Still Doing This Giveaway Thing! Ends May 28th!!

I've been so busy with work, watching the Mets loose and experimenting with new ways to ruin my life, I myself forgot about the giveaway, which is still in effect! I'll be giving away this bad-ass bangle to one lucky follower so send the link to your friends on G-chat while you are all pretending to work so I'm not always preaching to the choir, so to speak.  One of my favorite blogs, Geek Chic did a great post (so she, and any other blogger, gets three extra entries!!) on the giveaway, styling it with this really cute romper {black halo?} Take a lizzoook:

Love it. But seriously, everyone should check out her blog; she is unbelievably crafty and actually completes her projects unlike some people who just likes to make lists about things I may or may not one day do. She is definitely the kind of person that knows how to make appetizers that don't come out of a frozen box.  One day...

Happy Weekend: Head to Nordstrom Rack!

The fact that the subway lets me out directly in front of Nordstrom Rack is going to become a serious issue.  I got off the 5 at 9:45 and seeing the doors were still open I thought I would take a poke around and see if the hype was worth it. It was.  Even two days after opening and late at night The Rack had TONS of Milly, Theory, Trina Turk and Rebecca Minkoff bags, all current styles at great prices.

The dresses were all under $150, the tops were $40-$79... it was great! If only I hadn't just spent my money at the Tibi sample... and then on gilt today. Womp, womp. RUN to union square and Nordstrom Rack you won't be unhappy.

I Likey You, You Likey Me??

 I'm lusting after this Hockney Satchel from J-Crew.

And also, Ike Davis, the Met's new first baseman. {Sorry John, you had your chance!}

Debunking Gypset Fashion with Chanel's Cruise 2011 Collection {With Help From Mathew Williamson and Jules Reid}

Last night I joined all my gorgeous, glamourous and famous friends in St.Tropez for the debut of Chanel's Cruise 2011 Collection. I was really excited to see my good friend Karl and be there for possibly one of his last collections!  Here are all the pictures I took, some photographer from Women's Wear Daily helped, a little.

For the work blog I've been writing about the gypset lifestyle and how it relates to home decor so now I get a chance to focus more on the fashion aspect of this jet setting way of life. When I think of gypset I think of above; the big billowy shape and crazy pattern. You can wear this as a cover up or gown and when you are living in a fabulous beach town, there isn't much time to change between the two.

Loved that most of the models walked barefoot down the catwalk, which was really a boardwalk.

My grandma Sybil definitely wore something like this back in the day

And I would want to wear something like this right now.

Maybe I'll wear gobs of jewelry to the beach.  Maybe I'll look like a total freak.

I think this is my favorite. I just love how its fun and flirty but at the same its really wearable.

I would love to see my mom in this; that obi belt is uber flattering.

Little White Suits

Love this evening dress with the sheer bottom, its perfect for a black tie summer event

I love these boots, not interested in the rest

This is great for anyone who wants to be a real life Lady Gaga

This is a fun like ode to the seventies

I'd be smiling if I was her too. Another designer that celebrates this carefree world win lifestyle is Matthew Williamson.  Williamson has been a favorite among the socialite crowd since the brand's inception in 2007.  Since then he has taken over as creative head at Emilio Pucci while continuing to grow his own line {you've surely seen some of his designs on Gossip Girl... when Blair goes to give Chuck's uncle a rimmer for the hotel back...} Here are some of my favorite looks from his Spring/Summer collections.

Many people think that putting a bright scarf around your head means you are a haute-boho babe, but really its about taking inspiration from all your travels and putting them into an outfit.  The harem pant, as unflattering and diaper-ass as it is, takes it roots from India and paired with a Parisian inspired sequined blazer and an all-American white tank... you've hit three continents. 

I love all the tribal inspired prints and elements throughout his Spring collection.

