Cleshopaholic Travels.... To Columbus

First things first- if you haven't entered the giveaway for the $25 gift certificate to dots, please do so here. They just had some new arrivals, including a cute colorblock dress  and this lace romper- both of which would be super cute at Sunset Grille or for one of the many summer festivals that begin next weekend!!

 N and I were in Columbus for a family wedding. It has been a long time since I was in Columbus, and since we were staying in the Arena district, I knew we were going to be visiting the Short North for sure!!
My overall impression of Short North is certainly a positive one- it reminds me a lot of Tremont and Ohio City (but with way more retail), and certainly a lot of Chicago's neighborhoods as well. Well done, Columbus!!

We followed Renee's recommendation and visited Northstar Cafe for Saturday brunch- I absolutely fell in love with this place. The atmosphere reminded me of a coffee shop I used to visit in college (I miss you, Buzz), but with the added bonus of really yummy food!

After brunch, we decided to walk it off by visiting some stores. There is a LOT of retail clustered together in this part of town, and while this is by no means a comprehensive list, here are my top 3 from this weekend!

1. Tigertree: 787 North High St. This store reminds me a lot of Urban Outfitters, in that its really well curated, and carries some really unusual stuff. 

2. le Chocoholique: 601 North High St. Honestly, this store makes me happy I don't live in Columbus. Why? Because I would be eating their salted caramel and salted toffee EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!!!! Wow. It is seriously so so so so good. And they also serve cocktails and desserts in addition to chocolate.

3. The Candle Lab: 646 North High St. I luuurrrvveeed these soy candles!! I didn't end up buying any because I'm really well stocked on candles, and I think N would smack me if I brought another into the house. That said, I really really really wish someone would carry their line (or at least part of it) in Cleveland. 

After some fun shopping, it was time to attend Bart and Erin's wedding. I'm not going to post many pictures from the wedding, but I did want to highlight Erin's beautiful dress- I really love the lace overlay that's popular with wedding dresses these day. Absolutely gorgeous!

The reception was hosted at a winery in Columbus-- lots of wine, lots of dancing, lots of fun family. Good times were had by all!!

N and I having fun with instagram

In honor of the Royal Wedding...

As you may remember, last year I was completely OBSESSED with the Royal Wedding. I even took the day off and woke up SUPER early to live chat the wedding with my dear friend CJ. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that Mattel released special edition William and Kate dolls in honor of the couple's one year anniversary (April 29th, in case you're wondering). Turns out, they were released on Valentine's Day and are now no longer available through Mattel!!

Living out your princess dreams with dolls. Only mildly creepy.

Not to fear! The good news is that it IS still available through Barbie Collector  if you're so inclined...

Happy Anniversary Will and Kate!

A Great Look to Start 2012

So I spent NewYear's Eve at a wedding. Double the need to come up with a TRULY fabulous outfit. And what better way to go fabulous inexpensively, than Rent the Runway! I had used RTR before, my had an odd case of reverse body dysmorphia, and picked a dress, that quite frankly, looked like sausage casing. Luckily, since then, I've discovered the true shape of my body, and picked a dress that was absolutely perfect: the Badgley Mischka draped dream dress, pictured here.

Sadly, I don't think I have a picture of me standing in the dress, but it was absolutely gorgeous on, and I felt like a princess!! Incidentally, if you want to rent your own dress, say for Jump Back Ball, use the RTR link above. In any case, here are some pictures from the wedding (you may have seen them already on Twitter/Instagram, so I apologize).

 

I will offer you one warning about RTR: it is possible that despite reading the reviews, and carefully picking your outfit, you may not like your dress. Therefore, always make sure you have a back-up that you are satisfied with, so as to avoid last minute wardrobe-induced panic!!!!

Weddings!

So today, I joined millions of people in waking up at a crazy hour to watch the Royal Wedding. I had so much fun tweeting and facebook chatting with friends and blends who were also up doing the same thing! Can we spend a moment to talk about the dress? OMG STUNNING! The lace, the sleeves, the gorgeous veil, the tiara....

She looked so breathtakingly beautiful and regal; it makes me want to get married (again!).

Tomorrow, I will be at the wedding of Clefoodgoddess and Richness, and unlike today, I won't be live-tweeting the event, although I will have pictures next week! Congratulations to my very close friends, Clefoodgoddess and Richness; may your lives together be filled with love and happiness and endless special moments!!

Something new

So I don't know if I've told you this, but N and I have been married twice. To each other. With no divorces in between. This may be a little odd, but I wanted an outdoor wedding, which was Wedding 1; a small affair with only about 20 people. However, the Catholic Church frowns upon outdoor weddings and since it was important to his family that our marriage was blessed by the Church, we had Wedding 2, at the Church in Little Italy. This was a slightly larger wedding, with about 150 people. If you've ever been to an Indian wedding, then you'll know that those tend to be slightly large events, and so we had reception 3 when we made our first trip to India as a married couple. Needless to say, I'm a pro at getting married : ).

