New Friends and New Trends

A new year is upon us! For Eloise and I that means we are ready to start some new things. Now every year I always say I’m going to find the man of my dreams or some other cliché resolution for the upcoming year, but let’s be honest, we all know I’m still going to splurge on Nutella covered crepes sometimes. Anyways, this New Year is bringing us new friends and new trends! While we were out on the town New Year’s Eve we met some new friends that we talked and laughed the New Year in with.

Before Eloise had to pick the kiddos up from their first day back to school today, we stopped into Leigh’s for their fabulous sale (50% off clothes I’ve been looking at all winter? There is no stopping me now). While browsing the store and looking at the new spring wear I looked up and saw a familiar face. Now maybe it is the Champagne blocking my memory, I remember meeting this girl on NYE but I could not remember her name for the life of me! Come to find out, Abi is one of the new interns at Leigh’s and from what I’ve heard she has a few adventures planned. I knew her name started with an A but she just didn’t look like an Ashley to me. She was definitely the girl that complimented me on the height of my heals though.

 

Abi showed us around to some of the new bright clothing and accessories for spring and then tempted us with a few pairs of Michael Kors’ sandals. Eloise and I are so excited about all of the floral designs and bright colors that are headed our way for the upcoming season! Menswear is working its way into our wardrobes more and more, we know Eloise is excited about this. After some looking, we headed back to the sale racks and got to know Abi a little better, she is from Detroit but is going to be around at Leigh’s so we will definitely be seeing more of her.

Eloise grabbed some Tory Burch flats that were on sale, what a steal! She also found a few sweaters that I know she has been eyeing for quite some time and some bold statement necklaces to wear with her new tops. I found an adorable coat that I’m sure I will be getting quite a bit of wear of, I think this cold weather is going to be around for a little bit longer sadly. However, Eloise and I won’t let winter stop us from being bold with our color so we added some colorful bags for a bit of a pop. Eloise found a fabulous blue Cole Haan bag that I’m sure will have plenty of room to hold some extra gloves and hats for the kids and I found a fabulous flame red bag that I cannot wait to take out with me while paired with a cute peplum top and some printed pants, maybe I need a little happy hour trip?

 

Abi was super friendly but on the way out Eloise and I agreed that it seems like she’s got something up her sleeve, guess we’ll have to find out!

ArtPrize

       It's our favorite time of the year again! And no Lola, it's not the half off white wine sale at D&W...It's ArtPrize! This year Grand Rapids was once again filled with creative, innovative and absolutely amazing pieces of art work from artist from all over the world! Lola and I decided we would take Jake the intern on a little adventure around ArtPrize on Sunday! But before we filled our day with art we obviously had to head over to Leigh's to try on some of their new fall fashions. It was a little chilly so Lola and I wanted to be dressed properly. I went for this really fun green plaid jacket that Leigh's just got by LAMB, with a pair of really comfy jeans by James Jean, and because it was so chilly out I just had to have this super warm turtleneck by Autumn Cashmere. Lola found this adorable fur vest by Dolce Cabo that everyone at ArtPrize loved, paired with an amazing sweater and pants from Vince! And we of course both wore shoes by Cole Haan!

Down the elevator we go to check out ArtPrize! I'm so clumsy I tripped while going into the elevator and smacked my head on the wall! Silly me!

       Our first stop was to the Gerald Ford bronze statue that was at the heart of ArtPrize! We didn't realize how big it was until we stood right next to it.

Look at Lola trying to whisper something into Gerald's ear, we know you love older men but not that old! 

       Well after Lola was done flirting with Mr. Ford we made our way to another area of ArtPrize and found the coolest painting ever! It was called "Family Portrait" The meaning behind the piece was to try and unite people, and spread great peace in the world. 

We couldn’t get over how big yet detailed the painting was! 

        While Lola and I were admiring this beautiful art work, we actually ran into one of the main artist himself! Eric Kravako, a Muskegon native was finishing up a tree, and stopped what he was doing to come over and talk to us girls! He was so nice and his message about the art work was so inspiring! 

Lola watch those hands! Mr. Ford wouldn’t appreciate you talking to other men! 

       The purpose of the painting, was like we said earlier to spread peace and unite the people of Michigan, but what I didn't mention was that this entire piece was on the side of this large bus, which was meant for housing art classes to underprivileged children, which me being a mother just melted my heart! 

Here’s the school bus that Eric was talking about! 

We met some lovely girls that Jake the intern knew from Grand Valley State University! Julie and Abby were so nice! 