 You can shop most of the looks here if you've got a couple of g's to spend.  A designer who is soon to be known just as well as Williamson is Jules Reid. I can't remember where it was when I stumbled on her site, but I'm glad I did.  Her collection works everywhere from NYC, the Hamptons or even St. Tropez.  Here are some of my favorites:

The Ultimate Party Dress $1750

The Harper One $495

I wish I was tall enough to pull these off! The Wyatt Pant $495. {This pant is also being carried at Calypso}

 

The Beatrice Tunic Dress $495 

Love this Charlotte Top. $675 

It stands to reason that this isn't Jules' first time at the career rodeo.  First a power broker, then interior designer and now fashion designer, Reid takes her inspiration from living in India for a time along paired with her NYC street smarts.  Her designs are fun and fresh and although the tunic is a fashion staple, these all look original.  Check out her site here for more from the designer/mother.  I'll be stalking like no other for a sale! 

Tibi Sample Sale Run Down

So today I ducked out to check out the Tibi sample sale and I can honestly say I've answered Mya's question... I know why the caged bird sings and its because she was stuck in a cubical throwing 'bows trying to get their hands on ANYTHING. I don't think people really cared what it was as long as it zipped.  I got there at 1:05 (it started at 1) and it was as though I had entered the dinning hall at high noon only the dinning hall was more like a small cafe.

Like, yeah.  To be honest their past sales had been better.  I didn't see anything that you could get in stores, it truly was a sample sale! There were a good deal of dresses in lesser known or bought prints, a lot of cropped sweaters and some fun colored blazers. The tops were all around $79 dollars, the dresses were anywhere from $113-300 and the blazers were $200.  Also, last sample sale I went to I got a killer pair of shoes that were still in stores... these were the only lonely shoes they had, plus some gold, already worn sandals. 

I tried to not get caught up in the hoopla of it all and stay focused on getting something that I could have forever and maybe something else that was just fun to wear this summer.   Okay so what did I end up with?

Okay, so admittedly this is really queer, but gotta do it. This white shift dress is totally something that I will have forever and the little flowers pop out, which make it special.  Plus that back is really cute.  I can wear my obnoxious pink Tory Burch heels and some fun bangles to go out or gladiator sandals and a blazer to the office, should I ever work in one.

I loved the print of this and have seen it everywhere so I knew this was a smart buy.  I had wanted the more tailored version, but it wouldn't be a sample sale for nothing. 

I don't know if you can tell, but there is a little V in the back. 

Every girl that worked there was amazingly nice and even though it was a sample sale they went to the back to look for more sizes, granted I did go the first hour of the first day.  One of the sales assistants said that they would be restocking sizes, not really styles throughout the the next couple of days, but you never know! Click here for the invite and join Tibi's facebook group for a chance to win an entire weekend wardrobe (as long as you have other Tibi friends).

GIVEAWAY!!! ZEBRA BRACELET

In order to drum up followers without having to do the hard work (like write good posts) I'm offering a giveaway for all followers of Da B and Da Blog.  Giveaway for the end of the month so there is plenty of time to enter.  All bloggers who mention this giveaway will get three additional entries.  This month I will be giving away the black and white zebra bracelet. One of my favorite pieces from the line I carry.

I love this bangle for two reasons: 1. it reminds me of my grandma's bracelet I wear on the reg and two because its just like a Kenneth Jay Lane piece but a fraction of the price. All you need to do to enter is click follow to win! I will announce the winner (after I use random.org) on Monday 28th. Best of luck and please spread the word, I will be doing more giveaways more often because who doesn't love free shiznat? Especially if it's cute!

This Is Where I'll Be On My Lunch Break...

You Just Graduated? What Do We Have For Him Johnny??

I'll give you a hint: NOTHING.

  It hit me around 3pm today.  Normally the "it" is either an intense hunger pang, need to chug a diet coke or my fist to my face just to remind myself I'm alive. Today, however, that "it" was that exactly a year ago today I was drinking margaritas, sand in my nether regions with the only people I admit to liking and unbelievably happy. The kind of happy pychatrists try to capture in happy pills. Trust me.

I wrote an article the other day for work about Gypset fashion and using items from vacation in your home decor, which is funny because my last vacation just so happened to have been that vacation or "senior week" to the perpetually class Myrtle Beach, SC.  If I decorated my apartment with the things we brought back from Myrtle my roommates would be sitting in pink beach chairs and my window treatments would be chintzy dolphin towels.  I'm not embarrassed to admit that this was the best vacation of my life; it was the perfect culmination of the best four years I've had so far.  A time where you truly lived in the moment, where the decisions you made could easily be repealed and didn't stick with you past a semester.  Sure I have MANY moments that make me cringe (one or two from that week) but so do you.  When the week was over, graduation was over and then school was over I was like a heroin addict coming off a four year high.

