Father's Day June 17th

After Mother's Day comes Father's Day of course, we have to celebrate both, it is only fair game. But it is always harder to find gifts for dad than for mom. (Kind of the same deal with valentine's day. Let's be real; girls need to think about the perfect gift months in advance...guys not so much; they can stop by a jewelry store on the way home and find something great in 10mins). So anyway, I am here to help.
First,  let's not stress about this event; I can assure you that 90% of the dads out there absolutely do not care. So if you can just come up with "something", that will be good enough.
Second, fathers always buy what they need, they probably have already all the stuff that they consider as a necessity so... I advice you to go for the exact opposite. Think about buying something that your dad did not put on his "must-have-list"...but still go for something that he will certainly enjoy.
Last, think about your dad first, do not listen to what your mother and brother wants him to have, think about HIM. At the end, that's HIS day!

If daddy likes sports
-> New golf bag/clubs (look for his favorite brand), tickets to a baseball game, new jersey of his favorite team, sports book, personalized baseball bat...

If daddy likes to party
-> Beer machine/ beer bucket, concert tickets, cookbook,  whiskey glasses with name engraved...

If daddy likes to stay home
-> Apple Tv (best invention ever if you like to watch tv ..A LOT), personalized robe/coffee cup/ ipad cover...

If daddy likes you to be creative
-> make him a key-chain, cook breakfast for him, paint a canvas, do a photo-collage...

Hope this helps and your dad will have a great day ! :)

Happy Memorial Day

Planning a party is always the same process, in most cases. Everything has to match the theme, and actually sometimes when there is no special event, finding an original theme is the hardest part.
Celebrating Memorial Day is easy (kinda like the 4th of July), you just have to stick with the american colors... blow up blue/red/white balloons everywhere and decorate everything else with american flags!
Prepare what you like to drink and eat, and add a touch of "american colors" and here we go, you will feel like you are ready for a Memorial Day party!

Here are some recipes:

-Colorful cupcake: http://grinandbakeit.com/patriot-cupcakes

-All American strawberries: http://grinandbakeit.com/all-american-chocolate-covered-strawberries

-Watermelon stars: http://cleverhousewife.com/2012/05/watermelon-stars-perfect-for-4th-of-july/

-Flag cookies: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Sugar-Star---Flag-Cookies

Enjoy your holiday!

There is always one exception to the rule

I am not the "fan type". There is no celebrity that I "could die for" to meet. Of course, I like some singers, some athletes or some actors more than others...but I am not a huge fan of anyone really.
I admit that I will be happy to meet Brad Pitt in real life; but if I don't I will survive. For sure.
On the other hand, when it comes to fashion, I must confess that there is one girl that I follow: Kourtney Kardashian. The reason? Her body type looks like mine. She is very short and has wide hips (just like me). So I follow her in order to get some ideas and figure out what will look good on me. I like her style and she always find ways to make herself look taller and skinnier, so she helps me out without even knowing it!

I decided to share this "fan moment" with you because it is hard sometimes to realize what makes us look better or worse. I advice you guys to find someone who has the same body type as yours and a good sense of style; so you can steal some of his/her ideas and look good as well!

With love,
B-lou

Love

Gold...Silver...Rose!

As women, we gotta have jewelry, it is not possible to live our lives in any other way. Everybody knows that "diamonds are a girl's best-friend". Well I wouldn't argue with that quote in most cases, but regarding our 2012 economy status, we might need to find a new best-friend...a cheaper best-friend. This is why we should go for simple gold, silver or... rose gold! While pure gold is yellow, colored gold can be developed into various colors and rose (or pink if you prefer) is one of them!
Rose gold has a very subtle and delicate color that intensifies with age. If you already love gold just like I do, then rose gold is a good way to branch out and get a new type of jewelry.

FYI: Rose gold is created by increasing the copper-colored alloys normally found in gold and decreasing the silver-colored alloys. 14K rose gold contains as much gold as 14K yellow gold but is slightly pinker in color.

TGIF

"Thank God It's Friday"...Yes, we have all said it once in our lives and actually...maybe some of us say it every week. Because let's face it; work is called "work" for a reason, it is not always really fun, don't feel bad about admitting it. Hopefully for you guys, it is not too terrible either.

Well, sometimes after a long week of work, we are not really in the mood to go out and for that matter, getting ready and pretty seems like a bit of a challenge. But you deserve to do something fun...so here is my idea!

