Don’t Miss Out, Please

Last week was the launch of our liquidation sale.  I don’t want you to miss on this because once these bags are sold out, we’re closing Star50.

So to keep things fresh and exciting for the next twelve days, all bags are $20.
We’re calling it The 12 for 20 Deal.

For the next twelve (12) days, all our in-stock product is $20.00. No joke, just good gifting.

Crazy, huh– What a steal!  All bags for twenty bucks.

And that’s not all:  If you purchase five (5) bags, you’ll be entered to win our best seller, The Colorado Lodge Tote.  I’ll tell you a secret:  I’ve kept two just for this reason so if  you want a chance to take home 6 bags for yourself, friends and family, get moving to www.star50bags.com and make that purchase. [Please use Code: 12420 at checkout to be entered into the drawing]

I wanted to make sure that you got this before everyone else does.

Until midnight, December 22nd,  you can purchase all in-stock bags for $20 each and if you make a $100 purchase, your name will be entered for our holiday giveaway bag, The Colorado Lodge tote, using Code: 12420 at checkout.

Its my way of saying THANKS to all you Starlets out there who read our newsletter, commented on my sporadic blog and just plain supported me throughout the years..  Check us out at http://www.star50bags.com
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Pick, Wear and Give a Star50 bag this holiday season before we close.
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Be the one to own a unique handbag that tells a great story and keep the secret that you purchased it for only twenty bucks.

P.S. This deal is too good to pass up so hurry to www.star50bags.com and stock up on some good lookin’ bags.

P.S.S.  Drawing for the Colorado Tote will be held on December 22nd at 10pm, MST.  Winner  will be notified by email.

All dressed up…

I’ve been busy this week shopping for cute new outfits for all the upcoming spring weddings I plan to attend. What I need to wear varies with the type of wedding and time of day, so I’ll be needing several new dresses.

For example, business attire is OK for an informal daytime wedding, but an informal wedding in the evening calls for a cocktail dress. Semi-formal usually means a short dress in the daytime and a cocktail dress in the evening.

For those formal weddings, a short dress with a hat and gloves is fine if it’s during the day, but if it’s in the evening, a long dress or extremely dressy cocktail dress is all that will make the grade. Not too many people have white tie, or ultra-formal weddings anymore. Those usually call for a long gown with lots of glitz, including diamonds and furs!

While your dress can be almost any color other than white, it’s a great idea to pick a bright, fun color for spring. If you aren’t sure what colors are flattering to you, any shade of blue or pink is usually a good choice. While pastels are great for daytime weddings, you may want to look for bold colors like red or gold when choosing attire for an evening event.

And, of course, glam heeled shoes or sandals and a cute handbag are always a must for a spring wedding. I like a little sparkle in my handbags, especially for weddings. That’s why I’ve designed several Star 50 handbags with glitter and glam!

If you are lucky like me and get to dress your date, a dark suit and a conservative tie will work for almost any occasion. While you don’t want to get to cutesy with the suit, it’s always a nice touch to have your man’s tie blend with your dress.

Of course, if the invite states white tie or black tie, your date will need to wear a tuxedo with the corresponding tie color!

Have fun and I can’t wait to hear what you’re wearing this spring!

Wedding bells and Springtime tales

As the frost finally fades from my yard and my mind, I start to think of the pastel colors, romance and flowers that are common to all those spring weddings I’ll be attending over the next few months.

Whether you’re the bride, the bridesmaid or just an honored guest, you have to be prepared for torrential downpours or blazing sun when getting ready for a spring wedding. Time to get a coordinating umbrella to tuck inside your favorite handbag so you don’t have to run and hide at the first sprinkle of spring.

Yet, most spring weddings see plenty of sun, making them just as much fun for the guests as for the bride and wedding party. With the weather finally warm enough for outdoor ceremonies and receptions, guests can bask in the sun or look up at the stars and find their own bit of romance right in the middle of the ceremony or on a quick private stroll outside the wedding or reception hall.

After a winter of jackets and layers, we can finally shed those coats and show off the vibrant florals that spring inspired. What better excuse to buy a new dress or handbag than going to a spring wedding. And what better place to wear last year’s classic dress?

