I love this song. This song is perfect because today the weather is rainy and cold, more November-style weather than late September in Virginia. I find the song to be fitting!
The singers are Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles, two performers I love. I have seen Ingrid in Charlottesville, and they have been popular critically but not huge on the popular music charts. For example, Ingrid has had about five or six songs featured on "Grey's Anatomy" on major episodes with huge storylines. Doesn't the song just pull at your heartstrings?
I am trying to stay involved with this blog, but right now I have a LOT going on, so please bear with me readers!
(C) 2008 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Shoes!
Here is a post of some of the shoes I own that I love love love. Some are vintage shoes I inherited from my mother, others I purchased when still working for Nordstrom, and others in the past few years since I have acquired more taste and figured out where my fashion spectrum lay.
I am lucky enough to be the same size as my mother, so we can fit into 7s on up to 9 depending on the style. I'm really a legit size 8, which is weird, because I was a legitimate 9, and when I broke things off with one of my exes, I lost about 40 pounds and it was mostly in my fingers, feet, and calves. (not even kidding).
So, here are several of my favorite beautiful shoes that I rely on to make my day a little happier. I think that for someone who is still finishing undergrad, I am already doing pretty well. : )
The shoes below are Guess. However, they look almost exactly like the Coach shoes that were a full-page ad in all of the fashion magazines this summer. I just adore them. They scream sexy lady and make my gams look incredible. Surprisingly easy to maneuver in, although the heel is a bit skinny. It is a khaki leather with wood. I wear them with my Lilly Pulitzer shifts and other summer dresses just to amp up the sexy factor. I also paired it with a short linen skirt and blousy tunic tops. With these heels, it is all about the balance of how much skin is shown.
I love my J.Crew driving moccasins. These are from probably 4 years ago. I adore them because they are sueded and worn perfectly. I use them grocery shopping and running errands on Sundays. They also look effortless with a nice skinny jean (I love Donna Karen's) and a cashmere shell/sweater set. They don't really work with shorts. Then I look like I am loafing around in someone elses shoes and it makes me look ridiculous. Food for thought.
Remember that episode of "Sex and the City" when Carrie saw that pair of shoes and said, "Hello lover" ? Well, that is how I felt the first time my Mom let me try these shoes on, and how I felt when she let me take them with me to boarding school for my Senior year formal. I was wearing probably the second most expensive outfit I will ever wear - after my wedding dress - so it is currently the most expensive outfit I have ever worn. I felt amazing in it and my date was great and my friends amazing. The Jimmy Choo shoes in this photo were my senior formal shoes. I adored them, and still do. I wear them sparingly as they have pearls on them and gorgeous sequins.
Here I am on the night of that formal. One of the funnest nights of my life. With my date Jordan, who is my hometown's minister's son. We went as friends but I'd always thought he was soooo cute. My dress was ridiculously expensive but my Mom didn't bat an eyelash because it fit me perfectly. Awww it was a great moment with Mom. So, insanely expensive dress and insanely expensive shoes. The memories made it though.
Here I am, far left, with my a cappella group Sextet, performing probably "For the Longest Time" or "Hooked on a Feeling."
These shoes are my Banana Republic ostrich embossed leather heels. The heel is wooden and it is a platform. There is a brass band around the heel. It is a gorgeous chocolate brown shoe. I really love these. M bought them for me for a "just because" gift and I adore them. I think he got these early on in our relationship in the early Spring of 2008. I wear these shoes with jeans, I wear them with dresses. They are perfect for my suits which most are brown if they are wool blended - and they are the perfect height!
I wear a lot of Nine West shoes for "going out" shoes. I don't normally wear them to work or to church, they are just my can-ruin-on-cobblestones-railroad-tracks-etc shoes. However, this pair of Nine West shoes I purchased while still working for the US Government back in 2007. I love these shoes and apparently they are right on trend right now. With my high arches these shoes fit me perfectly. They have a hidden platform of almost an inch, are gray suede, and are the cutest bootie-oxford mix I have ever seen. I wear them with skirts mostly. It is fun to wear them with contrasting tights in the Fall/Winter! For example, I wore them with a J.Crew burnt mustard miniskirt, a plaid button-down "camp shirt", and a chunky grandpa cardigan in navy. I had my one length of faux pearls wrapped around my wrist as a bracelet. It looked great (super awkard, my Mom took a picture of it she liked it so much).
