My Life On The "J" List?

Hi friends! I wanted to write about one of my favorite comedians and personalities, Kathy Griffin. The other favorite comedian I'll write about later is Chelsea Handler from the show "Chelsea Lately". OMG! I laugh so hard at both of these entertainers!

Now I have to add that I am in no way this crude or crass but Kathy Griffin's comedy just cracks me up. She is blunt, more than a little crude, and absolutely the funniest person I've watched and listened to in a long time. She swears alot but for some reason she can pull it off without sounding vulgur or disgusting. That's hard to do because there's a fine line between the two.

I happened to be channel surfing one day and stumbled upon a Kathy Griffin show called "My Life on the "D" List. I had seen the commercials but didn't pay much attention to them or her but after seeing this show I was hooked. I've been following her ever since and highly recommend her humor to you.

One of the funniest people on the show is Kathy's mom. Kathy picks on her and swears around her much to the disapproval of her mom. Kathy's humor is self deprecating and she picks on celebrities and shows them in a humorous light of egotism and the lack of respect she receives from her peers. Kathy never seems to make the celebrity "A" list but is always treated like she's on the "D" list. The show is very funny and the picture listed shows Kathy with Paris Hilton at a pool and Kathy wanted to be like Paris and get what she wants by posing and being sexy. Well, as you could imagine that didn't work to well. Just so you know, Kathy has picked on Paris Hilton many times in her comedy routines so it was especially funny to see Paris on her show.

My husband is always teasing me that I'm spoiled (which I'm not, by the way) and that everyone wants to be Jennifer LaMore and so he coined the phrase the "J" list, which is the opposite of the "D" list. The "J" list is everyone who is like Jennifer, but that's a whole different story.

Stay tuned for Chelsea Lately.

Jennifer

So cute!

I just came across this picture of Sarah Jessica Parker with her husband Matthew Broderick and their new twin daughters! So adorable.

The baby girls — Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick and Tabitha Hodge Broderick — were born last Monday at an Ohio hospital to a surrogate mother.

Sarah looks stunning, as usual. Her family looks so cute here! I love how her son James is all eyes on one of the twins. So cute! Congratulations Sarah and family!

Jennifer

The Time Traveler's Wife

Hi everyone!

The summer is usually a time when I get to catch up and see movies playing in the theater. Unfortunetly this summer has been flying by, and last night was my first time going. In the last few years I have noticed that romantic comedies have changed from what we all love them to be; in my opinion the comedy aspect is not natural and seems forced. Recently I have heard quite a few good reviews on "The Proposal", so I decided I would go ahead and give it a chance to surprise me. During the movie's previews, "The Time Traveler's Wife" was shown which casts two of my favorite actors: Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. It is based off of the best seller book. The movie is about a man who travels through time both past and future, but he cannot control when he will come and go through time. Throughout his travels, he continues to come in contact with Rachel McAdams when she is young and throughout the rest of her life. As they later marry and have a daughter, their love is tested because of the fact that the husband is disappearing through time without choice.By the end of the preview I had goosebumps and was crying. For now I will wait anxiously for its release date, August 14. In the meantime, I recommend that everyone should watch the trailer.

Raquel

Dance Music & DJ's. . . Incredible!

Hi Jennifer & Friends: I don't think young people know what a recession is, because it certainly doesn't stop them from dancing, or maybe they just don't care.

This past weekend, North America's largest dance music festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, packed in more than 135,000 people over two days at the L.A. Coliseum and Expo Park, topping the producer's anticipated numbers by more than 30,000. Proving again that dance music (and massive parties) are in high demand in Los Angeles. Hoards of teenagers and 20-somethings paid anywhere from $55 to $200 to experience over 100 performers, plus art installations and a carnival atmosphere. (For those of you doing the math in your head that's between 7 & 10 million dollars, on the low end, just in ticket sales! Holy shmoly!)

But in LA sometimes really big crowds of young people is dangerous. Event producer Pasquale Rotella and his crew at Insomniac pulled off an event of staggering size and complexity, but EDC was not without its chaotic moments, as waves of gate-crashers sometimes clashed with police and forced the fire marshal to temporarily stop the event at one point. Even in the face of Insomniac's impeccable production values and organizational efforts, the party-going masses proved that they had power to both make up and shake up the dance music festival.

Jennifer, I had no idea that dance music and the producers of this ever growing event style industry was so popular. The stages, the sound system and technology, not to mention the light shows and pyrotechnics are amazing. Putting on these shows is just like booking a touring band and promoting it. These DJ's have semi's that haul all the equipment and stages as well as stage managers and roadies who keep it all straight. What I find so interesting is the money involved for people mainstream America has never heard of. Like me!

Who are these dance, DJ, music producing people anyway? Benny Benassi, Oakenfold, David Guetta, Infected Mushroom, Simian Mobile Disco, Paul van Dyk, . . . . ! I've never heard of them but to young people they're God's! They sign autographs and have security guards to protect them from their adoring fans. Seriously, they arrive in limo's and have an entourage.

So, the way I see it, disco isn't dead! It's alive and well and growing rapidly. It's also not disco anymore. Well, its kinda' like disco but it's all dressed up with confetti cannons and really cool stuff.

It's funny how when cultural things change they have a tendency to come back the same only different. But they do come back.

Lynn Los Angeles, CA

My Sister in the NY Times

My older sister Marianne works for a sports marketing company out of Madison. One of the perks of her job is that she gets to travel to big sporting events, her latest being the US Open. My sister and her friend were on the course one day, and told a reporter a few things thinking it was for some local newspaper. Turns out it was for the NY Times! I posted parts of the article below... it's pretty darn funny! (my sisters name is in bold) For the complete article, click the link!

Three Top Players Draw Admirers for More Than Playing Ability

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — They worried over Camilo Villegas’s listlessness. Was he sick, tired or sick and tired? Sergio García, told him to take his time over the ball and regrip if he needed to. The man love for Villegas, Scott and García, who played together for the first two rounds of the United States Open, permeated their gallery Friday during their first 28 holes like a musky cologne.

They had female admirers, too. But more obvious than the gaggles of girls left swooning in their wake as if they were golf’s answer to the Jonas Brothers, the threesome had the effect of pumping up the testosterone at Bethpage Black. From tee to green, they were enveloped in support. Scott, who was at even-par 140 after 36 holes, said it was great. His score — which tied García’s and was two better than Villegas — was like a bolt of lightning in the clear blue sky. He had missed seven cuts in his last eight events. Among the more memorable expressions of enthusiasm, Scott said, was this: “Some guy yelling at Camilo, ‘Knock it in, you hunk!’ It was pretty funny.”

