All My Faves

Dedicated to money and career matters, SavvySugar provides women with the tips, advice and tools needed to make informed decisions about their personal finances and careers. Not being a woman myself, it was quite difficult to really review this site. There are though some great articles dotted around for you gals to explore like ‘How Not to Behave at the Office Party’, or ‘Is It Legal For My Employer to Deny Sick Pay?’. Explore SavvySugar by clicking here, or on the big pic below.

Women, get your personal finance and career on track with SavvySugar!

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The Sweetest Occasion – The Sweetest Occasion is a wedding and lifestyle blog devoted to event design and details for celebrating stylish events, weddings and special occasions. A devoted following of readers come for content covering a diverse yet highly edited range of wedding ideas, party inspiration, paper and stationery, handmade goods, entertaining, decor and featured events of all shapes and sizes.

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StyleCaster – StyleCaster is a leading platform that creates and curates the best content from across women’s lifestyle into a comprehensive style experience. They are committed to bringing you the most innovative experience that streamlines the process of style discovery by combining premium content, discussion through an engaged community and the seamless ability to purchase through e-commerce into one exciting platform.

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Singer22 – Claiming to be the headquarters for the latest in fashion on Long Island’s North Shore, Singer22 is a powerful retailer store that offers top fashion brands along lesser known yet celebrity-worn clothes. And I’m pretty sure their customer audience has long expanded from Long Island to the entire country.

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Bloesem – The weird-named blog network is Irene Hoof’s sophisticated and elegant source of “ideas for design, for leisurely pursuits, for creating soul-soothing interiors, for love of the handmade, for vintage appreciation, for the art of traveling.” Relish in large doses of beauty and creativity via Bloesem, and find inspirations for the home, your kids, your next trip and many other in-between life moments.

I loved browsing through Irene’s design finds and ideas, and even though I don’t necessarily plan on making any purchases soon, there’s no harm in some hardcore window shopping. Here’s one particular post on vintage ceramics I adored and wanted to share (by Stig Lindberg):

Kendi Everyday – When young and gorgeous Kendi got married and moved with her husband to a small town, everyone thought the natural next step for her would be having a baby. Instead, she started a fashion lookbook-ish blog where each post shows Kendi in a different outfit. The photos are amazing (thanks to her talented hubby photographer), colorful and they all make you want to dash to the nearest shopping mall.

What I love about Kendi Everyday is that in each post she includes a hand-written comment that tells you where she got that skirt, blouse and shoes. Most blogs with a similar concept include these much sought-after details in the lowest frame of the post, often even in the comment section. Kendi puts it right on top, and right under the photo she’ll provide direct links that will take you to the item’s respective online shop! Now, here’s Kendi herself, definitely working it.

Gojee – This recipe site -named after the funny looking berry from southeastern Europe and Asia- stands out from conventional recipe sites for a few obvious reasons. First, from the first moment you enter Gojee, all you see are large, hi-res, mouth-watering photos. Second, the site shows you (as opposed to merely ‘finds’) curated recipes depending on what you crave and what you currently have at home, while the system eliminates what you hate or can’t eat. The free style recipe search is also available if you must.

Whatever recipe you fall in love with can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or via email, and you can also mark it as a favorite. Who curated and tested these to-drool-for recipes? Meet the savvy cooks and foodie bloggers behind the scenes.

Style Me Pretty – This chic A to Z wedding spot is “a style savvy wedding resource devoted to the modern bride” that covers “everything from gorgeous real weddings to up and coming vendors and seasoned pros in the invitation, floral, fashion and photography industries.”

This Weekly Blog winner is loaded with inspiring and practical wedding day ideas which will certainly come in handy in taking some of the planning stress off of your shoulders. To give you an example, I went straight to Style Me Pretty’s Real Weddings section since I feel the best ideas come from tried and tested weddings. Here’s a wonderful gallery example, brought to us by the Utah Wedding at Conrad Ranch.

For more great wedding resources online visit our Wedding MiniFaves page.

xoJane – It’s always refreshing to find a genuinely great online source for women that’s well above the Glamour-Cosmopolitan standard. xoJane is a sophisticated, witty and downright helpful resource for women seeking a regular place to visit for bona fide tips on fashion & beauty, tech, relationships and other topics.

If you’re looking for wishy-washy content with ‘drive men crazy’ innuendos, xoJane is not for you. If you are, however, into boldly written content that hits the nail of women’s issues on its head, xoJane is THE place to go to. I’m already subscribed and loving it! Here’s a post I found totally right on: Riding in Cars with Insanely Windy Hair: Two Creative Solutions by Anya.

LearnVest – Did you ever take a personal finance class back in school or college? Neither did I, and quite frankly, it’s surprising it’s not a degree requirement in universities and colleges in America. Alexa von Tobel felt the same when she was a Harvard Senior. A few years and lots of research later, Alexa has created LearnVest, “an online platform to help women everywhere gain control of their finances.”

I have to admit, I had some problems with the fact that this site targets women and their implied inability to control their spending. Having that said, I do believe personal finance sites on the Web fail to address the special concerns and issues of women when it comes to staying on top of expenses. So, what’s so special about LearnVest? It’s a full blown wallet watcher if you please, that also offers regularly updated content on living richer and better.

Sign up with Facebook and start exploring LearnVest: there are bootcamp programs (many are free!) such as how to get out of debt, cut costs, build health and more. There is also the Money Tuneup which offers a comprehensive resource on investments, retirement, insurance and loans, and my favorite: Living Frugal which shows you how to spend sensibly on fashion and beauty, eating out and entertainment, even on styling your home.

