Daily Quote Dose

"I'm tough, I'm ambitious and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay." - Madonna 

Hey, I'm Not Going To Judge You...

1. If you consider shopping cardio.

2. If you prefer books to kindle. It's the romance of the tangible thing.

3. If its ever taken you an entire song to realize you weren't listening to an english radio station.

4. If you've ever worn makeup from the night before to a family function.

5. If you thought you were a total zumba master until you looked in the mirror and realized what you thought you were doing looks a little different than what's actually happening.

6. If you're genuinely convinced that every lane on the freeway automatically slows down once you are in it.

7. If you've ever slept in a ball because there were mounds of clothes on your bed (sometimes a girl just can't be bothered to organize).

8. If you spend hours on jib jab making videos for your own viewing pleasure.

9. If you take off your waist belt before you even start the meal.

10. If you're horrible at beer pong but still believe you really could win this time around.

On My Mind

Listening To:



Craving: Warm sun

Coveting: Sara Berman Convertible Leather Jacket with Genuine Shearling Collar

On My To Do List: Track down my college diploma (woops), start Christmas shopping (yikes), endure diet of chicken and veggies after a magical weekend of in n out, s'mores for breakfast, and copious amounts of wine.


Watching: "Love In The First Person" by photographer Matt Eich. I fell in love with this video a couple of years ago and still think it's beautiful.

At twenty, photojournalist Matt Eich has maturity dropped in his lap: his world-class career takes off, just as his girlfriend becomes pregnant. Together they document their budding lives, as they grapple with some very grown-up choices. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/love-in-the-first-person

Reading: Four Male Habits That Drive Women Crazy ... I'm thinking I should right the follow up article. And Where To Find "Winter" In Southern California... I want to go skating at the W.

Inspired by: Young Kate

On My Social Agenda: Ice skating and drinks at the W (I hope); my brother's high school football game (what has my life come to?)


Wondering: Why is my family so horrible at Catchphrase?

I've also realized why Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday. Christmas- all about the presents (Happy Birthday Jesus! Let's give each other gifts!) ; New Year's- all about the alcohol; birthdays- all about me; Halloween- all about the outfits; Thanksgiving- all about the food (and I don't even like turkey).

Other Things I Did This Week

This week I had a reaction to getting my eyebrows waxed (sexy) and my brother came back from West Point, NY with dark hair:

He's now the token brunette in our family.

At Thanksgiving I ate a belt removing amount, got in trouble for drinking the most expensive bottle of wine (I chose it simply because it had the prettiest bottle...typical) and also contemplated why there was Absinthe at the bar.

I also spent a lot of time doing this sort of thing with my favorite napping partner:

People at my house watched football, ate s'mores and took naps. I was overwhelmed with the excitement of it all...

In between meals and naps I squeezed in some time to write.

I started a new column for The Budget Fashionista titled "We Like Her Style." Every week I'll be featuring stylish bloggers that I adore. Considering I spend half of my waking hours looking at blogs this is an especially exciting column for me. This week I featured one of my favorites Beth Jones of B. Jones style.

In other TBF news I also did a post on studs (of the metal variety...) and also headwear (aka hats and headbands... and turbans).

And, even though you might not care anymore I wrote a Black Friday Playbook. Ironically I was too turkey hungover and exhausted to even make it to the mall. As Oscar Wilde said, the best thing to do with good advice is to pass it on since it's never of any use to you.

Hope you're enjoying a leisurely Sunday. xo

Daily Quote Dose

"Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it." -Yves Saint Laurent

Thanksgiving Thank You Note

Since it is the time of giving thanks (and stuffing yourself with food), I decided to write a personalized thank you note to some of my favorite individuals.

To my best friends, 
Thank you for assuring me that you love every blog post (the good and the bad). Thank you also for telling me when I am being inappropriate by dancing on top of a fountain or sharing life secrets with the bartender. Finally, thank you for continuing to be my friend despite the fact that I send you blackberry pictures of my dog and outfit contemplations regularly.

Serving the bartender might have been the point it got inappropriate

To my parents, 
Thank you for always answering your phone when my car is broken or I can't find green onions at the grocery store.

To my grandma,
Thank you for giving me your amazing mohair and fur sweaters that I wear with pride. It ups the cool factor that I'm able to say "this was my grandma's."

To 103.5, 
Thank you for accepting that November is a perfectly splendid time to start playing Christmas music.

To Dan,
Thanks for introducing me to over easy eggs, handling the heavy lifting and dressing like Ronald McDonald on Halloween...It's a real pick me up whenever I need a laughable mental image.

To TLC,
Thank you for filling your line-up with reality shows (cough, Say Yes to the Dress, Sister Wives, Four Weddings...) that are disturbingly addictive.

To wine,
Thank you for always hanging out with me on the weekends, despite your other obligations. Also, thanks for making the world seem rosier.

