Fantastic April Addiction Sale!

At the first of every month, we come out with new sale items- and even though today is April Fool's day, I'm not foolin'!

(My accountant probably wishes I were, though!)

As everyone knows, I am totally addicted to fabulous jewelry... and of course I love bargains. We we've dubbed this sale our April Addiction sale to indulge my 2 favorite addictions. A girl's gotta have a couple vices, right? We have some pretty amazing sale items including Kissaka Pearls, and some items as low as $3.00!

Have fun... and remember- Veni Vidi VISA!

For fabulous accessories, visit AshleysBigSecret.com. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

Best Weekend EVER!

We had a phenomenal weekend! We can hardly get over how much fun we had! We decided that we would take part in a craft fair for a wonderful charity, the Walworth Historical Society, which keeps our paradise looking like just that.

We had a great time meeting all of the ladies there, doing a little shopping, and talking with everyone about jewelry. Our booth was a huge hit, and we want to thank everyone for making it such fun! Here are some pics:

We also decided it was time to pimp out the car... So we smacked a couple of big logos on it and added a bumper sticker. What do you think?

I hope your weekend was as amazing as ours- and thanks to everyone who made our weekend so darn special!

For fabulous accessories, visit AshleysBigSecret.com. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

It's WHO you know!

One secret to great wines is having a wine guy or wine gal who really knows their stuff and can lead you to wines you like at prices you love. After all, without outside help, you would be required to drink all of the wines that look like possibilities. After trying all the wines, you would have to try to remember which ones you liked.

To illustrate the size of the potential problem, Sam’s Wines in Chicago lists over 3,000 wines on their website. I, for one, could not even attempt to drink all of the wines that I think might look good at Sam’s or anywhere else.

What can you do?

You can find your own wine guy or wine gal and they can do the legwork, so to speak, for you. We at AshleysBigSecret.com understand the value in knowing someone with taste and an understanding of quality and value. So, allow me to give you two names of people at great wine stores in our area. You might let me know of anyone in your area who fits the bill.

In Chicago, there is only one person to see. He is Celal Ince at Binny’s at 3000 North Clark. Celal (pronounced Ja-lel) has helped people I know with nearly unlimited budgets and others, like me, who are interested in drinking great wine at reasonable prices. He helped me stock my cellar with reasonably-priced great 1997 Italian reds that are drinking beautifully, now. He introduced me to my favorite white wine Sancerre, with its earthy, clean taste.

Lake Geneva now has a great wine store, Pop More Corks, on Highway 50, 25 yards east of Starbucks (we always give directions in Lake Geneva in relation to Starbucks). David Biegemann is the owner and he has over 250 wines with 150 wines under $20. He always has a selection of 6-8 interesting wines to taste. He has a great selection of small vineyard wines that are fun to try and all are reasonably priced.

To pair your reasonably priced wine with something that looks, as my daughter would say, funky fabulous, I recommend wearing a gigantic CZ ring with one of these guys' reasonably priced wine. Showing how much great taste you have in your jewelry, and, in your wine, show that you are chic and sensible. What a combo!

So, there it is – my sincere advice on two people to help you be smart in your wine buying. As to being smart in bling buying, look no further than AshleysBigSecret.com.

In wine we trust, J.

As always, you can e-mail Jeff at wino@ashleysbigsecret.com.

Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

Jeff's Wine and Jewelry Pairings

Poor Dad/Husband lives completely surrounded by fashion loving girly girls! He's a good sport, though, so we thought we'd give him his own blog segment. We love wine, and no one knows more about good wine than he does, so without further ado, we bring you:

The traditional and most obvious wine and jewelry pairing is, as we all know, Sparklers and Sparklers – sparkling rings and sparkling wine.

I remember seeing a friend’s wife who had some serious real jewelry one-upped by Toni wearing a Cubic Zirconia sparkler that looked every bit as delightful on Toni’s hand as the oversized real thing on our friend’s hand. They were both beautiful rings and attracted everyone’s eye to the dazzling display of opulence or, in our case, faux opulence.

So, if we are going to pair a sparkling wine with sparkling jewelry like: a black pearl necklace with matching pearls, we need to find a sparkling wine worthy of the jewelry and tasting expensive, but not. My first choice in this category is the Roederer Estate NV about $20, a deal at twice the price. Or, for half of that price, you can get a delightful sparkler in Domain Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blanc NV about $8. Ashley recommends wearing something classy and sparkly with either of those champagnes.

Buying great wine at a great price is sort of like Ashley’s Big Secret. If you are smart about what you buy, you can get great things at great prices. Let everyone else pay high prices. You are too smart for that.

Let’s try another pairing.

This time what wine goes with pearls?

Naturally, you were going to say, Sauvignon Blanc is perfect with pearls.

