Lisa's Style Blog

I am Present and Accounted For

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Fri, 5 Aug 2016 12:03:00 -0400

and we launched this morning http://lisaannschraffasantin.weebly.com
http://lisaannschraffasantin.weebly.com

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 24 May 2016 23:40:00 -0400

Mash Up with Hicks & Hats
Scout King & Lisa Ann Schraffa Santin invite you to an event at Porter Mill Studios
95 Rantoul Street
Beverly, MA 01915Studio #3-7
Wednesday, May 25th, 2016 6pm-8pm
Wine, cheese, delightful hand made hats from Milliner Scout King and view the beautiful exclusive items from the India Hicks collection.
We may have a fun raffle that night plenty of conversation and networking!

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 5 Apr 2016 14:34:00 -0400

I just joined the Cape Ann TimeBank

Two lovely ladies have signed up for their April Spring 2016 closet review, edit and clean-out.

In preparing them I sent some simple instructions, create a Pinterest Board of the looks you love. Dream Big. Get a ton of images that reflect where you want your look to go this year. That will give us inspiration as we edit down the existing wardrobe.

I also have some boxes or bins required for the actual hour we spend together. Given that a portion of the closet will need to go to charity I love having the charity box, then one box for repair and alterations, another for give away to friends and family. Often the last box is what is left to work from to create the wardrobe that reflects the direction to move forward towards that Pinterest Board Dream Big look for the rest of the year.

I also sent this note and book off to the two ladies. Pick the book up for yourself so worthwhile.

Please accept this gift in preparation for our session.

A quick read through Marie Kondo’s book could make your experience with my service even more valuable. Go to my web site www.style64.blogspot.com to gather information about fashion. That web site is where to find assistance with the idea of the organization of your wardrobe and to gain a tip or two that will enhance your future purchases with your lifestyle and well into the upcoming shopping season.

To contact me at anytime to schedule a personal shopping/consulting service, or for a quick tip call, 617-620-5239. Together we can discuss your existing wardrobe question and I can offer you wise advise. I can help you to purge and assist you toward streamlining your wardrobe to add some fresh spring looks.

With my knowledge of the current season trends and my passion to provide a great ongoing customer service experience I look forward to helping fine tune your existing wardrobe. In this way we get an interesting peek at what is in your current closet and help you to create new looks with what you own. Thank you for letting me come in to help you to gain that insight and perspective on what you already have in your closet and what key elements need to be added to complete your look.

Our upcoming visit may extend us going on a shopping spree. With my help we can take a shopping adventure, our goal being to try something totally new and add one great seasonal piece to your current wardrobe.

Let's connect and have fun.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 10:11:00 -0400

Have you been up to Lowell, MA lately? I had not been for many, many years and on Saturday we took a little excursion. Mill No 5 in Lowell is so easy to find and so worth the trip. It's quite a wonderful experience. First you have a mixed-use space that is so wonderful in it's concept and simplicity. Great old mill space, tons of refurbished vintage interior to set the stage for a warm feel, great coffee shop, great small theatre and great little yoga studio. There are several wonderful small shops with sole proprietors speaking to you about their products like an old world European shopping experience. I loved everything about it. Lot's of great things to do there, live music and events and a maker space to open up this Spring. It's worth checking out.

250 Jackson Street Lowell, MA http://www.millno5.com

Great Spring Basic from Everlane

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 15:21:00 -0400

Great Basic Spring Look

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 15:55:00 -0500

OK! Vector Home Improvement has left the building. What a terrific job, well done. My gosh when you work with someone wonderful it makes a huge difference. The team from Vector Home included a cleaning specialist whom I have hired to clean my home twice per month. Check them out on Facebook or private email me for the contact information.
Happy to have my house back, and now thinking about Phase 11....

Working outside of Fashion

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 13:41:00 -0500

Hello everyone... I have been missing in action for two very good reasons:

1. The repair work from the storms of 2015 is just getting done over these last two weeks. I have a great contractor and my damage was insignificant compared to some of you but yet what a huge disruption of three of my living spaces. Kitchen, Dining Room/Living Room and a bay window in the study. It may be winding down today.

2. Paperwork for the merger of two lives - the Schraffa/Santin merger of all things. One really does not think about the impact of name change and consolidation of two of everything. Lots of legal work and mumbo/jumbo about will, insurance, social security accounts and tax filing. This may never wind down as I feel like you get one thing finished and it opens up three other related things.

