PA BK Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to PA to celebrate the nuptials of our old neighbors from Brooklyn.  The bride matched her blue dress to her tattoos.  I matched my dress to my budget.

 
I decided not to fight the elements for once and went with a curly hairdo.  It wasn't a full let go of the styling time requirements that rule my life since it involved about 40 bobby pins and half a can of hairspray, but it was a baby step toward being comfortable in my natural state of curl.

Dress: H&M

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Earrings: H&M

Cuff: ASOS

Clutch: Nicole Miller

I'm back!

I'm back in more ways than one.  I've been away from this blog (but keeping up my more anonymous design blog) since New Year's Day.  Keeping up a personal style blog is a big commitment!  I also found that the obligation was taking away from the authenticity of my posts.  ALSO, now I have a regular job and I'm back living in NYC.  I'm going to take a more relaxed approach and redefine this little project I started when I needed to find new ways to engage.  Change is good.

Necklace: Neiman Marcus Last Call

Bracelet: Anthropologie

Top: Loehmann's

Pants: H&M Mens

Flats: Urban Outfitters

If you find yourself in NYC and you don't have time to wait on line to see the McQueen exhibit at the Met, check out the Richard Serra drawing exhibit.  Art is good for the soul.

Hello, 2011!

Matt & I went out to a dinner party and then out for a quick drink with friends.  The drink was quick since Ithaca does not really acknowledge a holiday based around a late night of cocktails and all the bars stuck to their usual 1 am closing times.  That aside it was a perfect low key festive evening followed by a perfect low key sloth like day of eating, napping and football.

I had a quick twirl in the backyard before we headed out to celebrate.  I was going to take advantage of my close proximity to an H&M while I was home to find something sparkly for New Year's Eve.  Instead, I decided to take advantage of proximity to boxes and boxes of old clothes in my parent's basement and ended up plucking this red sparkly top (last worn NYE '03) from fashion obscurity and paired it with some more newly acquired duds.

Shrug- ooooold, from Loehmann's

Shirt- I.N.C. circa '03

Skirt: BCBG

Tights: Betsey Johnson via Marshall's

Booties: Seychelles via Gilt
Earrings: Simply Vera
Ring: MoMA

Today we had a leisurely stroll out to a giant waterfall.  I was looking forward to seeing how it transforms from season to season.  This is the first time we've seen it partially frozen.  It looks like I'm pretty bundled up in this photo, but as usual, I was under dressed, so we hiked briskly.  This outfit is mostly care of the Army Navy store, but the vest is a hand-me-down from Dad.  He got it on our 1983 trip to Maine.  A stop at the L.L. Bean Outlet is mandatory on any Maine vacation.

Hope you had a festive and relaxing start to the New Year!

Crippled Queens

Perhaps you've seen on the news that NYC got a blizzard dumped on it the day after Christmas.  These storms happen every so often and it's fun to be cozy inside while you watch the silent city get a glistening coating of snow out your window.  Then when you venture out to dig out your car or get your groceries, things are pretty functional within a day.  For this storm, something mysterious happened and nobody plowed the streets! 

It's the craziest thing I've ever seen!  This is the city that never sleeps, right?  Cars and city buses were just abandoned in the streets.  We took our 4 wheel drive vehicle to Queens and found ourselves in a mell of a hess (as my Grandfather used to say).  This street was completely unplowed and a good place to document the shenanigans since we were blocked in by stranded cars from all angles. 

You should never leave Queens without putting some food in your face, it would be the biggest wasted opportunity of all time.  We looked up the closest hand pulled noodle place and headed over.  On the way to deliciousness, we discovered we were on Ithaca Street!  Upstate NY likes to follow us wherever we go.

I've never appreciated 4 wheel drive as much as I have over the last few days!  You press on the gas and actually go forward!  Thanks Xterra, for making this day possible.  I was freezing my pom poms off to take these shots, but I guess that's what playing in the snow is all about.  Next time I leave home in the winter, I'll try not to forget my gloves, scarves and hats.  You'd be surprised how many times I do that!

Sweater: ASOS from Santa

Pants: via TJ Maxx

Boots: Frye

Ear Muffs: NYC Street Vendor

Home for the Holidays

Merry Christmas!  This is the card I designed this year.  We took this photo on Pratt's campus on graduation day.  I loved having a love statue to walk past every day.  Not gonna lie- laid this out in my mind 3 years ago.

I love New York during Christmas.  Matt & I go on an annual date to see the tree and all the store windows.  We often have dinner overlooking the Rockefeller ice skating rink, but this year we tried a new place, Brasserie Ruhlmann just steps away from all the madness.  The charcuterie was an especially delightful treat.

The windows at anthro were adorable (they had little reindeer with legwarmers and earmuffs!), but Bergdorf's took the cake as usual.  I didn't pose with them, as the wind was whipping around too much, but I've posted some photos of them here.

Footwear around this time of year gets a little repetitive for me.  The Frye boots I've been rocking for 16 years tend to get a daily wearing in the winter no matter the corresponding outfit.  They're already getting noticeably beaten up.  It's a trade off to being comfortable and warm.  They're also kind of my signature at this point.  Yippie, it's Christmas!