The delish boots featured below are a gorgeous pair of vintage Son Camino boots. [cannot find that brand anywhere online but they are impeccable with great stitching, material, stamping on the interior, etc.] They were my Mom's and she gave them to me when I found them buried in a closet. Gorgeous Made in Spain boots sitting around! I wasn't about to have that. My Dad had the heel replaced and the rest is history. They are a gorgeous almost terra cotta reddish brown sueded leather, and are incredibly broken in and comfortable. I wear them best with bare legs but occasionally will tuck them into a jean or wear them with other pants when visiting a barn and/or farm.
I adore these Sperry Top Siders. They are a men's style which I bought at a surf shop in Atlantic Beach, NC when I was working one summer at Camp Seafarer - so summer of 2004. I adore these shoes so much because they are full of memories. I had campers draw on them, another camper accidentally dumped citronella candle on one of them, which was actually nice because it kept everything below the knees from being bitten for the rest of the summer. I have worn them on yachts, sail boats, Flying Scots, Sunfish, motorboats, everything. So wonderful. They always have sand in them and when I wear them occasionally to class and feel that, it makes me feel all happy inside!
All photos taken by me or with my camera camera camera.
I am lucky enough to be the same size as my mother, so we can fit into 7s on up to 9 depending on the style. I'm really a legit size 8, which is weird, because I was a legitimate 9, and when I broke things off with one of my exes, I lost about 40 pounds and it was mostly in my fingers, feet, and calves. (not even kidding).
So, here are several of my favorite beautiful shoes that I rely on to make my day a little happier. I think that for someone who is still finishing undergrad, I am already doing pretty well. : )
The shoes below are Guess. However, they look almost exactly like the Coach shoes that were a full-page ad in all of the fashion magazines this summer. I just adore them. They scream sexy lady and make my gams look incredible. Surprisingly easy to maneuver in, although the heel is a bit skinny. It is a khaki leather with wood. I wear them with my Lilly Pulitzer shifts and other summer dresses just to amp up the sexy factor. I also paired it with a short linen skirt and blousy tunic tops. With these heels, it is all about the balance of how much skin is shown.
I love my J.Crew driving moccasins. These are from probably 4 years ago. I adore them because they are sueded and worn perfectly. I use them grocery shopping and running errands on Sundays. They also look effortless with a nice skinny jean (I love Donna Karen's) and a cashmere shell/sweater set. They don't really work with shorts. Then I look like I am loafing around in someone elses shoes and it makes me look ridiculous. Food for thought.
Remember that episode of "Sex and the City" when Carrie saw that pair of shoes and said, "Hello lover" ? Well, that is how I felt the first time my Mom let me try these shoes on, and how I felt when she let me take them with me to boarding school for my Senior year formal. I was wearing probably the second most expensive outfit I will ever wear - after my wedding dress - so it is currently the most expensive outfit I have ever worn. I felt amazing in it and my date was great and my friends amazing. The Jimmy Choo shoes in this photo were my senior formal shoes. I adored them, and still do. I wear them sparingly as they have pearls on them and gorgeous sequins.
Here I am on the night of that formal. One of the funnest nights of my life. With my date Jordan, who is my hometown's minister's son. We went as friends but I'd always thought he was soooo cute. My dress was ridiculously expensive but my Mom didn't bat an eyelash because it fit me perfectly. Awww it was a great moment with Mom. So, insanely expensive dress and insanely expensive shoes. The memories made it though.
Here I am, far left, with my a cappella group Sextet, performing probably "For the Longest Time" or "Hooked on a Feeling."
These shoes are my Banana Republic ostrich embossed leather heels. The heel is wooden and it is a platform. There is a brass band around the heel. It is a gorgeous chocolate brown shoe. I really love these. M bought them for me for a "just because" gift and I adore them. I think he got these early on in our relationship in the early Spring of 2008. I wear these shoes with jeans, I wear them with dresses. They are perfect for my suits which most are brown if they are wool blended - and they are the perfect height!
I wear a lot of Nine West shoes for "going out" shoes. I don't normally wear them to work or to church, they are just my can-ruin-on-cobblestones-railroad-tracks-etc shoes. However, this pair of Nine West shoes I purchased while still working for the US Government back in 2007. I love these shoes and apparently they are right on trend right now. With my high arches these shoes fit me perfectly. They have a hidden platform of almost an inch, are gray suede, and are the cutest bootie-oxford mix I have ever seen. I wear them with skirts mostly. It is fun to wear them with contrasting tights in the Fall/Winter! For example, I wore them with a J.Crew burnt mustard miniskirt, a plaid button-down "camp shirt", and a chunky grandpa cardigan in navy. I had my one length of faux pearls wrapped around my wrist as a bracelet. It looked great (super awkard, my Mom took a picture of it she liked it so much).
