In the mood for summer!

Hi "friends" ... I feel like I've been gone forever and I have so much to chat about!

First off, congrats Jennifer and to the whole J. LaMore team ... your hard work definitely paid off at Fashion Week — the ladies looked absolutely stunning in their tribal-inspired digs. Your segment was so memorable! And I love the partnership with Katy's American Indian Arts — it's definitely one of my favorite stores in Madison, especially for memorable trinkets and jewelry.

Recently, I've been buying into the whole, hippie-grunge look and I splurged on a pair of Frye "Engineer" boots (shown above) and I have to tell you all ... they're everything I imagined and more. I will forever stand by the brand because their craftsmanship is impeccable. Not only do they look great with skinny jeans tucked in, but I'm finding that they work with skirts and dresses as well. It's almost like a feminine twist on punk rock — and I love that! Bonus? They'll last forever.

Another thing I wanted to let everyone know is today on Fashionistaville (my blog), I put out a "Friends & Partners" offer from Kiehl's that I received via e-mail so that all my readers can take advantage of 20% off orders of $45 or more. For Kiehl's (one of my all time favorite brands), that's a GREAT deal. Below are a few of my favorite products ... also in my post today, I've described each products and why I love it.

Have a happy weekend — can't wait to see the new lookbook!

Photo Shoot

Yesterday J.LaMore had a photo shoot at The Hilton downtown Madison, and on State Street! We had two great models KJ and Raquel!
Here I am with the models taking a fun picture in between shoots :)
The models look great in our clothes! They're wearing the J.A.K. "Pink Plaid Western" Top with the Miss Me "Cheyenne Bootcut" Jean....GREAT outfit! The other outfit is the Lauren Moshi "Burnout Dolphin Swing" Top and Miss Me "Rhinestone Twill" Short. Both girls made the shoot so fun and easy!

Look for the updated LOOKBOOK soon!

Jessica
Model/Stylist

Great new website for Chef's!

Hi everyone: Our cousin Leigh in San Francisco has a new job! She's a blogger for a fantastic website called Parties that Cook! All of us at J. LaMore and jlamore.com will finds this a useful website as we party all the time and are constantly looking for ideas and recipes.

Leigh is on summer break from the University of Marquette here in Wisconsin. I linked to her blog about cupcakes and thought it was excellent!

Check it out and I hope all of you enjoy the site as much as we do.

Jennifer

Best of Madison Party

Hey everyone! My name is Raquel and I have recently started working at J.LaMore as an intern for the upcoming fashion show. I have been coming to the store since I was in grade school while I shopped along with my mom. Now I am 16 years old and I go to Edgewood High School. This summer I looked forward to learning all I can from Jim and Jennifer. This Friday is the Best of Madison Awards and I am excited to go along with the rest of the J.LaMore crew!

Raquel

New Mom's. . . Stay at work!

Hi Jennifer and all friends from around the world. (I read Julie's post and I thought this was a good time to finish this assignment.)

In my recent Facebook conversations with Jennifer LaMore, I informed her that one of my best friends just had a baby. Jennifer then asked me how this affected her career as a rising young corporate executive. That was a great question so I took it upon myself to look into this matter, not just for my friend, but for most women who work in these economically trying days.

How do women today handle their career and motherhood?

What I found was surprising information about how women feel about their "once in a lifetime" opportunity to advance in the office and that a baby wasn't going to stand in the way. My friend told me the exact same thing. She was going to bring the baby to work with her if she had to but the baby wasn't going to stop her from doing her job. She also said that no one in her company takes three months off. At the most - three weeks!

I discovered from the eleven new moms I spoke with that the days of taking three months off for maternity leave have gone by the way side. Just recently a French Justice Minister gave birth on a Friday and attended a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Sarah Palin took five days off from her Governor duties to give birth to her fifth child. And, if you own your own business, taking time off is not an option.

I spoke with one woman who believed that she was in a mans work world and would not have them look differently at her for taking time off to have a baby. (I thought that kind of thinking was gone forever. I guess not.) She was newly employed at a corporate job and she worked right up until going into labor and was back to work four days later. The boss thought her devotion to her job and loyalty was so impressive that she got promoted. She's now a division manager and has been promoted a second time since having her baby. She indicated that she is very good at her job and nothing, not even a baby, was going to stand in her way. Her vision was ". . . I need to provide for my daughter down the road. I need to advance in my career to give her what she needs. Kids are far better off with well adjusted mothers . . . ," Hmm! Who can argue with that.

Some women, however, suffer the downside of going back to work to early. The postpartum weeks after birth are very important for bonding and if you miss those days you can suffer depression, insomnia, and physical and emotional distress for a long time. One woman indicated that she spent three months with her new born daughter and only three weeks with her second child, a son. She said that the daughter is far more dependant then her son.

