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! 

10 Teeny Tiny Things You Never Knew Existed

Teeny tiny versions of everyday real life objects or even scenarios is not a new trend of the scene. Most of us have owned a doll house, a barbie dream house or a micro machine or two in our lives. However, recently I have seem to come across somewhat a new phenomenon (well new to me at least) and its the video version of these teeny tiny things, and even more specifically teeny tiny animals in teeny tiny settings! There is just something about seeing these teeny tiny things in action of even just on display that keeps me coming back for more as I seem to be pleasantly surprised by the level of detail put into something... well... which seems so useless. I have come to a personal conclusion that there is literally a teeny tiny version of just about literally anything you can think of! Tiny jewelry, check! Tiny functioning cannon, yup its been done! Tiny lasagna, its been made! Go ahead try it! And if you find something that hasn't been made... there is someone out there who could surely make it! The following is what I like to call my miniature menagerie, a round of my top 10 favorite teeny tiny things. 

Teeny Tiny Pringles - Guaranteed less the calories of reg size Pringles!

Tiny Cheese Plate

Honestly HelloDenizen does it best! These hamster are living the life! Between the cuteness overload and creative genius I would love to see more of this on Instagram!

Tiny Veggies

Tiny Tool Box and Tools

Tiny Bubbles

Tiny Pancakes 

Teeny Tiny Breakfast

Tiny Ice Cream Shop

Teeny Tiny Cleaning Supplies 

Winter is Coming and Dragon Emojis are Here!

OK so these are so not real, but dragon emoji are here w/ the new iOS update! Unfortunately the emojis pictured above were developed by Elite Daily in celebration of the show. But in light of the long awaited Game of Thrones airing this weekend, how amazing would it be if we could celebrate with these epic GoT emojis! I am so excited to see what this new season will bring, so I am throwing it back (since it is #tbt) to a much older GoT post around a little something that makes me tick! Jewelry!!!! Check out the original post here: http://bit.ly/GoTJewelry 

While here in LA the sun may be shining bright as we fledged full force ahead through Spring, make no mistake… Winter is Coming! Last nights  This weekends long awaited season premiere of Game of Thrones shall return with a vengeance as we were quickly reminded of the stakes of the game. Not only did episode 1 titled "Valar Dohaeris" (a term that means “all men must serve” in High Valyrian)  return with a vengeance but so did Daenerys Targaryen and her warrior-esg accessory game. With dozens of characters, main as well as secondary it isn’t easy  keeping the story lines and even characters straight. The costumes and colors used amidst each tribe realm city etc. help carry you from place to place and even between character to character. And while it’s no surprise that I would notice pieces these costumes have been accessorized with, the look adorned around the neck of Daenerys Targaryen  undoubtedly does its job. On the hunt for her army she has without question come into her own (dragons and all) as the big forces are gearing up and it's all starting to get real! I'm excited for not only the plot to thicken this season, but to see the GOT accessory game unfold! Below I have included some additional "bling" amidst the Seven Kingdoms as well as a few fun pieces to consider adding to your jewelry repertoire to help you channel your inner princess, prince, king, queen or warrior! 

{simply stunning}

{Tyrion Lannisters bling}

{Handcuff bling for the King Killer Jami Lannister}

stay tuned for an upcoming post "Double the Cuff"

Music Month By Month: January Playlist

January 2013 from jessburgs on 8tracks Radio.

Lets start by pressing play above...

Do you ever find yourself stumbling backwards in time after hearing a certain song from your past? Whether that past the song has taken you to is a particular afternoon cira 1999 or maybe even yesterday, there is something so majestic about how music can induce such nostalgic feelings.  It’s as if we have these memories of events just inaudibly napping inside our heads waiting for a certain something  song to wake them up… and sometimes when those memories are awoken from their afternoon nap they come knocking on our doors bearing good feelings, ones worth reminiscing about. This got me thinking about the importance of music in my life… and how listening to a single song can make such a difference in my day. I’m not sure why but every few weeks or so I kinda get stuck on a certain set of songs… Im sure my nearest and dearest can attest to my cd burning obsession in my earlier days… I literally had a mix for everything… even one for cleaning my room {not a joke and I actually still own the majority of these…} This year I have decided to create a playlist a month… not sure that at the end of the year these playlists will be entirely made up of nostalgia inducing songs, but we shall see… Above and below {below complete list} are my songs for the month of January!  Here’s to a playlist a month {both old and new} of my most played –most listened to-and most loved jams... enjoy!

