Oh Dear God...

I have been amping up for a post on jeans, waiting until I can give it my full attention, then I just logged onto the computer and found this. Power Jeans . I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Costume Ideas

So I have been a little slow in getting my halloween costume together. My friend that I was planning to go out with pulled her back at work earlier this week so I am still waiting to hear if she can even make it out for the festivities. A few weeks ago my BFF- KWD was visiting from california and on our way to dinner one night she made me go into that store American Apparel (you might ask how are we friends, lets just say its proof opposites attract) and it was so hilarious because I went in there and was like OMG this place would be so awesome to get a halloween costume. KWD was like "umm yeah this is where I actually buy my clothes that I wear everyday" it was pretty funny, but seriously this place is a 80's costume jackpot. So since I'm not following the "trend" I though why not do it for halloween. So I could scrounge it up pretty quick but here are some other ideas on my mind.

But what I would really like to be is Betty Draper. I could easily pull off the riding outfit I would just need a blond wig, which I'm not to fond of as they always look so fake. We'll see though looks like this one is going to come down to wire...

Rain, Rain...

So its raining here in Boston today but this is actually one of those days that I like the rain. You wake up in the morning and the sky is clouded over and all you can hear is the steady rain against the windows. Then you get up and get dressed, I tend to just put on some jeans (we are going to talk about jeans soon...) one of my favorite oxford shirts (we'll be discussing these as well) and a warm cashmere sweater to top it off. Then actually comes my favorite part, the rain gear. I have this great North Face rain shell that I found on sale at Nordstrom about 4 years ago now. It was such a steal at $65. The real reason I love it though is the color. It is pretty much a true periwinkle blue which is a color I had not seen before and have not seen since. Its nice and lightweight so I wear it in the summer (since we had a particularly rainy summer this year, can you tell Im still bitter...) and I wear it in the fall and winter and if its cold just layer up underneath.

Here's my fav rain jacket

Then I know everyone is into the hunter rain boots but never one to follow the crowd I purchased the Peter Beaton boots in the hot pink a few weeks ago and I love them. Firstly they were only $36! which is pretty awesome and they are pink which I think goes pretty well with the jacket and I thought they would be really cute with skirts and dresses too.  My favorite part of the boots though is on the tag on the front of the boot underneath the peter beaton it says "Leave a trail worth following" which is basically the jist of my favorite emerson quote “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” (remember Emerson from our trip to Concord?) 

On the days where I dont think rain boots are necessary I have this great pair of Tamara Henriques waterproof loafers, which I love. My only complaint is that they dont go with a heck of a lot so I usually throw them on with jeans (ugh) and a navy sweater. I think navy always goes best with red.

When I ordered my boots I also went for the orange peter beaton umbrella to match. Which with the jacket and the boots makes quite a bright little outfit but...

My old favorite though is my burberry umbrella, sturdy and classic mine recently had a little problem with the wind though and snaped one of the arms so it is on the back burner for a while until I can get it fixed. Goes great with the red loafers though...

So sometimes rainy days arent so bad :)

Gant

Last night I was perusing online and came across the Gant website. Does anyone remember Gant? I have always loved their shirts and blazers but very, very rarely see the women's line anywhere, in fact I cannot remember the last time I saw it, and I certainly have not seen it at any of the trade shows in NYC. Anywho they have some AMAZING pieces for fall/winter. Check out the entire collection  Here (it takes a bit to load but its worth it)

Here are some highlights

Well HELLO there ;)

I die for this blazer and it looks like the underside of the collar (becuase of course it would be popped) has a contrast

I just came back to life then I died again...

This Rugby shirt needs to be added to my collection.

Oh and the blazer too please

As well I am bananas for Rachel Zoe... I want to be taylor for halloween

Mimi di N Belt Buckles

Yesterday my boss received a package from her mom of all her old belt buckles and straps from when she was growing up. These were AWESOME! We have been looking for them for the store for a while and havent been able to find anyone that was still manufacturing them. So this package was a twofold. One she got here amazing belt buckles back and two we could check them out and see if any of the original manufacturers were still producing. Only a few of them had the manufacturers stamp on the back, the first we checked out was Gay Baynor which appears to no longer be in business but you can find some of their great vintage buckles on e-Bay and some other vintage websites. Then the other company was Mimi di N  and this is where we FINALLY hit the mother load! To make this discovery even better, they are super affordable- around $60 at most! So I have a call into the company and hopefully we can get some into the store...
P.S. Allie over at Summer is a Verb maybe these could be a TEMPORARY stand in for some of your much lusted after Christopher Ross Buckles. You could probably buy the whole Mimi di N collection for the cost of a Christopher Ross. (However, we all know thats not the point and that a lady wants what a lady wants!)

