obsessed

I plan on posting more about my favorite JCrew but check out this post from WhoWhatWear blog. They just posted about the new Spring 2011 lookbook! Love. Love. Love

Wishing for some sunshine

Literally everyone I know is going on a vacation or abroad this spring semester and I am just a tad jealous! Unfortunately I am stuck in the winter wonderland that is Wisconsin and I am not too pleased. Last November I was lucky enough to go on a spur of the moment weekend trip (no joke) to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. I would give my right arm to go back there right now, I am definitely feeling the winter blues. Thankfully with the help of the blogs I follow I can carelessly live through others and their wonderful locations and vacations. Last week I found these perfect leopard print, gladiator sandals and was seriously craving a little sunshine and (60 degree weather, at least). It is terribly unfortunate that I don't get to go anywhere warm, I love shopping for vacation clothing, spring dresses, sandals and well, my hair just looks so much better when there is moisture in the air. But I guess looking at others vacations and spring clothing is just going to have to do. Check out these adorable sandals (thanks to Nana in Wonderland)!

(Obsessed with the red nail polish too)

Best Blog out there

Hey guys,

I entered a contest for the best new blog, and I've never really won anything, so I am using you all as my official voters! Everyone should go to Refinery29 and vote for me (It's easy just sign in using facebook and just click on the heart next to my face)!

Wish me good luck!

follow my blog, again.

So with some serious trial and error, the best way to follow my blog is to create a google account. It really is simple, you can use a preexisting email (even your school email) and just log in like normal. You don't have to create a new email address and you won't get spam mail! Sorry for all the confusion!

Road to the Oscars

Today is my favorite day of the year, well besides February 27 (Academy Awards), but today is the day they announce the nominees for the Academy Awards! I always make a list of movies I have seen and movies that I need to see. As of right now, I have 33 days to see 30 movies. (I can do it) I always try to see as many films nominated for the Oscars as possible, luckily I have already seen the vast majority of films nominated for multiple awards... so really this is an excuse to watch a lot of really great movies. I have a NEED to watch list that consists of the most important films that I have to watch, there are a few that I can do without. As much as I want to watch all of the films my schedule does not allow me enough time. (too bad) So here is the list of the MUST SEE films before the Oscars. . .

1. The Social Network

2. Black Swan

3. Inception

4. The Fighter

5. The Kids are Alright

6. 127 hours

7. The Kings Speech

8. Toy Story 3

9. Biutiful

10. Blue Valentine

11. The Town

12. True Grit

13. Winter's Bone

14. Rabbit hole

What films are your favorites?

If you're interested in doing some of your own research check out my favorite Oscar sites:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and IMDb Road to the Oscars

Sundance

It is unfortunate that as school is starting to get busier, I have less time to attend to my blog. I have to go bed because Tuesday's are the longest days, but I wanted everyone to know that Sundance Film Festival started this week! I love learning about the films shown at Sundance, and I have always wanted to go to Sundance, and hopefully one day will. But I recommend everyone to follow the happenings of this important film festival. I will try and post about some of the films I would be interested in watching.

Any Sundance films that you're interested in seeing?

Follow Sundance here

Follow My Blog: How To

Hey all,

So I have had a handful of people ask how to follow my blog and there are a few ways to follow my blog:

Sign up for a google account:

It's very simple, and you don't have to use the account for anything but following me! Just follow this link: google accounts and sign up, then come back to my blog creative mode and scroll all the way to the bottom and select follow this blog with google accounts, if you're not already, sign in to your account. It's really that simple, sorry for having you go through all this trouble for me but it will be well worth it in the end!

If you already have a Yahoo, Twitter (even Facebook I think):

Scroll all the way down and under followers click on already a member: sign in and you can use your twitter account or yahoo (where you can sign in to your facebook).

I hope this helps!

Things They Love

Lately I haven't had the most time to post or search for the latest, greatest fashion finds. . . but while navigating through all of my favorite blogs I found this pretty awesome website. I love kate spade, but what I really love about kate spade is their blog of "things we love." It is filled with the most random websites, artists, places and well, everything. When I have the time I rummage through their newest ones to find some ideas for my blog or just for life. I came upon this feelings website and it is very unique, I was playing around with it for five minutes and felt I had to show someone! I really hope you enjoy this website as much as I did.

Click on the "Open We Feel Fine" link

I also decided to include another favorite link I found a few years back on the Kate Spade website, please check it out! They're both fun and they only take a few minutes!

Enjoy!!

Bembos Zoo

I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press...

