New in at ASOS

Fairground Button Front Tiered Maxi Skirt 60 GBP

Crop leggings, 10GBPASOS Henrietta Traditional Slip On Clogs 30 GBP

ASOS Tan Side Zip Slouch Bag 30GBP

Fairground Bustier Top 100% cotton 35GBP

Cheap Monday Tie Dye Drape Skirt 23 GBP

Great basics that will still work after summer is over and won't break your bank. ASOS also offers Worldwide Delivery, great customer service (vastly improved from what it used to be). It's hard to go wrong with ASOS because they have made it so easy to shop there and shipping is inexpensive. They went after the International Market which was up for grabs and they got it.

Friday Blast From the Past - Katrina and the Waves "Walking on Sunshine"

Have a great weekend everybody. :)

Ascension Ethical Fashion | Green Clothing - Ascension Online

Ascension Ethical Fashion Green Clothing - Ascension Online

There is a midseason madness sale at Ascension, located in the UK! 30% off everything! Sale ends Wednesday May 19, 2010 2PM GMT. Shop women, men, kids, jewelry or lifestyle.

Wow, these lovely folks want our business and they are letting us know that! I like that in a retailer. You can read my positive review of Ascension here. And remember, they ship Worldwide! I love them for that.

Enjoy!

Original Grace Kelly skirt worn in Mogambo

Original Grace Kelly skirt worn in Mogambo

This is so fun. The original safari knee length skirt worn by Grace Kelly in Mogambo is up for auction. It was designed by Helen Rose who worked as a costume designer for MGM for many years. She also is known for designing the famously beautiful and classic wedding dress worn by Princess Grace when she married Prince Ranier of Monaco. The bidding on this skirt starts at 3,000 USD. Not bad for a skirt worn by the lovely, stylish, elegant, and always memorable Princess Grace.

The People Tree - 20% off Spring/Summer Clothing

The People Tree located in the UK is offering 20% off all Spring/Summer clothing . Quote FTDAY at checkout. And there's 20% off all kids clothes, too, when you enter FTDAY with your order. Offer ends May 9, 2010 at midnight. For a list of countries they deliver to see here. I think I would pick this cute little kicky skirt. The People Tree offer clothing that is Fair Trade, of great quality and fabric and the styles are very unique. Enjoy!

Cuzco Sterling Rainbow Ring at The Animal Rescue Site

I have been wanting this for a while. This pretty ring is available at the Animal Rescue Site for just 24. 95 USD, that's about 20 Euro, or 17GBP, in diagonal or horizontal stripes. It is handmade and fairly traded in Peru. It is made of sterling silver, serpentine, sodalite, spondilus, mother-of-pearl, and turquoise. I don't know about you but I am feeling this with a maxi dress. And with every Cuzco Sterling Rainbow Ring purchased, The Animal Rescue Site will fund 28 bowls of food for animals living in sanctuaries and shelters. Now that's a good cause. International Shipping is available. Enjoy!

Talbots

Talbots in the USA has been around as long as I can remember. They sell quality women's apparel, shoes and accessories, all with a modern classic style in women's and petite sizes. And guess what? They offer Worldwide Shipping. My last order from them was a pair of sunglasses and I had no problems. Talbots makes the kind of clothing you keep for a long while, wool skirts, feminine shift dresses, beautiful scarves. Give them a visit and enjoy!

My American Shopper | Worldwide Delivery | International Shipping

My American Shipper Worldwide Delivery International Shipping

My American Shopper

Visit the above page on My American Shopper (previously Shop Any American Store) to see a comprehansive list of the countries they ship to. It is extensive. They are not cheap but they will be very clear with you about any and all charges before you agree to them. It is not a mail forwarding service in the same way Bongo or Access USA is where they supply you with an American Address where your items are shipped and then they are forwarded to you. It works a little differently. They purchase the items on your behalf and then ship them to you. Their homepage where you can begin to learn more about their service is here. They are an award winning service and have been shipping worldwide since 2002. I have used their services twice and it was remarkable how fast the items got here. They can also consolidate items from different stores for you. As I said, it was not cheap so make sure that the items are something you really want and that you can't get anywhere else. If you use their services please let me know how it works out for you in the comments below. Enjoy!

