All Dressed up & Nowhere to Go

I dug into my wardrobe archives last Sunday and wore my Samba dress from J.Crew's 2007 Summer collection (pictured above). This is one of my favorite pieces because of it's bright colors and simplicity plus it looks pretty fierce when I spin around in it as the skirt is a little over the top in volume. To be perfectly honest this was the first time I actually wore this dress. I brought it 5 years ago in anticipation of all the invites I would get during wedding season but I never ended up wearing it because I was waiting for an event that I thought would be worthy of it and the weddings I had gone to required very casual dress. When I dug it out of my closet I decided that I had waited long enough and wore it to church on an average Sunday morning. I felt great and wore it to church largely unnoticed throughout the service until I went to leave and stepped out into the parking lot. A woman stopped me and said "That's a beautiful dress! I hope you're on your way somewhere where people will see you in it." I graciously said thank you for the compliment but to her & my dismay I was not on my way anywhere. Actually when I left there I went to Panera as I do on most Sundays to get lunch and I didn't even get out of the car because my feet were hurting from my heels so I utilized the drive-thru. As I was sitting there waiting for my food I realized that it is rare that I am ever going anywhere where I am meeting up with someone or a group of people that would realistically warrant dressing up for and it made me a little sad.

Ever since I graduated with my Master's 4 years ago I have tried to update my wardrobe in a way that shows I'm still relatively young and fun but should be taken seriously. I never know when a new opportunity may come my way (or I may run into someone from my past who used to treat me like crap) so I try to dress my best whenever I leave my house. Rachel Zoe has a saying on her website "Be Glamorous Everyday" and that's a motto I like to live by simply for the fact that it makes me feel good. I like dressing professionally for work because it makes me feel important and I think I work better when I dress the part. I like dressing up or dressing cleverly stylish for lunch or dinner with friends because I think it's fun. It's rare that I get invited anywhere so there's been a lot of times when I'm fabulously dressed at a table for one. We mainly only have chain restaurants here where people dress so casually at times you would think they had just gotten out of bed but I like to treat dinner like an event. Imagine my excitement when I get to dine in the city at a bistro or some chic downtown sushi bar. I usually get stares or judgmental glares when I dress up to go out in town because I imagine they think I look ridiculous or overdressed but when I go to the city I usually garner a few compliments from the women there and for once I feel like I belong.

I am also guilty of buying date approved outfits although I am not dating nor have been on a date in about a year and a half. I brought a super cute outfit for the apology date that I expected to be going on with my ex but I'm fairly certain that will never take place so now it has been hanging in my closet for 3 months. I know I should just wear it anyways but it kinda reminds me of what will never be which quite frankly just sucks. I will give him credit though, when we did go out on dates he would acknowledge that I was dressed nice although I'm pretty sure it was to feed his own ego to let me know that I was worthy enough to be on his arm for the evening. I shouldn't be seeking approval from anyone else with the way I dress and I do dress the way that makes me feel my best but it would be nice to have that someone special in my life to dress for. I'm not sure that men take notice of me because I try not to make eye contact as it makes me nervous but I'd like to think that every now and then they think "Hey that girl's got it going on". Ok, I don't think people say things like that anymore but you know what I mean.

The Next Best Thing

I had the pleasure and honor of meeting New York Times best selling chick-lit author Jennifer Weiner this weekend. She recently released her 10th novel called The Next Best Thing and has been on a book tour for the past 3 weeks promoting it. I didn't really know who she was until about a year ago when I noticed that a lot of people were retweeting her tweets commenting on the reality TV show The Bachelor/Bachelorette. I have been a fan of this franchise since the very 1st season aired while I was in college. I never understood the appeal of Twitter until I found that fans of the show loved to partake in live tweeting of the show while it was on. At first I just read the comments but then I started to get in on the action by tweeting comments of my own and I found it to be equal parts addicting and fun. I love the challenge of trying to be humorous in 140 characters or less and surprisingly I was making online friendships through this social medium with people I never would have met otherwise. Jennifer's hilarious comments would always pop up in my twitter feed as retweeted by some of my best tweeters so I decided I had to start following her.

