bows et studs

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Ann Taylor Gallery Tote

I work in finance, and there are days when I have to lug fairly hefty items between meetings to and from the office. I'm loathe to bring my Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM in Monogram because it's been well used and beat up from years of abuse (I got it when it first came out in 2007. Yes. 7 years ago).

Lately I've been sweating the Ann Taylor Gallery Tote. It's cute, structured, and inexpensive and looks like it can take a beating. I first got wind of it on Jean's blog, Extra Petite. She talks about getting a ton of mileage out of her tote and now I'm seriously contemplating getting one. All of the pics below are from Ann Taylor's website and corresponding blog:

Love both the navy and black colors. The practical analyst in me says to get the typical black, but the creative part of me says navy for something completely unexpected. Which one to get?

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Summer Maxi Dresses

When I was pregnant I was a huge fan of maxi dresses because they were just so comfortable. Since then I'm still a huge fan, though it's hard to find ones that fit my frame best given that I am petite - barely 5'2! I've found a couple from this season that are affordable and absolutely en pointe for the season.

This knotted stripe maxi dress from Forever21 in Coral and Royal Blue is gorgeous. And I might add easy on the wallet at $10.80!

This crepe woven maxi dress from Forever21 in Tomato is also in my opinion, perfect for the summer. I'm all about color for summer so I'm loving the bright reddish orange. It looks more expensive than it really is for something similar in the more pricey brands you typically see on Shopbop. At $19.80 it's a steal.

I also picked up J.Crew's Maxi Tank Dress in Stripe - I'm seeing this as a lazy Sunday staple in the summer. A little pricier than the other counterparts that I highlighted at $110, but I'm thinking this is one that'll be a classic overtime.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Celicia Travels: Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Pura Vida. The closest to nature you'll ever get. We experienced the longest travel to get to a destination ever - upon arriving in Costa Rica's capital, San Jose we proceeded to pile into a multi-passenger rental van in the middle of a torrential downpour. It would probably normally only take a 2 hours on normal roads, but Costa Rica's roads were horrendous. So it took us many times that to finally arrive in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

We also happened to arrive in the middle of rainy season. The water was muddy but the climate was lush and green. Oh, and there animals. And bugs. LOTS of bugs. EVERYWHERE. One night we came home to a tarantula at the doorstep of our villa. And our villa's water system wasn't working. But who cares! Pura Vida!!!!

We tried our hand at surfing, zip-lining (which I found terrifying because I am afraid of heights), ATVing, snorkeling, and taking shots of bloody maries with turtle eggs. Sigh. Poor turtle eggs. There was also endless Patron Silver. I used to hate tequila and after Costa Rica I can drink Patron Silver like water. We became accustomed to having rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the best meal we've ever had was the fried snapper. Perfectly fried, and the meat of the snapper perfectly succulent, moist, firm. To this day my husband has tried to perfect it and we've only come a smidgen close.

Staples for Costa Rica? Lots of mosquito spray. Or just general bug spray. Water shoes. Because I knew things were going to get ruined in Costa Rica (it was humid all day and all night and my clothes always felt damp) I brought alot of simple and dispensable sundresses, t-shirts and shorts from Forever21, C&C California and H&M. My bikinis were from Vix and Diane von Furstenberg. My dressier items were from Susana Monaco, Vera Wang Lavender Label. I lived in Havaianas, my Nine West for New Balance orange and gray sneakers, and Sam Edelman Gigi gladiator sandals.

Celicia Travels: Santorini, Greece

Beautiful Santorini, also known as Thira, home of the most breathtaking sunsets in the world. I can't think of a single place on earth that took my breath away the way Santorini did. Santorini is an archipelago and is what remains of a volcanic caldera from the Minoan eruption sometime ~1630 BC. It is unusually shaped with steep cliffs on most sides so many of the dwellings are built into the sides of the cliffs. They tend to be cavernous and a bit damp, but still very cool. In addition because of the volcanic soil it's made the ground extremely fertile for planting grapes, and as a result a few wineries have popped up, like Santo Wines and Volcan Wines (we went to pretty much every winery on the island because well, we truly love wine.). It is also home to some unusual produce that is local to the region, like white eggplants.

Also as a result of the volcanic eruption there are beaches with sands of different colors - the beach sand color depends on which geologic layer from the volcanic solidified lava is exposed, like the red beach, black sand beach, and white sand beach. We visited both red and black beaches because they were just so unusual.

We stayed in Fira and ventured to both sides of the Island. I found Oia the most beautiful - the sunsets there, as I mentioned were just amazing. The food was delicious and fresh. We were however a little perturbed by the racism on the island - it's well known to be a honeymoon destination, but more often than not we got strange stares or were told to go back to China. What gives?? That left a bad taste in our mouths and if it wasn't for the natural beauty we were eager to just go back to Mykonos where everyone loves everyone.

My staples for the island? Dresses from Velvet by Graham and Spencer, tees from Love by Ya-Ya and bikinis and shorts from J.Crew.

We left Mykonos (hangover I might add) on the Blue Star Ferries to Santorini's ferry port and rented a car from there that barely made it up the winding roads to the top of Santorini towards Fira.