Merry Christmas...what to wear for any occasion

1. Dress $245
Jacket $30
Earrings $31
Flats $95

2. Jacket $28
Dress $16
Shoes $795
Pin $20

3.Sweater $32
Pants $24
Lace up booties $79
Watch $80

Can find all these looks and so many more at Polyvore


HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!!!

A soon to be Happy New Years!!

Happy New Years is closing in soon. If you are like me you are frantically still searching for the PERFECT dress that will make all eyes turn onto you on the dance floor. My guy friends have rented out a bar in Chicago, IL and so I want to find the perfect sequined look for that night. Though a bit out of my price range, here are some of my favorites that have inspired the look I am hunting for.

1. Adam folded dress- $1,495
2. Roberto Cavalli - $1125
3. Tibi one shoulder sequined dress- $935
4. Rachel Gilbert Kasa Sequin Cocktail dress - $699
5. Anna Sui Silk-tulle sequin-embellished dress - $995
6. Gather open backed dress - $418
   

All these looks except #6 can be found at Net-a-porter, #6 is at Dearfieldbinder

Matthew Williamson-- These shoes. are. deadly. awesome.
You will definately make a statement with these pretty shoes.

Crafts to make to keep up the holiday spirit!

I found an old applique design for gluing onto sweatshirts in one of my moms closets are home so I decided to be crafty and glue it onto one of my old headbands! Looks fabulous, look around your own house or an craft store because it is a unique way to reuse one of my headbands that was plain and I never wore. May wear it tonight with our Christmas dinner or tomorrow for Chirstmas day at the party my mom is throwing with our relatives at my home.

Made some great name cards for our table tonight for our Christmas Eve Dinner. My parents are making surf and turf with lobster and steak! Needless to say I am extremely excited.

Easily made these with just notecards and permanent markers I found around the house.

NUM NUMS for Christmas

For Your holiday parties here are some fun ideas I found that will make your home look it had xmas vomit all over it, in the best way possible.

Here is a simple wine glass. Take some pipecleaners in xmas colors and wind them around the stem or do in different colors so guests can know which glasses are theirs.
Here is a fun way to spice up any centerpiece. Take any sticks from outside and then tie pieces of ribbon onto it. Add on some pine pieces of branches and pine cones to finish the look.


Take a regular mattress frame covered with a sheet or just hang a sheet on the wall and then string chrismas lights behind it to give your house a fun new wall hanging or background to any space.


Here just take a upsidedown vase and fill with ornaments then put candles or another bowl ontop to finish the look. A quick easy centerpiece that you can make with things you own at home.

Finally to hide your regular vases take a knee high sock you have and cover the outside of the vase. If you have a christmas colored or pattered one that would be the most festive.


So yesterday I was home relaxing after a busy finals two weeks and decided to make my favorite! cookies, Spritz butter cookies. They have been ones to look forward to every christmas that I come home.

Yummy Spritz Cookies
* If you can refrain from eating the cookie dough, this recipe makes 4 dozen.
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
2.5 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


How to:

1. Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Add the flour and mix by hand.
2. Spoon into cookie press and press onto cookie sheets.
3. Sprinkle with colored sugars. (Or, use red and green food coloring on smaller batches of the dough.)
4. Bake @ 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

Yum yum yummys. I ate most of the batter and my mom ate at least 10 of the cookies so needless to say there might not be many for our christmas parties. :)
So make two batches please. I recommend because you will eat them all before you present them otherwise.

Pre Fall 2011 Trends

It's interesting to me that sometimes the people at the fashion shows are more fashionably dressed than the ones in them. They are the extreme elite of fashion forward gurus that fly under the radar from the rest of the world only to live their lives as fashionably as possible. They are the people keeping the couture industry alive, not celebritants and stylists. This is why I idol them all.

Some of these have been popping up at the recents fashion shows worn by the attendees.
The one with the huge shoulders with feathers, all most like bird wings, is FAN_TAS_TIC!!! You go girl for rocking that outfit.

nom noms

So its that hated time of year again at college.

FINALS.

UFFFFH.

Stuck at the library for the last 4 hours and now my brain and eyes hurt from looking at my computer screen taking practice tests and going over 100s of notecards.

Cannot cannot cannot wait for christmas.

Last night made a yummy dinner with my roommate and boyfriend though!


