The Good Girl Gone Blog

My boss is cooler than your boss August 30, 2010

About a month ago, I told my boss that if I achieved a certain goal, she needed to award me a prize. I was joking, but apparently she wasn't. Look what she brought me on my last day of work:

My boss, Sara, wears many hats. She's a head of PR, a shopper, a mother, a teacher, a boss, a traveler, a writer, a dog lover, a foodie, a wife, a cheerleader, a mentor and a friend. She's never shy about her opinions and I truly respect her for that.

So Sara, thanks for wearing so many fabulous hats. I think after today, I might add "fairy godmother." Oh, and thanks for my Betsey Johnsons! Can't wait to wear them :)

BlogHer in photos August 10, 2010

As you guys know, my summer internship with PayPal brought me to Blogher. I was so lucky to be able to attend and meet so many cool people, especially all the lovely ladies I worked with at the eBay Fashion booth.

I think you'll find my recap is a lot different than those of other bloggers attend, because I was there as a sponsor. Read on, my friends, read on.

PR girls are always stylish- all glasses are from eBay, as well as the clutches, denim vest and my AMAZING purple suede skirt...that sadly went back with the rest of the merchandise.
I like to call this my "Ke$ha" outfit- I'm not really sure why. I think it's all the eBay bling. I loved this little leather skirt (from eBay) and am pretty sure I'm the only person that tried it on. Also, note the belt (eBay) worn as necklace bling.

This girl was so cute- she's an inch taller than I am, so we decided to take a stylish short girl photoYou can sort of see the cute Report boots (eBay) Hannah tried on and the fact that I am trying to make a size 8 pair of leopard heels (eBay) fit...I'm a size 6.

These Marni shoes (eBay) were TO DIE FOR. I loved wearing them around the booth and encouraged all of the girls with small feet to try them on. Additionally, I'm wearing one of my favorite skirts. Eric refers to it as my "show choir" skirt, but I think it's quite amazing. Plus, this one lady kept telling me to "work it, girl!" all day.

Sara picked out this outfit and all pieces are from eBay. I pretty much became the official Barbie of the booth, and everyone had a say in what I should wear. I walked around the expo hall giving out promotional materials in this costume. I also pretended I was a celebrity and routinely said "no autographs, please," and wore my sunglasses inside.

Karen Bard, eBay's FABULOUS  trend expert, chose the pieces in this outfit. We posed as Mary Kate and Ashley...and Sara continued to call me Mary Kate throughout the weekend.

If you were at BlogHer, did you have a chance to stop by the eBay fashion booth? If so, what did you try on?

Sunday Confessional: I'm Exhausted and loving it! August 08, 2010

The team: Back row- Ali, Sara, Rebecca (SATC stylist!), Hannah, Karen, Ashley. Front row- Kara, some short girl in a pink dress, Kathy and Stephanie. MIA: Daniela and the photo boys

Wooh! What a whirlwind weekend I just had. Working with the eBay Fashion team was so much fun. I loved meeting everyone and playing dress up with some seriously stylish ladies.

I have tons more BlogHer pictures to post and will do it....eventually. For right now, I'm just going to sit in the train station, hopefully find something to eat and make my way home safely.

Tomorrow is for playing with Zooey and hopefully catching up on some sleep. Oh, and maybe doing some shopping on eBay fashion! (Seriously, after you see the photos of the merchandise we had in our eBay Fashion/Bill Me Later booth, you'll want to too!)

Stylish shoes for tiny feet July 06, 2010

People at work often stop me to ask one simple question: "Where did you get those shoes?" I must admit, it's very flattering. I love when people notice the hard work I put into pulling together an outfit, especially when it comes to my shoes. Yet when people ask, I often feel bad when I have to reply "Oh, they're from London" or "I got them at a thrift store in Canada".

You see, I want to use my shoe shopping abilities for good. I want to be able to show others the importance of a great pair of shoes and that you don't have to spend $250 to find the perfect pair. I want my footwear admirers to be able to buy shoes from my favorite stores, and to love them as much as I do.