Other things I'm thankful for: kindness from strangers, the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, Jesus (my main man), my brothers, stuffing, pumpkin pie, the fact that I graduated (somehow), people that let you cut in front of them when you're stressed during freeway merging, black eyeliner (for sticking with me throughout the past eight years of our relationship), my travel adventures, dirty martinis, USC football games (for allowing me to step back into college every so often), warm towels, peonies, pasta, flea markets, and miraculously comfortable high heels.

Shoe Porn

The Clothes Whisperer is a newfound favorite of mine for a multitude of sartorial reasons; one of them is for introducing me to this amazing video of Anna Dello Russo. It's supposed to be a video for her upcoming scent but I can't stop staring at the shoes... enjoy.

Daily Quote Dose

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Emily Bronte

Daily Quote Dose

"Its hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world." -Dolly Parton

An Ode To Taxi Drivers

I don't know what it is about taxi drivers (or fast food employees, security guards, and bartenders...) but whenever I get in a cab I feel an overwhelming need to uncover their life story. My questions are Peabody award probing and my inability to understand what they are saying is usually masked in a glazed over, excited grin. And then, I take their picture. Why? Sometimes because the situations are absurd and must be remembered. Other times, just to make them feel included (since I'm usually taking pictures of girls in the cab anyways). 

I've met some stellar cabbies in my day and wanted to pay tribute to them- the good and the few that turn a blind eye to a sippy cup of champagne, turn the music up to nightclub levels and don't run up the meter by taking the long route. Here's to you.


In Chicago, some cabbies like to join the party:

In Chicago they also lend you their pillow on long road trips (this is technically a bus driver but his outstanding personality warranted inclusion).

Taxi drivers in downtown LA have real style (hello leopard print).

They also let you do the driving from time to time...

In Hollywood they dress especially spiffy.

And in London they're on the other side- shocker!

In Tucson some cabbies like to bring their wife to work... (this is a city of romance)

 And in Washington D.C. you get... the SUV treatment.

Until we meet again Yellow Cab! xo

Daily Quote Dose

"I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them." -Mae West

Photo by Corbis Images 

Other Things I Did This Week

What I didn't get to do at the bar. 

This week I wore a turban, ruined my diet with friendsgiving (a smorgasbord of thanksgiving carbs and wine), saw 'arry potta (or listened to Harry Potter since I spent 50 percent of the time with my face covered... my general rule of thumb is when the intense music comes in, cover your eyes), and went to a karaoke bar and didn't get to sing. I am pretty despondent about not getting to sing karaoke. Everyone knows there is no point of going to a sweaty, small bar with a subpar scene unless you're allowed the privilege of singing what you think is a completely smashing rendition of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," (which, mind you, wasn't in the song catalogue. Blasphemy.).

I also ate at Blue Plate and Literati Bar and Grill. You've probably been there before because I'm a bit of late bloomer when it comes to restaurant knowledge, but if not I highly recommend both places. Naturally, I ordered breakfast and alcohol at both meals and was impressed greatly.

I also wrote some stuff.

In case you have prying relatives or grandparents with halitosis I wrote this Holiday Season Survival Guide. For all of my Weekly Dig articles I mostly have to use my own photos, which means my friends and family are given uncomfortable weekly shout outs.

I also like lace (a lot) so I hit the web in search of cheap lace finds and wrote this piece for The Budget Fashionista. I want the lace maxi skirt...

And, since it's been ski socks cold lately I found ten cozy scarves under ten dollars in this article.

Hope you've had a splendid weekend!

Print Play

I know I'm being redundant (if you also read this and this) but I just can't help it; I'm animal print obsessed. It's gotten to the point that I pretty much view animal prints as neutrals, in the sense that they look amazing mixed with just about everything. As evidenced below a good leopard print works wonders with plaid, graphic patterns, and polka dots of any color. I think my current combination favorite is leopard and plaid because of the juxtaposition of sex and prep.

Please be a dear and let me know: do you happen to have an animal print obsession as consuming as mine?

Image 1& 3 via The Sartorialist, Image 4 via All The Pretty Birds 

Daily Quote Dose

"These are the soul's changes. I don't believe in aging. I believe in forever altering one's aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism." 

 Virginia Woolf

Daily Quote Dose

"One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints."-Proverb

Image via Julia 

Daily Quote Dose

"Balls are to men what purses are to women."- Carrie Bradshaw 

...amazing and something you always need to keep your hands on?

Image via Aubrey Rd

Daily Quote Dose

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

Oscar Wilde

Photo by Sarah Hermans  

Tuesday's Top 10; Ten Ways You Know You Did College Right

1. You went to censor the more scandalous of your facebook pictures post graduation and had to hide all of your college albums.