The delish boots featured below are a gorgeous pair of vintage Son Camino boots. [cannot find that brand anywhere online but they are impeccable with great stitching, material, stamping on the interior, etc.] They were my Mom's and she gave them to me when I found them buried in a closet. Gorgeous Made in Spain boots sitting around! I wasn't about to have that. My Dad had the heel replaced and the rest is history. They are a gorgeous almost terra cotta reddish brown sueded leather, and are incredibly broken in and comfortable. I wear them best with bare legs but occasionally will tuck them into a jean or wear them with other pants when visiting a barn and/or farm.
I adore these Sperry Top Siders. They are a men's style which I bought at a surf shop in Atlantic Beach, NC when I was working one summer at Camp Seafarer - so summer of 2004. I adore these shoes so much because they are full of memories. I had campers draw on them, another camper accidentally dumped citronella candle on one of them, which was actually nice because it kept everything below the knees from being bitten for the rest of the summer. I have worn them on yachts, sail boats, Flying Scots, Sunfish, motorboats, everything. So wonderful. They always have sand in them and when I wear them occasionally to class and feel that, it makes me feel all happy inside!
All photos taken by me or with my camera camera camera.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Martha Stewart Show
I am not sure if all of my readers like Martha Stewart, but I really enjoy her as a teacher of food, crafts, and homekeeping. She has taught me a lot over the years, and I really appreciate what she is doing in the world of more eco-friendly home products. Her Homekeeping Handbook has been such an asset since I bought it at the beginning of this summer.
She recently moved networks from NBC (where for many DirecTV customers, among others, we could not watch her show due to local programming and the 5th hour of Today) to the Hallmark Channel. She is on M-F at 10am EST, and helps start off a wonderful series of Home shows that run from the AM to early afternoon hours.
Now that she is on Hallmark, I am really happy, as I haven't been able to watch her show for the past two years. I have missed a lot of great episodes, but yesterday I saw one that was one of the funniest I have ever seen. It was actually a "Bonus Episode" that aired on Monday at 4pm (so during the Oprah show). It had an opening that was hysterical and featured Martha Stewart and Darcy Miller (her Editorial Director of MS Weddings) wearing gorgeous gold outfits for the "Glitter" segment. I cannot believe no one has this on YouTube yet! Anyway, they open the show with a big, black shimmery confetti pinata, and proceed to FAIL at cracking the pinata open for the entire 5 minutes of the opening segment. At this point they are hysterically laughing and out of breath, so Martha's producer comes and has to RIP IT OPEN for the thing to actually work.
To make up for it, I found a few of my favorite clips of Martha Stewart on YouTube that are hysterical:
As a sidenote: I DIE everytime I see the clip with incredible glass maker DALE CHIHULY and she completely ruins a perfect glass orb. And then asks, "is that bad?" [its around 0:32] And her April Fools-ing her set staff. So messed up hahaha. Lastly, Conan O'Brien on the Martha Stewart Show. I mean, really, how did they figure that out? Him looking like Fabio is amazing.
More Bloopers:
Martha's BFF Snoop Dogg comes by to make Mashed Potatoes:
All photos and videos original property of © 2010 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
Friday, September 10, 2010
New York Fashion Week, Day 1
Thank you very much, chic.tv, for filling a void that was sucked away from Labor Day and classes starting. Awesomeface.
And everyone, I think you will ADORE the Christian Siriano collection. It is amazing. I think I found my wedding dress in there... ha!!
You can see it on the far right of the below photo [Matthews/AP]:
Here is a New York Daily News article about his line:
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2010/09/10/2010-09-10_fashion_week_spring_2011_christian_siriano_opens_fashion_week_with_clothes_fit_f.html.
And here is the video of the finale of his show:
Pretty great stuff, huh? I hope to do my next post on Chanel or something more haute, although Mr. Siriano has incredible taste, no? As an aside, all of Christian Sirano's shoes were from his Payless shoe line, which I think is a great way to highlight the diversity of them!
And everyone, I think you will ADORE the Christian Siriano collection. It is amazing. I think I found my wedding dress in there... ha!!
You can see it on the far right of the below photo [Matthews/AP]:
Here is a New York Daily News article about his line:
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2010/09/10/2010-09-10_fashion_week_spring_2011_christian_siriano_opens_fashion_week_with_clothes_fit_f.html.
And here is the video of the finale of his show:
Pretty great stuff, huh? I hope to do my next post on Chanel or something more haute, although Mr. Siriano has incredible taste, no? As an aside, all of Christian Sirano's shoes were from his Payless shoe line, which I think is a great way to highlight the diversity of them!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Romantics
I must see this movie! Comes out Sept 10 (i.e. this weekend).
