Incomplete Sparkles - major pet peeve

So, I have to say I'm a lover, not a hater.  I generally look for the silver lining, rather than the doomsday.  I like the positive, not the negative.  I don't watch some reality TV shows purposely because I can't stand watching people get cut down by the "judges."

I love sparkles - duh.  I don't love incomplete sparkles.

What do I mean by this?  Incomplete sparkles are like a mullet - looks one way from the front, and awful from the back.  I mean, what is worse than a beautiful sparkly, ruffled, patterned, etc. blouse, skirt, dress, etc. whose embellishment doesn't continue onto the back?  It's like a mullet.  Or socks with sandals.  Or visible panty line.  Just plain wrong.

I've heard arguments that it is a cost thing - too cost prohibitive to continue things on the backside.  I don't buy it (in belief or in purchase).

A few items to illustrate my point...

A cute sparkly argyle cardigan from Asos - $115.

But all wrong.  Especially the sleeves - they continue all the way around, but the sparkly pattern on the bodice does not.

 

A cute black sparkly T from Asos - $65.

Looks great from the front.

But all wrong from the back.  A plain, non-special black T.

A cute black cardi from Banana Republic - $98.

Granted the name of this item is "sequin front cardigan."

Why can't it just be "sequin cardigan"?

An uninteresting, un-whelming view from the back...

A striped tank from Banana - on sale for $59.99 (down from $79.50).

Love the tone on tone stripes of sequin.  A great layering piece, or all on it's own.

Utterly unremarkable (and disappointing) from the back.

Super cute tank from Gap - $69.95.

Love the paillettes and the chiffon straps and under-layer.  

Super cute for the holidays with a pencil skirt or cigarette pants & great colored heels.  Equally as cute with jeans for a night out on the town.

Sad from the back.  At least there is a little bow to add a slight amount of interest.

I really liked this dress in the French Connection catalog I got in the mail the other day.  Interesting with the wrap-front, nice sparkle.  Super cute.  $248.

I couldn't wait to go on-line to take a closer look and see it without the fur shrug.

So disappointed.  Not one embellishment on the back.  And this LBD costs $248.

One of my go-to stores - J. Crew.  Super cute sparkly tank - originally $118, on sale now for $79.50.

Sadly, the sparkle covers only the front.  

Another unremarkable, boring back.

Why oh why?

Case in point for continuing sparkles (or other embellishments) all the way around a garment that doesn't have to break the bank.

I found 2 super cute dresses from LuLu's that do just that - sequin & pattern is continued all the way around.

This silver number costs only $77.

And the sequins continue onto the back, along with a nice plunge.  So adorable.

This LSD (little silver dress), also from LuLu's continues the sparkles all the way around.  This will set you back $91.

$91 well spent on a dress with sequin on the back too!

All of the retailers that I frequent, and have mentioned here with misses on their backsides sell items that continue the sequin all the way around.  Why oh why can't all of their items?

Black tank.  Cute exposed zipper on the back.

Finished all the way around.

Banana Republic.  

On sale for $79.99.

J. Crew

Tank - $78.  

Finished all the way around & available in 4 colors.

T-shirt - $79.99 (regularly $118).  

Sequins all around.

Want some sequin leggings that don't look like chaps because the sequins are lacking on the backside?  Found 'em at Express - $98.

Want some other options for finished dresses?  Found a bunch also at Express.  This Black / gold striped one is on sale now for $75.60.  They have others too.

How about a sequin cardi / jacket?  Urban Outfitters - $89

If you look, you can find finished garments that don't break the bank, and that are absolutely adorable.

You always hear people say that you want to make your exit as memorable as your entrance.  How can you do that when the back of your garment is only ho-hum...

Here's to finished garments that carry their embellishments all the way around your lovely frame.

Just say no to mullets.  Turn your back on socks with sandals.  Don't give visible panty-line the time of day.

Look fabulous from the front and back!

Until next time...  Love sparkles on your front and your back.

Bananas for Yonanas

So, I'm officially bananas for Yonanas.

What exactly is Yonanas, you might be thinking?

Yonanas doesn't really sparkle, it doesn't really shine, it isn't glittery, and it isn't pink.  But I love it.

Yonanas is a kitchen appliance that makes frozen-yogurt-like deserts from frozen bananas.

