It's a....boy!

Keep Up the Good Work...

Here's a guest post from the dear old hubby...thanks hon!
Here are 18 ways to make sure you get that job and keep that job:

1. Take a break. Take a week's break between jobs to clear your head. At the very least, get a good night's sleep before your first day so you'll be at your best.

2. Check your interview notes. Recall the names and titles of everyone you met and interviewed with so you will be able to greet them and pronounce their names correctly.

3. Study up. Collect back issues of the company's newsletters, annual reports and press clippings. Check out your competitors' literature, too, to get a better handle on the "big picture."

4. Work full days. Know where and when to report on day one. Get there 30 minutes early and leave when or after most of your co-workers do. Notice people's schedules and work habits, so that you'll know the optimal times and means to connect with others.

5. Project positive energy. Look and act as if you're happy to be joining the team.

6. Look good. All eyes are on you, so pay attention to your grooming. Dress tastefully and slightly above dress code.

7. Keep a journal. Write down procedures, names of key people and contact numbers, so that you'll look like a quick study.

8. Be flexible. Expect and embrace the inevitable challenges of your position. A flexible attitude will decrease stress for you and others.

9. Show appreciation. Be kind and appreciative to everyone who helps you learn the ropes.

10. Listen 80 percent; Talk 20 percent. Resist offering opinions or assessments -- that road is full of land mines. You'll get more respect by listening and absorbing what your co-workers have to teach rather than by showing off how much you know.

11. Get to know your boss. Observe your boss' personality and work style, and tailor your interactions to his or her preferences.

12. Clarify expectations. Make sure you and your boss are on the same page. Find out:


What priorities and issues need to be immediately addressed.


How often and in what format you should provide project updates.


How your performance will be evaluated.

13. Connect with colleagues. Get to know as many people as you can especially your teammates and those with whom you will work regularly. Establish the foundation for a relationship, and trust and information will follow.

14. Identify key players. Find out who the decision-makers, influence's, stars and up-and-comers are. Notice the traits they have in common and try to emulate them.

15. Uncover hidden agendas. Identify any political forces at work. While you want to avoid getting involved in politically charged situations, it's helpful to be aware of undercurrents.

16. Take initiative. As you finish assignments and are ready to handle a bigger workload, ask for more. Pick projects that have support from upper management and buy-in from your staff.

17. Don't make major changes. Even if your interviewer told you the company was looking for fresh ideas, proceed carefully. Show respect for those who have invested energy in a project or system before trying to change it. There may be obstacles you aren't aware of. Ask why things are done the way they are and seek feedback from people whose support you need. Applaud what is being done right and frame changes as enhancements.

18. Be a team player. Don't engage in gossip. Always make your boss look good. Share credit with your workmates.

So, if you want to keep your job...and maybe get a promotion...follow these tips closely...and have a strictly stylish day!

MAN DAY: A Fab Bag for a Man

Max Benjamin Mini Cigar Bag

Okay, I'm still fully ripe with pregnancy, so HAPPY MAN DAY! I was hoping that I wouldn't have a post today, but this baby will not bend to my mind control and make an entry into this world....

My hubby found a great gift that he wants for his birthday this upcoming Monday...whether he'll get it or not is another question...
He found this handy dandy cigar bag online a few days ago and even though he doesn't smoke a lick, he just has to have it! This cigar bag by Max Benjamin holds a bevy of man accessories for you to enjoy. Here's the creator's take on how the bag was born:

Last year I vacationed on a small private and somewhat secluded island in the Grenadines called Mustique. Of all my travels, this was by far the most tranquil and relaxing. There was no place to be, and no schedule required.

There was nothing but time to enjoy the breathtaking views, the smell of the ocean and the warmth of the sun (A great setting to sit down and enjoy a good smoke and a vintage whisky).

I love my scotch and cigars and I have learned that it isn't always easy to bring them with you. If you don't take them, you might not have a hell of a lot of choices of what you can drink or smoke. Which was unfortunately the case on this vacation. Don't get me wrong; I am somewhat resourceful and managed with the help of some of the local folks, to get my hands on some decent Cubans and some palatable whisky. It was then I realized I needed one case to hold those necessities.

I wanted to make a small portable case that would carry my good whisky and my cigars anywhere I went easily. Most importantly, it had to be made well, be extremely functional and most importantly, fashionable.