Enter Mia. She's cute and petite and has super tiny feet. I thought my size-6 feet were small, but Mia wears a 5! She recently complimented me on my shoes, asked me where I got them and lamented the fact that she can never find anything cute in her size.

Determined to help, I scoured the Internet for some great shoes for Mia.

All of the shoes listed below are under $50. They come from 3 different Websites: 6pm.com (a Zappos company- they have AMAZING sales), zappos.com (free shipping...always!) and DSW.com (Earn points towards $10 gift cards and enjoy free shipping on purchases over $35 til 7/6 just by becoming a member).

  Wedges:

• Coconuts Orchid Wedge Sandals- DSW, $49.95
• Matty's Gigi Wedge Sandal- DSW, $49.95
• Betseyville Jolie- 6pm, $35.10

Heels

• Madden Girl Setra Satin Platform Sandal- DSW, $39.95
• Promiscuous Maren- 6pm, $34.30
• Gabriella Rocha Dancy, 6pm, $34.98

Flats

• Fossil Sofia Flat- 6pm, $40.80
• Kensie Girl Justine- Zappos, $38.95
• Unlisted Save Time- Zappos, $39.00

More

• Mattise Iris- 6pm, $40.57
• Guess Carrie- 6pm, $43.70
• Romantic Soles Geneva- 6pm, $32.50

Lessons learned:
From this exercise in small shoe searching, I've discovered a few things: cute shoes DEFINITELY exist in small sizes, some of my favorite brands make small shoes and many of my favorite discount websites carry these shoes. Unfortunately, though I can often find shoes in the $20 range in size six, it was much harder to do so for a size 5. Clearly there is a lot less variety for those shopping in the size 5 range, but cute shoes definitely exist...you just have to know where to look!

Fit for a picnic June 21, 2010

To be honest, I wasn't really quite sure what to wear to my company picnic. Because it was a picnic/pool party/extravaganza, I knew I wanted to wear a bathing suit under whatever I ended up choosing. But, I also knew I couldn't wear anything too skimpy (aka beach clothes) as I'd be hanging with coworkers. There are some things the people you work with just don't need to see. (Plus, after the dog fiasco, I wasn't taking any chances.)

Thibault and I arrived early and helped fill up water balloons. I think we filled one up for every five we accidentally popped. After a while, I told Thibault he could only curse in French, as there were children around. French cursing is so funny!

We sort of pregamed the picnic with bagels from the Quarry. Please, don't act so surprised, it's me we're talking about here. Oh, and Thibault is now totally a bagel lover. My work here is done!

Meet Inga, one of my coworkers. She's super cute, has a shoe addiction (just like me) and LOVES eating crabs.

Now, I don't actually eat any type of seafood, but I did enjoy watching everyone else eating crabs. They're like a snack and a game. Cool!

Blame my 13 years of Jewish Day School education, but I just don't eat crabs. Look at that guy's eyes! You sort of have to like crabs if you're from Baltimore.

Thibault is wearing a child-sized cowboy hat that we later gave to my cousin Alec. Alec, the boy who can usually be seen sporting toenail polish, told us that this hat "was for girls." I think it's because Thibault has become his man idol. Seriously, he loves him. It's adorable.

I'm wearing:
Kaftan: SiBelle by Sibel Mesta (from Daily Candy contest)
Belt: Primark
Shoes: New York and Co.
Hat: Eugenia Kim for Target
Bathing suit: Loehmann's. You can't see it, but I promise it's cute!

My very own intern! June 15, 2010

Today has been particularly fun because I have my very own intern...sort of. Sara brought her daughter in and she's been sitting with me at my desk all day. We chose the daily shoe together, posted things on facebook and watched Sonny with a Chance. (Well, Cecilia watched and I did work watched a little too.) We ate bagels and ice cream and did a lot of giggling.

We figured out that we both love Betsey Johnson and Mariah Carey's closet.