Recipe from myrecipes.com (love this site more every dish)

Chicken with Provencal Sauce

A heady combination of dried basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, lavender, and sage, herbes de Provence is a classic French seasoning. Try it in other Mediterranean dishes, such as pasta sauce or baked black olives.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and about 2 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence-- or I have fresh rosemary so I chopped up that and used some other spices mixed in for fun
  
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add broth and herbes de Provence; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat; add butter and lemon juice, stirring until butter melts. Serve sauce over chicken. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

We served this with a wild rice medley (very appropriate since my roommate and bf are both minnesotaites, a loaf of lovely french bread with olive oil for dipping and also made malts with vanilla ice cream, milk and malt mix for dessert. nom nom.

Then me and my roommate proceeded to watch "somethings gotta give" and "secrets of the yaya sisterhood" until our butts fell asleep on the coach and could no longer procrastinate studying.

More newness!

Here is another recent blog I discovered that is just divine!


Blogger name: Genna
Website: Maison des Reveries
What I just saw and want: Baked Eggs with avocado and prosciutto served with tomato sauce, fontina cheese, and tuscan toast she got them from a Sunday brunch at Gemma at the Bowery Hotel in NYC

LOVEEE!!

Hail to the blogs

Two Blogs to check out I love


Combining my two loves of food and fashion finally!!
cupcakesandcashmere.com brings elegance to inspiring you with fab outfits and great things she is also cooking up for parties thrown at her own apartment. The blog has been featured in everything from Glamour, Coach, Teen vogue, Forbes to WWD. She is obviously doing something with her free time!

And presenting a saucyglossie.com written by a girl named Lindsay Calla. She hits on travel, decorating and of course fashion tips that you can use with any wardobe!

More fun ones to check up being posted on here all through December!

-G

NARMS retail conference trip to Tampa

TRIP TO NARMS RETAIL CONFERENCE IN TAMPA!

Just went to Florida thanks to knowing Jerry O'Brien and being involved with SOHE for little to nothing :) I got the opportunity to look at what real retailers are talking about and looking to do in the coming periods at the conference. We stayed at the Tampa Saddlebrook golf resort, which was beautiful....the last day. It rained all the first 3 days we were there: sad face. Meaning yet again no tan for Gina.

The ALLIGATOR!!! there is a whole family that lives at the resort, crazy.
One of the retail guys there tried to feed it some bread and got a good yelling at by a working since thats about a 5000 fine.


Entrance to hotel.



Getting to try out the electric bikes there. Super fun and you can get some good speed...but doesn't a motor on a bike defeat the purpose? I think yes.

Busy times 12

Back from China and busier than ever!!!
This week has been crazy trying to catch up with classes and plan out our Student Retail Association Chicago trip.
In Chicago we went to DraftFCB the ad agency in downtown, TrueValue and Sears Holdings corporate headquarters. It all worked out in the end though and we even got free snuggies!! I got a pink one.

Also my column came out yesterday and so I was very excited to see peoples reactions.
It was called "Battle of the Sexiness" read it HERE

Now china was fabulous also!
Here are some pictures from our travels above!

SO much happening

Hello all! It's been quite a while I know but I have been extremely Busy!!!!!

Some fun new updates, I am now writing for the Badger Herald, our student newspaper, about FASHION and style at madison!!! So excited! I had my first column piece come out a week and a half ago and here it was...

"

Each year I wonder how everyone on this campus can claim to be so busy and, more importantly, short on cash and still look so put together. Every day I walk to class and see girls and guys that ooze personal style without falling into the “t-shirt and jeans” stereotype that seems to be the epitome of Madison student style.

Yes, people complain about the “coastie” look that hides around every Starbucks cup in class… and, yes, most days I wake up after an all night study session and want to just wear my sweatpants all day… but even if that is the case, somehow our stylish campus still pulls it together. Take a peek into parties and bars on the weekends and you will see everyone dressed to impress. We should give our school a lot of credit since most of the time we have to walk 15 minutes in snow just to be seen in public. Somehow I still am awed at how great students look even when completely bundled in a scarf, coat, sweatshirt, gloves, hat and two pairs of pants on a frigid Wisconsin day.

This motivation to look good in the worst conditions illustrates how students are dying to express their own unique style. The catch is most weekends I hear my peers saying, “I don’t know how I spent that much money at a party and Ian’s in only three days.” This is where my column, “Fabulous and Broke,” comes in. I aim to give students like you new and creative ways to look fantastic without spending too much money.

Being a broke college student myself, I can definitely relate to the dilemma of wanting to look trendy while not spending too much money. I am constantly mixing up my wardrobe to keep my style fresh and new each day, and I hope to bring some of my own tips and ideas to the column in order to help you do the same.

