This weekend I made my first trip to the Short Hills Mall - I must officially be a Jersey girl now right?! 

The Short Hills Mall is no joke - Van Cleef Arpels, Hermes, Neiman Marcus, Tory Burch - this mall is home to just about every designer brand that I love!

But even though I took a short detour to drool over some beautiful baubles and enamel bangles, the reason for my trip was to buy a new pair of summer sandals.

This LUXE pair from Tory Burch immediately caught my eye, but at $195 it's price point is a little steep for sandals...

Then I saw this embellished black pair of sandals for LESS from Banana Republic that is just $69...

And this pair from Sam Edelman for $65...

Do you think either of these styles are comparable to the Tory pair, and is $65-$69 for a pair of simple summer sandals LUXE OR LESS in your opinion?

Last week I went to my new favorite wine store for a good value, Stew Leonard's Wines, and picked up a bottle of their Venue Pinot Noir for just $11.99. 

I must admit that my hopes were not too high for a Pinot Noir that was less than $15, but I was pleasantly surprised once I tried this tasty light to medium bodied red.

Right away I picked up on the notes of cherry and currant, and was impressed by it's quality of flavor.  This is not a watery budget Pinot Noir!

Pinot Noir is a very versatile wine for pairings...if you are going to be using the grill this weekend you could enjoy this red with grilled chicken, salmon, or steak!

I have been in the market for a new perfume recently, but as usual I have been hesitant to commit to a new scent out of fear that I will have to drop over a $100 on a perfume that I won't love a week later.

The classic Chloe perfume is what has been at the top of my wish list recently, but I didn't want to splurge on a whole bottle - well I was so excited when I found the rollerball version of Chloe for just $25 at Sephora last weekend!

I'm loving my new perfume so much that I will probably invest in a new bottle soon, but for now I'm reveling in the low price tag and the ability to "test drive" my new scent for just $25!

Buying rollerball perfumes is a great way to fit luxury perfume into your budget - here is just a sampling of some of the luxury perfumes that you can find at Sephora or your local department store.  All of these perfumes are $32 or less in the rollerball bottle!

Do you have a favorite scent that I should check out soon?

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you moms out there!  I hope that you all enjoyed a relaxing Mother's Day with your families this weekend.

One of my gifts from my sweet husband was this Chewbeads necklace that I had been hinting at for awhile....

My daughter has been putting everything in her mouth lately, including my favorite bangles and necklaces, and so I wanted something that was a little more child friendly than my DY bracelets for her to suck on!

I love this basic black necklace, but Chewbeads offers a variety of styles and colors too...I think I may be in the market for one of their pink or turquoise necklaces soon!  Here is a peak at some of the other styles and colors they have to offer...

My daughter loves the way this necklace tastes, and I love being able to wear jewelry without worrying about it breaking in her mouth - and at less than $40 it is relatively affordable!

Have you tried any special jewelry made for teething with your little one?  Here are a few other pieces of jewelry just for teething that I have my eye on!

As I continue to work on decorating our new home I'm always looking for creative and low cost ways to decorate our house for less. 

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon these state/country prints by Q.A. Design over at Effortless Style and I fell in love.  I immediately went to Q.A. Design to check them out....

I love the idea of decorating with something personal to you - like a state or country that you call home or where you have shared special memories with loved ones like a honeymoon or a vacation.  I also love bright colors and stripes, so these prints spoke to me right away!

And what's even better about these prints is that the fabulous and talented designer, Jenna from Q.A. Design, is now offering them for free to print on her website!  Just click here for more details.

I ended up buying these white frames from Target that were only $3.99 and put them in our downstairs bathroom which was looking way to bare!  We printed NY, NJ, CT, and Cape Cod...four places that hold a special place in our hearts!

Thank you Jenna for offering these fabulous prints to your readers for free!

One of my close friends recently told me how much she loved her Rock Star Skinny color denim jeans from Old Navy, and upon her recommendation I of course went straight to the Old Navy website to scoop up a pair.  Once I got there I was disappointed to discover that these jeans were sold out in almost every size.  After perusing Old Navy's site tonight I just saw that they have replenished their stock in color denim - and now in lighter more pastel colors for spring.  The Rock Star Pop Color Jean is just $34.50. 

