the best purchase i EVER made

i fell in love with the Jimmy Choo Mona bag when it was first released. it was large enough for every day things, and yet it could STILL expand. awesome.

totally punky, totally chic, and classy. how could a black bag be so much?? i needed it, i lusted for it... i HAD to have it. so i waited until the summer (last summer) and got myself a mona bag.

i wore it all fall and winter and the quality never failed. i still love it, but it's been hiding in its dust bag all summer...

i can't wait to break it out again. it's probably sad i feel this way about a handbag.

henry holland + pretty polly

i need/want/lust these tights. my only issue is what colour to get them in. they're only 14 bucks at mytights.com which is an issue because i really do want to buy them in every colour.

black just seems so boring (except i'd definitely get the alphabet ones in black). naturally i'd get them in purple, but the problem is i just have too many purple tights already. blue seems cool, but so does pink and green!!! i don't own blue or green tights, but i lost me pink ones... hmm.

any suggestions? you can view the available colours by clicking on the mytights.com link above.

royal-tee

looking to get your hands on some cheap clothing? well a while ago i mentioned that i'd be launching a website to sell my scarves. whilst that hasn't happened yet, i've managed to launch another blog where i'll be selling some of my clothing.



check it out royal-tee's.

i will be periodically updating what's for sale so keep on checking back for new steals and deals.

you can also shop by clicking the royal-tee's image at the top of the page. oh, and let me know what you think.

what is an choctopus?

A choctopus is a chocolate octopus. An example of one of its forms would be chocolate cake with a chilled chocolate gnache.

It was my boyfriends birthday so I made him an octopus cake.







Last year for my birthday I had a cinnamon octopus cake with a butter cream frosting. It was pretty cute and purple.

we'll shed our leaves

i'm not ready for autumn yet, but these were just too gorgeous NOT to post!

by victor eredel

a splash of the wild side

i know i've been bad at posting stuff recently, but I guess my excuse would have to be wanting to relish the last moments of summer before I get back to school and all similar unpleasantries.

Check out some of kelty of steep street's fashion photography work and rock on to the last few days of your summer.

oh yeah, and i'm going back to new york for 3 days or so... so i don't know if i'll be posting much then either. family duties call.

























Q.

D-9

I saw District 9 last night... I HATE scary movies, but this wasn't a scary movie at all. It was amazing... and I rarely say movies are amazing. It definitely gets a 10/10 from me. This guys gives a better review than I ever could:

The first science fiction masterpiece for years, 13 August 2009
Author: NonSequitur_1 from Australia

I do not give out ratings of 10 lightly, but here it is - the first film in years that has been deserving of the rating.

Neill Blomkamp brings to screens a fantastic, gritty, realistic piece of science fiction with District 9. Not since Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner", John Carpenter's "The Thing", or James Cameron's "Aliens" have we seen a science fiction film with a vision of this caliber. After viewing District 9, it will be clear to one and all why Peter Jackson put so much faith in Blomkamp and took him under his wing as protégé.

Abandoning the usual settings of Hollywood sci-fi and placing us in the harsh slums of South Africa, we are given an original piece of work which takes risks in the way it tells its story. Not only does it go against the expectations of audiences who have been trained to expect mediocrity from their sci-fi, it goes above and beyond the call of duty to provide us with spectacle as well as something to ponder after we've downed our popcorn.

There is, thankfully not an overused, overexposed celebrity in sight, and every unknown face in the film gives a solid performance. The aliens themselves, brilliantly realized with top notch CGI even manage to make us feel something, only rivaled by Gollum from "Lord of the Rings".

District 9 has so much to like. It's spectacular, darkly funny, entertaining and thoughtful all at the same time, and it's all done on a meager $30m budget. There is true talent on show here. If only there were more films like this, the world of cinema would be a more interesting place.

