You know how in movies about "olden times", the women have really cool hairdos? You know the ones. The really twisty and complicated ones? Like Gweneviere from Camelot, or Queen Elizabeth from Elizabeth, or Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair?
Well, I have bad news. You can't wear your hair like them. No one can. Even if you had enough hair to pull it off, you'd look like you were dressed for a Renaissance fair. So, we have to move on.
Enter, Las Coronas. Designer Mary Beth McGowan makes some truly lovely, modern alternatives to the crowns and combs. They've got that same... je ne sais quoi? They're a little more "lady", a little less "Lady-in-Waiting", but still the same vibe, still the same romance, the same delicate-ness.

Back in the saddle again! I hope everyone had a super holiday. I had a great time visiting with my parents and my sisters at my parent's house in Connecticut. We had such a nice time, we always do. Lots of wonderful Christmas presents to play with, and a New Year's Eve party to plan. More on that later.
To start things off, I'm posting an update from Samantha, who usually posts on Mondays, but since this is sort of a Monday for me, I hope it won't throw you off too much.


Dave reminded me today that there’s a lot of great stuff out there and that one could go crazy looking for “perfect” this or “perfect” that. Basically that one thing is not the be all end all, there may be a few great things out there, end somes…if you will. So I’ve decided not to rush into anything. We just need to take our time and roll with it, good things will present themselves. For example Dave and I just had a lovely stroll through Nolita where we went into Calypso and later in the SoHo Anthropologie. Both had great jewelry, funky yet simple and elegant. In my last post, I mentioned my budding jewelry search and Christine suggested Helen Ficalora who’s great, we happened to pass her shop by chance today on the walk also. So I’m not going to run, I’m just going to take my sweet time. We still have a little over 5 months till the date and it’s a backyard garden wedding so it should be treated as such. Until then I’m going to enjoy my life, enjoy my painting, enjoy my fiancé and enjoy this unseasonably mild weather as we stroll around town. Who knows what gems (literal or proverbial) we might find on one of our walks!

I wanted to leave you all with a festive Christmas image before I signed off for the weekend. I found these delicious looking cupcakes over at Sprinkles. If you're in Los Angeles, Pheonix, or Dallas, please eat one of these for me. And don't forget to write and tell me which flavor you chose!
Please have a wonderful holiday, be with your families, bake some stuff, make some stuff, and be merry!

I have this obsession with collections of things. When I was a kid, nothing thrilled me more than a new box of crayons. Not because of the coloring possibilities necessarily, but because they were a collection of like items, all pristine, all at my finger tips. I would use the ass ends of my crayons, so that the tips didn't get worn down. I never wanted to spoil the tips. You could hide the ends in the box, but the tips, I tried to keep as nice as possible for as long as I could.
Hmmm. That sounded way more screwed up than I intended it. I guess we now know that my perfectionist tendencies started at an early age.
Really and truly, things have not changed much. I came across a makeup palette promising 96 shades of eye-shadow today. I almost peed myself. I don't need that much makeup. I won't wear bright green eye-shadow, or orange, or yellow (?!) But it doesn't matter. Just the untouched palette, it's varied hues, all in neat matching little cakes... (ellipses usually mean "pause" or "trail off", here they mean "shudder with glee").
I get the same joy from boxes of chocolate. This one from Marie Belle is great, because each chocolate is in the same shape, but is decorated with a different pattern. I don't even care what they taste like. I just want to OWN them.
Remember how the two tier, 4 compartment box of 64 Crayola Crayons was like the holy grail of crayons? Well, they now have a box of 120. Ya. 120. All I have to say to that is "...".

Lela Rose has such strikingly slender and simple silhouettes, it's hard to imagine how they can stand up to the be-decked and be-dazzled creations coming from other wedding gown designers. Her shapes are lean, unpretentious, and unassuming. But look a little closer. Zoom in on the details. The hand-sewn, oldy-worldy, save-it-for-your-kids details. This is quality. This is good stuff.
As the chatty bathrobe girls* from the yogurt commercials would say, "it's marrying a masseuse, good. It's marrying a cherry cheesecake covered masseuse, good."

Lela Rose, via Oh Joy, and also via W Magazine.

*Those girls are weird. Right? I think they're weird.

I was surprised and super excited to find out (from my incredibly with-it friend Bee, over at Wedding Bee ) that KenzieKate was featured in this month's issue of BRIDES! I knew that something was pending, but didn't expect anything so soon. I'm absolutely thrilled with the layouts. The Hanalei and The Paris were both featured in the "party style" section of the magazine, (and photographed beautifully I might add). I can't say how happy this makes me. I feel like one of the cool kids! Thanks BRIDES!