Love this one... I have a thing for Ducks they remind me of my dad and grandfather

Although we are not springer spaniel people (Labs all the way) I thought this one would be adorable with a pair of chocolate brown velvet pants and a warm orange sweater.

The poodle is just hilarious and I know a few people who would die for this.

Love the parrot with white jeans in the summer. (This has CKB's name written all over it)

Just thought the literal Sea Horse was funny. I think I would pass on this one though.

Seashells once again with white jeans would be super cute.

Again white jeans and a woven rope belt.

For the Fox Hunt

I also thought the Jockey Helmets were very clever

I think the bits are just a great classic that every woman should have. Would look so smart with just about any outfit.

Our stores logo is a bow and I loved the alligator treatment on this one.

Shoe Obsession

It is a beautiful fall day here in New England. We have recovered from the recent snow flurries... and are back on track. I have resolved myself to put away my go to Jack Rogers and am now on the hunt for some new kicks for fall/ Winter. I have found tons of great options, but being a beastly size 10 and having the flattest feet my podiatrist  has ever seen does not make the process easy but here are a few of my ideas.

Daddy would LOVE if I had these!

Love the Stubbs and Wooton custom monograms, a good replacement for my monogrammed Jack Rogers. Some people like to play video games I like to design my own monogrammed loafers on the Stubbs Website (dont judge me)

The Ballet flat is not very flattering to the flat feet but I love the navy and white pattern

A little Springy but I think with my hot pink cords and a camel colored cashmere sweater these would be adorable.

Ditto on these as well

these are just to die for

and of course I'll be waiting 4 months for my custom needlepoint monogrammed loafers to come in, but I have to decide which I like first...

Hope everyone has a wonderful fall day!

Well are you?

Wearing Your Collar Down is for Poor People

As a consummate collar popper, several  summers ago the girls I was working with showed me this article and I thought it was absolutely hilarious (this is completely tongue in cheek and is not meant to be offensive to anyone. With the state of the economy we could very well all be in the poor house tomorrow... Nevertheless I would be there in full collar popping glory. Mummy always said I would be the best dressed girl in the poor house. )



Wearing Your Collar Down is for Poor People
By I.M. Adick, III


       When my ancestors came over to this great country 400 years ago, they had a vision for a utopia, free from minorities, liberals, poor people, homosexuals, and immigrants. There are few today who share such lofty ideals, but we're easy to find: Pastel polo shirts, loafers without socks, tucked-in shirts, but most importantly, collars up.
        Call me a douchebag. Call me an arrogant little cocksucking dickhead. Beat the shit out of me if I'm not with fifteen of my B-frat friends (unlikely). But just know this: I interned at Smith Barney this summer.  Where did you work? A Blockbuster? That's right you insignificant sack of dogshit; I'm going to be your boss. So take your t-shirt wearing, financial aid, blue-collar ass over to Blockbuster and get me a copy of Old School. Do you even own a tuxedo?
        Look at my girlfriend. You think she'd go for someone who didn't have his collar up? I don't think so. I remember the night I met her. I bought her so many $9 drinks she couldn't even walk. So I drove her home in my BMW 328ci, but not before I took a few "liberties" with her. The next morning I took her to brunch and went to the mall, where I bought her some blouses. You assholes don't know the first thing about being a gentleman. You probably don't even know how to sail.
        When I get out of business school, I'm going to be making $120,000 a year. Add that to my trust fund, and I can buy a country club membership, a ski house, and still have enough money to go barhopping around the city in my designer clothes and shit-eating grin. Maybe I'll offer you a hundred bucks to flip my collar up for me. I earned it you middle-class fuck up. I bet you went to public school.
       You're so predictable. I bet I can guess your political party just by looking at you. My cronies and I range from elitist northern liberals to heartless conservative bastards. I've wasted enough time with you.  Get some rich parents, an internship, and a pink polo with the collar up, and then maybe I'll let you hang out with me.
                        
This was prompted because the night before we had all been out and a rather, lets say "alternative" gentleman comes right up to me and folds the collar down on my oxford and says "ahh much better" I hear my friends gasp, knowing that this was not going to be ok with me. However, I merely reach over and pop his collar for him and say "ahh much better" we both burst out laughing and I told him if he could walk around for the rest of the night with his collar popped I would wear mine down and the loser would have to but the winner a drink. Needless to say I lost. 


I have long been criticized for my collar popping ways but hey its just who I am. In college we had to take a work out class and everyone thought it was hilarious that I showed up in a pale pink lacoste polo with OF COURSE the collar popped. I just dont feel right without it, in the summer it is a popped polo and in the winter a popped oxford, I think I could break out into hives without it. As one of my friends pointed out recently on a picture of my mother at my birthday party this past summer in her collar popped glory " Oh my God collar popping is genetic" It is and I am a carrier. 

Once you pop you can't stop!


 article taken from  Georgetown Heckler 

Head of the Charles is here!

