My Reviews are Endless

I'm completely addicted to shoes (and nice ones at that), but let's face it: I'm not made of money. Being a writer/freelancer/blogger, I sometimes need to make lots of savvy decisions and less impulse purchases. And for someone who's as obsessed with beautiful leather bags and shoes as I am, that can be a hard chore to come by.

Enter Endless.com, where shoes start off at full price but in a matter of weeks miraculously decrease. It is a patience thing, but patience is a virtue, especially when this stylish writer is on a budget.

As part of Amazon.com, Endless.com has proven to be a great place to go anytime I'm in a bind. And the best part is that they have FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING. If it's one thing I absolutely hate about online shopping, it's those heinous shipping charges. But Endless.com takes care of that, has free returns and even has a 110 percent price guarantee.

They certainly stand by this, I know, as I recently ordered a pair of shoes and then a day later found them cheaper somewhere else. Not only did Endless.com match the price, but they beat it and sent me an email within 10 minutes telling me they would credit my card. Now service like that can't be beat.

I have a closet full of shoes now and who could know that I've never paid full price for them? My options and love for shoes are certainly endless.

I've Got a Personal Shopper

Now that Fall is here, we'll need to make sure we have the proper clothes to sport during the cooler weather. And what better way to do so than to have your favorites delivered to your email inbox throughout the week? ShopItToMe.com does just that.

I cannot recall how I first learned of Shop It To Me, but I know I signed up for it last November. I was intrigued because I'm such a shopoholic and have become, over time, quite the online shopper/browser. With Shop It To Me, so many possibilities were opened up. So many shoes were brought into view, new clothes into my closet, and money out of my wallet (but that's why I have a job, right?).

Shop It To Me is basically my personal online shopper. Upon signing up, you select your favorite brands (there are more than you could ever imagine!) and select your sizes. You also tell Shop It To Me which days of the week you'd like to receive your newsletter - you can get it once a week, twice a week (like me), every day - the possibilities are really endless.

I can't tell you how many great deals I may not have been aware of had I not been a Shop It To Me gal. A BCBG dress I had obsessed over for months one day showed up in my newsletter - it was on sale at Bloomingdale's. I snatched that dress right up! The same goes for a pair of plaid Juicy shoes I would never have noticed had they not been displayed prominently in my Shop It To Me newsletter.

With less and less time to thumb through the sale racks and more time to browse online between beauty blogs, Shop It To Me really is such a great resource! It can save you time, headaches, and lots of money on brands you really love. Sign up for free today!

Scripted Writing

I recently had a conversation with a few different people. It started out as a joke. And I was the target. Why, some wondered, would I write in script (or cursive, if you will) after the age of eight - the age at which teachers make you toil on the proper way to write your letters? I, along with my mother and my editor, am one of the few people I know who continues to write in script. But, I mean, why not?

It's so much prettier when you write in script (which is such a girly comment, I know). But why would they teach you that if you don't need it? When you write in print it's slightly juvenile isn't it? It brings me back to a time when I wasn't aware another form of writing existed.

Sure, I don't write each and every letter in the way it was meant to be written in script. But it's like driving a car - do you do everything the way you were taught in Driver's Ed?

Someone I know had a little bit to say about the script/print debacle. I'm not sure if he's just lazy or if this is really true, but he makes a good point:

"It's coming to a point where script is a thing of the past and a lot of people don't even bother anymore. It's only good for signatures because script is what can differentiate a person's signature. Print is mainstream now, especially in the age of computers - it is just a more familiar type than script. I think that one day people won't even be able to read script anymore."

The point here is that I love script - it's part of my personality. It may not be around forever, but I can use it as long as I know how!

Bobbing My Head

My last haircut made me nervous because I thought it was way too short. This happens to me from time to time, especially now that I have the stacked bob. I freak out when I see how short it is and that I can't do anything else with it except style it straight. But I do love that I can pull this look off!

I was discussing my plan this weekend to let my hair grow out a little bit because I felt I looked a little like my brother (though I should mention this is completely in my head because this is definitely not the case with respect to hair). As we stood outside our restaurant waiting for some of the girls to get there, something happened. Literally two minutes after my hair conversation, I get a tap on my shoulder:

Random Guy with Accent: Excuse me, but who did your hair?
Me: Umm. Me? I uh got it done a few weeks ago by my regular girl by my house.
RGwA: Oh, OK. Well it just looks so good. I'm obsessed with it. And it's just that I own a hair salon on the Upper East Side. It's perfect.

I look at Ang and ask her if she told this guy to say all this to me. She said no (and I also know that she would never actually do something like that). But I mean, I had just, right then, been complaining about my hair! Could he have heard me? Who knows. I am slightly more pleased with my hair these days (probably because I'm three weeks into my last haircut). But these events certainly gave me a boost having a UES hair salon owner telling me how fabulous I looked. Maybe I will keep my hair just like this…

Photo: Jenny McCarthy (who knew I'd like something about her? But she's gotten so much better since her Singled Out days). JustJared.com

A Longing For Less

In addition to Casual Fridays, we get Casual Mondays at my office. It's nice. But as I was putting on my jeans this morning, I thought to myself, "Who do they make these jeans for?"