Scott, an Australian who is six months younger than García, radiates sunshine. His hair is short and curly, and his drives are long and straight. On the greens he often looks lost, his seeming vulnerability to the yips causing fans to want to reach out and rescue him. Maria Carlini was thrilled when she found a spot along the gallery rope that left her an unimpeded view of Scott. As he walked past, Carlini, a college student from Wisconsin, cried out his name, followed by her phone number. “Call me!” she said. During the trip to New York, Carlini said she and her friend Marianne MacGuidwin drafted some conversation starters as witty as any David Letterman top-10 list. Alas, they had yet to get close enough to Scott to use them. “I’d just like to shake his hand,” MacGuidwin said. The two women acknowledged that in his gallery they were a definite minority. “There are a lot of quote, unquote man crushes,” Carlini said. MacGuidwin nodded her head in agreement. “I think there’s more man crushes than women,” she said.

I'd have to agree with my sister... those 3 make watching golf much more fun for me!

-Julie

Do's & don'ts of wearing shorts!

DO hit the shops There is a pair out there for everyone. From the smooth, shiny-ponytailed executive (tailored, black) to the punky teenage model (tie-dye denim from Pepe). One trawl of Topshop and you will find sailor girl, candy stripes with turn-ups (perfect for Kelly Brook), sawn-off denim (Kate Moss), tidier denim (Kylie) or floaty, flippy numbers (Chloë Sevigny).

DO get going on leg preparation You need a good exfoliator, plus a tanning product. Johnson’s Holiday Skin body lotion is brilliant — it not only gives instant glowing colour, but works on developing a tan underneath. A cover-up stick is good to hide broken veins or bruises from riding your bicycle. Alternatively, you may just want to keep your tights on for as long as you possibly can.

DO go up a size Too tight and too high-cut equals too seedy.

DO embrace opaques Luckily for us, black opaques and shorts — particularly denim — go together like fags and Kate Moss. They are not merely a great chicken-skin concealer, they also make all shorts look automatically chicer (which is why Kylie, who likes to dress up, wore denim shorts and tights to Nobu the other night). Make sure they are opaque — any old black tights under shorts will make you look like a district nurse, and not in a good way.

DO add a blazer or long cardigan Let it graze the hem of the shorts to soften their impact and give them a cute, sophisticated edge (think Alexa Chung).

DO remember you cannot go wrong with denim And they don’t have to be indigo. White, light blue and beige are hot for summer.

DO get the fail-safe summer look A big white T-shirt, bare legs and flat gladiator-style sandals (ankle height, though, not to the knee) or chunky, strappy sandals with a heel could well be your staple summer outfit. Seriously.

DON’T tip over into slutty territory Shorts should be sexy, not vulgar. Cool everything else down to compensate. Wear fitted hot pants with a big T-shirt or loose checked shirt, Converse trainers and no make-up.

DON’T team heels with hot pants A very bad combination, unless you are deliberately camping it up. It’s too Victoria Beckham, and you want to be Kate Moss. Heels with shorts, definitely.

DON’T attempt a playsuit Unless you are under 26, or could be, forget it. Cat Deeley’s legs look terrific in a playsuit, yet, somehow, the look doesn’t work. It’s a bit like wearing those bikinis with the frilly bottoms when you’re over 40.

DON’T wear with nude tights Ever. A sin on a par with wearing tights under jeans.

DON’T wear the following styles... or at least approach with caution
- Nondescript cotton khaki ones with button detail or multipocketed cargo-style shorts. Way too geography field-trip.
- Stripes and sailor detail. Unless you have Kelly Brook-style 1950s curves, they will make you look like Shirley Temple.
- Puffed shorts. Puffies either work or they don’t — but slim hips are a must.
- High-waisted, midthigh versions. If you’re going for a high waist, keep them short short.
- Wide-leg, knee-length styles. They look like they are going to be the answer to all your working-wardrobe problems, but are actually strangely ageing.
- Floaty, flutey shorts. The less structured the cut, the better your legs need to be.
- Amy Winehouse-style, straight-leg denim shorts, rolled up a couple of inches above the knee. A killer on all but the longest and fittest legs. Ditto her bum-grazing cut-offs.

Clare London, Eng.

My Michael Jackson weekend

Hi Jennifer & Friends: As I mentioned earlier I have a friend and her husband staying with me for the weekend. I had several things planned for daytime fun as well as evening entertainment. However, with the death of Michael Jackson LA has become a zoo, so to speak.

People are out and they are EVERYWHERE. Traffic is especially bad, nightclubs are packed and it seems Michael Jackson is enjoying his day (and upcoming years) of popularity even in death. When you finally get into a restaurant or bar this is all you hear or want to talk about. It's fascinating and my friends are having a memorable trip because of all this, even though we haven't done one thing I had planned. It's ". . . and hey, we were in LA when Michael Jackson died. . . . !"

One topic of conversation I listened to was how Michael Jackson will trump Elvis Presley in life after death fame with tours, auctions and museums, etc. The parallels between the two entertainers is rather spooky and you can get into some interesting discussions with die hard Elvis fans about this. I can see their point to the contrary. Elvis was in the army and he wasn't a "suspected" child molester and he wasn't, . . .well, "weird" like Jackson but they were both larger then life figures. My friends husband said that to try and draw a complete and accurate comparison would be impossible as they're from two different periods of time. It's like trying to determine the greatest baseball player of all time. You can't do it. But it makes for interesting conversation.

My friends are having a great deal of fun being part of this "extravaganza" that always seems to involve Los Angeles when it comes to scandals, murders and deaths of celebrities. But this is the biggest of them all. We tried to come up with a celebrity who's death would be bigger and the names of Paul McCartney, Madonna, or Mick Jagger come to mind but none of us could agree on any one person, but we did agree on this one thing: the three challengers are pretty normal people and they're only half as interesting. So it was determined that weird trumps normal for celebrity.

So super stardom is one thing but eccentric and more then a little bizarre, it seems, is what puts you over the top. But you have to be talented to get to this level and Michael Jackson was all of that and then some. You also have to have staying power to keep doing fantastic things and when you change the world you have now reached a level that very few people can achieve. You must also keep in mind that being weird and crazy talented allows for a great deal of forgiveness. We as the public look at that and think you can't be that good and not be a little weird. It just goes with the territory.

Elvis, in his day, changed the world, so did the Beatles. Michael Jackson? Yep! He changed the world of entertainment. I don't think anyone can argue that point, and yes, he's more then a little weird too, but who cares.

Here's one last confirming point that Michael Jackson is as popular as Elvis and will forever be that popular above all the other notables: there are Elvis impersonators all over the place. Many people impersonate Michael Jackson, too. (Danny Gans in Las Vegas) Have you ever heard of anyone impersonating Paul McCartney, Madonna or Mick Jagger, or anyone else? Nope!

Sleep well my little pretties!

Lynn Los Angeles, CA

Sad, bummed out & crushed!

Hi Jennifer and friends around the world. I'm so sad today. London is sad today. Millions of people who bought tickets to the comeback concert are going to either refund them or hang onto them for posterity. AEG certainly hopes people hang on to them. The death of Michael Jackson could put them out of business.