I quickly learned that she was an author living in Philadelphia with two daughters and a lover of social justice. Her books are about women in all stages of life going through real life struggles and their stories of how they deal and overcome it. After reading the synopsis of some of her books I knew that they were the kind of books I would love but never made the time to read them until now. I was so excited about the release of her new book that I pre-ordered it on Amazon and waited patiently by my mailbox until it came. While waiting for my book to arrive I saw that she had been tweeting about her upcoming book tour and was encouraging her fans to come out and meet her. I went to her website and was excited to find that she would be coming to St. Louis my playground which is not too far of a drive from my home. I was hesitant at first to go because I've never been to a book signing and I hadn't been a lifelong fan of hers like some of the others I'd expected to see there but then I remembered that this was my summer of adventure so I made plans to go. I was excited all week deciding what to wear and calling the store to see what time all the festivities would begin.

Saturday morning came and I wore the outfit pictured above. I am wearing J. Crew from head to toe including the pearl necklace. I know it's a little over the top but I love it and the book signing was at Saks Fifth Avenue so I thought it would be perfect to wear to a casual summertime event there. I got to Saks and was greeted by Suzanne at the Chanel counter who helped me replenish my makeup supply and recommended a great new blush as my favorite color from Clinique had recently been discontinued. She also made a point to tell me how great she thought my outfit was which is exactly what I needed to hear because I was so nervous about how I looked. I wanted to look chic when I met Jennifer.

 I was there an hour early because I wanted to make sure to get a close seat but they hadn't even set up everything yet so I browsed Burberry's new fall collection as if I could actually afford any of it until they were ready for the fans. I signed in as they were taking donations for a great cause called Connections to Success that help unemployed underprivileged men and women obtain professional clothing to help them on their job search. They also had a beverage bar, cupcakes, and sharply dressed caterers serving California rolls, meat & cheese trays, & some other type of fancy crab hours d'oeuvres. I was seated in the 3rd row amongst other Jennifer fans and i must say it was the best dressed group of bookworms I have ever met in my life. I loved being among women from all walks of life and all shapes and sizes who were there because they related to her books and wanted to say thank you for giving us a voice.

Jennifer walked out just as if she was a regular person shopping in the store, said hello, and started signing books. I got so starstruck & giddy I didn't even stand up when they announced that she would do some pre-signing before she spoke. The line filled up very quickly but I stayed seated because they said she would sign more books after she spoke. I was pleased to find that she was willing to take pictures with everyone and even took a few moments to speak with each person that came up to meet her. When each person approached her she would exclaim "Hi!" just as if she was seeing an old friend for the first time after years apart and she was excited to see them. She even stopped signing for a moment to track down the woman serving cupcakes who she affectionately called "cupcake lady" to get 2 highly decorative chocolate cupcakes and eat them while meeting fans. Clearly a woman after my own heart.

After the first round of fans had their books signed, Jennifer spent about 45 minutes talking about the inspiration for her books, her experience being in Hollywood when one of her books became a movie & the TV sitcom she created, and also what inspired her to become an author in the first place. She also took several questions from the audience and gave real honest answers to each one. I was pleased to find that all of her books have been born from real life experiences that she had. She wrote her very first book after being dumped by her boyfriend who was kind of like Satan after 3 years together and she spent several months trying to move on from it. She decided to create a character much like herself going through exactly what she was going through but the character gets the respect and the guy in the end which they never show happening to average girls in the movies or on TV. I loved how open and honest she was about herself. She has her flaws, triumphs, failures, & successes but she stays true to herself and keeps learning as she goes.

