June 27, 2010

blogs I enjoy

Having a close connection to Scandinavia, I sometimes end up on different new sites or blogs that come from that world. So I thought I'd share a couple blogs I've come across that I've been really into of late.

Emma_normcopenhagen

emmas.blogg.se

The first is one of the top blogs in Sweden by a woman called Emma. I know almost nothing about her except that it's a pretty famous blog in Stockholm and she has many advertisers and sponsors. And she even has sponsored posts every so often. That said, it's an awesome blog to look at it for home design inspiration as well as for objets from the clean, "Scandi" world.

Simpleblueprint

Simple Blueprint

One of the other blogs I'm into is put together by a Swedish-American woman named Joanna Swanson who lives in Stockholm. Hers is more fashion and art inspiration as well as details about all the exotic locales she has traveled to and the fabulous hotels and resorts she has stayed at. She recently put together a city guide to Stockholm for design*sponge. Above is an image taken from her site of a hotel on Gotland in Sweden called Fabriken Furillen.

Brinja_food


And one of my absolute favorite blogs is by a woman named Brinja who lives in Copenhagen. She has a boutique in Copenhagen of the same name, I believe. And not only is she always posting pictures of these amazing meals she has had (see above) but she also just had a baby and is now posting pictures of her baby in the most adorable handmade clothes. Her main blog theme is a days-of-the-week outfits log where she highlights either different friends of hers in Copenhagen, other blogging friends or even her own baby! I also love seeing all the pictures of this miniature dollhouse version of her apartment that she has made by hand: she is uber-creative!

June 1, 2010

madewell

So on my recent shopping trip to NYC, I scored at J.Crew's less ruffle-y sister brand, Madewell. My bounty included: perfect-fitting tight black ankle jeans, loose cuffed boyfriend jeans, two great striped tops, a cute plaid button-up and these awesome cropped black leggings with a gold zipper detail at the bottom. And my total was amazingly under $500. At Barneys, it wouldn't have even been under the $1000 mark.

Well I have been a little forlorn wearing any of these great items since there is no Madewell store here in Portland and none of the stuff has been available online (with the exception of a smattering at shopbop). ... Until now! what a nice surprise that Madewell's online store has just opened!

Check it out here: Madewell. And don't be put off by the kind of cheesy black&white photos. I think they are still working out the kinks on their image. Trust me, the clothes are good, both the fit and quality, and not a million dollars.

Here are a couple of my scores:

Zip Leggings (only $35!)

Screen shot 2010-06-01 at 2.10.31 PM

skinny black ankle jeans

Madewell_blkjeans

boyish but sexy plaid shirt

Madewell_plaidshirt



basic black&white striped tee

Madewell_stripedtee



another striped tee but I bought it in red

Screen shot 2010-06-01 at 2.16.39 PM

And I love these shorts too. Might have to place a "small" summer order.