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J Crew goes to Italy

To start the week, I thought I should reflect a little about people that actually do what they love for a living. That passion for the profession, that makes it blurry to see what's life and what's work is just very inspiring. I grew up watching my mother completely in love with what she did for a living, making that profession her own entire life and unfortunately, I was not so lucky. So I like to watch people who are that lucky, who have found early on the things that make them move and just enjoy the love for their jobs. 

Often, I turn to J. Crew stories in the paper to find that kind of inspiration. The people involved with the brand are just not amazing fashion professionals, but they live and breath what they do. 

These videos about Jenna Lyons from J. Crew and her trip to Italy are a must for people who love high quality fashion. They are about love, family, quality, process, technique, technology, years of experience and a whole lifetime of love for their professions. 

Jenna visiting a shirt manufacturer in Italy. Image: J. Crew




You can check the videos out here:


Trend Alert: Orange Lipsticks

I've been noticing a LOT of girls wearing orange lipstick lately. It seems this will be the trend for spring and spring has arrived, people! It's a little hard for me to accept it though, orange is not a color I'm friends with right now. Let's see if it will grow on me!

Hot to Spot a Trend:

Step 1The J.Crew Spring Catalog - Hollywood - shows the girl wearing an orange lipstick. They are the always amazing pictures from the J.Crew Catalog and it's worth to check it online!

J. Crew Spring Catalog

J. Crew Spring Catalog

 Step 2 - Then, the confirmation: an e-mail from Sephora about the Spring Trends straight from the runway with a beautiful picture of a girl wearing an, wait for it...

...orange lipstick!


Sephora's suggestions of orange lipsticks. I like the Make Up For Ever - Rouge Artist Intense in 40

Step 3 -  You find the cutest, prettiest case + lipstick ever from Paul & Joe Cat Lipstick in Over the Moon color:




Jonathan Adler Annual Upholstery Event

Jonathan Adler Annual Upholstery event is going on. You can snatch amazing furniture for 20% off!

Dream! Image: Jonathan Adler

Move 2 Denver!

Since we moved to Denver, we have started a campaign to get all our family to move too. Not only this is such a happy, bright place, we think we should share with everybody how life changes if you live in a place that's not cold and dark all year-round (take that New Jersey!). 

Yesterday I was driving around with the sunroof open, 60 degrees out and the sun shining strong! It's February, for God's sake. Do you know how impressive that is for someone who spent 10 years in the dark of the East Coast?

Not only that's a place that makes you unhappy and depressed but it promotes bone loss. And I'm not kidding. During my last visit to the doctor, we found out I - in my 20's, I must add - have bone loss in my knees and in my jaw. I have to take Calcium (pills and chewable) and Vitamin D everyday to prevent it to become worse. When I asked how that was possible, the doctor blamed it on New Jersey! All those year without any sunshine can really hurt you!

Here is a comparison on how the average temperature in Denver is usually higher than NYC all year long:


This was one of the biggest selling points for us, before deciding to move. 

What we didn't know? 

That Denver has more than 300 days on sunshine in one year - that's more than San Diego! That I would forget what's wind and windy weather, that I would not suffer with humidity anymore (my hair is very thankful), now we suffer with dryness - which is unbelievably more pleasant. That I would go more than six months without seeing any rain! In other words: a dream!

Denver does not have a world of things to do compared to New York. But in New York, for most days it's impossible, and very unpleasant, to be out and I'd choose to stay at home, comfortable, than to be miserable outdoors, therefore missing on a lot of opportunities to have fun. Here, there isn't much to do, but I can be out all the time. I'm able to experience the little available and all of it and I never choose to be at home anymore. 

It's just a huge change of lifestyle. 

Denver has a huge influx of people from other states. You just need to drive around to see the amount of car plates from California, for example. It's a similar lifestyle, the weather is amazing all year round, it's a very free state and way cheaper to live than California!