Cast includes:
Adam Brody (adore him)
Dianna Agron (thats Quinn from Glee, y'all)
Joey Potter.... I mean Katie Holmes
Candice Bergman
Anna Paquin
Clearly it cannot suck with this cast, it'll be cheesy yes, but certainly perfect for me to see without M.
And was it filmed on the Hamptons? Certainly looks like it!
Cast includes:
Adam Brody (adore him)
Dianna Agron (thats Quinn from Glee, y'all)
Joey Potter.... I mean Katie Holmes
Candice Bergman
Anna Paquin
Clearly it cannot suck with this cast, it'll be cheesy yes, but certainly perfect for me to see without M.
And was it filmed on the Hamptons? Certainly looks like it!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Ocean Boulevard
One of the best places to eat on the Outer Banks is Ocean Boulevard in Kitty Hawk.
My family has loved eating at this restaurant for years, back when it was still owned by the same people who run the Blue Point. We had been dining there since the mid 1980s when it first opened. However, BP expanded and the food has not made us as happy in recent years as it used to. OB also remembers it's longtime customers and goes the extra mile. BP is good but not as great as OB.
So, natch, Ocean Boulevard is our regular place, now.
Their busiest night is on Thursdays, but it is worth the wait. The menu is diverse but not expansive and ridiculous [I'm talking to you Cheesecake Factory] and they have wonderful wine pairings and martinis as well.
You can call them to make reservations at (252) 261-2546.
If you can, and your party is 5 people or less, request the chef's tables so you can watch the men at work. During the off-season it is the best, as they can converse with you freely during that time.
Locals love this place, and I know of tons of people who will drive down from the Hampton Roads area just to have dinner there. It is THAT good.
http://www.obbistro.com/
Pictures by me of Ocean Boulevard.
Wedding Website - Questions
So I am tentatively posting M and my wedding website at some point... not on here, just in general... probably after we "at some point" get our engagement photos done. Because it seems like everyone does these ridiculous photo shoots where people either look great or absolutely ridiculous. In some that I've seen, couples have worn blue jeans and JEAN SHORTS, with shades of blue t-shirts on. That isn't my cup of tea. I mean really, who MATCHES their fiancee? Don't you match your elementary school class or your siblings? It basically creeped M and I out to a whole new level. M and I are not a fan of that.
One good friend of mine, with impeccable taste, did an incredible photo shoot with her now-husband. It was in Norfolk, and they posed on bicycles and in the old neighborhoods (maybe even including Ghent) - and it was incredibly retro-chic with a boho vibe that fit her personality. They kind-of coordinated outfits but it didn't look stupid. It looked relaxed and effortless. I really adored their photos, because they were high quality shots that didn't look forced at all. That's what we want to go for.
Soooo back to the wedding website. This opportunity is unknown territory for my family and I, as I am the first child in my extended family to get married in 11 years. Yup, ELEVEN. So, 11 years ago, wedding websites didn't even exist yet. TheKnot.com was brand new and even that took some meandering around the internet. Everything was still mostly done in print. I am grateful to have several wedding etiquette books but I still have some questions I would appreciate hearing from you all about.
Registry listing: Many acquaintances and friends have posted their registry links on their wedding website. It is an optional tab on the sidebar, not on the main page. Is this okay? Or is it a no-no?
Engagement Story: How in-depth do you all get about the engagement story? The day we got engaged, M didn't even let me bring a camera, I think he wanted to keep it between us and not broadcast all over the world. My sister and her husband had it done similarly. On a beach in Jamaica, no camera. Then it is something kept between you two, and then you tell who you feel about it because they weren't there. Is the engagement story a tell or not tell feature for a wedding website? As Peggy Post puts it in her book, "Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette," she says, "Don't include overly personal information...such as when you shared your first kiss, what you did on your first date, and so on (pg. 173)."
Ring: Do you show the ring in photos? Or do you only post photos that have the ring subtly displayed in a posed image?
Honeymoon: Do you share information about the honeymoon? M and I are on the fence about this information, as we feel as though it is ostentatious - but if it is the norm, we are certainly open to this option.
I would really love everyone's input on these things, because some tread the line between over-sharing and just letting people know.
As a side note, some people have asked my opinion on another new wedding "tradition" (?? definitely not the right word). I would like to point out that just like Judith Martin's "Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding" you could not [even with a gun to my head] have me consider ever posting anything along the lines of "Create a Gift" or "Contribute to Honeymoon/Mortgage/etc." as I find them tasteless, crass, and inappropriate. Okay, off of my soapbox now.
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