Did Kristen Bell make Bananagrams cool, or did Bananagrams make Kristen Bell cool? THAT IS THE QUESTION. Well, the first question I had was ‘what is banana grams?’ Like any modern girl, I went straight to YouTube for my answer. Turns out it’s a really simple word game that is kind of like boggle. I heard about this game because Kristen Bell told OK Magazine, “…I did just play an intense game of Bananagrams with my sisters…till the wee, small hours of the morning.”

Mastermind Toys said they love it because it’s portable and you can play it at your home or at “the cottage”. Well, we don’t all have summer cottages on lakes, but if you’ll be visiting any family members this summer at THEIRS, this might be a lifesaver. Banangrams could actually be the answer to every awkward question.

Question: “So, are you seeing anyone right now? What happened to that boyfriend with the mohawk?”

Real answer: You can already hear the disdain in their voice, and the follow-up questions will be about marriage and freezing your eggs so you can give your mother grandchildren… and it doesn’t help that the boyfriend in question cheated on you with his (male) best friend and then they wrote a  song about you called “Stupid Girl with the Weird Freckles”.

Your revised answer: “Oh – hey, did you wanna play this really cool game I brought?” (Cue: Whip it out of your purse where you’ve had it concealed for just such an emergency. Too bad this emergency will undoubtedly occur within ten minutes of arriving.)

Bananagramas could be great for girls night in, cheap date nights, any family events, babysitting for friends…

• Bananagrams $11
• Pairs in Pears $13
• Appletters $13
• Qwirkle Board Game $18 (For the more visually-inclined)

She’s smart – she’s YOU. And our fashion under 100 blog is here for you.

BEAUTIFUL FASHION HAT DRESS GIRL FLOWERS FRENCH 24″ X 36″ VINTAGE POSTER REPRO $14.85

When I was living in a college dorm, I suffered from the fate many other like-minded girl’s endured. It was the inevitable fate of THE POSTER FAIR. Dun, dun, duuuuuun!!!!  They lure college freshmen to this poster fair, where they charge way too much money for cheesy posters that are either so famous you’re sick of them by the time you walk it back to that dismal dorm you’d so hoped to cheer up, or it looks like it could pass for a Hallmark card. Now, many  times that works for some girls – they just want a picture of a bunch of kittens dressed in pearls. But I only bought MINE because it seemed the THING to do.

I wanted desperately to be liked by my roommate, and she was very…Martha Stewart-y in all of the most generic of ways. But now that I’m older, I want to tell gals of ANY age – you don’t have to settle for what someone else will like, especially when it comes to the art on your walls. Don’t offend your eyeballs just to please someone else!

For those of you who are older, you may think posters are tacky. And well, they KIND of are. But 1.) it depends on the type of poster 2.) it’s easy to buy an inexpensive frame and frame those suckers to look 10x’s more expensive than they even are. Talk about smart shopping.

So, I went onto Amazon and looked for all sorts of vintage posters. It’s amazing that so many old ad campaigns have become such amazing posters. I doubt they’ll be using art from the Coke ads in THIS era as art posters down the road. Although those “Got Milk” posters might someday be collectible… (and I was totally a teen who had a couple of those posted on the back of my door). Anyway! I think vintage posters are an excellent way to go, and they are surprisingly inexpensive.

A lot of the posters I’ve picked have a strong female icon in them, and that’s because I think you should have that where you live as a reflection of either who you are or (let’s be honest) who you struggle every day to be.

So here you go, the best vintage posters I found:

Call Again vintage-style JA Doll cigar ad POSTER RARE – 24″ x 36″ $9.99
VINTAGE French Fernand Clement & Co Bicycle Poster Pal Print $17.95
Jouets (Vintage Ad, As Seen on Friends) Art Poster Print – 24″ X 36″
Au Bon Marche, Jouets et Etrennes Giclee Poster Print by René Vincent, 56×38 $179 – Too expensive, but too cute not to show you guys!
Fine Art Vintage poster Art Deco YOUNG GIRL IN GREEN poster by TAMARA DE LEMPICKA $19.99
Leonetto Cappiello (Cognac Monnet) Art Poster Print – 24″ X 36″ $3.31
L’Instant Taittinger Styles Art Poster Print, 25×37 $9.99