2. At every family function someone in your family tells you they "want to come back as (college) you."

3. Your liver still resembles that of an eighty-year-old sailor.

4. You hear draft, you think beer; you hear shots, you think alcohol.

5. You have a beautiful collection of business cards and very little recollection of collecting said cards.

6. You never answer an unknown phone number (see above).

7. Your costume collection could (scantily) clothe a small army.

8. You have a favorite watering hole in a myriad of cities thanks to your football weekenders.

9. Campus security still refers to you fondly as the "streaking (or insert debauchery of choice) girl" even though you've graduated.

10. You cried after graduation... for a month.

On My Mind

Listening to: 


Craving: 

Coveting: Jeffrey Campbell Lita Platforms (might have spent hours last week trying to track them down....)

On my to do list: Find and buy Lita platforms; take Sunday's flea market purchases to the tailor; find a way to make salads more fun; wear new turban.

Watching: 

Judy & Jane Aldridge from Stylelikeu.com from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.

(Re)Reading: 

Inspired by: This couple, photographed by Vanessa Jackman

On my social agenda: An early thanksgiving rooftop potluck.


Wondering: What do bus drivers do when they have to pee during work?


Jane Eyre image via Audrey Hepburn Complex 

Daily Quote Dose

"I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty... you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are." - J.D. Salinger 

Other Things I Did This Week

I survived a "cleanse." You know, the kind of thing where you can't have any salt, sugar, carbs, or anything with taste? I (of all people) did it for a week. And I only thought about pasta and wine half of my waking hours! I'm sad to admit that I felt great and found myself becoming one of those annoying people that swears they have more energy when they're drinking tons of water and eating lean and mean. This is set to continue for awhile longer so we'll see how I feel about this in a week.

Since, we're on the topic of food... I went to dinner at Cleo (as a one night respite from above cleanse). I tried to get sassy and order a cocktail with serrano chiles. It tasted like... serrano chiles. Which meant, for a girl who orders chicken korma when eating Indian food, my lips were on fire! Turned out to be less adventure, more pain than imagined.

Face post chile cocktail 

Despite this issue I really enjoyed the tapas. I usually think brussel sprouts taste like dirty sock flavored cabbage but Cleo's were served as flat crispy pieces with generous dosing of salt and some other amazing seasonings, that made them taste nothing like brussel sprouts and consequently delicious. You should go. And ask for Allison.

I started enjoying the normal, chilly fall weather (which has since morphed into an 80 degree Sunday) so I wrote this post for The Budget Fashionista on twenty adorable sweaters under $20. They're genuinely cute.

And I know you're probably sick of reading about my animal print obsession so I professed my love in a fresh outlet with this post on animal print finds under $10. Fab Sugar also featured this article on Friday's Link Time post which made me happy.

Lastly, for my Weekly Dig column I chose the top ten dates in Agoura Hills. Read it and weep- I know you've been waiting your entire life for that article.

Hope you had a happy weekend.

Watching

Sometimes, when I get really excited about something, my heart stomps around in my head in an an uncoordinated, eager frenzy. This happened today when I 1) discovered StyleLikeU and 2)watched this video of stylist Lori Goldstein. 


I tried to keep this video in my arsenal until next Monday's "On My Mind" post but just couldn't do it. 


Lori works magic with clothes. A self described “tomboy who loves sparkly things," her signatures include mismatched patterns, chunky jewels and an irreverent attitude. I adore her. I want to dress up in a Missoni maxi and a hodge-podge of jewels and drink martinis with her.Watch the video below and go to StyleLikeU for the full story. 



Lori Goldstein from StyleLikeU.com from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.

Daily Quote Dose

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." 

-Stephen King 

Image via Audrey Hepburn Complex

Girl Crush: Georgia May Jagger

Reasons To Like Her:

1. Killer lips. 

2. Unapologetic gap tooth. 

3. Her papa is a rolling stone. 

4. She looks like a young Brigitte Bardot. 

 

 

Image 2 & 6 W Magazine, Image 3 Vogue Paris, Image 4 via Refinery 29 

Daily Quote Dose

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." -Albert Einstein

Image via Audrey Hepburn Complex

Daily Quote Dose

"Moderation is a fatal thing; nothing succeeds like excess." - Oscar Wilde

The Dreamiest Apartment That Ever Was

Okay. I am either still dreaming or I have found the most ethereal, gorgeous apartment that my little eyes have ever laid eyes on. It belongs to Camilla, the owner of Milla Boutique, and I've been wondering all day if she needs a live in-assistant or even a 24-7 on call nose picker.

If I lived here I would only be sad on Mondays and I would swim in the sea of fur and sequins and whitewashed details and rustic brick.

The photos below are from two Scandinavian publications and show two versions of Camilla's place, the first (her current decor) is warmer and rustic, while the second shows the apartment in a brighter, airy phase. I would like to marry this apartment- no prenup.

Hi Kate Moss in the art collage.

I too like to keep an eye on my furs while I bathe.

 

I would brush my teeth 20 times a day?...

Sequins and fur pillow combo? Crystal and feathers?!... I know.