Short Little Sailor

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Sometimes you just wanna wear shorts to work. I'm the marketing director at an agency, so the dress code isn't as strict as most places. Still, I think there's something to be said about professionalism and being taken seriously. When I wanted to wear a pair of shorts to the office, I paired it with a vintage blazer, gold jewelry and my favorite booties for a breezy but not too casual look.

These photos were taken at SPUN Sustainable Collective.

Sara thought I looked like a sailor! Thanks

Vintage Brooks Brothers blazer

L.A. Made double vneck tee

Khaki shorts gifted by my sister

Deena & Ozzy tan booties

Layered necklaces

Leopard belt

Vintage bracelets

Thanks Anisa for taking these pics!

Fresh Eats: Lil Woody's opens next week

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Man I love to eat. I also love a good, late night out! King of the (Capitol) Hill Marcus Lalario is bringing two of my favorite things together in Lil Woody's, the classic burger & shake joint opening up next week. Get ready for a simple & straightforward menu of burgers, sandwiches, veggie selections, Molly Moon's milkshakes, bottled & fountain sodas and more! All of the burger patties are molded by hand, most of the ingredients are locally sourced, and everything is made to order.

I sampled a couple of burgers tonight and got a preview of the new spot. It's next to Machiavelli and The Baltic Room on Pine St. Marcus plans to have Lil Woody's open Sunday - Thursday 11:00 am - 11:00p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11:00a.m. - 3:00a.m., so it's the perfect spot to walk to after a night out on the Hill.

Thanks for having me!

Me too dude. Me. Too.

Everything on the menu is under $10!

Illin & grillin

King of the Hill Marcus Lalario & I

I LOVE PAPAS FRITAS

Big Woody's

3/4 lb. patty with Hills bacon, Tillamook cheddar, chopped onions, pickles, ketchup & mayo

Burger monster

New Mexican

Lil Woody's burger topped with Hatch green chiles & Lil Woody's own queso sauce

The Fig & The Pig!

Boat St. pickled figs, Hills bacon and crumbled gorgonzola cheese. I believe there are also unicorn hairs and angel wings mixed in. HEAVEN

This was my favorite. Nom on nom on nom

Upstairs mezzanine

Love the retro Coca-Cola fridge

Thumbs up!

SPUN black tank

Banana Republic olive cargo shorts

Tan booties

Vintage bag & sunnies from Sustalux

Follow Lil Woody's on Facebook & Twitter

Wedding Guest Steez

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Summer means weddings every weekend! Choosing the perfect outfit for attending a wedding is always a careful, mindful choice to make. You want to look fancy, comfortable and stylish all while not upstaging the bride on her big day. The formula of knee-length dress and dependable heels always works for me.

La Rousse green & black heart-shaped corset dress

Steven black peep-toe heels

Sustalux vintage bag

In God We Trust necklace

Vintage bracelets from Sustalux & Urban Xchange

Bulldog ring from Moksha

I keep it light on the makeup in the summer time too: bronzer, neutral eyes & rosy lips:

Gym Jones & the Hauteness: Michi

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Whenever I work out, I refer to it as a visit to "Gym Jones." Why? Mostly so people don't know where it is I get them situps right, but also inspired by the workout regimen of the muscled men of "300."

It's pretty funny calling working out "Gym Jones." Some people think it's a play on words I made on rapper Jim Jones (ballin!), while others have taken to referring to it in the same way. One of my lovely friends Carrie even started a blog called "Gym Jones & the Hotness." I believe there is now an actual Gym Jones franchise, but I don't work out there :)

Anyway, here's some hotness to keep you cool and stylish while lighting the hearts in your very own Gym Jones afire. Michi via Oak & High Snobette:

Images via Michi & High Snobette. Photo credit Gian Carlo Drueco

Block Party Babe

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I bought this chiffon maxi skirt in March after eyeing it all over the fashion blogs and L.A. style vixens, but quite frankly there hasn't been a perfect occasion to wear the thing in Seattle.

Until Block Party!

In the sea of cutoff denim, sundresses, plaid, & hippie chic, it just felt like the right way to stand out :)

Vintage Levi's denim jacket

Dior vintage belt

SPUN organic tank

Nine West strappy sandals

Vintage bag & necklace

 

Showing Up For Life - Bill Gates Sr.

