[GIFTED] iPad Gramophone

If you're a minimalist, you love new advances in technology that reduce the clutter.  iPods have rendered your crate full of CDs empty.  E-readers have eliminated the need for you to clutter up your nightstand with mountains of unread books and magazines.  BUT, with all of those things gone, everything around the old apartment might be looking a little sparse. 

That's why this iPad Gramophone ($299, Restoration Hardware) will look super slick on your shelf.  Plug it in and you can play all your douchey new music out of the old timey speaker. 

Thomas Edison, eat your heart out.

[WHAT I BOUGHT] Walkover Shoes & Hook+Albert Laces

When I first moved to New York, I was straight out of college, and working at a magazine whose dress code could most aptly be described as trashbag chic.  Yes, some people dressed business casual, but some other people wore t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops.  

Wanting to cling to my college days, I fell in with the people who showed up to work dressed like they were headed to the bodega to buy more Bud Light, and not the people who looked like they received a paycheck and are in possession of business cards.  

Nowadays, while my outfits still often say "I hate high heels and I dont want to wear real pants," I'd like to think my fashion sense is evolving into something more adult (ie: I've actually developed some sort of a fashion sense). 

That's why I'm very proud of these Walkover Derbys ($255, Walkover Shoes), made more fun with colorful Hook+Albert Laces ($32 for a set of 4, Hook+Albert).  I could be wearing the stupidest clothes in the world, but when I look down at my feet, I say to myself, "Girl, you done good."

[GIFTED] Sperry Topsider A/O 7-Eye Boot

Awwwwwwwww yeah—it's boot weather mofos. 

All summer, you wore jeans to work with casual shoes, looking like a slob.  You'd look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Hey, you think you might ever get around to the point in your life where you dress like someone who has a job?"  Then, you immediately answered yourself with a "Nope!" and walked right out the door in your jeans-t-shirt-and-boat-shoes uniform, looking more like you're headed for a tiki bar than the office. 

Then, Fall rolls around and you wear the same exact jeans with a nice pair of boots and suddenly you're not a slob anymore.  You're chic and fashionable and co-workers say things like, "OMG WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE BOOTS?!"    

This season, add these Sperry Topsider A/O 7-Eye Boots ($139.95, ShoeBuy) into your rotation.  That dumpy outfit you insist on wearing never looked better.

[GIFTED] Concepts X Sperry Top Sider

If you read this blog regularly, you'll get the general sense that I am a tad obsessed with all things nautical.  Case in point: I own about 6 pairs of Sperry Top Siders. 

Of course, it's a sad, sad at the end of October when I finally throw in the towel and pack away the boat shoes for the winter.  I cry salty tears.  Tears from the sea, if you will.  

That's why I am PUMPED for this new collaboration between Sperry and Concepts that has resulted in the Concepts X Sperry Top Sider ($125, Concepts).  In a nutshell?  BOAT SHOES.  FOR THE WINTER.  I die 1,000 times. 

[GIFTED] All the Surfboards in California Print

You have a cousin who lives in California.  He moved out there after college, and although he has only live there a few years, and although he is from Rochester, New York, he has started speaking like a surfer dude.

Every phone call you get, he sounds more and more like a sun-drenched stoner.  Every Facebook status talks of "gnarly waves" and "rad fish tacos."  You are annoyed because 1.) you hate phonies and 2.) you still live in Rochester, New York.  Why should this d-bag get to start his morning with a quick surf in the ocean, while you're shoveling your car out from underneath the latest snow storm? 

Here's the perfect housewarming gift for this rat bastard: All the Surfboards in California Print ($130, Uncommon Goods).  He's surfing on all of the surfboards in California, catching all of the waves in California, while you're knee-deep in snow.  GREAT.