly or sweet or surprising her with an unexpected visit (I love you mom and we will celebrate when Im home soon) she will surely appreciate every moment of it!  With less than a week to go its not too late to get your mom something special and I have picked out a few possibilities to guide your gift giving this Mothers Day. 

1.) My Mom Rocks Wine Glass - Rock your moms world with a stylish stemless vino glass. 
2.) Yves Saint Laurent Beaute. Rouge Pur Couture Red lipstick #whynot
3.) Stella McCartney Lace Trimmed Silk Robe With summer around the corner every woman especially moms need the perfect silk robe to fit the season. 
4.) Garden in a Bag Beautiful zinnias which are sure to flourish for far longer than any curated arrangement from the local florist.  
5.) Daniel Wellington Classic Watch - Classic time piece for every moms collection.
6.) Henri Bendel Lacquered Jewelry Box - Stylish jewel box is always a fun gift!

My Spending Hiatus...

The holiday months can often times send you into somewhat of a spending bender if you know what I mean… and what better antidote to your empty feeling pocket books than a No-Spend-Month (In my case I'm working on 3 consecutive months of this, within reason) Its not always easy being mindful and disciplined about the money I spend, so during this No-Spend-Month/s which is basically short for “No Spending Except For Basic Essentials” I will not be spending on anything non-essential. Non-essential meaning things like:

Clothes/accessories
Personal Training
Electronics
Lunches/Dinners out
Online Purchases (Guilt, Amazon)
iPhone apps, iTunes, lottery tickets and any other $1-$2 finds
Manis & Pedis
Starbucks & Pete's

 So for the next month while I’m shopping my very own closet to recreate “new” outfits and giving homemade gifts & cards or offering my services for those of you with upcoming birthdays I am hopeful that I may just find that keeping track of the amount of money I’m saving (toward a specific financial goal) is motivation enough to stick with this spending diet for more than just 30 days.

 I plan to give myself a budget of $100 per week and this money can only go towards essentials! By no means am I trying to deprive myself, but more so help myself reconnect with my $$ so I am able to learn to further value and appreciate every single dollar. I will only allow myself to dip into this $100 on designated spending days (which for now will be Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday) By creating designated spending days I will force myself to plan out my spending meaning I will have to know what I need to purchase and wait until a spending day to buy it. I am confident that this will eliminate cashing out for foolish items and actually having to wait for that chap stick/lip gloss I was trying to convince myself I needed on a Monday night, come Wednesday (a spending day) I most likely will have forgotten all about it. I plan is to allot my $100 budget towards the following: 

Groceries & eating out (occasion based)

Gas
Household items (paper towels, tp, light bulbs, toothpaste etc.)
Entertainment (like I said not trying to deprive myself)

There are a ton of 30 day no spend month challenges all over the blogsphere so looking to google and my fellow bloggers for tips and/or inspiration won’t be a prob and should you also get a wild hair I would like to suggest the following:

half dozen daily

growing slower
bankrate.com

And with food in my fridge, gas in my car and my bills and rent paid for the month thus far let the spending hiatus begin…
 

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String...

 

This might sound silly, but one of my favorite parts about the holidays is picking out the perfect gift wrap. There is just something about a present when it is wrapped up all pretty like and topped with a bow that makes whats inside seem so much more thoughtful! A gift from the heart is the best gift you can give... Gift tags, bakers twine, washi tape and pretty ribbons are so fun to get creative with this time of year! Here are some of my favorite paper essentials which will help make my holidays a wrap!

{simply luv!}

{i think craft paper is the way to go this year!}

{classic wrapping}

{Whats black and white and read all over? holiday recycling at its finest, love this!}

 

 

Life is short make it pretty...

It seems as if the holidays are all about time... or lack therof if you know what I mean and I really dislike the overwhelmed feeling of last-minute gifts {which are sometime totally unavoidable} And while you could just totally head over to iamexec.com and hire yourself some additional hoiliday help for $25 per hour, you might as well spend that dough and pick up one of these personalized tchotchkes! Im a big fan of gift giving that shows you gave a little thought and custom monogram notebooks prove you were planning ahead. Only thing is Im going to have pick one up for myslef too, I believe that would be called a me-gift.

me-gift/ verb: to buy two of the same present- one for her and one for me

 Example: Its bad enough Alysse and I are wearing the same sweater tonight, but its even more awkward because I me-gifted mine when I bought it for her!

Good news is, May Designs offers up a great selection of these customized notes and notebooks and you can create your very own right down to the letter/s printed on them, not to mention for such a reasonable price and the production is a cinch; easy as one, two, three, four :)

Step one: Choose your pattern from their amazing selection of swatches
Step two: Add a monogram or a name
Step three: Choose your Inside Pages. Agendas, Dots, Lines, etc.
Step four: Preview & Checkout. and Voila! 
You are all finished and you can cross one or maybe even two more people off your hoiliday list of to-buy-fors. Check out their gallery for a little may designs inspiration! Happy shopping!