Tag: comon

Prep Craze: Jack Rogers/Palm Beach Sandals/Alternatives

On By careofmonIn FashionLeave a comment

Today I splurged on a pair of Palm Beach Sandals for my wedding day. I bought the monogrammed Aubrey in white on white with my new monogram in platinum stitching. PBSandals is in the midst of their $25 off sale til the 12th though, so I think I made a good choice getting them now 🙂

What are Jack Rogers and Palm Beach Sandals you ask? Well, a long time ago, a very influential woman we all call Jackie O went to the island of Capri and bought herself some sandals. She liked them so much she came back to the US and brought them to her personal cobbler in Palm Beach, FL. I believe his name was Stephen Bonanno. Some people that really grew up wearing them called them Bonannos. From here the Palm Beach Sandal was born. I read somewhere that Jackie O and her friend Lilly Pulitzer only bought their sandals directly from the factory in Palm Beach.

PBSandals are the original, made in the US, made only of leather with a nice thick footbed. They come with either a small stacked heel OR a wedge. Jack Rogers makes a very similar version, some synthetic materials, made in China, and the footbed is thinner. They are of comparable price ($110-$150ish), BUT Jack Rogers are sold in Nordstroms, CountryClubPrep.com, Zappos.com, and they have branched out into other footwear styles as well. Jack Rogers is extremely popular among bloggers like KellyintheCity, Carly’s TheCollegePrep, and the crew from KJP (Kiel James Patrick). Vineyard Vines and Sail to Sable models also appear to be wearing them. The hashtags, #lovemyjacks (22k posts) and #jackrogers (51k posts) far outnumber #palmbeachsandals (2.5k posts) or #pbsandals (100 posts). Why? They are similar in price but Palm Beach Sandals are much nicer in my opinion.

There are alternatives to these- so many actually! Palm Beach certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on leather whipstitching.

Here is one for $39.99 from Nautica that can be found at Famous Footwear Nautica La Plata Sandals

Here are some for $89.95 from Soft Surroundings Palm Beach Sandals

A good one if you like tan for $17.99 from LuLus Tan Whipstitch Sandals

Nice ones from Nieman Marcus on sale $39.50 Gabriel Whipstitch

These ones from Target are sold out, good deal though Merona Enid Whipstitch

Bottom line, if you see your favorite preppy instagrammers wearing Jack Rogers and you want to join in on the fun, know that there are options. Another world all together is Etsy. People hand paint these sandals in all prints, Lilly prints are very popular on them. Those are usually in the $50 range. Read reviews, some people with wider feet have struggled with this style of sandal. Some people don’t like the piece of leather with the three holes on the heel that the some of the Rogers and PB sandals have. It’s the end of summer so a lot of sandals are on sale, buy them now for your spring/summer occasions to get the savings!

Below is my little collection from over the years! I threw my Lilly McKims in because those are nice too for $88. I splurged for my wedding shoes, but trust, in the future I will checking out some of those more affordable options, got to save those pennies!

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Clockwise: Jack Rogers Georgica Jellies, Jack Rogers Hamptons in silver, Lilly Pulitzer McKims, Palm Beach Sandals in navy with white, Palm Beach Sandals in platinum with gold

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Thoughts on the novel, The Knockoff!

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

While I was sitting out in my campsite early Monday morning with beautiful Casco Bay (I’m obsessed, I know) in front of me, I finished “The Knockoff” by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza. I know I am a little late to the party, but this book is worth celebrating! The basis, without giving too much away, is a story of a magazine editor in chief, maybe a more kind, down to earth version of Anna Wintour, that comes back to work after beating breast cancer, to find that her fashion magazine is joining the digital age, and her Techb*tch former assistant is now at the helm. It’s a tale of the struggle between adapting to the new without losing what was good about the old. I absolutely devoured it.

Being a teacher, I see this daily. Older teachers who began their careers in the late 70s and 80s are forced everyday to confront and accept or hide from technology. Our lesson plans, professional development, licensure, schedules, evaluation tools, and all important memos are digital. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone say, “What? I didn’t know about that? Oh, it was in an email?” Half the room rolls their eyes, hopefully inwardly, like what have you done all day if you haven’t read your emails, and half the room sympathizes thinking ummmm hello there are more important things to do than read emails, like teach?

