Posts tagged ‘shop’

November 22, 2011

Give Without Giving With GoodSearch

Despite what the upcoming apocolypse known as Black Friday would have you think, a new report says almost 70 percent of people will give less this holiday season. In cash-strapped times, charitable supporters are getting creative with their giving … you know how much I love giving/getting goodies with charitable ties (more posts on that coming up soon)! To tide you over, here are six ways you can “give without giving” online right now:

Shop online. GoodShop.com works with more than 2,500 retailers (including Amazon,GapTargetStaples and Macy’s) to give a percentage of almost every purchase back to the shopper’s favorite charity.  In addition, GoodShop lists more than 100,000 coupons so that shoppers can save money and do good at the same time!  GoodShop currently works with more than 102,000 charities and schools.

Search the Internet:  GoodSearch.com donates about a penny per search to the charity the user designates. It’s powered by Yahoo. Together with GoodShop, GoodSearch has raised more than $8 million for charity.

Dine out:  GoodDining.com works with more than 10,000 restaurants across the country and each time you dine, up to 6% of what you spend is donated to your favorite charity.

Redeem credit card points. You can turn unused credit card points into a charitable donation to your cause. Both American Express and Citi Card offer this program.

Volunteer: There are a handful of companies that match volunteer hours with funds. For example, Microsoft will match volunteer time at $17 an hour through its Volunteer Time Matching program. BoeingExxonIntelChevron, and Bank of America have similar programs.

Recycle your old electronics:  Send your electronics to Gazelle.com and cash generated from that will be donated to charity.

To date, GoodSearch has donated more than $8 million to over 102,000 charities and schools designated by its users.

July 13, 2011

Try it on: Tie Dye Chic (+ exclusive discount!)

Today we’re featuring a guest post from Electric Frenchie, an online boutique based out of Austin. They specialize in designer fashion at affordable prices (40-70% off retail!), and offer tons of cute, high-quality women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories as well as a 100% designer brand sales rack. 

Tie-dye T-shirts are an iconic late 1960s and early 70s fashion style closely associated with the age of free love and rock & roll. Worn
on college campuses, around drum circles, and at Woodstock music festival, this style was made popular by legends such as Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. This season, fashion designers pay homage to the summer of love, reviving tie-dye fashions and recreating them as boho-chic styles.

In its current reincarnation, tie-dye is cool, breezy, and surprisingly sexy. Celebrities have perfected the laid-back look by keeping it glam in body conscious cuts and muted color palettes. A favorite look of celebs is the tie-dye sundress, like this one from Electric Frenchie boutique.

Electric Frenchie tie dye dress

Steal some style inspiration from these celebs and you’ll be looking boho-sexy look all summer long.

katy perry in tie dye

Katy Perry knows that going for a bold print means keeping accessories streamlined and simple. Take a cue from this California girl, and accessorize your tie-dye dress with flat metallic sandals, a floppy sun hat, and dark oversized sunglasses.

Alessandra AMbrosio in tie dye

Leave it to a Victoria’s Secret model to make tie-dye look sexy yet effortless. Check out how Alessandra Ambrosio relies on bold but
simple pieces to jazz up her maxi dress. A skinny belt creates a sexy shape while a fringed leather handbag, sandals, simple hoops and long flowy hair bring everything together. Gorgeous!

Jessica Hart in tie-dye

Want to look like a supermodel on her day off? Here, Aussie supermodel Jessica Hart toughens up her tie-dye maxi dress with rock
and roll accessories including a studded back handbag and white Chuck Taylor’s. The result is a look that’s edgy yet chic. We love it!

Order anything online at electricfrenchie.com and use code LIFEINATX for 15% OFF your total order.

Lyssa’s note: I LOVE tie-dye, so I’m very excited Electric Frenchie rounded up these looks for us! In fact, I just bought a tie-dye dress myself …

March 10, 2011

Austin: Savory Spice Shop

Like so many things I’ve discovered, Austin and Colorado, Denver in this case, are so interconnected. Take, for example, Savory Spice Shop, the dedicated spice shop that opened last November on West Sixth. It started in Denver, and many of the blends are named for counties and areas in Colorado! But let’s focus on the Austin one, shall we?