I'm a child of fro-yo.  Remember Penguin's frozen yogurt?  I got yogurt there A LOT when I was younger.  Yummy yogurt, yummy toppings.  Yum Yum Yum.  More recently, I've become obsessed with PinkBerry, TuttiMelon, and a hand full of other local Fro-Yo shops.  I'm a huge fan of the signature "tart" flavor with rainbow sprinkles, blueberries, and mango.  Occasionally, I'll add in some "crack cookies" as my friends call them - the pink and white circus animal cookies from Mother's.  Super yum.

But all of that Fro-Yo comes at a pretty high caloric cost.  Now, I generally try to eat pretty healthily and take good care of myself.  So, when I read in some magazine a little snippet about Yonanas, I was very much intrigued.

I looked up Yonanas on-line (click here).

It seemed a little gimmick-y - after all it is one of those "as seen on TV" gadgets.

But it also seemed like it could really be super yum!

I eat a banana almost every day along with strawberries, blueberries, and sometimes blackberries mixed in with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch, ground flax, and nonfat plain Greek yogurt.  Super yum.

So, turning frozen bananas into fro-yo seemed like something I would like very much since I already like bananas, and I absolutely love fro-yo.

As it turns out Yonanas is available at your friendly, local Bed, Bath & Beyond stores, and if you are like me, you have a ton of 20% off coupons lying around, it isn't all that cost prohibitive. (about $49.99 less the coupon discount).

So, I liberated one of the Yonanas contraptions this weekend, got some frozen blueberries, some chocolate, and some ripe bananas, and tried it out.

First - it is very noisy.

Second - it is very easy to use.

Third - it creates a very tasty treat.

It comes with a little recipe book, but really sky's the limit in terms of what kind of fruit to use, and what other additions to include.

So, what does it taste like, you may be wondering...

Well, it doesn't taste overtly banana-ish.  The bananas serve as the base of the faux fro-yo, and the other fruit you add in makes the flavor.

I made mine with blueberries.  (By the way, for those of you who follow points on weight watchers - bananas and most other fruit are zero points - yes, zero points.)

I made some for my boyfriend with frozen grapes, and some chocolate-peanut butter.

Both were super YUM!

My boyfriend was a little sad when I packed up my yonanas to bring home with me this afternoon.  He admitted to actually wanting one of his own...

Bottom line.  If you like fro-yo, but want a lower-calorie healthier alternative, Yonanas just might be the thing for you.

You can read some other reviews on the Bed, Bath & Beyond site and on on Amazon.com.

I'm definitely a fan.  I'm bananas for Yonanas! (And, no, I'm not a paid lobbyist for Yonanas).

What would you mix with your Yonanas?

Until next time...

Glorious Gold!

So, clearly I love sparkly things.  I have a blog dedicated to sparkly things.  I've recently been obsessing over gold.  Glorious gold!  It shines and sparkles; can be shiny or muted, yellow, white, rose, or a myriad of other colors; mixed with other metals or stand alone; basically a majorly versatile color that I have always loved.

My most recent pedi consisted of a gold base coat with 2 coats of gold sparkles on top.  Absolutely love.  It's almost time to get a new pedi and I will definitely be very sad to see this glorious gold glitter go.  But, I guess I have some solace in the fact that I can get it, or something equally as glittery again.

I almost got a teal base coat with hot pink sparkles on top, but in the end, opted for the gold.  I may rock the teal / pink sparkles for my next pedi...  It may need to be a game-time decision.

Over the weekend, a friend noticed my toes and my gold leather purse and asked if I purposely matched them together.

I hadn't but had a little chuckle that my purse and toes were perfectly matched.  I know you don't have to match shoes, belts, and bags any more...  What about matching toes and bags?

The pic above is one that my friend took.  It's a little crazy that they match so well.

This is the actual bag in full view...  I absolutely LOVE this bag.

It is super-soft dark gold sparkly leather with brown leather braided handles.  I purchased it several years ago from Anthropologie.  I had seen it in the catalog for a while, but couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a bag.

Then several months after I initially saw the bag, I was at Anthropologie shopping one of their sales and when I was in line for the dressing room, I saw this magnificent bag just sitting on one of the bed displays.  I stepped out of line and picked it up.  I peeked at the price tag, and to my pleasant surprise, it was on sale for a much more reasonable price, and this little gem came home with me.