SUGARPLUMS!
I don't even really wear jewelry like this, but I would like to eat it. That green tourmaline ring? I imagine that would taste like a sweet honeydew margarita. The earrings, up in the corner? Orange creamsicle flavored. And, I would totally wear those drop earrings. The coral ones with the diamonds? Hell yes. I would totally wear those, like out to the ballet or the opera. Totally... Dell? Are you even listening? No. No, you're not.
Anyway, eye candy by Laura Munder.
Pipe-dreams by Yours Truly.

Happy Hanukkah! AND... only one week until Christmas! Everyone has something to look forward to. I'm just loving this time of year. I feel so cheerful.
Having inserted my two cents, we will now hear from Samantha:


Jewelry…any ideas? I know that I want to go with something funky that I can wear again. Something with gemstones perhaps and a colorful flare. My engagement ring is yellow-gold with a green tourmaline center stone and small yellow sapphires surrounding it. My dress is white and it has these little silver sequined appliqués on the upper bodice, below the straps, they remind me of 1930’s pins. I really would prefer to wear gold though, is that a faux pas? Help…any ideas? I love this kind of stuff (see pictures above). The designers are (in order) Satya, Alexis Bittar, and Boucher. I’m looking for more ideas. Maybe I could even find something vintage 30’s to go with the theme of the dress? Also, any ideas about a vintage hairpin or headpiece, you know like the small one that you can wear on one side. Any help from readers is appreciated! Thanks and enjoy those jewelry sites. The prices are pretty reasonable too.

These kind of make me want to cut my hair. I love the flapper vibe.
Alas, I have been growing my hair. When I decided to grow it out, I had a vibe in mind. An inspiration, if you will. Too bad I can no longer think of what that vibe was. Was it Tousled, Mediterranean and Timeless? I think, since the glow of summer has faded off of me like so much Herbal Essences Temporary Hair Color, "Mediterranean" is a stretch. Was it Long and Sleek with Sophisticated Blunt Bangs? If by sleek, you mean limp, then yes. That could have been it. But maybe, just maybe, it was Ponytail Everyday, Sometimes Ponytail-pulled-only-half-way-thru on Other Days. Yeah, that's the one. That's it alright. I've done it. I've achieved my vibe. Time for something new!

Normally, there's this weird thing that goes on when New Yorkers talk about LA. They get that "Honey, please." look on their face. You know the one? Like only people who would sell their soul for a bottle of Coppertone could actually live THERE.
Well not me. I'm jealous. Only in LA can you set up a gorgeous outdoor tent with voile curtains, plush "outdoor" furniture (that is not made of plastic) and yet remain completely confident that it will not rain. It will not sleet in LA. There are never, ever Nor'easters in LA. Today, in New York, if I had tried to set up a posh little tent, it would have gotten very wet, and very cold. It would have also been on my fire escape. Which would have been dangerous.

*crazy awesome tents from Raj Tents.

I'm feeling ladylike today. I'm all "almond toes" and "satin bows". Is anyone else really glad that super pointy toes are out? I never really participated in that trend, I've just sort of been waiting for it to be over. Kind of like skinny jeans. I'm waiting for those to be over to.

Stuart Weitzman, "Bowribbon" d'orsay pumps with large bow
Kate Spade, "Anastasia" frayed bow pumps
rsvp, "Odessa" peep toe pumps with medallion
Kate Spade, "lover" strappys with bow

For about $26 each, these light-up cherry blossom branches pack a heck of a punch. I know that a lot of you are struggling with vendors and spaces who won't allow you to use candles... I think these could approximate the subtle glow of candlelight quite nicely, while still contributing to the decor in daylight. Spend $100, and you could have lovely addition to a chuppah, altar, head table, church entrance... the possibilities are endless.
From Graham and Greene.

It's Monday! You know what that means? An update from our featured bride, Samantha:


I WAS looking for something that was not necessarily traditional in the dress category of my wedding. I had three friends tell me that I would be insane not to attend Vera Wang, that the dresses are %50-%70 off, wow. I do think her dresses are phenomenal but don’t have nearly the budget for her stuff retail.
Anyhow, I went! Infamously, people from all over the world wait online from 5am to claw each other to death over their dream dress. I thought to myself “this is not my style of shopping but go into it with an open mind and just see”. It turned out to be nothing like what I feared (besides the enormous line, I waited 3 hours from 7:45…ugh). Rather is was a modern "red tent." I saw so many groups of friends and mothers and daughters sharing this time together in so much joy. It was a bonding session. The dresses were stunning and I found one at a fantastic price. It very much reminds me of a dress I saw in an early Hitchcock film from 1931, “Rich and Strange”, it’s white, mermaid style, toile over satin. I love it.
What I ultimately learned was that it’s not really about finding perfect things to adorn your body or about creating the perfect party but about sharing the anticipation of this momentous life event with the people who have shared your life in the past though the present. Someday we'll be able to look back at this event and the photos of all the people we loved and love and remember where we started (oh and that we felt fabulous).