It seems that most designer jeans - or any jeans for that matter - are way too long. And I'm 5'8". So I'm no shorty here. Why, then, do I need to fold up my jeans when I wear flats, even when buying a regular length and not a long?! Sometimes I even have to roll them up when I have heels on!! Despite my height I do like to wear three to four inch heels. There's no reason that when I stand at practically six feet that my jeans should still be way too long!

While hemming jeans is an alternative it slightly bothers me (and when can I find the time to go complete this errand??). I mean I'm already paying top dollar for good jeans and now I have to have someone cut off half the material? (Not to mention the cost of having the jeans hemmed.) And I'd like the original hem on that too, please. But what if they mess my jeans up somehow? I'll have to find the perfect tailor just for this jeans dilemma.

I recently bought a pair of Joe's Jeans at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I was very excited about them and they are one of the best-fitting jeans I've ever owned. But they were way too long. Luckily for me, I could use the Nordstrom tailor to fix my jeans and get them back relatively quickly. Personally, I did not care for the demeanor or attitude of this woman who thought she knew more than me. She was annoyed that I tried to tell her that I'd like them slightly shorter so that when I'm walking in heels, my jeans wouldn't be torn up from the NYC streets. They ended up doing a great job, but that's what I expected for the price I paid!

I guess I should count myself lucky. Most of my friends are just a little over five feet. I can't even imagine them in my jeans! They'd be swimming in them! But who, except for tall models can wear these clothes? Can anyone tell me?!

Photo: JoesJeans.com

Rachel Bilson and Edie Rose

I got an email last night about Rachel Bilson's new collection at DKNY. And this is when I thought - what's with the celebrity trend of having their own clothing/handbag/shoe/accessory lines?

I suppose the goal here is to entice people with a big name. Some may choose to buy a brand because of the name associated with it. For me, it's quality over the particular designer - at times. I don't think I'd pay $200 for a Lauren Conrad dress because I don't think it's worth that much. However, if there was one line we should be confident in it might be Lauren's because she does attend FIDM after all (or so they lead us to believe on The Hills).

But then we've got Victoria Beckham, Mischa Barton, and who can forget Jessica Simpson? Perhaps these lines are created to help flailing stars come back into the spotlight, but who knows? Sure, some of the lines are stylish and cute, but are they really worth the asking price? Then we have Sarah Jessica Parker doing her part for the downtrodden and having a cheaper line at Steve and Barry's. But then you think - how good could the quality really be? She had to still have been making a profit on this stuff.

I'll admit, I'm a bit intrigued by Rachel Bilson's Edie Rose collection. In fact, I think I'd wear the outfit pictured here, except the hat. I think Rachel's so cute and has great style (except when she got sucked into that Katie Holmes trend). And I miss the days of Summer Roberts. But I'm really wondering what the reasoning behind this is. Is it kind of like "Well, why not?" (kind of like the actors who break out into song with their own albums).

We shall see what happens, but I'll hopefully get a chance to check out the collection, even though I may be a bit skeptical right now. Rachel Bilson's Edie Rose collection for DKNY Jeans comes out this month. If you check it out, let me know what you think!

Photos: Rachel Bilson - People.com; Edie Rose - DKNYJeans.com

Food for Thought

I got to bed at a decent hour last night - it was probably earlier than 11pm when I finally went into my REM cycle. But then I awoke at 4:30am and I was wide awake! I could not fall back to sleep. Yet, somehow I closed my eyes and when I opened them, it was 5:45am, which is still TOO EARLY for me to arise for the day. Again, I was wide awake and thought I'd never get to get the extra hour and a half I deserved of beauty sleep! Finally, I awoke to the noise of my alarm. And I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. I hit snooze and those five minutes passed as if it had only been five seconds!

Why can I be wide awake and ready for the day at the ungodly hour of 4:30am and so horrified when my alarm went off at 7:15am?!?! That's practically a three hour difference!!

Break the Ice

I almost cried last night when I saw Tyra. Not because I was so excited that ANTM was returning for another cycle (although I'm pumped even though I think it's losing a little of its luster), but because she was all blue in the face. Her icy makeup left a lot to be desired for me. What was with those bluish white lips? It's not like she was on the runway. Her done-up purple eyes were fun, but the lips - not so much. I know this was supposed to be a Spring 2008 trend (I enjoy the blue nail polish and eyeshadow), but I sincerely hope that THAT on the lips is not a trend for this winter.

I did come in at the end of episode one, so I wonder if I maybe missed something? Nevertheless, I was not a fan.. Bad, Tyra!!

Photo: Louis Vuitton runway - Style.com

Trouble in Hills Paradise

Last night on The Hills:

Lauren's just not that into Doug from Laguna, and Doug just sucks at acting, plus the writers, or lack thereof, cannot feed him proper lines.

Lauren: "I don't think this is working. It's not you, it's me."
Doug: "OH, right, I thought you liked me. It's just, like, you just hit me like a ton of bricks."

So many funny things about this. Oh well, Doug needed to go. He was so drippy and really he wasn't picking up on The Hills and the way the show works, as in "So whatever happened with Audrina/Whitney/Lo?" That's how it works on The Hills. You're a bad fake actor, Doug. I'm sorry.

And can I just say, that it probably was a little bit Doug and not LC, even though that's how she wanted to let him down. Let's be honest here. If she really liked him or felt something for him she wouldn't have given up so easily.

Oh well, I'm still obsessed with my fave "reality" show!

Photo: TheInsider.com