Boohoo Floral Tea Dress

This sweet little dress came from Boohoo. I felt I had to have it. It was an emotional attraction. I did not base my purchase on reason, not even after the dress got here and it fit me kind of poorly.




There is a poem by Wallace Stevens called "Not Ideas About The Thing, But the Thing Itself. " It is fitting to mention it here because in the above case I fell in love with the ideas about the thing and not the thing itself even after I witnessed how poorly the thing fit me and how little the thing flattered me, because I was still enough in love with the idea about the thing that I held on to the thing and determined to make the thing work for me.





(Incidentally, a lot of you may be happy to know Roofy is back. He missed Sunday's shoot only because he's union. )




Today we see many people wearing these lovely little floral dresses with a jean jacket and cowboy booties, and tough spikey jewelry, which we like very much indeed, but Roofy and I wanted to see if we might do something a little different, so we explored the closet:

We replaced the jean jacket idea with a chambray shirt (so versatile), and the cropped cowboy booties for the real thang. Some real knee-high western flavored boots, not booties, not shoe-boots and not hybrids.

(I have two pair of high boots. Black and brown. Both were bought off ebayUK and both are used/vintage. That is all I need. I'd rather my boots dictate to me the way I make my purchases and style my skirts and dresses than vice versa. Otherwise I might end up with three thousand pairs of boots and in my case probably cheap boots, but that would still be expensive, and I need that like I need a hole in the head or more things to do in a day. So my boots say a lot about me. They really define my style and I like that.

Ahem. Roofy wants to move on before he falls asleep...

These are the dusty blue Lysgaard leggings just recently purchased.

My other pair of knee high boots. I toughened up the look with black bicycle shorts and mixed some prints.

I love these earrings. They came from Ascension. I liked the stars mixed with florals.

Put on your keds and go grocery shopping.

Don't you love the new fancy sockettes that are appearing everywhere? They are so perfect with all the ballerina flats that are so popular now. What took them so long to think of them?

These are like a denim blue with lace.

These are heavier duty skinny jeans/leggings, jeggings as they are called, which is really just a euphemism for pull-on pants. You know, like we wore when we were toddlers and I actually wore til i was about 8.

I would wear this scarf however I needed it, to tie back my hair, or on my handbag handle for an accent of color.

I wore this outfit last night but I put a coral tank top over the dress because it was kind of cool outside.

I like the way the scarf and dress feel together. Very watercolor-y both.

And here is my Sixteen Candles outfit. As you probably know by now I am a fan of the 80's and these booties do it for me. I AM Molly Ringwald when I put these on and it IS my 16th birthday and BOYS have just appeared in my life.

Those are some plain grey socks with the booties. I saw no reason to ruffle it up because I wanted to add this:

A little romantic necklace to counterbalance the masculine cardigan and shoe-boots and for something subtley sparkley. I don't want to look like Lolita.

And this is the way I would expect to wear this when it gets hot, with pale colors and feminine accessories. Summer will be here in no time. As my mother would have said, "May already? The summer's OVER!" She really knew how to wind me up.

I would probably wear the belt here around my hips. To give it more of a drop waist or flapper feel. That feels more romantic to me in summer.

And last but not least my crazy outfit, because sometimes we just have to let our imaginations go.

So how about you? Did you buy a floral tea dress for spring? Do you feel pretty in it?

If so, how are you wearing yours?

Vest Jersey Maxi Dress - Dresses - Womens | New Look

Vest Jersey Maxi Dress - Dresses - Womens New Look

Another great deal from New Look.

You can try a maxi this summer without breaking your bank. Only 15 GBP, just under 18 Euro, and about 23 USD. And it's available in 4 colors.

I think I would try it with a jean jacket.

And New Look delivers here. Awesome.

Enjoy!

Ruffle Dress - Dresses - Womens | New Look

Ruffle Dress - Dresses - Womens New Look

Available in UK sizes 8-18 and in 6 colors. 50% Cotton 50% modal.