AEG sold 11 tickets a minute the instant they went on sale and sold out the entire 50 shows in 11 hours! Michael Jackson's London concerts were to begin on July 15, his first in 12 years involving a considerable amount of money. Even Madonna can't compete with this kind of ticket sales and unbelievable interest.

More than $85 million were already earned from ticket sales for the 50 shows at London's O2 Arena, which were already sold out. Producer and promoter of the shows, AEG Live, footed the bill for $20 million production. According to Billboard calculations, Jackson's take on ticket sales alone would have been worth $50 million.

The total ticket gross for the run would be about $90 million. Premium and VIP packages and secondary market sales would have boosted the gross to more than $100 million. And, merchandise sales could bring in another $15 million.

The Billboard Magazine website has been bombarded with inquiries and at one point the site as gone down.

I have several friends who want to obtain a refund but cannot get onto the sites to find out how to do this. They may just have to wait until everything calms down.

Clare London, England

Twitter, TMZ, and others go down!

Hi friends and readers from all over the world. Because of the death of Michael Jackson, several news and entertainment sites went down because of an overload of site visitors. I find this incredible!

Twitter and TMZ shut down several times during the day. Perez Hilton went down as well. A global Internet analysts said that at its peak, roughly 15 per cent of all posts on Twitter mentioned Michael Jackson, while Iran’s disputed presidential elections or the swine flu pandemic never reached over 5 per cent.

Google said that there had been a “volcanic” surge in interest in Michael Jackson, with most of the top 100 searches on the site related to the singer. All Facebook, which tracks Facebook usage, reported that Jackson's page appears to be attracting around 20 fans a second, predicting that it could fast become one of the top pages in all of Facebook.

The picture to the left is from our J. LaMore Facebook page which is kept updated directly from our blog every thirty minutes.

Since the news aggregation site Drudge Report broke news of President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky almost a decade ago, blogs and social media sites have increasingly shown their power in reporting major news stories. Early yesterday afternoon , the gossip website, TMZ.com, broke the story of Michael Jackson’s death.

Itunes has reported that Jackson's "Thriller" instantly climbed to number one downloaded album. Amazing!

I'll keep you posted with any further updates.

Jennifer

Michael Jackson. . . .Wow!

Hi Jennifer: As the entire world knows by now, Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles at the age of 50. I'm stunned and it's surreal living in LA with his death as the news and people in the street is incredible.

I'm sure, based on what's going on currently, that his death is going to be covered like the death of Princess Diana. It's so terrible and shocking because he was so young.

I know he was a very odd person but you cannot deny his stardom and his talent. As weird as he was I would have bought a ticket to one of his upcoming concerts.

I'm watching the coverage as I write this so. that's all for now. I'm glued to the television.

Lynn Los Angeles, CA

Back from Vegas

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately... I was busy partying in Vegas for my sisters bachelorette party!! We stayed at Cesear's (and got upgraded to a suite... couldn't have been better!) This is my second time going there in 3 months, and I want to be back there asap! We went to mostly the same night clubs as I did last time (Pure, Tao, and Body English.) All in all it was a total blast! I posted a few pics from the trip.... oh yeah, and I got bangs! (Left is a group of us before Thunder from Down Under show, middle is me and my sister Katie the bachelorette, and right is all 9 of us)

-Julie

The Geisha House Restaurant!

Hi Jennifer and friends: Well, it's confirmed, I'm having my college roommate and her husband spend the weekend at my condo. I'm very excited as I haven't seen her in many years although we stay in touch through email and Facebook. (By the way she is an avid reader of the 'Friends blog'.)

She has never been to LA and the first thing we're going to do is go to dinner Friday night at one of my all time favorite restaurants, The Geisha House. This traditional Japanese restaurant has the best food I have ever tasted and I had to make reservations three weeks in advance before it was confirmed I was having guests.

I'm not a food critic and I don't know how to describe the menu other then it's Japanese style food with unusual and interesting sushi dishes. The decor is beautiful, the waiters are in Geisha outfits and the food is amazing. I also have to add that's it's expensive but well worth it. Lots of twenty somethings come here for dinner and the attire is business casual.

Geisha House is right in downtown LA and if your not to full, there are plenty of night clubs to go to in this area. I'm usually to full to stay out late but I'm going to have to give it my best as a tribute to my old college days. I can't stay out late like I used to do.

My boyfriend has never met my friend or her husband so it should be fun. I'll keep you posted about what I'm going to wear and what clubs we go to.

Talk to you later.

Lynn Los Angeles, CA

P.S.

Nice blog Clare! You crack me up!

New way to reduce stress. . . Not for me!

Hi Jennifer and Friends: I have to pass along a funny and some what strange conversation I had the other day when I was out with some friends in a pub after work. All of us gals work for different companies and we were meeting in a huge popular pub in downtown London.

I arrived first and sat at the bar next to a couple who were discussing a book that was sitting on the bar. The book was titled; F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way by John C Parkin. As you probably know, bar stools are close together and it was impossible not to overhear the strange conversation these two people were having. The bad language is what caught me by surprise and I guess that was the point this couple was eventually trying to make to me.

As I became engaged in the conversation, one of my friends showed up and now both of us were talking to this couple and how they just say "f**k it" when they feel stressed out referring to excerpts in the book. As you can imagine the controversy this kind of behavior will draw is limitless and I asked how it would work in the business world. Apparently you have to say "f**k it" under your breadth in exchange for keeping your job. In reality this is a form of Buddhism as well as a form of cognitive therapy. Whatever! Calling it "F**k It" was only a cool way of marketing the book and you don't really have to say the "f" word if you don't want to. You can use other words to 'get out' or express what your feeling.

The conversation continued with this couple for some time until all of us arrived and we moved to another location, but all of us had a great laugh using this new found form of stress relief that some guy wrote a book about. We also added a few of our own stress relief words and phrases and are looking for a publisher right now.

As you can imagine, most people can rise to this level of stress relief without ever buying a book of such nonsense but this couple truly believed in saying f**k it.

What ever happened to self control?

Clare London, England

It's all about me, or them!

Hi Jenifer and friends from around the world. There's a new phenomenon going on in the world of fashion these days; self blogging! Seriously! Blogging about yourself and what your wearing.

Tens of thousands of young woman around the world have created their own blogs and then take pictures of themselves and post the images in 'lookbook' format on them. Some of these young woman have been extremely successful in gaining attention from big name designers and publications and have actually created a press page listing all the links and articles written about them.

These young women are obsessed with thin beautiful models, the photography, the outfit they have on, and who put the look together. Then they find a less expensive version of that look and more or less copy the style or find some other way to make it their own in an almost Lucky Magazine like fashion.