I have not tried these jeans on myself but I plan on buying a pair tonight! 

I have slowly been seeing more and more Mother's Day sales pop up this month, and today I'm sharing two of my favorite shops on Etsy that rarely go on sale that are doing a promotion this week!

I have featured Anne Hartwell's delightful online shop several times in this space.  Anne's shop on Etsy features her original artwork in many different forms including prints, pillows, and matchbooks.  Anne's work includes chinoserie elements that are always classic and timeless. 

Anne is offering her readers 20% off with the code MOMS20.

Here is just one of Anne's beautiful original prints...

Devon Baer also offers her spectacular collection of original jewelry, tunics, belts, and purses on Etsy. 

Devon is offering 15% off everything in her online shop through May 10.  Just click here and sign up to be added to her email list and you will receive the code.

Devon has classic, polished, and preppy down to a tee...I just bought these turquoise studs a few weeks ago and I love them!  Turquoise is a neutral if you ask me - it just seems to go with everything!

Moving from NYC to the suburbs has it's challenges in terms of lifestyle adjustment, but one of the most enjoyable parts of our move has been working on decorating our new home - and of course I'm doing it on a budget!  While the living room is still not complete and ready to show you quite yet, I thought I would share with you a few of my recent purchases for this space that I think are great deals.

First up this pretty blue chinoiserie vase for our mantel...

This is currently being sold at Casa.com for $42.18, and I have seen it else where for even more, but I found it at Home Goods last week for $14.99!

I also picked up this blue zebra-esque area rug for $39.99 on the same trip to Home Goods.  While I'm not thrilled with the wall to wall carpeting in our new place, it has been great for our baby, and I'm trying to work with it by adding a few rugs here and there.

Don't worry, I'm not going to leave the tape there forever!  I was just testing out the dimensions of different ottomans to see how they would look in this space.  This is a new decorating trick for me, but it was so helpful in terms of finding the best shape for the room.  When you are doing a lot of online shopping using tape to test out the dimensions of a new piece in your room is a great way to ensure that you will be buying a piece that fits well in your space.

This is the ottoman we finally settled on...

When purchasing a new coffee table/ottoman for this space I decided to go with an ottoman because of our young child who may be cruising around soon.  I thought the softer surface would be good for her.  There are hundreds of leather ottomans on the web, but this one fit our requirements the best in terms of the look, dimensions, and price - and you can't beat free shipping!

I discovered these greek key end tables at Effortless Style...I can't believe they are only $73.99 a piece!  I bought two, and I still spent less than $150 on the pair.

And last but not least this white ceramic garden stool from One Kings Lane for $69.99...

I have been on the hunt for a white garden stool for less than $100, and most versions I have found are at least $129.  I have noticed that One Kings Lane and
Joss & Main both frequently have garden stools as part of their collections if you are in the market for one too.

When the entire space is complete I will share more photos with you.  In the meantime I will share my latest pillow purchase with you and a special discount for these lovely pillows later in the week.

Have you made any luxe for less living room purchases recently?

It's that time of year again...the always anticipated Kentucky Derby!  From a "mint julep" necklace to a fun and affordable pink straw hat here are a few home and fashion accessories to help you celebrate the Derby in style tomorrow - all for $85 0r less!

If you have followed this blog for awhile than you have probably picked up on the fact that I love stripes!  In fact I've started to collect so many striped items in my closet that I need to seriously consider every striped purchase I make now...

When I saw this easy and light striped dress at J.Crew I new this was a look that I wanted to wear this spring...but I was not going to spend $188 on it!

Then I spotted this dress from Lilly Pulitzer which I love, but at almost a $100 it was still a little steep for me!

Then I spotted this boatneck version at Old Navy!  At $15 I think we have a winner!

Now I'm just torn between the black and white stripe or the navy and green stripe...what do you think?