Vintage Art Deco Perfume Creme Cosmetic Poster By Emilio Vila $19.99
GIRL UMBRELLA THE DUNES BEACHES BY THE SOUTH SHORE LINE CHICAGO ILLINOIS VINTAGE POSTER REPRO
Coca-Cola Pin Up girl Vintage Advertising Poster $11.99
Vintage Fine Art Poster “Toilettes de Campagne et de Bains de Mer” By Andre Pecoud $18.99
PHOTOGRAPHY CAT AMBROSIO TORINO ROMA ROME ITALIA ITALY ITALIAN 15″ X 18″ VINTAGE POSTER REPRO $7.90
CYCLES SIRIUS BICYCLE WOMAN LEVALLOIS PERRET FRANCE VINTAGE POSTER REPRO $14.85
BLUE PEACOCK MODERN NEW YORK VINTAGE POSTER REPRO $14.85

She shops smart – she’s you. Our fashion under 100 blog is here for you!

I absolutely do NOT need to buy the Jessica McClintock Juliet 4-pc King Queen Set. But I still bookmarked the page. Because…it’s kind of amazingly gorgeous, and I didn’t even know that Jessica McClintock was making bedding! But I was shopping at Marshall’s and saw the Jessica McClintock Paloma bedding and almost bought it on the spot.There’s also the amazing Talenti gold, and Belacour… AND Romance and Paris Blues. …But I can’t buy them ALL.

“Romance begins in the bedroom, and through this collection Pacific Coast has done an exceptional job of capturing what I am most fond of – A Romantic Lifestyle.” – Jessica McClintock Home Collection

View of Arles with Irises by Vincent van Gogh

Who is Vincent Van Gogh – aside from the most basic of ideas in your head? He was a painter – famous of course, or else you’d probably never know his name. His name is synonymous with “Starry Night” one of his most famous paintings. You might also be able to recognize or name some of his other more famous works like his the eerie Skull with a Burning Cigarette, Bedroom in Arles, The Red Vineyard, Cafe Terrace at Night, The Starry Night, Starry Night over the Rhone… well, there’s plenty to pick from. My favorite groupings of his work are the ones with cypress trees (Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background, Cypresses, Yellow Wheat Field with Cypresses) and flowers (Sunflowers, Irises, Poppies, Red Poppies and Daisies,  View of Arles with Irises).

Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background

As I read accounts of his biography online, I am struck by a man who had passion and was consistently put down and rejected by other’s. While I have always heard he “cut off his ear” it would appear he only cut off the bottom part of an ear lobe (not that I’d recommend it! – but the exaggeration of an entire ear being sawed off is quite different). What I had not realized was that he hallucinated near the end of his life, committed himself to an asylum for a while, and became so severely depressed that he ultimately walked into a field and shot himself in an act of desperate suicide. There is no firm grasp today on what they can say Van Gogh was afflicted from, but everything from paint poisoning to schizophrenia has been suggested. There was an awful lot of tragedy in his life, and I focus on it not to draw up a picture of a fractured man – but to show that even those who are greatly accomplished are afflicted by life. For as much as people in the public eye want to go out of their way to say they’re normal too, I feel this far too often gets whitewashed to be PR friendly and fake. Had Van Gogh lived today, we might never have learned of half of the things we know today, because glossy magazines make everything so false and shiny and “perfect” (this is why all models are generally impossibly thin). I think it’s important to understand where the heart of Van Gogh’s passion came from – which is, from feeling. And while I’m no artist, I can relate to being compelled to live my life by my heart, even with a brain that is admittedly often unhappy.

Yellow Wheat and Cypresses

I might have been afraid to be in a room with Mr. Van Gogh – some of his paintings are so aggressive that they make me uneasy. Other’s I quite love. But what surprises me are the quotes attributed to him from many respectable quote websites. The entire reason I began to write this piece about Vincent Van Gogh was because of a quote I saw and thought I ought to e-mail it to my Mother, who gets discouraged by her own painting far too often. But as I say about any sort of art (whether it be writing or photography) – if you’re unsure of yourself, then you’re probably better than you know. It’s often those who cockily think they’re really good that are the let down’s.