My Signature bag boasts a classic masculine feel with high quality studded leather, vintage-style hardware and three-pocket design. Three compartments (each large enough to hold a bottle of spirits or other accessories) divide its interior. Choose my MaxWare Cigar Bar accessories (comes with a cedar lined humidor, insulated container and 4 acrylic glasses) and turn your Signature Bag into a Mini Cigar Bar! There is nothing like it on the market (yet), and its available to you right here!

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In other words, you can hide all of your nice and naughty things in this fab bag....LOL! The line even has a mini-sommelier kit for you wine connoisseurs. Lucky you!

Send this post to all the folks in your life who you should expect a gift from and strongly encourage them to bless your life with this bag....

Have a strictly stylish day!

Strictly Fab Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to ME!! Today is a special day...so I get to take the day off...and study...LOL! Have a great day and see you on Wednesday. I am due to have baby #3 on this coming Saturday, but if you don't see a post on Wednesday, my little bundle of joy has arrived. ;0)

Hare is my before pic--taken at my baby shower this past Saturday....

No, that is not my hand, but one of my BFFs. This is a group pic, but you know how women get picky about posting pics online....LOL! Check back in a few months for a post pic--minus some hips, gut, and spreading nose....

Have a strictly stylish day!

Strictly Fab Look of the Day: Kate Hudson

The 70s are coming back in full force...as being evidenced by some disco era outfits recently seen on celebs. Check out Kate Hudson in Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Louboutin platforms below:

found on Instyle

Looking a lot like mommy (Goldie Hawn), hunh?

What do YOU think? Haute or not?

more at twiigs.com...

MAN DAY: Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all those fab Dads out there! Today, this post is meant for you to forward...to all those in your life who you hope to get a gift from this Sunday. Lemme know if it works...
Strictly Fab Father's Day Gift Ideas


Get him a new manbag. This one, the EOLE 50 from Louis Vuitton, is deluxe to die for...for about $2000K. If you want to downsize just a wee bit, most of your major department stores and remix stores (think TJ Maxx, Burlington's, Marshall's) have some designer duds at budget prices.

How about some smell goods for dear old Dad? The 3 top selling fragrances this year are John Varvatos, HM by Hanae Mori, and L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme (I know you've never heard of that one...). For a complete top ten listing, check out About.com: Men's Fashion and Grooming.



If none of the above fits the special Dad in your life (hmmm, wonder why?), you can always try the old fail-proof gift of tix to his favorite sporting event--golf, baseball, arena football, basketball, competitive gymnastics....whateva his fatherly heart desires.

I hope these ideas are helpful...and have a strictly fab day!

Strictly Fab Stylist: Ursula Stephen

Ok, I didn't have time to do picks of the week today...in an extreme study mode, and honestly...I'm a little behind...so I was so grateful when I received the piece in my inbox from over at AOL Black Voices. Enjoy!

Meet Ursula Stephen: The Shear Genius Behind Rihanna's Fabulosity

Posted Jun 3rd 2008 2:11PM by Najwa Moses
Filed under: Hair Apparent, Lifestyle

Ursula Stephen is not only a celebrity hairstylist but a new image make-over expert and the shear genius that gave Rihanna the hairdo that caused her career to sky rocket.

What was Rihanna's initial reaction to the brilliant cut and your inspiration behind the 'do?

At first she was in shock.........

More about the color than the cut, because she had never worn her hair so dark. Then her attitude changed, she grew to love it and then she basically came into her own and I'm happy that I helped to bring that out!

As for inspiration, the Bob cut is fun and the Bob itself is one of my favorite haircuts; it is the best of both worlds- it can be edgy and classy at the same time. Fashion always inspires me and (I felt) it was time for a change. I was tired of all these artist looking the same, and I wasn't about to fall into that routine.

As an expert that gives specializes in giving celebrities a completely different look, what process do you go through to get them to agree and feel comfy with the change?

Well I think (my personal style) helps that because I change my look pretty often, they see the possibilities. I (also) take time to talk them through different looks-giving them the pros and cons. Instead of just telling them what to do, I listen to them and we collaborate. Because they have to be comfy or it will not work.

Keyshia Cole has often been compared to a young Mary J. Blige for both her sound and personal style. Has the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul ever inspired some of your looks for Cole? Do you ever purposefully direct Keyshia's 'dos away from MJB signature looks?

