Juicy in New Jersey

Lately I have been craving a really fabulous clutch that would be nice enough for a night out yet classic enough for every day use. My co-workers have been sporting some really great ones so I think this is why I have a sudden urge to buy one (along with the thousands of other bags, clothes, and shoes on my "To Buy" list). I own a few clutches but they're really nothing to write home about- just some simple ones that I use if a handbag looks silly with my outfit. So I decided to see what Juicy had to offer in the way of clutches...



The first one I came across was the Juicy Couture Flap Lock Elongated Clutch.

Here are the three things that I love about this clutch- 1) The signature crown on the lock- so cute! 2) The colors that it comes in- I'm a sucker for anything pink but I also like having the options of black and brown for every day use or red for standing out at night. 3) The inside! I can't believe how many things I could carry in this clutch. I usually can't hold much at all, but this has room for my cell phone, change, credit cards, and ID (for my newly 21 self!). This is phenomenal to me.



I was also really drawn to the Push Lock Clutch. It's very similar to the other one (the inside especially) but I think what makes me like this one a little bit more is the lock on the side. It makes it a little bit more unique. But I'd definitely take either one!

Ahh, rainy days in New York City. The trash in the street gets soaking wet and sticks to my shoes, the subways get crowded and smelly, I can't avoid getting soaking wet because I can't just hop into my car, and my hair ALWAYS gets ruined. These are the kinds of days that make me seriously contemplate hopping onto NJTransit and hightailing it home to New Jersey. It lets me say everything I want to say about Manhattan (am I the only one that HATES it here?!)

But today when I woke up and saw the rain and checked the temp (a cool 61 degrees) I got sort of excited. As weird as it sounds, I finally had an excuse to wear my gorgeous Juicy Sammy Scottie-Print rain boots! And I decided I'd try and protect my hair with my Juicy military cap. I can just see Keenan shaking his head at me right now. I'm not going to lie, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip up to 14th street for Dunkin Donuts and food shopping. I even got to whip out my Juicy umbrella. Life is good.



This will be the first time since I moved back to school that I'll be staying in the city for the whole weekend. Tonight I'm making Rachael Ray's Lasagna Casserole and watching last night's episode of The Office that I missed (I watched Grey's Anatomy instead--so good.) I have to try and remember to take a picture of the food so that I can get back into posting the recipes that I'm impressed with. Anyways, off to do some work...maybe.

You've gotta love Google Alerts. The only one I have sent to me is "Juicy Couture" and once in a while it provides me with some great articles. I just opened my most recent one and saw that WWD.com had featured Juicy in an article about how a lot of apparel firms are now creating their own social networks and delving into social media. It's an interesting read and goes into some more detail about Juicy's new website- a perfect complement to yesterday's post. It's a long article but I'm posting the parts about Juicy below, for your reading pleasure!

"Inspired by the Internet and its potential to bring people together, brands and retailers from St. John to Sears are diving into social media in a big way, from adding social features to their online stores to actually creating their own online communities.

Juicy Couture Wednesday relaunched its online store with a slew of social features. “It’s the DNA of our culture now,” said Juicy’s Gela Nash-Taylor, referring to creating and sharing content online. “Everybody loves to do that. I laugh every time I make a hotel reservation and I see people’s comments.”

In the Juicy site’s Club Couture section, visitors can create a profile by finishing fun statements such as “Celebrity crush” and “Three words that describe you.” They can’t friend or message each other, but they can share and rate virtual outfits and photos of themselves wearing Juicy. They can also comment on the site’s blog, called “Love G & P,” referring to the brand’s co-founders, Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy.

Asked whether adding an online community to an online store could have an effect on sales, Nash-Taylor said, “I think everybody in our industry is moving toward being more interactive with their customers, and that kind of synergistic branding with others and the Web site should translate into sales. It makes you more engaged, you’re part of it, you’re in on it.”

The content is moderated for appropriateness, and the ratings system is designed to be positive. A note on the blog instructs contributors to be respectful.

“I know some of these blogs can get really vicious,” said Nash-Taylor. “That’s not our DNA.” "

And here is a fab picture of Pam and Gela from the article:

I can't believe how long it has been since I've updated! And now that i finally am, it makes me laugh because of where I'm blogging from- history class. I know, I'm bad, but I have an extreme case of senioritis- this feeling is so familiar from high school. The reason why I haven't updated in so long is because I've barely had a moment to breathe. My week is spent going back and forth between New Jersey for work and New York City for school. Even though I've felt like my life is so non-stop lately, I'm kind of enjoying it because I'm finishing up my college education while throwing myself headfirst into the PR world. I think I'm going to be very prepared when I graduate in the spring.

