Weekly health tip #4 - Drink up!

Everyone knows you should drink six to eight glasses of water a day, right? Well, if those are 8 oz. glasses, that's only good enough for those under about 130 lbs. You should drink 1/2 oz. of water daily for every pound you weigh. So a linebacker weighing in at 230 lbs. needs 115 oz. of water a day, which is about 14 glasses!

I keep a pitcher of filtered water by my desk, and have a glass of water every hour or so. My coworkers might think I'm weird, but who cares?

Win free stuff!

While we here at SG don't have any giveaway contest schedules now (we're working on it though!) we wanted to clue you in to giveaways at other blogs.

Head over to Holland Cox to enter the Happily Handmade giveaway, and you could win a gift basket valued over $200, plus you'll be entered into a second contest for one of Valerie's gorgeous handmade handbags! Once you've entered at Holland Cox, you can visit the other sponsors, and enter at their sites too. But hurry, the contest is only open through Oct. 29.

Done? Great, now visit the Lingerie Post - by joining their newletter you'll be entered into their quarterly lingerie giveaway. All prizes will be shipped through major vendors, so you will be able to pick the colors and sizes you prefer.

Alright kids, one more: the awesome indie blog Modish has a monthly giveaway; you can see this month's incredible gift basket here. Just subscribe to the newsletter and all that stuff could be yours!

Good luck!

Pumpkins!

It's autumn here in the Northern hemisphere, which means we get to eat pumpkin pie [1], and carve Jack-o-Lanterns, and drink spiced apple cider, and go trick-or-treating (okay, maybe some of us are a little too old for trick-or-treating, which is why some long-forgotten genius invented the Halloween party!), and those of us far enough North get gorgeous autumn leaves.

I know that plenty of people dislike Martha Stewart, but there is no denying that these lace patterned Jack-o-Lanterns are pretty incredible. I live in an apartment, so I don't have a front porch on which to display my carved pumpkins, but that won't stop me!

[1] Speaking of pumpkin pie, does anyone have a favorite recipe? I generally use the one on the back of the can of pureed pumpkin, but I'd like to branch out.

Update

An update to this post: U.S. customers can get this knife block set on sale for $59.99 and up, depending on the color you want. Unfortunately Overstock.com will only ship within the U.S., but try Froogle to find vendors in other countries. (Edited to give a valid link.)

Bargain bags

I love the tie-silk bags at J. Crew, and they aren't badly priced either. This wristlet is $29.50, and this makeup bag is $24.50. But if you look in the "crewcuts" section (crewcuts is their children's line) you'll find this handbag (left) on sale for only $14.99, in 4 different patterns. What a steal! You can stock up now and always have one on hand as a last-minute birthday gift.

viceversa

How awesome is this knife block from Viceversa? I think it would make the most awesome housewarming gift.

Except it's terribly bad form to give knives as gifts, which is a shame, because I think it would be fantastic.

I can't locate the price on the site, but I saw one in person this afternoon, and it wasn't very cheap. I don't really think this is affordable on a student budget anyway, unless you do what I always do, which is put in money to a group gift. It is a strategy which has served me well these last few years, and one that shall continue.

Weekly health tip #2 - Cut it out!

Trans fats (aka hydrogenated fats, or partially hydrogenated fats) are among the worst things you can eat; if you want to develop coronary artery disease, these are the fats to eat. And unfortunately, trans fats are in a lot of prepared foods: cookies, margarine, fried foods, fast foods, etc. But fortunately regulations in many countries either eliminate trans fats, or require that foods containing them list the amounts. You can avoid trans fats by checking nutrition labels - look for "trans fats", "trans fatty acids", "hydrogenated", or "vegetable shortening", and don't buyt those foods, or limit your intake. You can instead eat foods richer in good fats, such as walnuts, and use olive or almond oil in your cooking. Photo credit: http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/shortening3.jpg

Bernoulli biscotti!

The Bernoulli Cafe offers (secretly nerdy ... shhh!) delicious homemade biscotti ($10 for a 3/4 lb. package). My favorite is the traditional almond, made with real orange zest and lemon zest. In fact, all of the Bernoulli Cafe's biscotti is made with real stuff, which is part of why it is so tasty. Pick up some coffee too, so you can enjoy your biscotti the way it was meant to be enjoyed!

Win free cool stuff!

Who doesn't like winning stuff? And wouldn't it be even better if that stuff was all handmade by stylish, independent artists and designers? Well friends, let me tell you about the Happily Handmade Giveaway...

