The carryall clutch.

I'm going crazy for the non-descript, plain leather pouch clutches that seem to be a trend right now. I've purchased my first one: the American Apparel Leather Carry-all Pouch. After agonizing over the color and size, I went with carmel in medium and I instantly regretted not going Large. Rather than deal with AA's annoying online merch return policy, I'm keeping it (that's what they want!) as I suspect I'll want another anyway. I do like it a lot, though; very roomy and it's cool because there are SO many colors and you don't get to choose your zipper color- I ended up with navy. Pretty! AA has three sizes in the leather, plus metallic and suede versions.

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I like this style because you can fold it over or just hold it as is. It's literally, a rectangular leather pouch with a zipper on one side. I think it's classy and I've seen some pretty cool versions of it, such as the below BEAUTYful metallic one from Gift Shop Brooklyn that has pockets inside. I also included a picture of the larger one she makes in bleach tie-dye. LOVE the juxtaposition of the sweet yet edgy top portion with a conservative, rustic leather base.

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I truly think in my heart of hearts that if you are going to participate in this clutch trend, you need to own a plain black one. This one is much larger and perfect to fill that staple need. She has some very pretty colored suede ones, also.

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bye, 

jayteewo.

3 fabulous holiday eblasts.

One thing I do at my new job is track/analyze eblasts (and frequently use terms like "eblast") from various companies. It's weird because I'm usually doing everything I can to not receive eblasts and now I'm chasing after them. Whatever. Anyway I do occasionally stumble upon an interesting one. Here are three goodies from November. 


The first is from the geniuses at Anthropologie. There are links to each product with a little ditty and you can send each one as an e-card, too. Cuteness.
      Date: November 10, 2011
      Subject: This year, we're trimming the tree with...

The second comes from Barney's New York. SICK website, no matter your feelings toward Lady Gaga.  
      Date: November 9, 2011
      Subject: GAGA'S WORKSHOP: Don't miss out on today's limited-edition Gaga Goodie!

The third comes from Saks Fifth Avenue. The freeze frame movement is really simple but effective. It's lovely.

      Date: November 10, 2011

      Subject: New! Our Exclusive Alice and Olivia Event

adios,

jayteewo.

So excited about this book!

Have you heard of White Girl Problems (I mean, besides the ones I tell you about here)? It's this chick who has a Twitter (@whitegrlproblem) and tweets about hilarious superfluous situations that only the most decadent woman would find herself in. She's totally superficial, bitchy, and selfish. In a good way. Beginning only in 2010, she's skyrocketed to almost half a million followers. Turns out she's releasing her first book in January (girlfriend moves fast)! White Girl Problems: A Novel by Babe Walker. Should be very amusing and you know how much I like to be amused. Last week she tweeted the following:

 

You can read the d-bag's article here. It's funny. She also has a blog where presently you can read a chapter of her book! Love it.

best,

jayteewo.

Two sweet-ass things to check out.

Ever read T Magazine? Well, you should. It's pretty sweet. It is a virtual magazine by NY Times and is divided into seven sections: Women's Fashion, Men's Fashion, Design, Travel, Food, Culture, and Video. Here are my two favorite regular features in the Women's Fashion section..

Model-Morphosis.

This is a cool photo feature that that exhibits a model's face before and after make up. Kinda pisses you off a little though, because they all look good before, too. Sometimes better. Anyway, you can drag the line back and forth and see any portion of before and after. Badass.

The Daily Shoe.

There is a shoe right off the runway. I'm not really clear if this is a regular feature or just a regular feature during fashion weeks. Either way, I like it. I hope the former. They sort through all of the fashion shows and pick the most.. stand out shoe of the day. They are usually an awesomely beautiful pair of footwear. This one ain't my favorite, I'll be real with you. But usually, really cool. I'll probably get sued by T Magazine after I post this..


i miss my blog,
jayteewo.

Movie: The Lion King.