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Simply put, this book impacts me so much I will likely read it at least once a year for years to come. Bill Gates Sr. is probably most famous for being the father of one of the richest men in the world, but he is also a former UW student, Boy Scout, lawyer, law firm partner, and current father, grandfather, husband and all-around proud family man. He now helps his son and daughter-in-law carefully choose where their money and efforts go as one of the leaders at the helm of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In Showing Up for Life, Mr. Gates dilutes a lifetime of changing our community locally and globally into one extremely simple message: show up.

Bill Gates Sr. is so full of love, humility and perseverance. I cannot help but be inspired by him every time I hear or read about him, and most strongly when I read this book. Showing Up for Life is filled with Gates Sr.'s many life experiences, from summer trips with his family and others to visits to Africa to various speeches he's given around the world. His love for family and tradition shine throughout - it's clear that his children, wife Mimi, former wife Mary and his grandchildren are the driving force in all that he does.

The stories told in Showing Up for Life are short but incredibly impactful. Gates Sr. implores life lessons on everything from: instilling tradition in your children; responsibility to community, neighbors & family; and the importance of a lifelong education (stay learning!) All of these lessons tie back to his overarching message: for everything in life, nothing can be until you show up.

Show up for opportunities that are given you.

Show up for your family.

Show up by educating yourself always.

Show up for your local, national and global community.

Show up for your beliefs, your opinions and your rights.

Show up for life!

Check out this interview with Mr. Gates Sr on Showing Up for Life. It's an hour long, but totally worth it :)

Fresh Eats: Revel

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My boyfriend treated me to Revel, a gem in the Fremont neighborhood for my birthday dinner and it was nothing short of awesome.

Seif Chirchi & Rachel Yang, the husband & wife chef team who also own Joule in Wallingford, crafted Revel's distinct menu inspired by Korean cuisine with a modern twist. Their partners in Revel & adjacent bar Quoin, Chad Dale, Bryce Philips & Ira Gerlich, designed the restaurant with simple but comfortable metal, glass & wood.

BF and I sat at the chef's table so we could watch the team do their thing. Seif even came over & chatted with us for a bit and treated me to a couple of birthday treats! You can really tell that Seif and Rachel put as much heart into Revel as they do for any dinner party I imagine they'd have at home. The team was so welcoming and Seif coming over to chat with us really put the icing on my birthday meal. Thanks!

Dark & stormy!

Revel

403 N 36th St, Seattle 98103

Reservations: 206.547.2040 / info@revelseattle.com

Follow Revel on Facebook / Twitter

Summer hours:

Brunch: 10:00am - 2:00pm

Lunch: 11:00am - 2:00pm

Dinner: 5:00pm - close

Quoin

Happy hour: 4:00 - 6:00pm / $1 off wells, beers & wine glasses; $7 rotating selection of cocktails

All Beyonce Everything

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Beyonce is everywhere and then some for her album and other various projects! Your hustle is so admirable...

Behind the scenes & shots from her "4" album photoshoot in Paris via StyleCaster:

Complex Mag's Aug/Sept issue cover & gallery:

I pre-ordered "4" after watching this

mobile video

Jay-Z took of his wife backstage at American Idol. He's so proud of her, and she of him. SWOON

 

Happy Birthday, Moksha!

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Sometimes you meet people and you just want them to succeed. You have seen many of my inspirations covered here on Fresh Jess, and one of those I'm most supportive of especially. Moksha Clothing on the Ave in the University District has held it down for nine years, celebrating their anniversary last weekend. It's difficult for many small businesses to survive a couple of years, yet Moksha has stood strong throughout a recession and more.

I am incredibly humbled and honored to have the Moksha team (Elvia, Aleph et. al.) support me - keeping me stylish from my days as a brokeass college student to my life now. It has been a pleasure growing up with you, Moksha. To many more!

Shop Moksha now through Friday, July 22 and enjoy 30% off most everything in the store.

RSVP on Facebook

Here are some of my favorite outfits from Moksha over the last couple of years:

Dress & earrings from Moksha - HollyHood

Skirt from Moksha - SXSW

Dress & earrings from Moksha - illin on the Hill

Dress from Moksha - SAM Remix

Our event together in 2009!