I think this is really cute and only 12GBP, approximately 14 Euro or 18 USD.

New Look offers International Delivery. For a list of the countries they ship to click here.

Ark & Co. Cropped Trousers from Lulu's

One of those love at first sight things.

This is defintely my style. The sandals are heavenly comfy and light and come from Revolve.

If you want to dress the tunic up with heels, why not?

This was a happy surprise. I never would have thought of it but the dress was located near the trousers in the closet and voila. It's a very inexpensice cotton Indian dress, the coolest and best kind for summer in my opinion that I bought down in the Old section of Nicosia. A very beautiful area if you ever come to Cyprus. I put it with my Asos friendship bracelets and comfy sandals. I think this is my favorite outfit of all.

Got to have a way to wear it with my Birks.

And the bag is from Carrefour two years ago! It is so versatile! I can wash it. I can wear it as a backpack. And thinking Green I can use it to haul groceries from the market. Only a couple of euro and they have them in all colors

This is a vintage tunic blouse with a small collar from the 80's. One of my favorite things. I love yellow because it was my Mom's favorite color.

Mixing brown and black.

Defintely date night.

Just sweet and comfy. Shopping in the tourist area of Limassol with my husband.

An attention getter. I like the crisp proportions. Like a little soldier.

With chunky red beads. I feel like Meryl Streep in Heartburn in this. FUNNY MOVIE! I loved the way she dressed in that. And her father was so funny.

To the flea fair with friends...

I would feel very Old Hollywood in this. I see myself in this when my husband comes home from work. I am Lauren Bacall and I am very clever with my quips. Maybe I offer him a martini.

This gives me a combo 4o's, 50's, 8o's feel. Pretty much everything but the 6o's and 70's! :) I would probably wear it shopping at My Mall.

I would feel pretty much like Doris Day doing my house work in this. Waiting for David Niven to come home. Telling my dog not to eat the daisies.

Just something a little more young and modern. A little bit of gypsy bohemian. One of those necklaces is a belt from dELiA's. The scarf was a freebie when I bought the Indian dress. The violet top looks great with this khaki.

And the above because I can never resist pushing the envelope.

How about you? Have you made the jump to cropped trousers? Would you wear them? If so, how?

Feelin' Groovy - The Korkease Wedge

Kork-Ease Bette K2086 - Free Shipping & Return Shipping - Shoebuy.com

Don't these feel really of the moment? And the company that makes them, Korkease, begun in Brooklyn, NY, have been around since 1953 making these wedge style shoes! It seems that they are the actual inventor of the wedge if I have read their website correctly. Does anyone know if this is true? These were VERY popular once upon a time in the early 70's. Korkease are known for their quality and comfort.

Oh, I want a pair of these so badly right now! The above pictured are available at Shoebuy.com in the US (some are sold out) and they are also available in other colors . Unfortunately, they do not ship to Cyprus, but they do ship to many countries, inside and outside the EU. For a full list click here. It's a pretty good list. Free shipping/return shipping is not available on International orders.

I have seen some on the ebay US site as well for a lot less but with limited styles and colors available.

I don't know about you but when I look at these I start feeling GROOVY. I think we are going to be seeing these everywhere soon and Korkease is due for another boon in business like in the 70's. Enjoy!

Sparkpeople

From time to time I would like to share with you good things I have found that have helped me. They may not be clothing specific but they relate to my growing sense of self and my widening ability to appreciate life.

I am one of those people who believe the best things in life are free. Like when someone is truly kind, or like the people in our lives that love us no matter what. They never send us a bill.

Sparkpeople is one of those good things. And friends, THIS IS FREE. Sparkpeople is FREE. You may already know about it if you live in the US.

Let me just give you a little background on my personal struggle. I was almost always in appearance a physically fit person. But I smoked for years. I smoked to keep the weight off, so under the surface I was never truly healthy. It just looked that way.

Smoking started to take its toll. It made exercising harder and harder and the day finally came when I had to quit for urgent health reasons. So I made quitting the focus of my life and I quit exercising and threw everything else to the wind.

