Month: November 2020

The End of The 2020 Wedding Season: The November Recap

Posted on by Allison Barbera

Keeping with the spirit of gratitude that I associate with Thanksgiving, I’ll start by saying I’m grateful for the awesome–if shortened–wedding season we had this year. There was a point early on when I was afraid we wouldn’t get to do any 2020 weddings from March on, but that luckily wasn’t the case.

We had a few weddings this month, as well as several trials, new 2021 wedding bookings and 2022 wedding inquiries. I hired a new hair stylist, LuWayne DeMoranville, and I’m so excited to have her on the team.

Personally, I’ve been laying low socially, but am very much looking forward to my Charleston winter, which starts after Christmas. I’ll be ringing in the new year in my favorite city. (Not that I’ll be going out, but at least I’ll be in a place where grits and Southern accents are never too far away.)

I don’t love November in Rhode Island, with its bare trees, cooler temps and short ass days. But at least I have my family, my business and my Newport/Charleston life. For that, I am truly grateful.

Have a beautiful day 🙂

Maasai Jewelry

Posted on by Allison Barbera

This is my cousin Brooke (pictured below with two of the jewelry makers). We’re more like sisters than cousins. She is extremely intelligent, caring and generous.

This is Brooke’s husband, Sam (pictured below with Brooke). He’s like my brother. Everyone who meets Sam loves him. He was born in Kenya and is part of the Maasai tribe.

Sam and Brooke took a trip to Kenya in 2019 and had an amazing time. That was Brooke’s first time there, and she fell in love with Kenya.

Sam and Brooke brought back a bunch of jewelry handmade by Maasai women. They gave me this bracelet, which I love and wear all the time. Whenever Brooke, Sam and I wear our Maasai jewelry, we get compliments on it.

Several months ago, I told Brooke and Sam that I bet other people would be interested in buying the jewelry, and they said they’d been thinking the same thing. They decided they’d like to sell it and give all of the profits to the jewelry makers in Kenya.

So, that’s what they’re doing. I’m helping by posting photos of this gorgeous jewelry. It’s a great way to support Kenyan artisans and also own or gift something with a cool story. Enough with Amazon and big businesses! I’d personally rather give my money to hardworking, talented people who actually need it than multi-millionaires and billionaires who don’t.

The new WordPress format that I hate is not letting me insert photos where I want to, so they’re all below.

Have a beautiful day 🙂

PRICING

Bangles

$15 for one bangle

$24 for two bangles

$10 each when you buy three or more bangles

Earrings

$10 each

Suggestions Welcome

Posted on by Allison Barbera

In 2018, I committed to publishing one blog post each week for the entire year. I met my goal that year, then thought, Why not continue it for 2019? I repeated that thought process for 2020, too. This is not an unusual way of thinking for me, and is how I made Dean’s List every semester in college. That’s not a brag! It’s an example of how my mind likes things to be categorized and consistent and how I figure if I can achieve a goal one time, I can do it again.

But when it comes to blog post ideas, the well has run dry. Starting in 2021, I’m either going to write one post a month, or maybe even bring it back to the pre-2018 days when I posted sporadically.

So you tell me, what do you want to read more of? Skincare tips? Makeup tips? Product reviews? Business stuff? Let ya girl know!

Thanks in advance.

Have a beautiful day 🙂