The Happily Handmade Giveaway is a simple drawing-style contest where you can win hundreds of dollars of handmade goodness. Entering is super-simple: visit any of the 70 participating shops (including mine!) and follow directions to enter. The cool thing is you can enter through *every* participating shop and get 70 chances to win! Check the official site for pictures of the giftbaskets, which are sure to be chock full of handmade coolness. October 29 is the last day to enter so act fast!

Not the only ones!

We at Style Graduate are not the only ones blogging about fashion on a budget; check out these other blogs on the same topic:

• The Budget Fashionista even has her own book on the subject!
• Cheap Chica is such a fun blog, and I love all the photos.
• Hot Off the Sales Rack has a lot of financial advice in addition to great fashion blogging.

And if you thought Knickers was the only great lingerie blog around, you must not have heard about The Lingerie Post, which is new and awesome (and not just because they wrote a post about Style Graduate!). I love that there are people out there dedicated to doing lingerie research!

Not being the only blog in your field is not a bad thing; all kinds of synergy takes place when lots of people are working towards finding cool stuff.

I'll end this post with a picture of a beautiful babydoll featured recently on The Lingerie Post; go there for the purchase details. :)

Boot it up!

Tanya Patrice recently blogged about making your look a little more professional, and suggested wearing slacks instead of jeans. I'm all for that, but if you really love your jeans, and still want to dress things up, a great pair of boots might be the way to go. I know that if I wear a sweater, dark-rinse jeans, and tennies I look like your standard student, but if I switch out the shoes for a slick pair of boots I'll instantly look more capable and grown-up, and the added height doesn't hurt! (Tanya talked about making sure inseams on her pants are long enough - let's just say that I do not have that problem. At all.)

I love these gorgeous Ann Taylor Loft "Phoebe" boots; the contrast detail on the brown pair is especially nice. They're on sale for only $59.99 US, and still available in the full range of sizes. I have a few other pairs of ATL boots, and can vouch for their quality and comfort. So order a pair and give your casual look the boot! (Sorry, I couldn't resist one little pun... :)

Weekly health tip #1 - Mix it up!

Today is the first installment in a new feature here at SG, a weekly fitness tip! Every week we'll bring you a quick tip on exercise, eating, or just generally healthy living.

This week's tip is about exercise plateaux. Often after weeks or months of the same exercise routine, your performance, weightloss, or enjoyment will drop off or come up against a wall. To avoid this, mix up your exercise regimen. By working different muscle groups and challenging your body in new ways you'll be able to push yourself to a new level of fitness, and by staving off boredom you'll be better able to meet your exercise goals.

Suggested changes - switch your cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical, bike), and add interval training. Also try adding a new activity (volleyball, yoga, tennis) to really mix things up!

tsumami kanzashi (a wedding style post)

Just to let you know, when I joined the stylegraduate crew, it was under the assumption that I'd occasionally blog about wedding related style. This is one such post!

I recently encountered tsumami kanzashi, a Japanese hair ornament. I apologise for the blurriness of this photograph, but it was stealth photography. You can, however, still clearly see what I love about this particular kanzashi, that is, the gorgeous flowers at the top and my favourite element, the long cords flowing to the little bells at the bottom. This (but in red) is now the hair piece that I want to wear, not only at my own wedding but all the time.


Options are two: make my own (I'm industrious, but terrible at sewing) or buy them (this site looks expensive but beautiful). For those of you not looking for red hair pieces, etsy has a number of white and cream pieces.

(Almost) Free Popcorn!

It's "Free Popcorn Month" at Dale & Thomas; you can get one or two bags of their delicious popcorn, and you only have to pay shipping (US$2.95 per bag, a reduced rate). They will pick the flavors for you, but since all their popcorn is delicious, that shouldn't be a problem! Go here to order your (almost) free popcorn!

Sadly, this offer is restricted to the U.S., but we hope to bring our international readers similar offers in the future.

taylor and khoo

Taylor and Khoo is a store based in Sydney, and 100% of their profits go to supporting an orphanage in Cambodia. Their products are made by independent designers and seamstresses (not factories) in Cambodia, and their products are relatively cheap and I think they're lovely. I especially like this jewellery wrap (AU$35), and I love the Adam Hill 'go you big red fire engine' tee (which I suspect is only funny if you're Australian). You can order their products here, and they ship internationally to NZ, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, HK, USA and Canada.

You'll look fabulous, and you'll (possibly) feel good about yourself. Bonus.

Style Graduate goes international!

We have a new team member here at Style Graduate, a penguin (that's her blogger name, not her species!), who hails from Australia. She runs a delightful blog on her shopping adventures, and makes her own penguin shirts! I'm jealous - I can't do that! I'm very excited to have her on board, and can't wait to see her posts!

Photo credit: http://www.emperor-penguin.com/emp-chick.jpg