These blog sites are popping up fast and about 85% of site visitors are between the gets of 15 and 25, 75% are women, and 50% are in the U.S. Still, this is a global community with contributions from Poland, Argentina, France, Australia and just about everywhere else that young people care about clothes. Huge blogs such as the Satorialist and Garance Dore are more street driven and have a different feel but these new blogger's are far more self centered as they instruct their readers how to put the outfit together and then tell you where to get it.

The older blogger's tend to write about fashion in a different format and will explain how fashion relates to them in their world like 25 year old New York stylist Kelly Framel does with her blog the glamourai. Twenty five year old Suzi Lau is the pioneer in personal fashion blogging and her site the Style Bubble out of the UK is visited by tens of thousands of young fashionistas. Lau will also admit that it's a little bit vain to write about yourself but says that she found no other way to express herself then to start her own fashion blog.

These blogs are now starting to receive national attention. Marc Jacobs named a fall 2008 bag after a a fashion blogger 'phenom' Bryan Boy. During this past Paris Fashion Week, Rumi Neely, the popular San Diego-based blogger behind Fashion Toast, was flown to the Ungaro show after a picture from her site wound up on designer Esteban Cortazar's inspiration board. She was given a dress to wear to his show and sat in the front row.

Amazing!

Lynn Los Angels, CA

Dress like Lauren Conrad

Lauren Conrad was spotted wearing the Gypsy 05 "Maxi Halle" Dress in brown and purple. It looks so adorable on her. I'll have to say that I like that color that we have here at J.LaMore much better ...even though Lauren sure can rock purple :) Happy Shopping!

Jessica Stylist/Model

Meet the J. LaMore Staff. . . !

Jessica is the face of jlamore.com. You know the story: A reluctant superstar told to play a different postion for the good of the team. She is expected to do it all and look fantastic at the same time. When the website started three years ago Jessica took one for the team and jumped in with both feet. This was a huge challenge and all of us were struggling trying to make it look right. Today, Jessica has changed as much as the site has. She's no longer the shy bashful girl who came looking for a job and hardly said a word in the interview. So without further interruption here's:

Five minutes with Jessica Ploessl

Where are you from?

JP - I’m from Oregon which is just south of Madison.

What do you do at J. LaMore?

JP - What don’t I do! I like to do a little bit of everything at J. LaMore! My favorite thing that I get to do is be creative by styling myself and other models for photo shoots and fashion shows. I also do a little of the buying with Jennifer which I truly love…I’ve always been able to keep up with the ever changing trends of the fashion world and it’s great to actually put that talent to use.

How has J. LaMore changed since you started?

JP - J. LaMore has definitely changed since I started here 3 years ago. We have jlamore.com which is a huge part of my everyday job. I model on the homepage, product pages, and lookbook and it’s so rewarding to be able to look back and see how far the store and the site have come. Also, the people that are now on the J. LaMore staff are amazing and they make the store and site the best that it can be.

What life experiences have changed you?

JP - Being an aunt has changed me in many ways. My niece is now eleven and with her getting older she is definitely getting smarter and more interested in the world around her. It’s a challenge everyday to answer all her questions and keeping an eleven year old entertained is a whole different world. Also I always have to keep in mind that she looks up to me so I’m always trying to be the best example that I can be!

What have you learned at J. LaMore?

JP - I’ve learned a lot of new things in the past 3 years at J. LaMore. I feel so lucky to be able to work at a store where the owners allow me to be such a huge part of everything that goes on at the store. A resourceful tool I’ve picked up is I’ve learned how to interact with so many people whether they’re customers, J. LaMore friends, or vendors that come into J. LaMore. At first I use to be a little more on the shy side and having to be able to communicate with new people has really brought out my outgoing side.

Tell us a funny story about yourself?

JP - I always have weird, funny, awkward stories to tell. Just the other day I was at home and walked from my bedroom to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As I was walking I saw the mail lady trying to get up to my mail box but our dog was jumping all around making it impossible for the mail lady. So I ran outside to get the dog. While apologizing to her about the dog acting like a crazy animal I realized that I also had to apologize for not having on any pants! There I was standing there in my underwear.

The Best Of Madison

This is the crew from J.LaMore out celebrating before going to the Best of Madison last Friday! We went to Restaurant Magnus in downtown Madison for drinks, after we danced the night away with all the other Best Of Madison winners :) So much fun!

Jessica

Stylist/Model

Summer Plaid

Celebrities are crazy about plaid tops! I love that plaid is in style, I love to dress casual but cute and jeans and a plaid shirt is the ideal way to dress for me. I bought this J.A.K. "Yellow Plaid Western" Top and I've already worn it three times :) I'm basically obsessed with it! I wore it with skinny jeans tucked into boots the other day when it was a little cooler and I'm wearing it today with a pair of faded denim ripped up destroyed shorts and some gladiator flats...pretty much the best casual outfit ever!

Kalyn

Theatre Etiquette . . .Ssshhhh!

I recently went to a little summer festival where a stage was set up and a short play was put on by what looked like some high school kids on a summer class of some sort. It was a lot of fun and they were trying to raise some money so they sold the tickets for $5.00 and you could sit where you wanted on a first come first serve basis.

My problem was this; I gave the actors the respect they deserved and was quite during the performance. It wasn't a big production or a serious play but with all the phones ringing and people talking and kids crying I could hardly hear what the actors were saying.

So I thought I would write about theatre etiquette and inform all the friends blog readers what the rules are in this area. I looked them up so it shouldn't be a big surprise - 1 Turn of your cell phone! Good God! 2 Never whisper let alone talk. 3 Don't bring a picnic and get all set up for a nice little day in your seat. 4 If you fear that you’ll cough, bring a handkerchief to smother your mouth and pastilles to put in it. Considerate theatregoers would rather asphyxiate than interrupt a good actor. 5 Always apologize if you cause force people to stand when moving to your seat. 6 Don't clap when the actors arrive on stage. 7 Have nothing to do with standing ovations. They're big in the USA and now it seems that if you don't get one the performance was bad. 8 Try to dress up. It's not completely necessary but it is the theatre and doing so gives it respect. 9 If you must bring a child, well, . . . you know the rest. 10 Try not to kick the chair in front of you. Can you think of one person who likes this.

Anyway, hope this helps and you get to a theatre performances this summer.

Clare London, England

Meet the J. LaMore Staff. . . !

Jennifer LaMore's name is on the door, the website, and everywhere else these days, and her reach gets longer and longer all the time. It's quite remarkable what a small town girl can accomplish. She has a nation wide following of customer friends, friend friends, and business asscoiate friends and always has time for each one of them. It doesn't matter what time of day or night, she is always there, especially if you're one of her friends. Jennifer is in a business that fits her perfectly because she genuinely loves people, has an incredible eye for fashion and style, and that's what makes J. LaMore and jlamore.com a huge success. She loves what she does. It's really that simple! So here is:


Five minutes with Jennifer LaMore


Where are you from?