After she spoke she sat down to sign more books & I was 3rd in line behind a woman who had already met her before the reading but cut in line because she just had to ask Jennifer what her thoughts were about the Tom Cruise Katie Holmes divorce said her husband whom she asked to tell those of us waiting so we wouldn't pounce on her. As a side note Jennifer believes they had a contract and that the marriage was never meant to last longer than 5 years and I wholeheartedly agree with that. Anyways, I gave my phone to the lady behind me who agreed to take my photo and I went up to meet Jennifer. She greeted me with the same enthusiastic hi that she did all those who came before me and she asked my name. I had planned to tell her that I followed her bachelor/bachelorette tweets and then fell in love with her books and surprisingly I actually managed to tell her that without sounding like a buffoon. She said thank you and then asked me who I thought the bachelorette was going to pick in the end and we both agreed that we liked Arie better but that she seemed to like Jef more. The kind stranger snapped my picture and I said thank you and with a smile I scurried off to get a cupcake & view my first "celebrity" photo. Before I got too far away she yelled out to me saying that she loved my purse. Being the fashionista that I am admiring my clothing or accesories is the highest compliment anyone can give me and coming from her it meant the world to me. I turned around with the biggest grin on my face and cried out "Oh my goodness thank you!" and went to retrieve my giant decorative cupcake which was delicious by the way.

Our meeting was brief but so meaningful. Jen was so relateable and was so open with her advice for aspiring authors. She has pages of advice on her website which I have read and kept in mind but the one thing she said during the event was that the difference between an author and someone who wants to be an author is the fact that the author actually writes a book and is persistent with getting it published. For the first time I believed that it is doable and that even I could really do it. I don't have a book written but I have been writing different things here and there all my life. Right now it's kind of a dream of mine as I don't know if I'm really meant to do that with my life but as I sit here looking at her book and seeing her signature I can't help but think how good it would feel to have something I had written and labored over in hardback with my name on the cover. I wonder what it feels like for her to see hundreds of copies of her books clenched in the hands of her fans as she takes each one and signs it knowing how excited it makes them. I certainly wouldn't write hoping to be famous because I like leading a relatively private existence but I love relating to people and knowing that even one person read something that I wrote and connected to it and felt like they could do something positive in their life because of it would mean the world to me because that's what so many books have done for me.

Spaddiction

Hello, my name is Stephanie and I'm addicted to pampering. As you know I went to the spa at the Four Seasons back in April to celebrate my 30th birthday. I have been keeping in the loop of all the events happening there as they maintain a very active Facebook page and I came across a spa promotion that they were having for the month of June. You could get 3 spa treatments for half the price if you booked the services Monday-Thursday. Things at work had reached a level of stress that I could no longer comprehend so you didn't have to beg me to take a day off work.

I jetted out of town early last Wednesday morning to head to my sanctuary. Unfortunately I got stuck in some traffic once I reached the city which put me nearly 30 minutes behind schedule but still 20 minutes early for my first appointment. I was scheduled to have my first treatment at 9am but I had planned on getting there at 8:15am so I could spend approximately 20 minutes soaking in the whirlpool then 10 minutes relaxing in the sauna followed by 15 minutes thumbing through Vogue magazine in the relaxation room while waiting for my masseuse to come retrieve me. I have yet to reach a level of comfort with my body that allows me to appear in a swimsuit in front of other people so I always book the first appointment of the day knowing it is highly unlikely that anyone else will be there an hour before services are even rendered so I can enjoy the whirlpool without judgement from other spa ladies. I know this sounds ridiculous but this is how my mind works. While I was pulling up to the hotel all I could think about was the fact that I would now only have 10 minutes to soak in the whirlpool which would put a damper on my pampering plans but all that changed when a handsome bellhop came to open my car door.

