Stylish with Substance

Well, t-shirt designers at this company, in partnership with the authors of The Green Book, have made a tank top that reads, "Flush Less". For many of us, for various reasons (for instance my apartment has poor plumbing), that simply means they want us to clog our toilets more. Sorry, but plumbing quality differs, some people have tricky excrements, etc. etc.

Sure, they have a point here when they explain better, and leave out the broad, general dictation:

Flush one [fewer] time per day and you'll save about 4.5 gallons of water - as much water as the average person in Africa uses for a whole day of drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning.

But in reality, nothing is black and white, even green. I mean sure, one fewer flush a day sounds fine, but it might mean one more plunge a day, now okay but---can somebody tell me how to best clean that darn plunger? Eck!

_ O _ _ _ _ & _ _ _ _ _ E C _ _ _ _ W _ _ _

I can't figure out if the ampersand counts as a word, so part of my pun is messsed up. But Dooney & Bourke has a new logo collection (they're way ahead of Coach now in coming out with new signature patterns!); called Crossword with diagonal letters inside blocks. Part of the gaming fun is missing, however, with all of the brand letters filled in. Is this a case of visual design before name concept? (No, that is not a bad thing.)

Overall these bags are very attractive, with new design elements to them, even. There are no wild colors, no the bags are pretty understated. I give these letter-emblazoned bags a B _ _ _ _ _. (Hey, they're not as hot or desirable as the Giraffe line.)

Let's take a break from shopping, wish listing, holiday weekend-ing, and get back to a little relaxing reading ... about shopping! Well, clothes, but clothes you might want to buy. WhoWhatWearDaily.com is a hit of a new online fashion magazine, and blog, that scouts out designer names and gushes about celebrity trends.

Take this dish on 'Gossip Girl' gals. We see a composite of young, attractive potential-It girls who are just a tiny bit in need of ensemble-cohesion tips, layer portion-control and maybe even in desperate need of either a thicker winter wardrobe or just a warmer climate. The female characters appear to have the same personal style as all the rest, as well.

Whatever one likes what media or celeb stylists dress their clients in or not, WWWD has got it all "labeled" out. Personally, I'm curious to know how they know those plain black tights are from Forever 21, but that's just the kind of thing that makes a site like this a success.

 

And the graphics are fun.

Perhaps a good blogger should cover more than she can cover, to really cover as much as she can - or can't? Anyway, I'm bringing back (after I've just come back) weekly bagopshere posts. But I'm trying to expand into bag-related posts from non-bag blogs, too. Tough! I also would love to discover new bag blogs (I've receieved some recently and I'm late on adding your wonderful links). Anyway, if you have a post you'd like to suggest - comment us!

• Apparently this Fendi bag ate the wrong part of a turkey this Thanksgiving (and the meal didn't agree with it) - or, well, what would purses eat anyway? Anyhoo! I don't enjoy animal cruelty symbols for my heartwarming meets feast (and mashed potatoes) holiday, but I do enjoy giggling at this fab but overcooked purse! --InMyBag


• Plum plaid/croc framed satchel by River Island -- you see this is a handbag I would never find to post, especially since it's from the UK! But gosh, I kind of fancy it! --TheBagLady


• The Addict's Mantra: The Logo is Not Who You Are --TheRunwayScoop


• The dream find = Vintage Dior Bag for ... $8 --- leads to the TOUGHEST question of all = is it or is it not---real? (I hope it is, and oh! It makes me want the perfect vintage Dior-at any price!) -- Help a girl out over at StyleBytes. (The post is older, but the bag was featured recently in an ensemble.)


• And finally... Of course one must feature a post with one of the fabbest bags in the world, but only in a bagosphere recap when - alas - it is the rare pipe dream of a 30cm Blue Jean Hermés Birkin that is not my own, nor for sale. Whose is it? Megs. I can only dream on my little blogger's pay, but I'm happy to stay the blogger anyway (and hope to grow, at least)! For the rest of those like I, let us ogle these really well-taken photographs! --ThePurseBlog
  

Today we sum up this holiday week in bag blogging, turkey and graciousness (not to mention a more Christmas-themed than Thanksgiving parade, as usual). Luckily, the graciousness might just continue on the Internet--if we all try hard, we may still have those mashed potatoes whenever we're able to peel the spuds, we still have all that we give thanks for, and at least hopefully the turkeys are a little bit safer, for now.

At least when it comes to eating them.

No, we must worry more about the cows. Back to life!

Britney lost the law suit defending against LVMH, but what we care about second to that bit of news is finding this music video, natch!

Britney Spears - Do Somethin'

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=lb-oyK3t7tI[/youtube]

I've added the vid to our No Knockoffs playlist on our YouTube account: Lipped Media, as well, so check it out.

And of course you should check out the news story, if you don't already know all the details.

This post is part of our Early Gift Guide Week.

Is definitely THE Coach bag of the year (chosen upon the merits of my Coach devotion and knowledge): Legacy Signature Satchel (preferrably the 2nd version of this style, available now on www.coach.com). This bag has it all (Classic Signature, famed new Legacy, its black and brown/tan people!, and this Fall's rendition on the style has the added bonus of side buckles, which is my personal favorite touch to a purse) and then some (unfortunately it's heavy). But there's another bonus, the dogleash clip on the front does not flap over the closure, so it's a bit more practical than last year. It's the ultimate, this year (and the entire year!), for the biggest COACH fans (so be sure she doesn't already have one, ha).