In this column I will not only comment on student street style, but also cite new stores at which to find good deals and provide do-it-yourself concepts that are easy for anyone to try (even in the dorms). I have also asked around and students have told me they not only want to hear about clothing ideas, but make-up and hair tips, too. I hope to bring in trends in hair and makeup that anyone can try out.

Although this all sounds catered to women, I don’t plan to ignore the gentlemen either. I will research and report on menswear and even mention places to be, and be seen, on the weekends. The goal here is to have a wide scope and pay attention to all of the fashion trends for the ladies and gentlemen of this campus.

Most of all, “Fabulous and Broke” will relate most of my tips to things I have seen from a national scope. The entire nation is influenced greatly by the styles that trickle down from the runways of New York, Paris, London and Milan. My column will aim to tone down the newest ideas in fashion so that you don’t stand out like a sore thumb walking down University on a Monday morning. The topics will also touch on what’s popular in the media and with celebrities — and how to adapt their looks for less. And, of course, there will be discussion about what’s popular in magazines. However, while many of them think a $70 blouse is affordable, I know that as a student it’s just not feasible. Instead, I’ll be studying how outfits are put together and where you can find the necessities to create that look on a tight budget.

Finally, I’ll try to solve fashion dilemmas that relate to the UW campus. From what to wear to a frat party without looking too done up or how to dress at the SERF without completely dressing in sweats, I look to give you ideas on how to look good without appearing like you tried too hard. By bringing in places that students go and events that are found here on campus, I want to help you dress appropriately on a budget for any situation.

Oh, and if you have any ideas on how to help, I encourage you to write in. I want to give students a voice in this column and welcome any kind of feedback, be it about my ideas or your own fashion emergencies.

Our campus needs to get over caring about who has the newest North Face jacket and start becoming the eclectic and chic community Madison can be. This campus inspires me everyday to be a better, smarter and, most of all, more fashionable person. I have come to see that we really are a campus made up of many who are broke but truly fabulous.

Gina Jensen is a junior majoring in retail and is a wannabe Carrie Bradshaw. Send fashion faux pas and column ideas to gmjensen@wisc.edu."

YAY! let me know what you think and if there are any good ideas of what to write about out there. This week my next piece comes out.

Also in about...2 DAYSSSSSSS I am leaving for China for spring break. I will be touring around with 30 other students, hosted by Li & Fung (the huge supplier sourcing house over there). SO wait to hear more and see pictures from that hopefully. I can't wait to report back on the new trends and looks I see over there for inspiration. FANTASTIC

Stingrays

$155.00
I just found this awesome ring on whowhatwear! So in love
Can be found at shopbop.com
Stingrays are fabulous and I hope they come out on the runways to inspire designers, especially in jewelry, this year.

Cure those Winter Blues

I have a slight obsession with seeing what celebrities wear in everyday life...like when they are traveling, going to run errands or in the airport. So I'm always excited to see emails from whowhatwear and style.com and the people style issue (now in any local stores) when it shows the celebs behind the glitzy million dollar dresses.
From the looks of it high suede boots, leggings, skinny jeans, flat booties, slouchy sweaters and CIRCLE scarfs are still in! Great news to my bank account since I already got all these and spent too much on them last year!

Catherine McNeil

She is one of the models that are embracing food! FINALLY. models this year, even many famous ones, are toning up and putting on some healthy AND NEEDED pounds. She looks fabulous and I hope the other models take note. THOUGH i know that Karl Lagerfeld wont be too happy to hear this information since he believes that models should be super thin to have the audience see the clothes as they were meant to be made...thus on a hanger.

HOORAY! Glitz is here to Stay

Two looks (top: Matthew Williamson, Bottom: Just Cavalli) from the new collections out on style.com. Looks like this winter glitz is still hot even after New Years!

WINTER ESSENTIALS IN TREND

Its going to be a wild ride in 2010

So guess what I just got some fabulous news!!! I will be traveling to Hong Kong, China for spring break!! I will be hosted with a group of students from our school by Li&Fung a major supplier overseas.
So check back for more information on my travel plans and more awesome details and soon pictures too!

Otherwise I have been very busy with new years and my wonderful boyfriend came to visit so now I am back in action...till NEW YORK CITY

5 more days till I leave to attend the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference with the retail club at my school. More details on that also later, so check back for updates.

Things to otherwise check out in the spare time:

• In other news the VICTORIAS SECRET semi annual sale is going on so hurry to get those last minute sales
• Tres Paris: check out the new line at Forever 21. I went there and bought some of their pieces in this line the other day and its super fabulous at the fantastic price that Forever 21 offers. Unfortunately their quality is never the best so be careful with the fabrics
• Check out also the forever 21 new online magazine for fashion styling tips and ideas