For anyone who decides to move to Denver, I'd recommend the folks at  Move2Denver , they are super helpful and can walk you through the path to find your dream home. Right now, they are holding a beautiful house open, it's located by the 9th Street Light Rail Station (which means a huge investment because of the new trends of bye-bye car culture, hello mass transportation!).  

I've been posting on their Facebook Page for the past month about tips for new, young couples to find their dream home and interior design/home decor tips and it has been a blast! 
You can like Move2Denver on Facebook by clicking here!

I have received a load of home/furniture stores catalogs this week and will spend the weekend going through them and doing research on new home design trends and share it with you soon!

In the mean time, let me go out and enjoy a little sunshine! 
;)


Follow @Move2Denver on Twitter!

It made my week

Oh, my beloved Friday! I missed you! This was a long and, for the most part, miserable week. I had multiple panic and anxiety attacks with all the crap that happened and I could not be more thrilled it’s Friday! Oh, the dreams of freedom (a.k.a. weekend)!

What was interesting this week if that I noticed I’m a little bit promiscuous when it comes to color. Let me explain:

I develop a serious love story with certain colors. At a specific moment, not long ago, I loved mustard. I loved mustard so much that now I have a wardrobe that's filled with mustard pieces. The problem is, when that love is gone, I have all the reminders of that color that, now, makes me sick.

That's probably what's happening with the green and yellow at home. Yesterday I received a few of the pieces I got at the Crate & Barrel sale. They look great and today I'm completely in love with them. But I can already see that in a few months I'll not be able to stay inside my own home and I'll disappear with these pieces. Because, then, my love will be for the color peach!

Here are a few things that made my week:

-          Crate and Barrel delivered lovely, beautiful yellow and green pieces this week. I need to finish up the living room this Saturday and next week I’ll be posting pictures of my inspirations and the results.

[Bamboo, green and yellow plates + green wall clock]
-          Unknown was the movie of choice for our, now traditional, Thursday Movie night. I always fell bad for Liam Neeson, he lost his wife, remember? So I support his movies in return! Hehe! Just kidding. I love that he is super bad ass in all his movies.


           - 5280 Best Breakfasts in Town issue. It was a delight to receive the magazine this week. Right way we opened it and read the whole Best Breakfasts in town feature, specially because I’ve been dreaming of finding a place like Urth Café in Colorado and despite this been one of the most fit states in the country, all breakfasts joints are a little lame and tend to be he-men and not healthy places with freshly squeezed orange – carrots – beats juice!

I can't wait to try all the good Breakfasts places in town!

Plans for the weekend?

I’ll have a very busy and interesting time to make up for the misery of the week that passed. So, I’m attending the Rooney concert tonight at a new (to me) venue – The Marquis in Denver. Tomorrow I’m working on making our place pretty the whole day because we will – for the first time – host guests for a pizza party. I love to entertain, but in back in the East Coast I did not have the space and here in Denver, I don’t have the friends just yet. So, I invited a couple of people from work and we will bake pizzas and drink caipirinhas all night. On Sunday – I have not decided if I’m hosting an Oscar party for two! Hehe! Let’s see what surprises the weekend brings!

Have a happy and full of movies and good food week!

Restaurant Week is Here!

Restaurant Week is here and it made me forget about everything else in life! All I can think about now are the wonderful new restaurants in Denver I’ll be trying over the course of the next two weeks. (Why Restaurant Week - singular - if it is for two weeks?). We have received our 5280 Best Restaurants in town issue and will be cruising Denver with it in tow so we can try them and create our own reviews. And, the best part is that I get to try a few new Brazilian places as well, which hopefully have authentic food.

What is curious is that they create pre0fix menus here that cost $26.40 per person, so a couple would be spending $52.80. Isn’t that super clever?