Such an important purse does come with a higher-end pricetag; $698, but GOD will she love you! (I would!)

I know it's annoying to see Christmas come so soon seemingly everywhere, especially this year when Thanksgiving comes early, but since that brings Black Friday sooner too, we need to think about gift shopping. I know many of us like to wait at least a week after the weekend of doom (while hopefully not waiting close to the big Eve), but there are some reasons to shop now, especially in some stores / on some online shops.

Why shop now? First of all, if it's online and a store that's small in any way, and has a possibility of being overloaded with requests, you need to worry about shipping delays. Think eBay as #1 for that.

Secondly, especially if online, sometimes you need to worry about stock running out (and even in brick and mortar stores!). And when items are one of a kind, or unique in any way to that store (like a regular person [read: non-store, for example] reselling a personally-used bag on eBay), there's always a chance of missing out on that item if you wait, but during the holidays, other people are more likely to bid or buy. For auctions, expect more and higher bids, and do not rely on relisting.

So that brings me to the main reasons to shop some places early, and what are the popular shops that concern me? Here's the list:

• eBay.com - I've already mentioned it and why. You could lose an item entirely, especially if it's that rare "It on eBay" find, or there could be shipping delays. Also, the longer you wait, the higher people bid, and the more bidders there are! (When to wait? If an item is local and allows pickup, but only after it's definitely too late for shippers to bid at all, then the item is guaranteed either yours or a non-gift.)


• Organize.com - Why? This shop already takes about two weeks to get items shipped to me, and that was before the holiday shopping really started. Why is it a good place to buy gifts? Well, I love them for their truly helpful and often unique items to store, label, and put your life in order. I think such things can make great gifts when selected right! (Plus, there's a sale going until 26th!)


• Bag Borrow or Steal - Why? Well, you could set someone up with a new account and have a bag ship ahead of time, ship a bag from your account early, or set her new account up on waiting lists. With any of these methods, you might worry about the availability, or getting on a wait list sooner. Remember even if a bag is available now, it may not be in a week or so. Finally, if you want to shop their outlet, these items could sell out at any time, so think of the urgency as similar to auctions.


• Amazon.com - Really? Well, the site's not just a megastore (read: quick, not going to sell out) for wished-after CDs and books, but a marketplace for small businesses to sell nearly any type of item. Such sellers could easily run out of stock or have shipping problems. One could even worry about reliability on occasion, and there might be a chance a gifter needs a backup plan. One reason to wait?? To let people get their wish lists in order, of course.


• Etsy.com - Why? It's a marketplace for independent sellers who independently hand make their items, and well, the biggest reason to shop early is to not stress the crafters who make custom orders, or make items after sales are made. They don't want to worry about getting their items to you, either! They're very nice. ;-) Reasons to shop? Helping out "little" people who make great stuff! There's a great variety or product types among the whole site, too. And did you catch -- they can personalize or totally custom make things?! Yeah, get on that early!

Please keep in mind with all online holiday shopping that there may be something wrong with the product (especially from eBay) or gifts could go missing in the mail, so it's always a good idea to do all online gift shopping early, just in case you need to replace the item(s).

Now, I'm only one shopper with my own set of interests, habits and friends, so I may have missed some important sites to shop now. Please do add yours in the comments!

I don't think it will be happening anymore, I've figured some things out about the server. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the occasional ups and "downs" we've had will stop 99.9%. (Which is normal.)

Well, I'm super late with posting the week's posts - I'm supposed to be writing an Early Gift Guide Week. It's a good thing I have it all planned, or I'd be nervous from my lateness while writing!

*Update: I also have to put in a lot of time/work on preventing/blocking content scrapers/splogs, which is as important as posting. So please be patient!*

This post is part of our Early Gift Guide Week.

For the handbag lover, the perfect gift above a certain budget range of course depends on the specific (bag) lady, but one choice, and my top pick, is the Louis Vuitton Mini Lin Speedy Croisette (only in size 30). How many fashion-minded women wouldn't be thrilled with a Louis Vuitton, especially one both classic and modern. What put this pattern over the top for me was its new color option; an understated red with overall pale tones, making this bag subtly festive for the holiday season, while classic enough to tote all year round; for years to come.

The LV Mini Lin Speedy Croisette (not a direct link, as the LV website [where it's only available] is flash, apologies.) only costs $750.00, too! Not bad! It would be the best gift of the holiday for most women out there!

And if you want to pass this on to someone as a hint -> there's an e-mail forward linkto the side, above ->>. Or if you're wishing for something only similar by Vuitton, browse or pass on this link for eLuxury's LV Holiday Gift Catalog.

Furthermore, please leave your comments on how you feel about this pick (hey, it's a tough call) and what would be your choice. (Better for forwarding to others, my dear.)

Just to inform you I tweaked the "single" post page layout a bit to resemble a bit more of a shop item page; which is just something I personally wanted.

Some of the core changes only go back a little way through the Fall (so far), and only effect posts with products to buy, but one feature is a list of suggested similar bags to buy on the sidebar. Bags will only be eligible for this promotion throughout their selling season (neat feature).

Although I'm now running behind on posts, partially due to time-wasting code failures, he he.  My bad, but I will catch up because this week is a very important shopping/gift week!