Also this weekend, I undertook a little home decorating improvement project.  I had an unfinished night stand, book case, and step stool that I have been wanting to paint for some time.  I decided on hot pink / fuschia for the book case and step stool, and gold (shocker) for the night stand.  Off to Home Depot I went to get supplies.  The hot pink I wanted was the color if my ipod.  The nice man in the paint department tried to color match it, but ultimately said the pink was too bright (boo), but I found a great fuschia alternative in one of the pre-made colors.  I'm almost done painting.  I'm sure I'll dedicate a blog in the near future to fuschia.

The night stand was a different story.  I wanted a metallic-ish paint for it, but not all out glitter.  The nice paint man showed me this stuff from Martha Stewart that I thought might work.  It is textured metallic paint that comes in an assortment of colors.  I opted for a dark copper / gold with just a hint of sparkle, but not over the top glittery.

Here are my thoughts...  Great idea.  Love the metallic likeness of the paint.  The color in the container is just lovely.

 The negatives...  It is not liquid-y like regular paint - it has a much thicker consistency.  It is also not smooth.  It is VERY textured, and I'm not yet sure how I feel about it.  It was really hard to get a uniform finish / texture with it.  I finished the night stand (pic below) and think I may take some fine sand paper to it to remove some of the texture.

 
I don't hate how it came out, but I'm not overwhelmingly in love with it either.  I will relegate the night stand to the "other" side of my bed.

I replaced it with a super cute night stand from a local store in my neighborhood.  It is white with a decoupaged bird pattern on the top of it.  An early birthday present from my boyfriend.  Love it & him.

And now on to some other glorious gold pretties I've spied lately and may be added to my wishlist.

A rail road spike bracelet in copper.  From Giles & Brother (click here).  $55.  I am a newcomer to this site and like what I see.  Lots of unique statement-y jewelry.  You can even have this made custom with words stamped into the bracelet.

Satin Mona pumps in gold-ish satin from J. Crew (click here).  $248.  Not sure I'm sold on them with that price tag.  Also can't vouch for their comfort, but I think they are pretty cute!

Another pretty shoe find from J. Crew.  Lula glitter flats, $135 (click here).  Super cute & glittery.  They come in a few different color combinations - notice the subtle cap toe in a slightly different shade of glitter.  Love.

Ok, I think that is all of the glorious gold I have to share for now... until I find more!

I mentioned in a previous post (click here) the coolness that is Pinterest.  I'm adding new pins almost on a daily basis, and just started a Sparkly Wonderland board dedicated to all things sparkle.  Check it out some time...  http://pinterest.com/jen_ni_fer/

Until next time, bask in the glory of gold!

Recent Sparklicious Obsessions

Hello sparkle lovers!  So, my parents were recently visiting me in San Francisco and we got to talking about sparkles.  Apparently, I've been in love with glitter and sparkles all of my life.  So it doesn't really come as a shock that I still love glitter and sparkles.

A few weeks ago, I went to get pedicure and fell in love with a new OPI nail polish from the Miss Universe collection - Crown me Already.  A super sparkly (shocker) silver glitter nail polish. 

I got a hot pink base coat and put the silver sparkles on top.  LOVE.  I also used just the silver sparkly polish on my fingers and absolutely loved it too!

The polish totally reminds me of another of my newer sparkly obsessions...  Stuart Weitzman silver sparkly flats.  Like little disco balls for my feet.  VERY comfortable, glittery deliciousness!

A final new item is a glass tray a friend gave me.  I saw one on her kitchen table and fell in love.  Turns out she bought a bunch of them at an antiques store in Oregon and had several more just sitting in a closet.  She was nice enough to give me one - LOVE.  I have it on a table with 3 glass tea-light holders on it.  So pretty with the candles lit!  I love the little bubbles and rings - kind of reminds me of bubble bath!

I absolutely love this dress from Anthropologie:

I'm loving some of the sparkly stuff at LuLu's - a good variety of items (shoes, clothes, jewelry, etc.) in all price ranges.  I love LuLu's for cute, inexpensive jewelry, and other accessories.

One other thing I've started to get into (thanks to my friend Rachel, and my sis) is a web-site / service called Pinterest.  This site allows you to create virtual bulletin boards of things that inspire you, things that you love, things that you crave, things that you whatever - just things!  You install the little plug-in and you can "pin" anything you see on-line to any of your boards.  And, you can search boards other people have created, and "follow" them.  I've started slowly creating some boards - my style, accessories I love, and decorating deliciousness.  Check it out!

What would you pin?

Until next time - bring a little shine into your life!

another sparklicious weekend!