J. La - I grew up in a small town just outside of Madison called DeForest. The population was around three thousand. The only things to do growing up was go bowling or play sports! Needless to say, I had a 170 bowling average and was the short stop on the local soft ball team! Between, bowling, softball, pompom, basketball, track, swim team, and choir I was a very busy kid!

How did you get started in your own business?

J. La - I have always loved fashion and helping people. I had worked managing a local boutique and absolutely loved my job. I loved the customers, the clothing, the hours, everything! I had always dreamed of having my own boutique, but wasn’t quite sure how I could make it happen. My husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, and I talked incessantly about my dream of owning my own boutique. We would get together over wine and write out our business plan on restaurant napkins! My dream became his dream and we decided to go into business together! We opened J. LaMore in 1999, two years before we got married.

What has changed at J. LaMore over the past ten years?

J. La - So much has changed in the last 10 years. If someone had told me 10 years ago that a significant amount of commerce in the world would be done on the World Wide Web, I’m sure I would have scoffed it off. I always expected the web to impact our lives, but I had no idea it would literally run our lives.

Who or what has influenced you throughout your life?

J. La - I grew up in a large family with two sisters and two brothers. My dad worked three jobs and my mom stayed home to raise all of us. I didn’t really acknowledge it as a child, but as an adult who decide not to have children, I can’t even imagine what my parents went through in raising five kids! I’ve always loved to work, and to work hard and I think that came from watching my dad. As an adult, the biggest influence has been my husband Jim. He truly amazes me. I’ve never met anyone who believes in me as much as he does. He’s my biggest cheerleader, my endearing critic, and a believer in all I do. He encourages me on a daily basis to be the best I can be.

If you could do it all over again, what would you change?

J. La - When I think back to the beginning, I worried so much about everything! It was so new, I was learning so much, and it went by so fast! I wish I could go back and relive the first few years and really comprehend and appreciate the accomplishment it was. It’s so hard to do when you’re in the middle of it all stressing over every detail. Outside of that, I really don’t think I would change a thing. I absolutely love what I do and feel so blessed to have this be my life.

How would you define yourself?

J. La - I’m strong, very driven, hard working along side of loyal, fun loving, caring and giving.

Tell us a funny story about yourself.

J. La - It was Christmas time a few years ago and my husband and I were off to chop down our Christmas tree. He wanted to go to the local pre-cut place, but I insisted on walking out into the wilderness to find our own perfect tree. It’s freezing cold outside, but I have to make sure we see all of the trees available. We finally find “the one” and proceed to chop it down and drag it back to purchase it. I’m pulling the lighter weight front side, while Jim is carrying the heavier back side. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something crawling up my sleeve. I glance down and there’s a mouse almost on my shoulder! I screamed so loud, the mouse popped off my shoulder on to the ground and stood there shaking! I continued to scream and flail my arms up in the air while jumping around the tree farm. It was quite a scene. Of course, Jim fell to the ground he was laughing so hard.

Meet the J. LaMore Staff!

As previously mentioned, all of the people who work at J. LaMore and jlamore.com have to have a certain skill set. Which now brings us to "Mandy Mandy" as I having fun calling her. She has brought J. LaMore and jlamore.com to new heights of creativity in promotions and marketing we so desperately needed. Her designs for the homepage, lookbook, flyer's, posters, and fashion shows have caused Jennifer and I to rethink how we do a lot of things. We feel Mandy is responsible for jlamore.com to be voted a top 100 website by thefind.com this year.

Each person Jennifer and I work with was given a list of question to answer so you could get to know them a little. So, here's -

Five minutes with Mandy Braatz

What’s your job at J. LaMore?

MB - My job at J. LaMore has to do with all things creative. I am the resident graphic designer and creative director. On lookbook photo shoots I help to style and direct the models and I have also started to do some of the photography. Most of the time, however, I am in the “cave” with Jim looking over my shoulder, telling me to make my fonts bigger. He’s my special helper ;)

How did you get the job?

MB - I studied abroad with Julie’s older sister, Marianne, who knew that I was into fashion and suggested that I become a J. LaMore shopping “friend”. Once I got back to Madison, I stopped in to talk to Jennifer and Jim about helping out on lookbook photo shoots and getting some experience and they took me on as a fashion intern for the summer. Luckily, they liked me enough to keep me here permanently!

How has jlamore.com changed since you’ve been here?

MB - It has become the epitome of awesomeness! Over the past year we have been striving to create a new, more fashion-driven website through more frequent lookbook updates, more images and shopping features on the homepage, and more interesting pages to visit. Overall, I think it’s prettier to look at now.

What life experiences have you had that have changed you?

MB - Studying abroad in Greece for a semester has definitely had the biggest impact on my life thus far. It’s a very eye-opening experience to live in a different country because it humbles and matures you in a way that you could not at home. The people I met there and the things I did are some of the best memories I have in my life.

What have you learned while working at J. LaMore?

MB - Not to piss Jim off. Julie will never stop talking. Jessica tells the best “stories” about nothing. And Jennifer hates walking in anything but heels.

Tell us a funny story about something that happened to you?

MB - Senior year of high school I went to Mexico for Spring Break with my family and some friends. One night we were walking around in downtown Playa del Carmen where they were putting up a new shopping centers and restaurants and whatnot. Because of this, there was a lot of construction. I was chatting with my friend and not really looking where I was going and as we rounded a corner I fell straight into a pothole. My friends and family all turned around to see me, just a head and shoulders, peeking out above the ground. My brother and sister immediately erupted in laughter as my parents helped me out. It hurt a little, but I was mostly just in shock after falling into a pothole in the ground. To this day, they all say they wish they had taken a picture.

Meet the J. LaMore Staff. . . !

All of the people who work at J. LaMore and jlamore.com have to have a certain skill set. They have to bring something to the table other then a warm personality and a friendly disposition. Warm and friendly is very important but it's not everything these day. It's not like it used to be and these young women need to know a lot of stuff! So, Jennifer and I have decided this week to introduce all the people who work here and let them open up and answer some questions so that you can get to know them a little. We had a photo shoot with each one in the studio and let them pick their own pictures and answer the questions we gave them without any interference. Except spell check. I can only take so much. - Jim McCarthy


Five minutes with Raquel Burish.

Who are you?

RB - Well to start off with the basics, my name is Raquel Burish and I am going to be a junior at Edgewood High School. I love to spend time with my family and friends. I always joke about how my family is exactly like the family in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. My best friend is my mom and I am the most happy around her. I am lucky because I have three very supportive parents that introduce me to many different experiences. I usually spend my summers on the lake with the Mad City Ski Team but I decided I wanted a change this summer so I am not skiing this year. My goal for the future is to pursue an acting career. My mother was an actress and has been coaching me along the way as I write monologues, and perform among audiences.

What do you do at J. LaMore?