I just want to get back to fashion!

I am booking for closet clean ups and wardrobe consults. Right now February is getting booked and I should have some great before and after pictures soon and will post them on Instagram.

Reach out to me to schedule your appointments. There are only so many free Tuesday and Wednesday open slots left for February.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with all things North of Boston!

Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 18:27:00 -0500

It begins, the home improvements of 2016. Vector Home Improvement is here dealing with the snow and ice damage from the 2015 Ice Dams of that incredible winter. Just in time for the first major snow storm coming up this weekend...

The North Shore Consignment Scene

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 19:52:00 -0500

The North Shore is full of wonderful little gems of shops to do some consignment shopping.

I did a consignment crawl last month-
Here are a few worth checking out with great Facebook Pages to follow them on:

ReFind Salem

Compliments 132 Boston Street Salem MA

Ginger's Closet 101 Lynn Street Peabody MA

Plum Consignment Cabot Street Beverly MA
http://plum-consignment.myshopify.com

Fate Consignment 110 Newbury Street Rt. 1 Danvers MA

http://www.fateconsignment.com

And I loved them all great second hand shops with really fun stuff and very well priced. It is so great to see perfectly good items going toward reuse...

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:26:00 -0500

Oh we had so much fun shopping at the Pop-Up in Chestnut Hill... bought this for myself and Eliza bought big chunky yarn and big needles and started knitting at home on Saturday- a pro by the end of the day...Check out The Third Piece on line for more fun knit options.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Mon, 4 Jan 2016 11:50:00 -0500

I tried to be hip, modern, with-it, young minded and I was once again disappointed.

I signed up for one of the many women on line stylist services. Mainly as an experiment to find out why no one seems to be buying clothing in store any longer but going to the Internet to shop.

So the site was wonderful, easy, clean, bright and everything looked so cute. I selected my favorites. I filled out the body shape questions. I awaited the arrival of my first box!

It arrived on Saturday amidst a number of bills and I felt immediately guilty. What a waste of $50.00 I thought.

I opened the box in a way that a child opens that first gift on Christmas morning. Out came five items. Two were cheap costume jewelry and I mean cheap. Pretty little colored baubles that I would never be caught dead wearing as they scream I was made in CHINA.
The top and two jackets were cute enough in concept but the materials were very poor. A blend of poly and elastine and also made on the cheap.
Two looked OK.
The cost to keep them, not outrageous but not the feeling of garment I want against my skin.
In the end I have to send them back. The plastic pre posted bag won't hold the entire box, so I have to fiddle with a new shipping label and getting the box re packaged and going to the Post Office...
I think why would I not just take a shopping trip to my favorite store and just try things on and buy them and keep them. Ongoing saga... I had to repackage the box and take it to the post office- postage paid thank goodness, however am email is not adequate to stop your account. That required a phone call to the West Coast - could not reach a customer care person- left a message- had to fill out a survey- got an email saying I was cancelled- got a second call saying they were trying to cancel me but could not. WOW that was some experiment a whole lot of nothing came out of it. Wasted time.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 11:23:00 -0500

I am so lost this season. It's already over. My gift giving was limited to the young folk this year. I basically just had enough time to shop on 12.23.15 and although I began the journey stressing out we had a great time, shopped local only. We did Manchester by the Sea some lovely shops that I will call out later in a better post. We did Rockport shops and basically kept it simple and local and small.
This was so much better than spending time and money at the big malls on mostly dare I say it junk.
We also shopped our very favorite gals in Beverly TIEN2.
A wrap up with links to the places we shopped shall follow on this week.

And for 2016 my motto is shop American Made, Shop Local and Shop Smart.
I am going to try to set up some workshops to really get folks head around this concept so stay tuned for more.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 11:20:00 -0500

Follow Lisa Ann Schraffa's board “And remember, expect nothing and life will be velvet” Lisa Gardiner on Pinterest.