Here are a few of the places we cannot wait to try:


Ribs atThe Village Cork

Tapas at Ondo's Spanish Tapas Bar

Bruchetta at Osteria Marco

Moqueca at Café Brasil

Creme Brulle at Aria Restaurant

Follow the Heat

While on my search for the perfect summer attire for my upcoming vacation, I found an old magazine from Brasil with lots of fashion features – all showing the styles of Brazilian women at the beach. I thought it was the perfect inspiration for this moment:


Lots of color, different cuts and textures, but I got admit, the jewelry is what I loved the most in this shot shoot.





To finalize it: the gorgeous actress Juliana Paes
Images: Revista Criativa

Beach love - Part 1

One of the most challenging tasks that a girl has to face in the spring – because it’s spring time in Denver already! \O/ – it is to choose decent swimwear! And the best time to do that is approaching. As a rule, it’s a very bad idea to buy swimwear before Spring Break. Let the children go and buy expensive swimwear so they can head to warm locations and have crazy fun. After that’s done, we (mortals), can head to the swimwear stores and benefit from tons of great discounts.

Basically, that’s how I shop for anything really. I wait until it’s incredibly off-season and buy from patio furniture (in the winter) to winter jackets (in the summer). It’s always more affordable and you’d have had lots of time to think about the topic and make your decisions. That’s what constitutes a smart purchase!

Since I’m heading to Maceió, located in the most northeast coast of Brasil, in late April – six weeks away, baby! – I’m on a hunt for good, decent, proper swimwear and here is what I found so far:



1. Victoria Secrets' Cover Up dress - I love the print  more than anything.

But I think the winner is this one:


Carmen Marc Valvo "Kenya" One Piece
It's simple, black and will hide all I need to be hiden. It's a winner!

Speak Peak @ the New Greenllow (Green + Yellow) Living Room

I took a few pictures of our new brown + green + yellow living room. Even though we are far from finished, I really like how all of it it's coming together. I can't wait to find a few more pieces to accentuate the colors palette.

One of our biggest challenges is my magazines. I have a deep love for magazines and subscribe to much more than I can read, but I cannot get rid of them and they start pilling up everywhere. Do you have any tips for magazine’s storage?

The Green Yankees sign


My green Domino book - the typewritter is also a light green

More green books + yellow flowers





Everything started with the Ombre Green Rug

This is the Ombre Green Rug from CB2

First Fire

This past weekend was marked by me having endless nightmares with Pink Predators - like the one from the movie, except they were multiple and their mask/armor was pink - they would not leave me alone for nothing and left me really exhausted. No wonder I wake up so tired everyday, I spend my nights running away from the monsters in my dreams, at least this time they were pink and cute... Besides been chased in my dreams, I spent my days organizing the house.

I have decided to have a brown + green + yellow living room, followed by a grennllow balcony. Crate & Barrel really helped. Their Outlet Store had 65% discount in plenty of pieces I really wanted. They have not arrived yet, but things are looking pretty nice with the changes we have made so far. I want to be done by March, before the in-laws visit and, it will be spring!

The only problem is that I keep dreaming with a fireplace. I want a real one, the kind with you use actual wood and produce a real flame. I'm not in favor of the gay fireplaces that are electric and fake. But, this model from Love Adorned is driving me insane. I'm pretty sure my next dream will be about fire...


Candem Fireplace from Love Adorned - $565
 
Fire Pits from Restoration Hardware

This is one of my favorites: fire bowls from Restoration Hardware

It made my week

This week was so much better than others; the weather was amazing - we had a couple of 70º days. Last night, the moon was shinning so strong into our bedroom, the room was lit up, and it was incredible. One of the best things about Colorado is enjoying the weather (and nature!). And it's finally Friday, what's better than that? Here are the things that made my week:

- There is nothing like an organized closet. The idea of everything single thing in its place is priceless. And to top it all, I put a very girlie rug inside the closet and that made a huge difference!

Love the new light pink sweather from H&M

The new rug!

- Valentine's Day was calm, with lots of delicious food to celebrate love. Yet, I managed to keep my diet and lost an additional 2 lbs. Getting ready for vacation! Yay!