No, there is no inspiration from Mary. I think the two are compared to each other more for their passionate performance style, but not necessarily their look. What I would say is that they both change their look pretty often. As far as keeping their looks different- yes, that's my job to keep my artist distinctive. Though sometimes it's hard in a world where we all like the same things.

To all of our Hair Apparent readers, what are some tricks they can try in order to see what a particular cut will look like on them before they take the plunge?

A great way to do that is by trying on wigs or be like Nike and "just do it" after all its only hair and it will grow back; or start at a manageable length and work your way down. It's easier that way - this way you don't get stuck.

Breakdown for us your look right now.

Right now my look is very T-Boz inspired minus the big side burns; it's one length all around, like an old school bowl cut with heavy blunt bangs which are going to be a big hair trend straight through fall, whether or not you are wearing your hair short or long.

Until next time...keep it shiny!

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Have a strictly stylish day!

Strictly Fab Tech Accessory: The Dior Phone

Ok, if you had an extra 5K, would you spend it on this? Christian Dior will debut a new phone to the world and for a mere 5K, it can be yours.

In the words of of the most revered Flavor Flav: "WOOOOWWWW!"

Here's an excerpt form the Wall Street Journal article:

French luxury-goods company Christian Dior SA Wednesday will unveil a line of mobile phones, extending beyond its traditional fashion business to boost sales, particularly with brand-hungry consumers in new markets such as China and Russia.

The new Dior phone -- priced from €3,500, or $5,000, and up -- comes after competitors such as Prada SpA and Dolce & Gabbana have turned their fashion-branded mobile phones into significant businesses.

Dior

The basic model for Dior's new phone comes in a variety of colors.

"In the same way that we have developed our watch and jewelry lines, we want to increase sales with the phone," Dior Chief Executive Sidney Toledano said in an interview.

The phones will be made by a small French manufacturer, ModeLabs Group SA. Mr. Toledano says he expects to sell at least 10,000 of them a year at the beginning and hopes to reach annual sales of €200 million in the longer term. ModeLabs invested several million euros in research-and-development costs on the new phone, said the company's founder, Stéphane Bohbot.

So take that down payment, student loan money, tithes, or savings and plop it down for one of these babies. You will definitely be one of the only persons in the crowd with a phone this fab.....

Keep it strictly stylish!

Man Day: To be Fashionable or Not to Be--that is the Real Question

Happy Man Day! It's a great day to be a man in fashion--unless you are living in DC apparently. David Boris of Be Better Guys has a great post on his blog, Better than a Beatdown. Check out his latest post:

D.C. Style - Stories of Life and Death, Every Day

Yes, even a Better Guy like me still reads GQ for ideas and keeping up with what's going on among all you young fashion-types. And something in it always makes me laugh.

Then I came across this little piece of fluff from Greg Veis about his move to D.C. to take a Hill job, which led him to comment that all Hill-types are fashionless morons who wouldn't deign to have a sense of style, and that everyone's a Brooks Brothers type. He continues about how drunk chicks in D.C. thought he might be "gay" because he dressed just so damn hip.

Now I have always stood up for D.C. that there's more of a sense of style here than ever gets credit, it's just found in the nooks and crannies of this city, not right down Broadway - Capitol Hill, Connecticut Avenue, or even Georgetown. But Adams Morgan by day, H Street Northeast, U Street and 14th Streets, do boast their share of guys willing to look more unique. Clearly Veis is all about fitting in, wherever he is, then questioning whether he's comfy in his skin or an outsider. Hey, man, you wear Brooks Brothers in the Conde Nast cafeteria, you're an outsider. You wear Rag and Bone on Cap Hill, guess what? You either pitch inside or you pitch outside.

I'll tell you this - it's articles like this that get me tuned up about the image D.C. fashion has. And I get even more tuned up when a unique, one-of-a-kind store like The District Line closes due to lack of sales.

Yeah, we're a conflicted city, sadly, and I expect more from D.C., but one final word to Veis - all those people on Capitol Hill that all dress the same in pleated khakis and flag pins on lapels, they represent America. None of 'em are from D.C., they just moved here. Hang out with some of the original D.C. folks before painting with such a broad brush about what D.C. is and isn't.


