Pretty in Gray

Yesterday morning I did something cool at work for once -- went to a press screening of the Luis Melendez exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Melendez is regarded as the greatest Spanish still-life painter of the eighteenth century. His paintings of cheeses, vegetables, breads and other staples of Spanish cuisine looks so realistic you just want to grab them off the canvas! And his mastery with a brush was such that your eye is drawn to the textures of the foods, not the brush strokes on the canvas themselves.

Anyway, I'm no master of self-photography, but I felt very cute in the pictured outfit. Instead of wearing a suit, I opted for a feminine gray sweater-shirt (with white blouse sleeves and a white tie at the top) and a gray-and-black sweater. (From Target, no less!) I wore it with black slacks and brick red maryjane flats, for a subdued pop of color.

It was a good outfit for the event and for enjoying yesterday's beautiful weather while strolling through the city.

Why I'm Glad I Finally Got Boots

I'm feeling in an alliterative mood, so it comes down to this: Fashion, Function and Fit. That's what I realized this morning when I thought about how glad I am to have my new boots!


They are all black, leather, shin-high boots with flat fur on the outside (not as garish as it sounds) and suede trim around the laces. The inside is plush, warm wool. The sole is synthetic with a two-inch platform heel and has surprisingly good traction.


It was love at first sight. They were strewn on a table with about two dozen other assorted pairs at the front of Marshalls as part of a season-end clearance, and since I'd been looking for boots for at least a year or two, this was like a dream come true. I tried on several pairs but these definitely stuck out. However, I wasn't quite ready to spend $110 on shoes on a whim the first time I saw them. Plus, they felt a bit tight.

About a week later I returned to the store. Most of the inventory I'd seen was gone but these boots remained. They were now $70 on final clearance, and though I still hesitated, that price was much easier to swallow. Especially since I felt satisfied with the apparent quality of the materials and craftsmanship, and I was confident that I really liked them. I thought twice about the purchase and still liked them. Plus $70 down from $200+ is a deal that's hard to beat.

So I took the plunge. Great decision! I've worn them with skirts, with skinny jeans, with boot cut jeans...to work, to go out, to hang out...and this morning, I wore them while digging my car out of four to six inches of snow. (Who'd have expected that in the Washington D.C. suburbs in early March??)

I love how stylish they look -- I'm not very trend-conscious or always stylish, but these look pretty darn nice. I like how they fit -- uber-comfortable. They are one of the few pairs of shoes I can wear for hours during light activity (work, fun, no marathon running) that remain very comfortable.

And finally, they are so functional! I didn't get one drop of moisture in my socks today, even while marching through totally unshoveled snow to retrieve my car. As someone who's had a lot of snow seep through her sneakers, this was just the most fantastic development.

So I give a glowing review to Oscar Sport boots. Hopefully these will hold up for a long time to come.

Inaugural Nails

I searched "red, white and blue nails" and found this picture, which inspired me to create my own patriotic nails...

I'll be working Tuesday but hopefully watching the ceremony online or on television. At least it will be warm indoors...I went to G.W. Bush's second inauguration four years ago and it was really, really cold. (Hours of standing outside, frozen toes, and that celebration was no where near as hyped as this one.)

It's amazing to think about all that has happened during the brief history of the United States, and I just find it exciting to be witness to another groundbreaking chapter. Happy Inauguration!

Gifts from Maayari!

A few weeks ago (what feels like an eternity) I entered Maayari's Winter Challenge contest. Though I didn't win, she sent me some lovely gifts as a consolation prize and a very cute holiday card.

The stuff:
From bottom left:
-Lancome remove-all deep cleansing oil. Saving this for a day when I feel like pampering myself.
-Green tea soap. Mmm smells so good.
-Mango body butter sample from the Body Shop. I'm going to clean my room a bit, cook some green beans, hop in the shower and rub this on my legs tonight!
-Eyeshadow sample (le mystere #78) from the mineral makeup site aromaleigh.com. See swatches below. It's a very sparkly slate color that picks up the blue in my eyes.
-Rouge sample (sweetheart) from aromaleigh.com. Pretty bubblegum pink with pink sparkles. Guess someone's gonna be playing around with loose pigments...
-Wild and Crazy eyeshadow in 3150 Lily Song. Pale like me. :)

Thanks Maayari, and best of luck starting the new phase of your life in Philly!

Handicraft Stores Make a World of Difference

Last month I wrote a story about volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit organization with stores that sell fair trade and eco-friendly items from around the world. Plenty of reasonably priced goods are available -- pretty onyx candle holders from Pakistan for $12, Vietnamese paperweights made of hand-lacquered stone (40 days to make) for $7, etc. There are higher-priced items too -- like $300 quilts and copper bowls, $70 necklaces, -- but to me, those price tags seems comparable to what you'd pay for these goods in any other store, except here you know where the items are coming from and that the workers are really benefiting.

