Sweaters on the Cheap

Sweaters have been the topic of conversation lately now that it's cold in Seattle, but more than anything, it's the lack of thrill I have when looking at last years champs in my closet. The question this year is how to fill the void without creating another (in my wallet). I've been looking around and I'm not too discouraged by what's out there. All under $100 (some on promotion), all from mass retailers.

Ann Taylor. They've been getting SO much press this season, and rightly so. They have a collection that is much more stylish than usual an well priced. This sweater is on promotion for half price.

The sweater blazer, again from Ann Taylor. Worth a try and different from the usual cardigan. Also half price on promotion right now.

Splendid. One of my favorite brands. I love that this is like wrapping up in a pashmina, but with arm movement! One of the most annoying things about the pashminas I wore at the office all the time was the mobility and the fuss factor. Here, no muss, no fuss. It's available at Piperlime.

Banana Republic

Anne Taylor. Cashmere that is half price, got to love that. What is especially great about this one is that it's timeless. It's reminiscent of J.Crew's cashmere, but way less green.

It's official.

I've been knocked on my ass with the flu. Unclear whether it's the swine, can you ever really tell? Regardless, the fever is going down and I'm somewhat functional. Well, functional enough to post, NOT functional enough to do more of that god-foresaken cutting and pasting that comprises my homework. Thankfully, my school is super paranoid about Swine Flu, so I think all it will take is an email to the profs letting them know I've taken to my bed with illness.

In actuality it was probably the world's way of saying that I needed to take a minute to post and that my glue covered hands needed to be rested.

So here I am, two down blankets that are being thrown off and then on, off and then on. Gotta love a fever.

I'm So Sorry.

I never meant to make you look at Lindsey Lohan's boobs for so long. To subject anyone to that picture for as long as I did is criminal.

I'll never do it again.

Promise.

(but maybe if she does something stupid, then it's my obligation to report)

Who cares about Lindsay?

I don't. And I know you don't either.

But I do care about how she mucks up Emanuel Ungaro. In what has to be a perfect example of celebrity gone wrong, they've made Lohan a muse for the fashion house and (surprise, surprise) it wasn't well received.

Maybe it's because she wears things like this:

I don't even know where to start.

Please notice the thong, you might have been distracted by the Daisy Dukes and cut-off shirt. I believe it is the "accessory" in this outfit.

"Hello my name is..."

My favorite quotes from the New York Times article included treasures like these:

"One retail chief said he had asked for a ticket only because he thought the show would be a spectacle. Another said he would not buy the line, but declined to identify himself “because I don’t want my name associated with that train wreck.”

“You know, if you don’t mind, I have to run out the door,” said Glenda Bailey, the editor of Bazaar, before a question was half asked.

And my favorite...

“But when you look at her own style, for me, she is not really relevant, first regarding fashion, and second regarding a couture house like Ungaro. Maybe she would be relevant for Kookai,” she said, referring to a label that is considered, among the fashion elite, as “not us.”

And it's because this girl is at Ungaro holding court, acting like the idiot that she is:

"The day before the show, Ms. Lohan was staring at herself in a mirror in Ungaro’s grand offices on the Avenue Montaigne, a stone’s throw from the ateliers of Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and other famous French labels. She picked up a black and white scarf and tied it around her head, then replaced it with a black one, and then clumsily stuck a red sequin-covered heart to the side of her head while a team of designers watched her.“This is just so cool,” Ms. Lohan said, turning her attention to a white minidress splattered with sequins. “It needs more rhinestones, just so it pops.” Off to the seamstress it went. Pointing to another white dress, she said: “I call it Michelle Pfeiffer in ‘Scarface.’ I was just in my office sketching for next season. I was here until, like, one o’clock last night.”

Please, if we lose another house, don't let it be because of stupid, stupid moves like this.

I know, I know...

It was pointed out to me today that I have let my internet-self go. And trust me, I know.

I'm adjusting to this thing called school, and more importantly, homework. And really, it's not just homework, because I can read circles around a textbook, it's the mindless cutting and pasting and drawing that is accompanying my art classes. The project I handed in on Monday clocked in at 14 hours from start to finish. Just me, a stack of magazines, my exacto, and Bravo on in the background.

But, sitting in class, listening to teachers, has given me time to bring up a few things to myself. In no particular interest, they're gems like these:

1. Gossip Girl: Is anyone even watching? Because I know that I have made a point to tune in and then find myself wondering why I was duped again into thinking it was a good show.

2. People still smoke cigarettes out their car windows? Years of riding the bus to work deprived me of this anthropological study.

3. How did I get so much older than everyone else? I thought I was still in the "young" box, but not if you wear cashmere sweaters to school.

4. Kathy Lee and Hoda are retarded.

4a. Hoda might not have been retarded before working with Kathie-Lee, but now she's a lost cause.

4b. BUT, who saw Kathie-Lee almost lose her shit on Kathie Griffin when she compared her book to the bible? Priceless. Way to love all God's creatures, Kathie-Lee.

5. If I roll my eyes at someone's question in class, but no one sees me, is it the equivlilent of a tree falling in the woods and no one hears it... did it really happen?

6. Last time I went to school, Oprah had shows like makeovers and Julia Roberts interviews. Now it's stuff about prescription drug moms and incest. What the hell happened? Where's my warm fuzzy?

7. Popping a bag of popcorn and not eating the whole bag is a waste. Who honestly just eats a portion of the bag and then lets the rest go to waste? "I'll just have these few tiiiinnnyy kernels, mmm, filling..."