"Good morning and welcome to the Four Seasons! What brings you in today?" cried the bellhop. As he helped me out of my car I told him I was here to go to the spa and he told me I would have a wonderful time which I knew to be true. I walked into the glass doors past some businessmen and women rushing off to some big meeting I imagine since they can afford to spend the night at the Four Seasons while on business while I was going upstairs to forget all about work. A very chic looking woman checked me in, verified the services I had scheduled, then showed me to the locker room. I quickly changed into my swimsuit so I could savor my 10 minutes of soaking in the whirlpool and thankfully no one was in there. After my time was up I got out of the pool and draped myself in a towel only to find two other spa patrons coming through the pool area. I smiled at them but I could feel the look of panic on my face. I was completely covered but my shoulders were most certainly exposed. Gasp! I'm pretty sure they didn't notice a thing so I stowed away my wet suit, put on the giant robe the receptionist left for me, and walked to the relaxation room where Nancy was waiting to whisk me away for a massage.

Nancy my masseuse for the day was great. Last time I was there I had Robyn who was amazing and I actually saw her on my way to the massage room with Nancy and I started to wonder if my experience would be as pleasant and it definitely was. I had a 30 minute massage and for my second treatment she spent another 30 minutes applying a body polish to my entire body which was very sticky and gritty but it was clearing away all the dirt in my pores and any other general yuckiness that tends to cling onto the skin. She then walked me back to the showers so I could rinse off and I emerged a bright and shiny new woman! Next up was my facial. A bubbly curly-haired woman named Emily came out to take me back for my facial. She had me disrobe and get comfy under the very high thread count sheets that covered the bed. I had never had a facial before so this was a real treat. She started with letting some steam engulf my face and had lavender aroma filling the air. She then applied two different concoctions to my face. She told me what they were and how they were good for my skin but I honestly can't remember because I was so relaxed. After she was finished she allowed me to stay in the room as long as I wanted so I could continue to relax.

I didn't stay too long because I was starving and wanted to see what lunch specials they were serving for the day. I fixed myself up in the locker room and went up to the next floor where the hotel restaurant and bar was located. Note the executive chef is from Italy and I had read countless reviews of how good the food is there. They offered $15 lunch specials during the week so I was enjoying quite the reduced price fancy experience. They have a beautiful rooftop terrace overlooking the pool but I opted to stay inside since it was very hot that day. The waitress who looked like a supermodel sat me right by the window so I could look out onto the terrace at all the sunbathing beauties who were being spritzed with Evian water. I'm not kidding the waitstaff at the pool actually spritz you with Evian water if requested in addition to bringing you any beverage you could imagine & a special menu of appetizers. I really regret not going out there now.

My server was handsome, smiley, and very attentive. I had the soup of the day which was a delicious onion soup served with bread and some type of delicious oil concoction for dipping. Then I chose the Cobb salad as my entree which included grilled chicken, diced eggs, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, feta cheese, & yogurt-limoncello dressing. It was by far the best Cobb salad I've ever had in my life. I'm not a world traveler so no I haven't tasted several Cobb salads; however, this one was amaze! To finish off my meal cute server guy brought over a tray of tiny desserts that are made fresh everyday and only offered during the lunch hour. Apparently offer a different selection of desserts everyday so I was excited to see an offering of strawberry semifreddo, tiramisu, lemon cake, and cheesecake. I honestly wanted to take all four but I appeared the gracious patron and took only the cheesecake. It was delectable!

I left my sanctuary feeling completely refreshed and retrieved my car from the valet who gave me excellent directions of how to get completely around all the construction on the highway that was causing the traffic. Another remarkable experience at the Four Seasons. Yes it is pricey and no I certainly cannot afford to go there as much as I would like but it is worth every single penny I spent. I love the diversity of people who go there. I saw men in Prada suits and families casually dressed having lunch. Everyone I have come in contact with that works there is so friendly and all have interesting personalities. When I'm there I feel like the person I've always wanted to be. Respected, chic, adventurous....unfortunately I am now addicted to spas which really puts a cramp in my fabulous shoe fund.