       We had such a fun time taking Jake around Grand Rapids and ArtPrize, thank you so much to all the artist and everyone else who made this years event so memorable and special! See you guys later! 

       We're back! Sorry about being gone for a week, Eloise caught the flu and I just couldn't go out on the town without my girl by my side! After taking a week off to rest of shopping at Leigh's chasing those gorgeous men of Grand Rapids and of course drinking white wine, Eloise and I just had to head to Leigh's for their amazing Trunk Shows! And this week we got lucky, Leigh's was putting on three different shows at once. What kinda girl doesn't love shopping for jewelry, shoes and clothing all in the same place (and within a 100 foot area) I mean I know these shoes are adorable but a girl just can't walk all over the place in these, they're just to high! So after making our weekly rounds and saying hi to all the wonderful employees at Leigh's we found ourselves talking to the amazing and super cute Summer March from the clothing line Zenobia! After looking through the line of gorgeous clothes Eloise and I found the perfect outfits to start our day!

 

Isn’t Summer March from Zenobia just amazing, we love her!!

       I found this amazing one shoulder cream colored dress, with cut outs on the right sleeve, while on the same side the dress had this really cool gathered texture that added a little fun to the dress. Eloise went with these black lace overlay pants, matched with a simple black tank paired with this jacket that is to die for! We love a good cropped jacket with a fun side zipper, it gives you that really fun edgy look while looking professional! 

Just showing some off the amazing patterns and textures from Zenobia’s line. We wanted everything! 

         After stopping by Zenobia to hangout with our girl Summer we decided we wanted some jewelry, and we were just in luck! The super talented energetic Michelle Morocco was just around the corner with her amazing jewelry line Niyama! Her line was filled with gorgeous stones paired with black and brown leather, and some amazing beading with the most adorable charms with really fun saying that would be perfect for anyone from myself to even one of Eloise's kids! Eloise and I changed just before making our way to Michelle! I put on this adorable Valentino Red black dress with these amazing Maria Sharapova by Cole Haan boots with black tights, while Eloise went with one of Leigh's new Michael Stars sweaters and a really fashionable and comfy pair of denim by J Brand! 

Look how amazing this jewelry is! We love her boot charms, just taking the concept of a necklace and wrapping it around your boot gives it a whole new fashionable look! 

 

We loved everything, and Michelle has mastered the layered look that gives you that cool effortless rocker vibe! Thank you so much Michelle, namaste girl! 

       And our last stop on the Trunk Show train was at Cole Haan! We love our Cole Haan shoes! The spring line was filled with amazing pops of color from the shoe laces to the bottoms or insides of the shoe, Cole Haan has done it once again! He's made me want to buy every shoe he makes! 

We loved these wingtip shoes that give you that old school look with a fun pop of color! We love you Cole Haan!! 

Special thanks to the amazing Summer March from Zenobia, Michelle Morocco and her line Niyama and of course Cole Haan! We had such an amazing day at Leigh's make sure to check us out again on Sunday and see Eloise's and I adventure downtown at ArtPrize! 

Viva Italia!

Ciao Grand Rapids! Sorry it's been awhile since my girl Eloise and I have made an appearance. We were just spending our summer in the French Alps, site seeing, eating delicious food, I was chasing after hot European men, Oh and of course wine tasting! Wait did I mention hot European men? Well any way we thought it would be a great time to come back, because it's obviously one of the best nights of the year, Grand Rapids Fashion Night out! We made our way over to Leigh’s to help set up before the big party. 

Why of course, I'd love some Prosecco!

Because its been so hot lately Eloise and I decided to just stick to the basics of fashion while we helped Jacob the new intern and the rest of the Leigh’s team set up! A simple top by Michael Stars matched with a pair of Leigh’s new denim that just came in by J BRAND Oh! and I almost forgot about my amazing scarf by Italian designer Etro and our adorable shoes by Tory Burch.  

Doesn’t this food catered by Saburba look delicious?  

Ok, enough of this heavy lifting, a girl can’t be all sweaty before a huge party like this, we need to look fabulous

Don’t we look favoloso!

Because the theme tonight is Italian fashion, Eloise and I decided to both  wear one of our favorite Italian designers. Leigh’s just received this amazing shipment of Armani that we just had to try on. I of course picked out this gorgeous sequence jacket, matched with a pair of skinny coated denim by Rich and Skinny (Don't they look just like leather??) and these sexy black heels by my favorite shoe man Stuart Weitzman. Eloise went for this extremely elegant navy dress, also by Armani and these adorable gray heels by Cole Haan, adding a chunky gold bracelet by Karine Sultan only completed her look even more! We were the best dressed girls there (If we do say so ourselves!)! 