Spinach Past with shrimp, tomatoes, spinach and lots of cheese!
- My mother is home for the first time after my grandmother passed away. I believe it will be such an amazing trip for her, 3 months relaxing back home with family. I'm actually jealous. I spent the week thinking of which excuses I could use to just drop everything and move back home as well.

- Shopping on the phone with my mother, who went to H&M to try to grab a few pieces of the H&M by Night collection for me!

- My boyfriend’s visa is ready! Yay! Countdown to vacation!

- Celebrating my boyfriend's new project: he put together an amazing new sign this week and he had fake buffalo wings to celebrate it! So cute!

- We watched The Roommate and were really impressed with how bad that movie is. Yet, how much fun it is to watch girlie, silly, fake-horror movies? To end the week, the last and final movie from the Millennium Trilogy - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet Nest - which might be the best one of the three. Maybe? Can you endure 2 1/2 hours of Swedish?

 


Plans for the weekend?

I'm forced to take it easy. Last weekend was hardcore and I need to relax. I can't miss a nice Sunday brunch, though. And, there are lots of cleaning and organizing in my future.
Have a great weekend!

Music + Music

I'm currently working on a list of concerts I want to attend this year. My boyfriend suggested a while back that I started using Pollstar to keep track of my concerts and it was an amazing tip. Itr works much better than the Ticket Master notices and you can keep track very easly of all bands coming into town and all your favorite bands through e-mail or online. Here is how the list looks like right now:

February:

Ke$ha
Rooney

March:

John Caparullo
Cold War Kids
Scissor Sisters
The Constellations
Foster the People

 April:

Bill Mahr in Boulder, CO

June:

Bright Eyes
The Decemberists and Mumford & Sons at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival

July:
Mile High Music Festival

August:

Lollapalooza in Chicago

If I can see half of these performances I'd be very happy! I'm curious also about how/what I can add to this list...I'd really love to see The Black Keys and The Arcade Fire this year.

Last weekend we saw DevotchKa at The Fillmore in Denver, it reminded me how much I hate that theater - it's incredibly old and they do not have any ventilation system - so, it's always super hot and uncomfortable inside. Every time I step inside The Fillmore, I start sweating, my hair gets completely wet, and it’s just a disgusting experience.

The surprise of the night was a rock-mariachi band from LA - Mariachi El Bronx – that was actually quiet entertaining. We did not take many pictures, since this time, we were trying to cool off at the back of the theater.
Mariachi El Bronx


The only picture we have from DevotchKa


Countdown to vacation

It's less than two months until I get seven days off from work to attend my cousin's 15th birthday in Brasil [Jesus, time flies, she was a baby when I lived there], and head to Maceió to celebrate my anniversary with my boyfriend by the beach. Even though this is one of the best winters of my life - who knew Denver could offer a winter with 70º days? - I'm looking forward to relaxing by the beach, drinking lots of coconut water and eating the best fish dishes in the world.

This is the first time my boyfriend will be visiting Brasil and besides the pressure of meeting the whole family and speak the language properly – yesterday he was yelling inside the apartment “Cala a Boca”! - I'm really excited he will be able to enjoy Brasil and see where I come from. I can't wait for him to experience something completely different, all the craziness; we are going to have a blast!






H&M Spring Collection


H&M has unveiled a few pieces of its Spring 2011 collection. While in my last visit to NYC, I was able to grab a few of the country-inspired pieces, which I fought was very pertinent to my new life in Denver, CO.
The collection lacks a little of color and features lots of caramel leather pieces and fringes in its boots and handbags. I have also noticed a lot of jeans pieces and the dreadful jeans shorts.









I picked up two of these dresses perfect for work!

The white tees gained an extra charm with the details in the shoulders.


While I was writing this post my mother was on the phone with me try to shop the new H&M by night collection. I send her multiple pictures of what I want; she goes to an H&M store in NYC and tries to find them for me. It’s amazing fun (for me, obviously, she is probably not thrilled with this activity).

Images: Facebook/H&M