OMG Giada.

I finally made it over to Target yesterday; although I love the store, I have had really low energy since fall started blowing in and just couldn't muster the strength to get over there. I got some good stuff - more of their fabulous v-neck pocket tees (seriously the best t-shirts ever for 8 bucks a pop), a neon pink sports bra, a faux leather jacket, Burt's Bees toothpaste...gotta love a store where you can just get everything! My heart stopped, however, when I found the section for the new Giada for Target line. Dear sweet Lady Gaga. This line is all I've been waiting for. I'm just so pissed that it wasn't available last year when I stocked up on kitchen gadgets for my Boston apartment! It is such a great line containing everything you could ever need for your kitchen: pots and pants, bakeware, cutlery, even appliances! I died when I saw her food processor for 69.99, as opposed to Cuisinart's that go for at least 250!

Isn't it cute???

I've been wanting a food processor forever - my family doesn't even own one, even though we have random things like a bread maker and ice cream maker. I know you can usually use a blender, but like, no. I want to be official. I want to be professional. I want to be Giada.

I was going to buy myself one of her adorable red spatulas (the spatulas in my parents' kitchen are seriously lacking), but I resisted. Instead I got a jar of her Tomato Basil sauce (I read on her blog that her favorite items from her line are her pasta sauces) and I poured it over ravioli for dinner last night and it was fabulous! As soon as you open the jar, you actually smell fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, which you may not expect from a jarred pasta sauce. 

I'm excited to try her other food products and perhaps even obtain a small collection of some of her cookware and tools. I imagine that if I were to be getting married (I'm not getting married, but you know IF I were) I would immediately register for all of her products. Sigh. One day I will have the Giada kitchen of my dreams. Until then, I'm going to try some more of her recipes from this cookbook, maybe one that uses butternut squash to ring in the new season!

Giada is such a Go Austen heroine. She is talented and smart and savvy and beautiful and very much her own woman. You can tell that she's worked very hard to get where she is and that she works for pleasure as well as to make a living. She loves what she does, and that is really inspiring. You go, girl.

Oh September, I love thee...

First of all, I am loving September 2010 because it's when Sara Bareilles' new album Kaleidoscope Heart drops (Sept. 7th!), which I have impatiently been waiting for forever and I am just so excited!! She is my absolute favorite...that rare combination of incredible songwriter, instrumentalist and vocalist. Sure enough the songs that are available for preview are just amazing and I am eating them up! Her new songs will be the soundtrack of my fall in New York and will always remind me of the year I started my post-grad life. I love Sara so much my boyfriend should feel threatened.

Soooo September has always been a favorite month of mine because it means beautiful weather and back-to-school! Now I don't get to indulge in the back-to-school hoopla, and I am really sad about it. However I am venturing forth by getting excited about fall fashion and my new NYC style (which will hopefully be a big of an upgrade from my college style, which let's be honest, got a little lazy sometimes). I'm following in the footsteps of the girls over at Lucky magazine here (if you know me, you know I LOVE Lucky magazine and have an embarassing number of copies in my collection...some of which date back to 2003....yeah.). Every year one of the girls in the Editor's Picks sections proclaims something like "I just want to pretend that I'm going back to school and wear collegiate, studious-looking things!" So that's what I'm about right now. Here are some things I'm excited about for fall:

Shoes!

http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=33940&vid=1&pid=779385&scid=779385012

The Reno High-Heel Oxford from Banana Republic
This was the first thing I saw (in the September issue of Lucky, no less) that made me go "Ah-Ha! I must have you for fall!" I think these shoes are just so cool; I love the unexpected combo of such a masculine style of shoe (my boyfriend has a pair of desert-boot/oxford shoes that remind me of these) with a feminine heel. Speaking of the heel - I love that it's a sturdy, stacked heel that won't make me feel as if I'm about to twist my ankle. I think these would just be so cute with my normal fall uniform of skinny jeans and a slouchy sweater. There are two problems with these shoes, however: one is the price ($140), which is a little steep for me, and the heel height, which is a little high at 3 1/4". I just don't know. But I love them.

Plaid Blouse

http://www.target.com/

Ok so I am pissed, because the original Steven Alan plaid blouse that caught my eye in People StyleWatch seems to ALREADY be unavailable on stevenalan.com because I can't find it! The top I liked was very similar to the Kayla top (http://www.stevenalan.com/catalog/KAYLA-TOP-p-18294-c-996-17415.html) but in this airy red-and-white plaid. It was SO cute; a fresh new version of the now ubiquitous plaid shirt. Now the only similar top I can find is this one from Target, which is also cute - I like that it has the whole collarless, slightly-drapey thing going on, but I really liked the original one from Steven Alan. Oh well, if I'm honest with myself I could never have afforded Steven Alan anyway...which is kind of the theme of my fall shopping...

Faux-fur Vest

http://piperlime.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=59637&vid=1&pid=796894&scid=796894002

So I know I'm being a total trendoid here, but this vest is just so cute. With the toggles?? Amazing. Like the BR shoes, I think this vest would make the fall staples I already have fabulous, like my collection of comfy but relatively boring long-sleeved tees flat boots.

J.Crew Toothpick Zippered Cord


I have been loving on these pants since I stumbled upon them while browsing the site randomly a few weeks ago. I must have these in Steel Green. They are just so cute....the collegiate, slightly nerdy cord material with trendy, slightly tough exposed zippers?? Yes, I say yes.

http://www.jcrew.com/womens_category/pants/corduroy/PRDOVR~28522/28522.jsp

That is all! I am going to go enjoy me some of this beautiful September-teaser weather and continue to obsess over Sara Bareilles. Tell me what you're doing today.