One of the biggest weekends of the fall is here... it's time for the Head of the Charles here in Boston. It has been a little hairy here in Boston for the past few days (with the sudden onset of winter) but the sun and warmer temps have come out just for this special day! I live literally 5 minutes from Eliot bridge so we have a great vantage point to watch the race. I have to work today but as long as the weather isnt too bad tomorrow I will definitely make it out to the race. Have fun to all those attending today and good luck to Queen Bee Swain in her race, we're all cheering for you!

Grande Dame Of The Day: Eileen Gillespie Slocum

During my freshman year at Salve we took an introduction to historical preservation course for our major, and the principle project that we worked on was on the library of one of our dorms called Watts-Sherman. The home is  named after the man William Watts Sherman for whom the house was built.

Our project was to examine and apply modern techniques and research in which to prepare a restoration/ preservation plan to the university. This room was a rather small but grand space with its deep hunter green walls and gold glint paint highlighting the architectural details. As the project went on we came to debate the original paint colors and how the room had been changed and altered from its original vision. We also wondered about the furnishings (rumored to be original Louis XVI).

Well we went on and on for weeks debating and debating when one day during our research we discovered that the woman living across the street at 459 Bellevue ave, Mrs. Eileen G. Slocum was the granddaughter of the original owner William Watts Sherman and his second wife Sophia August Brown, and that Mrs. Slocum had visited her grandparents during her family's summer trips to Newport. (to have a living relative that experienced one of these spaces in their original condition was a BIG deal to us we were beyond elation.)

HOWEVER, what many of our peers did not realize was that this was THE Mrs. John Slocum one of, in not THE Grand Dame of Newport High Society and that you DO NOT simply walk across the street and knock on her front door and say "Well excuse me Mrs. S but would you mind telling us about your visits with granny?" No, no, no this matter was to be handled with the utmost decorum, to even grant the possibility of a visit with Mrs.S.

So after much work we contacted her personal secretary and after much waiting were told that Mrs. S would be willing to come speak with us. Now much of our class could not appreciate the enormity of this event but my BFF Linnie and I were beyond excitement. We dressed for the occasion and waited with baited breath as the 80 something year old Dame to slowly made her way up the driveway in her vintage mercedes (I mean what do you expect for her to hop over the bushes?) As she entered the port cochere we all waited to greet her. She was the most adorable thing in her Chanel suit with Ferragamo Varinas and Prada Purse (also completely lost on everyone expect Linnie and I)

So, she sits down and we all gather round and she speaks in a very soft voice and we gingerly ask her about 5 questions regarding the interior paints (it was more of a tiffany blue then the dark green of its current state) and the big kicker is yes all of the original furniture was Louis XVI and ohh by the way she has all of it in her sitting room across the street... and why not have us over for tea tomorrow and she would show it to us... (OMFG!!!) Linnie and I looked at each other and our jaws dropped, did she just invite us to her private home for tea? Umm yes she did! This was amazing we could barely contain our excitement. For one of the Dames in the upper echelons of Newport High Society to invite us to her home for a private tour was a VERY BIG DEAL.

The next day we went for the tour and it was absolutely amazing, she was the most gracious host. Her home was filled with the most magnificent family heirlooms from everything to busts of their relatives to original paintings by John Singer Sargent, and personal christmas cards from George and Laura (Bush that is... Mrs. S was the former Rhode Island Republican Chairwoman...I knew I liked her!) From the perspective of a student of history the experience in itself was beyond what we normally do which is either go into spaces that are in a sever state of disrepair or have already been restored but are on exhibition and do not have that "lived in feel." However we were in the Slocum home where she and her husband had raised their children and grandchildren and the home had that distinct warmth of family. You could tell how proud she was of her heritage and her family's place in history and that she loved being the doyenne and sheparding us through their story. It was such a wonderful day and in the years prior to her passing in 2008, when I would see her in town (still driving around in that old mercedes) I would always wave and she would smile back with a little sparkle in her eye. She was a true Grande Dame, a woman that had lived a life of extreme privilege but was wholly human, and they just don't make them like that anymore.

Maxminimus?

So I went to check out the latest post from my fav male blogger this morning and this is what came up- Maxminimus. I hope this is just a grave mistake, I absolutely love ADG's blog (and maybe I have a little crush on him too... I mean a man with such sartorial savvy as he is a man to love). Coming so soon after the disappearance  of Toad (which now appears to be invite only which is promising, also may I please please have an invite?) is just too much so hopefully our favorite gentlemen will be back in our lives soon.

XOXOs  to ADG & Toad

Burrr!