So, yet another sparklicious weekend was had this past weekend.  I have to admit, I almost didn't take part in this weekend extravaganza, but thanks to a friend and my boyfriend encouraging me to go, I relented and went.  I'm so glad I did.

A friend had the opportunity to stay in a house smack dab in the middle of the Tudal winery in St. Helena.  Due to some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, the people who were supposed to stay with her were unable to do so.  So, she invited a group of friends to join her, and I was lucky enough to be included.

See, in San Francisco, summer really isn't summer-like.  It is cold, foggy, and sometimes a little dreary.  If you drive 10 miles North, East, or South, you can often see a 10 or more degree increase in temperature over what it is in San Francisco.  Now, don't get me wrong - I LOVE San Francisco.  But, I have to admit the fog, wind, drizzle, and cold get to me now and then, and it is so lovely to enjoy some warmth and sunshine sometimes.

So, 6 girls headed up to St. Helena to join our other friend for a planned weekend of wine tasting, lounging by the pool, and overall fun.

We arrived at the house and took a look around.  4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, giant kitchen, giant living room, and an amazing pool overlooking the vineyards.

We were pretty much in awe.  It was warm, sunny, and absolutely beautiful.

We put our things in the bedrooms, opened a bottle of wine and sat out by the pool for a bit.

After enjoying the sun and wine, we took off to do some wine tasting.

Stop #1 was Trinchero winery.  We enjoyed a tasting of 4 wines (plus an additional reserve wine not on the menu) outside on a picnic table on the beautiful winery grounds.  Our tasting leader, Mike, was very knowledgeable and showed us a grand time.

The wines there were super yummy, and many of us made some purchases.  We were wowed by the grounds and lovely landscaping.  I spied lots of bees busy pollinating, some beautiful butterflies, and overall gorgeous foliage.

After finishing up at Trinchero, we moseyed on over to Frank Family Vineyards.  There, yet again, we encountered absolutely lovely grounds, and also quite a wait for the tasting room.

Using our powers of persuasion, we were able to have the tasting come out to us.  Because the tasting room was so crowded, the tasting guy brought wine out to us on the patio.

Now, I'm not a big fan of chardonnay.  But, the chardonnay at Frank Family Vineyards was AH-MA-ZING.  We all made purchases at this winery before rushing back to Tudal for our 3pm private tasting.  We brought out a platter of cheese, crackers, and salami, and devoured it while thoroughly enjoying the tasting lead by Doug.  This was one of the BEST tastings I've ever had.  Doug had a lot of knowledge and stories to share over many amazing wines.

We had a tour of the winery and wine-making facilities.  We sat for a while in one cool room where wine was aging in barrels, we learned about the different blends of grapes, and the overall wine-making process.

We also got to take a walk into the vineyard and taste some grapes right off of the vine.  Literally.  AH-MA-ZING!  I think that was the highlight of the tour for me (aside from the lovely wines and wonderful company).

So, after our 2-hour tasting at Tudal, we put on our bathing suits, and enjoyed the afternoon sun.  I personally took a nice nap swathed in sunshine.

Now, we needed a place to go for dinner.  Earlier in the day we called many places to try and get a reservation for 7 people with not a lot of success.  A few places had reservations, but we weren't keen on eating at 4:30pm nor 9:45pm, nor driving too far to the restaurant.  We took one reservation at 9pm, and were planning to try to work our magic to get in earlier.

So, around 6pm, we started calling some places back to see if there were any cancellations so we could eat prior to 9pm.  And, indeed there was!  Tra Vigne said they could seat us at 6:45pm.  I've never seen 7 girls get ready for dinner so quickly.

We made it and were seated right away.  Randomly 2 other friends were in St. Helena wine tasting, and were able to join us for dinner.  I don't know about everyone else, but I thought dinner was pretty delicious.

We had a mouth-watering mozzarella / bread / heirloom tomato appetizer.  

And, I couldn't resist trying the oreo cookie gelato.

After a leisurely and delicious dinner, we headed back to the house on the vineyard.  As we were piling out of the cars, one girl said, "Look up - stars!"  We all paused and tilted our heads up and saw thousands of brilliant, sparkling stars in the pitch black sky.

We decided to do a little laying-out under the stars.  My camera couldn't really capture the beauty of looking up and seeing various sized silver glitter (stars) twinkling in the night sky.  Wow.  Living in San Francisco, there is a lot of light pollution, and a lot of the aforementioned fog - both diminishing the ability to see stars so clearly.

