little booties

I have wanted some trendy booties for a while now...and when I saw my friend Annie, designer of the Annie Griffin Collection, wearing these puppies:

J.Crew MacAlister Wedge Boots $198

I fell in love.

Now, you might be saying Anna, those look like a glorified Clark's shoe or that is waaaay too granola for me... BUT you will be WRONG!  They actually look very chic and trendy with a pair of skinny jeans or leggings, and I have heard they are ooh so comfy.  I will warn you though, that if you have large feet these might look a tad silly because of the elongated front.


So! While I was searching for the above booties at J.Crew I was pleasantly surprised at how many cute shoes J.Crew has right now.  Flats, heels, boots, wedges etc...their designing gets better and better every year, and their prices aren't too terrible either.

Some other J.Crew Booty Faves:

Owen Boots $265

Miller Short Motorcycle Boots $265

Ryder Boots $268

Greer Wedge Ankle Boots $268

I actually have these and they are AWESOME! Minnetonka $168

I have always thought these were neat looking kicks- but what the hell do I wear those with? Quoddy Boots $300 

Their flats and heels are pretty sickie right now too so go check it out!

love,

abs

Baby Williams

One of my best friends is having a baby boy- yaaay!!!!


Meet Margaret:

excellent friend

and animal lover

she and her doctor extraordinaire hubby Juddy:

will be wonderful parents and I can't wait to meet the little bundle of love!!!


Congrats to the Williams!!!


On another note, Margaret is also an amazing interior designer, this is not her career, but she dabbles in it for fun... while she is creating Baby William's nursery I will try and get some sneak peaks because I am sure it will be FAB.

love,

abs

Handbag Heaven

I am very picky about my purses/handbags and what have you...

my idea of a perfect purse includes:
-thick straps, preferably out of a nice, smooth leather.  If the straps are too skinny they end up digging into your shoulder if your purse gets heavy = not fun.
-semi- slouchy 
          -if a bag is too structered sometimes it looks a little too hard and intense for my taste, I would rather have an easy, comfortable looking bag.
-good zipper and storage pockets

for example:

too structured:

this is a beautiful YSL bag, but it just looks too intense and "FANCY PANTS" for my taste

perfect and easy:

this one is from J.Crew, it is $298--- I am loving their handbag collection for fall...

I guess I need some slouchiness in my bag, and for it to look a little worn, not so shiny and new.  I love the feeling of old, soft leather... this is Sarah and me in ACK and I am carrying my almost 6 year old Rebecca Minkoff bag.  This bag is awesome and just gets better every time you wear it.  I bought mine at Bloomingdales, but I have seen this exact one at Ann Mashburn recently.

please ignore the crazy face I am sporting in this pic....

This looks like the same one I have...Classics MAB-mini satchel $495

My bday is coming up and I would not mind a new handbag...hint...hint....here are some of my faves out there right now....

this puppy is also j.crew, their darlington hobo coming in at a cool $325- i love the motorcycle jacket inspired sides

These J.Crew bags are steals considering what nice leather they are made of-  I must say that I have never owned a J.Crew bag before, so I am not sure how well they hold up or if they feel as great as they look...but I would give this bag a chance for sure.

Burberry Buckled Leather Tote $1,495

This Burberry Tote is tote-ally awesome-hehe- or so it seems via the internet...I love the chartreuse color because who wears a chartreuse purse? no one- people are so boring just trying to fit in with the same black or brown purse all the time.  It would be nice to switch it up! Be Wild! The Burberry one is def. on  the pricier side but like I said I have worn basically two purses for the last 6 years of my life and these puppies get a lot of wear out of them.....so you get a lot of bang for your buck!



I am also a huge fan of Miu Miu purses.  They aren't too flashy with labels plastered all over themselves and they have very nice leather that lasts... I have this one in a dark green:

Miu Miu Matelasse Leather bag $1,695

This is also on the pricier end (mine was a gift...) but it is a nice size purse you can wear everywhere

Anya Hindmarch has some sweet bags out right now as well:

Maxi Zip Leather Shoulder Bag $1,350

 Maxi Zip Ebury

Don't let the orange scare you--like I said- LIVE A LITTLE
don't be so worried about fashion, just have fun with it and wear what is appealing to you, not what others think you should be wearing.

Ralph Lauren also has some good options out right now:

Bohemian Suede Bag  on sale for $569

LOVE suede bags for the fall...I can't tell if this one has a zipper though...not good for someone who stuffs their purse full of muy importante items

Burnished Calfskin Cross-Body $595

LOVE A GOOD CROSS-BODY PURSE- HANDS FREE PARTAY!

Lastly, not to jump on my high horse or anything  but...I know that some of the handbags on my post are a tad pricey and a good friend told me once that you should never buy something expensive unless you can give that same amount of money away to help others.  This might be a DUH moment for most of you...but peeps can be very materialistic.   My blog may be based on a lot of material stuff but these are very trivial wants in the grand scheme of life..... I may not always follow this mantra, but there are so many people in need that we can all learn to give away a little more....

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!!!

love,

abs