Pearls look especially fetching while holding a glass of white wine and shout for white wine that is sophisticated, but easy to like. Voila, Sauvignon Blanc from California or New Zealand. Neither the pearls nor the wine need be overly expensive. Ashley suggests these pearls and I suggest either the Canyon Road Sauvignon Blanc at about $7 (WOW, what a deal) or the Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc from down under at $12.

In both wine and jewelry, you don’t have to spend a fortune to have beautiful things, you just have to know what you are doing or have a friend, like Ashley, who does.

For fabulous accessories, visit http://www.ashleysbigsecret.com/. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

Mission: Organization!

Somehow, and I am not saying I had anything to do with it, but somehow my closet exploded, throwing clothes everywhere. I don't think it happened all at once, but gradually clothes began to spill out onto the bed, covered my chair, and even started to take over night stands. No surface of my bedroom was left untouched- simply put, my closet vomited.

Today, I decided to do something primarily because I couldn't find my favorite pair of boots. So I reorganized all of my clothes, and decided that there was no proper place for my jewelry. Standard jewelry boxes don't even help with my jewelry collection... it's epic. Only Emelda Marcos could truly understand. I've been collecting jewelry for years, and since the start of Ashley's Big Secret, my collection has at least doubled. (When it comes to a piece of jewelry I really like, I have about as much will power as a crack addict.) So I decided to take all of my clothes out of my dresser drawers and make a GIANT jewelry box out of my bureau.

Six gorgeous, oversized and pain stakingly organized drawers now happily contain rings, necklaces, bracelets and every other little bauble I couldn't live without. What I'm most proud of are my ring and earring drawers, that I organized by recycling egg cartons (pictured above), so now every pair of earrings has its own little space. Mom taught me that- she's always used the egg carton trick.

It feels SO good to have everything organized in a neat and tidy way- hopefully I'll be able to keep it like that for at least a week. The best part? I rediscovered some fabulous things I haven't worn in awhile which is almost as fun as buying it the first time.

For fabulous accessories, visit http://www.ashleysbigsecret.com/. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

Ug... Moving Day

Whew! I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! This week I moved the rest of my things from Chicago to Wisconsin. I had terrific help from friends, Mom, Dad and 'lil Bro, but boy, it was still quite a chore.

Several moving revelations:

1) I've often heard people tell a story about heirlooms that goes something like this, "My grandmother carried this over from the old country in her purse... and now it's one of my most cherished possessions". I think I now know how those stories started. I had just finished packing up all of my boxes, which included A LOT of china. I have luncheon china, dinner china, sushi china... you name it, I've got a 12 piece set for it. Roughly a minute and a half after sealing the last box, I came across one last, lonely teacup. It is pretty and delicate, so I couldn't leave it or throw it away... but other than its untimely reappearance, it probably doesn't deserve to be hand carried anywhere. Even still, I literally had to take it in my purse. One day, I'm sure, one of my grand children will hold up my lonely teacup, and say, "My grandmother carried this over in her purse."

2) It helps to have a sense of humor. Luckily, we had it in spades! My movers were awesome, but most importantly, they came with a moving truck with a graffiti Stewie from The Family Guy emblazoned on the side. Awesome. You can't buy that kind of consideration!

3) While I usually have a few pieces of jewelry on at all times, moving day is not one of those times where its necessary to look cute and classy at all times. I made the executive decision to remove my signature pearls and my big rings. It felt really weird, I admit, but lets face it- jewelry get in the way of trying to move a nine foot couch. Don't worry, it's all back on now!

Well, I'm exhausted... but so glad it's over!!!

For fabulous accessories, visit http://www.ashleysbigsecret.com/. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.

© Copyright 2007. Ashley’s Big Secret, Inc.

Tips from Toni

New Years Resolution 2007….waist or waste

After the holidays most of us ladies decide we need to lose those ugly and most unwanted pounds we had so much fun acquiring. Along with getting back to your “normal” weight try adding to your jewelry collection a huge semi precious CZ ring. Adding a 5carat ring to your collection will make you feel sexy and beautiful and the “weight” is not added to those pounds already accumulated during the holiday season.

Just remember while you are dieting this month to think when you want another bite of food….waste or waist!

Oh, What a Night!

I had such a magnificent time on New Year's Eve! I ended up having some seriously amazing people at my house including handsome Phil, pictured here. If you can consider men an accessory (and I fully believe you can), Phil is the equivalent of Kissaka Pearls! He is fun, classy and gorgeous! I served Roquefort infused steak with a port wine reduction that was unbelievable, and wore the big purple rectangle ring that got tons of compliments! Because I believe in lots of sparkle, I also wore a sparkle sparkle ring that got so much attention it was practically another dinner guest.

It was fabulous to see old friends, make some new ones and party til dawn! Here's hoping 2007 is the best year yet~ Happy New Year, everybody!