This is a slightly abridged version of the article:

Handicraft Stores Make a World of Difference
From the outside, Ten Thousand Vil­lages looks like any other store along the cozy streets of Rockville Town Square. Stepping inside, however, reveals a vibrant web of colors and stories from faraway lands told through handmade crafts.Unique tableware, home décor, station­ary, linens and jewelry are just some of the products you’ll find nestled on the shop’s over-brimming displays.

But Ten Thousand Villages is more than just a chain of stores. It’s a nonprofit or­ganization devoted to providing a livable and dependable source of income to the underprivileged artists who hand-make its products in developing nations — a con­cept known as “fair trade.”

From humble beginnings out of founder Edna Ruth Byler’s car trunk six decades ago, it’s developed into one of North Amer­ica’s largest fair trade organizations, with more than 80 stores nationwide and part­nerships with dozens of artisan groups in more than 30 countries.

Volunteers staff stores
To reduce overhead costs and keep products affordably priced, the organiza­tion uses a significant number of volun­teers to supplement the small number of paid staff in each store.

“Working at Ten Thousand Villages is very rewarding because…no matter how tired you are, you know you’re working for someone disadvantaged, and without our store network this person might not have an income at all,” said store manager Bea Strattner, who’s been with the Rockville store since its April 2007 opening.

...

Strattner said most of her store’s volun­teers started out as customers, liked the atmosphere, and wanted to make a more significant contribution. There are many tasks for volunteers to work on, from help­ing customers up front to unpacking prod­ucts in the back.

Retired nurse Carole McWilliams, a Rockville-resident who’s volunteered at the store for several months, cited the opportu­nity to give back to the community and to promote a non-profit organization as two fac­tors that drew her to Ten Thousand Villages. Though she has plenty to do — “Retire­ment is busier than you think it is!” — she finds the experience worthwhile and would recommend it to others.

“It’s a good place to spend some time. It’s very positive,” the 71-year-old said, adding praise for her coworkers, the cus­tomers and the products.

...

Caring for the crafters
As part of its fair trade mission, Ten Thousand Villages’ business practices are designed to support economic, environ­mental and social sustainability in develop­ing countries. For example, artisans are paid about 50 percent of their wages for a product upfront, when the organization places its order, Strattner said.

This gives workers the funds to live on and create those goods. It also means their livelihood isn’t totally dependent on how a product sells.

Because it’s to everyone’s advantage that the products sell, the organization works closely with artisans to develop goods that are true to their region yet will also appeal to North American tastes.

On the environmental front, the organi­zation sells several products made from re­cycled materials. A rooster-shaped orna­ment from Columbia is made of dried or­ange peels; recycled magazines are used for coasters from a women’s cooperative in the Philippines; a choker made from soda tabs is created by disabled artists in Kenya.

Volunteers don’t need a lot of retail ex­perience to get involved. Sales associate Roberta Staat, 61, who began as a volun­teer, said she would never have seen her­self going into sales because she doesn’t like “hawking” products.

Knowing the stories behind the wares, however, gets her very excited about the merchandise. Plus, as an art teacher, she sees her work at the store as inherently tied to her career as well as her interest in social justice.

“To find a way for artists in other coun­tries to be respectable and economically independent” is a very powerful thing, she said.

That feeling is passed on to customers, who “want to be a part of the system, help­ing to support this mercantile system,” Staat added. “It’s guilt-free shopping.”

There are two local Ten Thousand Vil­lages stores in Maryland's Washington suburbs: 4959 Elm St. in Bethesda, (301) 718-3465; and at 107 Gibbs St., Unit D, at the Row at Rockville Town Square in Rockville, (301) 340-7122. There is one local store in Virginia: 915 King St. in Alexandria, (703) 684-1435. For more information online, visit www.tenthousandvillages.com.

CVS to Launch Upscale Beauty Stores

As if I needed another reason to go to CVS, right?

The company plans to open "upscale beauty emporiums" featuring luxury products, according to Women's Wear Daily. "CVS executives described the lines as “department store or specialty store brands,” the story says.

These "Beauty 360" stores will be within or adjacent to existing CVS pharmacies but have a more high-end feel. The store concept designs call for "brushed steel accents, white-tiled floors and a wall of sea-foam-colored, [and] hand-cut glass tile..." according to the WWD story. Executives are even thinking about putting in "express services" like a nail salon and hand massages.

Image via WWD.
Beauty 360 will be comparable in size to a Sephora, though not every CVS will get one. There are 100 set to be opened next year, 500 - 1000 planned long-term. This year, however, only be a limited number of concept stores will launch: WWD reports that they will be in Sacramento, Calif. and Washington, D.C. Yes, the nation's Capitol! Which, if you've never been there, has a CVS practically every other block in some places. And which is the city where I just landed my first full-time job! (Okay, actually my job is in suburban Maryland, but I'll be in the District enough to hunt this thing down, lol.)

The story doesn't have details about the products that will be offered, but definitely check it out if you're interested in the business side of things.

Props to Lipschtick for her post alerting me to the news.