I am obsessed with award shows. My favorite of course is the Academy Awards, my lifetime goal is to be part of the academy. But the Golden Globes were last night and unfortunately I missed the red carpet, but to be honest, I am all about the actual awards. I am a TV and Film fanatic and I think that my opinions of shows and movies are quite accurate according to reviews I read and I am usually quite good at picking out the winners.

The winners last night were all well deserved. I was most pleased with one of my new favorite shows The Big C, Laura Linney won best acctress in a leading role in a TV series for her incredible role in as a cancer victim in the Big C.

In an earlier post I was raving about one of my new favorite movies The Kids Are All Right and was pleasantly surprised to see it win Best Motion Picture-Comedy and Annette Bening won best actress in a motion picture-drama for her role as a lesbian mother! I was however quite upset to see Hans Zimmer lose for best original score, I have raved about him in a previous post as well. But it was okay because one of my favorite Jewish actresses, Natalie Portman, won best actress in a motion picture-drama, which was also extremely deserved. I am very happy to see that the winners of the Golden Globes were worthy of their awards.

I have yet to see the Social Network, but it also won quite a few awards so I'm sure it was good. (I'll be sure to watch it before the Oscars!) Usually my goal is to watch all of the films nominated for Oscars, unfortunately last year I was only able to watch 75% of the films nominated, but this year I'm going to try!

obsessed with her shoes...and her

Its been a while since Mary-Kate showed off her gorgeous gams and I am pleasantly surprised to see her wearing such an incredible mini! Her look is perfection, and those shoes are absolutely out-of-control (I love them). And her bag is the probably one of the coolest looking bags I've ever seen, I wish I had it (and the rest of her wardrobe).

Ps. So in love with her hair color that I copied the color for myself, I have a little bit more brown, but it was definitely my inspiration.

picture from olsensanonymous.blogspot.com

mary-kate and ashley

Not too many people can pull off that head scarf, she rocked the look.

I love lauren hutton, she is such an icon and the olsen twins definitely felt the same way when she became their muse for their line, THE ROW.

I have always loved fur, I know it's bad for the animals, but you can't disagree Ashley looks beautiful! She looks like a modern day Marilyn Monroe.

Follow my blog with bloglovin

favorites of my week

I did some shopping this week at TJMaxx which is a great place, everything is so well priced and if you have some patience you can find some pretty sweet finds! I was lucky enough to find this incredible Michael Kors black leather bag, for $100 (jealous?)! I was looking for a nice large black purse, I only had a cross body bag and have never had a real leather bag! I also got a few more things from TJMaxx, not shown, I got this very cute Calvin Klein oversized t-shirt in my favorite color, olive green. I also got an InCase hot pink computer case for my mac book, it was only $15 (usually $40). I was way too excited about my finds! I also made a trip to Walgreens, I don't know about you, but I love going to Walgreens. I go there probably every other day, and I got the best new lip balm. I had heard about this brand through another blog I had been reading and was determined to find it. It's called EOS, evolution of smooth, and it's 95% organic, 100% natural and smells so great! I got the honeysuckle honeydew flavor and I am obsessed, it keeps my lips so smooth and moisturized (I do put it on about every 10 minutes just because it smells so good) but it is awesome. When I was at Walgreens I also got the best new nail polish. I haven't had the best luck with Revlon nail polish but I loved the color so much that I decided to give it a try. I was very pleased when it went on so smoothly and hasn't chipped yet!

friendship bracelet

During winter break I have been pretty bored, but boredom seems to always bring out my creative side. I found my old box of string and decided to make a friendship bracelet, after a few tester bracelets I ended up with this double V and I am so excited about the end result! It looks so professional! Definitely a new favorite bracelet; the best part is it doesn't look like something I made, it looks like something I bought at a cute boutique. I even added a braid for the tie to give it a finished look. I am glad I added the gold string, it gave it a glitzy effect. But the maroon and purple is pretty mellow, almost hippie-chic! I am so excited about my new bracelet (especially because I made it).

into the gloss

I love reading blogs, that's one of the main reasons I started my own. My new favorite is called "into the gloss" it's the insider view on the best beauty ideas, products and everything else. I just read an interview with Jen Brill a photo and stylist agent and she has some great tips on beauty! I really recommend reading this article (as well as the blog)! If you're interested in my beauty tips look at my winter essentials but I will be talking about the make-up I use in the next few days, so check back!

