{weekend essentials} Memorial Day in the Hamptons...

I was lucky enough to have my parents finally come visit me out here this past weekend. It was a trip almost two years coming - and I can't express how excited I was to show them around my New York and see them for the first time since Christmas.

We had a great weekend - a perfect balance of their uptown, upscale Manhattan of past visits, and my downtown day-to-day life. All the things we did piece together like a pretty great guide to wining and dining with a dash of culture and shopping from Soho to the Upper East Side:


{We dined.}

• Gotham Grill: White table clothes, amazing seafood and a very 90s New York vibe, like Gramercy Tavern and totally delicious (the seafood salad is unreal)
• The Modern: minimalist, fancy and contemporary - just like the museum (amazing duck confit)
• db Bistro Moderne: fancy and delicious
  
• The Standard Grill: great spot for an early breakfast al fresco
  
• Public: trendy, brunch-y, delicious lentil salad and great drinks
• La Piscine: on the roof of Hotel Americano; lots of delicious fried seafood with a side of DJ
  
• Brasserie Julienne: cute little french joint on 2nd Ave in the 80s, live jazz with your moules frites
  
• Morandi: loud, busy and seriously great Italian fare on Waverly and 7th Ave
  

{We drank.}

• La Piscine: Before dinner every night we had cocktails on the roof with an amazing view of the city
  
• Kingswood: After dinner at db, I brought my parents to meet up with friends and see one of my favorite West Village bars
  
• Public: a dirty martini for Mom, a bourbon iced tea for me and the Bloody Maria for Dad
  

{We saw.}

• The MoMA:the Cindy Sherman exhibit was cool and creepy, but the permanent exhibits are always refreshing and unmissable
  
• The East River Ferry: A fun and unique way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn - especially on a warm day; we took it to and from 34th street to the flea market 
• Brooklyn Flea (Williamsburg): people watching, antique-ing and artisianal everything - of course
  
• The Met: My favorite museum in Manhattan, and the Steins Collection and Shiaparelli and Prada exhibit were crowded but truly wonderful (unfortunately the Cloud City exhibit on the roof was closed for weather)

{We shopped.}

• Uniqlo @ 53rd & 5th: picked up 4 shirts for my dad, but the crazy atmosphere and sheer amount of clothes is a little too much
  
• Treasure & Bond: cool, well-curated jewelry, gifts and apparel on lower West Broadway in Soho
  
• MoMA Design Store: so many unique and useful knick-knacks, and perfectly sized art prints for $10

{summer staple} the white swimsuit...

Isn't it always the case that some of the most beautiful and flattering things to wear can be a total pain? Stilettos, miniskirts, anything white. Ah, white. Despite how difficult it is to keep clean and bright, nothing, and I mean nothing, looks better against bronzed skin than white. Whether its tight and crisp or soft and loose, the contrast is everything you want in the summer: sexy, classic, and easy.

*Just look at this model on the right, trotting around Santorini with Joe Manganiello in a recent photo shoot from GQ. She looks simply chic (he's not bad either). 

I've already played into the magazines and blogs that told me I must have a little white dress. I've also got a perfectly slouchy white tee, and some crisp white shorts and kicks. The one thing I am totally craving for this season to complete my white out is a swimsuit.

And yet, I am dreading it. How weird is that? The idea has transfixed me, but the challenge of getting this exactly right is a little overwhelming. A white swimsuit really only looks good if you're tan (you can always fake it, though). A white swimsuit will get really dirty at the beach. A white swimsuit can become uncomfortably sheer when wet, and there's no way to test it out first. Trying on swimsuits in general is a curse on all woman-kind. And yet, I am dying to give it a try. Here's a few reasons:

Who What Wear thinks I should.

I have always been obsessed with this spread of Lindsay Lohan from 2006.

She just looks so happy!

 Anything Grace Kelly has ever done is worth attempting.

My current brunette inspirations, the Middleton sisters, are all about it.

Alright, I'll be the first to admit that looking at pictures of very beautiful and thin models in swimsuits can cause any normal and gorgeous girl to spiral into a pit of despair. I try not to put too many of those on le blog. My apologies in advance, but it's really difficult to find enough images of great suits off-model. Bare with me, and we can get through it together. Moving on, behold my picks for the best white suits, in a variety of price points:

white out


Inspiring, no? If it's not making a case for white swimsuits, it's certainly making one for laying off the pad thai. Anyway, swimwear is one of those things I don't feel in the slightest bit capable of making fit recommendations about. It is a deeply personal process and one that every girl has to tackle based on her own figure and skin-bearing comfort level. Here's what I will say though: I love a good bandeau these days. I would venture to guess they work best for smaller-chested gals, simply for lack of support, but there are many that come with a removable halter strap. I suppose the most solid piece of advice I can give here is that if you're going to go white, do it right. Stick with brands that are known for their quality and swimability (I made that word up), like Roxy, J. Crew and ViX. You'll spend a bit more, but when you emerge from the pool or the ocean, refreshed and rejuvenated, you can rest easy knowing that you're not putting on an unintentional show for your fellow sunbathers.

{outfit post} snowy stroll in the park...

While the girls and I are absolutely loving our downtown address, we sometimes long for the other world that is the Upper East Side. It really does feel like a different city when you emerge from the subway at 77th & Lexington. Tully and I were feeling nostalgic this weekend, so we decided that a little trip down memory lane, also known as Madison Avenue, was in order. We window shopped our way from 60th to 72nd, then ducked into the park, unable to resist the snowcovered hills and bridges.

We strolled around for a while as snow flurried around us, past sledding children and cross country skiiers, marveling at how different Central Park looks when it's been blanketed, frozen and re-blanketed in snow. It was pretty gorgeous, and may I add, a perfect excuse to take my newly inherited vintage mink for a little outting...

Tully's Anthropologie knit headband; Ray Ban aviators; vintage Missoni scarf; Roxy zip-up; vintage fur coat; Kelsi bag c/o Kooba; Nordstrom leather gloves.

Tully is wearing my Marc by Marc aviators, an Express headband (it's perfection) and a Marc New York jacket.

Those same darn Corso Como boots...

spotted at the Roxy showroom...

Truckee Boots, $89.00 from Roxy

One of the reps was wearing these boots today, and I'm in love. They're just the type of tough girl hiker-meets-biker flat boots I've been searching for to get me through the winter. I can imagine them being absolute perfection with skinny jeans, wool socks, a flannel and perhaps a vintage fur. And, at a completely reasonable $89, they won't throw off my budget. Niiiiice.