Purple - The Missing Colour

It is no surprise that as the holidays come around, the colour of choice is most often green and red. As the leaves turn shades of golden reds and oranges, we pull out our cranberry and hunter green turtlenecks, air them out and don their holiday auras. You'll see silver and gold quite often and more commonly offerings of blue, but it does get tedious over the years. So, this holiday season, dare to be different, put aside that shimmery golden tank and red velvet skirt, march on to your local Marks and Spencer and find something purple. Fulfill that palette once and for all.

Belly Buttons

Sometimes the most concealed part of the body can be really sexy. You could cover ever part of your body and show off the belly button and still be sexy. Check out this poem by Dean Blehert.
_________________

Just out of the pool,
her smooth belly gleaming.
As she dries her hair,
the belly button looks right at me,
saying not a word.
_________________

Dean Blehert
dblehert@earthlink.net
poems and paintings at
www.blehert.com
We decorate time
with each other.

Fashion Sense

So my mother-in-law got wind of my blog and did not take kindly to my last entry. She even proceed to ground me last night and confiscated all my InStyle magazines from my house... ah well, I guess my fashion sense just doesn't make up for my impudent, impetuous, presumputous sense of tact.

Chic at 50+

My mother-in-law was invited to a fundraiser last weekend and was quite nervous that she would look too old for the young crowd. She asked me to look in her closet and asked for my advice on clothes without having to go out an buy a whole new outfit. At first it was a daunting task, as everything looked too casual or conservative, but my eye caught on black, aligator print textured pants. That was it. Then, to find the top, I need to find something that would coordinate by not conflict, so we went with a black tailored form-fitting shirt, not too tight, not too loose, just perfect. Worked out really great. She accessorized with chunky colored bracelet and chunky earnings. You would never have known she was a senior citizen.

Hip Shopping Mall

There's a quaint little shopping place that popped up recently, say about 2 or so years now. This new place is in the heart of Pasadena, California on the famous Colorado Blvd, home of the New Year's Rose Parade.

There's a 14 theatre movie theatre, with all the latest ammenities and wonderfully ergonic chairs and a real big wide-screen. It's so well engineered that you could get one of the nose-bleed corner chairs and still enjoy the film without having to swivel your head left and right every 5 seconds to take in the movie.

Shopping is a blast. There's of course Macy's and DSW shoe warehouse. Dining is fabulous, you can get everything from your fast food mexican to posh 5 star dining.

This new shopping district is called the Paseo Colorado Mall.

Coach Bags

Coach has got the cutest line of bags these days. For around $168, you can get a cute hobo bag in almost any spring colour combination, delightful stripes or in their signature fabric. Their signature fabric comes in two styles, the mini-signature pattern where the coach logo is a small print similar to Gucci or Fendi, or the classic signature fabric, which a larger bolder design. Not on Coach's website is the latest in their classic signature fabric which comes in multi-tones, rather than the standard two-toned pattern. You can check out their bags at http://www.coach.com, or head on into Saks or your nearest Coach store, where the hardest problem you'll have is deciding... pink or blue?

Diamonds

I love diamonds. When they have the right cut, they just sparkle, no matter if the other c's are lower in quality. I especially love the campaign that A Diamond Is Forever is running. Check it out at http://www.adiamondisforever.com

My favourite campaign is the Right-Hand Ring Campaign. Here's a quote:

YOUR LEFT HAND SAYS "WE." YOUR RIGHT HAND SAYS "ME." YOUR LEFT HAND ROCKS THE CRADLE. YOUR RIGHT HAND RULES THE WORLD. WOMEN OF THE WORLD, RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND.

Oh yeah!

Candy Stripes on the Beach

Shopping for bathing suits in the winter can be quite a steal, if you look in the right places. I found a cute candy stripe 2-piece by Esprit. Usually stripes is not a good idea since horizontal lines can make you look wider than you like, but this particular style was done quite smartly. It alternates shades of pink with red, white and black stripes. The stripes are vertical rather than horizontal and the trim is diagonal to give a shapely illusion. I tried to find it online for you, I don't see it. However, if you're up for some German, you can check out the Esprit online store for casual browsing: http://www.esprit-online-shop.com/index_uk.htm