I found the women I spoke to very interesting and open about how they view the world and maternity leave. They also said that each person was different in how they felt about motherhood but they all believed that no one is going to tell them what to do.

Clare London, England

Office Attire

Since I don't work in an office setting I'm curious as to what office attire is now a days. At J. LaMore I'm lucky enough to be able to wear adorable J. LaMore dresses and tops every day to work. As a nanny I of course don't have a dress code other than a swimsuit and something I can run around in!

Is office attire still as strict as it used to be? My older sister works for a sports marketing company in Madison and is the only woman in the office. She usually just wears a nice sweater and black pants or khakis, but she doesn't follow the "3 piece rule" (pants/skirt, blouse and sweater.) Is it appropriate to just wear nice pants and a top now a days? Going into a new job in a office today I would probably wear an outfit like the one pictured.


-Julie

Britney does Plaid

Britney Spears looks super cute in this blue and brown plaid western top. Look familiar?? It's soo similar to the new J.A.K. "Western Plaid" Top at J. LaMore! Britney wore it out to club Maddox in London this past weekend. The press reported that she looked "bored" out at the club. The tabloids must be upset that there are no crazy Britney stories to report. I for one am happy to see that. Britney's back! But duh... that's old news :)!

-Julie

Live with Love

I really like the new brand that J.LaMore is carrying. I love the bright colors and the fun details on the Live with Love items. These dresses and tops are perfect for me and the warmer months! I think that all of the Live with Love pieces are fabulous :)

Kalyn

Plaid is RAD

These plaid tops are really great! I love the casual plaid look, and J.A.K. pulls it off perfectly with these two tops! I can't decide what color to get...I love the blue but think that the pink will be a great color to have for summer. How cute will it look with some light denim cut off shorts....way cute!

Jessica

Model/Stylist

Eminem is back . . . . !

Hi Jennifer and friends! I have always been fascinated by Eminem and now he's back with a new album. But, I can barely describe why I find him so interesting. I'm not even a fan of rap music but for some reason I follow what happens with Eminem. I couldn't even tell you the name of another rapper.

He's more then a little dangerous, but at the same time he's arguably the most famous rapper, ever. That alone is amazing! (Not to mention, he's a very skilled sketch artist and has even acted in his own movie, "8 mile".)

He has a troubled and dark past. He kind of pops in and out of the lime light and this time he's been gone for more than four years. Where's he been and what's he been doing? Everything he does and says is controversial. Eminem, at one point, was even investigated by the US Secret Service for alledged threats to the president in his song lyrics. (Thats kind of a stretch but I guess I can understand it. It's an angry Eminem wishing the president was dead.)

In his book "100 people who are screwing up America," Bernard Goldberg has Eminem ranked at #58. See what I mean? Why do I find him so fascinating?

Where does he live? He's been married and divorced twice to the same woman. He loves his daughter and refers to her many times in his lyrics but never in a negative way which is a contradiction to how he writes his lyrics and how he describes woman overall. It appears that the worse he says he treats women the more popular he becomes, especially to women! How does that work.

He constantly insults other rappers and criticizes everything and everyone, including the industry that made him famous but offers no better solution. That's fascinating as well considering the rap industry in 99% black and Eminem is the 1% white guy. But, what can they say, he's by far the best rapper ever! The industry has to listen, even if it's an insult.

So the new album is called "Relapse" and we'll see what happens and how it sells. I won't buy it but, I'm still curious.

Lynn Los Angeles

I Love These bracelets. . . They're My Favorite!

Enter promo code "boho" at checkout and get these for free!

I'm having so much fun sharing all of my favorite things with you. Often times, I struggle with how to choose the weekly pick mostly because I have so many things to share I don't know where to start!

All of a sudden it became very easy to decide what to share as I slid on my favorite set of bracelets for the fifth time this week. With all of the choices in my armoire, I continue to wear these wooden bracelets over and over again. I wear them alone, in groups of three, as well as layered up with other silver and gold bracelets.

We sell these bracelets (they all are slightly different, very few are identical) at J. LaMore for $13 a piece. I'm giving away a set of three (while supplies last) with all online orders!

Just enter promo code, "boho"at checkout. Random bracelets will be selected for you. If you have an accent color preference (silver, gold, turquoise, red, etc..) please mention this in the gift message section.

I hope you love these bracelets as much as I do!

Jennifer

Miley in Lauren Moshi

Miley's rockin' the new Lauren Moshi "Owl Racerback Swing" Top. Super cute! Lauren Moshi is huge with celebrities like Miley, Paris, Halle Berry, Vanessa Hudgens, and tons more!

-Julie