Wow, this weekend is hoppin’, friends! So many fantastic things happening, I have a feeling I’ll be a pile of mush by Sunday night. If you’re in Portland, come join me at any or all of the following:

• Tim Gunn (!) will be at Nordstrom in Washington Square on Saturday, hosting a summer trends fashion show for Lucky Brand Jeans (owned, apparently, by Liz Claiborne). And, um, HE ASKED TO MEET ME!!!! I may need to take a sedative. In other words, this will be an event worth seeing on many levels.
• West Elm has a pretty fun Mother’s Day event going: head over on Saturday from 10-3 and meet up with the floral experts from Solabee to design a perfect bouquet for Mom (or just nab some arranging tips from the pros). This one’s not even Portland-only – West Elm is hosting the same event in 7 cities, so check the list to see if you’re a lucky winner!
• Manor Fine Wares is hosting that fantastic Heather B. Moore trunk show I told you about recently on Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm. Take Mom over and check it out…between the free champagne and the couldn’t-be-more-perfect gift options, it’s a Mother’s Day slam dunk.
• Believe it or not, I’m participating in a fundraising walk for the Oregon Humane Society. Which means I’ll be wearing tennis shoes. In public. Feel free to come cheer me on…or, you know, be a little less self-absorbed than I am and just participate to raise money for needy furballs.

Whatever you’re doing, I hope it involves your mom somehow. Mine is jetting off to points unknown (aka, Virginia) for the weekend, so I’ll have to celebrate long-distance style by publicly embarrassing her. Love you, Mom!

{My awesome mom, being adorable in her leather trench, chunky knits and some pretty fantastic boots back in the ’70s.
None of which she saved for me.}

However you spend it, have a great weekend, friends…see you next week!

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming to bring you a high-pitched shriek of pure excitement!!

That’s right: What Would Tim Gunn Do? That’s the question I’m posing to myself today (and, if I’m honest, a lot of other days as well). Because I’m interviewing him this afternoon! For you! EEEEEEEEEEE!

So, the real question is this: What should I ask the most debonair style guru ever? Leave your burning fashion quandaries in the comments, and I’ll run them past the man himself. Can’t wait for your ideas!

It’s Friday and it’s a holiday weekend…is there anything better? I’m off to spend a few days with my family, so forgive me if I take a little extra time off next week. For now, I’ll leave you with enough goodies to keep you sated until I’m back.

First up, a winner for that wildly popular kate spade new york contest! You ladies love your bedding, that’s for sure. I’m always so thrilled when one of our giveaways is a hit like this, so thanks for that. Our winner is lucky number 7, Emily, who won with her Twitter entry @emma621. Congratulations, Emily!

Now, on to more pressing business. Like jewelry. Pretty, delicate, utterly-perfect-for-spring jewelry, to be precise. Amy Wing’s spring collection has me in palpitations, and not just because she’s a dear friend (and because her stunning lookbook was styled by our inimitable Trends Columnist). Particularly this Tiny Blossom lariat, which I’m envisioning as the perfect finishing touch for everything I want to wear all summer.

You may very well fall over when I show you this next find. It’s from Payless Shoes (I nearly fell over just typing that). But hey, even the bargain bins get it right sometimes, and this sweet strappy sandal is spot-on for summer. I love the grosgrain detail, the color-blocking, the woven wicker edging on the wedge (and a very reasonable 2″ wedge it is, by the way). In short, a very excellent summer shoe…for $39.

Remember those Athena Procopiou scarves with which I’ve been utterly obsessed this spring? Well, guess who has two thumbs and found one for half off? Yep…this guy! Best of all, I didn’t snag the only one for myself…get thee to Anthropologie stat, and nab yourself this beautiful thing, which is even more bold, bright and statement-making in person.

I’ve been seriously tempted by these Tribeca pants at StyleMint for the last few weeks, but was convinced I couldn’t pull them off as anything other than sweats. Then, I went to the hairdresser yesterday, and my stylist was wearing the cutest version of sweats ever: a black version of these pants, a cropped, elbow-length sweatshirt, and black suede ankle booties. Her hair was in a perfectly messy side braid, and the whole thing was so fantastic, I was distracted into getting my hair chopped about 3 inches shorter than I was expecting. If you’re feeling brave, this just may be worth a try.

Last but not least, I thought I’d start showing you my favorite thing I’ve pinned on Pinterest each week. Are you pinning yet? I’m itching to bust out a certain perfect black pencil skirt I bought last month, but it’s been too cold. This look might just be the solution!

{via Models Off Duty}

Have a fantastic holiday weekend, friends…don’t forget to splurge on a frosted sugar cookie (or two)!

Happy Friday, all! Our lucky winner of that beautiful Aeigis dress from Brooklyn Industries is…

Congratulations, C! I’ll be emailing you with all the details. Thanks to everyone for entering, and of course, a huge thanks to Brooklyn Industries for the goodies – if you haven’t checked out their spring lineup yet, you definitely should.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

The lucky lady who will be arm-wrestling me for receiving that amazing bronze cuff from Bevin is…

Congratulations, Stephanya!