Let's all give a 'what up!' to Disney's The Lion King. Lemme give you a little history here: The Lion King was originally released in 1994 when I was nine. Saturday night as part of my dear friend Kirstie Lu's 26th birthday celebration (Happy Birthday!) we saw this wonderful film in the theater again, 17 years later, but this time we did it big in 3D! Now I've given you the components of the equation so you figure that shit out. Let's just say it was a while back and it was a trip down memory lane, to say the least. Unlike everyone else in the audience, Kirstie Lu and I held back quoting the entire movie and singing along to the songs that we could easily sing on queue, a cappella, at any moment of any day. Either way, we had fun, what with all the wildebeests and lionesses flying at our face in the third dimension! We didn't have that business the first time around when I was a shy young girl of nine.

Now that I'm a shy young girl of ALMOST 26, I want to make a declarative statement here and if you're not comfortable with it you can throw it right back (I'll then likely return it until you accept it as fact): The Lion King is the most powerful Disney film of all time. I'm not saying it's my favorite, let's not get crazy, but it's the most powerful by far. It's about duty, honor, love, mortality (or whatever the animal version of that is), family and how all of those things overlap. It's about leadership. Damn. Aristocats doesn't have that shit. Deep stuff as illustrated by warthogs, lions, meerkats, hyenas and the rest of our friends from the Pride Land.

The real point of this post is to encourage you to go see The Lion King 3D in its limited two-week run in theaters. It's awesome. It's nostalgic. It's Disney. Do it.


best,
jayteewo.

Summer Under the Stars.

I'm late in writing this, I suppose, but it's still worth talking about. TCM's Summer Under the Stars is going on the whole month of August. Each day they show movies in the theme of one outstanding star. It's a great way to learn about classic film and see a good chunk of an actor's résumé in a single day. It's particularly great if you have a DVR of some sort so you can go through a day's films and simply record the ones you want to watch and you can get to them at your convenience. Phenomenal! The TCM website for this event is really cool, too.

This week I'm excited about Joan Crawford (tomorrow) and Burt Lancaster (Thursday)! There are SO many fantastic movies on! Can hardly contain myself. Check it out!


best,
jayteewo.

Instagram.

I'm obsessed with Instagram. Are you? Well, you ought to be. It's an instantly gratifying (and free) photography app. Dig it. I like it because it's a fun alternative to other social networking mediums and it has tons of filters. There is the option to share on those other mediums though, so you're never out of the loop! Here are some of my favorite instagr.am (proper spelling) photos as of late.

Follow me on instagr.am: jayteewo

happy Sunday,

jayteewo. 

NY, I miss you.

Since I don't feel like dropping a lot of dough on hardware recovery right now, I am presently without any photos taken before July 2011. F. So that means I have nothing in my Keep NY weird folder :( Instead I thought I'd drop some knowledge on you and divulge some of the restaurants in the city that I daydream about. I'll just tell you about three for now; three restaurants and one bakery, actually.

The first is called Five Points. Ohhhhh yeahhhhh.. Um, what? I LOVE brunch at Five Points. FANTASTIC smoked salmon benedict and mimosas with fresh squeezed orange juice. I have a hell of a time at that place. I took all of my guests who visited when I lived in NYC and never had a bad experience.

At one time I lived in Murray Hill (I know) so I was right around the corner from Madison Square Park AND Shake Shack. God almighty, I love me a Shack Stack (see menu) and some frozen custard, possibly of the flavor of the day. It's so good. Now they have more locations and even one in Miami, not far from me, but it's not the same. Truly worth the mile-long line one must wait in nearly every single time you go no matter what day/hour/time of year. Luckily, they have a Shack Cam so you can plan ahead!

The best grilled cheese of my life is from Westville on W. 10th in the West Village. Gouda and a Portuguese muffin are involved. Sure it's a hole in the wall and kind of a rip off, but they know their way around a grilled cheese (I've also heard their other food is great, too). They've got a few locations in the city and a new one in Chelsea. Yum! 

City Bakery is muy delicioso (y caro). Personally I'm into their homemade marshmallows and killer hot chocolate. They always have a variety of flavors. I ain't mad at their cookies, either. Easy to spend a pretty penny at this joint but it's worth treating yourself every now and again. Mac & cheese!

