I don’t shop at J.Crew consistently through the year because… who likes paying retail. I love the period of sale prices with no final sale stipulation (get around it with Amex!), but it is shortlived. Luckily, eBay has a pretty good resale market if you buy the right items.
I took a peek at the new items — I love the burst of color like its sister, Madewell, and can’t wait for these to hit the sale floor.
Image source: J.Crew
Image source: Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Elie Tahari
If you’ve read enough of my blogs, you’ll know that I adore lace. Lace dresses, lace tops, lace leggings, etc. If you’re looking for a lace dress, there is plenty of selection on sale right now at, but not limited to, Shopbop, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s, and Neiman Marcus. I am shying away from Zara and Forever 21 because the quality of their lace isn’t as good, or it just looks like lace. It is an investment piece and most of these can also be dressed down for work (i.e. lower cost per wear) by throwing a blazer over, belting, and/or wearing tights.
Row 1: Nanette Lepore Amore Mio ($398, prior season), ML Monique Lhuillier Midnight Lace Cocktail Dress ($398), Elie Tahari Lolly ($698)
Row 2: Adrianna Papell E! Red Carpet Collection Lace Overlap Sheath Dress ($158, and a doppelgänger for DVF’s Zarita, current season), Milly Celia Chantilly ($435, not on sale yet), DKNY Lace Dress with Scalloped Hem ($345)
Row 3: Not relevant, but too gorgeous to exclude. Elie Tahari Selma Blouse ($308)
And hopefully none of you are crazy enough to pay retail for these dresses! 70%+ is my preferred discount :)
I love Chick-fil-a. Is it because I don’t have one locally? Maybe. We went twice and also stopped at the original location (Dwarf House) right outside of the Atlanta airport on the way out. After two lunches at Chick-fil-a, I got grossed out and started going to Alon’s, which is a local food market with made-to-order sandwiches, salads, etc. They are also full of imported food items and have an in-house bakery. I fell in love with their beet salad, so I ended up eating there for about 3-4 meals in a row – I’m a creature of habit when I’m busy. I fully overcompensated the salad with baked goods. It was also my coworker’s birthday so I grabbed pastries for her there.
There was one off meal at Goldfish on the outside of Perimeter Mall. It is a huge seafood restaurant… we were starving at this point (since the boys obliged my request for a 5 minute visit to the local Anthropologie) and definitely ate too many carbs. If it were up to me, I would’ve gone to Cheesecake Factory next door.
Alon’s – The pesto sandwich was a bit too garlicy. I guess I never bothered taking a picture of the West Coast salad with orange wedges, goat cheese, beets, greens, with perfectly grilled chicken breast. It inspired me enough to buy some beets, goat cheese, and oranges to make my own salad. The madeleines were great. They had financiers with different fruit – I picked raspberry. Their canelé (unpictured) was also good. I also picked up some flaky snack from Brittany… sure enough it tasted like a stick of salted butter, what Brittany is known for.
I’ve been buying tees like crazy this Fall/Winter. I’m definitely much less impulsive than I used to. You may have heard of JewelMint, ShoeMint, StyleMint… basically they are celebrity based businesses. The lovely Olsen twins represent StyleMint and often bring other well known fashionistas to collaborate with them. I jumped on the bandwagon a bit late. It’s a t-shirt club, so you have to make sure to log-in every month to decline that month’s offer if you don’t want to get charged. Signing up also takes a while because they make you take a series of survey questions to recommend styles to you — I prefer to see everything that is available.
This red striped mariniere top called Broadway jumped out at me. According to my research online, it is a more fitted tee and thicker — pima cotton. I had to get 4, which was a relaxed fit, because the smaller sizes were already out at the time I ordered. They are out for all sizes except 5. The blue version is mostly in stock. As with Forever 21, read the content carefully. This tee was a great deal at $20 and change because it is pima cotton. I also loved the packaging that it arrived with. Try out StyleMint! Once you sign up, check their Facebook for promotions.
Image source: StyleMint
I met an American girl at a bus stop in Positano a few years ago and we bonded over eating and traveling as we traveled to Rome. Since then, we’ve met up numerous times when she is in NYC or I am in Atlanta. I never need to do any food research when I head down to Atlanta because she gives me the lowdown on what is hot/in/new/fabulous.
I picked the Local Three for dinner with two other friends, and of course they wondered how the heck an out-of-towner manages to find places to eat. I made reservations on OpenTable for Local Three and arrived fabulously late. I hadn’t read up on this place at all beforehand and trusted my GPS to get me where I needed to go. Little did I know that this restaurant is nestled within some residential looking towers in the suburbs of Atlanta. You turn into a complex, wondering if you went the wrong way, but eventually signs pop up to lead you to the appropriate parking garage. Until you step foot into the restaurant, everything around you looks deserted.
I would describe this place as a market-to-table speakeasy with plenty of vegetarian options, which was good because a girlfriend is going through a no-meat fast. At this point of the trip, I was also eating too much junk so I was craving veggies.
Hallway leading to the main entrance.
Pig-centric decor.
Humor sprinkled throughout the menu.
Shots of the menu. Notice how all the prices end in 3.
