Meet Julia Ballentine and her exquisite jewelry pieces. Julia Ballentine has worked in the jewelry industry for nearly thirty years, earning her certification as a Graduate Gemologist with the Gemological Institute of America early on. In 1992, she began her career at Christie’s Auction House in New York, where she was a cataloguer and gemologist. This was followed by many years at Tiffany & Co where she worked as a Buyer, a Product Development Manager for Engagement, Statement and Schlumberger jewelry, and also as the Manager of the Tiffany Pearl Lab. In 2001 Julia left Tiffany and went back into the antique and estate jewelry world with an exclusive boutique jeweler on Madison Avenue and reconnected with exceptional vintage jewelry. Her experience also includes working at Christie’s London, jewelry design coursework at NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology, design work in Florence, Italy and Appraisal Certification through USPAP. She has been a member of the Jewelers Board of Trade since 2005. She is a graduate of Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut and has a B.A. from St. Lawrence University, as well as a G.G. from the Gemological Institute of America.
Over time, Julia discovered that there was a need for excellent customer service and wanted to help navigate what can be a very tricky industry. In the spring of 2005, taking advantage of the relationships with suppliers and craftsmen that she had built in her years in the industry, she launched her business on a referral-only basis. It was a natural progression to start Julia Ballentine Fine Jewelry, sourcing beautiful, high-quality jewelry for her friends and private clients.
Today, Julia’s website includes available beautiful, fun pieces. This website represents a fraction of the jewelry that she sources and designs for her clients. She specializes in custom design work and is happy to consult on individual projects as time permits.
Thanks to our awesome blog sponsor BodyBalance365 for today’s awesome recipe.
As temperatures drop and we start spending more time indoors, this is when that first round of “winter colds” start to spread. Nothing is better to relieve sore throat pain, clear your sinuses, and warm you to your core than a bowl of soup. Butternut squash is loaded with Vitamin A, B, C, potassium, and magnesium so this is a nutrient-rich and delicious soup — all year round!
The BEST Butternut Squash Soup is so delicious!!!! Bon Appetit!!!!
Ingredients:
2-2 1/2 lbs. butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cut into 1″ cubes
1 lrg. onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 lrg. sweet potato, diced
4 Tbs. unsalted vegan butter or organic butter
6 cups vegetable stock
kosher salt
ground pepper
ground nutmeg
Directions:
Melt butter
Saute onions until soft. Add carrots, celery, squash and sweet potato. Cook for 5 minutes
Add stock, 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat.
Cook for 35-40 minutes until squash is tender.
Use an immersion blender (or Cuisinart) to puree when the soup is cooled.
Add nutmeg and pepper to taste.
I am so happy to share this week’s best sellers with you. Most of the items featured I have tried on myself. I love the clogs, the coat from J Crew is perfection, and I just ordered the leopard dress (it is on sale too). But I think you are really going to love everything in this week’s edition. Email me and let me know what you get!!!!
- I tried on these clogs over the weekend and fell in love.
- This leather skirt is fabulous!
- I am in love love with this J-Crew coat. The sterling vest is incredible.
- This is the perfect leopard dress…love the smocking!!
- Everyone needs a neutral sweater for the Fall/Winter
- Here is another perfect camel winter coat..
- How cute is the top with feather sleeves?
- These Tory Burch rings are gorgeous!
- I have not tried this yet but this dewy foundation gets rave reviews…..
- This sweater is beautiful…Love the green
- Love the pink color….
- You have to try this candle..it makes a fab gift too!!!
The Original PeachSkinSheets has donated 8,000 sheet sets and 1,000 sheet separates to the Missouri-based nonprofit Convoy of Hope. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, the relief organization has delivered critical supplies—food, water, mattresses, baby food, hygiene kits, and generators—to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. Today, they can add PeachSkinSheets’ bedding to that ever-growing list.
For PeachSkinSheets’ Founder and CEO Karen B. Levine, who in October 2021 donated 12,000 sheet sets to efforts in Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida Relief, giving back is simply part of the brand’s ethos. “Our hearts go out to the millions of Ukrainian displaced refugees who have lost everything, many including hope,” shares Levine. “As the conflict continues, we want to be a source of support for those in need.”
The PeachSkinSheets team values human connection. PeachSkinSheets selected Convoy of Hope as its warehouses in Ukraine, Poland and Romania are able to distribute life-sustaining supplies as soon as they arrive.
About PeachSkinSheets: Founded in 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, by Karen Levine, PeachSkinSheets is dedicated to going the extra mile for customers with essential bedding that does more at an affordable price. Made from a breathable, high-performance athletic-grade SMART fabric, they’re the best bed sheets for hot sleepers due to their thermal control and moisture-wicking properties. They’re not just made for luxury, they’re made for the real-life challenges you face in getting a good night’s sleep. To learn more about PeachSkinSheets, visit peachskinsheets.com. USE CODE NICOLE15 for a 15% discount sitewide!!!! You are going to LOVE these sheets!!!!
