Monthly Archives: October 2015

“Shop Under The Stars” For Charity at Carlsbad Premium Outlets!

I love shopping for a good cause, and here’s a great one at Carlsbad Premium Outlets this Monday, cheers!

Carlsbad Premium Outlets is set to host its 11th Annual Shop under the Stars charity fundraiser event on Monday, November 2, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Center Court.

“Shop Under the Stars is great way to kick off the season of giving,” said Janissa Reyes, Director of Marketing and Business Development. “Check off your holiday to-do list while doing something great for the community as well.”

Meant to raise funds for local charities, 100 percent of ticket sales from the event will benefit the following organizations:

·      Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad

·      National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Pacific South Coast Chapter

·      Rady Children’s Hospital Auxiliary

·      Simon Youth Foundation

Tickets can be purchased at the Carlsbad Premium Outlets Information Center, by visiting http://shopunderthestars2015.eventbrite.com or from any of the participating charities. A limited number of tickets are available.

Tickets cost $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Raffle tickets can be purchased for $5 each, or 5 for $20. Guest can also receive one free ticket for every $50 purchase at participating merchants including Godiva, Kipling, Theory, and more. Raffle prizes include perfume sets, Oakley and Solstice merchandise, accessories, shopping sprees to Clarks Bostonian, Ecco, PacSun, and more.

Each ticket to the event includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a souvenir tote with exclusive store savings and gift items and access to live entertainment, raffle drawings and a silent auction, which includes Coach and Vince handbags and multiple shopping sprees at Barneys New York Warehouse, Elie Tahari, Le Creuset, and more.

Mid-Century Modern Outfit

I know the term “Mid-Century Modern” applies to furniture right around the period between 1945-1970. However, I feel that maybe outfits can be put into the same category. I love “retro” looks, which I consider anything from 1950’s to the 1980’s, and this shift dress from YOINS – Your Inspiration definitely fits the bill. Of course, accessorizing with anything Kate Spade puts the “modern” in “Mid-Century Modern”. I wore this outfit to my great aunt’s 100th birthday celebration recently, and she is such an inspiration. I think she would have worn something like this!

My great-aunt, Dionisa Bermudez Ancheta: Photo 1 with me and my husband and son; Photo 2 with my mom and aunts from Canada.

Outfit: Dress c/o YOINS – Your Inspiration (yoins.com); earrings, necklace, all bracelets, small ring and purse by Kate Spade (purchased at the main store and outlet); large ring by PASHN by Survi; Enzo Angiolini Coadi Houndstooth Pumps; “Tippi” glasses by Lookmatic (no longer available in black); in top picture, prescription “Keiko” sunnies in Roxy Noir by Bonlook

All outfit photos by Deon Chen

FTC Disclosure: I received product and was asked to review the product in return. Although I did receive product, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

Testing Out Warby Parker’s “Home Try-On” Program

At the beginning of September, I shared Warby Parker’s new fall 2015 collection (post here). Recently, I used their “Home Try-On” program to see which of my favorite fall collection picks would look the best on me. I posted my looks on Instagram (which links to my personal Facebook page), just to see what my friends, family and followers thought. It’s great because you have five days to try on the glasses, make your selection (I chose to take it to social media), then return them right in the same package they came in (a return label is enclosed). So simple and easy!

My choices: 1) “Caspar” in Jet Black; 2) “Percey” in Scarlet Tortoise; 3) “Simone” in Blue Coral; 4) “Holcomb” in Pearled Tortoise; 5) “Simone” in Tea Rose Fade

The votes were pretty clear: “Simone” in both the Blue Coral and Tea Rose Fade were the winners (even Warby Parker themselves commented on Instagram). My sister took pictures of me and my niece having fun with the “Home Try-On” samples. I think it’s a great way to ensure you choose the right Warby Parker frames, just for you!

“Simone” in Blue Coral

“Simone” in Tea Rose Fade

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive product or payment for this post, and I purchased both of the glasses in my final selection from Warby Parker.

Girls Night Out With Aall In Limo & Duran Duran!

Don’t we all have that group of friends we can do anything with? For me, it’s my sister, my cousin Regi and best friend Janice. They were all in my wedding, and we have gone to many nights out together, and most of them have been concerts. Imagine my delight to be able to surprise my girls with a limousine ride to see Duran Duran in concert, courtesy of Aall In Limo & Party Bus! Originally, there was to be six of us going, but sadly my friends Kim & Ian were not able to come, due to a mix up with their tickets. So they left the bottles of champagne for us enjoy, which we did. The limo was fully stocked with glasses and cold water for the ride there and back. Our driver, Mike, was so awesome, ensuring he had a designated place for us to meet up at the end of the show. Already excited for the concert, my girls and I agree that going to a show like this is definitely our favorite way to travel. Thank you again Aall In Limo & Party Bus for a memorable night!