If you had asked me at that time what I was doing with my life, I would have said, "I am not smoking. That is what I am doing everyday. Not smoking." That is the meaning of my life, not smoking.

That wasn't a great place to be because I coudln't really focus on anything else like actually living. But I did begin eating again. To the tune of 50 more pounds of me suddenly appearing (about 3.5 stone or 22.5 kilo), 30-40 pounds of it needed.

I had originally used the inhaler method to quit smoking whereby you slowly decrease your nicotine intake over time while not smoking. But it wasn't until I found Allen Carr's book, "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" that I was finally able to focus on living rather than focus on NOT smoking. As Mr. Carr puts it in his book, I finally became a happy nonsmoker versus a non smoker who wished she could smoke, or a smoker who wished she could quit.

So slowly my world opened up to me again and after a couple of years for the first time I went back to exercise with healthier lungs and a desire to get in REAL shape. Like Healthy shape. You guys know by now that I am a cheapers and I am always looking for free things, and so I went on line for my exercise programs. First I started with YouTube videos . Then I found a certain website with free exercise videos (which I shall not name...you know who you are) and it became my daily gym until lo and behold one day the kind folks there started trying to download malware onto my computer! Imagine that! The site was no longer safe! What was I to do? I was despondent. Then I remembered YouTube, and I remembered the Sparkpeople fitness videos. I had visited their site once before, but I didn't get it then, because I was just looking for exercise videos. But this time I got it. It is a whole fitness program.

Among their many tools they have a food and a fitness tracker. My favorite is the nutrient tracker. They have recipes, group support and the latest health news, articles and research and, yes, they do have exercise videos, and very cool cooking videos on top of that. Their software designed an exercise program just for me based on my personal goals. And it's fun because there are lots of friendly faces. CNN called it the Facebook of dieting.

It wasn't my goal to lose weight but to be healthy for the first time truly. ( Truly healthy. Not just look good on the outside. God willing, as healthy as is within my power. ) But I have lost about ten pounds anyway since joining Sparkpeople in February and my entire shape has changed because of the strength training.

Sometimes you find things and you just feel the essence of them is good. That is how I feel about Sparkpeople. Now I am thankful for the day the other exercise website (ahem) tried to give me a virus even though I thought it was the end of the world.

A good lesson to remember.

And one of the things I have learned there is what a serving looks like. Wow! I never really knew!

And let me just say this again peeps. IT'S FREE. FREE. FREE.

Also check it out they have a book called The Spark that is on the New York Times bestseller list.

So for me it is not about being skinny anymore. Skinny is great if it's natural for you, but I was born with a little shake in my step, and I am fine with that. No, it's about being healthy anf fit and strong and being able to move the flowerpots around in my garden by myself and feeling like I have a nice shape. That is what it's all about for me.

So go check them out! I think you will be really impressed and it could change your life for the better like it did mine. They have tutorials that will help you get started. Enjoy!

And hope like me it stays free!

Hey, has anybody else out there had a good experience with Sparkpeople?

MyShape Womens Clothing and Fashion - Dresses, Jeans, Sweaters, Tops

MyShape Womens Clothing and Fashion - Dresses, Jeans, Sweaters, Tops

This is an amazing company and an amazing website. They do not offer International Shipping yet but they are working on it. Hooray! For US readers, they offer clothing and outfit ideas styled just for your figure and style type. Check it out it is a lot of fun. You fill out their questionnaire and give them your measurements in a very detailed manner and they really nail what clothing cuts will flatter your body. It's like having your own personal Trinny and Susannah. Plus they offer petite and plus sizes. What makes them unique is that they partner with other stores and brands to present you the products in this personalized manner. I ordered a handbag from them last fall and had it shipped to me through a US forwarding service and am very happy with it. Now if we can just get them to ship directly to those of us in other countries. Seriously, go visit, and put in your measurements, even if you are outside the US because it is a lot of fun and they offer a lot of outfit ideas. Enjoy!

PS Today only May 3, 2010 they have 50% off their entire stock of Adrienne Vittadini ends at 11:59 PM PDT.