The digital age has made teaching “stuff” easier to track and share, but just like Imogen, our editor in chief in “The Knockoff” feels like turning her magazine to just an app has made the content flat instead of rich, I also feel that digitalizing teaching can kill our creativity a bit. I try to find a balance between over organizing in my google forms, lesson plan templates, and online grading with those precious spontaneous teaching moments that you can’t plan for. Those moments make your teaching come alive and become meaningful for a student. With limited time and standardized testing, it is not always easy. I try to remember, our passion is really our craft and putting everything on the internet is just our new version of the craft fair. Its the way we reach our customers/stakeholders. Don’t work against the internet, work with it, and find those understanding coworkers or friends that are somewhere between eyeball rollers and complete sympathizers. You don’t need someone to patronize you or commiserate with, you need encouragement and patient instruction, we all do every once in a while.

My copy of “The Knockoff” was from my town library, it retails for upwards of $13. Buy your ebooks for when you need them, maybe traveling, use your library and save money when you can!!

c/o Mon

LDW2015’s a wrap!

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

I have returned from beautiful Winslow Park in Freeport ME! The car is unpacked, I am on my third load of laundry, washing the campfire smoke and saltwater out of everything from this weekend. We had the best weather this year, I don’t want the summer to end!

We did a sport shooting LLBean discovery course on Sunday. I have the bruise to prove that I did use a 20 gauge shotgun for the first time! There’s really nothing they can tell you to prepare for what it feels like to actively try to hold on to something that punches you in the should when you go to use it. I wouldn’t say I am ready to buy my own, but killing that clay pigeon was more fun than I thought it would be! 🙂

When we got out of the course we did check out some of the outlets, and I am proud to report that my only purchases were some amazing Ben and Jerry’s ice cream & $15 bright yellow LLBean shorts for hiking. My favorite things about this weekend were of course priceless. Waking up to the most amazing view of Casco Bay, cycling the crazy hills of Freeport with my fiancé, and kayaking in Casco Bay with friends were worth more than any deals I could have found in the outlets.

I hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day weekends with your friends and families!

View from my campsite @ Winslow Park
View from my campsite @ Winslow Park
Sun setting over Casco Bay
Sun setting over Casco Bay

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Smoothing feathers

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

When I showed my fiancé my first post and my about section, he said, “wow, are you sure you aren’t going to ruffle some feathers?”. The reason being that my best friends DO own horses and DO have money from their families. I love them like sisters, they are so down to Earth and generous, I sometimes forget that. My post wasn’t about shaming them though for what they have or what they were born with. Plus, lets be honest, no matter what you have, we are all tempted by what we don’t have.

My post, and really the reason why I am writing this blog is because I need to remind myself, and maybe some of you out there, that NOT having things that you want right now is ok…..maybe even better than ok! Spending money that we should be saving because we alone will be making that downpayment on our first homes in order to look like we inherited Jackie O’s closet does not bring us any closer to having that house in Newport, or boat on the cape. Paying off debts is what makes us free to maybe use some money for something fun like a new Lilly shift or J Crew tweed skirt.

With instagram, tumblr, Facebook, and blogs, it can be easy to think, “I have a job, a good job, I deserve a new Vineyard Vines dress, I work hard”. Admiring #jcreweverything and #buymelilly posts from our friends, can make us feel like we should have those things too. What we actually deserve though is to save our hard earned money to do real things for us, like pay off our cars or pay off student loans. I am writing this blog to constantly remind myself that being smart with my time and money and being with my friends/family is what makes me happy.

Thoughts shared free of charge, sponsored by no one,

c/o Mon

In the beginning…

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

I am a New England girl that has a taste for the finer things that has grown frustrated with the price of marked up “preppy” wares and SOME of the blogs that promote those “preppy” wares. I grew up in a suburb in Massachusetts, am from a middle class family. I never wanted for anything but I went to public school, no old family money, and I probably won’t be able to afford a horse until retirement…and while I like classic, timeless apparel, beaches, horseback riding, and a good glass of chards, bills and savings goals should come first. I did crew in hs and college, but have no vintage rowing blazer. I am more J. Crew Factory than J. Crew, and I sell my Lilly dresses on Ebay. I do ride horses, but have paid for every lesson and ride with my own money while living on my own. I love to hike, but own very little Patagonia/The North Face…..because its expensive and I get the same stuff at EMS or LLBean. I spent years now going along with what my favorite instagrammers told me. That dress really is everything! Well…no it isn’t. It’s just one thing that you probably didn’t even pay for 😉 I’m here with you on the quest to have it all, finding the balance between wearing rags to save for that Newport house and buying the entire Vineyard Vines catalog to have collectors come after your credit card debt.