Search Honestly Jamie
I just wanted to send out a big thank you to all of my friends and readers who came to our Cory Monteith Charity Sale this past Saturday. We were able to raise about $800 for one of Cory’s favorite charities, Project Limelight, and I know he would’ve been very happy about that. On another note, we donated any beauty products that weren’t sold to Goodwill, to help spread the love even more!
BIG thanks to our generous wine sponsor, Seven Daughters Wine!
For me, there’s something synonymous about fall and apple cider. It reminds me of childhood apple picking days in New York with my family, and then coming home and drinking all of the amazing cider that we bought while at the apple orchid. I like apples, sure, but apple cider is where it’s AT guys. While home visiting my family for Christmas a few years ago, I found myself up late watching TV while everyone else was asleep…I’ve always been a night owl, so it’s not really any big surprise. My dad ran out of wine that night and I was craving a cocktail as I watched old episodes of Law & Order: SVU, as we do. After checking my dad’s fridge, where he keeps ALL wine (both white AND red- don’t ask), I realized he was out and my options were: water, orange juice and, wait for it, apple cider. Instinctively I went for the OJ because lord knows I loved me a good Screwdriver in college, but then a light went off in my head about the cider. I mean, if vodka works well with orange juice, why not fancy apple juice? The verdict: DELICIOUS.
Apple Cider Vodka Cocktail
1. Put ice cubes into 8 ounce glass, and add shot of vodka
2. Fill the glass up with apple cider
3. Stir the drink with the cinnamon stick and add apple slice, if desired
Jonathan Adler is having a FRIENDS AND FAMILY 20% sale. Yes, that’s right. I got so excited when I found out,that I decided to do an impromptu post of all of the things I would buy, all at 20% off, obviously. Get 20% off your entire purchase from now until Monday, October 14th: use code FF2013 at check out!
2. Victorian LOVE Needlepoint Pillow
3. Gold Carnaby Zebra Stacking Dish
Many of you might know that I recently started freelancing for Shape.com and it’s quickly becoming a big obsession for me, e.g. researching and learning about healthy recipes. Yes, I said it. The girl who literally never cooked anything aside from pasta (until maybe four years ago) is now writing articles about COOKING. It’s a big accomplishment for me, both as a writer AND as a 30-year-old who used to literally live on NYC Chinese takeout and salads from Chipotle. Ok, so I still probably get salads from Chipotle at least twice a week (they are GOOD, guys), but at least now I can feasibly make simple and healthy things for myself. Case and point, THESE recipes for healthy one-pot meals. Tell me, what are your easy go-to meals?
As you guys know, I’ve hosted quite a few brand events in my time as a blogger. I’m always super picky about the brands that I align myself with because, hello, it’s all about reputation. When WISHCLOUDS approached me to host an influencer event, I checked out the site and KNEW I had a winner on my hands. I’ve been “wishing” like crazy and what I love most about the site is that you get notifications (either push to your iPhone or emails) when your wishes go on SALE. I mean. It’s a great excuse to wish for all of the things that you lust after and just cross your fingers that they go on sale. You don’t have to keep checking back, WISHCLOUDS will let you know.
Check out all the event photos HERE.
As I mentioned in a previous post my long-time friend, Kenna, did all the sweets and decor!
Sole Society bags and accessories in the gifting room
Lara Bar goodness
Capwell + Co. jewels, all of which I’m obsessed.
All the goods (Sole Society, Felina, Capwell + Co., Lara Bars)
Life has definitely thrown me a few curve balls this past year, I have to say, but one of the things that I’m most proud of is the fact that I’m heavily involved with charity. Sure, the ups and downs have been rough, and we all have our “days” where we feel like we have the worst life EVER, but in reality…it’s not even close to that. Cory’s sudden passing was not only devastating to me and my circle of friends, but it actually served as yet another wakeup call that basically reinforced the fact that 1-) life is short and 2-) I’m lucky on SO many levels and need to be better about appreciating that fact. We all have our battles, some worse than others, but anyone who’s reading this is still HERE, and enjoying their life.
I thought hard about the way that I wanted to honor Cory’s memory; I wanted it to be something that I’d be good at, and yet still fulfill something that was deeply important to him. Last year I did a charity sale that benefited animals so I thought “why not re-create that with two of my friends who also knew Cory?”
And enter: The Cory Monteith Memorial Sale
Saturday, October 12th
11-4pm
I’ve partnered with Nadine Jolie and Maggie Lee to sell discounted beauty products, jewelry and accessories on October 12th. We’re donating 100% of our proceeds to Project Limelight, one of Cory’s favorite charities that provides free theater programs to underprivileged children in Vancouver, where he lived for many years.
Please stop by if you’re in the LA area, and feel free to forward the invite around!
Jamie and Kenna, circa 2002
As much as we all complain about the annoyances of social media (FOMO, over-sharing, etc.), it does have its upsides. I recently attended a little shopping event for my friend Beth Jones and she posted a group photo of us on her Instagram. Well, turns out that my long-time pen pal (circa HIGH SCHOOL) just so happens to know Beth (via a mutual friend) and immediately recognized me in the picture! She looked at who was tagged, saw my very obvious Instagram name and commented on one of my photos to let me know it was her, Kenna O’Leary, now Kenna O’Brien. I mean…I literally screamed with excitement. Funny enough, I had actually searched for her on Facebook a few times but since she is now married, the “Kenna O’Leary” search never resulted well. A quick back story, Kenna and I met because she won a ‘zine contest that Seventeen magazine had waaaay back in the day (e.g. the 90s). If you’re not familiar, a ‘zine was actually the FIRST kind of blog, basically a DIY magazine that was then photocopied and snail mailed out to subscribers. Kind of amazing to think about that kind of format now, considering how popular blogs are.
Kenna and I wrote each other (with actual paper and pen, btw) pretty regularly through out high school and the beginning of college but then lost touch. I basically chalk it up to the fact that I was doing the college thing (e.g. lots of partying) and Kenna was working at an AMAZING dream job: being a Barbie designer for Mattel. Yes, dreams DO come true guys. One of the things that initially made me adore Kenna is that she always pursued her dream and never cared what anyone else had to say about it. She’s three years older than me and, as Kenna said in her blog post about us, three years may have well been 30 when you’re in high school. Yet, I really looked up to Kenna and I still remember how excited I would get when I would find a letter from her in my mail box.
Back to present day, I quickly found out that Kenna now has a thriving party planning business and, of course, a blog to go with that business. I would expect nothing less. And, of course, I found a way to bring us back together! I’m working with a new website called WISHCLOUDS (more on that later) and they’re throwing a big launch party for Bloggers this week. I asked Kenna if she would help style the party up and make it really over-the-top (Kenna’s specialty), and luckily she was available. I haven’t seen Kenna since 2002 and I’m so excited for us to be re-united this Wednesday here in LA.
Have you guys been re-united with long lost friends via social media?
