Hair New Era

Is this not the best-looking ensemble (and best-dressed, to boot) that you've seen in a while? It's the cast of the upcoming movie, The Romantics, and they're all clothed in allll J. Crew. Yep. Hot and well-dressed. Bitches. (jk)

Best part? It looks like Katie Holmes might have temporarily evaded the "clutches of crazy" (lookin' at you, T-Cruisey). Doesn't she look much more normal here? I almost see a slight sparkle of "Joey Potter" in her again. Case in point - she actually looks like she's having fun in this pic:

And here she looks just adorable:


This cast could not be more cute. Here are the ladies:

I've been thinking about summertime and all the good things that come with it for a while now (ignore the sky-high temps, sticky humidity and frizzy hair, and instead think about outdoor concerts, beach trips and summer farmers' markets). Summer is now officially in full swing - hot hot hot during the day - but the nights have still been relatively cool and perfect for lounging outside, making me go from thinking about the coming summer to dreaming of a proper backyard to hang out in during starry summer evenings and mellow summer weekends.

Wouldn't any of these three backyard room be the perfect place to hang out?:

Designed by Mary McGee, spotted on SHELTER.

Love the idea of a having seagrass or sisal rug outdoors and underfoot, paired with crisp whites and awesome pillows (don't they look totally lounge-worthy?).

This next one is drool-inducing too:

Photo from Living Etc. magazine, spotted on Design Mom.

This is actually the backyard of Jenna Lyons (Creative Director at J. Crew) - and it's in New York - who has that kind of outdoor space in the city?? It's basically an urban oasis. I die for the staircase and the lovely cherry blossom tree.

And finally, some built-in entertainment:

Photo from Country Living magazine, of the backyard of West Elm Creative Director Alex Bates' Fire Island home.

I don't really play chess, but I might make an exception in this gorgeous setting.

Ah, someday... a girl can dream... (maybe they'll have invented mini outdoor AC units by then too...)

May I remind you:
"Crab cakes and football! That's what Maryland does!"
(It's from Wedding Crashers, people.)

Summer is upon us and the time is ripe for both outdoor sports and delicious Maryland blue crab. But if you don't live in Maryland or don't eat crab, you can at least wear one:

I seriously love this belt from J. Crew - it's Maryland to the core, plus if you didn't have a bottle opener around, this puppy could come in handy. Too bad it's a men's belt (hopefully it wouldn't fit me...) or I'd snap it up. It's only 58 buckaroos - I wonder if I could coerce B into wearing something this preppy?

I'm totally into how this guy styled his, all off-t0-the-side and jaunty:

Photo from 13th and Wolf

Of course you can't miss the pink shirt and madras tie he paired it with. That's preppy to the nth degree, another thing Maryland does. Yikes. Sweet belt either way you cut it though...

J. Crew belt originally spotted on Beach Bungalow 8.

People of the interwebs: you've definitely heard of Madewell, right? Right?

I thought everyone had, but then my friend Sara stumbled upon it a few months ago (she never listens to me - I knew about it the day it opened - bah humbug!) and she was super excited to find J. Crew's less preppy, more bohemian little sister in our town.

For those of you who don't have a Madewell nearby (since there are only 11 in the country so far), you're in luck. Their stuff is finally available online - here. Wut!

There's a line by Alexa Chung (current hipster it girl), a denim bar and an inspirational "looks we love" section. Too bad there's not a "sale" section anywhere on the site....Boo hoo.


Oh by the way, I needed this skirt, like, yesterday:

And did I tell you they do a good scarf?

Go check out their website if you're looking for something fun to get you through this holiday weekend Friday. Go!
(And I'll be back here shortly with another post before the weekend is officially here...)

Do you go through phases with fashion where sometimes you feel really inspired and are totally into shopping and dressing well, and then other times you could literally live in the same pair of sweatpants for 14 days in a row? Well I am currently on day 12 if that gives you any indication of my current state of fashion...

I just wasn't feeling the summer trends I've been seeing (I am so over 80s, granny boots, rockabilly and gladiators!), but I think I can get on board with this:

Photo from Marie Claire France, June 2010, via The City Sage


Photo of Emily wearing J. Crew's chambray shirt from Cupcakes and Cashmere

Normally I'd say a denim shirt might veer a bit too closely to the ever-terrifying Canadian tuxedo look for me, but when paired with these short, short, super-hot skirts, I'm loving the look. Especially photo number 1. (Let's be honest, model wins over real girl any day, even if the "real girl" is super-stylin' Emily. and I hope I don't get hate mail for saying that about models...it's true though...sadly...)

I think the denim chambray shirt might be just the thing for this spring, and I could dress it up (hello, hot skirt shown above) or dress it down. And I promise I won't wear it with my sweatpants... I hope.

Now that spring is coming, bare legs will be back. I'm going to miss my fall and winter tights. :(


Photo by Ellen von Unwerth, as seen on dress design decor


Photo by Corrie Bond, as seen on delight by design

When I was a kid, I thought of tights as scratchy, confining tubes of death...maybe because they came out of a plastic L'egg. Last year I recently rediscovered tights and my world changed. Skirts all year round? No problem! No worries of cottage cheese peeking out? Hurray! Not receiving comments about my palest-legs-ever? Bonus!

Don't get me wrong - spring is my favorite and I love a good short - but I am going to mourn my season of not worrying about self-tanner, shaving or cellulite.

Goodbye, tights, it was great while it lasted. See you next fall.

(Who am I kidding? Winter will be here for another two months. I wore tights and a skirt on Saturday. I still have plenty of time. But I keep seeing catalogs with bare-legged girls in Milan. Damn you, J. Crew!)