urban outlook

I love finding new clothing websites. It's so fun to find new stores with such awesome clothing. All of the urban outlook clothes and jewelry were found at www.bonadrag.com, everything on this site had such an urban feel. The clothing had a chic almost grunge feel, but it is all so well made and with a very original feel. I picked a night, day and weekend look to show. The black twisted maxi dress is so simple but has has such a unique look, I love the simplicity. The tank dress has a block colored design that reminds me of a project I had to do in a design class that I took at the University of Minnesota. The green long sleeve dress is very unique, it's actually a pullover dress but has the look of a wrap dress. The only color I really enjoy wearing is this olive green, so I automatically love it! Oh, and did I mention that not only does bonadrag have cute clothes, but it also all made from organic materials, how cool is that! Bonadrag's accessories are also very unique, I chose my three favorite. A feather bracelet (reminds me of my post from Accessories: I love simple), a very unique tape measure bracelet and my favorite BFF necklace (a perfect design for me and my best friend!) BFF=best fuckin' friend, how clever! I love my new find, check it out at www.bonadrag.com

Accessories: I love simple

When it comes to accessories I usually go for 'simple'. I am not into the gaudy jewelry, but then again my clothes are very simplistic, so big gaudy jewelry doesn't really go to well with my wardrobe. The accessories that I chose to show you are some of my favorites! The letter rings from free people are so cool, I have a strange obsession in writing my initials and love anything that can show off my name, so these rings were right up my ally. Unfortunately the S, L & R are not as cool looking as the E, A and K. (The S is pretty unfortunate looking, but I still really like them!) The earrings are from Michal Negrin, an israeli jewelry designer. Most of her jewelry is pretty extravagant, but the pair I have is very simple; the earrings are made up of beautiful earth tones. The Bean necklace is one of my favorite classic Tiffany's pieces, I got this necklace for my fifteenth birthday (my mom always calls me beanie, so we thought it to be a perfect fit). If you haven't noticed I am OBSESSED with J.Crew and admire their brilliant bag designs. This brompton hobo bag is perfect for a day out, it's so roomy and the leather makes it extremely durable (I love that it has a long strap too!). The last accessory that I included is a handmade silver bangle from Etsy, I love jewelry that is nature oriented and the hand detailing on this bangle is so original. And if you haven't been to etsy.com you should definitely check it out, it's a community website that allows anyone to sell and buy artwork from paintings to bags to jewelry, it's a fun website to browse.

What are some of your favorite accessories?

winter beauty essentials

Love and Toast Lip Balm: it's hard to come by a really great lip balm, but this vanilla chai balm not only smells great but keeps my lips moisturized. (I hate chapped lips!)

Ahava Hand Lotion: This is the BEST hand lotion in the entire world! My mom and I share the worst case of chapped hands, they are usually cracked, red and sometimes even bloody. This hand lotion makes my hands feel awesome, it never hurts to put on and it keeps my skin moisturized for so long! This lotion is a miracle worker throughout the year, but especially during the cold winter months.

Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Masque: During winter my curly hair gets super dry, which makes it frizzy and it doesn't curl as well. So about once a week, I use this masque to add some moisture to my hair. It really helps bounce my curls back into shape.

Moon Beam: It looks like it could be nail polish, but it's actually a luminizer. It gives a golden sheen to any cheek. It makes me feel like I have a natural summer glow!

Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer: During the dry winter months, moisturizer is key. This oil free moisturizer doesn't make you break out, and has a very light feel to it. During winter no one ever remembers to wear sunscreen, but the sun is just as strong and this moisturizer is great because it has SPF 15.

Love and Toast, sugar grapefruit: I am obsessed with this perfume, it smells so good. I don't usually wear a lot of perfume in the summer, but if I do it's Clinique Happy Heart so during the winter I mix things up with this unique scent of grapefruit, lily, orange citrus, and a hint of musk (it smells awesome)!

MK&A

I love the Olsen twins. They are my fashion idols, role models and favorite celebrities. I sometimes feel like a proud mom when I see articles about them, they have accomplished so much and they are only twenty-four. Mary-Kate and Ashley have transformed themselves into teen stars to important fashion icons. Together they run three thriving clothing brands, Elizabeth&James, THE ROW, and Olsenboye. Their style is a combination of beautiful draping, lots of layers and very tall heels. Their style is a very eclectic one, the Olsen sisters, although very different, both want to stand out. Their style is one that is different, and they intend to keep it that way.

More to come on the Olsen sisters!

Shifra's Picks

1. Marguerite leather wedges $165

every one needs a perfect pair of wedges, these handmade, italian leather wedges are 'perfecto'! I am dying for these, and can not wait for the summer (and until they go on sale!)