Spring also affords some glorious options and fun for the bride and groom. I always love to see what flowery color combinations brides will choose for spring weddings. Pink, tangerine, lilac, lime and yellow are all popular colors for spring weddings this year. I’ve always loved these pastels in the spring, but I’ve also seen some lovely weddings themed on hot pink or fuchsia.

One good thing about a spring wedding is that so many types of flowers are in season. A bride can choose just one or many combined into a colorful nosegay. Roses, tulips, hyacinth, lilies and Gerber daisies and multi-colored calla lilies are all in season now and add to the fanciful romance of a spring wedding.

I’d love to hear about your spring wedding or the ones you plan to attend. Post a comment to tell me all about it!

 

Escape from it all…. right at home

With job security down and gas prices up, it seems more people than ever are opting for a staycation – finding fun and relaxation at home. If you have even a little money to spend on your summer entertainment, why not spend it sprucing up your own yard to make your staycation even more enjoyable?

Whether you are planning a staycation or just looking for a way to relax after work, you can find peace and tranquility right in your own backyard. A tiny porch in a New York high rise, a rooftop garden, or a large yard can all provide a private outdoor space where you can relax after a long and hectic day while nature soothe your nerves.

With the right plants and conservation practices, you can easily create an inviting place for birds, nature, and your family with minimal cost and effort. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) offer a free Backyard Conservation booklet that showcases simple backyard conservation practices. These include simple ideas for terracing, tree planting, composting, mulching, wildlife habitat, wetlands, ponds and water conservation.

If you have a larger yard and time to work in it, designing a garden is a natural way to escape for awhile. It’s always best to work with what you have, so depending on the native plants and existing landscaping in your yard, you may choose to plant a woodland landscape, a butterfly garden or a xeriscape garden. All of these garden types are generally easy to plant and maintain and are likely to use plants already existing in your yard.

If you have a small space or little time, a deck or patio garden can give you the illusion of a garden escape with less cost and hassle. Adding a deck is a popular, low-cost way to add living space to home. They facilitate outdoor dining. In fact, many homeowners turn their decks into small, but full-scale outdoor kitchens and entertainment areas.

Patios offer similar benefits to decks, but are made of stone, brick, patio pavers or concrete. If you decide to add a box garden or planters to your patio, plan to locate them in areas that receive consistent sunlight. A small fountain can also add a peaceful feel to your patio or deck and obscure noises from neighbors in an urban area.

As for me, I’m off to spend some time relaxing and watching birds in my backyard!  While I’m there, post a comment about how you escape to your own backyard!

 

 

A kinder, greener office space

I read today that the White House is going green, so it seems like a good time to find some ways to make my own office greener.

I plan to start with the standard “reduce, reuse and recycle” since I already reduce a lot – using less paper and other resources saves money. Since I do a lot of my business for Star50 online, I already use less paper than more traditional businesses. Of course, there is always more we can all do and I plan to do my part!

Recycling, too, is easy. Simply set up bins in a central location for paper, plastic, glass and aluminum cans. I plan to have paper collection bins in several location throughout the office – near printers, copiers and workstations. If you can’t get recycling picked up at your office, you can either take it home for curbside recycling or drop it off at a recycling center on the way home from work.

With the green bug hitting so many people, greener office supplies are becoming more and more available. You can buy everything from organic cleaning supplies to recycled paper to keep your office environmentally friendly. With all the shipping I do, I was happy to find that I can even buy and use green packing materials! Committing to go green with even one product line such as packing materials, can make a huge difference in a business’s environmental footprint.

Another simple and easy way to go green at work is to turn off computers when they are not in use. According to goinggreen.com, nearly half of U.S. employees who use a PC don’t shut down their computers at the end of the workday, wasting energy costing billions each year.

If you are on and off the computer all day, check out the eco-button that allows you to quickly and easily stop and restart the computer each time you step away from the computer.

You can also reduce your energy usage at the office by replacing light bulbs with CFEs or LED lights when they burn out. Both can save energy and save you money. According to The Daily Green, LEDs can save up to $20 a month in locations where the lights are left on all of the time.

There are so many ways to make my office greener I can’t wait to get started!

Green is in the Air

St. Patrick’s Day may be over, but it seems like everyone around me is still going green – environmentally green, that is.

I’ve always been concerned with historical preservation, an interest I carry over to many of my handbags. So, it seems natural for me to find ways to preserve the environment as well. With Spring Break and summer travel on the horizon, I’ve been looking for ways to make my trips a bit greener.

