Weight loss through threat of public shame...

Does it work? is it only a short-term result then or can it last?

I was home yesterday and flipping channels in the morning when I saw Regis and Kelly. I stopped because they were interviewing Keanu Reeves, what can I say, I have a residual crush from his Point Break and Speed days. When I was 13 he was on the cover of Details and I bought several copies so I could hang both sides of the articles pages on my bedroom wall. That was 17 years ago, whoa. I feel old. Do teenagers today even know who he is? Maybe from the Matrix.

Anyway, back to the show, after Keanu they were weighing in their staff members who were part of a weight loss challenge.

Now, I know this is not a new idea for a show. Oprah has done it among other shows but I still find it disgusting. And I don't care what they say, when your boss (and I have a feeling Oprah is no different in this department) asks for volunteers, you have to agree, right? It's an abuse of power, and it's ugly - to then make your employees lose weight on national television, compare their weight loss, have the world see if they don't succeed or have a bad week.

Can this weight-loss possibly be a long-term life change? And isn't this just another way to shame people into weight-loss?

Colorblock dressing

I ran across this nice little article about wearing brightly colored dresses inspired by Mondrian paintings. It's a fun trend that most everyone can participate in to an extent, I do like the advice in the article -

Colorblocking is definitely a trend meant to be worn by the masses this spring, not just the designer customer, says Suze Yalof Schwartz, Glamour's fashion editor at large. She recommends buying a garment that's already colorblocked for you, though, instead of creating your own with a top, belt and skirt — all in different colors.

One insider trick Yalof Schwartz offers is to wear neutral-colored shoes no matter what hues are part of your colorblocked outfit: "I prefer when you match your shoes to your skin tone. It will make legs look longer," she says.

For an inexpensive and less scary way to get into the trend, this dress from Target is cute -


Delia's has this adorable dress, perfect for hot summer days -


Plus - 15% off your entire dELiA*s purchase! Use code SPRBRK. Offer valid through 4.17.08.

For a higher end and less casual version try this Cynthia Steffe dress on sale at Saks -




Happy Shopping!

Dress-up dolls are for grown-ups too

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Dress-up dolls are for grownups too

I have a new obsession. I had lunch with a couple friends last week on Polk St. in San Francisco and there is this cool book/stationary store next door - I walked by and saw this in the window and HAD to have them.

Dress-up dolls are for grownups too

I have a new obsession. I had lunch with a couple of friends last week on Polk St. in San Francisco and there is this cool book / stationary store next door - I walked by and saw this in the window and HAD to have them.

It was the very last set of "City Girls" in the store, they had tons of "ballerinas" and some other such sets left, but all I wanted was city girls, it had to be mine.

I admired the tin(or some kind of thin metallic) box for a few days before I ripped into them and started playing, I'll show you our first attempts -







Can you guess which is mine and which is my boyfriend's?

Swimsuits for large busts

Buying a bathing suit is stressful enough as it is, when you add the 'problem' of big boobs it can be even worse. I looked into it more a couple of months ago when a friend was off to Mexico with her husband. She hadn't worn a bikini in many years because of this issue and I assured her we would change that.

We found some great options, and I have even more here for you. Nothing beats trying on a ton of them, and don't forget that you are not the problem - it's the suits. Just keep trying until you find one you like. It's good to order from somewhere with free shipping and easy returns.

Let's start with this Soda underwire top from Figleaves-

It comes in black and a huge array of sizes from 30D to 40E.
They make one that cuts a bit lower in front (this comes in black too)-

They also make lovely one piece suits-

This Delano top is really pretty and comes in all sorts of cup sizes -



You can also check out suits according to your body shape -



At Nordstrom I like this Bikini -

Don't despair - you will find the right suit! I will do more posts on swimwear in the future, so feel free to write in questions.

Happy Shopping!

Maybe my shoe addiction is not so bad

I definitely have fewer pairs than this woman, and I can guarantee there will never be a shoe in the middle of my dinner table, unless of course it is made of chocolate.

Hmm, now there is a product idea.

U.S Olympic Team Goes From Sporty to Preppy

The U.S Olympic team used to be outfitted by Roots, and will now be outfitted by Ralph Lauren. I think it's funny that the team was outfitted by a Canadian company, does that seem weird to anyone else? There are so few places to even buy Roots clothes in the States, even though it's as ubiquitous in Canada as the Gap is here. But maybe the US team is more visible than the Canadian team, so it was great advertising for them.

Apparently their designs for the Beijing Olympics were too casual, so they were "Auf-ed" to use a Project Runway-ism, and polo is in.

Read about it in the WSJ.

$20 Off of Sandals at Endless

Now is the time to get some cute sandals for spring, Endless has a great deal - $20 off pairs over $100, not bad I have to say as I'm eyeing a bunch of them now, like this cool pair -




They are cute and tough at the same time. Magic.