So there you have it. Go watch district 9!!!

giddy up!!

jeffrey campbell designs amazing shoes. they are avant garde and, well, just creative and actually cutting edge-- especially for those mid-rage priced shoes. thus, i'm always so tempted to buy a pair on urban outfitters or lulu's.

so why have i *never* bought a pair of his shoes? because they are over priced.

and it sucks, because i'm a college student and i don't have 100s of dollars to be throwing around on avant garde shoes that melt my heart but are probably (and honestly, sometimes really are) NOT made well at all.

so when i found these jeffrey campbell boots ($100+), i just had to let you all know how you could save at least 100 bucks.



i'm a horse back rider, so when i saw these shoes, a light went off in my head that said PADDOCK BOOTS. paddock boots are riding boots that you typically wear around the barn and paddock too. they are less fancy than those iconic knee high riding boots that most people think of when they think riding boots.

as i thought back to when i bought my first pair of riding boots, i realized, there was no way in hell i spent over 100 bucks on those boots.. and i certainly didn't.

so i bring to you paddock boots. the good old fashion horse back riding way. they're cheaper (for the most part, you probably will not be needing gel inserts or paddock boots that will last you 20 years), better made, and come in a variety of styles and colours.

if you're the vegan type of gal, you can buy them in some very convincing fake leather that will cost you a fraction of the price of real leather boots.



you can buy the paddock boots above for $34.90 at Dover Saddlery or look for many more styles of paddock boots all over the web.

my paddock boots were in the mid-range price (aka the same price as the jeffrey campbell boots), and have lasted YEARS and are so comfy i'm tempted to wear them to class. too bad they're crusted with things people don't want to know about...

if you're still interested in the campbell boots, you can buy them here and here.

coolest•bodysuit•ever

i KNOW i should have gotten off luisa via roma when i could have, but i just wasn't strong enough to pull myself away...

so i present you, the coolest bodysuit ever(!!!), but haider ackermann.





so if you have an extra $1085 lying around, i wont object you buying this for me...

things i want, but can't have

these things will have to play into part of my fall inspiration because i don't have thousands of dollars to spare on dresses...
the red dress is my fave, which you might remember from this post!







it was originally a mistake but i kind of like those transition-y photos.
if you actually want to buy any of this, luisaviaroma would be the place.

home is where the heart is

i'm back from cali where i spent my days playing board games, decoratign my room (post below), riding (above) and chilling in the pool (photos soon).

yay! i have internet. ;)

the sad part is that school starts soon and pittsburgh is rainy. it's hard to leave the sun.

royale retreat

**I meant to post this earlier but we don't have internet here in CA**

So I never really told you guys exactly why I was leaving for California.

Basically, I have a new room (and house) to decorate! I'm on a tight spending budget but I'll whet your appetite with a few photos of my room so far. I hope you all enjoy!!


I now have a duvet cover that matches the floral pillows. :) My bed is soooo AMAZING!!


I LOVE my new bedside tables, lamps, and my alarm clock. This one (round one) is from Ikea, so is the alarm clock. This bedside table is rounder and stockier than the other one so I decided to pair it with a round lamp.


This bedside table is from Pottery Barn. I like how the tables and lamps don't match. If they did I think it would look too much like a hotel room and way less antique. This more elongated lamp was paired with the lamp that was spindlier. :)

The lamps and shades are from Ikea. They sold the lamps I have in white ceramic, but I decided that too much white would get really heavy in the room. However, I still wanted something white-- I didn't want the lamps to be strong accents. The glass base lamps were the perfect find.

The glass really lightens up the room with it's interesting and playful shape.



I found this Klimt painting at Ikea (yay, I LOVE Ikea!!) I needed something long to fill up a wide wall, but ended up moving my bed where the painting would have gone. I found a new wall for my painting, which matches surprisingly well with my duvet cover.

the beauty of where the painting is, is that it's opposite a wall of glassed mirrors so I get to see it from any part of my room. :)

**UPDATE** I forgot to say the room cost a grand total of ~ 800 USD. Not bad.