Happy birthday Moksha! Love you!

Follow Moksha on Twitter, Blogger and Facebook

Dream Room

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I always told myself that one day I'd have a home complete with a Belle library. As in, the one Beast gave Belle in Beauty and the Beast:

While my dream isn't a reality just yet, I've found a perfect prototype in Karl Lagerfeld's library/studio:

Oh my God. I can't. This is the most amazing room I've ever seen in my life.

I would never leave it!

Are you giving tours, Mr. Lagerfeld? Eh? :)

Lagerfeld images via The Selby

Introducing Fresh Eats: Madison Park Conservatory

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Inspired by The New York Times' recent coverage of Seattle's food scene, I'm now sharing my food adventures on FreshJess. I'm not really sure why I never blogged about food before. I sure love to eat and I take tons of meal pics on my phone. However, I don't consider myself a foodie and highly respect those who devote their blogs to food, like my friend Frank (Going for Seconds.) What you'll get from me is perspectives on some great Seattle establishments and savory experiences with amazing people. Hope you enjoy!

Last month, I took my boyfriend to Madison Park Conservatory for his birthday dinner. He and I have been fans of Brian and Cormac since their Tako Truk days on Eastlake in the summer of 2009. We were totally heartbroken when the Truk closed after the season, so it was a delight to hear they were opening the Conservatory in the heart of the Madison Park neighborhood. MPC is decidedly different from Tako Truk of course, but every bit as wonderful. The menu is based on local & seasonal fare, changing often. The ambience is simple but perfect for anything from a birthday dinner date for two to a rousing feast with a big group of friends. Here are a few pics from our meal, which included salmon, sliders and pork chops:

I'm happy to report that Tako Truk lives on at MPC, at least for summer Sundays! You must get down there immediately in the name of coco piggy, tako (Japanese for "octopus") and sweet potato + lentil tacos, and their signature "green drink." 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Stylin with Sustalux

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I love & appreciate vintage clothes but always had a really hard time shopping for it. Part of it is due to time & energy, but most of all, I just didn't know where to look and what to look for in quality vintage gems. Over the past two years, vintage has taken over my wardrobe thanks to my dear friend Dana, owner of Sustalux.

Basically, Dana's got many girls' dream job. She scours estate and garage sales, thrift stores, consignment shops & more for stunning vintage clothing, accessories, jewelry and furniture. She sends her finds off to photo shoots for Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Louis Vuitton, Anthropologie and the like. I've introduced many of my stylish friends who are now Sustalux regulars as well!

Dana invited me to her studio to play around in her massive closet during our very first conversation. Since then, she has literally added a whole new dimension to my style. While I spend much of my time in comfortable casual wear like Obey, RVCA, Lifetime Collective and H&M, Dana has added a lot of elegance and abstract fun to my wardrobe. Here are a few of my latest pieces from her:

Fringe fab!

Channeling Joan Holloway

Such a unique, fun striped skirt

Shop Sustalux online here. If you're in Seattle, friend Dana on Facebook to look out for her next Closet Candy party!

Kelly Cutrone's Normal Gets You Nowhere

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After reading People's Revolution founder Kelly Cutrone's "If You Have to Cry, Go Outside," I was hooked and inspired by Kelly's no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is style. I'd been anticipating her next book ever since, and was delighted I only had to wait for about a year for another read full of Kelly's words of wisdom.

In "Normal Gets You Nowhere," Kelly takes readers beyond the PR world and shares her thoughts on much deeper, personal topics. Sex, religion, family, friendships, holidays, relationships - you name it, Kelly shares her opinion on it in this book. All of this translates into real, honest advice for ladies like me. Kelly really strives to instill positive, confident thinking for women who strive for personal and professional success. If anything, she encourages us to break the mold of conventional beliefs and intelligently decide what's important in our lives.

Just like with the many power girls I like to cover on Fresh Jess, I draw inspiration from Kelly's fearlessness, confidence and will. She tells her story from a truly honest vantage point of wanting to help women succeed in business and life. This book must be like mentoring the masses to her! I appreciated learning many of her stalwart beliefs, shaped through years of experiences. I hesitate to use the words 'success' and 'failure' when summing up her storytelling style, because every experience she's had has taught her valuable lessons about who she is.

I only wish us ladies had more power figures like Kelly to learn from!

