in december drinking horchata

i am horrible at updating this thing! but my winter break has gone swimmingly so far, including the massive amounts of rain that i could literally swim in! one good thing about that is that i got to go home after 2 hours of being at work. goood times :)

and during this winter break, i have subconsciously turned into a prepster...who knew?







between my vera bradley merchandise, the new vampire weekend cd, watching all of gossip girl season one in a one-week period, and my affinity for headbands, it seems like 2010 is going to be the year shawna is a prep! better than 2008, which was the year shawna dresses like a hobo, which i blame senior year for, and 2009, the year where shawna is confused about her own style, thanks to college, and never having had the chance to wear my own outfits all the time, thanks again to oxford :)

(ps, that new vampire weekend cd is AMAZING.)

another thing i have really discovered over winter break was a new store i love, called gilly hicks


i know a LOT of people really detest the whole abercrombie & fitch brand and company, but i on the other hand find it INCREDIBLY interesting. i actually did a project on their brand maintenance for my public relations class, and learned about all of the lawsuits that they have been faced with, and everything they did to fix the problems within their company. other than the business aspect of it, this company is so incredibly detailed when it comes to the back story of each of their brands, including the "people" that the stores are named after, like Gilly Hicks, for example.

"The story centers around a fictional English woman, the eponymous Gilly Hicks. Jeffries has his female character, supposedly "born and raised" in England, moving to Paris to study fashion design in her 20's. The fictional Hicks family later emigrates to Sydney, Australia.From France, Gilly follows suit and arrives in Sydney were "she [feels] an instant connection with the culture ...her spirited nature [thrives]." In 1932, Gilly opens an underwear shop within her family's 'British colonial-style manor house' in Sydney's Rose Bay neighborhood. The story states that she found success making "comfortable bras" while helping women feel "confident and sexy", and that women flocked from all over Australia to be fitted into and to purchase Gilly's bras and spend time in her house hearing her jokes and stories of travel. After two generations, Gilly's granddaughter returns in modern day to reopen the "renovated" original store in the Hicks' home."(wikipedia)

Details like this, as well as the careful details laid out in each store, from the couches to the smells to clothes laid out on the table so it is easier to touch them, this company really tries to appeal to all of the senses, like another really successful company, Disney, that i just happen to work for. :) despite all of the technical stuff, the store is just so pretty!






this display is in EVERY store, and a aesthetic DREAM for an obsessive compulsive like i am!


i literally want to live in this store.

i know, i know, its just a store, blah blah..but i just find branding and images maintenance SO interesting...i'm a PR and communications student...so sue me.

back to school the first of february! booo :( but the sooner i go back to school, the sooner SUMMER COMES! i am so looking forward to being tan again!