- Hi everyone, it's your girl, Jen and welcome back today!

I have a fresh episode of favorites for you

and honestly I think I am one of the few people

who still do monthly favorites and I gotta tell you,

I need to thank you guys so much for watching them.

I think that's the only reason why I continue to film them.

But regardless, I've got all my favorites in a row for you

so let's get started.

So I'm gonna start with a fashion favorite first.

Here is this gorgeous tote from Oak + Fort.

I had the pleasure of visiting their store in Vancouver

and I picked this bag up there.

This is such a chic vegan leather purse

and I love that I can just dump all my belonging in there.

I am constantly on the go

and I just have a lot of stuff with me,

like my vlogging camera, my makeup bag,

accessories if I'm going to a shoot.

So I just wanted one large container to store everything.

There is a little magnetic enclosure

so it secures your belongings

and it just matches with everything.

And I just love how universal it is.

Next up I have a book favorite.

As you guys know I love sharing with you guys

what books I've read or audiobooks I've listened to

and that's why I'm so proud to announce

that this video is in partnership with Audible.

For those who don't know what Audible is,

it is a service that has an unmatched selection

of audiobooks, podcasts, shows, new, broadcasters,

just anything in their arena.

They have such a wide selection of everything.

So one audiobook that I finished was The Book Of Joy

by the Dali Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

and Douglas Abrams.

I am continuing my journey on just bettering myself

and I love to consume enriching content

that is nourishing for my soul.

And since it's still the beginning of 2018

it's not too late to hop on the new year, new you train

and this book just came at such a great time.

This was highly recommended to me by Amy and Oprah,

two very important women in my life

and so I knew I had to listen to it.

So this book is a conversation

between two huge spiritual leaders in the world,

the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

They are really great friends

and for the Dali Lama's 80th birthday

they decided to get together

because this is probably the last time they'll ever meet

and they wanted to have a conversation about finding joy

in a world full of suffering.

And Douglas Abrams was there to help guide the conversation

and write the book.

And it was so enlightening

and one of my favorite quotes from the book was.

These days the idea of giving back to my sphere of reach

is so important and this book just reminded me

to stay kind, stay empathetic,

and to care about the wellbeing of other people.

Anyway there are a ton of more amazing lessons

that I've learned from this book

and I highly recommend that you listen to it.

Fee free to use my URL,

which is audible.com/clothes.

You get a free audiobook and a 30 day trial membership,

so definitely take advantage of it.

If you're more of a texter,

you can text clothes to 500-500 or just use my URL

it's audible.com slash C-L-O-T-H-E-S.

If this book doesn't interest you at all,

there are so many other books

that you can listen to on there.

They have a huge selection from sci-fi, business,

like romance, history, classics, everything.

Their library is your oyster so please go check it out.

Moving on to an accessory that I've been loving,

here are these heart locket earrings from Peter Do.

I thought that they were fitting for Valentine's Day season

because they're hearts and they're so functional.

You can open them and you can actually print out

a photo of people or things that you love.

I'm thinking about putting a picture of Cheeky on here

because she's always on my mind.

Or I can have Ben on the other side too.

You can wear them like both open.

You can wear one open, one closed.

Just depending on how you feel,

you can kind of adjust the earrings accordingly.

And they are very high quality

which means that they're a little bit more of an investment

but I'm at a point in my life

where I would just rather invest in jewelry

that I know won't just deteriorate in a year.

Next up I want to announce my very first artist favorite.

I wanted to put the spotlight on Takashi Murakami

because I had the honor of meeting him in real life

in Vancouver in February

and it was such a once in a lifetime experience

getting to meet him and look at his art in the flesh.

It was just incredible.

His exhibition is called The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg

and he named it this because he admitted

that he's very critical of his own work

and this is like just a comprehensive collection

of all his work that he's done in the past, in the present,

and so when he saw all of it

he said it just looked like an octopus eating its own leg.

And being at that show was just really inspiring for me

because there was a point in my life when I loved to paint.

This was in middle school and high school,

because I've always had such difficulty expressing myself

through words, especially writing and speaking.

And so that's why a big release for me was through imagery

and I have always loved cartoons

and flat imagery that still has lots of depth

and I feel like Murakami's work really embodies that.

And so after I got back from Vancouver

it inspired me to go to a paint and sip class

with my brother and I ended up painting again

and it felt really, really good.

I'm definitely gonna go do more of them.

But anyway if you're in Vancouver

I highly recommend you guys go check out the exhibition.

It is playing like now till like March I want to say,

so you still got some time.

A pair of pants that I've been wearing nonstop

have been the Late Shift Trouser by Eggie,

which is my clothing line.

And no, I'm not just plugging this in

because it's my clothing line.

I have been really, genuinely wearing these pants

pretty often and it's because these days

I just really don't feel like squeezing into skinny jeans.

I love that these pants

are just kind of like a shape shifter.

They can be formal if you want them to

but casual if you're more in the mood for that.

With the chain it looks super bad-ass,

but without you just look like you're wearing

a nice formal trouser.

And these are super-soft, very comfortable,

and they're a little bit stretchy

so if you eat a lot it will expand to your stomach

which is always a plus for me.

So my last favorite is a lecture by Charlie Kaufman

and he is the writer of my favorite film of all time

which is Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

He also wrote Being John Malkovich,

which is also an incredible movie.

But yeah, he did a talk on how to write a screenplay,

but there's so much more depth that comes out of that talk.

It's around 41 minutes so it's pretty lengthy

but it is truly one of the most honest talks

that I've ever listened to

and after listening to it there's like so many times

where I just kept nodding my head and agreeing with him.

And he touches a lot on his insecurities

and his need to be liked

and feeling disgusting because he wants to be liked.

And I like that he admits things that most people

won't admit to, but feel.

And I love that he explains

when you are creating meaningful art, you have to be naked.

You have to be vulnerable

and it's inspiring me to push myself to create content

that is more meaningful, more vulnerable,

and more relatable for you guys

because I can do a video on like a lookbook

and all that stuff, and I do still enjoy that,

but these day I feel like I'm trying to create more content

that comes from deeper within my soul.

And it is a process that I am learning to do

and I just feel like this talk

was just really nourishing for my mind and soul.

And I really would love for you guys to listen to it.

I will leave a link in the description box,

so please go check it out.

All right guys, that is a wrap on my February favorites.

As always please comment down

what has inspired you in the month of February

in the comments down below.

Or just tell me how you're doing.

I truly love listen to what you guys have to say

and how you guys are

and I just want to thank you guys so much for watching.

And I'll see you guys in the next one.

Bye!

Muah!

(mellow music)