Read Veis' full article below:


Mr. GQ Goes to Washington
Illustration by Frank Stockton
*****
When one of our former staffers moved to D.C., he discovered that what flies in Manhattan (black jeans, pointy shoes) doesn't pass muster among the pleated khakis and American-flag lapel pins of Capitol Hill
by greg veis
*****
I arrived at GQ in April 2004 as a 22-year-old schlub. I don’t say this to be falsely self-deprecating; I say it because it’s the sad, sad, God’s honest truth. Nearly every day for two years, I dragged my raggedy self into work wearing an untucked and baggy dress shirt, my hair frozen by gel, in jeans so ill fitting that they would’ve rendered any ass—let alone my ass—unidentifiable, a tiny protuberance awash in a sea of denim.

I mixed black and brown.

All of this would’ve been quasi-acceptable if I were an insurance adjuster or a back-room clerk at a Barnes & Noble. But I worked at GQ, home to some of the sharpest-dressed mofos I’ve ever met—guys who didn’t mind telling you that you looked like a Maloof brother. One particularly dispiriting day, a writer not known for his nattiness took a glance at my outfit—jeans, navy blue sneakers, a billowy brown-green-yellow-and-red vertically striped button-front—and scoffed, “You wear that to work?” He said he respected my willingness to embarrass myself.

There’s no use pretending things had changed all that much by last October, when I left GQ for a political journal in Washington, D.C. But I was getting better. I added a pair of slim-fit jeans to the rotation, along with some skinny ties and tailored jackets. In short, I looked like a New Yorker, maybe even one who had completed a summer internship at Bravo.

I wish it didn’t, but my improvement mattered to me. I liked that the folks who used to crack wise dropped the actually on the days they said I looked good. It meant I had completed a successful adaptation. And for those of us (I assume most of us) who like to look good but don’t have the stones to dress exactly how we want no matter what the situation, being in sync with your surroundings is key—right up there with personal style (defined loosely in my case) and comfort.

So then the strangest thing happens: I lug myself down to D.C., and all of a sudden I’m Mr. Fucking GQ. Apparently, what barely passed for fashionable in the Condé Nast cafeteria is cause for suspicion at the National Press Club. I can’t tell you how many times in my first couple of months here I was asked, normally by drunk girls, if I was gay.

“No,” I’d say. “I’m flattered, but I used to work at a men’s magazine.”

“Oh, well,” they’d respond sloppily. “You just dress kinda gay, I guess.”

Now, the District gets a bad enough rap for not being the most culturally edgy place—and I don’t mean to pile on. D.C. today is a lot different than the D.C. of ten years ago; there are now parts of the city just as plugged-in as the hippest hoods in Brooklyn. But that rumor about how everyone in Official Washington—Capitol Hill types, white-shoe attorneys, lobbyists—wears obscene amounts of Brooks Brothers? That shit is true! Also: pleats. Lots of pants down here be pleated.

It’s crazy.

And like everywhere else, but perhaps even more so, there’s a premium on uniformity. You haven’t seen anyone testify before Congress wearing a suit from Rag & Bone, right? That’s because it would mark him as an outsider, just like my schlubby outfits did during my first days at GQ. I’m not suggesting you go all native and buy a cowboy hat if you get reassigned to Amarillo, Texas. (A friend of mine did that, a lawyer.) But context matters, particularly in professional situations.

So if you stop by the Brooks Brothers on Connecticut Avenue, you might spot me. I’ll be the one eyeing the seersucker, wondering why, just as I was finally starting to get a handle on things in New York, I chose to start over here.

Have a strictly stylish day!

Moment of Silence for the Fashion World..and my Strictly Fab Find for the Week of June 2, 2008

Yves St. Laurent in 1985

The fashion world is in mourning this morning. According to the Associated Press, fashion icon Yves St. Laurent passed away on this past Sunday night after a courageous fight with brain cancer.


From the article:

In his own words, Saint Laurent once said he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."

My fashion candle is lit for thee....

On a brighter note, my one find of the week (due to my crazy study schedule and pregnancy finale) is

SEE: Sex and the City movie, starring Sarah Jessica Parker (amongst others)



So I even need to explain why? I will say this though, in order to really understand the storyline and the characters' backstories, get the complete DVD set ASAP! For us faithful viewers, it wrapped it all up very nicely, just the way we like it....

If you really need to know what's going on, here's a synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon are reprising their roles from the original HBO series. The show’s longtime executive producer, Michael Patrick King, is set to write and direct. Additionally, Chris Noth, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler and Jason Lewis will return as the women’s love interests. Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) has also joined the cast of the film and will play Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant, a new character to be introduced in the film. --© New Line Cinema

Not too much to extract from here...so go see the movie!

Have a strictly stylish day!