On Selfishness

"Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure."

- Jane Austen

Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

I'm not sure it gets any cuter than this! Is there anything more wonderful than a guy telling you that you're beautiful just the way you are? Or, playing with a cassette tape?

New Years Kiss

Happy day after Christmas everyone!  If you're like me, you're fighting the dreaded food/alcohol hangover from the previous days festivities.  Luckily, Nintendo has invented dancing games that are keeping me very active, even if it is twenty degrees outside. 

In terms of the holidays, New Years is my favorite.  It's a fresh start and there's nothing more refreshing than a clean slate.  Also, any holiday that involvs champagne, a party dress and a kiss at Midnight is automatically awesome in my book.

On Snowing

"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, Arrives the snow."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Creativity

"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something."

-Frank Capra

All I Want For Christmas Is You

The Christmas song that needs no introduction. It's the first Friday in December and this is the perfect way to kick it off!

Town & Country

As a Washingtonian for over four years, I had never visited the venerable DC institution The Mayflower Hotel.  I’d passed by the grand entrance on Connecticut Avenue several times but last night I finally stopped in for drinks at the Town & Country Lounge with some Junior League friends. 

The wood paneled room and the deep, red velvet lounges are oh so DC.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was said to lunch at the lounge daily for over twenty years. This kind of history is what I love about this city. 

On My Mind

"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."

- Charlotte Bronte

The Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

This is a wonderful song for such a dreary day, also a good way to kick off the last month of 2010. Thanks Glee for the subtle reminder that this song is fantastic!

The Bookshelf

84, Charing Cross Road
By Helene Hanff

Why didn't anyone ever tell me that this delightful little book existed?  I had to discover it, on my own, at the Cleveland Airport for goodness sakes.  The same airport, mind you, that has no Starbucks but a Crocs store. Yes, a store for rubber shoes.

Anyway, 84, Charing Cross Road is hands down the most delightful thing I have ever read (and I read a great deal of delightful things.)  For the uninitiated, the book is a lovely collection of letters between Helene Hanff, a writer living in New York and the staff, particularly Frank Doel of an antiquarian bookstore in London called Marks & Co.

On Parties

"Hear no evil, speak no evil - and you'll never be invited to a party."

-Oscar Wilde

Supposedly

Up In The Air

Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel holidays of the year.  While you're up in the air or sitting bumper to bumper on the highway, what better way to kill time than with my patented Thanksgiving playlist.

New Uses for Old Things

I've been a subscriber to Real Simple Magazine since I moved to DC.  I love the simple but helpful tips on how to keep your house clean or how to decorate with purple.

My favorite monthly feature is the New Uses for Old Things feature.  It tells you other uses for clear nail polish (line the rim of things that rust) or old rain boots (planters), some of it is ridiculous but most of it is helpful and creative.

The November Issue had a wonderful list of uses that were Thanksgiving specific.

On Being Someone

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone."

- Coco Chanel

Why Do I Like This?

It's obnoxious and a little pretentious but so was The Royal Tenenbaums, so, hmmm?

Perhaps it's the elaborate use of Vampire Weekend?  I'm a sucker for them.

Today on GILT and In My Dreams

Luxury Vintage Accessories from A Second Chance.

Yes, please! Anytime the words iconic and elegant are used in the same sentence I start to lose my senses...

SALE begins at Noon. www.gilt.com 

On Elegance

"The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it."

-Diana Vreeland

A Cornucopia of Tabletop Design

It's no secret that I will not be preparing Thanksgiving dinner this year.  My contribution to the holiday include uncorking the wine and, if I'm lucky, pulling the wishbone.

This doesn't mean that I couldn't, in fact, someday (probably) Thanksgiving dinner will be up to me.  When that time comes, I'll be prepared.

Weekend Art Trip

Gene Davis (American, 1920–1985). Black Popcorn, 1965. Oil on canvas.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. / © The Estate of Gene Davis

 

DC’s Own: Art of the Washington Color School Movement

Saturday, November 13, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Educator Workshop

Learn about and appreciate the Washington Color School Movement and style of painting through examination and discussion of works created by renowned Washington DC artists such as Alma Thomas and Sam Gilliam. This program includes a special behind-the-scenes preview of the exhibition Washington Color and Light; develop an understanding and appreciation of the Washington Color School Movement; receive lesson plans that make interdisciplinary connections between art, social studies, history, and language arts as it relates to the Corcoran’s art collection and renowned Washington, DC based artists; participate in a visual art making exercise.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchase HERE.

Members receive a 20% discount on program admission. 

 

Cute Little Gift Guide

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and with that comes Black Friday and the entire madness that is the 29 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  If you're like me, friends are already starting to initiate gift exchanges.  Throughout the season I'll be doing a few little gift guides with adorable items anyone would love.  I'll keep all gifts under $75 and at some point I'll even do a guide for the guys. 

First up are the bundles of adorableness at Kate Spade.

Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

Catchy and mellow. Perfect for Autumn.

On Dressing for the Occasion

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."

-Mark Twain

It's Raining

When it rains, it pours and it prompts me to listen to my favorite rainy day playlist.








Backwater Blues by Dinah Washington
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Aretha Franklin
Come In with the Rain by Taylor Swift
Cry Me a River by Diana Krall
Feels Like Rain by John Hiatt
Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones
Here Comes the Flood by Peter Gabriel
In a Barrel At Sea by Hem
It Never Entered My Mind by Miles Davis
It's Raining by Irma Thomas
Over the Rainbow by Harry Nilsson
Roslyn by Bon Iver & St. Vincent
Sit & Listen to the Rain by Whiskeytown

Enjoy and stay dry!