So I know I've mentioned before that I always wanted to have a pledge (a boy pledge to carry around my books at school and tell me I'm pretty), but having an intern is just as awesome.

Hopefully she'll prepare some really cute fashion collages for you tomorrow!

Lemon Love June 03, 2010

So far, there are very few things Sara (my boss) and I disagree on. We both seem to like the same snack foods (those yummy rice things), hate the same flowers (carnations and baby's breath) and have a love affair with shoes (seriously, they make the outfit).

One thing we do disagree on though, is my quest to bring yellow back. Sara HATES yellow. Apparently, it makes her look green so she avoids it. Well, Sara's dislike for yellow only made me want to prove her wrong...because hey, I'm bringing yellow back. I used to hate it myself (I thought it made my skin look funny too), but now I'm not so sure.

Though I actually have 2 yellow dresses, I thought I'd opt for a few yellow accents so as not to overwhelm Sara. (Plus, I didn't really want to wear either of them...) Truth be told, the scarf was actually worn in my hair all day, but made its way to my wrist after my haircut.

I'm wearing:

Shirt: Ann Taylor Loft
Skirt: Uniqlo
Shoes: Thrifted, Brick Lane, London
Sunglasses: Giorgio Armani, gift
Scarf: from my childhood "dress-up clothes"

**Sara: please note my yellow table. It's totally cute.

Unintentionally channeling Zooey June 02, 2010

Sara: You look cute today. Are you trying to channel Zooey Deschanel?

Alana: Ummmm no.

This is just one of the reasons why I love my boss...she often compares me to my style icon, Zooey Deschanel.

I'm still having a little trouble with the self timer, so bear with me. I promise, eventually I'll be able to get nice pictures that include my head AND my feet!

I'm wearing:

Shirt and tank: H&M
Skirt: French Connection, via Loehmann's
Shoes: Steve Madden, via DSW
Belt: random store in Israel
Necklace: stolen from Sophie
Hair clip: The pebble collection

Casual Friday: Stacked Heels May 31, 2010

One of my favorite things about working in a corporate setting is that I get to put together cute outfits everyday. Typically, I select an outfit the night before and hang it on my bookshelf in order to save time in the morning.

Sometimes my outfit choices don't look as cute in the morning as they did the night before, but usually they do. In terms of work appropriate attire, I tend to go stylish corporate, a term I literally made up a second ago.  I usually lean towards a fun dress and cardigan pulled together with an amazing pair of shoes. While I could technically wear jeans to work, I think I'm going to try to save them for Fridays, when work attire seems to get more casual.

Here's my first "Casual Friday" look (taken with the help of my camera's self timer and a borrowed tripod), complete with a new pair of super tall shoes. I bought them on a whim at an impromptu trip to DSW. I had a pretty lonely first week at work and needed to do something to cheer myself up. I ended up purchasing these shoes, as well as a really interesting pair of bike chick-esque flip flops- you'll have to see them to understand.

The great thing about these shoes is that although they're not the most comfortable, they make me super tall...well, I guess it's all relative. It was like I was looking at the world as a different person- I could see more things over the tops of cubicles, I had to look up at people less when speaking...

I'm wearing:

Shirt: H&M
Jeans: Loehmann's
Shoes: Steve Madden, via DSW
Earrings: a boutique in San Francisco
Necklace: Primark
Headband: J. Crew

First day pink May 19, 2010

So today was supposed to be my first day at my new job. I wanted to make a good first impression, so I made sure to pick out an outfit I really loved and felt cute in. 

Unfortunately for me, I only ended up staying at the office for a few hours because my computer wasn't ready, so I got lunch with my family instead at Paper Moon Diner. 

The restaurant is super quirky and makes great food. I'm really glad we got to go, although I did feel a little dressed up!

I'm wearing: 

Dress: French Connection
Sweater: Ann Taylor Loft
Shoes: Emporio Armani, via sample sale
Earrings: a boutique in San Francisco
Ring: my sister's
Bag: please, you should know by now...

Thanks to Natalie for taking these photos!