Pinterest

Newest time waster in my life? Pinterest:

Pinterest is a collection of inspiration boards and a handy visual bookmarking tool. You can have as many boards as you'd like. I have one for style, one for decor, one for things I like for Jude, one of cool dogs I like, and lots more. You can post to your boards alone or do a collaboration, and there's a simple image/ link grabber that you drag up to your toolbar to "repin" images from whatever website you're on. Since I love browsing online boutiques this has been a wonderful addition (addiction?) for me.

If you're already on Pinterest, find me at http://pinterest.com/indiana. The community is invite only, so if you'd like to be a part of it, leave a comment with the email address I can send your into to or DM me that info on Twitter!

Mapping it

This is one of my favorite photos. I stole it from Erin without even asking (sorry, Erin!). This is one of the last photos taken at the Texas Style Council Conference. This is a group of the last bloggers standing at the end of the after party: that's me (Adored Austin), Kendi Everyday, Jen Loves Kev, Work With What You've Got, My Edit, Concrete Catwalk, Intern Rachel, Stephanie from Lulu's, Punky Style, & Sartoriography.

Two of my favorite things:
1. Meeting new people (especially other bloggers and blog readers), and
2. Traveling

That's why it's so great that Linda from Rose a La Mode and her husband Bob have come up with a Style Bloggers Map. Wow look at all them bloggers!


View Fashion & Style Blogger Map in a larger map
It's a really great way to find bloggers in your area. You can plan meet-ups or at the very least get style inspiration from them since they'd be dealing with the same weather you are. When you're traveling, you can find out if your favorites are along your travel route or live in your destination city.

I plan to visit Boston this August, where hopefully I'll meet up with Jen, Julie, and Amy. I have fall plans to visit the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, & Ohio) and winter plans for Atlanta. I may even squeeze in a trip to Santa Barbara this summer, too (my mom bought a restaurant there with her friend).

Mark your city and blog on the map here. (I wouldn't recommend putting your exact address unless you want me and my family on your door stoop asking for tacos and tea!).

Where is home for you?

P.S. Yes, this is almost an exact copy of the post I did on The Delightful Dozen today, but I wanted to share it here, too! Now go get mapping!

Meet The Editor

There are two great things that have come into my life lately that make doing Adored Austin and Made This/ Love This a little more streamlined. One is my awesome intern Rachel. The other is The Editor:The Editor is a planner made specifically for style bloggers. Can you believe it? I am one of those people who does best with a hardcopy planner. I don't type appointments into my phone or use Google calendar or iCal. I sketch out ideas, I jot down notes on the backs of envelopes, and I'm always making lists in the margins of other papers. Priced at $25, The Editor was calling my name, begging me to do all my brainstorming and planning in one centralized location. So far, I really like it. I've only been using it for two days, but I already feel a lot more organized, and it may be the best $25 I've invested in my blogs! [more info here]

What's in a name?

Genius idea. Terrible company name.From The Heel Condoms "ABOUT" page:

The Heel Condoms have many perks:
+ Make simple shoes a conversation piece
+ Mix and Match with outfits
+ Great for travel
+ Easy to wear
+ Protect heels from damage
+ Reusable

When I think "condom" I do think "protect", but I do not think any of the other five selling points... specifically "conversation piece" and "reusable".

Comment of the Day: You didn't know condoms are re-usable? Guess that's why Jude's here. Lack of basic sex ed knowledge [...] THAT IS A JOKE. ONLY SHOE CONDOMS ARE REUSABLE. Go ask your mom about this stuff... Side note I love those things! -Jameil

Couturious: it's like Fashion Plates, but way better.

Did any of you have Fashion Plates when you were kids?

As a child of the 80's I had the Barbie Fashion Plates, and I absolutely loved mixing and matching all the tops and bottoms to create new outfits. Many a childhood evening was spent styling and several reams of my grandma's typing paper were used in my Fashion Plating adventures.

I had forgotten all about my love for Fashion Plates until Krystal introduced me to the website Couturious. It's like Fashion Plates, but all high tech! Look at this outfit I just created! I even found a creatures necklace for my model!

If you haven't had the chance to play with this totally addictive site yet, I want to encourage you to jet on over there and do so! You get to mix and match clothes and accessories until you've created the most perfect outfit, ever (even tucking in shirts if you'd like and switching positions of the bags, etc). Best of all, each piece is linked to a place where you can purchase 'em. Fashion Plates didn't have that goin' on, did they?

If you have a Facebook account, you can even link it to share your Couturious creations or to save and bookmark the ensembles you've put together. Plus, all of your grandma's precious typing paper will remain unused!

If you're already on Couturious, make sure to take a little bit of time to vote on entries for their Create-Compete-Ch-Ching scholarship program. Your votes will determine the top ten, then a very distinguished panel of judges will choose three scholarship winners. First prize is $2000 toward tuition at one of the participating schools.

Also, please feel free to laugh at the bio of the weirdo judge on the bottom of the judges' page. She obviously needs to hire a more serious person (other than herself) to write her public profiles...

Um, anyways... why are you still here? Go get stylin' and voting!

Link: Couturiouos

The Necky

Surely this is some sort of joke.

Like how is this not just a glorified, adult bib?

Stellar Seller: Jean Straps

Truth: When I wear boots, I don't always wear matching socks. If I'm wearing jeans, I almost always tuck my jeans into my mismatched socks. The bulkiness drives me bananas:

I just realized that the sock on the left may actually be Hubs' sock.

This method proves to be only marginally functional but completely ridiculous. In stark contrast, do you know what looks to be totally functional and completely un-ridiculous? Jean Straps!

Why didn't I think of these? Oh, that's right. I've been content wearing mismatched bulky socks all these years! Kudos to the women who thought to mass produce these and make them available to the public. Seriously!

Comment of the Day: "Or shall we say, jeanius!!" -anonymous

;0)

This is a scheduled post, as I'm not at home most of the day today. Get this: I'm getting paid to hand out samples of ice cream to ladies at a scrapbooking conference. Yes, really. More about that later tonight when I return.

In the meantime, please enjoy this video, as emailed to me a while back by my buddy Mary over at Style Fyles (she wrote "I saw this and thought of you!", to which I say, Mary, I totally take that as a compliment!):
Yes, this gives new meaning to "butt ugly", but don't put it past me to wear these. I mean, I'm the girl who recently donned Hammer pants without even batting an eyelash.