Ready for our girls night out!

Janice and Regi had no idea we would travel to see our favorite band in such style!

A little pre-concert music in the limo because we were able to plug in our cell phones directly to their stereo system!

Clean Bandit opened for Duran Duran, and they were great!

A shot during “Pressure Off”

“Rio” anyone?! It goes without saying, Duran Duran sounded absolutely amazing in concert!

The obligatory “concert selfie”! I’m wearing the “DELETE” shirt by Patty Palazzo and her brand, Punk Masters (check out the many shots of Duran Duran in her shirts here).

With my sister, Rholnna, in post concert bliss. We finished off the champagne (and chased it with water). I recorded “Hungry Like The Wolf” live and included the set list below.

Edit this setlist | More Duran Duran setlists

FTC Disclosure: I received a service and was asked to review the service in return. Although I did receive the service as a courtesy, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

POLO Ralph Lauren Grand Opening Party at Fashion Valley

On September 24th, I attended the POLO Ralph Lauren grand opening party at Fashion Valley, presented by ELLE. I met up with Lily of Curls And Fashion, and we had a blast checking out all of the fall styles, while enjoying sips & bites, and a wonderful mini-concert by Alex Winston. The following pictures are of some of my favorite outfits, shoes and purses throughout the store, and of course pictures with some of my favorite fashionable friends!

You know how much I love purple; check out how much this just pops!

With stylist Dean Hall (his site is called Style and Men). Always great to see him, and check out the awesome shoes!

Lily and I with the adorable Rhea of Sew Stylish Rhea.

Alex Winston and her band. Such a great set!

One final selfie with lovely Lily!

Sip + Style with Bzees x Athleta

Towards the end of September, I attended a fantastic event where Bzees teamed up with Athleta to present a “Sip + Style” at their UTC location. In addition to delicious sushi by Blue Ocean, dessert by Frost Me Gourmet and wine by California Fruit Wine, bloggers and influencers enjoyed a fun photo boot and then were treated to a lesson on how Bzees are made and “athleisure”. If you are unfamiliar with the term, think of it as the clothes and shoes you go home and relax in after your rigorous work out. It really was a great night because not only did I get to hang out with some of my fellow bloggers, proceeds from the evening’s purchases were donated towards the San Diego Autism Speaks Walk, in support of Autism Tree Foundation. To continue the good work, Bzees will be donating $5 from every pair of shoes sold using code OLIVER to the Autism Tree Project. Thank you Bzees, Athleta and Be Social PR for a wonderful night and for my first pair of Bzees!

Beautiful and delicious creations by Blue Ocean!

Brian from California Fruit Wine had a lot of fun that night!

With Camilla of Navy Grace & Nichole of Top Knots And Pearls

With Nancy of Oh Daisy Love & Amy of The Blushing Pink

A collage from my Instagram (@any2ndnow)

Bzees are quite possibly the most comfortable shoes I own. They are extremely light, and the foam on the inside make my feet feel like they are surrounded by a pillow!

(Photos 1 & 2 courtesy of Be Social PR)

FTC Disclosure: I received product as a thank you for attending the event. Although I did receive product, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

Gigmor Announces Partnership with Music Box in San Diego!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that music is very much a part of who I am and is even reflected in the fashion I wear, or the activities I do with my family. I first went to the venue now called Music Box when it was Anthology because that is where I saw Recoil for the first time, after meeting Alan Wilder (original post here). Well, I’ve got exciting news for those of you who are not only music enthusiasts, but anyone who is a musician: Gigmor, which is the fastest growing social network for musicians, is teaming up with Music Box for an innovative way of booking emerging artists! What an exciting way to ensure new artists are getting the right gigs at the right places, and what an amazing partnership with Music Box to make this type of venue available!

Gigmor has developed a proprietary matching algorithm which allows musicians and bands to connect with each other based on different factors of musical compatibility and is currently developing a custom solution for the music industry that will provide talent buyers a more efficient way of identifying and hiring crowd-drawing musicians and bands for their venues.

Music Box – a 705 capacity room – will allocate one night per week to showcases for Gigmor artists with the goal of providing these artists with opportunities to support the national touring artists booked into the venue.

