{outfit post} Easter in the city...

Sunday was definitely one of those glorious spring days that almost makes all the rainy, dreary days of the past week melt away as if they never happened. Tully and I rolled out of bed and hastily dressed - something like a pastel prepster and boho - and hopped in cab to go to Easter mass in Nolita. We put the windows down and marveled at how warm the breeze was as we zipped down Houston Street. While we waited for the service to begin, we popped across Mott Street to Cafe Gitane for iced beverages and ogled all the street style passing by.

Now clearly, this blog is not a forum for a religious discussion, but I had such a lovely time at Church. I attended Catholic school for 12 years of my life, but have rarely returned to any formal religious gatherings since. Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral is incredibly beautiful (not to mention 200 years old), and they have the most amazing choir. I found it to be a wonderful hour of reflection; giving thanks, spreading a little peace and appreciating the fact that I had never seen so many well dressed Catholics in my life.

After mass we met up with Rachel and managed to snag an outdoor table at a cute little French place called Jacques on Prince Street almost immediately. Achieving this on a sunny Sunday at 2 pm in New York City is rather a miracle. (Not a resurrection, to be sure, but it was fortuitous!) We toasted Mimosas to Easter and Passover, ate too many French fries and lingered over our crumbs far longer than the charming wait staff probably would have preferred.

After our so-late-you-almost-can't-call-it brunch, we decided, as we usually do, that we should walk around, see the people and shop our way home. New York is in the middle of that short-and-sweet blooming phase right now, and all above our heads cherry trees were sprouting fresh little leaves and thousands of little white and pink flowers. Even if it was slightly humid and not lacking a serious amount of crowds sometimes, it was one of the best walks I've taken in the city so far.

Me: J. Crew shirt, Anthropologie Aniseed Skirt; American Apparel clutch; vintage necklace; Mee Too snakeskin flats, Ray Ban wayfarers; MK watch; Tiffany, H&M & J. Crew bracelets; vintage scarf (seen in first photo).

Tully: Quicksilver Girls dress; Ray Ban aviators, F21 earrings; Michael Stars cardigan; Star Ling shoes; vintage bag.

  

Now do you see the "boho and prepster opposites with great color palettes" thing I was talking about? It's pretty good, isn't it? Anyway, I am utterly obsessed with Tully's new dress. Isn't it just the most perfect maxi? It's light as air and the colors are so perfect. She wore it with heels and it still managed to reach nearly to the floor, which ideal with that kind of dress. Obviously, I can't wait to borrow it.

If you recall any of my outfit posts from last spring, I had a major moment with this skirt. Guess what? I'm still having it. Stripes are my new black, and my pink button down went perfectly to give me that touch of "Easter egg chic" color. Oh, and surprise, surprise that AA clutch rarely leaves my arms these days.

Rach and Tully on Sullivan Street...

Can you tell I'm having sort of a passionate love affair with the top knot these days?

 

"Oh, hi! I didn't even see you there!"

 

Cherry blossoms in full bloom...

My new favorite intersection in the city: Waverly Place and W 11th Street.

(For those of you keeping score out there, this is the part where Tully & I switched shoes about half way home...)

*To be fair to those of you feeling bitter about the lack of spring weather in your neck of the woods, clouds gathered and rain began to fall just as we arrived home. The rest of the late afternoon and evening was spent inside with Firefly cocktails, nail polish and Glee, while thunder rolled and lightning flashed.

*Also, I'll give you guys a better close up of that necklace soon. I found it at a thrift store in Chelsea and it's so cool. I actually asked Tully before we left in the morning if the birds were "too pagan" or could they be "birds of peace?" We both agreed on birds of peace.
*Meghan and I had to quite literally rain check our plans for Saturday brunch, so that's just one more outfit post you can look forward to...

{outfit post} lock out...

That's right, I went up to the roof to take some outfit pictures for you guys, and then locked myself out of my apartment. I hope you enjoy the fact that I consider us all to be good enough friends for me to admit that right now. I scurried up there sans keys and sans cell phone, and carrying a bunch of miscellaneous objects with which to prop up my camera. (One of them was a box of checks. Another one of them was a hardbound copy of Twilight. Really.)

Fortunately, my downstairs neighbor came home just as I had used my last ounce of energy trying to will the locked door open. Unfortunately, I had to explain to him what I was doing with a box of checks, a giant tween vampire novel, a camera and no keys. Pretty glamorous, right?