The Consignment Crawl

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 16:02:00 -0500

Hi All,
It's been a bit daunting of a task to stay on my fashion blogging musings. As you all know I relocated to the North Shore of Boston in September of 2014. Took on the commute into Chestnut Hill four days per week to maintain my position at Eileen Fisher, Inc. - Lots of funny stories around an hour commute each way - but I know many also do similar hellish commuting. Winter 2015 proved to be interesting for New Englanders as hearty as we all are and then I moved onto planning the wedding. Married in June of 2015 we did a spectacularly simple beach ceremony. Even the simple needs some planning and I found myself immersed in flowers, dresses, accessories and cakes. Everything was wonderful. Summer held a lot of visits with Drew's young adult children and that was busy and fun and filled with trips to Prides Beach. Onto the honeymoon. A whirlwind exploring of Italy. Venice/Rome/SanDonato/Sperlonga and home to make plans for Fall and holidays.
But two wonderful people Drew himself and a new friend also named Lisa who is a food blogger have got me moving and motivated to reinvent myself and my blog. - More to follow on that I hope. I spent the last week doing a consignment research for my new neighborhoods of Danvers, Peabody, Salem and Beverly. I have found a number of gems and will continue my research. Two highlights of the consignment store crawl are Re-Find Women's in Salem, MA and Compliments Resale Boutique also in Salem, MA. I plan on doing a round up of all that I have seen over the last week in a few days. Follow my Instagram account for up to the moment info... STYLE1964...

I am sorry ... really translates to I am lazy

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 18:33:00 -0400

Hi I have been intending and intending to start writing and posting again but alas... it seems that I default to instagram instead. Easy app to use and post quick hits on. Follow me at style1964

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:33:00 -0400

Who out there is working with Reiki?

I was trained in October 2012 with the Usui System Usui Shiki Ryoho but have failed to really immerse myself in this natural healing. Looking for some community around Reiki especially up here on the North Shore...

I am so disappointed and frustrated within myself... I have to have another crown reconstructed as I cracked it and a tooth extracted as much work was done on it in pervious years and it to has cracked. I grind my teeth and clench my jaws at night sleeping.

The thought of having a gaping hole in my mouth vs. a dental implant is cause enough that I have to realize I am not handling life stress and change well. I have always been a grinding sort and have had a night guard for my mouth that I have used on and off over the years but this has become crazy.

I have to get command of my emotions and my stress and start using Reiki to do just that.

I am listening universe, if anyone has any thing to say use social media to reach me- twitter, Facebook, linkedin or right here and as always by email or text message.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 7 Jul 2015 22:12:00 -0400

Shout out: To all who helped with my elopement +3 - in no apparent order:

Naked Rustic Wedding Cake - Eliza M.F. Santin

Restaurant- C.K. Pearl Essex
http://www.ckpearlessex.com

Floral- Beverly Barzin with Lesley

Celebrant - Erika Wilton

Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant & Non-Denominational Minister

27 Wesley Street Newton MA 02458 | 617.435.0065

erika.celebrant@gmail.com ~ customceremoniesboston.com

weddings, and all ceremonies marking life's transitions, authentic to you

Dress- Elie Tahari Copley Place, Boston MA

Beach Decor Rental - http://bostonrusticweddin.wix.com/rusticweddingrentals

Men's wear for groom- Tommy Bahama and Ralph Lauren - Giblees Danvers & Lord and Taylor Boston

The Beach Wedding

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Mon, 6 Jul 2015 15:10:00 -0400

Happy times... Happy things are happening up here North of Boston. All who know me well, know what the last few years have held but in all the pain and suffering and challenges the gem was this Man- Drew! Lucky Lady that I am Drew asked me to make a life with him that included moving up to the North Shore, getting engaged, marrying on June 7th 2015 and getting to become a part of his family that includes three great young people. So this is what it looks to elope + three! I know many more happy times and happy things are evolving and maybe they will start to be captured right here on this old style blog. Here's to the new style of things. I bring you the new Mrs. Lisa Ann Schraffa Santin!

Outing Myself

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 26 May 2015 15:25:00 -0400

Myself and an unnamed member of my family found ourselves in Francesca's on Saturday. I somehow transformed from the super realistic, practical, very conscience shopper to a kid in a candy shop. The colors, the patterns, the choices, the cuteness of it all made me giddy. And we shopped, and we bought and we delighted in the many new things.

Two learning's from the afternoon. Younger folk than myself love fast fashion. They live and breath the moment. What is on trend, what is cute, what is it they want (NEED) for summer. It is all about the NOW.

There is no question which sounds like, when will I wear this? will I wear it more than once this season? what is it made of? who made it? is it going to last?

Heck, they don't really want to wear it more than once this season, they don't care if it lasts because it is a cute trend item, they have no idea to even ask the question who made it, how did they work and what did they make it from.