I slept for a week straight, I sweat out alcohol for longer than I'd like to admit- I even gave up diet soda and ate only grilled chicken and brown rice not because it was bikini season but because I felt like I was going to DIE.  When that passed and I stopped scratching the paint off my walls there was suddenly this moment of extreme clarity the likes of which I'd never experienced.  I had no best friends to influence me, no torrid romance to preoccupy my mind and no papers to occupy my time.  I was stuck at home watching the Mets with my parents and going to bed sober, waking up not hung over.  And I was so f-ing scared and alone.  Now came the time to do something with my life.  Had all I really learned to do after four years was not choke on my own vomit?  Graduating was lonely for me, as for many of my friends.  Very few of us had found jobs and even when we did, even fewer left their homes.  Each month it got better, but each month felt like months, not like in college where a month seems like it's own calendar year.

Finally I moved out and moved on and the world instead of feeling so cut off suddenly felt so open. Too open. I felt like I had fallen in and it swallowed me up. I still feel like that. Shiz son, living is hard. Its, like, work. You're parents tell you that, but they are your parents and clearly you don't listen to them so its not till you are writing a massive rent check that is the equivalent of most people's electric bills that you realize... they were right.

{Actually a Gamma Phi Beta Chapter}

Its been a year and I don't feel like I've gotten very far but I feel like I have time, something we were always racing against at school.  When I go out its not a countdown to THE LAST TIME I EVER GO TO THIS BAR or THE LAST TIME I EVER GO OUT TO DINNER WITH MY FRIENDS.  As much as I miss college the only thing I really miss is being around my friends everyday.  Its scary discovering that you are finally figuring it out and recovering from always being on a HIGH HIGH and then a LOW LOW.  In no way shape or form did college really prepare me for the working world but then again the working world that our generation knows isn't like anything anyone has seen before. I'm thinking about the current crop of graduates and as much as I envied them in the beginning of this year, I wouldn't switch with them even if it meant going back to a club called "Spanish Gallion" and dancing in cages.

We have our own issues to deal with, but hopefully everyone has begun to figure themselves out just a wee bit more than back then.  There are still plenty of tables to dance on, we just get to do it in nicer shoes... and isn't that what its all about anyway?

{Sorry for all the words}

Alexis Neiers Get's Six Months in Bling Ring Heist? And So It Is...

On Sunday night I've been forgoing Kendra and saving up brain cells to be destroyed for the show Pretty Wild, I mean watching fat Kendra hold a baby is just depressing.  At least when she was changing Heff's diapers she wasn't preparation H stuck in her fat rolls. But I digress.  For those of you that haven't heard of the show (this would clearly not include Caroline) its centered around three sisters who reside on the outskirts of the Hollywood in crowd (and by in crowd I mean, they think Lindsay Lohan is cool).  The middle child Alexis was arrested in connection to the "bling ring robberies" where a bunch of her fellow coke heads ripped off Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and other people that actually earn their money.  E, with its high standard for television, gave the Alexis bitty and her sisters a television show and then the Judge gave her six months.

{photo}

Gabby (no relation) on the left is the youngest and the most "responsible."  Neirs is center and the "oldest" Tess is on the end showing her love for God just where he would've wanted it: on her bikini line.  I say oldest in quotation marks because Tess is either adopted or just taken in like a stray kitten with a bad scratching problem and isn't blood relation.  The mother/manager is also a big believer in "The Secret" faux juicy sweatpants and g-strings. She even home schools the girls taking them away from regents exams and teaching them this pseudo religion.  Scientology won't even let these freaks in, that's how un-hollywood cool they are.  Even though I hate them on principle the 17 straight years of Law and Order I've watched does cause me to feel bad for her having to pull a Paris for six months.  Her legal eagle, mother and sister Gabby, who is the only voice of reason in that family, decided that she wasn't guilty but just not innocent enough to go to trial so they took the deal.  You can read all about it here.