Irises

So, I’d like to share with you some of the Vincent Van Gogh quotes I found to be most touching to me. I hope that at least one makes you pause and reflect, or feel happier for a moment. And if he truly did say these things, maybe he was much less scary than I let myself believe in my head. Sometimes wisdom and a great capacity for love are buried under layers of what seem to be unapproachability, shyness or mistaken anger. If I could travel back to the 1800’s, I like to believe that I would walk forward with a courageous head and heart of open-mind, ready to acknowledge a man who at that time was overlooked. I’d ask him for his lessons, his wisdom, his thoughts on the small and simple things about the stars and the flowers. I always forget how much more the stars and flowers matter than anything else. But through his paintings, I am reminded. They take me to a place that seems very innate within me. I understand art more than I can understand most things – and the thing of it is that I am no art scholar. Art does for me what art is hoped to do for those by create it: make you feel. And as a writer, I’m equally drawn to his words. He spoke of what you could generalize into categories of  “disappointment”, “inspiration”, “love”, and “purpose”. I put these in quotes because I think that the most moving, powerful quotes supersede any supposed category. They are always so much more than just the idea of one word. That is what makes a quote memorable. And these I find to be worthy of committing to memory.

Vincent Van Gough quotes that I found particularly moving:

• If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent Van Gogh
• But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things. – Vincent Van Gogh
• I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. – Vincent Van Gogh
• In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing. – Vincent Van Gogh
• Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy. – Vincent Van Gogh
• “How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?” – Vincent Van Gogh

Add a little bit of Van Gogh into your day while improving your interior design skills very slowly…Van Gogh switch plates.

I played around in photoshop for this, let me know if it's embarrassingly bad!

Van Gogh – Cypress with Star Decorative Steel Switchplate Cover $8

Van Gogh – Irises Switch Plate – Single Rocker $9

Van Gogh – Sunflowers Switch Plate – Single Toggle $9

Van Gogh – Yellow Wheat & Cypresses Switch Plate – Double Toggle $11

Van Gogh – Poppies Switch Plate – Double Toggle $11

Van Gogh – Almond Blossms Decorative Steel Switchplate Cover $8

Van Gogh – Poppies in a Vase Decorative Steel Switchplate Cover $8

Van Gogh – Starry Nighton the Rhone Decorative Steel Switchplate Cover $8

Etsy shop makers are creating the most wonderful hair accessories for women. Some are a bit eccentric for everyday wear, but some walk the line. I would recommend buying something now that you can also wear for Halloween. There’s a giant star if you’d like to wear it to a late night party as well as being a mermaid at some point. There’s a flower fascinator to wear everyday or be a fairy later on. And there’s even a giant red bow a la Minnie Mouse or Snow White. You don’t need to invest in something tacky at the last minute in October, buy something you’ll wear much more often than just once a year.

Giant Dwarf // Rosette Fascinator // The Canary

Rose Clinquant

Snow White Big Silk Bow Aliceband

She shops smart – she’s you. Our fashion under 100 blog is here for you!

I got a press release with this GOSSIP GIRL image that I wanted to share with you guys. It’s actually a really great GOSSIP GIRL fashion guide (”The Hurt Locket”) for those who like to stay up on that. It’s fun to see what designers each piece are from, although…let’s be honest – if they listed the prices of these items we’d cringe! What we in the real world need are GOSSIP GIRL fashion for LESS. The component of mixing winter whites with upcoming Spring make for an interesting outfit. A sweater dress in a white or cream is great when paired with a white bag with texture (like snakeskin or crocodile). They don’t say if Blake Lively was wearing any perfume for this scene, but I can practically smell the Donna Karan “Cashmere Mist” from here, so I’m also including that in the collage.