Planet Green has some excellent ideas for making Spring Break and summer travel green and easy. With a little bit of planning, you can reduce the environmental impact of your vacation by packing less, using green products, renting a greener hybrid car and eating locally grown foods.

If you are planning a fairly traditional spring break or summer vacation, you can do your part and buy green sunscreen, green clothing, green tents and even organic cocktails. If you are traveling, try choosing a green city such as New York or San Francisco that offers environmentally friendly entertainment.

A trip to San Francisco can include using public transportation, eating organic and vegan foods and visiting state and national parks.

Like San Francisco, New York offers public transportation and green restaurants. It also has several certified environmentally hotels, including the Benjamin that was renovated and Ecotel certified in 1999.

Many other U.S. cities, including Denver, Dallas, Fort Meyers, Detroit and Philadelphia have environmentally sound offerings for residents and tourists who want to have some fun while staying green.

If you want to take it a step farther – or greener, as the case may be – you could join a growing group of people who are planning alternative Spring Breaks and summer vacations during which they volunteer either at home or abroad rather than consuming and polluting.

Depending on your time and your pocketbook, a green vacation could be volunteering at your local food bank, building homes for Habitat for Humanity, painting houses on a Navajo reservation or planting trees in Mexico.

I’m still in the planning and dreaming stages, but wherever I go on my next vacation I want it to be green.

Pub parties for St. Patty’s Day

I’ve been reading a bit more about the best Irish pubs in America since it’s getting so close to St. Patrick’s Day! I‘ve read about a lot of really great-sounding pubs this week and I‘m sure all of them will be having special events for St. Patty‘s Day!

This year, Kell’s Irish Pub in Portland, Oregon is putting on a 4-day Irish Festival in honor of St. Patty’s Day. Kell’s is going all out with music, dancers, and traditional Irish food. Kell’s regular pub menu features a taste of Ireland, including Shepherd’s pie, fish and chips and Guinness.

If you happen to be in Atlanta, Georgia over St. Patrick’s Day, be sure to check out the St. Patty’s Day block party at Limerick Junction. For Irishmen at heart, this Irish pub offers year-round Irish charm with a selection of beer and lager, “pub grub” and Irish entertainment.

Cat’s Eye Pub in Baltimore, Maryland, is another truly authentic Irish pub in America. Located in the historical Fell’s Point area of Baltimore, this pub’s been sharing the luck of the Irish with Irishmen of all nationalities for more than 30 years. From the sounds of it Cat’s Eye is the best party in Baltimore whether it’s St. Patrick’s Day or not.

And, leave it to the Irish to create a true neighborhood pub smack in the middle of a coastal tourist town. The Poet and the Patriot opened in Santa Cruz, CA in 1982 and has been spreading Irish cheer ever since. Owner Chris Matthews makes an effort to educate his customers about the history of his beloved Ireland while pouring glasses of Guinness, Murphy’s and Smithwick.

I know I can’t visit all these pubs this St. Patty’s Day, but it sure would be fun to try. If you manage to pop into one of these or another great Irish pub this St. Patty’s Day, post a comment and let me know where you went and what you thought of it.

Pick a Pub

Since St. Patty’s Day is this month I thought I’d get together a list of some of the best pubs in America so we can all celebrate!

When thinking about the Irish in America, what better place to start out than Boston, with a pub on every corner and a leprechaun on its basketball team’s logo? It’s certainly hard to choose, but I’ve been told the best of the best in Boston is Doyle’s Café on Washington street. Doyle’s has hosted local Irish politicians for more than a century.

New York City is another bastion of Irish heritage. In a city the size of New York it may take more than one pub. Stop in at Paddy Reilly’s Music on the weekend for some Celtic rock and a pint of Guinness. If you’re looking to celebrate amidst a bit of history, check out McSorley’s Old Ale House, which just celebrated it’s 155^th birthday. New York City hosts annual St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl, so if you’re in the city for St. Patty’s day be sure to check it out!

In Chicago, where everyone is Irish on March 17, Emmitt’s Irish Pub and Eatery is the place to see and be seen. Featured in movies including ‘Backdraft’, ‘Uncle Buck’, ‘Ocean’s 11’ and ‘Ocean’s 12.’ Emmitt’s has overcome it’s location’s sordid past to become the most popular Irish pub in the windy city.