For the next three hours, I took advantage of his air conditioning, accompanied him on some errands, watched a terrible movie and eventually got rescued by our house-guest-of-the-week, Alli, circa 9:45 p.m. If it hadn't been such a mess of an evening I probably wouldn't have bothered to post these pictures, but I became stranded in my own building and didn't get dinner until 10 pm because of them, so by gosh you're going to see them.

Theory pants; H&M tank; J. Crew sweater; vintage belt; Sam Edelman sandals, Persol sunnies.

Apparently the growing-out of my bangs has lead to rock a comb-over worthy of the The Donald. Oy. Moving on... I had a quick little freelance job on Monday helping out at the Bloomingdales.com photo studio, so I donned my best "Fashionably Professional: Even in This Humidity" outfit, which obviously included my most treasured grown-up girl piece: my Theory pants. The atmosphere at the studio is rather laid back, and it's an absolute free-for-all when it comes to daily attire. There's an ever-changing bevy of photographers, stylists, and assistants coming and going each week, each with a unique style, and more than a few tattoos. The sartorial freedom that this affords is rather glorious. A cotton tank, flat sandals and fancy pants made for the perfect mix to spend 8 hours organizing, steaming, dressing, pinning and accessorizing.

 All-in-all, I suppose there are worse places a girl could be stranded.

quick snap: blogger brunch @ Locanda Verde

I just wanted to share with you this darling snap that Eliot (@CoachBlkrWomen) took outside Locanda Verde in TriBeCa on Sunday.

Eliot spearheaded a get together with myself, Helena of Brooklyn Blonde, Lauren of Everyday to Runway,  Christine of Court & Hudson, and oh, there in the middle you may recognize my blogging bff Meghan! We spent a good two hours getting to know each other, plotting for NYFW and getting absolutely stuffed on pancakes, frittata, poached eggs and iced coffees.

It was so wonderful to get to know these charming women with impeccable style and seriously follow-worthy blogs. If you don't know them already, I highly suggest you browse their archives for some major outfit inspiration.

party for good...

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

5th avenue finds...

Lower 5th Avenue, between about 22nd Street and 16th Street is what I view as the mall of New York City. All scrunched together on these blocks you can find your favorite chain stores that brought you so much consistency and comfort before you left home for the big, bad city. (Except Nordstrom, sigh.) This is one thing I wasn't totally aware of until I moved here: Most people in NYC shop exactly where everyone else shops. Yes, there are unique boutiques and specialty shops tucked away all over the place, but just like everything else, they're usually expensive. My sweet spot in shopping this city has been to mix the tried-and-true shops I have always loved, with the seriously only-in-NYC awesome thrift, consignment and vintage stores. On that level, I think this city is unparalleled.

I was strolling around yesterday to see what was what in the world (even the most budget-mindful blogger should have her pulse on the retail scene at all times) and if there were any to-die-for fall purchases I should start saving up for. I found that indeed, there are many, many things I desperately want to add to my wardrobe ASAP:

5th Avenue finds

From the looks of it, Fall 2011 is going to be quite the colorful season. I spied hoards of jewel tones and brights, styled together in fresh and surprising looks. At H&M I made my one-and-only purchase of the day - Hooray! Self control! - the mustard dress you see above. It was a whopping $25, and will transition seamlessly from a summer dress to pair with bare legs and neutral sandals to a perfect fall layering piece with black tights, a scarf and a blazer.

From there I traipsed down the block to the newly refurbished J. Crew flagship store. Why I do these things to myself is unclear. I'm like some kind of fashion masochist. I was, per usual, bug-eyed and drooling over just about everything. Their merchandisers are evil geniuses, I'm sure of it. From cozy sweaters to animal print pencil skirts to cool, faded trousers and every manor of button-down shirt, I was absolutely in love with it all. I allowed myself to try on a few things (You see? Masochist.) including the white silk blouse above. In some ways, it's $100 price tag is daunting, but I am thinking of it this way: It's nearly identical to the Equipment blouse of the same style, that costs nearly twice as much (roughly $188), and it's essentially the same fabric. So, J. Crew for the win. That is one investment purchase I'll definitely be making come September.

Madewell usually proves to be a similar story to J. Crew, and on this visit, I was most smitten with their collection of top-zip clutches. They are, admittedly, nearly identical in many ways to the American Apparel version, but with a few added details, and in much more fun fabrics. The pony hair zebra-print one was a favorite, as well as the patent leather blue, which has that Celine look-alike factor.

Zara, oh Zara. A lot of their price points are more reasonable than J. Crew, and their collections are my go-to for chic blazers and jackets, sleek blouses and of-the-moment shoes.