And these adorable Pour La Victoire flats which I have blogged about before and I love even more now that they come in something like 5 colors -




You can knock off the cute flat sandal and gladiator trend all in one shoe and they also qualify for the $20 off deal! (they were also featured in a recent issue of Lucky magazine if you care about such things)

Happy shopping!

The merry-go-round of the business of fashion

There is an interesting article in the NY Times style section today about all of the firings going on in the fashion world. None of it is earth shattering stuff, but all of them put together makes for an interesting portrait where the bottom line matters much more than the art of it.

Read it here.

My Search Is Over!

For years I have been saying that a woman should have a signature scent and drink. I must have read it somewhere, no idea. Anyway, I don't have the drink, unless you count a margarita on the rocks, no salt. Hmm, that actually sounds like a signature drink, however because I like a GOOD one, I rarely order it, instead since I live in northern California I drink wine.

As for perfume, I have been searching for years for something I like. I like Laura by Laura Biagiotti, but I never really considered that a permanent option partly because it isn't available in the states and I did not see myself traveling purely for the duty free booty (although I know some people who do!) and also because it's a little too powdery for me, I am looking for something fresh and light.

I should note that I have a very sensitive nose, many smells and scents make me ill after a short time so whatever I pick had to be really special.

First, Kai. I thought it would be nice, I like it from afar - it's a nice light floral, a pretty and simple bottle and all that good stuff.
But then when browsing in a boutique with a friend a few months ago, I put some on and regretted it instantly. It did not mix well on my skin and I could not wait to wash it off. It was so bad that I needed some of my faux-signature drink(wine) to make it through the rest of the evening.

Then I thought I found a surprising winner - the LAMB perfume. It seemed surprising that I would like it, but I love the LAMB line of clothes and bags, so why not the perfume? Maybe Gwen Stefani is my fashion soul mate afterall. Or not.
I went to Sephora to try it out and I'm sure you've figured out by now I was not impressed, it was not a good match.

And neither were any of the Vera Wang scents even though when wedding dress shopping with my sister I thought one of them was great. I was clearly high on tulle or whatever else is in those dresses. I also tried a couple of the Bulgari scents, as I suspected they were just way
too heavy.

I've tried the Fresh scents, and Jo Malone, I liked some of them but never enough to actually buy them - until this weekend. Jo Malone has a new scent, white jasmine and mint and I'm in love with it. When I wasn't sick of it after 10 minutes I thought wow, when I was still totally enjoying the scent hours late I realized I'd finally found the one.

One of my favorite things about living in Berkeley is the jasmine all over the place including my front yard. The scent makes me happy so it wasn't so shocking to me that I liked this Jo Malone scent, but it was surprising to me just how much i loved it. And so after years of searching I can finally rest, or really just switch my obsessive search over to something else - the trench coat. Stay tuned...

Vogue hates fat people and other non-shocking things

The April Vogue arrived among a lot of talk about the cover -

It's racist overtones and undertones, or about that fact that it is not a flattering photo of either of them and not at all glamorous which is what we expect from a magazine like Vogue.

And then there is the story about the design team Rodarte - they were challenged to lose weight by the magazine. It's a story done to death by the magazine but usually about their own staff and writers. This time they found some designers they thought were fat and asked them. ugh.

And then let's get to what I find incredibly annoying - the "shape issue" - that's what they call one issue a year and I find it hilarious. They have a couple of pages this year, dedicated to a
-tall woman (hello, isn't the entire magazine ALWAYS dedicated to tall women?)
-short woman (who of course is so tiny all over she is maybe a size 0)
-pregnant woman which is nice on one level, it's difficult to feel good about yourself when pregnant, the whole gaining weight thing is I imagine not so fun even though it's due to the human being growing in there instead of the pints of ice cream that might be causing other women's weight gain.
-the curvy woman - she is hourglass and TINY.

So, where is the woman with the belly? The woman with a big ass? The woman with broad shoulders? Oh yeah, they don't exist in the vogue-verse.* Oh well.

*Yes, I wrote Vogue-verse, as in Uni-verse, as in Firefly , Joss Whedon's amazing futuristic space cowboy story (or Buffy-verse as in the universe of all things Buffy might be referred to, or Whedon-verse, the universe of all things created by Joss Whedon), and now you know a whole lot more about me than I meant to reveal.

April Fools (But not on us because we know sales!)

Happy April Fools Day. This is not my favorite 'holiday',I will admit it - I like a good joke, but pranks..., but when it's used as an excuse for sales, well it might become my favorite day.

On Bluefly take $20 off orders over $150. Also don't forget to play their sweepstakes game everyday. Even if you don't win big, you could win $30 off your next order (sadly the two offers cannot be combined)

Shopbop is offering 30% off all sale items, so get to shopping! They still have a lot of denim left too.

Smartbargains is offering a few things, Free Shipping on Jewelry Orders of $75 or More! - Ends 4-15 as well as 12% off any order for new customers and free shipping on all kinds of stuff. They have a great shoe selection, as well as trench coats - perfect for spring!