gulliver snip

My friend Julie Aho's first book comes out today and I am so excited to head to the bookstore and pick one up. Her husband Zach, is a fellow student at Kellogg and we first met them over a year ago when we came out to check out Northwestern for the weekend. I remember being so impressed hearing that she was a real-life children's book illustrator. A few months ago, we begged Julie to read her book for us, and she did, and I have loved it ever since. It is such a fun Dr.Seuss-type book, with amazing illustrations, check it out!

Here's a link to the website she made to go along with it...she put it together last Sunday afternoon!

jeff koons on the roof

I just saw this posted here and had to share it. The Jeff Koons exhibit is currently on display on the roof garden at the Met. I really love HUGE versions of real things, like the spoon bridge and cherry in Minnesota, and the chair in the lobby of the Clift Hotel in SF. Combine that with shiny...and you get the picture.

I wish I could see this in person, but if you're reading this and live in New York, go check it out for me so I can enjoy it vicariously through you!

cute bags

to balance out all the recent finance posts from you-know-who...

...from here, here, and here.

Leveraged Buyout shocker

Similar to the collapse in the Subprime loan market (a type of residential loan) due to a failure to correctly evaluate systematic risk (risk associated with how the general market and economy perform), the risk of LBO debt (leveraged buyout debt, used by private equity firms to buy companies) is also more volatile than previously thought. The shocking thing - and this is the point of this posting - is that despite this recent realization, some private equity firms are doubling down on their investments by purchasing the very debt used to finance their own deals (thereby adding the other type of investment risk other than systematic risk: 'idiosyncratic risk,' which is risk associated with individual companies' performance). I came across the news the other day that Citibank was selling $12.5 billion in LBO debt to private equity firms - see the article at the New York Times. Shocking.

scents

This article got me to thinking about my favorite perfumes and smells. I really appreciate how smells tie to memories and visa versa. A whiff of Victoria Secret’s love spell lotion never fails to take me back to my freshman year of college, and Clinique happy reminds me of visits to my cousin for New Year’s. I’ve collected various perfumes but in the last 4 years, they’ve just gathered dust. Nobody likes that person at work who wears too much perfume, and so they only get taken out on a rare weekend or special occasion. Here’s whats currently gathering dust in my closet:

CHANCE
Hyacinth, White Musc, Pink Pepper, Jasmine, Fresh Vetiver, Citrus, Iris and Amber of Patchouli interact in harmony to form a sphere of orbiting scents with an Unexpected Accord at the heart. This reminds me of college, I think I bought myself a bottle when I turned 18.

TOMMY GIRL
Refreshing, energetic and spirited, Tommy Girl is inspired by wildflowers gathered from the American landscape. The effervescent floral scent combines clarity with energy and freshness with spirit from a blend of camellia flowers, black current flowers, mandarin and tangerine, Cherokee rose, desert jasmine and butterfly violets. I wore this all through high school, and I still love the smell of it.

COCO MADEMOISELLE
Sparkling, lively top notes of Orange and Bergamot are followed by clear, pure middle notes of Jasmine petals and Morning Rose. Base notes of Patchouli and Vetiver express a discreet sensuality. I got this in Paris on the champ d'elyse.

KATE SPADE
Summer honeysuckle enhanced by other white flowers, Gardenia, jasmine, tuberose, and fresh muguet. I bought my small bottle of this on my first trip to New York.

What are your favorites?