So there you have it. Want, want, want. Need, need, need. Guess I better save, save, save.

a little peek at cinco de mayo...

I often look at nights like Cinco de Mayo with the same balance of hope and pessimism that I do New Years Eve. It always sounds like a night of great promise and epic fiestas; tequila, sombreros and what not. Then one thing doesn't lead to another, and you're eating chips and salsa on the couch watching Brad Pitt in The Mexican, by yourself, again.

Luckily though - as has been the case with this type of occasion since my move to New York - this year's Cinco de Mayo really was an epic fiesta of tequila, sombreros and what not. We kicked off the night at our apartment, and hosted some friends and neighbors for homemade guacamole and "skinny girl" margaritas made from scratch. The guacamole was sort of terrible (blame the unripe avocados and amateur chefs), but the drinks were perfectly dangerous. My darling friend and fellow style blogger Meghan joined us for the first half of the festivities, wearing her new and absolutely amazing Madewell dress.

Me: H&M blouse; (Gina's) Urban Outfitters skirt; vintage necklace; MK watch & Tiffany bangle.

Meghan: Urban Outfitters Ecote Surplus jacket; Madewell dress; Rebecca Minkoff bag.

Once we were all feeling sufficiently festive and the themed playlist had run it's course, we hopped in cabs and made our way down to the main event - a show at Tammany Hall on the LES featuring my favs, The Knocks, who were DJ-ing with the different acts all night. Needless to say, we danced until the early hours and Friday night was spent in; recapping all the fun and watching a terrible movie called Frozen. (Don't see it, even though it's streaming on Netflix. People act like idiots on a chairlift and get eaten by wolves. It's just - awful.)

Most of the cinco crowd @ Tammany, complete with sombreros, colorful ensembles and cheesy faces.

{outfit post} fashion 140...

I feel so overwhelmed with love this week! I got a wonderful shout out (and huge traffic boost) from my menswear-blogging/tumblr-ing friend L.A.S. and about 30 new Twitter followers during the Fashion 140 conference yesterday. I'm so glad people had such a positive response to my Always & Never list. I mean, what can I do next to keep you guys so interested and excited? (Seriously. Suggestions welcome and encouraged.)

I'll post more later about everything amazing that went on at the conference, but for now I figured I could at least give you a little bit of an outfit post. Wednesday started out pretty rainy, and coupled with the fact that I'd be sitting in an auditorium for hours and hours, I aimed for a comfortable-yet-chic look that would hold up all day.

Schott NYC Perfecto lambskin jacket; vintage Missoni for Nordstrom tunic; BP black tank; BDG jeggings; Jessica Simpson ballet flats; c/o Amanda Pearl Gobstopper pearl earrings.

This is that amazing Missoni tunic I wore to NYFW earlier this year but was totally hidden by my fur coat. It's incredibly fragile and a treasured piece inherited from my mom. It has those distinctive Missoni stripes - and in perfect-for-spring colors. I have no idea what year it's from, and I'm sure if she could figure out how, Mrs. Davies would leave a comment letting us all know. (The 90's, Mom?) Anyway, after a Tweet-spiration from my friends at Schott, I knew my Perfecto had to come out for the conference as well. 

The rest of my look just sort of fell into place. My Amanda Pearl earrings have become a staple with my top-knot, though I'll be the first to admit that after looking at these pictures I'm really peeved that it was so smooshed on one side. Ugh, #whitegirlproblems. Additionally, I'm hyper-aware that jeggings are on their way out, but they are so incredibly comfortable I may never give them up. (Breaking my own rules, 'cause that's how I roll.) As for the ballet flats, did you expect anything else?

 Oh, and in case you were worried - don't be. I wore seven bracelets.

Various baubles from Marc by Marc Jacobs; J. Crew; Tiffany & Co.; Kenneth Jay Lane; vintage; that Michael Kors watch and F21 owl ring.

It's like I pulled up my sleeve and surprised even myself at how many of them I was wearing!

big apple red...

Rachel, Tully & me circa 4 am Sunday at the 24-hour diner on Waverly & 6th.

Rocking some seriously red nails.

(Mine really is Big Apple Red by O.P.I.)

tgif... my thursday night was awesome, yours?