“We’re thrilled to be in the forefront of using a digital platform to find the right talent for our venue,” said Joe Rinaldi, Music Box GM and Talent Buyer, who previously held similar positions at The Griffin, The Viper Room and House of Blues – Sunset Strip. “Band websites and Facebook don’t provide the useful kind of data we need to aid our booking decisions, which forces me to work different analytics angles, 24/7. Gigmor is currently developing a much-needed metric for evaluating emerging artists which will benefit the whole music industry and I think it’s going to revolutionize how talent buyers discover and book talent.”

“This is a giant step forward in our evolution,” states Gigmor Founder/CEO, David Baird, formerly of AOL and Troubadour Digital Media. “We’re building a marketplace for live music, which will bring state-of-the-art technology to the outdated talent booking process. We’re bridging the gap by helping artists book gigs and venues fill their rooms. We believe what we’ve created will help the music industry work more efficiently.”

(Photos courtesy of Gigmor & Music Box)

GQ + Glamour Lookbook Live Fall Events Recap

Back on September 17, Janice and I attended the GQ + Glamour Lookbook Live VIP runway show event at Fashion Valley, which was a prelude to their Lookbook Live event that Saturday. The evening started off with appetizers and cocktails over by Neiman Marcus, followed by a fantastic runway show in Center Court. The evening then ended perfectly with dessert and champagne at Tiffany & Co. I’ve always enjoyed these events at Fashion Valley because they treat bloggers as wonderfully as they treat any member of the press, allowing us to have front row seats to ensure we capture the event in the best way possible to share on social media and our blogs. I’ve included highlights of both events, as I attended the Lookbook Live event with Dominic. Cheers!

I fell in love with this cape during Nordstrom’s presentation. The collage above is from my view, and the larger picture is from Fashion Valley’s Facebook page, where you can see me on the left, looking a bit stunned at how beautiful that cape was!

The UK punk rocker in me ended up matching the runway with the strong presence of red plaid. Nordstrom, Hugo Boss and Bloomingdale’s all showing some version of this fall staple (and that’s my Forever 21 skirt and Altuzarra for Target booties in the top left corner of the collage).

Wine and bordeaux are perfect fall colors. Also, that faux fur vest, cropped pants and patent leather heels with the long necklace by MaxMara add interest and texture to an all black outfit.

I simply died and went to footwear heaven at all of the shoes in the Salvatore Ferragamo collection. Oh yes…

My two favorite menswear looks: The top look from John Varvatos and the second look styled by Alex Yanez for Neiman Marcus. Both are an edgy spin to classic looks, incorporating a boot, similar to Doc Martens.

Desserts, champagne and little blue boxes at Tiffany & Co.

It really was such a fun evening spent with fashionable San Diego Style Blogger friends, both old & new! Click here to go to my Instagram account, where all the lovely people in the picture are tagged.

The actual Lookbook Live event was fun and interactive, with style experts from GQ and Glamour magazines.

More San Diego Style Bloggers (and Dominic)! Click here to go to my Instagram account, where all the lovely people in the picture are tagged.

I love this picture of me and Tiffany of Glitz and Glam by Tiff!

My outfit: Cassette Tape print romper by Neon Rose (from ASOS); “Mona” glasses c/o Spy Optic; London Underground cuff c/o Design Hype; shoes by Matiko; unknown name brand fedora

Me and my brooding boy…I think I got him to crack a bit of a smile eventually!

Thank you to Curator PR and Fashion Valley for inviting me to such a wonderful series of events!

DAISO Japan’s Newest San Diego Store

I held a contest recently to win a deluxe gift bag in celebration of the grand opening of DAISO Japan’s newest San Diego location in Kearny Mesa (original post here). Here are the pictures of when I attended the event with my good friend Audrey. Needless to say, we absolutely adored the new location, marveling at its size and amount of product!

Also, if you haven’t looked back on my first post about the contest, I had to select a different winner because the original winner did not pick up the gift bag at the grand opening event after being notified. The new winner is Judy, and her prize was just sent and is now on its way to her!

In the meantime, if you haven’t gone to one yet, I highly recommend going to a DAISO Japan and exploring $1.50 heaven, cheers!

Taiko Drummers!

So. LARGE!

Cute little succulents, for a great price!

Is it possible for me to try them all??

What a crazy line to the register!

Pocky galore!

Thank you DAISO Japan for inviting me to your wonderful grand opening and thank you SO much for my very own lovely gift bag!

FTC Disclosure: I received a gift as a thank you for holding a contest and for attending the grand opening, but not for the post. Although I did receive a gift, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

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