Well New England has decided to rear its ugly little head (a bit early in my opinion) it is officially quite chilly up here. I have been reluctantly slowly pulling out my fall clothes but I think the weather is now demanding my compliance. Upon pulling out my much needed coat options for todays outfit

(Nantuckety red J. Crew Cords, Ralph Lauren blue/ white striped oxford button down, Navy Molly B cashmere sweater with pearl button detail and Geox chocolate loafers) I found I didnt have a proper coat to top it all off. I have a bright orange with navy monogram quilted riding jacket, a simple black quilted riding jacket and bright green with turtle lining VV Nancy quilted jacket (do we see a theme here?) but obviously none of those really do with the above mentioned outfit, so I am in need of another to finish off the collection.

Initially I wanted (and still want) the navy Barbour quilted riding jacket but the one I ordered from our local retailer last JANUARY still does not seem to have arrived. In the mean time I think the L.L. Bean one in Navy could be quite a suitable substitute. I love the look of these coats (obviously) and they are easy to move around in, rather warm and most importantly very stylish.

So I guess this means I must bid adieu to my Jack Rogers for now.

When they look like this at the end of the season it means you've had a good summer!

(and that its time for a new pair next year!)

I Heart Rugby

First of all I consider Ralph Lauren to be the god of preppy apparel. This gentleman just GETS IT. I have always worshipped at the Ralph Lauren alter I believe that everything the man creates is gold and I want to wear it. With all of that being said I find his Rugby store to be in the upper echelons of modern prep apparel. Firstly, this man is a branding GENIUS being in retail myself I can tell you this man knows what he is doing and he does it pretty darn well. That's because what he has done is make is brand a lifestyle. Traditional dressing is not a trend it does not go in and out of style. If trad is your thing it becomes a complete and whole lifestyle, you commit to it and it encompasses your entire life. From sporting to schooling, to where you live, where you summer, your interests, and the people you are interested in, it all just flows together. RL gets that and he has built his entire empire upon that foundation, and I love it!

I digress but my overall point here is that the RL stores, in particular Rugby are so amazingly merchandised that the interiors are something to be admired all in themselves. Each time I go into a Rugby store it makes me want to take up residence, they are a combination of your grandfather's study and your boyfriends dorm room and each is unique. As well the great thing that they have done is not place a rugby store in every stinking mall in america. They have concentrated them on the geographical areas in which their target customer resides; georgetown, boston, NYC, the hamptons...

I'll stop my rant here but the jist is if you haven't gone, Go!

This all came about because I got a chance to pop into Rugby the other morning before work and spied some awesome fall finds that need to find their way into my closet ASAP! I loved this paid shirt (it was a shirt in the store not a tunic... I think) I loved the suede elbow patches, this one is a must have.

I have tons of their Rugby shirts and LOVE them they are a great for relaxing afterwork in the cold winter evenings or for out running errands on the weekends.

Loved this kilt skirt with the big kilt pin, my scottish grandmother would be so proud to see her wee lass in this

This vest is so adorable in person and I love that it is wool instead of nylon like all the other lines are carrying. Perfect for over all of my oxford button downs.

I am mad for blazers, I was the type of kid who always wanted to wear a uniform to school (damn public school) so in middle school I wore a navy blazer with all of my skirts and chino pants as a sort of self imposed uniform ( hey I am who I am don't judge me)

So I am again on the search for a great navy blazer that I can just throw on with my everyday stuff. This old Rugby one would have been perfect. I am not too keen on their new style with the tie silk repp stripe collar but it could work.

Also came across this one from Ivy Sport obviously they don't make one for my alma mater but maybe I could persuade them...

Busy Weekend!

I feel like this weekend was non stop! I worked on saturday (as usual) but when I got out of work on saturday night I jetted over to Ikea because I have been dying to get a little table and chairs for our apartment so that we have somewhere to sit when we eat.

I had been eyeing the INGO table for a while it is such a steal at $70 and I can just paint it white and get some fun table cloths to spice it up.

I really wanted to find some gold ballroom chairs but didn't find any yet. So, I decided to get the Ingolf chairs to match as this is also my desk chair so if we ever need an extra they will all match. I still need to paint the table and find a cute tablecloth ( I am thinking orange?)

On sunday morning I headed over to the big TJ Maxx in Somerville that has a great Home Goods section in search of the perfect tablecloth (alas I found something that would work but I don't love it) But I did stumble on these ADORABLE navy seersucker throw pillows, I would love to get these when we finally get a couch and put a big Orange Monogram on them (If you havent noticed I am having a big orange moment right now, more to follow on that)

Stumbled on this beautiful matching set of ginger jars for only $20! I would love to have them but I have absolutely nowhere to put them so I passed

These would have been the prefect orange striped sheets that I have been searching for BUT they are flannel, YUCK! but we are on the right track!

Then pooped over to the christmas tree shop and found these adorable photo boxes after much thought I went with two of the bright colored madras like print as if goes with my desk better. I thought these were so cute they reminded me of the Boatman Geller Stationary.

Thats all for now but lots of other cute finds to post on later!