Bubble necklaces try and take over the world

A couple months ago, I wandered into a Charlotte Russe store, saw a piece of outrageous aqua neck candy priced at $12.99 and walked out the proud owner of the new bold and chunky beast. What a unique piece of jewelry! Something I had never seen before! This would really make a statement, in the immortal words of Daria Morgendorffer, stand proudly and proclaim I AM!...

Line up, brides. It's the final act for the Goodwill Wedding Gala.

It's a bittersweet day for brides in Tampa Bay.

Goodwill's Wedding Gala, the bridal dress blowout bringing bargain gowns to locals for the past seven years, will come to an end after two final sales this weekend. Brides have always flocked to this sale, lining up in the wee hours of the morning to get their hands on new designer gowns worth thousands for prices starting at $50. The gala, Goodwill officials told Times business reporter Susan Thurston, has run its course. It was too labor-intensive to host the events and seek donations every year, organizers said. Read the full story here. About 400 dress donations this year come from CC’s Boutique, Athena's Bridal Boutique, Diana's Bridal, Olga's Bridal & Boutique and Priscilla of Boston....

New dean of USF's College of Education

The University of South Florida in Tampa has a new dean of the College of Education, which is the academic home to more than 3,000 students and a major supplier of teachers to the Tampa Bay area.

Vasti Torres, who comes from education leadership roles at Indiana University Bloomington, will helm the college at USF starting this summer. She was director of IU's Center for Postsecondary Research, which administers the sweeping annual National Survey of Student Engagement, focused largely on student participation in college or university-sponsored programs and activities at schools all over the U.S. and Canada. The center at IU also conducts research into student learning environments and teaching strategies....

Get The Great Gatsby's timeless style

When I was a kid, I had a fashion-through-the-ages sketch collection that explained style from French regency slippers through 1980s Gordon Gekko power suits. My favorite chapter was always the 20s. It was a period of no apology, of reckless abandon that comes just prior to consequence. It was SPARKLE. So on one hand, I am beyond ecstatic for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, which comes out on May 10. It's going to be the total stew of Jazz Age opulence I have coveted for so long, right there, on a giant screen. Squeal....

Best, worst and nuttiest from the Met Ball

One of the best fashion-as-spectator-sport events of the year happened last night in New York. It's the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where all celebrities come looking as if they have consumed a martini of Windex and bath salts. It is fantastic. There is always a theme, and the guests typically try to hit it in some capacity. Some years, the theme requires lots of Googling and consultations with people who know things other than, "Which pizza has the fewest calories?" Last year, the theme was "Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations," which sounds like something you could say to strangers at the airport to get everyone to leave you alone....

USF student to bike across America to support student veterans

Kiersten Downs was sitting in a Feminist Research Methods class when MTV called, wondering about her one-woman bike ride across America.

Downs was thrilled. Any attention would help the University of South Florida doctoral student and her cause. She was financing a bike trip out of her own pocket to benefit Student Veterans of America. She had saved enough to get 3,800 miles from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and she still needed a $600 GPS to guide the way. She planned to figure it out as she went....

My Outfit Monday: The pale find of a lifetime

I had an argument with myself last week, which is probably the best way to argue because you're guaranteed to win. And I did!

I was in Nordstrom Rack in Tampa, trying to unwind a little, not even planning to buy anything. I know some people find shopping to be the most stressful thing they could ever do with their spare time, but I'm the opposite. Browsing through a store with no agenda makes my happy chemicals go up. It's the colors, the fabrics, the soft music. The rhythm of the flip-flip-flip through the racks. This is starting to sound like an episode of some screamy reality show on A&E. Anyway....

Free Ben & Jerry's ice cream on campus at USF

BREAKING EDUCATION NEWS: Are you a University of South Florida student? Are you stressed out for finals? Reeling from the power outage on campus yesterday? Just a fan of free food?

Take a minute and stop by the USF library today, where the Ben and Jerry's truck will be passing out FREE, we repeat, FREE ice cream from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m....

USF shakes up its diversity practices

The University of South Florida is stepping up efforts to create a diverse campus for employees and students, expanding its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and creating the job of Chief Diversity Officer.

Monday, USF president Judy Genshaft gave the title to Jose E. Hernandez. Hernandez is a former USF employee who left the school in 2008 to become Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion for the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Before that, he was USF’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion from 2002 to 2008, and coordinator of USF’s McNair Scholars Program for graduate students from 2000 to 2002....

USF program helps students manage money, debt

TAMPA — Six business students sat in a classroom at the University of South Florida, facing a screen with concern and curiosity. They were ready to graduate, and the reality of the massive amounts of money they'd borrowed was sinking in.

A question appeared on the screen.

How many of you know how much you have borrowed?

The students could text-message their answers — yes, yes, no, three holdouts....

Pregnant Princess Kate gets dotty

As if we didn't have enough reasons to admire Kate, Kate Middleton, not-quite Princess Kate, Kate Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa's sister, (take THAT, Search Engine Optimization!), she is making being laden with child look easy, like a trip to a Paris bistro in the middle of May, like a stroll through the park on a summer's afternoon. We know it's not REALLY like that. Kate has famously had a pretty uncomfortable pregnancy with loads of sickness, so it's good to see her out and about smiling....