friends

My weekend shopping

20 Feb 2010

6 Comments

Well, there’s nothing like great shopping spree with my girlfriends, with quality coffee break and major catching up. Especially when it’s semi-summer here in TLV, even in the middle of February :-)
As I also write the sales column now (see previous posts), I’m well aware of all the really interesting sales around town. I took my friends to a private show room yesterday, packed with vintage designers items, which were all on 15% discount! It doesn’t sound like much, but when you buy Issey Miake, Chanel and Dior, all new and vintage, it’s a lot!
I was really biting my tongue there, trying not to over spend or just treat the place as a museum ;-) but couldn’t resist a gorgeous vintage Eli Tahari belt. It was super expensive, but it’s so pretty, I just couldn’t resist myself. I even tried to imagine how my weekend will look if I give it up, and just couldn’t face the upcoming consequences – I saw one unhappy girl there – so I bought it. Here it is:

Eli Tahari vintage belt
My friends got wonderful dresses and a bag, and then we were on our way for a little breakfast. A short while after zipping and chatting, one of my friends had to leave, and I came up with the idea of “let’s just walk nearby and see what’s around”, so we both did, knowing this walkabout will probably have its price tags soon, in plural of course.
We “somehow” got to a boutique I always buy in, which I knew my friend would love, as we share a very similar style. 2 beautiful tops, 1 dress and earrings later for me, and a pile of gorgeous stuff for her, we swore to get together over coffee next time or we’ll be haunted by our bank managers for good :-D
Here’s what I got there:

blue sateen top

Asymmetric white T with black printing

dotted dark orange tunic/dress

And earrings -

Earrings

Great shopping, ha? Though I got to admit it – there’s nothing like that belt. It’s amazing.

Happy!

xoxo,

Hilla Ohayon.

By: HillaO Category: Fashion Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a second before I turn 30…

20 Jan 2010

0 Comment

Yeah, I know, it’s been a while since I last wrote here. I’ve been so busy! It seems like it has been like a long and on-going tornado when I think about it.

A second before I turn 30 (this Friday if you’re really wondering), almost everything changed: I left my job at the law firm after 2.8 years, opened my own private business and started working at a part time job from home.

That’s a lot! I hope I didn’t go mad on this tornado. Its felt right, it felt like it was time, and it took me a long time to get there. I’m very happy.

So I work as a Director of Community at an internet company which makes work management software. It’s actually a very cool job: I do their SMO (Social Media Optimization), share their news, articles, blog posts, etc. on social networks and interact with the readers.

On the other part of the day I write for Haaretz about fashion and trends, and freelance for small and medium businesses as a new media consultant. I also write content, edit and translate.

I’m very happy with what I do now, and always trying to get more and better. I just need to learn how to manage my time better and I’m sure I’ll be on the go asap.

As for my fashion writing, I have a great idea that’s been building itself up for a couple of weeks now, and I’m meeting my editor tomorrow morning about it. I really hope she’ll like it, it’ll be great if I get to do it on the paper and here as well.

Tomorrow I’m being “kidnapped” by my boyfriend. He’s taking me somewhere for the weekend, and wouldn’t tell me where as a surprise for my birthday. I have no clue on where we’re going! I hope (and sure) I’ll like it. I wish I knew what to pack… I have so many guesses about the location, and neither is certain. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow then :-)

Stay tuned,

xoxo,

Hilla Ohayon.

By: HillaO Category: Fashion, life, love Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

2 fashion projects. in 1 week. Here we go:

2 Jan 2010

0 Comment

Here’s my latest project for Haaretz with the hottest NYE trends for everyone to choose what suits them best:

http://bit.ly/5rBb3c

And here’s Haaretz’ Culture Project for 2010 which has 2 items written by me:

http://bit.ly/7Abj8O

The pictures bellow are taken from the original post I wrote about Sharon Brunsher for the 2010 Culture Project:

I hope you enjoyed it :-)

Happy new year everybody,

Hilla Ohayon.

By: HillaO Category: Fashion Tags: , , , , , , , ,

a cocktail dress for cocktails season

14 Dec 2009

0 Comment

It’s no secret, cocktail parties are my favorite kind of parties. Well, the concept is just perfect – I get to dress up super nicely, it’s always very relaxed and the music is soft in the background, you get to actually hear what people have to say to you because it’s all quiet and pleasant, and – there’s always great drinks and food. No sweating, no smoking, my makeup doesn’t move, my shoes stay clean and I have a set of beautiful clutch bags which can fit any dress in the world.