More to come for today, but for now I'll leave you with this vintage Vogue cover by George Plank. By the mischievious look in her eye, I'd say she's planning on seperating that bird from his hind feathers. Seems like she already has quite enough. Feather fetish? Kinky. If there's anything to be learned from her style, I'd say it's... don't be a bird. No just kidding. I'd say it's DO add color with accessories to your black/white gowns. Yes, do. See here.

Thru Fashion is Spinach, I found Watch Holly. I like Holly. Unbeknownst to her, she is acting as my canary. You know how miners used to send canaries down into the mines to make sure there was enough oxygen? If they died, then the miners didn't go down, if they came up alive, then the miners knew it was safe? Well, I'm using Holly for this purpose. She is pregnant. I'm seeing how it goes. If she can make it thru till the end, thru till the actual birthing without A) describing scissors and her nether regions in the same sentence and B) without buying, thinking of buying, understanding the concept behind, wearing, or considering the virtues of wearing "mom" jeans (the ones with the front ass)... I might start considering the possibility of maybe having a child one day in the distant, distant future.

I have a pretty sensitive nose. Or so I'd like to believe. I feel as though my ancestors must have developed a keen nose for bananas. I can smell bananas coming and going. I don't like to have them in the house because they smell like garbage when they start to go brown, and even when they're green, the smell makes my tongue feel... funny. Like I just licked a penny. I don't dislike the taste of bananas, but I just can't have them distributing their aroma all over my apartment.
So, that being said, I'm very much hoping there is no "eau de bananas" in the three new scents I ordered from CB (Christopher Brosius). I discovered his website yesterday through Outblush, and I'm smitten. I haven't even smelled anything yet, but I'm taken with his philosophy on perfume. The three scents that intrigued me the most were "Winter 1972" because I love the winter smell. I hope it is what I think it is. Second was "Memory of Kindness", which was described as smelling like earth and tomato vines. If it lives up to its description, it will remind me of my grandparent's house in the summer and getting wheel-barrow rides around the garden. Third was "Burning Leaves" because my apartment is freezing and I'm hoping it will help. Soon I'll be getting three very small bottles of my fondest memories and favorite smells. I can't wait.
You can, if you're feeling crazy, also order a little vile of celo-tape smell. Or crayon smell. Or carrot. Or snow. Or lava rock.
I think that when I get old, I could really love being the granny who always smells like snow.

*UPDATE* My order came in today, and it did not disapoint. Memory of Kindness- Spot on. Wheel-barrows thru the garden all the way. Burning Leaves- Heaven. I love this scent. Slightly sweeter than the burning leaves I remember, but that might be because I remember burning oak leaves, not maples. Lastly was Winter 1972- Slightly more evergreen than I'm used to in winter. I think I'm accustomed to a deader, more urban winter smell, but still, I definately get the shivers when I smell it. I'm dying to smell "snow". I think that one's going to have to go on the wish list, as my perfume budget has been drawn for the month. If you try it, let me know.

I love these! Designer Chrissy Wai Ching Leung of Wai Ching has really flattering and creative takes on the formal gown. The center one is beautifully and uniquely embroidered in red and creme, and the kick-pleats are lined in contrasting fabric for a little extra "kick". I just adore the first one. I'm picturing its possibilities as a summery/beachy wedding gown. With some really delicate gold jewelry? Uh. Absofreakinglutley.

Available over at Stars and Infinite Darkness.

The highlight of the last twenty-four hours, for me, was purchasing a sweatshirt. I bought a hoodie, standard issue, kangaroo-pocket hoody. It was $35.00. It's green. This was the highlight of my day. The low-light? That would be mopping the bathroom floor. I gathered enough hair on that mop to weave myself a new head of hair. Well, maybe just a set of bangs. Really gross tangly bangs with dust in them. Ew.
Needless to say; in the past twenty-four hours I have not been "every inch a lady".
The cure for this is a little twirl around Betsey Johnson. One must twirl around Betsey Johnson, there is no other way. I'm feeling a little better now. Hell, I feel like painting my nails, throwing together an updo (withOUT the new bangs, ew.), putting on a fantastic dress, going to a party, and drinking champagne. Say what you will about Betsey Johnson, but she sure knows how to dress a lady for a good time. Every single one of those dresses was born to party.