What a spectacular end to an amazing day.  We sat around and talked and laughed for a while under the stars before going to sleep.

Sunday involved eating, swimming, laughing, laying in the sun, and an overall great time.  One of the other highlights of the trip was the outdoor shower.

It was slightly unnerving at first to undress and begin taking a shower not in a traditional shower.  But, WOW, it was pretty amazing to shower in open air being doused in warm water.

I would love to have one of these at my house (when I eventually own a house).  I don't think my landlord would take kindly to me fashioning an outdoor shower on the fire escape outside my apartment...  Wishful thinking...

As we drove back into San Francisco, we encountered the unfortunate but inevitable fog-bank.  It sunk in that this spontaneous, spectacular, and sparkly weekend was just about over.  Sad.

 

I'm sure we will have another one equally as fun, sunshiny, warm, and sparkly sometime soon!

Thanks girls for a sparkly weekend - love you all!!

xoxo

Walking on Sparkles!

So, a friend Trisha, sent me a link to this ultra-super-fabulous floor she thought I would like.  I mean, who wouldn't want to walk on glitter?  I know I would.

How glam is that?  I totally want it.  Unfortunately, I live in a carpeted apartment that I don't own, so I won't be pulling up carpet and making a sparkly floor any time soon.

Reading about how this floor was made on the blog (check it out here), I sent an email to my parents asking them if I could make their garage floor sparkly.  The jury is still out.  I'm crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.  But think about it, wouldn't it be great and uber-awesome to pull your car into a garage with a glittery floor?  I think it would be pretty great.  I'm still trying to convince my parents of it's greatness...

I tried googling sparkly floors and it didn't really come back with much good stuff.  Some not-great looking tile.

A quick google of sparkly carpet revealed there is such a thing...  Not sure how good this stuff looks or feels in person though.  Click here and here.

Until next time, I'm still imagining a super-sparkly floor in my future...

What kind of sparkles do you imagine for your future?

It's Raining Glitter

So, yes, I love sparkles, and glitter, and pretty much anything shiny.  So, it goes to say that I absolutely love fireworks.  I mean, is there anything better?  It is like it is raining glitter!!!  LOVE.

Living in San Francisco, one doesn't usually get to actually see any fireworks on the 4th of July because San Francisco is usually extremely foggy during the summer.  Insert annoying Mark Twain quote here - the coldest winter was the summer I spent in San Francisco - or so he supposedly said.  But it is quite true.  Summer in San Francisco isn't exactly warm.  I have been known to wear a scarf and gloves during the summer.  Yes.  It is true.

The first 4th of July that I lived in San Francisco, the weather was actually nice, and a group of friends and I managed to get down to Fisherman's Wharf and fight the crowds and see some pretty fireworks.  The next few years were "normal" in terms of summer weather - cold, blustery, windy, and foggy.  Colored fog just doesn't cut it.  On another 4th of July, my parents and sister came up to San Francisco for a visit, and my sister-in-law also came into town.  We bundled up, literally, in coats and spent the day back down at Fisherman's Wharf with gobs of other freezing people and saw a lot of pretty fog.

This year, the weather cooperated, but I found myself down at my boyfriend's house in Palo Alto where it is actually summer.  We wore shorts and flip flops, and weren't cold.  I actually went swimming!  He loves fireworks just about as much as I do, and we got to see fireworks two nights in a row!  It was so great!

Sunday night we drove close to the Great America amusement park, parked, and walked a few blocks closer to the park.  We caught a great show of glitter falling from the sky.  We didn't have to fight throngs of people or cars, and we were able to enjoy the pretty fireworks!

Monday we drove close to Shoreline Amphitheatre and joined a bunch of other people in the Costo parking lot and watched another gliter-tastic show.  It was actually kind of cute...  Rather than get out of the car and stand around in the parking lot, I suggested we pop up through the sun/moon roof and watch from there.  We had the best "seats" in the house!

 

This little clip is from the KFOG Kaboom in San Francisco in May 2006.  KFOG is a radio-station that puts on a concert & fireworks show in San Francisco usually in May.  Generally in May it isn't foggy, so it is a good time to get your fireworks fix...  Seriously - raining glitter!  Love.

I hope you all had a little glitter in your 4th of July, or if you didn't, that you find a way to add a little sparkle and shine in your life each day!

Sparkles make everything better!