Where are all the Italian men?

The night was filled with amazing music, food, friends and of course fashions. So many great people stopped by, who would have thought that Brangelina would fly in from LA for Grand Rapids Fashion Night out! And we can't forget about Lady Gaga who, took time off from her world tour to try on some our new Valentino Red we just received earlier this fall!

Watch out Grand Rapids here we come!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out last and made it that much more fabulous. Oh, and a special thanks to Harold Zeigler who brought over the adorable Fiats, the amazing Elieen DeVries for driving over that gorgeous Ferrari and to our amazing DJ Adrian Butler for making us all bust a move! 

Lights, Camera, Action!

WOW! What an amazing day! We made our television debut on eightWest Wednesday and it turned out fabulous! We were so excited we could hardly wait to be on camera, which of course comes natural to us! We knew Leigh's would have the perfect camera-ready outfit... and we were right! It was perfect timing because they had just received their first-ever shipment of Haute Hippie and we couldn't resist! Lola found a bold print dress and I chose a beautiful fushia dress. We couldn't resist the Karine Sultan jewelry and we both picked out a bracelet and necklace. Lola found a pair of Missoni wedges that matched her outfit perfectly while I couldn't help but buy the Cole Haan snake skin heels that I've been eyeing. It was the perfect occasion to splurge!

Getting ready to go on air!

Last minute prepping with our interns

We arrived at WOODTV looking amazing in our perfect Leigh's outfits. We were immediately shown to the set of eightWest where we waited patiently for our time to shine. We never could have done this without our amazing interns, Sarah and Lindsey!

We were a little camera shy (ok, truth is we froze) so Lindsey and Sarah did most of the talking. Rachel and Jordan were so nice and friendly which helped us warm up a little. Once they got us talking though, we couldn't stop! They asked us all kinds of questions about our adventures over the past couple years and of course our fabulous outfits!

We met some AMAZING ladies on the set!

We loved meeting Rachel and Jordan. They were absolutely fabulous!

Once we were done shooting, we were able to tour the studio where the rest of the news is filmed. We met some amazing people behind the scenes as well as some news anchors. We were even able to test out our meteorology skills by showing the forecast for the day! We met meteorologist Kyle Underwood. Lola was in heaven, she finally found a man taller than her in heels! Unfortunately for her, he's already taken.

We're naturals!

Trying out our anchor skills

We were told we were the most stylish meteorologists

 Posing with Kyle Underwood

Taking a shot at the weather forecast

Lola and I were also able to visit the news room where we met news anchors Brett Thomas and Emily Linnert. They were very excited to have their picture taken with us. Lola couldn't take her eyes off Brett, but he quickly informed her that he was married.

It just wasn't Lola's day for finding a man! Brett was already married

We made such a good impression on Emily; she included Lola in her facebook cover photo!

We may not be TV stars (yet!) but we sure felt like it today! Everyone at WOODTV and eightWest were so nice and helpful we couldn't thank them enough for inviting us on the show and behind the scenes. We can't wait to see where our next adventure will take us!

Friday Night at GRAM

Taking in our first look inside the GRAM!

Lola and I decided we would love to do a girls night out! Friday Night at GRAM (Grand Rapids Art Museum), which was featuring the new Rauschenberg exhibit and the film Black Mountain College was top of our list. We were really excited because what is better than wine and great art with a beautiful setting?! My outfit was an easy pick with a colorful Muse dress and Cole Haan heels. But, of course I wasn't complete without a fabulous accessory....thank you Kenneth Jay Lane for designing the perfect necklace! Surprise, surprise....Lola had a hard time deciding  what to wear!  A Leigh's  run was needed so she could pick an outfit as awesome as mine! She was super excited for the new spring collection and opted for a Diane von Furstenberg tunic with Vince black leggings. Her Sam Edelman heels were the biggest hit at the GRAM--everyone was jealous of those awesome heels....they were their own work of art!

Awesome piano player!

Posing with the piano player! Love it!

When we first arrived, we were greeted by great music and found a man playing the piano. He was doing an awesome job and was really setting the mood for the art. I sparked a great conversation with him about fashion (who knew men could know so much?!) and turned around to find Eloise missing! Of course I wasn't panicked for long because then I spotted her by the bar drinking some wine! I joined her for a glass and talked to the sweetest employee of the GRAM about Leigh's! Turns out, she has been a few times and loved it! Who wouldn't?!