Last night I was fortunate to attend a very cool blogger event hosted by Blue Stripe PR. I reunited with my darling fashion blogger friend Meghan, of Wit & Whimsy, as well as her friend Virginia of The Lovely 20s. We sipped Sofia champagne out of cans (yep, with straws), snacked on Jelly Bellys and browsed the newest collections from Amanda Pearl, Joie, 8020, Pleasure Doing Business and more. Per usual, I slacked on taking pictures because I was too busy chatting and meeting some pretty fabulous people...

... Like Leandra Medine, aka The Man Repeller. I awkwardly approached out of nowhere, confessed my love, and she's just pretty great. We talked for a few minutes about ombre hair and Inslee and luckily this was the only moment I got myself together enough to have a photo snapped.

I'm not going to go on an emotional tangent here, or toot my own bloggerlicious horn, but hot damn I love this city. If you love fashion, idolize people on the internet, have a little bit of guts and a lot of motivation, there is just no better place to be. I may still be on the hunt for that elusive full-time job, but if tonight is any indication, there are many, many good things to come no matter what my state of employment!

It should also be noted that the goregous and stylish bloggers behind, eat.sleep.wear., Trop Rouge and Something Navy were in attendance, and I wish I had met them all, but will have to be satisfied with my newfound adoration of their blogs.

Basically, it was a magical New York night. Here's to the weekend and more where that came from!

snow day style...

Well, 19 inches of snow fell in Manhattan last night. It really is amazing how fast it piles up - quieting the streets and making even the busiest avenues look picturesque - but how crazy, dirty, wet and wild things look by 9 a.m. Depending on where you live, where you work, and how you're getting there, you really have no idea what kind of conditions you might be up against on a day like this. I've pretty much taken up the mentality that as far as snow day style is concerned, nothing below the knee counts.

For example, today I'm wearing black BDG jeggings, my Gap maroon boyfriend button-down shirt with a cream lace t-shirt layered over it, vintage Missoni scarf, a ballerina topknot and oversize pearl earrings, and my vintage mink coat (Ray Ban aviators to shield my peepers, obviously). However below the knee, I'm donning thick grey ski socks and knee-high black rubber wellington boots. (I'll try to blog this look asap - it's a goodie.) Just because children have the day off from school does not mean you must take the day off from looking chic!

Take a cue from these blog and editorial images I rounded up on how to get your snow-savvy style on:

(image via whowhatwear.com/blog)

(Liv Tyler @ Sundance, via whowhatwear.com/blog)

(girls in NYC, image via Garance Dore)

(MK and A's little sister, via olsensanonymous.com)

(image via Mr. Newton)

(amazing Club Monaco men's sweater, image via Where Did You Get That)

it is Le Freezing in NYC today...

It's 10 degrees.

This car in the East Village is literally iced in.

Yikes.

Jack Donaghy: funny & absolutely right...

"In Manhattan real estate, there are no rules. It's like check-in at an Italian airport."

30 Rock

{tgif video} NYC in three minutes...

NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

Love it.

Live it.

Avoid Time Square.

(video found via Refinery 29.)

oh great, snowpocolypse II...

It's happening again... Another big blizzard is headed for NYC and much of the surrounding areas. You've officially been warned. Now in the meantime, stock your pantry full of Trader Joe's pad thai and a few bottles of red wine, put on season three of Gossip Girl and pull out the fleece blankets. I am envisioning riding out this storm in the coziest ensemble I can find: an oversize mens sweater, stretchy black pants, thick wool socks and a cashmere scarf. Here's hoping for a snow day tomorrow!

what i really want this year...

After a whirlwind of (just a teensy bit more than) six months in New York City, I am very, very, ready to head home for Christmas. I think I can safely say that this year, more than anything else, I want these things:

to hug my parents for a really long time at the airport...

my dad's risotto...

major cuddling time with Sarge and Zoe...

a lunch date with my mom at Le Pichet...

beers with friends at The Duchess and Kings...

a Whisky Buck at Liberty...

major coffee catch-up time with my Seattle favsies...

a night out on the Pike/Pine corridor...

as many walks around Greenlake, Magneson and Discovery Park as I can fit in...

a nice chat with my grandparents...

cocktails, dinner, poppers, crowns and carols on Christmas Eve with my whole family...

gin fizzes and breakfast casserole on Christmas morning...

a few blissfully sunny runs down Olympic Lane on Baldy...

to look up at thousands of stars in the Sun Valley night sky...

to breath in some fresh, cold, mountain air...

a hot toddie in the lobby of the Sun Valley Lodge...

to drive a car...

to dive head-first into the boxes and racks of clothes I left behind in the move...

and finally, to feel rejuvinated and ready to return to NYC in 2011.