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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The bomb

 
 
images via 1/2/3&4/5/6/7/8&9

The bomber/varsity jacket has been the cool kid at school for a while now, and it looks like this trend is here to stay for bit longer.  I'm totally jealous of how street-style mavens seem to be able to pull it off so effortlessly- dressed up or down, but never thought the look was that attainable.  Until I saw this gem- at Gap of all places! This floral bomber hit the nail on the head, I think.  At $98 I still hesitate to take the plunge for something so trendy .... but Gap is having an extra 40% off your entire purchase sale until tomorrow with code "GAPXMAS".  Now $60 is more like it!  What do you think??


Floral Bomber Jacket :: Gap {$98, 40% off with code "GAPXMAS"}


Happy shopping!

xoxo,
j.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Splurge. Spend. Save.

Metallic Silver Pumps








Silver pumps would make an excellent addition to any girl's shoe collection.  They're popping up everywhere- especially in the blogging community {Brooklyn Blonde rocks a Jimmy Choo version quite frequently}.  I think these would look great with a sequin dress for NYE! 


Happy Shopping!


xoxo,
j.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Weekend Links & Sales




image via

This weekend is so busy with ugly sweater parties and Christmas shopping that in lieu of a post today I thought I'd share a few links from around the interwebz that you might have missed and are sure to love!

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Sales
  • Madewell is offering 40% off winter must haves (price as marked) until Monday at midnight.  Since I'm on a pea coat kick I would love this coat, and I really like this ski slope inspired sweater!
  • J.Crew is offering 30% off your entire order (including sale items!) until Christmas Eve with code "GIFTNOW".  I really love these silk print pants, this sweater, and these leather riding boots in black!
  • Piperlime is offering an additional 50% off final sale items.  But hurry cause this one ends tonight!  My picks are this velvet dress, these tartan shorts, this funnel neck sweater, or this emerald green cocktail dress {All under $50 with the discount!}
xoxo,
j.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Grey Sweatshirt




The grey sweatshirt is a major street style staple for F/W 2013.  If Alexa Chung and Taylor Tomasi Hill are wearing one then that's my cue to jump on the bandwagon.  As much as I hate to admit it, American Apparel actually does have quite a few great and inexpensive options for grey sweatshirt.  I myself am thinking about buying this one!

I especially love the idea of pairing a sweatshirt with a pencil skirt- the structure of the skirt balances out a looser fitting sweatshirt and it also fancies up a very casual top.  I put together five looks, each one featuring a different grey sweatshirt, ranging from inexpensive to "yeah right, maybe if I got a Christmas bonus".  Check it out!


Alexander Wang Sweatshirt

Zoe Karssen sweatshirt

Jcrew jeweled sweatshirt

J crew vintage sweatshirt

AA Sweatshirt

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

What I wish I was wearing today

Photos of Olivia Palermo from Google Image

I love OP and she's a street style icon.  She rocks these leather leggings pretty frequently and I love how she pairs them with chunky sweaters like in the photos above going from super casual with leather sneakers (photo 3) to super chic with heels.  But at $850, clearly OP and I don't shop within the same price range.  So here's my interpretation of this outfit within a more wallet friendly budget {I've added these "leather" pants to my Xmas wishlist!}...



{Casual outfit for running errands, similar to OP in photo 3}

Casual






{Dressy outfit for going out to dinner. Love the print shoes and the mix of blues and blacks!}
Dressy






The best part is that everything from J. crew is 30% OFF from now until Christmas Eve AND free shipping with code "GIFT NOW"!

Happy shopping!

xoxo,
j.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

{DIY} Cabinet Upgrade

I bought this cabinet from Craigslist six years ago from a college kid who had clearly inherited it from his mom.  I thought it would make a good office piece to store office supplies and our printer on.  The pros of the cabinet were that it was solid wood, in really good shape, and had beautiful curves and details.  The cons were that it was a dark wood stain with ugly brass hardware that reminded me of something you'd find in your grandmother's house.  Needless to say I painted that sucker as soon as I got it home.  Unfortunately, I clearly did NOT know what I was doing.  It's okay ... you can say it ...

We had some white and grey flat paint left over from another project and I decided to use that- first mistake.  Flat paint (generally) looks *horrible* on wood furniture, and this was no exception.  Second mistake- I didn't fully sand the piece before I painted AND to make matters worse I didn't use a primer.  So it took mmm .. an hour? ... before it got it's first dings and scratches to the paint job.  

And can you spell B-O-R-I-N-G?!  Flat paint, a cool toned grey, and cheap silver hardware made this the most boring piece of furniture ever.  I think I was just so overly excited to get the ugly thing painted, that I didn't stop to think about how to properly do it.  

So for six years I looked at this ugly piece of furniture and hated it, which is why I kept it in the back room where nobody ever went.  Until a few months ago when I saw these really cute knobs at Anthropologie and bought them and that got me motivated to repaint the cabinet!

{Excuse the crappy iPhone pictures!!}



Very dingy looking and you can see the dark wood underneath the thin (horribly painted) layer of white paint ...