RB - I was hired as a project manager intern which basically means I learn how everything works behind the scenes and work on projects as they are given to me. My biggest project I am working on is for the upcoming fashion show. For the show I help with developing the theme, organizing outfits, picking music, and all the chaos backstage! At the store I also help and model for the lookbook and the home page on the website, as well as learn how to keep a current inventory. In Jim’s words I am enrolled in “Marketing 101”.

How did you get that position?

RB - I have been coming into the store alongside my mom since grade school. All I would think about when I was little was, “I can’t wait till I am old enough to wear the clothes at J. LaMore!” Once I got older I started buying my own clothes, but I noticed the age range of the staff. Towards the end of this past school year I stopped in one afternoon and talked to Jennifer about possibly working for her during the summer. After stopping by a couple more times Jennifer and Jim decided to offer me an internship which I was more than thrilled to accept!

What do you want to learn?

RB - Most of my friends in high school work with each other at grocery stores, country clubs, or restaurants. While all of those are great jobs, I wanted a different experience. I want to learn how J. LaMore stays up to date with current trends and styles also how they keep their business successful alongside other competitive boutiques. Marketing is something I knew I would learn and begin to understand at a different type of job. So far I learned so much on what it takes to keep a store noticed and how to go above and beyond your competition.

What life experiences have a profound impact on you?

RB - This August will be the two year mark of when I shattered my femur while water-ski jumping. I broke it in three places and it shattered into 15 pieces in one area. I was in a wheelchair for a month and had to miss the first two months of freshman year. Since the accident I have not been able to be in any competitive sports because of healing and rehab. During that time my love for acting surfaced and showed me a side of myself I did not know I had. After going through the past two years, I believe now that I can get past anything.

Tell us a funny story about yourself.

RB - Well any day I am with my mom there is a story to tell. One of my favorites was on Christmas Eve and as usual we were running 15 minutes late. We had just got into her car to drive over to my aunts for dinner. At the end of our ally there was a large snow bank we had to drive over in order to get onto the road, a few minutes after we slowly drove over the bank we noticed the car had a flat tire. Now my mom was in a very bad mood, we rushed back home to switch into my car, we pulled up to the garage and I ran out of the car to get my keys from inside, as I ran in front of her car I slipped in my new heels on a patch of ice and flew head over heels on the ground. I popped just my head up to see my mom’s reaction as she was still sitting in the car, and sure enough she was dying laughing.

Kristin's Favorite

Over the past ten years of owning J. LaMore, I have met some of the most incredible people. Some of my closest friends today are from friendships that developed through the store. Lucky me!

One of my all time favorite families who shop at J. LaMore are the Oster's. Karen is the mom, she lives in Beloit, and Kristin is her daughter who lives in Madison. They have been shopping with me since 2002 and I think the world of them! Kristin just stopped in J. LaMore today to drop off a gift for me, to thank me for "always being so nice!" Funny thing, here I thought that they were the ones always being so nice. I love it when they come in, we joke around, try on a bunch of clothes and just have a great time. Karen has sold ME many things, often times saying, "Jennifer, you really need to have this, try it on for me." Such incredible people, I adore them both. Kristin's gift included her favorite items, Fresh brand sugar lychee bath and shower gel and Pacifica Brazilian mango grapefruit body wash! Yum! I can't wait to try them! She said her "favorite" of the two is Fresh gel. It smells amazing! I'm hoping I love it as much as she does and will feature it as my weekly favorite giveaway!

Thank you so much Kristin for the gifts. It's so incredibly thoughtful of you. Thank you Karen for being so sweet to me and for teasing Jim! He loves it!

Jennifer

The "Lingo" Generation

I came into the store this morning and logged onto the J.LaMore website to read the most recent blogs that were posted. I read the "Old & Experienced vs. Young & ...?" post and felt the need to add my opinion. I agree with Clare on many of her opinions, but I do think there are some exceptions that some people are unaware of or have not seen yet.

This past fall when I entered my Sophomore year of high school I was excited to see how all my friends had changed, what everyone would be wearing for the new year, but I was surprised by the new "lingo" everyone was starting to use. Originally I was use to reading abbreviated words in quick text messages and maybe if a phone conversation was cut off , so I was not totally unaware of the vocabulary being used. The first week of school I was starting to notice that the people around me were not using complete words such as: perf, most def, tots, hilar, probs, etc. After weeks and then monthes I had decided I could not listen to this any longer and that I would not join in with the new trend of speaking. Until recently, I assumed that this was only a young high school trend that people were using, I did not at all begin to think that people past college were speaking this way until I started hearing stories from my mom, older friends, and people from work that we're also annoyed with this new language.

Tying back to Clare' s position, I think the reason she is having to start to deal with people using incomplete words is because some people have become so used to shortening their words that they are unaware of when to seperate their everyday life from their professional life. Unfortunetly I think this is a growing issue because the people I see are recognizing this "lingo" as a cool trend to follow. Although there are exceptions out there of people who realize that speaking with incomplete words will not get you far or give you a respectable reputation. What I usually think to myself when I hear young people talking this way is, "Don't you hear yourself?" I think that is exactly what my generation needs; to hear themselves speak and recognize that it is not something that should be used in a professional environment and possibly only used here and there in their social life.

Raquel

Old & Experienced vs Young & . . .?

It's fantastic being a guest writer. By "guest" writer I mean one who writes on someone else's website. I'm a friend on jlamore.com and I have access to all sorts of 'benies' like the friends blog. As a guest I get to (almost) say whatever I want whenever I want and then run like hell.

Jennifer LaMore has some rules about writing on the 'friends blog' and they are: "No opinions on religion or politics. Everything else is fair game. Have fun." That was the note I received more then three years ago and the user name and password is still stuck on the side of my monitor at home.

In the early days, the friends blog was completely different then it is now. Today its become a much bigger site and the readership is in the thousands per month and growing . The topics frequently change and have matured, the writing has greatly improved and it's just a lot more fun.

I have changed since the early days as well. I have changed jobs, changed where I live and got a new boyfriend. (I'm hoping, in the near future, I'll change where I live again.)

All of this is an introduction to my latest thought. Old & Experienced vs Young & I'm not sure what to call them! When I changed jobs I entered a work place where a lot more young people are in positions I feel they don't deserve. They seem to be placed in these positions because they have tech skills and have grown up in an era where tech is so much more important then people skills or worse - actual job related skills. These 'kids' are barely out of diapers (21-25) and having a conversation with some them is painful. I mean a serious work related conversations. The know it all self centered attitude is amazing as I feel I'm just getting good at this demanding job at age 35. My contact list has grown considerably and my past accomplishments are what got me this new job in the first place. (I was hired to land a big contract with a client I worked with in the past.) I don't see any of that in the new generation of workers. They seem to demand the respect they haven't even come close to earning. Receiving a thank you note just for showing up on time is not an accomplishment and if I were to actually take these young co-workers to a job site location I swear the client would fire us. I don't want their ignorance to be a reflection on me.