For all the rest of you, thanks so, so much for entering – if you only knew how my face lights up with every comment. And of course, a huge, huge thank you to Bevin for sponsoring this lovely little Valentine. I hope you’ll send them some love!

{Update: Wow, you guys are giving me so many fantastic ideas! Keep it up, will you? I promise to get to each of your questions just as quick as I can.}

{Photo from hbp_pix}

Friends, I am smack in the middle of my January blogger blahs. I’m sick of talking coats and boots, and the whole fashion world is ablaze with spring, but my weatherman tells me it’ll be months before we can pull out those spring dresses. I need some fun reader questions to get me through. What do you want to hear about? Send over your pressing style/beauty/home/travel/life queries, and I’ll do my darnedest to answer each and every one of them for you. Pinkie swear.

You know where to find me, right? Facebook, Twitter or old-school email (my personal favorite): editor{at}shoppingsmycardio{dot}com. Let’s chat!

As you might expect, I’m off to spend a wonderful week with my nearest and dearest. But I will have a little New Year’s surprise from of my very favorite guest writers who will be popping in next week, so check back in for that. Something tells me you’ll absolutely love it!

Truly, my friends, I hope you have an unforgettable holiday season. Whether you’re celebrating with roast turkey and pumpkin pie or bad Chinese food and a movie, I hope your week is filled with family, friends, joy, laughter and plenty of hot cocoa.

{My dog, Daisy, who wanted to help with the holiday decorating}

I’ll see you back here in the new year!

Hi, friends! It feels like forever since we’ve talked…all that gift guide madness sort of took over the place (it sure was a fun takeover, though, wasn’t it?).

Now that we’re back to business as usual, the first thing on my list is to introduce you to our newest sponsor (the owner of which also happens to be a dear friend and an outstanding human being): Gemkitty. The site is pretty phenomenal, in fact – it’s like DIY jewelry-making that you get to delegate. Talk about the best of both worlds! No wonder Martha Stewart and Glamour magazine are such huge fans.

Gemkitty has come up with dozens of different styles, all of which are totally customizable with your choice of gems, color combos, metal preference – absolutely anything you can dream up. Your design is then made by hand, with love, and sent right to your door – all without your having to step foot into a bead store or learning to use those teeny tiny pliers.

For me, it’s a perfect solution, since I often have big dreams of creating something myself, but I lack any actual creativity (hence my recurrent jewelry plagiarism). This way, some genius artistic person (my friend Arrs, actually) has come up with the design, and all I have to do is pick the details I love.

I can’t help thinking it’s a perfect solution for that holiday dress you need to accessorize. It would also be a great way to wrap up your holiday shopping for a group of girlfriends – make them each their own pair of custom earrings!

Or just, you know, when you’re sitting around watching Martha Stewart and have a sudden itch to be a crafty girl – you’ll get your DIY fix with a bare minimum of effort. Genius!

Take a peek at Gemkitty’s site – trust me, you’ll get sucked into all the fun.

Our lucky winner of the Perfect Holiday Hostess giveaway with hi, friend is comment #37, Christelle! She won with her bonus entry for tweeting about the contest to her friends…just sayin’.

Congrats, Christelle – I’ll email you! Thanks, everyone, for playing along…and of course, a huge thanks to hi, friend for sponsoring. Their giveaways always make me jealous that I can’t win them myself!

{CONTEST CLOSED…Sorry you missed it! But check back next month for more giveaway fun!}

Welcome back, friends! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful – and now, of course, it’s time to really get into the holiday swing. (Have you taken advantage of our amazing Black Friday deal from Kara Ackerman yet? Last day…!)

We’re starting our annual Holiday Gift Guide Spectacular Spectacular tomorrow – I know how you all love a good gift guide! – and I’ll have zillions of great gifting ideas for you. But to officially kick off the season of giving, I teamed up with some dear friends, the lovely ladies at hi friend, to come up with a pitch-perfect present just for you. That’s right, it’s giveaway time!

I can’t think of a better, more stylish way to get started on the holidays, can you? As always, I love each and every one of hi friend’s holiday offerings – I have no idea how you’ll choose a favorite. Fortunately, you don’t have to! You’ll win a set of holiday cards PLUS a set of custom stationery PLUS one of those beautiful candles (to hold onto or save as an emergency hostess gift). Best of all, they’ll all get to you in plenty of time to send out those holiday cards on time for a change!

To win all three goodies, just comment below and let us know what you’d pick if you win! You have until Thursday night to enter, and we’ll pick a winner at random on Friday, 12/2!

As always, you get a bonus entry for following both of us on Twitter (@shoppingscardio and @hifrienddesign) and mentioning the contest, or for being our friends on Facebook here and here (you know you want to), and sharing with your friends. Just be sure you come back and leave a second (or third) comment telling me you shared elsewhere.

Good luck!