This week, I headed to New York City for a third try at trivia stardom and came home empty-handed.  I won a few bouts.  I triumphed over a top competitor.  I met some interesting people and had some fun, but victory was not mine to hold.

Whether it’s a game show or something more tangible, if you’re going to have lofty goals and big dreams, you have to be resilient.  You’ll fail more often than you succeed.  My ratio of failures to successes is heavily tilted, but when something doesn’t go as planned, I just pick myself up and keep moving forward.

1) I’m in search of some new work dresses.  I love this sleek emerald green dress from T Tahari (even if it is sleeveless).  I also can’t take my eye off of this half-sleeve red dress from Reiss.  And I’m trying to decide if there is anyway to make this Limited dress with shoulder cutouts work for the office…guess I’d have to try it on to know for sure.

2) I love the blog Food52.  Their recipes look so delicious.  Their Almond Butter Cake makes my mouth water, and I’m headed to the store later today to pick up ingredients for Mujaddara and Eggplant Dip.

3) A tragic accident destroyed several of my favorite nail polishes.  I need to replace my NARS Purple Rain and my Essie Lollipop polishes.  I also picked up a matte top coat and Butter London’s new dark grey polish, Gobsmacked.

4) A Pair & A Spare has an interesting approach to shopping: She won’t buy a new piece until she can think of four outfits that she can make with the new item.  It’s important to think about your closet in terms of outfits, not pieces.  And given the stylish outfits she created with this leather jacket, I think the philosophy is working just fine for her.

5) I love the dark brown and black print on these Rachel Zoe flats.  I would wear them with everything.

6) Gawker has an interesting post about the ‘Vicious Cycle of College Tuition’.  It seems that most schools are afraid that rising costs are chasing away students who can’t afford to burden themselves with $100k in student loans.  However, most colleges are considering raising tuition costs to replace declining federal contributions.  But as The New York Times discussed last year, most colleges are feeling the pinch because they spent a decade bingeing on lavish construction projects and trying to lure students with luxury accommodations.  When did higher education become more about amenities than academia?

7) The superb styling of this Pinterest photo has me thinking about a puffer vest for fall.  J.Crew always has a good option on hand, but if you’re looking to spend under-$100, I LOVE this dove grey Tommy Hilfiger vest from Macy’s and Land’s End has a slim puffer in all the colors of the rainbow.

8) I can spend hours searching YouTube for acoustic covers of popular songs.  My favorite now is Only1Noah and his cover of LMFAO’s ‘Sexy and I Know It.’ Terrible song, awesome, awesome cover.

9) Zara is just killing it with their handbags right now.  There are so many for sale right now that I would happily own.  I’m especially taken with this two-tone bowler.

10) Productivity has been elusive over the last few weeks.  I’m having trouble staying focused and on task, and when the end of the day comes, I feel like nothing on my ‘to do list’ has been crossed off.  But this list of 12 tips for maintaining productivity had some helpful tidbits, so I’m hoping that I can turn this around.