All of our clients are business men and women in their 40's and 50's and 60's and I show them the respect they deserve. Not these high maintenance Generation Y types. That just doesn't happen in their "it's all about me" attitude. All day long I hear little electronic R2D2 text message sounds of beeps, chirps, and tweeks constantly coming from their pockets and purses. Friends want to get together later, a party here, a party there. We had to impliment a new policy about cell phones in the work place.

A new book, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, concludes that employers should be in no doubt that, for those born after 1979, unlike previous generations, “their personal life comes first” and they have a “short-term and transactional” mindset. Managers, says the author, Bruce Tulgan, should effectively practise “in loco parentis management”, holding the young to high standards and “helping them every step of the way to reach those high standards”. What? Now I have to be a mommy and daddy to these people who've been handed everything, never been scolded or held to a higher standard. Wow! It's painful but so true.

But in all fairness, there are a couple of young workers at the office who are very smart and show huge promise. The problem is, . . . all my "older wiser" co-workers know who they are and these young kids are pulled in all directions. They seemed to have given up on the self centered undeserving ones pretty early. It seems to me the pool of young, smart and driven talent has grown smaller and smaller and the pool of "I have to check my Facebook page" has become the norm.

Jennifer, you're so lucky you have a young worker like Julie MacGuidwin. I can tell she's one of the types that is pulled in all directions. I can also hardly wait to read who else you have that keep the J. LaMore machine running smooth.

Clare London, England

Meet the J. LaMore Staff. . . !

It seems that everyone I know has asked me at one time or another about the people who work at J. LaMore and jlamore.com. So this week I decided to introduce all the fun people who work here and keep the machine running smooth. Julie MacGuidwin is our resident geek and chatterbox. She can talk like no one else and it's the funniest thing. Jim, at one point, told Julie on one of her chattier days that she had to stop talking for two minutes. She couldn't do it. She froze at her desk as we all watched her freak out trying not to talk. We still tease her about it. So let me introduce Julie MacGuidwin. I asked her a few questions so you can spend some time and get to know her. - Jennifer LaMore

Five minutes with Julie MacGuidwin!

What do you do at J. LaMore?
JM - What don’t I do at J. LaMore is the better question! I spend about 70% of my time behind the scenes working on our website and doing other computer related things. The other part of my day is spent helping customers look fabulous!

How did you get the job?
JM - I was looking for a nanny position on craigslist when I came across Jennifer’s post looking for a “fashion minded person to work in retail”. 3 years ago I applied to be a sales associate, and today my job has expanded to much more than that!

How has the store changed since you started?
JM - The biggest change was the website. When I started working here we didn’t have one and one of my jobs was to create an inventory system that connected directly to the website which would be accurate in realtime. We still use it today and now look where we are! The store has also become less quiet since I started working here….I always have a story to tell or something to say!

What have you learned while working at J. LaMore?
JM - I’ve learned SO much working here at J. LaMore. For the obvious, I’ve learned all about fashion, retail, and customer service. Personally I have learned how to balance working and going to school. Along with working at J. LaMore, I baby-sit 3 or so times a week during the school year. Not to mention I’m active in my sorority as well! It’s been a challenge to get everything I need to done in all aspects of my life, but working here has definitely taught me how to do it well!

What life experiences have had a profound affect on you?
JM - Many times people travel and learn something profound from that experience. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot (all around the U.S., The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Greece.) I’d say these experiences affected me in specific ways… but all I really do on vacation, regardless of my destination, is layout on the beach! I have learned how to get the perfect suntan, though ;).

Tell us a funny story about yourself.
JM - I have way too many funny stories about myself. Everyday I come into work with a new one. A favorite of mine happened 3 years ago while the J. LaMore gang was walking to the "Best of Madison" party. In downtown Madison, there are vents on the sidewalk. We were walking to the party, and the other girls walked around the vent, so I assumed they did so because they had skinny heels on and they didn't want them to fall through the cracks. I was wearing thick heeled pumps and thought that I wouldn’t need to worry about it. Turned out that they all walked around it because the vent was blowing up air. My dress blew up in front of a restaurant window full of people. We had a good laugh about this one.

Drew Barrymore

Hi Jennifer & Friends: Just the other day I was watching an interview of one of my favorite actresses, Drew Barrymore. The interview was very interesting and she spoke about her new venture into directing. Barrymore is taking on this new challenge in a show called "Whip it" due out later this year. She's been working on the project for almost two years now.

When I was watching the interview she spoke about a part in an HBO movie that she did called "Grey Gardens". I remember this movie and I saw it a couple of months ago. I thought she did a remarkable job but it was the story about real life characters that provoked me to learn more about them after seeing the movie. Edith "Big Eddie" Ewing Bouvier Beale was played by Jessica Lange and Barrymore played Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale.

Here's part of the story - Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale were the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The two women lived together at Grey Gardens for decades with limited funds, resulting in squalor and almost total isolation.

The house was designed by Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe in 1897, and purchased in 1923 by Phelan Beale and Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale. After Phelan left his wife, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale lived there for decades more, over 50 years in total for each woman. The house was called Grey Gardens because of the color of the dunes, the cement garden walls, and the sea mist.

In the fall of 1971 and throughout 1972, their living conditions—their house was flea-infested, inhabited by innumerable cats and raccoons, lacked running water, and was full of garbage and decay—were exposed as the result of an article in the National Enquirer and a cover story in New York Magazine after a series of inspections (which the Beales called "raids") by the Suffolk County Health Department. With the Beale women facing eviction and the razing of their home, in the summer of 1972 Jacqueline Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill provided the necessary funds to stabilize and repair the dilapidated house so that it would meet Village codes.

Albert and David Maysles became interested in their story and received permission to film a documentary about the women, which was released in 1976 to wide critical acclaim. Their cinema vérité technique left the women to tell their own stories.

"Big Edie" died in 1977 and "Little Edie" sold the house in 1979 to former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his wife Sally Quinn. "Little Edie" died in 2002 at the age of 84. According to a 2003 article in Town & Country, after their purchase, Bradlee and Quinn had the house and grounds completely restored. Philanthropist Frances Hayward currently rents the home 11 months out of the year from the Bradlees.

I hope all of you get a chance to see this film and read up on these characters.

Lynn Los Angeles

Coach Bo Ryan "Best of Madison"

Hi Friends: Part of being "Best of Madison" is the people you get to hang around with. Our good friend Tim Hughes was given the job of photographing the "Best of Madison" 2009 party held at the Madison Club last night. The entire J. LaMore and jlamore.com crew was there to celebrate and do what we do best. Party! (We do a few other things pretty good too!)

I had the honor and the privilege of speaking with one of the best coaches in the country, in any sport, Bo Ryan. Mr Ryan is the UW mens basketball coach and one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Thanks Tim. Great picture!

Jennifer

More on ripped jeans!

Hi Everyone: Like I previously mentioned, I'm diggn' the ripped jean look. I see jlamore.com have similar looking tops to go with this look.

