How to find a great prom dress?

Finding that perfect prom dress can be an exercise in balancing budget, fit, color, and style. No wonder that it causes both the graduating student and her parents so much stress. Like a wedding dress, if you follow some basic fashion tips, you can find a prom dress that does justice to your body, is within the budget, and still makes you stand out. Here is a series of videos with great tips on shopping for a prom dress, as well as picking the right dress by your body type.

Paris next week

I have been busy preparing for my trip to Paris next week. I am very excited and I think I have read a lot about Paris and I have a clear idea of the places I would like to visit. This is my first time spending "time" in Paris, I have been there in and out, but never experienced the city of lights.

If anyone of you have any recommendations I will appreciate your input. Just leave a comment on this page.

I am planning to have tea at Ladure; it is an expensive place and I hope it is worthy. I will also attend the fashion show at Galeries Lafayette. I am planning to go to Versailles, and of course the Iron lady, Notre Dame, the Louve, D'Orsay and the rest of the tourist attractions.

I prefer to eat vegetarian food and I know this is difficult in Paris. I am not planning to eat beef, but I may eat at least once some fish. The rest of the time I will survive on cheese, bread and salads (and of course, croissants, pastries, chocolate and macaroons). This is one of thereasons I may not do one of the grand French restaurants.

I would like to really experience Paris itself far from the tourist places. I want to go to cafes and read or do people watching. I want to get up early one morning, go to a café or just stand in a bus or train station and see how Parisians dress to go to work.

Of course I want to do some shopping. I am not planning a big shopping, because the dollar is too low right now. I am also planning to go to the exclusive boutiques such as Hermes, Chanel and Dior. I have been wanting to buy Chanel No. 5 perfume, and though, I can buy it anywhere here in the States, I may buy it in the main Chanel boutique. I have been told that perfumes are at the back of the store there.

When I come back I will share with you all my experiences, but we plan to blog from Paris every day.

The Natick Collection

Natick, Massachusetts had a good-sized mall, but a couple of weeks ago it doubled. The size does matter when it comes to malls, but even better, the completely renovated and expanded mall is now called the Natick Collection (AKA Natick mall). It has some very exclusive stores such as Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. Beside these giants, they also got a Zara, Louis Vuitton, Anthropologie, Lush, Burberry, and many others.

Nordstrom and Neiman carry all the fashionable brands such as Jimmy Choo, Prada, Manolo Blahnik, etc. In clothes and bags the names are equally impressive. I was there for the grand opening and the Nordstrom cosmetic tailgate party. I got my makeup done with Smash Box. There was so much excitement I could not believe how many women got up early to go to the mall.

Even more surprising for me was the fact that most people were dressed up! I never have seen the mall with so many beautiful people – I started to wonder where were these people hiding. The following day was the same way and people were buying luxury goods as if they have been deprived of shopping for long time. A lot of people were carrying bags from exclusive shops. It is not that Natick did not have shops – after all it is minutes away from Boston where all shops have been opened for years (except Nordstrom).

A couple of weeks later the excitement is still there, but people are back to normal mall clothes, the heels and chic are gone. If you live in the area I recommend to visit this mall it is exciting.