Joules - Pocketful of Joules

Keeping it Classy with Ashbury Hats

You guys know how when I’m obsessed with something I want to shout it from the rooftops? Well, I’m in LOVE with Ashbury Hats.

I had the chance to meet Hannah and Kristin from Ashbury Hats when I was in California for BlogHer in July. I was blown away by how incredibly cool and friendly they both were. Oftentimes when you meet someone for the first time, it can be a little awkward… but I totally wanted to have these ladies over for a wine party pretty much the moment we met.

What really struck me was how passionate they were about Ashbury Hats. Hannah had on this AMAZING hat, that she even let me try on… you likey?

All the hats are handmade in California and looking closely at them you can see the quality and love that go into each creation. Hannah and Kristin let me pick out a few different hats to try and the moment I put on the Soho, I knew it was meant to be mine.

The hat is made out of leather and SMELLS divine, if you’re into that kind of thing. Which I totally am. The Soho has a bit of a vintage vibe and is made out of oiled “crusher” leather, which means you can totally smush it into your suitcase and it will pop back into shape.

The best part was that I could totally throw it on with any outfit and it immediately looks WAY cuter. I wore it to the BlogHer expo hall the first night and could not walk 10 feet without someone stopping me to compliment my snazzy hat. So if you’re looking for attention – you can totally skip the cleavage bearing dresses and hooha bearing skirts – just add a hat!

Let’s call it a more CLASSY sort of attention…

For fashion’s sake (because why not,right?!) I decided to style the hat for summer and fall so you can see how it pretty much goes with everything.

Here is my take on summer:

I threw on my new Stitch Fix tank top (Renee C Tucker Mixed Print Tank), my favorite pair of jean shorts (Gap) and a cantaloupe colored sweater that I’ve had forever (Loft). This could totally work for an outdoor wine festival, concert or just running around to do errands if you feel like you want to add a little extra cute to your look.

I was DYING to do a fall look too:

For this outfit, I mixed in a t-shirt that you can hardly see (J.Crew), my red Stitch Fix jeans (Kayla Skinny Jeans), a military-style blazer (Loft), a pair of animal print shoes (Sole Society) and a scarf (The Paris Market). Just add a pumpkin spice latte and I’m totally ready for the leaves to change color! I especially love this look because the leather hat can do double duty – making my outfit look extra sassy AND keeping my head warm.

And in case you’re wondering, I’m pretty sure EVERYONE would look great in this hat. BOOM… put a hat on it!

So, what do you think… do you want one?

The ladies at Ashbury Hats have hooked us up with a Soho hat (retail price $99.95) for one of my fabulous readers. We can totally be hat twinsies! You can earn 5 points per entry, but only the first one (leaving a comment) is required.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ashbury Hats has also given me a special code for my readers, so if you see something you’d like to buy on their website, you can use Joules14 to get 10% off until September 5th, 2014!

If you are interested in seeing more from Ashbury hats, check out their webpage, Facebook page, Twitter, Google+ page, and Instagram!

Are you a hat person? If so, what is your favorite hat style? Do you think we can make ‘put a hat on it’ a thing?

Disclosure: Ashbury Hats provided me with a Soho hat for review purposes; however all thoughts and opinions are my own. The person who wins the giveaway for the Soho hat will be chosen randomly by the Rafflecopter widget and will receive their hat directly from Ashbury Hats.

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The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Okay, I Did It

I really thought the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was dying down.

Celebrities did it.
Bloggers did it.
A ton of people in my Facebook feed did it.

There was uproar FOR it.
There was uproar AGAINST it.

Over $53.3 Million was raised for The ALS Association, compared to $2.2 million during the same time period last year.

I think the challenge is great… I just didn’t really want to throw ice water on my head. So I just quietly whistled in the corner and figured I was pretty darn lucky that nobody nominated me.

Then, this. Yup, I was called out by my buddy over at Quirky Chrissy.

So, I threw on my “Damn, it feels good to be a gangster” shirt and GOT IT DONE.

Here’s part one, where I nominate my husband, Katie from Words for Worms, and Holly from Riot Ranch:

And here’s part two, where I get wet and cold:

And yes, I’m donating too.

Have you done the ALS Ice Bucket challenge? If so, feel free to link up to your video in the comments!

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Help Make Me Better & Win!

I want something from you.

No it’s not money.
Or marshmallows.
Or shiny statement necklaces.
Although now that I think of it, all of those things would be pretty awesome.

What I really want to know is: Can I bribe you to pick your brain?

I love my blog, I really do. I love being able to share my life with you and connect with my fantastic readers through all areas of social media. I also want to be really good at what I do, which is why I want to ask you a few questions.

You know, so that I can figure out if you’re picking up what I’m putting down.
{That’s cool slang talk, by the way. I think}

Anyways, in exchange for spending a few minutes clicking on survey bubbles and leaving a quick comment, I will enter you in a contest to win $100 to spend at True&Co!

Yup, I LOVE them. I think you’ll love them. And so many people agree with me that I have a bunch of referral codes sitting around. So the nice people at True&Co are letting me GIVE one of you $100 of my referral codes. Cool, right?!

In order to enter the contest, here’s what you have to do:
1. Fill out the survey
2. Leave a comment on this post

That’s IT. Super easy-peasy, right?! You have from now until August 28th to do those two easy steps and I’ll be incredibly grateful!

Here’s the survey:

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Now that you’ve completed the survey, please don’t forget to leave a comment below. I purposefully do not collect any contact information in the survey so that you will feel free to answer honestly. By leaving a comment, I will be able to access your email address so I can email you if you are the winner.

Thank you so much in advance for helping me improve Pocketful of Joules! I will pick the winner next Thursday and post it here (as well as email them directly).

Also, if you’re interested what other people are saying, I plan to make the survey results all pretty with charts and I’ll publish them so you can see. THANK YOU!

8/28/14 Update: The results are in! You can check out the survey results here, as well as see the video of Ollie choosing the winner of the True&Co gift. Spoiler… Mary P is the winner. Congrats Mary!

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