As busy as I've been, I definitely haven't been neglecting the Juicy Couture! I knew I had to get back into posting because Juicy just completely updated their website, and I'm already obsessed with it. As someone who's in love with social media and interactive public relations, they've definitely made me proud. I've had gripes with their website for a while, but now I really feel like they understand that they need to have a stronger online presence and they're moving in that direction.

My favorite new feature is of course the blogging! Gela and Pam have been semi-mythical figures, dwelling in the background of their brand (and through their barbie dolls of course!), but now their fans and users can finally get to know them a little better. I think this is important for them, because all of Juicy's products are signed with "Love G + P", implying a closeness to their devoted followers (like moi of course). I already left a comment on one of their posts, telling the readers to get to know yours truly. I think this might FORCE me to update more frequently!


The new website also includes a "Club Couture", Juicy wallpapers, G+P music playlists, complete with links to iTunes to purchase the songs, and a newsroom. And it's prettier, duh. Something tells me I won't be paying much attention to History today...

I was just browsing Nordstrom's Juicy Couture selection and fell in love with the Juicy Couture Wish Necklace.

Peace signs seem to be really in right now, I've been seeing them everywhere! Maybe I'll buy this necklace to go along with the Victoria's Secret Signature Zip Hoodie with Peace Sign that I've been eyeing. Have you ever noticed how similar Victoria's Secret's PINK and Juicy can be? That's OK with me, because I would gladly spend all my money on both.

On a completely different note, I'm away from school for the weekend to celebrate Labor Day in Keenan's town. It's a huge deal here so I'm looking forward to a lot of New Jersey fun. Last night I followed through on my promise to myself to try a new recipe at least once a week. Instead of just cooking for me and Keenan, I tried out a new Rachael Ray recipe on Justin, Genevieve and Keenan's dad. Besides burgers, Rachael is also known for her creative mac and cheese recipes- and mac and cheese is great for a crowd. I made Mac and Cheese Lorraine because I love quiche Lorraine and though this would be delicious. Overall everyone seemed to enjoy it, although I wish the flavor could have been a little stronger. Maybe this was because I used Swiss cheese instead of the ridiculously expensive Gruyere! However, the bacon went perfectly with the macaroni and next time I'll be sure to use more. I'm looking forward to trying out a new recipe next week, in my new, tiny NYU kitchen.

I hope everyone has a great holiday :)

Now that Juicy is charging full steam ahead into the fall season, I can't stop checking their website to see all the adorable clothes and accessories they are putting out. While summer is definitely my favorite season, when it comes to fashion my heart belongs to fall. Who can resist battling the chilly weather with warm (and totally cute!) jackets? I don't even mind trading in my flip flops for flats and boots. Since school starts in one week, I have to start doing some back to school shopping. Here are my top 3 most wanted choices from Juicy's fall collection.

Summer is my absolute favorite season- it's the time of my birthday, beach trips, lots of ice cream, and cute clothes. So it goes without saying that when August begins to wind down and September gets closer, I am generally not a happy camper. Even though I'm in college (which means I have a pretty light school load!) I still get that feeling of dread when I know that I have to leave my freedom behind and go back to spending my time in front of books- and NOT the kind of books that I enjoy! However, for some odd reason, I've always LOVED buying my school supplies. There's just something about a new notebook and some really cool pens. I know, huge nerd.

So you can imagine I was pretty ecstatic when I took a lunchtime stroll through Nordstrom and discovered that Juicy Couture had come out with a line of school supplies! My creativity when it comes to my back-to-school gear has definitely diminished over the year, so this might be my chance to spice things up again. The line consists of notebooks, a mousepad and mouse for the computer, and a school essentials kits.

Something tells me these products skew towards the younger set, but there are two grown up products in the line that i HAVE to have. First is a girly, pink laptop case that would be perfect for my new Macbook. My last laptop got really scratched up whenever I was feeling strong enough to haul it to campus. This would protect it and be really cute at the same time.



The second item, which I am really considering saving up for, is a puffy, nylon backpack (in pink of course)! I can't even remember the last time I owned a backpack because they're usually pretty unfashionable. Since my freshman year at NYU I have been using a Coach baby bag to haul my books around. It has worked incredibly well but sometimes it can be tough on my one shoulder- I bet it hasn't helped my posture at all. Backpacks have been looking more and more practical and this one is the PERFECT way to make a backpack stylish.



Too cute. But I'm still not looking forward to going back to school!