(upbeat music)
- Hi everyone, it's your girl, Jen and welcome back today!
I have a fresh episode of favorites for you
and honestly I think I am one of the few people
who still do monthly favorites and I gotta tell you,
I need to thank you guys so much for watching them.
I think that's the only reason why I continue to film them.
But regardless, I've got all my favorites in a row for you
so let's get started.
So I'm gonna start with a fashion favorite first.
Here is this gorgeous tote from Oak + Fort.
I had the pleasure of visiting their store in Vancouver
and I picked this bag up there.
This is such a chic vegan leather purse
and I love that I can just dump all my belonging in there.
I am constantly on the go
and I just have a lot of stuff with me,
like my vlogging camera, my makeup bag,
accessories if I'm going to a shoot.
So I just wanted one large container to store everything.
There is a little magnetic enclosure
so it secures your belongings
and it just matches with everything.
And I just love how universal it is.
Next up I have a book favorite.
As you guys know I love sharing with you guys
what books I've read or audiobooks I've listened to
and that's why I'm so proud to announce
that this video is in partnership with Audible.
For those who don't know what Audible is,
it is a service that has an unmatched selection
of audiobooks, podcasts, shows, new, broadcasters,
just anything in their arena.
They have such a wide selection of everything.
So one audiobook that I finished was The Book Of Joy
by the Dali Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
and Douglas Abrams.
I am continuing my journey on just bettering myself
and I love to consume enriching content
that is nourishing for my soul.
And since it's still the beginning of 2018
it's not too late to hop on the new year, new you train
and this book just came at such a great time.
This was highly recommended to me by Amy and Oprah,
two very important women in my life
and so I knew I had to listen to it.
So this book is a conversation
between two huge spiritual leaders in the world,
the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
They are really great friends
and for the Dali Lama's 80th birthday
they decided to get together
because this is probably the last time they'll ever meet
and they wanted to have a conversation about finding joy
in a world full of suffering.
And Douglas Abrams was there to help guide the conversation
and write the book.
And it was so enlightening
and one of my favorite quotes from the book was.
These days the idea of giving back to my sphere of reach
is so important and this book just reminded me
to stay kind, stay empathetic,
and to care about the wellbeing of other people.
Anyway there are a ton of more amazing lessons
that I've learned from this book
and I highly recommend that you listen to it.
Fee free to use my URL,
which is audible.com/clothes.
You get a free audiobook and a 30 day trial membership,
so definitely take advantage of it.
If you're more of a texter,
you can text clothes to 500-500 or just use my URL
it's audible.com slash C-L-O-T-H-E-S.
If this book doesn't interest you at all,
there are so many other books
that you can listen to on there.
They have a huge selection from sci-fi, business,
like romance, history, classics, everything.
Their library is your oyster so please go check it out.
Moving on to an accessory that I've been loving,
here are these heart locket earrings from Peter Do.
I thought that they were fitting for Valentine's Day season
because they're hearts and they're so functional.
You can open them and you can actually print out
a photo of people or things that you love.
I'm thinking about putting a picture of Cheeky on here
because she's always on my mind.
Or I can have Ben on the other side too.
You can wear them like both open.
You can wear one open, one closed.
Just depending on how you feel,
you can kind of adjust the earrings accordingly.
And they are very high quality
which means that they're a little bit more of an investment
but I'm at a point in my life
where I would just rather invest in jewelry
that I know won't just deteriorate in a year.
Next up I want to announce my very first artist favorite.
I wanted to put the spotlight on Takashi Murakami
because I had the honor of meeting him in real life
in Vancouver in February
and it was such a once in a lifetime experience
getting to meet him and look at his art in the flesh.
It was just incredible.
His exhibition is called The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg
and he named it this because he admitted
that he's very critical of his own work
and this is like just a comprehensive collection
of all his work that he's done in the past, in the present,
and so when he saw all of it
he said it just looked like an octopus eating its own leg.
And being at that show was just really inspiring for me
because there was a point in my life when I loved to paint.
This was in middle school and high school,
because I've always had such difficulty expressing myself
through words, especially writing and speaking.
And so that's why a big release for me was through imagery
and I have always loved cartoons
and flat imagery that still has lots of depth
and I feel like Murakami's work really embodies that.
And so after I got back from Vancouver
it inspired me to go to a paint and sip class
with my brother and I ended up painting again
and it felt really, really good.
I'm definitely gonna go do more of them.
But anyway if you're in Vancouver
I highly recommend you guys go check out the exhibition.
It is playing like now till like March I want to say,
so you still got some time.
A pair of pants that I've been wearing nonstop
have been the Late Shift Trouser by Eggie,
which is my clothing line.
And no, I'm not just plugging this in
because it's my clothing line.
I have been really, genuinely wearing these pants
pretty often and it's because these days
I just really don't feel like squeezing into skinny jeans.
I love that these pants
are just kind of like a shape shifter.
They can be formal if you want them to
but casual if you're more in the mood for that.
With the chain it looks super bad-ass,
but without you just look like you're wearing
a nice formal trouser.
And these are super-soft, very comfortable,
and they're a little bit stretchy
so if you eat a lot it will expand to your stomach
which is always a plus for me.
So my last favorite is a lecture by Charlie Kaufman
and he is the writer of my favorite film of all time
which is Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
He also wrote Being John Malkovich,
which is also an incredible movie.
But yeah, he did a talk on how to write a screenplay,
but there's so much more depth that comes out of that talk.
It's around 41 minutes so it's pretty lengthy
but it is truly one of the most honest talks
that I've ever listened to
and after listening to it there's like so many times
where I just kept nodding my head and agreeing with him.
And he touches a lot on his insecurities
and his need to be liked
and feeling disgusting because he wants to be liked.
And I like that he admits things that most people
won't admit to, but feel.
And I love that he explains
when you are creating meaningful art, you have to be naked.
You have to be vulnerable
and it's inspiring me to push myself to create content
that is more meaningful, more vulnerable,
and more relatable for you guys
because I can do a video on like a lookbook
and all that stuff, and I do still enjoy that,
but these day I feel like I'm trying to create more content
that comes from deeper within my soul.
And it is a process that I am learning to do
and I just feel like this talk
was just really nourishing for my mind and soul.
And I really would love for you guys to listen to it.
I will leave a link in the description box,
so please go check it out.
All right guys, that is a wrap on my February favorites.
As always please comment down
what has inspired you in the month of February
in the comments down below.
Or just tell me how you're doing.
I truly love listen to what you guys have to say
and how you guys are
and I just want to thank you guys so much for watching.
And I'll see you guys in the next one.
Bye!
Muah!
(mellow music)