With wood floors and friendly sales associates in green aprons, walls lined with more spices than I’d ever dreamed, Savory Spice Shop feels like walking in to your grandma’s house—assuming that your grandma, like mine, is a most excellent cook. They’re as helpful as grandmas too: tell them what you like, and they can find you awesome spices. For instance, I picked out Summit County Seasoning (for slow-cooking and stews, something I incorrectly assumed I’d be doing plenty of this winter) and Colorado Plateau Citrus Pepper. I got to the register and the woman looked at my spices and said, “Are you sure you don’t want another?”

Savory Spice Shop

“Um, do I? What’s the best one?”

She led me over to the Roman Pepper Steak Seasoning:

Roman Pepper Steak Seasoning

(yes, I need some lotion stat on my hands)

I sampled a little in my palm and HAD TO HAVE IT. It’s amazing! Italian-y, peppery, salty, it’s awesome.

I bought these three spice combos just a few weeks ago and am flying through them! I’m going to have to restock soon. If you have ANY questions, the staff at Savory Spice Shop can answer anything! I definitely recommend you hit it up to spice up your cooking!

Currently, they’re giving you $1 off for every old bottle of spices you bring in, so recycle AND save money!

http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/aboutus/austin6th.html / 512.524.1093 / @savryspiceon6th

February 25, 2011

Austin: Weekend Shopping with Etsy, Vogue, and LOFT

Handmade Art Pop-Up Shop

WE Made Art party in Austin
Etsy, West Elm, and photographer Abby Powell are curating a Pop Up shop of a dozen local artists and several food vendors. Food will be served by Salt & Time, Cool Haus and more. Details and RSVP here: myrsvplive.com.

LOFT Opening Party with Vogue

The new LOFT store in Barton Creek Square Mall is celebrating their opening with a party! Shop and receive a 20% discount off your full price purchase all while enjoying music and refreshments. In addition, between 1-3pm, shoppers can get fashion tips from a Vogue style expert!

LOFT Austin party

December 10, 2010

More on EverSave

It’s no secret that living, even part time, in Aspen is expensive. One of the funniest things about it is shopping online … when you don’t have the same access to stores that you do in Austin, you gotta shop somewhere!

So lately I’ve been loving EverSave’s online deals (you know I knew about them first, right?). You may have seen my tweets, and it may look like I am slightly out of control. While I love the Groupon hyper-local deals (I’m coming to eat you, Snap Kitchen!), I have also started to really love EverSave‘s online ones. Case in point:


Designer Chatter

Today’s Save:$35 for $75 worth of deeply discounted designer denim, handbags, shoes and more at DesignerChatter.com

Expires 03:00 AM – Dec 14, 2010

Plus you get free shipping.

This is a big one, because I ordered a wine.com deal and it didn’t come with free shipping. I put a $10 bottle of wine in my cart, shipping was $12. Are you for real?! It went on like this until I gave up and ordered wine glasses (stemless!) because they were the cheapest to ship and we need some anyway.

I digress. Shop online. You can do it anywhere, even a lil mountain town buried in snow. Cheaper with eversave (and I get $. Let’s not forget about that. But I clearly immediately spend it on more eversaves).

November 18, 2010

Austin: Gilda Grace Opens Friday

As if my neighborhood wasn’t cool enough already (Snap Kitchen? El Arbol?), a new boutique graces the Brykerwoods area. Gilda Grace Collections opens Friday, November 19th at 10am. Gilda Grace is assembled like a woman’s closet, albeit one curated by Austin-based entrepreneur and designer Nere Emiko.

The multi-level boutique features Emiko’s Beth Elis line, a high-end wedding dress line. Beth Elis has been featured in Brides, The Knot, and The Wedding Channel. Because Emiko is a study in contradictions–her degree from Carnegie Mellon is in Electrical and Computer Engineering–naturally her boutique would feature all sorts of fashions, from casual to formal, relaxed to stiff, practical to impossible … plus hard-to-find books, antique furnishings, and rare paper products.

Want some names? Try chocolates from Maison Bouche, leather pillows from Beirn, books from DAP and Assouline, and all sorts of goodies from Ittala, Lafco, Soolip, Libretto, Triple C Design, Modern Alchemy, and Design Abroad.

Of course, there’s still the outdoor garden for dinner parties, baby and bridal showers, teas, happy hours, and even small weddings. What more could you want, really?