And Irish pubs aren’t a commodity limited to the East Coast. The Dubliner in San Francisco is a good old fashioned pub with friendly barkeeps and good Irish coffee and ale. It’s also one of the few places in the Bay Area that sells the West Coast’s Irish newspaper the Irish Herald.

Down south at McGuire’s Irish Pub in Pensacola, Florida, Irishmen of all nationalities sign dollar bills and pin them to the ceiling in tribute to Molly, the waitress who pinned her first $1 tip to the back of the bar. McGuire’s is housed in an old firehouse and boasts a turn of the century New York City aura.

Parading that Irish spirit

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping I have the “luck of the Irish” on St. Patrick’s Day this year. So I‘m planning ahead for a memorable holiday. Every St. Patty‘s Day I dress all in green, right down to my handbag. And whether it‘s the luck of the Irish or just good planning, I’ve designed several handbags that are available in green, giving me many choices about what purse to carry!

I’ve also been checking out St. Patrick’s Day events across the nation so I‘ll have somewhere to wear all that green. Every pub in the world, of course, will be celebrating with Irish music, dancing and beer and most large cities are having parades.

Here in Denver, Colorado, we’ll kick off the holiday the Saturday before with the biggest St. Patrick’s Day parade west of the Mississippi with more than 200 floats and 10,000 marchers. The parade features floats, marchers, step-dancers, bands and bagpipes.

Wonder which U.S. city has the largest parade in the nation? It’s New York City, where the city’s Irish population shows it’s pride by marching up 5^th Street clan by clan. Every year the archbishop of New York reviews the all-marcher parade from the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade has been around since Irishmen living in New York organized it in 1762 – fourteen years before the Declaration of Independence was signed! Of course, with New York City’s huge Irish population, one parade just isn’t enough – more than 15 boroughs, including Queens and Brooklyn, host their own parades.

If St. Patty‘s Day ever catches me in the deep south I‘ll head to New Orleans, Louisiana – the city that has a parade for everything. The Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Committee expects this year‘s St. Patrick‘s Day Parade to be the largest it’s ever had. In New Orleans, parade participants start with a special Mass, then march up Magazine street dressed in formal attire. What could be better than well-dressed Irishmen for a St. Patty’s Day bash?

Though the parades are the public display of Irish spirit in the U.S., the parades are just the beginning. It all ends in a pub full of Irishmen and lovers of all things Irish wearing and honoring Ireland’s patron saint with drink and song.

 

Meet me in St. Louis..

A lot of my handbag designs are about bringing back memories and thinking of times past. I love looking at a handbag and remembering the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. or the ski slopes here in Colorado.

So, when I visit a place I look for out of the way places that will bring back or create memories that will last a lifetime.  And hopefully inspire me to make a new bag!  When I’m not traveling, I spend a lot of time daydreaming about where I’d like to go.

This month, I’m thinking about visiting Missouri, with it’s beautiful scenery and fascinating history. You can learn why Charles Lindberg named his plane “The Spirit of St. Louis” and all about the 1904 World’s Fair at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.

Every visit to Missouri, of course, must include a trip to see the Gateway Arch. I like to sit and look at this magnificent wonder, which is the tallest national monument in the U.S. And a trip to the top, via tram, gives you a view like no other of the Show Me State.

Once, I’ve learned a little history and checked out the most popular tourist attraction. (Did you know that about 1 million people visit the top of the Arch each year?) I like to find some natural wonders. It’s not hard in Missouri, with the Ozark Mountains and lush foliage. But, to see the best plants in the state, I visit the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. This year, the garden, the nation’s oldest botanical garden in continuous operation, celebrates is sesquicentennial anniversary. In addition to being an oasis in the city of St. Louis, the National Historic Landmark is a center for research and science education.

Another site I’d like to see in Missouri is a little off the beaten path and outside the big city. The Ralph Foster Museum in Point Lookout, Missouri is known locally as “the Smithsonian of the Ozarks.” This unique museum boasts novelties of Ozark culture such as the 1921 Oldsmobile truck used in the original Beverly Hillbillies TV series and a display of wood stumps from local trees.

There’s so much to do and see in Missouri, I’ll have to find time to do it all!

Have a nice trip.  Or a nice time thinking about where you’d like to go!