In short, LearnVest is a blessing, and I’m already subscribed. Here’s a fascinating article I found on LearnVest and wanted to share: How to Splurge Right.

That’s Chic – Style galore is what lies behind the That’s Chic blog title. Rachel Nguyen is a model-icious young woman from California who lives and breathes style and aesthetics. Whether it’s the amazing clothes she wears to the pretty photographs she takes of moments in her life, Rachel invites us to explore her exquisite taste.

Each post is a well-written account of Rachel’s recent events, and includes large photos of Rachel, chic as ever. In addition to clothes, accessories and home design you will find food related posts with mouth-watering photos. That’s Chic is one of last week’s Weekly Blog winners, and here’s a photo that shows you why (click the image to read the full post).

Planning a wedding always seems like a daunting, stressful task, with so many things to think about and choose. Since wedding season is almost at its peak this month and will last through October, we’ve decided to make the special event’s mission totally possible and easier for you: Here’s our Top 10 list of the absolute best wedding resources out there online. This hot list will show you where to get the best gift registry, where to find gorgeous invitations, and how to make your wedding look like a million bucks without exceeding your budget.

1. Project Wedding – Think of this site as wedding day central. It’s a comprehensive source on all things wedding and the site is a perfect first stop in your big day’s planning path. Aside from the obvious bride and bridesmaid dress designs and vendors, Project Wedding shares photos and inspirations from real weddings. You will also find lots of decor, wedding cake and beauty ideas on this site in addition to practical tools such as check lists, wedding websites and more.

2. The Knot - Perhaps the most familiar of the bunch, The Knot offers solid help on every possible wedding aspect you can think of. The colossal variety of topics might confuse you at first, but after a deep breath you’ll see The Knot truly provides a wealth of information and ideas. To start off, check out the ‘planning basics’ menu on the left (offering ideas and tips on wedding destinations, vendors, vows, songs and invitations, etc.). Once you’re ready for more hardcore planning, make use of The Knot’s gift registry page to pick your store (an adventure in and of itself).

3. My Wedding – Although this website might seem as a bit less comprehensive than the two above, its forte -free wedding sites- outweighs any content downsides it may have. Wedding sites have become huge these past few years, and for a good reason. In many cases the bride and groom’s family is scattered across the country, and although phone calls might do for keeping everyone updated, there’s nothing like a designated Web space everyone can visit anywhere with ease.

My Wedding offers a huge variety of website options neatly categorized by color and theme (green, outdoors, traditional weddings and more). If you’re thinking about creating a wedding website for your special event, My Wedding is your spot. Here’s the gorgeous example of Samira and Maxwell’s wedding site, created by My Wedding.

4. Martha Stewart Weddings – For those of you seeking an all-American, traditional wedding style, Martha Stewart’s designated online spot for weddings is a perfect resource to start with. Get all the event’s basics down and stay on top with all your check and to-do lists with Marth. One cute post I loved reading here is Good Things for Spring Weddings – great inspirations!

5. Macy’s Gift Registry – Although there aren’t any right or wrong gift registry choices, I think Macy’s is the best one in terms of both variety of products and the system’s ease of use when registering and adding gifts. Signing up to Macy’s registry service is super easy and quick, and you can start adding gifts in no time. Wedding guests checking in to buy will also find a swift and no-brainer process leading straight to the couple’s list. In short, I can only say that on my wedding day Macy’s will be my gift registry provider of choice.

6. Style Me Pretty – There’s nothing like peeping over at other people’s weddings pictures to see what works, what doesn’t and find new ideas. Style Me Pretty’s Real Weddings section is packed with tested strategies, approaches and features worth checking out before planning The Day. Browse the section’s various wedding styles, including Budget Beautiful, Contemporary, Do-It-Yourself Inspired and Vintage Chic, among others.  You should also explore Style Me Pretty’s vendors’ guide, DIY projects and wedding inspirations.

7. Once Wed – Dedicated to the to-be-wed folks who seek a non-traditional wedding, Once Wed is a brilliant resource for planning unconventional weddings that are “artistically innovative or effortlessly beautiful.” Created by the gorgeous Emily Newman, OnceWed is one of the only places online where you can find beautiful pre-owned wedding dresses and get lots of inspiring and creative ideas for your big day. Speaking of dresses, here’s one that caught my eye.

8. Wedding Invite Love – This amazing website brings together soon to be wed couples with graphic designers and studios all over the country, to make successful and beautiful invitations that suit couples’ needs and desires. Search for your favorite invitations vendor via a number of parameters such as price, nearest city location or style and a world of fabulous design will open up to you. Here’s an example of a beautiful design that’s well within the budget of any wedding, by The Letter Office in NY:

9. Wedzu – A site for the budget brides and grooms, Wedzu offers a saner approach to wedding planning, and offers a wealth of cool products for the indie-at-heart audience. From affordable yet absolutely fabulous wedding dresses to reception decorations and cute cuff links, Wedzu is all about making your wedding Etsy style (handmade, that is) while maintaining the event’s haute-couture look and feel.

10. Wedding MiniFaves page on All My Faves – This MiniFaves page dedicated to wedding planning and celebration is an abundant resource for all the big day’s different aspects. Find all the great websites listed above and many others in one place to make your wedding day the event you always wanted. Congratulations to all the newly weds and the soon-to-be married couples!