BCBG Well Being Event

April 3rd & 4Th only at participating BCBG stores receive 15% off all regularly priced merchandise and a free gift with purchase on any purchase over $250 (online and in store)

Good Cashmere

to counteract the woe is me-ness that I blogged about earlier today, I have exciting news. My first ever J-Crew order arrived today and I just have to say it's everything I hoped it would be and more! Now I know people are all thinking I'm crazy, but folks. Seriously. I got the merino sweater with the ruffle collar I blogged about a couple of days ago and the Grey Argyle cashmere sweater. This is what cashmere should feel like. Soft and lightweight. But the real winner in my eyes is the merino. Oh. My. Gosh. It's soft, its super light and it's less than half the price of the cashmere. I am in blissful woolly heaven. My only complaint? They don't have enough styles in the merino. I can't wait to buy more from J-crew, not only are their phone people super nice (she added a 20% discount AFTER I had placed my order when I found the online coupon) but the shipping is fast and reasonable. I ordered these on the 26Th and they say 10-12 business days. This came in FOUR business days. Hurrah J-Crew, you have a life long shopper in me.

Bad Cashmere

I was having a tough day yesterday and so I thought I would indulge in a little retail therapy. I'm thinking a sweater, cashmere would be nice but I'd settle for some merino at this time of year. Nothing in Banana Republic, nothing in United Colours of Bennaton (to be fair they where reorganising) or Mendocino (do all stores reorganize on the same day?) and then I get to Club Monaco. They have a Cotton-Cashmere sweater for the very reasonable price of $79. Great! except... it's paper thin. As in, thinner than my t-shirts. And I can just see it already starting to sag because sadly the content is something like 80% cotton, some man made fibre and 5% cashmere. Sad face. But look! a nice 100% cashmere sweater! Its got gold buttons which are really snazzy. It feels a little rough when I pick it up, but I'm sure once I get it on it won't feel too bad. Wrong. This cashmere is the roughest most horrible sweater ever. I've had WOOL that is softer than this. This sweater does not come cheap either, at $179. Disappointed and still having a bad day (now worse) I do the only thing a gal can do in this situation. I buy chocolate.

Patrick Dempsey

Patrick Dempsey aka Doctor Derek Sheppard aka McDreamy is set to release a new fragrance from Avon this fall. I wonder what it'll smell like, surgical gloves and Meredith's Lavender conditioner?

Adorable

I'm loving these flats from Nordstrom, very Victorian fairy tale.

Hello Lover

I was going to create a new blog, I was tired of this one. But the more I thought about it and as I posted on the new one I kept looking at A Girl Like Moi and all of my previous posts. I'm going to reformat the way I post to this blog instead of starting fresh. The weather here has been very uninspiring of late, very grey very cold and very winter like despite it being spring. What got me out of my funk where two things a)cashmere sweaters from J-Crew and b)my upcoming trip to London this summer.

Classic

Nothing screams American Classic like a Ralph Lauren crest blazer. Perfect with jeans or a skirt when you want to channel your inner WASP.

Free Shipping at J - Crew

Just enter 2703FS at the checkout until April 3.

J-Crew Sweaters for Spring

The weather is slowly warming up and although we're supposed to get MORE snow I've been drawn to J-Crew's lovely sweaters, great for those days that you still need a little bit of warmth.

This grey argyle cashmere sweater with the gold thread detailing is just so precious.

This merino ruffled collar cardigan comes in a ton of colours, a great little basic.

This wonderfully bright cardigan in merino is a great statement piece.

Now to decide what colours to get!

Secret Sale

shhh... J-Crew is having a secret sale, just type secret into the coupon box at checkout and get 20% off all orders over $125 until Friday.

Perfume : L'air de Rien

Synopsis: L'Air de Rien was created uniquely for Jane Birkin, a famous French singer and actress, as an olfactory interpretation of her life. Inspired by her favorite smells of herfather's pipe, floor polish, empty chest of drawers, old forgotten houses, the scent creates an atmospheric effect. The juxtaposition of hay-like, bitter oakmoss with warm, animalic musk evokes images of classic English mansions, old leather furniture, dry flowers as well as vintage chypre fragrances. With its unusual, somewhat quirky character, L'Air de Rien manages to be an incredibly exquisite oriental, marked by sensual, ambery-vanillic drydown. It melds with your skin and wears like the softest leather.