Sign up for a painting class (or something that is new to you and creative), take one or many friends with you, bring your favorite beverage (Chardonnay for me of course) and let the fun begin!

You will get to meet new people or simply enjoy being with your friends, relax, learn about skills that you did not know about yourself and just have a good Friday night! 

Rainbow ends

The new thing IN? Rainbow ends!
I always tell you to play with colors when you dress up since it is spring time but now you should play with your hair too!
Go for fun colors at the end of your hair or some highlights; it doesn't have to last forever but you should try to go for a new look for a week at least! ;)

Wine lover...forever!

By now, I am sure that most of you figured out that I have a big passion and love for...wine!
Well, maybe you are not as passionate as me to call yourself a "wine lover", you just enjoy a glass of wine occasionally.... or maybe you think that you are not experienced enough in the wine field... in both cases; each time you go to the store to buy a bottle of wine, it is sometimes becoming a bit of a struggle... But I will try to help you out here.

Well...you can reassure yourself, you do not have to worry too much about your "wine skills" yet because learning about wine is not easy and it takes a long time to be really knowledgeable about it.
I am not that experienced either but I like to take classes to learn more about it and frankly until you are good enough to teach a wine class, you will have to trust your luck a little ;)

BUT... I found this app that you can download on your ipad or iphone , it is called "snooth app" and you can type in any wine label and get the reviews from different people. It might not be perfect yet, but the chances of you getting a terrible wine for your lover are limited ;)

Just remember... looking at different websites to figure out what is good/bad is a great idea but at the end of the day you have to take risks and try different wines to figure out what you really like!

With love,

B-lou

Shopping therapy here it comes!

As I was going through a much needed "retail therapy", I looked online for hours and discovered many cute websites. They are all very cute and not too expensive so I wanted to share them with you guys.

Hope you will find some good items and you can treat yourself, you deserve it. You have been working hard all week, now it is time to sit down on your couch and shop without going anywhere!

Enjoy!!
                                                                                                      (Click on the picture to get the link)

   Francesca's collections

                                                                

   Lulu's

Chloe loves Charlie

With love,

B-Lou

Need change? Why not try a "fringe"?

Sometimes we feel like we need something new in our lives... maybe move to a new a place to live in, get new decoration, change the furniture in your apartment so your "yin and yang" are more balanced, buy new clothes... or get a new haircut!
I love the fringe style! I tried..many times but it doesn't look good on me because I have a very long face and it just makes it look even longer with a fringe...unfortunately... BUT it might look good on you since it actually looks amazing on many of my friends and lots and lots of celebrities!

I found this great website with images to help you do it:

Step 1: Cut your hair when it is dry, party your hair as it would fall naturally and take a V shape section, that is approximately 1inch thick and twist it

Step 2: Hold your scissors at an angle. With the help of the points cut the ends off the twist of your hair. Try not to take off too much at first as you can repeat the process until you achieve the desired result.

Step 3: Release the twist to let the fringe fall. To reveal any uneven or stray hairs lift the fringe from underneath with a comb. Then cut them off with the points of your scissors, as you’ve done before with the whole twist.

Step 4: Be gorgeous and embrace it, just like these girls !

Sun is up, Drink it up'

As the summer approaches, you will probably host a summer party at some point or be invited to one. As a good host, you will get everything ready concerning food, drinks, decorations and maybe even games to play during the day or at night...But you might be missing one thing... a party drinks bucket!

But no worries my friends; it is not too late to go get one or create one yourself. You can buy it and then you can decorate it to make it look better, more "fun" or just to match your theme party!
But on a personal note, you might want to get more than one bucket so you can put them everywhere around the house...so your guests will never get thirsty!

PS: Think about getting one as a present because let's be real; we all like receiving flowers or a nice bottle of wine but a useful present is also nice from time to time!

With love,

B-lou

Pretty in Pink

Bright or light...I can't help but love pink! We are not restricted to only wear pink or red on Valentine's day ladies, we can wear it all the time! Yesssss! So embrase your inner romantic or your sexy red style and wear what you feel like, when you feel like it!
I have selected different pictures because I like pink in any style; alone or with another color piece of clothing, for night time and day time, to be casual or charming...Anyway, I think we must have pink in our closet, it is a must!

Look at my favorites:

With love,

B-lou