Lola getting her first of three glasses of wine for the night!

Me joining her!

Once we had a few glasses of wine to get our creative minds flowing, we decided to take a walk around the Rauschenberg exhibit. We were truly inspired and had a warm fuzzy feeling after walking through the whole exhibit (or was that the wine?!)

About to walk through the gallery!

A little background info on Rauschenberg! What an amazing exhibit!



Upstairs at the GRAM!

By the time we were done walking through the exhibit, our feet hurt from our awesome heels (yes, sometimes fashion hurts) and it was time for the movie. We were super excited because we had heard great things about it! Of course, we loved every second of it! We also needed to get our picture in front of the film to prove we were there...or for attention. We love attention.

Movie room! Love the stars on the ceiling!

Us in front of the movie! Sorry everyone!

We were exhausted at the end of the night! Who would have thought girls night could take such a toll?! We were so glad we could visit the GRAM and talk fashion with everyone around! Our next adventure is a Pre-Kentucky-Derby Brunch! Stay tuned to hear more! 

The Nutcracker Ballet

Our new holiday dresses!

We love Christmas, and even more we love celebrating it with fun and festivities! It's been quite sad with the lack of snow fall this year in Grand Rapids, but we aren't letting that affect our Christmas cheer. To enlighten our spirits, Lola and I decided to attend the Grand Rapids Ballet Company performance of the Nutcracker, at the Devos Performance Hall. We love watching the ballet dancer's sweep so elegantly across the stage. The other great thing about Christmas events is finding the perfect holiday outfit. Thankfully, Leigh's has such a great selection this year it was hard to leave with just one!

Santa's workshop and fun Christmas ornaments!

I decided to wear my new scarlet colored Tracy Reese dress. Its bow on the shoulder and cutout on the chest is fun and edgy, yet very comfortable! I chose to wear gold strappy heels from Lilly Pulitzer and a few chunky bracelets by Simon Sebbag. Lola looked very chic herself in her new holiday dress by Trina Turk. To add some sparkle she wore a bracelet from Kenneth Jay Lane and cute peep toe suede pumps by Cole Haan. It's always exciting for us to tell everyone we never have to leave Grand Rapids for our shopping. Leigh's has everything to meet our fashion needs!

 

Christmas carolers

After such a great performance, Lola and I now have cheerful Christmas hearts and spirits. The Devos Performance Hall had amazing Christmas displays, and also had personal carolers singing so merrily. The girls above asked if we were ballet dancers, and wanted to know if we would pose for a picture with them! We figured it was our slender figures and poise that gave them such an assumption, but rest assured, our grace is far from that of a ballet dancer. Of course, one thing we do love is Christmas shopping. If you have a few more things on your Christmas list to cross off, stop into Leigh's and you might just find what you are looking for!

New Friends, Volleyball and Fashion

Remember when Eloise had mentioned we'd met some new friends last week at Robinette's? Well, I just couldn't wait to tell you more about them! Our intern and friend Lauren is much more than a fun fashionista, she also spends much of her time devoted to collegiate athletics as well! Eloise and I never would have guessed she was so athletic, but many of our new friends are a part of the Cornerstone University Women's Volleyball team! We felt overjoyed when they invited us to come and spend some time with them before one of their games!

beautiful girls with beautiful smiles!

Abby (left) & Ali (right) we believe they are trying to be as poised as we are!

the beautiful Jodi!

The thing I was most nervous about was trying to figure out what to wear!!! Eloise and I have not attended very many athletic events in the past, let alone a volleyball match. Patrick at Leigh's luckily came to our rescue! I decided to go with a comfortable Autumn Cashmere sweater with leopard imprinted leggings by Margaret M. To top it off, I added a silver bracelet and a pair of Stuart Weitzman boots! Eloise looked marvelous in her new outfit as well! She casually, yet elegantly wore a fur vest and striped sweater by Le Phare De La Baleine with a Michael Stars henley underneath. On bottom she chose flare jeans from 7 for all Mankind and some cute Cole Haan booties!

We were so impressed by what these girls could do. They jump, swing, squat, dive and roll like monkey's in a zoo! It never dawned on me how fast paced volleyball could be. Even with our flawless figures, Eloise and I gave these girls props for being so dedicated to such a competitive lifestyle. Now, I cannot speak for Eloise, but I instantly became frozen when they asked us if we wanted to play with them! I quickly declined as I knew it would be foolish of me to even try! Besides, after taking the time to get ready sweating was the last thing on my mind!

Lauren, Jodi & Heidi. They represented the Seniors for their last home game!