I see a lot of different memes on blogs but try to stay away from doing them. However, J posted this Five Things Meme on her site and I thought it could be fun. So, I decided to modify the questions a bit, make it all about fashion, and post it here.

5 things that make you happy.
1. Ruffles, ruffles, ruffles!
2. Sweaters and cardigans.
3. Ultra feminine menswear pieces. Like saddle shoe style oxfords or tuxedo blouses with, you guessed it, ruffles.
4. Argyle, houndstooth, plaid and leopard prints.
5. Super soft and smooth high quality denim.

5 things you wouldn’t wear for a million dollars.
1. Real fur.
2. Tie-dye. I’m from the Pacific NW and all, but I’d never touch the stuff.
3. Thigh high boots.
4. Anything with shoulder pads.
5. Platform sneakers. Hello, Spice Girls!

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Bills. We all have them and they are frustrating to most of us. Like many people in my age range, I have more debt than I would like. It’s so incredibly frustrating to feel like you are throwing money away each month just to pay for things in the past. It’s not just shopping spree’s that rack up the debt for everyone either. For quite a while, I was barely making any money and needed to purchase necessary items on my credit cards in order to buy them. Over time, those items definitely added up on my bills. Now that I am in a better financial situation, I am working on paying them off. However, it’s so frustrating to look at how much money I am losing to interest each month. Recently I’ve been looking into ways to eliminate my debt at a faster rate. A site that I found today, called Bills IQ, seems like a really helpful tool. It walks you through different areas of your finances and helps draw your attention to what you need to work on. Thanks to their test, I realized that I really do need to implement a better budget than I have been. Debt is an incredibly frustrating thing that is increasingly difficult to deal with. The current economic situation definitely does not help either. Give BillsIQ a try and see where you stand.

Have you heard about the Renuzit TriScents Transform Your Home with Tanya Memme promotion? Families created video submissions and the contest is currently in the semi-finals stage. The ten semi-finalist videos are currently posted on the
semi-finalist gallery for voting. The screen capture above features my favorite of the 10 finalists. . I liked that it was done in black and white, the shooting was creative, the editing was well done, and it made me laugh. It got the point across without taking itself too seriously and definitely wanted to be unique. The Weird Al soundtrack was a definite plus as well. Sign up, check out the videos and vote for your favorite video. The video with the most votes wins a $20,000 home makeover with Tayna Memme. You can vote for your favorite video once a day until June 7, 2008. After that, the winner will be announced. Signing up is quick and easy. Just enter a bit of information about yourself and you’re done. Then you can view all ten of the finalist videos and choose which one you think should win the $20,000 home makeover with Tayna Memme. You can even invite your friends to vote for your favorite of the submissions.

Odds are that any fan of fashion will recognize Jessica Stam. Stam has appeared in countless ad campaigns, including the ranks of Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Vera Wang, Valentino, Miu Miu, Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Holt Renfrew, Dior, BCBG Maxazria, Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli, H&M, Miss Sixty, DKNY, Bulgari, Lanvin, Escada, and Loewe . As well as countless magazine covers and fashion editorials. Stam is one of Victoria’s Secret’s models and opened their 2006 show. During fashion weeks in New York, Milan, and Paris for the Spring 2006 Ready-to-Wear runway shows, Stam walked an impressive 64 shows combined. For the Spring/Summer 2007 Haute Couture fashion week in Paris, she walked for Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, and Jean Paul Gaultier. Marc Jacobs named even named a handbag after her - the gorgeous Quilted Stam Bag.

In the New York Times T Magazine Spring 2008 issue, Stam worked with photographer Mark Segal for the editorial Trunk Show. This was one of my favorites of some of her recent editorials. The vintage feel of the clothing, make up, and photographs are fitting of Stam. It shows that she really can pull off any look that a stylist picks for her.

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For those who are shopping late for Mother’s Day this year (myself included) it can be easy to get caught up in the commercial hype and lose sight of what most Mom’s really want. A thoughtful and useful gift. Something that let’s them know that you care, and an extra bonus if it’s something to pamper herself with. Here are some quick ideas for some easy gift ideas.

1. Put together a skin care or hand & nail care basket. For a skin care basket, include a nice facial cleanser, facial moisturizer, eye mask, and a facial mask. For a hand & nail care basket, a hand cream, cuticle oil, cotton gloves, 4 sided nail buffer, and a bottle or two of nail polish.

2. Take her out for something luxurious. Like dinner and drinks at a fancy restaurant or a manicure at one of the nicest spa’s in your area.

3. Find out a hobby that she’s always wanted to take up, or something that she’s always been interested in. Check out your local community centers and community college’s for classes offered in that subject. Take the class together.

4. Make a donation in her name to her favorite charity.

5. When all else fails, send her flowers. 1-800-Flowers has a great selection of items for mothers day gift delivery. Do a search using her favorite flower to find beautiful flowers to have delivered to her door or office. I’d love to send something classic like the Pink Rose and Calla Lily Bouquet. Or, choose from their gift baskets. The Treleela Organic Tea Experience, Harney & Sons Tea & Spa Gift, and Perfectly Pomegranate Spa Set are all great options.

What would you do if you had $20,000 to put towards a home make over? Think of all the great things that you’ve always wished you could change about your home if only you had the extra cash on hand. I know that I’d love to be able to create my own personal space into exactly that, my own space. Full of personal expressions and functions that are built around my lifestyle. Transforming your home is a very big and intimidating project. You want to be sure that you are going to be able to turn your house in to what you truly want it to be. Well, for all of you dreamers out there, check out the $20,000 Home Make Over contest being sponsored by Renuzit TriScents. It’s simple and easy to enter the contest. Just register on the website, then submit a video that is 2 minutes or less in length, and a 250 words or less essay that show and explain why your home needs the $20,000 make over. Make sure that you see official rules of the contest before you enter. While you are on the site checking out the details of entering the contest, you can also easily download and print a coupon for the Renuzit TriScents Starter Kit. Sample the products offered by Renuzit and use them to become inspired to make other changes in your home. It’s fast and easy to enter to win this $20,000 home make over contest. After all, what have you got to lose?

It’s happened to so many people that I know. And to myself 3 times. Identity theft is extremely frustrating and difficult to deal with. Thankfully, all of my issues have been easy to resolve. Like the time that someone managed to get my debit card number and spend $400 USD on pizza in North East Canada over the course of two days. Or a month or so ago when someone ate out at the Red Robin in my hometown in Oregon. That’s still in the works of being resolved actually since my bank says that a card was swiped to make the purchase. As I argued to them, when I made other transactions that same day here in California, within a close time frame, how the heck would I travel to Oregon for dinner? It’s a 10 hour drive away, and that’s making good time! Anyways… It’s an incredibly frustrating thing and it doesn’t always get resolved as easily for others as it has for myself. I’ve heard stories of people who get their SSN taken and used by someone else to rack up debt. Even if they don’t get charged for the debt in the end, it stays on the record of the SSN and damages their credit. This is why services, like lifelock, are so important. They contact credit bureaus with a fraud alert request, they have your name removed from junk mail lists, and they blog pre-approved credit offers. They do this process every 90 days to ensure that you always have the coverage. These are all very big steps when it comes to protecting your identity. Especially if you don’t have a locked mail box, and people can easily access all sorts of personal information. If you lose your wallet they will even help you contact all the necessary companies and help you go through the process of getting new information. A service like lifelock would be great to sign up for to protect yourself from any future damage to your credit report.