The Pinnacle of My Blogging Career

OMG! I HAVE REACHED THE PINNACLE OF MY BLOGGING CAREER!!!!

It is no secret that I'm a lover of sparkly things, particularly jewelry. So, you can only imagine my absolute JOY when I was contacted by representatives from Tiffany & Co. about a collaboration to celebrate the opening of their new store on Chagrin Boulevard. 

The collaboration is this: Tiffany has lent me pieces from their 2013 Atlas Collection to incorporate into my daily wardrobe. If you haven't seen it before, the Atlas Collection features classic Roman numerals, as shown below- 

So for this entire week, you will see posts of me wearing these incredible pieces of jewelry along with my normal wardrobe! CUE THE SQUEALING!!

Disclosure: Tiffany & Co. lent me a number of pieces from their 2013 Atlas Collection and asked me to blog about how I would incorporate these pieces in my daily wardrobe. I have received no other compensation other than the ability to wear these pieces for the allocated time period. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. 

A Little Tease

A few months ago, I happened to meet a very cool woman at R/S: like me, she was born in and grew up in a foreign country, like me she was in a relationship with a ginger, and like me she is mom to two boxers. I'm a great believer in destiny, and 3 coincidences just seems liked the universe was trying to tell me something. Turns out, she is a hair stylist: clearly, the universe was telling me it was time to do something different with my hair!!!

Carolina works at Tease in Lakewood, and I decided to go in for a blowout to give her a try! The salon is  super charming with its exposed brick and vintage dressers.

Carolina ended up doing my hair in a side-do that I absolutely LUUURRVVEEED! 

Needless to say, I was back the next week for haircut.

The results from the first haircut: She talked me out of bangs since it was still the beginning of summer, but I absolutely adored the curls and volume!

Over the past month, she put in the bangs (its almost fall after all) and touched up my ombre to make it look more natural (well, as natural as ombre is going to look on someone with SUPER dark hair)

Overall, I am more than pleased with all of my experiences with Carolina. She is extremely knowledgable and can turn a vague description into a real vision. That said, I ALWAYS recommend taking in pictures. Best of all, she will spend the time to show you HOW to style your hair and give you plenty of options to change up your look. So, if you're toying with the idea of a new stylist, I absolutely recommend Carolina at Tease!!!

The Style Guide to West 6th

This is a tongue-in-cheek post. If you love West 6th, and are easily offended, I recommend you stop reading now. 


Ah West 6th. Its been a long time since I visited you on a Friday or Saturday night, and now I remember why.... For my non-Cleveland readers, let me set the stage here a little. You know that bar that's REALLY popular with the early 20-something crowd? The one sorta reminiscent of a college bar, where the vibe changes around 1:30 am, and you know people are looking for that person they're going to make out with for the next 30 minutes at least? Well, we have a whole street of such bars- its West 6th.

Anyway, N and I found ourselves on W 6th Friday night, specifically, at Velvet Dog- Cleveland's premiere nightclub, FYI. It has been a while since either of us had been there, and I felt it was my duty to examine and report back for my late 20-something and 30-something friends, who perhaps haven't visited in a while. SO, like any good (or wannabe) anthropologist would do, I observed. And took copious notes.  And left 90 minutes later. Although my stay was brief, I learned some important tips to fitting in style-wise on W 6th, which I will share with you, you know, if you want to make your own visit:

Men: If the normal jeans with a button-down just isn't cutting it for you, take your look one step further. How, you ask? Well, here are your options:
1. Wear a deep, deep v. neck tee (white, of course), and pair THAT with an unbuttoned button-down;
2. Add your high-school letter jacket;
3. Forgo the button down altogether, and wear your very best Ed Hardy/Affliction tee.

Women: This is your chance to shine, and make that guy-that-you-made-out-with-that-one-time-and-didn't-call-you really see what he's missing.
1. Wear your hair extensions. With lots of hairspray. Or a bumpit. Or a fascinator. Bonus points if you do all of these together
2. Don't wear pants. You will stick out. Wear a dress. The shorter and tighter, the better. Ideally, your dress should feel like sausage casing, and threaten to cut off circulation. No one will notice if your turning blue, its too dark in there anyway.
3. Duck face. ALL.THE.TIME. But make sure you save your best duck face for the stage-dancing.
4. High heels. The higher the better. Balance is overrated. Plus you can just lean on other people as you make your way across the dance floor.

Here you have it ladies and gentlemen- A few quick tips to make sure you fit right in.  In all seriousness, I was deeply conflicted by the whole night. I desperately wanted to hate it, but I found myself oddly amused by the vague smell of barf, and all the excellent people-watching. I really really enjoyed the DJ too. But like all things so bad that they MUST be good, moderation is key. And with that, I'm probably going to stay away from Friday and Saturday nights on W 6th for at least another few years!

Review: J Romer Salon

I've mentioned this before, but my regular hair stylist, the fabulous Anna Goldstein, works out of Dino Palmieri at Beachwood. Anna has done my hair for 6+ years, and I LUUUURRRVVE her work. Since N and I became west-siders, Beachwood is just too inconvenient to drive out to every 8-10 weeks. So, I've been searching for a closer salon, and decided to try out J Romer Salon (10904 Clifton Blvd, Cleveland), which is a short walk from where we live.

The salon is small (maybe 4 seats), and is an Aveda salon, but doesn't have its own website. So, all I had to go on was this review from 2006, and I was nervous. 

Since I have such a love-hate relationship with my bangs, I decided to follow the reviewers advice and made an appointment to see Michelle Smith. She started off with a head massage, and it was amazing!!  I took a picture in, and talked to her about my hair-issues; she listened to what my big-picture plan was, offered a few suggestions, and then explained how she planned to cut my hair and why. I really appreciated the detail; being a new client at a new salon can be nerve-wracking!! Ladies, you know exactly what I mean!! Hair washing followed, and she decided to straighten my hair and then cut it dry (which is how I've had it done for the past 6 years). The woman is a BANG-GENIUS!!! Happy day!! I'm over my bang-hate, for now!

So, if you're in the market for a new stylist, I recommend Anna Goldstein on the East side, and Michelle on the West Side, especially if you're thinking about bangs.