Behind the Scenes!

My coworker (we’ll just call her KT) and I have been so busy getting ready for the Balancing Act to visit! We had the hosts in to do a fitting yesterday where we selected their outfits for the segment. KT and I are just soooo excited…along with everyone else in the building. We all have a chance to be on TV…KT already is definitely making an appearance. The picture you see here is what we have been busy setting up in one of the conference rooms. We have set out about a million pairs of shoes on the tables in both sizes for the hosts and there are wardrobe options all over the room! Today, we filmed the segment and I got at VIP seat to witness it all! We shot footage in the design area and our model fitting area. You do not want to miss this! I am not sure when this exact segment will be aired so you will just have to watch all episodes. We would love to know what you think!

Be sure to watch (or dvr) our first segment of the Balancing Act on
August 17, 2009 at 7:00 AM EST on Lifetime.

By LB (shown in the picture to the right)

To buy or not to buy

Purchasing a car is one of my least favorite things to do. I’m not a car enthusiast to say the least. Personally, I think it’s one of the worst investments a person can make. I respect the fact that people like to reward themselves for hard work and others enjoy it as a (very expensive) hobby. Most of my friends are into cars in a big way, used and new.

So it’s time to replace the nine year-old minivan, and I’m not looking forward to a new car payment that I have been avoiding for 5 years. With the kids getting older now, a new mini van was pretty much out of the question, although it was always there in the back of our minds. Our goals were to get something that was safe, not too expensive, had seating for 7+, high trade-in value for the future, and somewhat stylish. Other hopes were to by American (even with all of the problems in the industry), and to take advantage of the cash-for-clunkers program. Unfortunately, we had no luck on the last two.

Personally, I think the Ford Flex is sharp looking for a family car (especially the cinnamon color with the white top). It also has plenty of room for the family. My wife thinks it looks like a hearse. She’s driving it most of the time, so the Flex was out right away. We also looked at the Chevy Traverse. The space was tight and my wife couldn’t see well out of the windows when backing up. When we went back to look at it a 2nd time, the price went up two grand! No thanks. The Mazda CX9 was just as small, and the Toyota Highlander (the only car that qualified for our “clunker”) had a third row that was an afterthought when the car was constructed.

After three hours at Honda last night, I signed on the dotted line for a Pilot. Nice car, smooth ride, reliable, safe, plenty of room and good car to trade-in down the road. The funny part is that every dealer I sat down with was willing to go below invoice, except for Honda. Did I get ripped off? Probably. But I did read that the average customer is pretty much paying MSRP (sticker price) for this car, which blew me away. At least I feel we landed a pretty good deal after seeing that most of the cars on the lot were sold and I did get close to invoice. The next purchase will most likely be a hybrid of some sort once the technology gets to the next level. My family loves the Pilot, and I don’t mind driving my 1998 Mercury Sable with 155,000 miles. As long as I can get from A to B, it’s all good. Are you thinking about buying a car?

Accessory Impaired!

I don’t know how to accessorize, I pretty much consider myself accessory impaired. Thank god for the girls I work with. The other day I was getting ready to send out some accessories to the still shoot. (In case your wondering a still shoot is basically a photo shoot for all the non-model photography). While I was packing the boxes, one of the girls commented on how cute our medallion belt would look with my outfit. I was wearing a tiered brown peasant skirt and a pink ballet-neck fitted tee with ballet flats, a standard outfit for me. Not a single accessory! Of course, I had to try the belt on to see how it would look…and voila! The girls were right, it looked great! So why didn’t I think of this myself?

Music + Fashion = <3

I went to the (I don’t even know what to call them anymore) music store last night and I saw an old school “must have had”: a portable compact disc player! It’s been so many years since I’ve used a CD player, let alone seen one being sold in a store.

How far we’ve come with technology - It’s all about the iPods and MP3’s! I consider myself pretty open minded when it comes to music – alternative/rock, pop, hip-hop, country, oldies - all resting comfortably in my little 30 gigs of technological wonder. And of course, since it’s gotta keep up with me fashion-wise, it’s got itself wrapped in a cool, funky little case. I’m thinking I’m going to have to get this case pretty soon, it’ll match my Chadwicks suede zebra flats! How do you accessorize your music?

Shhh....

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It's Clearance Time!

I have been so busy lately. We recently mailed our Early Fall book which has some great new styles in it and our next Fall book is due out in a couple of weeks. We also just mailed the Summer Clearance book and are in the process of marking down tons of additional Spring and Summer items at fantastic prices and moving them to Clearance. All the newly marked down items can be found under New Arrivals. I am still adding new clearance items, so check back often. As a matter of fact, I better get back to moving the rest of these items to clearance before I get another email wondering when the latest list will be complete. Happy shopping!

Reality TV!

I’ve always been curious about how many people out there really watch reality TV.  For me, it depends on what you consider reality TV.... do all the sports games I watch count? How about the news? It’s all reality, but its not like the popular shows American Idol or Survivor. If sports do count then 95% of what I watch it reality TV!

What made me really think about this is the one true ‘reality show’ I do watch every Friday night, Whale Wars on Animal Planet. I personally believe this is one of the best reality TV shows out there. The stars of the show are not trying to win money or gain a contract, they don’t even get paid. They are all volunteers on a ship to help stop Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. This show just started last year and is only in the second season of filming. I think it makes for good TV, not to mention good publicity to the groups helping the whales. 

Some people don’t realize that the Japanese whaling fleet plans to kill 935 Minke whales, they also plan on killing 50 Fin (endangered) whales a year. The whaling fleets say they are killing the whales for research but in the end each whale is worth anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million. 

Besides my sports, to me this show is “really” reality TV. It actually makes you feel emotion. American Idol on the other hand, may be entertaining to some but the passion from everyone on the show is not there every night (yes when they get voted off they are upset, but if they are in the top 3 or 4 they are pretty much guaranteed a contract). The crew members of The Sea Shepherd don’t spend 2-3 months on a ship to get a contract when they get home, they turn around and keep volunteering more time.

Do you have a reality show you’re addicted to? How much “reality TV” do you watch every week? If you count sports, it’s around 7-8 hours a week, plus my one hour of Whale Wars and that’s it...for now.

I’ll be setting my Tivo soon to catch Chadwicks on TV! Don’t forget you can check it out too. We’ll be on The Balancing Act airing weekdays 7am-ET/PT, 6am CT, MTN-check local listings on Lifetime....while it may not be as intense as Whale Wars, it’s bound to be fun, enjoy!