Welcome to the nabe.

November 11, 2010

Austin: Spice Shop Grand Opening (by the numbers)

For the longest time, I didn’t really get the spice thing. I’m slow to the cooking game, and I never understood why people went nuts for Penzey’s in Dallas … I didn’t even know Central Market had bulk spices (awesome!) until this year. But people, spices are awesome. They make boring things amazing and amazing things out-of-this-world.

And now Austin has cemented its reputation as a foodie town with the opening of  Savory Spice Shop on West Sixth. Friday, Nov. 12 will feature a fresh rosemary ribbon cutting at 10am with free spice samples all day.

  • 400 herbs, spices, seasonings, blends, extracts and salts from around the world
  • More than 30 different chiles, from Korean Red Pepper Chile Threads to Miniature Thai Chilies
  • Nearly 40 organic herbs, spices and extracts including Organic Madagascar “Bourbon” Vanilla Beans and Organic Imported European Basil
  • 19 different ways to choose pepper from Tasmanian Pepper Berries to Reunion Island Pink Peppercorns
  • specialty salts including Italian Black Truffle Salt and Alder Wood Smoked Sea Salt
  • more than 140 fresh seasoning blends including curries, cheese blends, salt-free seasonings and barbecue spice combinations.

Ground fresh every week, the shop will feature familiar seasonings as well as extraordinary aromatics such as Ethiopian Berbere, Cambodian Lemongrass, Peruvian Chili Lime and Thai Green Curry blends. Hello, yum? These are just spices!

Shoppers will not only be able to sample these blends with ‘tasters’ throughout the store, but also buy them in quantities as small or large as they want – from half-ounce measure to several pounds. After sampling a spice, customers are invited to toss the remaining spice sample on the floor to add to the mesmerizing blend of aromas that waft throughout the store.

See you there. I’ll be the one drooling.

1201B West Sixth Street, just west of the intersection of Blanco and West Sixth. Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 7 pm and Sunday, 11 am – 6 pm. http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/aboutus/austin6th.html / 512.524.1093 / @savryspiceon6th

November 1, 2010

HELP! Random Shopping – I Need Your Advice?

I found this for only $80! Should I have bought it?

Turns out you need a lot of warm boots in snowy places. Which of these should I get? Or do you have other (not TOO expensive) faves I need to know about? Don’t tell me UGGS!!

Snow boots

Snow boots by lifeinaustin featuring sporto shoes

Also, I spent FOREVER and a day researching this article, and I love it. It makes me want to hug my computer screen. Check out EndlessBeauty’s 15 Fave Empowering Goods, a roundup of beauty goods and accessories that benefit their makers and empower women to get out of poverty.

October 22, 2010

Wow, more shopping/deal sites!

Yo, did you guys know about SteepandCheap.com? Because I sure didn’t, but apparently everyone else within 1,000 vertical feet of snow did. It flashes a new item every 30 minutes or until it sells out, whichever comes first, and its got tons of mountain-y gear like skis, accessories, clothes, hiking gear, shoes, packs, camping stuff, you think REI and they have it.

Also new to my life are Left Lane Sports and 118 Boardshop, both “invite-only” shopping sites more akin to RueLaLa, ideeli, or Gilt but with less frequent sales that sit on the site longer. They also focus on the outdoorsy stuff, though 118 Boardshop is a skate-culture shop.

You know what else is cool? My first ski boots:

They go really well with my hot pink skis. OF COURSE I got hot pink skis!!

October 5, 2010

Austin: New Local Daily Deal Site GivShop

Only in Austin, where deal sites populate the city like musicians, would we have a new daily deal site that gives back–as in, 50% of your purchase price goes back to a non-profit of your choice. How ridiculously cool is that? Hello GivShop.

Joining Groupon, LivingSocial, aDealio, Localiter, and Eversave, GivShop offers similar fare to the others–a mani/pedi today, eco-friendly house cleaning yesterday,and the chance to buy deals from other days as “side deals.”

Seriously, I’ve been buying all this stuff anyway (did I really need a case of wine? um, yes) so I might as well be donating money to non-profits while I’m at it! The list of non-profits you get to pick from is long:

Give GivShop a try! (and use this link, I get credits!)

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