8. Sometimes I daydream about how good I would be at working for Jeff Lewis. Mostly because he loves the new girl based solely on her vibe and because he thinks she's cute (cough). This leaves me feeling jealous, thinking "Well I'm cute, and I think he'd like my vibe, and I wouldn't call him 'Jeffy,' so clearly I would be far more superior." Bat. Shit. Crazy. You don't have to tell me.

9. I left my rain coat at a party two weeks ago and it was identified by the mini bottle of Crown Royal in the pocket. Today, it started raining and I remembered I had neither my rain coat, or my Crown Royal to combat the weather.

10. I need to make some friends at school.

Back to School

I remember walking back from class after my last day of undergrad and singing "no more homework, no more books. No more teacher's dirty looks."

Boy was I tempting fate. Because here I am, about to start my fourth day of school and it feels totally weird. Today, I stopped at my sister's house on my way home from class and had two chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk at her kitchen table as an after-school snack.

I've totally reverted.

Well, maybe not totally reverted yet, because to be honest, my real after-school snack back in the day was an entire box of Kraft mac and cheese and the Oprah show.

I'll let you know when I regress entirely.

More Pools Needed

As excited as I am about Fall rolling around, I'm also really missing all of the lost opportunities for laying by the pool. Not that I've done much of it this summer (since getting back to the states that is), but just when I feel like I could really use that vitamin D and a good stupid book, it's yanked away. To mourn out loss, I've gathered a few of our friends together:








I wish it wasn't such a waste to have a pool in the Northwest due to rain and cold, but I almost feel like just having a really wonderful pool adds so much to a property that just by looking at it everyday the effects are felt.

Now where's my Zoloft?

"Shines like suntan oil on a gay man's ass"

I have to thank Scented Glossy Magazines for posting this, but I'm passing on the joy. The combination of Miley Cyrus, a handful of gays and the coast is the perfect way to start the morning.

Thank goodness I decided to pass on the double latte, I would have been pissed that I spent $3.32 when I can have this mood-lifter for free.

One Pair Down

Countless pairs to go. I fit back in to ONE pair of my matchstick jeans, just in time for fall boots. Thank god. My favorite pair, however, is still a good way from fitting like pre-Europe days.

This is the reaction I get from my boyfried (via text, because we are a 21st century couple appearantly) upon hearing of the small victory:

"Boo that you Kate Moss-ed your Kim Kardashian."

Nugget of wisdom that I'll choose to take from that: He knows who Kate Moss is... the Kim Kardashian remark is duly noted.

Flamant: Tres Chic

It was painfully impossible to post pictures of my trips to various Flamant shops in Europe and then when I got home, well, I forgot that I had been hanging on to all of these sneaky pictures. I made it a priority to go to Flamant in any city that I could, which means primarily Paris and Rome. Sadly, I wasn't impressed by the Rome store, so it didn't make the cut, even though I spent an hour walking there (but hey, it's Rome, so no love lost). The thing about Flamant is that it's so beautiful, they generally frown on pictures being taken. Unless you have the cache of an elderly French woman begging permission for you (the case for me at the Saint-Honore shop) or at Rue Furstemberg, manage to exchange your phone number for the right to "discreetly" snap some pics. My lovely friend thankfully was just their type so she kept them distracted while I raced around taking pictures from the hip -- hence the lack of composition and focus. Net net, I'm not above whoring myself out to shopboys if it means bringing home some Flamant.

8 Rue Furstemberg, 8 Rue De L'Abbaye: two entrances, two addresses means twice the Flamant -- this is the biggest Paris store and it's conventiently close to Laduree. The entry to Rue Furstemberg shop is all greenery and flowers. Walking in, you almost think the store is a florist, but alas, it opens onto wonderful furnishings. Unfortunately, this is where I sold my soul to the French, so no pictures resulted of this area.

I would love to own this coffee table. The proportions and material are ideal, I just wish the photo wasn't so darn blurry. I remember almost being seen taking this particular photo...

I would love to someday own some of their glassware. It's all so beautiful -especially their stemware. It's also gorgeous.







Such a wonderful chair for a bedroom. It was the perfect size and the lines were so romantic in person, without being overly sweet.


Recognize this chair? It was in the other store in white, here it's in a child's bedroom.


They have the most amazing bookcases. This one only gives a taste of the ones that are all over the store. Everything about them is wonderful.


The downstairs of the Rue Saint-Honore shop has a kitchen vignette and again, it's wonderful. Thick Carrera marble on cabinents done in a warm gray. The photo just barely shows that the face of this island is composed of wide planks. Loves it.


I had to get a photo of this staircase for my files. I would love to do this staircase someday.

Such a great wingback, done in a warm taupe/gray linen. Is linen ever wrong? I submit that it is not.

Those branches and hurricanes - stop it! It's just too good. I love the height that branches give and I also love how modern they can make a space look. It's an added bonus that they are the chic version of fake flowers. You get all the ease and longevity without having to be my Aunt Sandie.

Oh I wish I had a better picture of this settee. It was truly awesome. I also love the jardinieres on the table.

If only my friend and I had actually gone out with the shopboys -- I keep thinking of a night that ended with me coercing them to let me back in the shop under the pretense of 'having a little fun.' Wouldn't they have been so disappointed to learn that my idea of fun would have consisted of sitting on all the roped off chairs and playing house in all the different rooms?

Different strokes...