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.