I'm hungry,

jayteewo.

Wilfred.

Is anyone watching Wilfred? It is.. weird. It's a dark, existential stoner comedy but I dig it. Elijah Wood stars with this other guy who plays Wilfred: a grown man with an Australian accent and a beard who wears a dog costume the whole time. Between bowl packing and bong hits there is a frenemy-like, but close (imaginary) relationship between this burnt-out single late 20s early 30s dude and this dog. The funniest part is Wilfred's defiant and childish attitude juxtaposed with his adult mouth and actions. You get it. Check it out on FX, Thursdays at 10pm.


bye,
jayteewo.

Winnie-ther-Pooh.

Yes, I'm writing a post about Winnie the Pooh, dammit. I need to tell you some stuff because Disney is doing something with this story that pretty much doesn't happen these days: they are releasing a movie that is animated like the original tv show! They're goin classic with this bitch. Heyoo! This gives me hope, people. Maybe I jumped the gun when I purchased all of my favorite Disney shows/movies on dvd so as to have something to show my kids one day when the wonderful art of yesteryear animation is completely nonexistent.

Disney is releasing a Winnie the Pooh movie today, July 15th. It looks pretty authentic, but of course I have a few complaints: Christopher Robin's voice: who do you think you're kidding here, Disney? I could also deal without the Keane song on the trailer. What's that about? The imagery is the same, though, and the basic plot line has the feel of the original series. I won't go see it (probably will) but I'm glad that kids today will be exposed to this type of animation and innocent subject matter. None of that new-fangled crap they have out nowadays. It's a glimmer of hope, that's all.

until next time,

jayteewo.

I want Wednesday (Friday edition).

Starting today, this limited edish MAC Cine-Matics face brush kit will be available at Nordstrom for their yearly anniversary sale. I discovered this great news in the above tear from July's Allure. This is just too good to pass up. I've been needing a couple of these brushes so I'm glad this fancy version came out. (You can't do a job right if you don't have the right tools.) I am a huge fan of MAC's collections but have never purchased them from anywhere but an actual MAC store. To be honest, I already bought them this morning and there are two different sets. They are real pretty, folks. Yay!

peace out,

jayteewo.

Farewell, Space.

We knew you well. Well.. not that well. I figure we still have a thing or two to learn. On this monumental birthday of my sister's, our country, too, is experiencing a milestone by halting the space exploration program. Today is the end of the "Space Shuttle Era." I take it as kismet that these two events fall on the same day. It's a launch significant for both parties.

Today the last shuttle is being launched for the last space exploration mission. It's a big change. It's kind of what the USA stands for. (we are gonna start outsourcing it to Russia, of course, as far as maintenance goes) Watch the Atlantis launch today at 11:26am EDT and take it in. I guess no further comment until we figure out a way to get on that fiery planet they call Mars. We might be waiting a while.

best,

jayteewo.

Dia Frampton on "The Voice."

I'm digging this chick's voice. It really opened up when she focused on the piano. 'Ol Blake really knew what he was talking about with that one. I always like it when people redo rap songs, and this is one I liked to begin with. I don't usually watch shows like this (aka "American Idol", yuck) but this show doesn't make you wade through all the shit to get to the bearable performances. Plus, to be honest, I DVR it and fast forward through all the emotional crap I don't care about.


goodnight & good luck,
jayteewo.

Look at these books.

The first is an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty along with illustrations by Lacroix on each page. There's another coming out in November called Manolo Blahnik and the Tale of the Elves and the Shoemaker: A Fashion Fairy Tale Memoir. I think the coupling of classic fairytales with modern fashion designers is a really cool idea. There's supposed to be a whole series, but these are the only two I've heard of so far. I'll be needing all of them.

The second is on my favorite segment Jimmy Fallon does on his show, called "Thank You Notes." It. Is. So. Funny. Seriously buy it. If you like laughing, you won't be sorry.


goodbye,
jayteewo.

This is Anthropologie's blog.

These people know what the hell they're doing. I think it's still kind of in the beta stages, though. Something to watch out for. Look.


faithfully,
jayteewo.