Month: October 2015

Gift Guide 2015: Part 1

Sadie2 Comments

I know what you’re thinking- it’s October.

People.

Shopping is a year ’round sport and there are some holiday gifts that require some advanced notice, so you’re going to need to think ahead of Cyber Monday for these ones. I’m talking about personalized and monogrammed merchandise. If you want to look thoughtful, get them something with their name or initials on it!

Let’s do this by recipient:

Guys in your life

Converse Kicks

Personalized Sneakers.  I have bought these for myself and for presents. They are always a hit! Almost every mainstream sneaker brand does a personalized option where you can pick the color and sometimes material for each panel, and add a monogram. I’ve had good success with Nike, Adidas, and Converse. If I were you, I would go for more of a lifestyle look rather than some high tech running shoe because they’ll want to show them off when they are out and about with friends. Converse is a little more affordable, but get ready to go above $100 for Nike, Adidas, or New Balance.

Friend/Family Couple

West Elm Canvas Totes

Canvas Tote. Let me tell you. I got this canvas tote (the above with the “E” on it) for my parents a couple years ago for them to use as a beach bag. It got a little bit of delayed reaction because I gave them a beach bag in December, but come July it was their new favorite thing. You could totally grab one of these from West Elm or the classics from LLBean or Lands End, and fill it with some other fun things: throw blanket, beach towels, bottle of wine, gourmet food stuffs, candles, etc. Depending on the contents you pick, it would be perfect for a newlyweds first holiday season, a hostess/holiday gift for overnight holiday visits, or a housewarming/holiday present to new homeowners.

Girls in your life

Mono_pouch

Travel pouches or toiletry bags. These are probably more of a stocking stuffer, but always useful and can be colorful and fun, or quite elegant depending on the recipient you have in mind. My instinct for this genre is Mark and Graham. They have a wide range of pouches, toiletry bags, jewelry rolls, tech cases, you name it.

Grandparents

Wool_Throw

Something warm: throw blankets or bathrobes. I always think of comfy, and easy care things for my grandparents. Because my grandparents are often cold, a nice throw blanket seems like the perfect option, and I think it helps if it’s machine washable like the above washable wool from The Company Store. It will hopefully upgrade their living room and get a lot of use. All the home stores have throws with monogramming available, so you have options. Also, a nice new fleece bathrobe would probably be much appreciated.

And one more for the Girls

PaperSource

Personalized notepads. I’m a big fan of stationary, and personalized notepads are a great, and affordable, gift for almost any friend, mom, or aunt on your list. I usually rely on Paper Source for my stationary needs (of which there are many). I recently needed to restock my own notepad supply for my regular list making, and I went with these. Most notepad sets at Paper Source are $35, and if notepads don’t inspire you, they have several other personalized stationary options.

Have you started your holiday shopping yet?

Sweater Weather

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I recently did an audit (workplace jargon, you’re welcome) of my current sweater situation, and I definitely need a few refreshes. I have a tendency to buy lighter, easy care sweaters (aka hopefully machine washable and not dry clean only) that seem to wear out a little faster than some of the fancier options. I’m going to start with some very versatile basics that will give me a lot of bang for my buck. These are admittedly a little boring, but welcome to the DC dress code my friend…

Work Sweaters:

Loft Button Back Sweater

I like grabbing a couple simple, machine washable sweaters that I can easily pair with a pencil skirt, or dress pants with or without a blazer. This one from Loft fits that description perfectly at $49.50 (because you know it will go on sale).

Loft Boyfriend Cardigan

Also, one of my quickest solutions to an outfit in the winter is a buttoned up boyfriend cardigan over a sleeveless blouse or plain tee shirt (purposing the summer shirts year ’round) and dress pants or pencil skirt. And done. This one from Loft is super affordable, comes in good colors, and is machine washable- it’s the trifecta!

Nordstrom Sweater

In the fall and winter, a white cable sweater paired with a slim pair of black pants (maybe velvet black pants) is my go-to Friday outfit. I like this option from Cupcakes and Cashmere’s collection at Nordstrom, it’s a little pricer, but it’s a nice sweater.

Ann Taylor Sweater

I like to have a couple statement sweaters, and this one caught my eye from Ann Taylor. It would be really easy to pair with a navy skirt or pants. Done and done.

Weekend Sweaters:

Ann Taylor Tunic Sweater

Tunic sweaters are big this year, but I think tunics are more weekend than workplace. This one looks like polished weekend for me. So I’m thinking out to dinner with friends or a family get together around the holidays. This is Ann Taylor again.

Banana Tunic Sweater

Speaking of tunics. I want this one from Banana too. This is definitely for the dead of January when you need to be warm but look put together with some jeans or leggings.

What sweaters do you have your eye on right now?

Columbus Day Sales!

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It’s a holiday weekend so we need to get down to business! This is a good time to do some fall and winter clothes shopping before holiday shopping takes over. I’ll give you a head start with these pro tips:

Banana Republic is 50% off some merchandise and 40% off the rest of the merchandise with the code BRSAVE; this could also be shopping bag material.

Gap is 20% to 40% off depending how much you buy with the code MORE; these would definitely fill a hole in my closet.

Athleta is 20% off full priced sweaters and outerwear with the code BUNDLEUP; how fun.

Loft is 50% off regular priced and sale items no code needed; I could do this.

Ann Taylor is 40% off full priced with the code SHOPFALL; I’ve been thinking hard about these.

JCrew is 30% off (a lot of) full priced and 40% off final sale with the code WEEKEND; I sort of need this in every color.

JCrew Factory is 50% off prices as marked; this is currently in my shopping bag.

Anthropologie is 20% off dresses with code DRESSCODE; how pretty is this?

Boden is up to 40% off everything, no code needed, but you get an extra 15% off that sale with the code XTRA; I want this, like, a lot.

bodendress

And you know Bloomies, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, and Macy’s have all manner of deals and specials, and pretty much every other retail for that matter…