We live in hard times, not end times.

I was there. It was an amazing afternoon and this speech was fantastic.

VOTE

Time Warp

It's just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right.

Boo to You!

The Art of Costuming

In case you haven't noticed, this weekend is Halloween!  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I've always loved playing dress up and to be honest, who doesn't love a night dedicated to debauchery?

For the past few years I've gone as my beloved Buddy the Elf.  Due to it accidentally getting thrown away and the fact that people like to tell me that Halloween is in fact NOT an elves holiday I decided to go as something new this year.

What on earth could top Elf, you ask?

On Being Told

"I want minimum information given with maximum politeness."

-Jackie Kennedy 

King of Anything by Sara Bareilles

Just a little bit of adorable for a rainy Wednesday night. Love this video, wish it were still Spring. Also, why do I get the impression she's on a Match.com date?  Just a thought.  

Rally of the Sane Variety

It's no secret that Washington, DC is know for Rally's.  Even the most casual viewer of Forrest Gump knows that people like to symbolically gather around the reflecting pool in a show of solidarity regarding their views.

Martin Luther King did it, Anti-War Protesters did it, Glenn Beck did it and now, John Stewart is doing it.

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know that 1.) The Daily Show is tapping here this week and the President is on tonight and 2.) That the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear will be taking place on the Mall this Saturday.

Cold Season

I've been battling a rather nasty cold the past few days.  Yesterday, naively, I thought it would be brief.  I felt better and fell asleep well.  This morning I woke up to a nightmare.  My throat is on fire, my head is pounding, my nose is running and I just feel, puffy.

On View

Joan Mitchell (American, 1926-1992). Salut Tom, 1979. 

Oil on canvas. 110 7/16 × 78 5/8 in. (each panel; 4 panels total)

Currently on view at the Corcoran in the newly reinstalled Modern and Contemporary Permanent Collection.  A spectacular must see.

Sleepless in Seattle

Because I was moving and uprooting my life at the time my dear friends Rachel and Sam got married, I hadn't had a chance to recap their beautiful wedding until now.

The wedding took place at the Four Seasons in Seattle and it was a beautiful affair.  The bride and groom were nothing if not perfect hosts, sharing their lovely city with their (mostly) out of town guests.

Highlights included Pike Place Market where I not only held a fish (I won't eat one but I'll hold one) in lavender high heels but I was also able to experience the FIRST STARBUCKS.  In some cultures, pilgrimages are made to certain holy locales as a sign of reverence or respect.  As a coffee devotee, the first Starbucks was my mecca.  I bought coffee beans and had a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  If it sounds heavenly, it was.

We lucked out with beautiful weather throughout the entire weekend and were even able to see Mount Ranier. 

Tighten Up by the Black Keys

Love. Greatest Video.

Fashion for Paws Pawtini Halloween Happy Hour!

When: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Where: 

J&G Patio at the W 

515 15th Street NW

Please join us for a Fashion for Paws (F4P) Halloween themed Pawtini Happy Hour Event benefiting the Washington Humane Society (WHS) at the W Washington, DC Hotel on the new J&G Patio (patio will have heaters) from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. WHS will receive 20% of the proceeds from the bar revenue from the happy hour. 

To RSVP (Required) and for more information click HERE.

Weekend Road Trip

Fallingwater.
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1935.
Mill Run, Pennsylvania.
Organic Architecture.
Four Hours from Washington, DC.
U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Hailed by Time shortly after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job", it is also listed among Smithsonian's Life List of 28 places "to visit before you die."  It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.  In 1991, members of the American Institute of Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was ranked twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. Wikipedia.

More Information Here.  Actually, a fantastic website.  One of the best I've seen. 

High Heels Drag Race

One of the best parts of Halloween in DC. 

Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Location: 17th Street, between P and S Streets NW near Dupont Circle

Race Time: Begins at 9 p.m. Participants gather as early as 6 p.m.

The Bookshelf

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

This collection of essays is absolutely essential for anyone California dreaming or wishing that Vanity Fair had more female essayists.  Once I took the Proust Questionnaire and I scored closest (97%) to Joan Didion.  I was floored, I’ve considered this woman a role model since I found out who she was, to be told that her and I think alike was the truest of compliments.

Published in 1968, this collection is taken primarily from The Saturday Evening Post,  American Scholar and The New York Times Magazine.  It chronicles much of her life in California in the 1960’s with some of the best prose written at the time, in my opinion  I’ve never been to California, but I don’t want to go until I can experience her California. She has a love from where she is from, and an entire book about it as well.  Her passion and, ironically, her ambivalence about Sacramento is stunning.  She narrates a world that, in modern times, has become iconic; California in the 1960’s means something to those of us that study history or watch Mad Men.  Reading these essays without the glare of a reminiscing eye makes them all the more interesting, and in terms of the Counter Culture, much more troubling.   

My Playlist Sounds Like Fall

F*** You by Cee Lo

Ta Douleur by Camille

Power by Kanye West

Take It Off by Ke$ha

Mi Amigo by Kings of Leon

Mine by Taylor Swift

Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

Queen Bitch by David Bowie

The Dummy Song by Louis Armstrong

The Passengerby Iggy Pop

King of Anything by Sara Barellis

Here Comes the Flood by Peter Gabriel

It’ll All Work Out by Tom Petty

Lazy Eye by Hem

Appalachia Waltz by Yo Yo Ma

I Think Ur a Contra by Vampire Weekend