Straight leg or skinny ripped is very cool. I likew this look tucked into tall boots too! Of course, Megan Fox looks fantastic in anything she wears, but she has really grabbed a hold of this style and made it her own. Not to mention all the tattoo's she has.

Lynn
Los Angeles

Ripped up jeans. . . Love!

Hi Jennifer and friends. I have noticed a big trend happening rather quickly in Los Angeles - ripped jeans! Everyone seems to wear them now and I'm a big fan. I recently saw a pic of Kim K in these jeans and Megan Fox lives in them. These jeans are one of the sexiest looks a woman can wear, in my opinion. I love how they look and if you've been working out hard to get in shape, nothing shows off your hot 'bod' better then a pair of great jeans.

I know there are different kinds of worn out looking jeans but the kind that have well structured tears and material showing is my favorite look. The almost-a-tear-but-not-quiet-look.

I don't care for the jeans that have actual holes in them as the appear cheap or look almost home made. I'm very happy this look is coming back strong as I have several pair in my closet.

Lynn Los Angeles.

P.S. Hi Clare: I have to comment on your post about tattoo's. Nice info and I have also seen these high end salons taking in tattoo artist and molding them into their businesses. I don't have any tattoo's but a white tattoo is the only way I would get one. They look kind of cool.

Lynn

Maxi Mania

Paris, Miley, Carrie, Eva, and Nicole all love to wear the fashion friendly maxi dress! We have some great maxi dresses here at J.LaMore! My favorite is the Gypsy 05 "Circle Dye" Maxi Dress. It's so colorful and comfortable!

Every girl should have at least one maxi dress, and if you don't have one by now...you really need to try one :) They're the best trend for summer 09!

Jess

Couture Tattoo's? Not for me!

Hi Jennifer! Thanks for the email and the new assignment. I was surprised to read the list of topics for discussion but eagerly accepted the task. Wow! You gave me a wide range of interesting things to write about. So, I'm first going to write about the new trend in body art. Couture tattoo's! It's the newest trend in high end 'tats' and all the celebs (and just about everyone else) seem to be jumping on the band wagon to get. So you're probably asking yourself, 'what's a couture tattoo?'

Well, it's a tattoo done by a classically trained artist who are brought into a salon where you could get a massage, your hair done, a manni and a pedi. These salons teamed up with the tattoo artist to bring the customer the very best in your tattoo getting experience. These salons decided to eliminate the stereotype of dirty, grungy parlors and make it a high rise experience. Some of these salons will offer a doctor subscribed Vicodin or even anesthesia.

These tattoo artist's are popping up in high end salons in London, Paris, NY, Los Angeles and Tokyo. This list is too long to mention here. A co-worker I know has been to a salon like this but did not get a tattoo. She did say, however, that she was interested in getting one after seeing how luxurious it was. A glass of Chardonnay didn't hurt either.

Now, the big question is, how much is a tattoo in a salon like this? Well, a small tattoo can cost around $125 to $250 for women. Men usually get bigger tattoo's and they can spend anywhere between $400 - $700!

I then discovered that the new trend in tattoo's for women are white tattoo's. I learned that white tattoo's are high maintenance and return visits are required because the pigment is thicker. White tattoo's are subtle and can be more like a birth mark and are very popular now. There is still a definite interest in making a statement with a tattoo and some women still want to get 'sleeved' with tattoo's that cover a large portion of both arms. Yuck!

Anyway Jennifer, I have no interest in getting any kind of tattoo but getting my toe nails done and having a glass of wine could loosen me up to the idea.

Clare, London, England

New Moms..Stay at home!!

Hi everyone! I am still here, down in sweltering Miami. I check up on everyone very often, but am very busy with my 3 kiddos... speaking of kiddos, I just have to respond to Clare's blog about new moms returning to work. I personally struggled with the issue of career woman vs. mom, and "why can't I have it all?" I used to say things like I am going to do what I want to do and "nothing, not even a baby, is going to stand in my way." I used to think that the lectures that my grandma would give me about the "sacrifices" I should make to stay at home with my kids because it was best for them were so "old fashioned". I looked down upon my own Mom, who stayed at home with us and did not have a career.

While I was dating my now-husband, I began to think about the future, raising children, and my career path. After MUCH soul-searching, I realized this: like it or not, I am a woman. Therefore, I bear the children if we choose to do so. As a woman, I, personally, am a nurturing, loving, mothering human being. If I choose to raise a family by bearing children, one of the two will suffer: my career or my children. I am an achiever, and like to be successful in my endeavors. I had to choose. Which was more important to me? My future children, or my career? I chose my children. I do have a job. I work night-shift on the weekends as an RN so that my husband can stay with my kids. Do I enjoy working 7pm-7am on a Saturday night? Absolutely not- but, grandma, I now understand what you meant by making "sacrifices" for your children. I also highly respect my Mom for staying home with us.. believe me it AIN'T EASY!!!! (ask my husband- he did it last week for 5 days and couldn't wait to get back to work)

I applaud women who have made names for themselves in the workplace. I don't think every woman should be a stay-at-home mom. I love that I was given the choice to pursue a career or raise children, and I have those women at the top to thank.

I understand that some women don't have a choice whether or not to stay home. It scares me to death to see women being rewarded, actually PROMOTED, for taking shorter maternity leaves. We should be moving in the opposite direction!! Families should be supported in the workplace with LONGER paid maternity leaves, on-site childcare, breastfeeding rooms, etc. I believe, and this may piss some people off, that if you are not willing to let anything stand in your way in order to advance your career, "not even a baby", then you shouldn't have a baby!!! Go for it, girl! Pursue your career all the way to the top! But please don't bring a child into this world that you don't want to "stop you from doing what you want to do."

So, Clare, I guess I answered your question, rather vehemently I suppose, "how do women today handle their career and motherhood?" I felt the answers you were given were rather one-sided, and I felt I had to put a few words in for those 24/7 moms who never seem to get enough credit.

Amanda in Miami
PS- This is a fairly recent picture of my 3 future-fashionistas!

Another Boho Chic Favorite!

Enter "jordan" at checkout and to receive your free gift! When I did all of my Spring and Summer buying for J. LaMore I knew I needed to find the perfect necklaces to pair up with the adorable dresses I had found. I came across a Los Angeles based designer who made these great "boho chic" style necklaces. I knew it was a match made in heaven.

This week's favorite item giveaway is this fabulous necklace by Los Angeles based designer, Jordan Alexander. We sell this necklace and similar ones right here at J. LaMore for $85 and up! Enjoy this item for free this week as my gift with purchase! All online orders (while supplies last) will receive this necklace with their shipment. Enter promo code "jordan" at checkout to receive your gift. It's also available in black, so please specify your color preference in the gift message.

I'm so curious to know about your favorite things. Email me and tell me what you can't live without!

Jennifer