About Convoy of Hope
Convoy of Hope is a faith-based organization with a driving passion for feeding the world. With a long history as an early responder in times of natural disasters, Convoy of Hope has been a Four Star Charity as recognized by Charity Navigator every year since 2002. Convoy of Hope has served more than 200 million people since it was founded in 1994. For more information, please visit convoyofhope.org.
I saw this book over the weekend and immediately fell in love with it. I love fashion and cannot get enough of fashion photography so Peter Lindbergh on Fashion Photography seemed like a perfect choice for this week’s Book Club pick.
It was on a Malibu beach in 1988 that Peter Lindbergh shot the White Shirts series, images now known the world over. Simple yet seminal, the photographs introduced us to Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Rachel Williams, Karen Alexander, Tatjana Patitz, and Estelle Lefébure. This marked the beginning of an era that redefined beauty, and Lindbergh would go on to alter the landscape of fashion photography for the decades that followed.
This edition gathers more than 300 images from forty years of Lindbergh’s career. It traces the German photographer’s cinematic inflections and humanist approach, which produced images at once seductive and introspective.
In 1980 Rei Kawakubo asked Lindbergh to shoot a Commes des Garçons campaign, one of his earlier forays into commercial photography. Kawakubo gave him carte blanche. The following years brought forth collaborations with the most venerated names in fashion and resulted in a relationship of mutual reverence; Lindbergh’s respect for some of the greatest designers of our time is palpable in his portraits. Among those photographed are Azzedine Alaïa, Giorgio Armani, Alber Elbaz, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Thierry Mugler, Yves Saint Laurent, Jil Sander, and Yohji Yamamoto.
Widely considered a pioneer in his field, Lindbergh shirked the industry standards of beauty and instead celebrated the essence and individuality of his subjects. He was pivotal to the rise of models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Mariacarla Boscono, Lara Stone, Claudia Schiffer, Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, and Kristen McMenamy.
Lindbergh’s reach also extended across Hollywood and beyond: Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Richard Gere, Isabelle Huppert, Nicole Kidman, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Catherine Deneuve, and Jeanne Moreau all appear in his works. From the picture chosen by Anna Wintour as the cover of her first Vogue issue to the legendary shot of Tina Turner on the Eiffel Tower, it is never the clothes, celebrity, or glamour that takes center stage in a Lindbergh photograph. Each picture conveys the humanity of its subject with a serene melancholy that is uniquely and unmistakably Lindbergh.
From the outset of his career, Lindbergh was well-known in the contemporary art world, where his photographs were exhibited in galleries long before they appeared in magazines. This edition features an updated introduction adapted from an interview in 2016, allowing a glimpse behind Lindbergh’s lens, where the photographer recounts his early collaborations, the tenuous relationship between commercial and fine art, and the power of storytelling.
For more information or to purchase this book, click HERE.
Do you dream of being a genius in the kitchen? If so, this post is for you. In it, we take a look at some of the things you can do to become a whizz-kid in less than 15 minutes a day. Read on to learn more.
Slice And Freeze Your Bananas
Bananas have a nasty habit of going brown all at once. And when that happens, you feel like your only choice is to gobble the whole bunch and then face the lavatory later.
But you don’t have to take such extreme measures. Just cut them into slices and freeze them when they are about to go brown. It’s that simple. Then you can put them in the blender and whip them into a soft serve later.
Keep Your Scallions Fresh By Putting Them In A Vase
Scallions go dry and brittle quickly, even if you put them in the refrigerator the moment you bring them back from the store. However, treating them like roses can extend their useful life considerably.
Find a vase and dump your scallions in it. Then add some water and put them in sunlight. They’ll keep growing for a week or two, and they’ll stay nice and moist in the process.
Add Red Wine To Boring Pasta Dishes
Pasta dishes can get a little boring after a while. There’s nothing particularly exciting about them.
Fortunately, you can bring them back to life with a dash of red wine. You don’t need much, but it can change the entire character of the recipe. You can also learn how to cook bacon in the oven and then chop it up and add it to creamy pasta sauces.
Baste Your Steak
Most people take a steak out of the packet and immediately dump it in the pan. But that’s not the best approach to cooking this meat.
What you should do instead is baste it first in a salt rub and then let it sit. This method helps to lock the moisture in the meat and helps it taste better, too. Let it sit for at least an hour.
Put Cooked Veggies In Ice Cold Water As Soon As You Finish Cooking Them
Vegetables have this annoying habit of showing up as gray on your plate after you cook them perfectly. That’s because they keep cooking in their own heat once they hit your plate.
The way around this is to dunk them in ice-cold water as soon as you finish cooking them. Leave them there until just before you serve. Then fry them quickly in butter to give them a golden sheen.
Put All Batters In Squeeze Bottles
Trying to pour the batter from a bowl is always a disaster. Pancakes wind up being the oddest of shapes.
That’s why kitchen pros always keep their batters in squeeze bottles. This way, they can control how they look with a high degree of accuracy.
You can get special squeeze bottles with a filling end, application end, and shaker spring in the middle to mix your batter as you go along.