Now, you may be wondering about the whole dress situation. This was us at Wedding 1: my dress came off-the-rack from White House Black Market, and was an ivory, tea-length dress with white chiffon sash. I had plans to dye it hot pink, but that never happened.

For Wedding 2 and Reception 3, we blended both Indian and US traditions, so I wore a white sari (the traditional color for wedding saris in India is red):

So why am I telling you all this? Because sometimes, when I see a great dress, I'm tempted to convince N that we should have wedding 3!!! Seriously though, if you are newly engaged and haven't picked out a wedding dress yet, you should consider visiting Something White in Independence, Ohio. They are indepedently AND locally owned and carry some absolutely exquisite pieces. This weekend they're hosting a Lela Rose trunk show, so you should should check it out if you're in the market for wedding dresses/ bridesmaids dresses/ wedding accessories.  Check out some of these dresses.... so beautiful!!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Kifus

This past weekend, N and I attended the wedding of our friends Ryan and Susan at The Bertram Inn in Aurora, Ohio. Ryan and Susan are so cute; they had these little jokes they whispered to eat other during the ceremony- it was so charming!

The happy couple. Susan's dress had this BEAUTIFUL purple sash that woulc also look super cute with a skirt. Particularly a high-waisted one...

This wedding had some great touches that I absolutely LURVE:

The place cards were envelopes stuffed with lottery tickets and pennies, which everyone scratched off during the groom's speech: so FUN!!

For the favors, you were provided with a box to fill up at the AWESOME CANDY BAR!!!!

And my MOST favorite of all, the wedding cake topper was a sculpture of their dog, Winston.

Wintson!!! He's an English Bulldog if you couldn't tell...

For their wedding present, I went off the registry. They had registered for wine glasses, so I got them a set of wineglasses from Banyan Tree (which is incidentally one of Susan's favorite stores, so if they don't like it, I'm 100% certain she'll find something else there to replace it).

 

Although I bought these at Banyan Tree, the wine glasses and tray actually came from Canton Box Company, from their vist at the Tremont ArtWalk a little while ago. If you're looking to get some of these yourself, its another good news/bad news situation. The bad news is that CBC isn't making this exact piece anymore. The good news is that later this week, they will be restocking their etsy store with these:

I'm a huge fan of stemless wine glasses (less tipping over) and you can never go wrong with a tray. Maybe even for breakfast in bed. Just saying.

Going off the Registry

Its wedding season. And wedding season means wedding gifts. And for women, bridal shower and bachelorette party gifts. Most of the time, it is best to just go with the couple's registry; but there's certain times when its ok to go off the registry:

(a) When its a close friend
(b) When you know the couple and their taste
(c) If the couple has been living together for a while, and pretty much have all the kitchen ware and gadgets already.

I've gone "off registry" for a few weddings over the past few years, and here's what I've gotten them instead:

When my friends Ry and El got married, I got them a gift card to Sushi Rock. Why Sushi Rock? Because they love sushi, and it was where we went on our first double date. (Unofficial Off-Registry Rule: make sure you pick something meaningful; perhaps something that triggers a shared memory. Gift certificates are completely acceptable in these situations)

My dear friend Aneesha got married in June to her loooong term boyfriend. Aneesha and I met when we were both working in Chi-town, and bonded over our love of shoes. For her wedding, I got her a gift certificate to Zappos!

When our architect-friends got married, I got the bride an architectural bowl from Banyan Tree for her wedding shower. (Off-Registry Recommendation: take a look at the bride and groom's registry to see what they are registered for, and use those as a basis for your off-registry gifts)

Other great Off-Registry gift ideas include:
Gourmet cooking classes (at the Viking School, Sur La Table, or with Michael Symon if you can manage to get a reservation) for the foodie-couple;
Couples massage at their honeymoon destination (if you know where it is) for the stressed-out couple;
A cleaning service like Eco Maids (if, like me, the bride or groom hate cleaning);
Tickets to a sporting event for sports-fan couples;
Bacon of the Month Club (need I say more), or any ...of The Month Club, but only where its relevant to couple

Hope these suggestions help you boldly go Off-Registry where appropriate. And remember, ALWAYS get a gift receipt!!

Bouquets for everyone!

Summer's around the corner. And you know what that means......wedding season. This year, I'm probably going to shop my own closet and wear some dresses that I haven't worn for a while. But I do want to make the dresses a little more special with some fun accessories. I love the idea of a flowery clutch; its like your very own bouquet.

Here's a few that I especially love:

1. The Big Buddha Sasha clutch, $50 at piperlime

2. The J Crew Ribbon Rosette clutch, $98 at jcrew

3.  The Magid Clutch, $50 at endless

4. Cole Haan Halsley Straw Clutch, $148 at zappos

Shopping math: A fun purse + some bold jewelry + my own dress = whole new outfit!!!