Check out her trailer below (she's unorthodox in every way, shape and thought - even in marketing her book!)

Pottermore & The Deathly Hallows pt. 2 trailer 2

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Can we talk about this right now? Actually, let's not. Let's just watch this trailer and SQUEEZE EACH OTHER WITH EXCITEMENT


I can't believe this is the last trailer. I'm sad but at the same time Daniel Radcliffe & Emma Watson are like mid-twenties right now. I'm sure they're ready to put this project to bed and move onto different things. In any case, July 15th can't come soon enough. In related news, sometimes I hate that I'm so busy. You know why? Because then a sista misses out on opening night tickets at the IMAX and has to wait til opening weekend to see it! Booooo


J.K. Rowling upped the frenzy tenfold last week with the release of this teaser video for Pottermore. What the hell is Pottermore? I'm not sure either but it promises to be amazing, with unreleased content and crowdsourced ideas for making the Potter universe even more multi-dimensional than it already is. Whatever form this happens to take - social network, e-books, what have you - Pottermore will definitely keep the mania alive for quite some time after this last movie. So sorry to all of you who have never had the sheer joy of reading the series. Us Potter freaks aren't going anywhere!

Craving Success by Melody Biringer

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I'm not your regular. Soon after I graduated from college, I started my job as part of the great events team at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. I had the supreme honor of working with the literary legend Kim Ricketts, through whom we were able to bring acclaimed authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Gates Sr., Madeleine Albright, Chris Brogan, Daniel Goleman and more to share business acumen and general life wisdom with our members. Through my time at the Chamber, I'd accumulated a personal library dominated by biographies and non-fiction, mostly business & marketing-related books. This trend continues to this day. I'm more fascinated by the stories of trials and success by real people than I am with fiction works.* Powerhouse entrepreness Melody Biringer is no different.

Melody is the founder and face of The CRAVE Company based here in Seattle. She's behind the famous CRAVE parties, CRAVE city guides and events in over 25 cities around the world. A self-described "startup junkie", CRAVE is actually her twentieth business! In her new book, CRAVING SUCCESS: a startup junkie's path from passion to profits, Melody takes us through a lifetime of valuable lessons from those twenty businesses. Each chapter is neatly wrapped with "Uh-Ohs" and "Ahas", summarizing Melody's successes and learned lessons.

Passing the time along at UW graduation :)

I've been a fan of CRAVE long before I could even attend the parties, and had the pleasure of working with Melody last year on CRAVE Seattle. Something I really admire about her is her raw honesty. Driven by her passion of helping women entrepreneurs find success, she will often ask the kinds of questions you know you need to hear but either don't want to or don't know how to answer just yet. The kinds of questions that need to be answered. Though I'd heard many of the stories in CRAVING SUCCESS, I was excited to read through and absorb it. You can tell that Melody poured her heart out into this book, and into each of the lightbulbs that went off in her mind to eventually become a full-blown business. I definitely recommend adding this to your summer reading list!

Find CRAVING SUCCESS on Amazon.

*This rule does not apply to Roman & Greek literature nor the Harry Potter & Twilight series :)

Seattle Weather Mood Swings

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Seattle weather is absolutely, ridiculously bi-polar. Exhibit A: This particular day started out beautifully sunny and warm. So I work out, run my errands then make my way over to the BadWill monthly flea market at HG Lodge. I shop through fun booths with my friends, pick up some sweet vintage finds & say hi to my favorite boutique, Moksha:

Then I enjoy an afternoon treat at (new to Seattle) YogurtLand, one of my current obsessions:

H&M neon orange tee

f21 high-waisted striped shorts (gifted from  Clutch 22)

Vintage necklace (Sustalux)

Full-finger ring (Nasty Gal)

Jeweled ring (gifted from AnisaLeyla)

Diamond drop earrings (Moksha)

With my lifetime obsession:

:)

By the time I leave YogurtLand, it's finna downpour! Thank goodness for this sweet $5 find from Midnight Mart Vintage at said BadWill Market:

Raincoat (Midnight Mart Vintage)

Grey TOMS shoes

Vintage shoulder bag (Sustalux)

So I end up walking home looking like a confused beach bunny trapped in a rainstorm.

THANKS SEATTLE WEATHER XO