GOSSIP GIRL FASHION FOR LESS

• MICHAEL Michael Kors Women’s Short-sleeve Turtleneck Sweater Dress $51
• Volcom Dresses/Skirts : Volcom Perfectly Cream Organic Sweater Dress $62
• SWISS MISS SWEATER DRESS (PLUS) $46
• MICHAEL Michael Kors Sweater, Cowl Neck Cabled Sweater $64 ON SALE
• Snake Skin Twisted Handles Large Tote $23 ON SALE
• White Quilted Patent Chain Croc Celeb Big Clutch Purse $32
• O’Neill Vicky Shoulder Bag $42
• Donna Karan Cashmere Mist $48 ON SALE

“The Hurt Locket” Pictured: Blake Lively as Serena Photo Credit: Giovanni Rufino / The CW © 2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

She’s smart – she’s you! Fashion under 100 is where it’s at.

SKIP SENSIBLE PRINTS For years I’ve had different zippered wallets, always in a sensible (read: black) color. But I began to loathe zippered wallets, and I realized that a kisslock wallet opens and closes so much easier.

SAVE TIME You know those pieces they’ll put in magazine sometimes, telling you how many days of your life you’ll spend shaving your legs cumulatively if you live until 80? (It makes me want to go on strike!) Well, I don’t know how long they’d say we’d spend dealing with problematic wallets, but this has to be cutting down the time.

DOUBLE DUTY Something nice about some kisslock wallets are that they double as a clutch. It can be a relief to only have to carry something small, and have everything in it without taking much effort to transfer the essential cards and spare tissue into another clutch. If you plan to use your wallet to double as a clutch, that is the only time I think you should spend very much on your wallet. I mean, okay – you need to spend enough on one that it won’t fall apart because if it falls apart…you’re screwed. But there’s not a ton of reason to spend perfectly good shoe money on your wallet. People won’t see it as much as you think (unless you’re becoming a shopaholic).

Pictured: Frenzeee Kiss Lock Wallet on sale $34, Room It Up Fun Flower Kiss Wallet $22.50, Purple Dot Swirl Kisslock Wallet $16, (not shown) Snake Print Clutch Wallet $10, HOBO INTERNATIONAL Dana Button Wallet $75, Deena & Ozzy Kisslock Clutch $20

She shops smart – she’s you. Our fashion under 100 blog is here for you!

Sarah Golden’s Blog / Jen Skelley’s Etsy Shop

The Feed Your Soul – the Free Art Project is a great way to expose your eyes to new art, and get free desktop backgrounds. You can also save the images (legally!) and print them out to frame.

Every month new art is added and removed. “”Each invited artist will contribute one print that you can print out on some cardstock and frame or even just thumbtack to the wall.”

If you’re an artist, you can contribute too. It’s a great way to get exposure to your shop. I discovered two artists I especially like – Sarah Golden and Jen Skelley!

She shops smart – she’s you. Our fashion under 100 blog is here for you!

• Lee Angel Jewelry Mouchette Ribbon & Crystal Necklace $75

Ribbon and crystal necklaces are super trendy right now, but even without the trend factor – I love them. But can we find them not just for under $100, but under $75 a la the Lee Angel designer necklace? Yes, yes we can! Especially with help from Etsy.com.

• Ruby and lavender organza ribbon necklace with frosted AB Czech crystal beads. $27
• Sierra Ribbon Necklace $18
• Ribbon Necklace Diamond and Black Crystal $26
• Ribbons Of Elegance – Swarovski Pearl Necklace Accented with Sparkling Crystal Rondelles and Black Grosgrain Ribbon $55

Here’s what I’m aiming to return to the library soon:

The Shaggy Dog – 1959 version AKA the best version (Video Tape)
Vanity Fair (DVD)
Miss Potter (DVD)
Split Estate – Charlotte Bacon (Book)
Love Walked In : A Novel – Marisa De los Santos (Book)
Ghost Whisperer – The Third Season (DVD)
Prison Break – Final Break (DVD)

And here the goodies I’ve reserved to pick-up!:

Wonderfalls (DVD)
Stitches – A Memoir – David Small (Book)
Veronika Decides to Die – Paul Coehlo (Book)
Doctor Who series 1 (DVD)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barberry (Book)

No one is allowed to judge me by how slow I read these books because I have other books that I’ve borrowed and am reading already! Yes…I’m self-conscious!

Fabric texture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/ / CC BY 2.0