The dresses are definitely the climax of the whole concept. The variety of cocktail dresses this season is endless, and the colors are spectacular.  I wrote about cocktail dresses this morning for Haaretz, here: http://bit.ly/58E83L (in Hebrew) and I added my favorite dresses here for you as well:

Lanvin

Lanvin

Martin Grant

Martin Grant

Oscar De La Renta

Oscar De La Renta

Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney

Versace

Versace

Viktor & Rolf

Viktor & Rolf

I hope you liked it :-)

xoxo,

Hilla Ohayon.

By: HillaO Category: Fashion Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A very special dinner made by Eran Elhalal

23 Sep 2009

2 Comments

DSCF0245

As we were visiting a friend who lives in NYC a couple of weeks ago, we were oh so lucky to be invited to dinner at his place. Why lucky? Well, the guy is a pro. Mega league. A star. You name it. Eran Elhalal is a young chef with over 10 years of experience in cooking for the hottest restaurants in Manhattan, and now is about to finally open his own restaurant in NYC. This is why we were so lucky – we were invited to his place for a private gourmet meal.

The first picture above gives you a small hint on how pro this guy is. He actually posts a menu on his fridge and cooks accordingly. The courses are not ready as you sit down, they are being cooked as you eat or rest between the courses, always accompanied with great wine, and, above all, with Eran’s smiley and pure nice personality which makes your time spent with him even more delightful.

Eran can talk about food for many many hours. His enthusiasm with whatever concerns food is really inspiring, and only by hearing him speak one can know for sure that he’s already dying to taste his food. He’s a lovely conversation maker (no crappy small talks, I swear) and a wonderful cook.

Here you can see the wonderful Gewurtzmeiner being chilled -

DSCF0247

And here’s Eran cooking, so focused and yet very into the conversation -

DSCF0236

This is our first course being served. Isn’t it just beautiful? I can personally guarantee – it was as delicious as it looks :-)

DSCF0238

DSCF0240

This is us, taking a minute between the courses and chatting -

DSCF0241

Time to make the main course. Eran in the making -

DSCF0249

DSCF0250

DSCF0254

DSCF0255

DSCF0257

It’s almost ready…

DSCF0260

Isn’t it beautiful?

DSCF0262

Eran also makes the most perfect deserts. Check out this one – it’s baked peaches based on oatmeal with honey and ice cream on top. It was perfect, and completely ruined the “we’re not having deserts” attitude my boyfriend and I were trying to hold on to :-)

DSCF0269

DSCF0271

So, if you get anywhere near NYC and want to have a lovely dinner for your friends, or even a romantic dinner for two, you should really contact Eran, for being the nicest and for making the best food in the world. You can easily find him on Facebook or check out his blog   http://www.eranelhalal.com.

Eran, we enjoyed hanging out with you and your dinner very much, thank you very much :-)

Hilla.

By: HillaO Category: General Tags: , , , , ,

who says work can’t be fun?

13 Aug 2009

2 Comments

These last couple of weeks have been intense. I’ve met so many new people and have been having so many new ideas! If there wasn’t for me and my Moleskine journal (which I love so much and will die without), I’d probably lose track of all the insights this week has given me.

For once, I’ve been brainstorming a lot with myself and with my friends. Brainstorming is the most efficient way for me to get creative – by talking about it with people who can enrich me and nurture my ideas. It’s actually very easy to do, much easier than I have thought. All you need to do it tell someone you love and trust about your general idea and start a conversation about it. It doesn’t have to be a firm idea, it can be at a very premature stage. While talking about it, the idea will grow by itself and its execution will become easier and easier.

So I’ve been brainstorming with my friend Orit, which is doing Vetrinas.com with me. We started thinking about iPhone applications. It’s endless, and we are having so much fun bringing up ideas, imagining what it’ll look like and who would use it. The ideas are running out of us together so it’s really exciting and we can’t wait to make it happen.

Secondly, I’m officially in love with my new friend Romi Mikulinsky, who stormed in to my life and heart in a second – it’s unbelievable how much we have in common and the similarity of our ambitions and dreams for the future. We decided that we should start working together very quickly, and we’re now doing exactly what we love doing with pleasure as work – writing and marketing by using social media, and we even got a job in fashion, which is lately my favorite madness, so I just couldn’t be happier about it. Working  with a good friend on a fun job is the best I could dream of, really :-)

Thirdly, I’ve started to help my designer friend Aviva Zilberman brand herself on the web, where she had no presence up until now. All this might change one day, but for now combining fashion with web as a job is pure fun for me.

So today is the first day of my life (how dramatic, ha?) that I start working in doing things that I love. Isn’t it great?

By: HillaO Category: Fashion, life Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A short weekend is coming up

26 Jun 2009

3 Comments

It’s Friday morning, and I’m at the office. I have to work till noon :-( Can’t wait to go back home, go down to the gym, spend 30 minutes on my treadmill, shower and get some beauty sleep before dinner.