I may have totally missed out on a teaching moment but reflecting back I realize it may have been a moment of teaching upon deaf ears. The young simply don't care about the fast fashion issues and adults simply pick their battles. With all that is going on in the world of pre-teens, teens, and young adults are we really going to battle over sweat shop garments at cheap prices. It was a reality moment when I realized it is not worth getting into the topic over so many other things that need to be discussed. That made me sad. Maybe next time I will have more courage to open the discussion but this time I just blissed out on color and cuteness and a happy teenager.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Thu, 21 May 2015 09:43:00 -0400

Following up on yesterday's thoughts and emotions, now as I am looking on the horizon of what to do next for my community I have begun to think about working with art ventures and how to bring art and literature to under served youth.

I moved recently and now reside on the North Shore in Beverly, MA and that has given me an opportunity to put myself out there and do some volunteer work. I began to work at the Peabody Essex Museum as a volunteer working with family and children programs. That experience training in the museum this past fall has motivated me toward other volunteer opportunity on the North Shore.

I also joined the Salem Artists Association to better understand how art is made, how artists think, who artists hang out with and why people make art and music. I have been exposed to a great deal of education about the creative economy and what it means to take an area like Salem, Beverly, Gloucester, Rockport and the like and use the arts to transform these communities.

What a great move and what a great time to be thinking about how to incorporate the arts into my next 10-15 year community service horizon or maybe even with work and career.

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Wed, 20 May 2015 16:28:00 -0400

I just turned 50 this past December and starting thinking more about art, especially public art. What career may I have done had I been exposed to art at a much younger age?

We simply did not have art exposure in my family during the mid-late 60s and into the 1970s. We were a family of regulars, working class and almost too ordinary, we like many were TV oriented.

Thankfully there was a great sense of music in my home that I recall fondly. Much of it was of the 1950s era with lots of contemporary music in Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Elvis, scores from various musicals of the time period such as the Sound of Music and Yes, we actually listened to albums back then.

From listening to that music and much Italian culture pop music to variety shows such as Lawrence Welk, Sonny and Cher, and even The Osmond family there was at least some art form floating around the small apartment in Nonantum, MA and then the home in West Newton, MA.

I do think music was an inspiration for me but I wonder how much more creative I would have been had I had a true exposure to art from a public art vantage point. Certainly public art and exposure to art at a young age from a perspective other than one's parents or caregivers at home is very shaping of one's art character.

Pondering this I have created some art action for myself, I am pleased to be doing some work at the Peabody Essex Museum with families and children, also joined the Salem Arts Association this year and reading to children at the Beverly Children's Learning Center. I feel like I am touching art in all of these places and with art also touching the hearts and minds of youth that cross my path. New and emerging artists, youth and public art are all a part of my new North Shore living experience, what could be better?

To knit or not to knit

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 22:14:00 -0500

Ok so here I go I finally decide to put my mind to it and learn to knit, after several (at least 3) failed attempts. I have now completed several (at least four) squares with out producing anything. My knit stitch ain't bad, my pearl stitch ain't bad but I seem to have a hard time putting them together into one square... transitioning is not quite so smooth for me. Is it so wrong to love yarn, love color, love huge needles and fat yarn and knit nothing of any consequence.

I am really not sure what to do next, how do I overcome this need to knit yet I am not making anything?

Really any suggestions from anyone out there are welcome!

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:36:00 -0500

Target clearance clothing & accessories women's clothing intimates

Women‘s Tights - Xhilaration®

Oh sometimes something so cheap and easy is just the best. These tights are very cheap, wear beautifully and cost next to nothing. I am talking super soft, light, easy fit and fun colors. With all this weather I sometimes layer them under my pants because I need just a little more something-something.... it is just so darn cold out there. Go to Target on line they are currently on sale.

where have I been where am I going

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 23:19:00 -0400

It's been far too long, after two tough years I feel like I am coming out of it all... Moved up North of Boston and getting a new perspective on lots of things... still fighting a bit with all my technology tools but hope to start blogging again soon about all things art, fashion, lifestyle, home and health related- and no I still have not learned how to swim... this was an unwise event this past summer...

My Mom

lschraffa@aol.com (Lisa Ann Schraffa) — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:43:00 -0400

Hey gang we are doing a fun-fundraiser http://community.als.net/clothingswap to help raise awareness about ALS and raise money to find the cause/cure. Please consider making a donation in my Mom's name or come to this fun event either way we will make an impact against this disease.

Thanks!