The August place to be!

In our family, that means SARATOGA! The race track is probably one of the prettiest in the country, and both women and men are expected to dress up for the races, so it's my kind of place.

The women even wear hats, not that you'd see me in one! Years ago it was only open for August, some of the richest people in the world had a mansion somewhere nearby in upstate New York so as to attend the Whitney stakes and get out of overheated Manhattan for the month.

Now, the track is open almost 2 months, and the town is lively and filled with restaurants and fun things to do. There are art galleries, and lots of little boutiques, and I even bought a pair of earrings! It's hard to even think about jewelry when the buy one, get one free has been doing so well- we even added 2 more weeks thanks to the great response. One person was stocking up and bought 6 items and got 6 free 'pony balls' for her hair (or perhaps her friends hair as well).

We saw real ponies at the track, or tracks as there is also a harness race track in Saratoga that now has (Yippee!) slot machines and gaming. For me, it's a family tradition to go to the harness race track and have dinner at the track-side restaurant. Unlike regular horse racing, harness racing is unpredictable and my betting strategy is to bet on the cutest horse!

Then, after dinner, it's off to play for a while and then go to the racetrack again the next day. At Saratoga, they walk the horses in a beautiful park and you can see them up close, then watch the jockey get on and go off to race. Sometimes, if the horse is really jumpy or nervous I figure they are in a hurry to get back to the stables so that's the horse who will win. I know, not much of a strategy, butit works once in a while.

Mom and Roberta at Lake George

So, if you are in the mood for a little get-away, check out this beautiful town, and the nearby attractions like Lake George. We've been coming here since we were kids, here's a picture to prove it!

The lake is beautiful, the water fresh and cold. Considering all the heat in New York, a break from the weather does wonders. Please don't think I've stopped shipping, after the fantastic response to all our new friends on the "O" list, the Oprah customers are enjoying their purchase, and there is still a (small) backlog for some colors.

People have really enjoyed the RC2 Brava Bib Necklace, and the Dolcetti necklace is an unbelievable hit, we've just received another shipment from the factory and these are already mostly spoken for. Necklaces are big this summer, so we added some more to the "get one free" part of the website. I keep looking at the Millifiore and the La Luna Necklaces and think, WOW these are good buys!

One of the fun things we do at

robertachiarella.com is play with the selection of free gifts, adding things daily or giving people a special treat, at either 'under $25' or as the free gift you can't go wrong. Our postage meter is on it's second ink cartridge, the packages are flying out the door, and it's 6:00 so time to go out to eat.

 There's a great mexican 'super trendy' restaurant called 'dos caminos' and my brother is waiting so I can't be late. Ciao!

"O" what a feeling! I'm on the O list in Oprah Magazine!

Wow! This is so exciting- the latest issue of O, the Oprah Magazine is on the newsstands, and guess what is part of the O list? The Sensational Statement Earrings and the Dolcetti Necklace are featured, and it is a real thrill, for me and all of our customers.

The earrings were featured as a deal of the day, which means Oprah's staff scour all the stores and websites and work with designers to get a great product at a super price. In our case, I was able to offer the earrings at 1/2 price to Oprah Magazine readers, and so we're part of the '31 days of absolute steals' in July!

The statement earrings are fab, nice big earrings of the highest quality, they are available in 4 colors. We knew about the O list in advance, and ordered lots and lots of each color in anticipation (Oprah's readers know a bargain when they see one) but I have to say we're exhausted from shipping and shipping and have actually sold out a couple of the colors already.

But, plenty more are being made as I type this, so the wait won't be long at all if you want your very own! Of course, with our 'buy one get one free sale' going on, you can get lots of great summer jewelry at reduced prices.

The Dolcetti Necklace is from the RC2 collection, and we've lowered the price for the whole month in order to participate in the Oprah Mag promotion. You also get the bonus, matching earrings with the necklace, which also comes in many colors. These are hand-poured resin pieces, much like the resin jewelry we made in the past that became a famous sensation. Now, at these prices, the necklace and earrings can be in your hands pretty quickly!

New York is in the midst of a heat wave, and for once it is a good thing. Because it's literally too hot to spend much time outside, we are staying indoors packing and shipping jewelry late in the day and on Saturday too. I took a little time yesterday to go down to the farmers market at Union Square, the fruits and veggies are the freshest and we support local NY farmers by buying direct from their trucks that line the park.


Of course, it's a circus atmosphere in the summer, and we had a great time just checking out the people before we bought our corn and fruits! Now, it's time to go and prepare a nice summer salad before checking our Oprah orders again. Ciao!