Coat: Nicole Miller, gift from Matt

Dress: thrifted

Leggings: H&M

Boots: Frye

Scarf: Borrowed from Dad

Apthorp Adventures

My trusty assistant and I nearly lost a toe to frostbite taking these photos.  It was a cold day in NYC with wind that was just plain rude.  That's partially the reason my posts have fallen off.  The other is the lack of daylight- so far I'm not dedicated enough to get up early to take photos. 

We're visiting the fam for the holidays and I geniusly forgot to pack any hats, gloves or scarves.  So as I made my way downtown, I popped into every applicable store in search of fuzzy ear muffs.  No luck.  You can see the blue tint to my lips in this closeup.

I just found this coat at the j.crew outlet.  It was marked down and on sale on top of that.  There was only one left and it was my size.  A sign to me to have a brighter outlook on winter.

Coat: J.Crew Outlet

Sweater: BCBG 100 years ago

Shirt: J.Crew Outlet

Jeans: H&M

Boots: Via Spiga via Loehmann's

Le Weekend: Winter Formal

This weekend I went with Matt to his winter semi formal.  It was my first "college" dance.  I put college in quotes since it's business school, but I did take a thermos full of wine, so that makes it college.  I was a little too cool for school when I was an undergrad so I didn't really attend much on campus, plus my school was in NYC, so it wasn't your typical college experience.

Why is there only one lonely ornament on this tree?  Anyway, I didn't take pictures thinking about putting them on the blog, so I just picked the one that showed my dress the best.  I got it about 3 years ago for another holiday party.  It has treated me well!  My shoes are a result of having Achilles tendinitis for the past year.  I'm not supposed to wear heels (yeah, I said a year) so I figure if I just wear 2" and under, it's a decent compromise. 

My bestie gave me Bumpits for my birthday, so I decided to bump it for the dance.  I'm not a big fan of teasing my hair- it seems so damaging.  Plus, I've spent my whole life trying to make my hair smaller, so it's just unnatural for me to make it bigger.  Hence, Bumpits.  Like I said, I wasn't really taking blog photos, so most of them are of this nature:

Hope you're having a festive start to your holiday season!

Dress: Theory via Loehmann's

Earrings: Simply Vera, Vera Wang for Kohl's

Bracelet: Marc Jacobs

Bracelet: Laundry

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Now and Forever...

That's the forecast for snow in my area.  It's literally going to snow every day from now until April.  So far, I'm loving it.  Matt & I went out to dinner with fluffy flakes accompanying us. 

Today was the first day I actually wore a coat which, judging from people's reactions when I show up places without a coat, is pretty strange.   I've had this one for a few years, and many times when I wear it people ask me if I'm warm enough.  I guess it doesn't look too substantial, but it's a good one to start the season.  Since I'm driving everywhere now, I often don't see the point of putting one on.  I don't like to drive in a coat (I feel restricted, probably because I have broad shoulders) and then when I get to my indoor destination, I don't want to be overheated.  So I've made it to December without wearing a coat.  I decided today was an appropriate day to break this cycle.  The first Friday art gallery walk was tonight, and I was certainly going to need to dress appropriately for that.  The best find I made was an antique store (not part of the gallery walk, but I couldn't resist) that has a nice selection of vintage jewelry for extremely reasonable prices (like $3).  I'm going to return with more time to spare tomorrow.  Happy le weekend!

Coat: via Loehmann's

Hat: vintage my mom

Jeans: H&M

Boots: Frye

Scarf: J.Crew

Vintage Nashville

I scored some amazing finds at Thrift Smart when I was in Nashville.  It's rare for me to have to make selections among things I like, normally I rule out most of what I pick in the dressing room.  I like going to new stores for fresh meat that I haven't already picked over.  There was a vintage record store in the same strip mall, so I posed with Dolly.

There were camera issues, which ruined most of the pictures, but it did give a few of them a cool effect.  Here's my favorite fierce effed up shot.

I'm all eyeballs and fingernails!

Wrap: Sweater: via Marshall's

Shirt: Forever 21

Jeans: via TJ Maxx

Flats: Wanted via Daffy's

Necklace: Urban Outfitters

All my troubles seemed so far away...

Isn't this a beautiful day!  I'm talking about these shots taken yesterday of course.  Today's pretty gloomy and making me hope the temperatures will drop soon to make this rain turn into snow.  Isn't that the upstate NY experience I was promised?

My house is pretty overheated at the moment thanks to the landlord's lock box over the thermostat, so it makes it hard to dress too warmly.  My office however is pretty chilly, so I often have outfit regrets.  My concession today was to pair this thin cardigan with gloves.  It was somewhat of a success.  I adore these impractical gloves and am happy that they are the debut of my outerwear in this blog.  Way to represent, gloves!  I was about to donate this dress but thought I'd wear it one more time just to make sure.  It's not doing anything for me.  Bye, bye.

Dress:  Max Studio

Cardigan: Urban Outfitters

Boots: Bandolino via Marshall's

Gloves: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Chanel