Notes:French oak moss, Tunisian neroli, sweet musk, amber and vanilla

My Thoughts: The opening to this is very powdery; I can smell the vanilla and musk in spades. As it dries down its still very powdery and sweet. Defiantly not my taste as far as perfumes go. I would have loved to have actually smelled some leather in this or even some smoke to make it less cloying. Try it if you love fluffy perfumes

Source

xoxo
Alysia

NYT Article

So This article by the New York Times (titled Beauty Blogs Come of Age: Swag, Please!) is stirring up a ton of controversy with many of my must read blogs (Beauty Addict and All About the Pretty being two) Kristen Kelly, of Beauty Addict defends herself, explaining that she's been horribly misquoted. Personally, while I do agree that SOME blogs (not all or even the majority by any stretch) read like a coming soon list of soon to be launched beauty products. However the truly good ones do not. I'm disappointed in the New York Times for posting such tripe. Enough said.

xoxo
Alysia

ps. and yes I know I claimed to be 'back from the holidays' almost a month ago but I've been really busy. Rewatching Grey's Anatomy. From Season one.

Back from the Holidays

I'm back from the holidays with many a purchase made, most notebly I finally caved and bought the Carly Coach bag in Brown leather trim. However now they have new stuff coming out in Februrary that I'm dying for so I may just have to buy more. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Exercise

So I just got a new exercise video, Ballet Conditioning by Element. I can't do most Yoga/Pilates videos/classes because my knees are messed up, but ballet I can do. I only got through the first 20 minutes of this video before my legs started to shake but I liked the relatively easy pace of it, making it easy to follow along, but you could still feel the burn. I'm trying to lose a few inches (inches not pounds, I don't really care about my weight, but my stomach is a little pudgy of late and I would like to lose about 2-3 inches off of it) so I'm going to try to motivate myself by including what I do in this blog. Because nothing helps clothing look better than a fit body.

xoxo
Alysia

Cute for the Holidays

The adorable Alpine Holiday skirt adds whimsy to any party outfit this season. From JCrew

really good potoatoes

Potatoes
Olive Oil
Garlic
Herbes De Provence
Salt (Optional)

wash and cut up potatoes and place in an oven safe dish. Drizzle olive oil over top. Sprinkle with Herbes de Provence and Garlic. Toss potatoes to make sure they're coated. Bake at 400 degrees until soft when punctured with a fork (about an hour to an hour in a half)

These potatoes are a great side dish, reheat well and once they're in the oven you can just forget about them! Great for brunch as well.

xoxo
Alysia

Liz Jones Rips Rachel Zoe a new one

Liz Jones of the Daily Mail critiques Rachel Zoe's horrible new book in this hilarious interview. I hate the way Rachel Zoe styles and I agree with Liz about her book, I've flipped through and then promptly moved on to Nina Garcia's book.

Skirt Love: J-Crew

The Flannel Parlour skirt from J-Crew is extremely cute, perfect for an afternoon of lunching and shopping. Or meeting the significant others parents. The pockets are what won me over here. Now if only I could find a J-Crew in Canada...

xoxo
Alysia

Sweater Love : Abercrombie & Fitch

The Carla sweater from Ambercrombie and Fitch is so cute. I like it best in grey. The only issue I have with it is a) for a short sleeve slightly impractical sweater... that sure is a heafty price tag and b) it's 100% wool. Which means I can't wear it without getting hives. But to those lucky readers who CAN wear wool, the carly looks like a great sweater.

...

So life has been kicking my ass lately. Hardcore style. Between school, work and family I'm running on empty. And it's not pleasant. That said, I think I can find the time/energy to start blogging again. It may not be a set schedule, and it may not be all that often but I do miss the joys of blogging. So while I gather my thoughts to blog, listen to this (Stars - Take me to the Riot) because they're ace and the guy I like is into them too.

xoxo
Alysia