I started this DIY project the same way I start every other- a trip to Home Depot. I asked an employee what I should use to take paint off a piece of furniture and she recommended mineral spirits and a paint scraper- she further added not to waste my money on a metal paint scraper, no, no just use these 99 cent plastic paint scrapers.  Sure, I didn't spend much money, but let's just say I was back at Home Depot the next day after trying a failing for hours to get the damn paint off.  I did a bit of my own research online and bought a new paint stripper and a METAL paint scraper.  A piece of advice from my own experience: DO NOT USE MINERAL SPIRITS AND A PLASTIC SCRAPER TO TRY TO GET A THIN LAYER OF FLAT PAINT OF WOOD FURNITURE.  You will only waste your time and sanity and you will curse and scream at this inanimate object like it's doing it to you on purpose until your boyfriend has to gently lead you away from the wooden hunk of junk so you'll stop kicking it.

Do yourself a favor and invest in a metal scraper and buy the BEST paint stripper of all time- Citristrip.  It smells like orange furniture polish and is natural and not toxic and dangerous like other strippers.  And OMG does it work like magic.  I wish I had photos to show, but you just pour this stuff on and let it sit for 10 minutes and it starts to wrinkle the paint and used my scraper and the paint just came off in beautiful gobs.  Yes, beautiful gobs of dingy old paint.

Then I sanded the crap out of the whole thing (door and cabinets removed) with an electric sander and finally wiped it all down with a dry cloth.  Next came the fun part ... SPRAY PAINT! I will never paint a piece of furniture with a brush again.  Spray paint is so easy and cheap and looks a thousand times better than brush strokes all over.  I think I ended up using about 5 cans of color and 2 cans of glossy finish for the whole job.  All in all it was less than $40!  The color I chose was Lagoon by Rustoleum, which is a really pretty deep teal color.



And TA-DA!! Here's the finished product {again, excuse the crappy iPhone picture}.  I couldn't be happier with it!  It's shiny and durable and not at all boring anymore!!  Excuse the Christmas tree, but it seriously takes up about half the living room and I was not about to move it ... it's prickly.


Here are the knobs I bought from Anthropologie, which was the most expensive part of the project coming in at around $50 with shipping.  I couldn't find any handles that I liked for the top two drawers, so instead I used two knobs for each drawer and really like how it turned out.




I topped it off with the only potted plant that has survived by black thumb for more than a month {hang in there buddy!} and a fun Christmas/winter themed table runner I picked up at TJ Maxx for $9.99 and called it a day!  This baby now sits in our living room and holds a TON of stuff- remotes, office supplies, DVDs, video games, misc. cords, and on and on....  


Pretty and functional!

All in all this project cost us approximately $100! Not bad!

xoxo,
j.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Clearly I have a thing for coats ...

Yes, another post about coats.  Coats are something I will never grow tired of buying, collecting, and window shopping.  I'm in love with this new coat from ASOS and at only $154- it was just too good not to share.  This will definitely be added to my winter coat collection this year.  The only question is- blue or grey?  What do you think?


blue

grey

Happy shopping!

xoxo,
j.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Holiday Party Attire

I was perusing the new L'Wren Scott collection at Banana Republic (which is now 20% off if you have a BananaRepublic, Gap, or Old Navy card) and came across this outfit.  I love everything about it, especially the flare skirt, and think it would make the perfect holiday party outfit.  And if you throw on the faux fur shrug it makes it appropriate for a work holiday party too!





L'Wren Scott is a former model turned stylist turned designer.  Celebrities from SJP to Madonna to Christina Hendricks have worn her designs on the red carpet.  Even the First Lady, Michelle Obama, has been known to wear L'Wren Scott to various occasions.  So getting a L'Wren Scott dress for a fraction of what her designs usually go for is a steal!

Shop the pieces ::


Happy shopping!

xoxo,
j.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Splurge. Spend. Save

Navy Wool Pea Coat ...




Unlike some of the other winter coat trends happening right now {like fur coats, teddy coats, pink coats, capes, and plaid coats}, a navy wool pea coat will never go out of style!  Made popular in the 1940s by the US Navy, this coat is still a classic today.  That's why it's a great winter investment piece that you'll wear every season to come.  Depending on your budget, here are three great options!


Happy Shopping!

xoxo,
j.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Cyber Monday Sale


image via


Gorjana & Griffin ...

Of all the cyber monday sales, this one may be my favorite.  From now until this Friday (12/6 @ Midnight) you get 40% *anything* and FREE SHIPPING to boot!  Gorjana is one of my favorite affordable jewelry companies and they have the best gold jewelry.  It doesn't tarnish and it doesn't turn your fingers green.  I can wear these pieces everyday and they don't break or show signs of wear and tear.  I own several pieces from this site like ::


1. Super Star Necklace {wear this everyday}
2. Boa Ring {wear it almost everyday}
3. Taner bar stud earrings {I own a pair very similar to these}

And I just ordered this super cute love knot ring for only $21 after discount!!  Thinking about going back to order these star earrings to match my necklace too ....

Follow @gorjanagriffin on instagram for sale updates and more!  And don't forget to follow me on instagram too! :)

Happy Shopping!

xoxo,
j.