2. Tulle Underwire Tank $125

I am always looking for the best bathing suit, especially because I am well endowed upstairs.This bathing suit can be worn with or without straps, it has a great shape and the best part it has great coverage! (It's made out of tulle too, and that is pretty cool) I might even wear this one as a tank top!

3. Bonfire Cardigan $118 $78

I love grandpa sweaters. This sweater has the coolest shawl collar, the color feels like I could wear this walking down the beach. The best part is that it has two huge pockets!

Love this, want this.

4. Pararuffle Shirt $98

I am not the type to usually wear oxford style button down shirts, and I don't plan on starting it. But when I saw this beautiful remake with asymmetrical ruffles I couldn't resist. I love both colors this shirt comes in too, soft cotton makes this a go to shirt.

5. Angeline Cami $495

I would never buy a shirt that costs this much (especially a teeny cami like this one) but I can dream, can't I? This beautiful designed, delicate cami is definitely one of a kind. The color makes it look like pure gold and the thought of putting anything over this seems crazy. This shirt could stand alone, and is perfect for our most recent holiday, New Years Eve.

6. Toothpick Zipper Jean $125

I love jeans with zippers on the bottom, not only does it make me not wear my Uggs all day, everyday, but it's such a chic look. These jeans are awesome because they are skinny jeans, and have a great color to them. (And they were on Lauren Hutton's favorites list, so you automatically have to love them!)

I hate having expensive taste, but I love me some JCrew. I have always wanted to work there, but I am a little glad I never did because I would NEVER bring home a paycheck :-) I always look forward to Jenna's Picks and am always pleased to see that we have very similar taste. So I hope you enjoyed my very first Shifra's Picks!

The Black Swan

Originally when I heard about the brilliant Natalie Portman in the new film Black Swan I was careful as to which opinions I took into account. I was pleased to find that my judgements remained accurate as the Black Swan was pure genius on Portman's behalf, not only did she do the majority of her own dancing, but the role was not acting it was a character. The intensity of the character was perfectly done; the irritable but gracefulness of Portman's character was incredible.

The Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky is a beautiful depiction of the intensities that come with the elegance of ballet. The Black Swan is a film that takes a new spin on the classic Swan Lake. The part of the black swan is given to Portman's character, Nina Sayers. Nina struggles in identifying the opposite role in the dark and evil black swan, while the graceful white swan seems to be a piece-of-cake.

The film is tangled with sexual desires between Nina's rival dancer Lily, played by Mila Kunis, and the ballet companies director Thomas Leroy, played by Vincent Cassel. With the urge of perfection Nina has a difficult time balancing the pressures of her over-bearing mother, Thomas, and the inner struggles of her developing psychosis. The part of the black swan is both dramatically shown through her grueling ballet rehearsals and the demands of Nina's life. The fight to find her inner white swan and the evil black swan takes a toll on Nina and drives her mad. Through her struggle to find the black swan, Nina also realizes that she must find herself.

The film starts with an innocent ballet dancer, going to sleep in what seems to look like a 12 year-olds bedroom, filled with stuffed animals and childish ballerina jewelry boxes. Nina has a mother who once was a ballet dancer herself, now spends her life worshipping and caring for her daughter, who is probably in her mid-twenties. The story continues with the intensity of Nina's nonstop practices, and the disturbing love interest of Nina and Thomas, and Nina and herself. From her home to the ballet company each place she goes seems like a jail; dark, cold and lonely, the films depiction of a disturbed life is perfection.

The Black swan in not only an interpretation of a ballerina, but it is a story of finding oneself. Black Swan is a dark tale of a disturbed girl, striving for perfection and doing whatever possible to have her much deserved role. The film seems like it is a fight against her rival dancer, but the truth of the story is, it is a fight against herself.

New Year, New Shifra

It has been a while since I added a new post to my blog. It seems that I have put another passion on the back burner, but I am very interested in getting back into the swing of things and add to my blog. Today is the first day of a new year, which always means new, new years' resolutions. I hate new years resolutions, for the sole reason that I always seem to break mine. So this year I have goals, it doesn't matter if some of my goals are not reached but if I at least attempt them I'll be happy. One of my goals is to continue adding to my blog (even if no one is following it). Another goal is to work out at least twice a week (most of my goals are things I know to be do-able, that I don't do). Another goal is to go to all of my classes this coming semester, unless I have a ridiculously good excuse! I really hope I reach some of my goals!