52 Weeks of Saving in 2013

If grade school taught us one thing other than to always share it was that there are 52 weeks in a calendar year. One thing it didn’t teach me was how to effectively save and budget my money, so now that I’m older I love hearing {and sharing} operative and simple ways to budget.  Most recently after my return from our holiday hiatus I spent some much needed time catching up with my office go to gal {yay Verna!} who got me up to speed on a little 52 week savings plan she had put to order for the new year! After some chatting and a little web surfing as on the how to of putting this plan into action, I found it actually quite simple and kind of fun if you ask me. While we are not sure who the original author or creator of this little plan is I have noticed around the web peeps referring to it as the 52 Week Money Challenge. I like to think of it as 52 weeks to my 2014 Oh S#*% Account. The simplicity behind this plan is such; for 52 weeks beginning with week one you put money away each week. The weekly dollar amount directly corresponds to number of the week it is. For example, week one you put away $1, week two you put away $2 and so on with the maximum amount you will be putting away in a single week is $52! Check it out below!

So if you take a look at the Account Balance that corresponds to week 52 (bottom right corner above), assuming you stick by the plan come December of this year you will have $1,378.00. I'm not suggesting that this be the only savings you do throughout the year, but this is a fun and simple way to have a little cushion after the holidays going into 2014! Whether you plan on saving each week just for yourself or you decide to put away for you and your children, grandchildren, significant other, brother, sister etc. who wouldn't want $1,378.00 extra?! Get creative with this, save in jar, save in a safe, only make a bank deposit every time your balance hits $100.00 execute this savings plan in a way that works for you. Maybe even use it as a learning tool for your kids and get them started early teaching them saving is not only important, but fun too! Not to worry, its not too late to start, we are only coming up on week 5 so if you put away $15 today you're already caught up! Happy Saving!  

12-12-12

Its 12-12-12! For some people its just another Wednesday in just another December in just another year... but today is the last of the great repeating dates we will see in our lifetime and our last chance to get excited about a date like this for many years to come. While many are commemorating about this magical date, I have put together a little list with the help of my good friend google of 12 notable 12's in our life's followed by a dozen things to be in the know about on 12-12-12... 

12 Notable 12's
12 Months in a year
12 Inches in a foot
12 Conference members in the Pac-12
12 Signs of the Zodiac
12 Dialing keys on a telephone (including * & #)
12 Golden yellow stars on the flag of Europe
12 Men have walked on the moon
12 apostles of Jesus
12 Makes a dozen
12 Face cards in a deck
12 Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous

12-12-12 In the Know

• Alabama teenager Kiam Moriya turns 12 at 12:12 on 12-12. — Emirates247.com

 

• Pope Benedict XVI has opened a personal Twitter account, and he is scheduled to answer a question about faith in his first tweet, scheduled for 12-12-12, according to Vatican officials. — CNN belief blog

• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are set to open 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden in New York. It is being billed as the largest event in music history.

• Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wears No. 12. "So earlier this year the state Legislature designated the day [12-12-12] Aaron Rodgers Day in honor of the Super Bowl winner and last year’s MVP." — The Washington Post
• Such numerical happenings as 12-12-12 spook some people while enthralling others. Some see the tick, tick, ticking of the calendar as magical or especially lucky.

• Be in the twitter know re peeps 12-12-12 tweets

• Check out the NY Times content-free fluff piece which strives to assign some significant meaning to the arbitrary assembly of numbers. 

• If 12 is your lucky number, today is as good as it gets!

 

• Check one-two-one-two... Appropriately... today has been dubbed National Soundcheck Day

• The Ancient Mayan calendar speaks of 12-12-2012 as the end of times as we know it.
• After today, there won't be another triple date to match until Jan. 1, 2101. 

• I think its a nice tie-in for publishing my post on 12-12-12 at precisely 12.

 

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!