Tomorrow is all about partying – two of my very close friends are having two separate birthday parties, at the same time. One of them involves pool and sun, the other one is all about clubbing. I have no idea what to wear for both events.

I also plan to do so much writing this weekend – I have 3 articles pending and one blog post for http://www.vetrinas.com waiting to be edited. I’m pretty sure I won’t manage to pull everything through but I sure hope that I get to finish at least some of it…

And now for my pending thoughts :-)

I’ve decided to pay a little attention to what people have to say about me lately. Usually, I tend to let people talk and get it over with. Especially at the office. Every day when I walk in, I go through at least 5 people (women, of course) that simply must say something about the way I look. There has to be something about what I wear in general, the way my face look (makeup? that too) and my total look. Every day.

Last night I was sitting with the girls at the end of the day, and they were asking me questions about clothes, fashion and what I do outside of the office in general. For them, it all seems like a lot of work – dressing up every day, putting on a little makeup, and taking care of the way they look instead of pulling the first thing that falls on them when they open their closets and run out the door.

The truth is – it’s really not that hard. I can be ready to go out in less than 30 minutes, shower included. It’s all about knowing your closet and needs. I think about my closet when I shower, so I know what I’m going to wear when I’m done. My closet is very well organized so I know where every thing is, so that’s easy too. I get dressed in 5 minutes, put on some foundation, mascara and some blush, and I’m out. It can’t be That difficult…

And yes, I’m updated with it all. Fashion, trends, blogs, magazines, you name it.  I can’t really say that I imply every thing that I read on the way that I dress and look. I’m in to keeping it simple, clean, classic and… mostly monochromatic. Of course, 90% of my closet is black and full of dresses. It’s who I am, I feel very comfortable in what I always wear, and I think it’s what is best for me. I think it’s the best advise I could give to anybody. Keeping myself updated and deciding what’s best for me gives best composition on my look.

I also keep reading other fashion blogs and it always makes me wonder. I can never see myself go out to a market and buy clothes that cost less than a good dinner. Just can’t. And I’m not even talking about second hand purchases. I’m just not that type of a girl.

The only “cheap” shopping I’m more than willing to do is on this one – http://www.net-a-porter.com/ Their Sale page is sooo fab, I hardly keep myself from adding it all to my imaginary cart! If only I was still naive to think that credit cards are magic cards and has nothing to do with money :-D like the opening line of Confessions of a Shopaholic (don’t go to see that movie, it’s crappy, besides the fashion in it, of course).

I just much rather buy quality and little of it than tons of crap that would never survive my laundry machine…

Concluding with a winner’s summer dress by Sara Brown, sitting at my favorite NYC spot:

n647836487_1683257_2129

Have a great weekend everybody!

Hilla

By: HillaO Category: Fashion, life Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Having 11 people over for dinner for the first time in my life

27 May 2009

2 Comments

I’m supposed to freak out right now, right?

Ok, it’s Wednesday today. Nobody’s coming till Friday night. Menu – done. Shopping – done.

No reason to panic, right?

Jee, I’m such a grown-up. Having a Friday night dinner with my boyfreind to some of our closests. There’s going to be loads of wine, Cava, cheese, cuiches, salads and cakes. 11 people. Ouch.

Not gonna freak out. Inhale. Exhale. I’ll be fine. I’ll be more than fine. I’m actually gonna enjoy it. OK maybe not gonna enjoy all of the cooking and cleaning, but will definitely enjoy the event itself.

Maybe I should order take out for just in case.

Not gonna freak out.

By: HillaO Category: life Tags: , ,

excited

4 Mar 2009

3 Comments

It’s so much fun, to be purely happy for someone else, fore their happiness has nothing to do with my own, and still.

One of my all times best friends is getting married tomorrow night. I’m so happy for her. Honestly. She met this really great guy, who adores her like she deserves to be adored, and they’re going to have their own new family starting tomorrow.

You can call me old fashioned as much as you like, I just think it’s wonderful. Everyone today are so petrified of getting married an “settling down” and I really can’t see why. How come it’s not obvious that if I have the man I love most and know I want to spend the rest of my life with, then I shouldn’t be afraid to marry him? what’s wrong with being married?

I know all about divorce rates of today. Dam, I already know divorced couples that are my age. It can happen to everyone at any time.  I still don’t think of it as a good enough reason for not even trying. That looks just dumb to me.

So there she is, my best friend, getting married. The one who always hated them all, said that she would never commit, bla-bla-bla… if it happened to her, and even I changed my mind about this whole thing too, then it’s true. It can really happen to anyone. Honestly.

Happy

By: historianfemale Category: life Tags: , , , , ,
1 2