vermont until sunday

au revoir. ben and i are off to vermont for the week to visit annie in burlington. 

summer blues

last weekend seemed to be tinted blue. it was the combination of the summer sky with the icy shade of nars polish that has continuously been on my nails for the past few months. it was the blue floral top that i wore for days in a row because i didn't think to bring a change of clothes, mixed with my favorite guerlain by emilio pucci terracotta gloss in porto azzurro and that slushie from the bodega that i wanted to get after the park but forgot about until now. le sigh, these summer blues were anything but sad.

for moi?

i absolutely love when people leave behind clothes in the dressing room that they don't want to purchase. when they're there, i must try them on. regardless of size. regardless of style. it's pretty interesting to just try something that i wouldn't normally choose for myself, no?

today i found on this sweet little left-behind free people dress. it looked like a poncho on the hanger. but on, voila: 

i am an angel baby. i am dressing it down to go out tonight and i might dress it up and wear it to the FiFi awards in two weeks. oh, thank you, to the girl that left this in lord & taylor. i would never have noticed it before.

and i might go back to get it in navy. lovelovelove.

perfect fit

sometimes something comes into your life, and you don't even know how truly right it is at first. and once the dust settles, you can't imagine life without it. it's a perfect fit.

much like this crystal/turquoise beaded chandelier that i ordered from urban outfitters a few months ago, of course. it is the third chandelier in my apartment, remember this one i made a few summers ago? when it first arrived, i wasn't quite sure about it. but oh gee, it really is quite lovely. it came slightly damaged. several detached beaded strands (that were impossible to fix) caused for it to hang lopsided. but instead of sending it back, i attached a large crystal (that i inherited from my great aunt) for the perfect balance and a personal touch. 

nyfw FALL 2012

the monday before fashion week started, i got an iPhone and quickly became an addict. au revoir, blackberry. so you can imagine how much fun i was having using instagram backstage. even though i have always thought the app was super cheesey, once i actually had it, i was hooked.

pretties backstage at marc by marc jacobs:

and even though the pictures' saturations and contrasts were all changed with i.g., all of the beautiful things [and people] i captured still would have been just as lovely.

and the models! they're so young, but so fab. one of my favorites is daphne groeneveld. she caught my eye ever since i saw the dreamy jill stuart spring 2012 campaign [shot by mario sorrenti] and i am obviously not alone. it seems like she is everywhere. i snapped this pic of her at derek lam:

super geeky but i instagramed this photo, tagged her in it and she LIKED it. and then she looked through my other pictures and LIKED others, too. i also saw her many times backstage...at marc by marc, jill stuart, and other shows that i just can't remember right now. i should have written this post when everything was fresh in my mind. anyway. here she is on the cover of tuesday's daily. does the collar look familiar?

also, here is frida on the daily's cover on day one:

i've mentioned my love of the daily before. lighthearted fun but informative. there was a nice piece on the gentlewoman's EIC penny martin in the weekend edition. i love the gentlewoman. i can't even get started on my pile-up of magazines right now [stress], but my gentlewoman copy is definitely on top. anyway, i was up at lincoln center everyday except for thursday, so i have almost a complete collection from fall 2012.

i also saw hanne gaby odiele. again at derek lam:

and another favorite: miss lindsey wixson. this was taken backstage at jill stuart:

 

see how fun instagram is/was? i just wish i kept things more in sync with each other - so many options for colors/borders. whatever.

backstage at elie tahari:

at jill stuart:

 and narciso rodriguez:

 

so now it is all over. and i have free time again, though everyone knows how much i love this time of year. it's not every day that you say hello to betsey johnson. or witness a rather moving pep-talk by mr. tahari himself, which was full of warm thanks for his team. or the chance to talk to super-famous models about jeweled cellphone cases. or get photographed outside of a backstage entrance like a celebrity. ha! le sigh, along with all the wonderfulness that happened last season, and the season before that.

oh and i was photographed by the cut! they took down my name, profession and such -- but sadly, i didn't make the cut. literally. but whatever. it would have been quite funny if i did as i was wearing my big sleeping bag coat. [courtesy of my mother, from talbots, which i refuse to give back.]

and here are a few more!

at marc by marc jacobs:

 

at richard chai:

makeup at charlotte ronson:

now and then

last christmas, one of my gifts was an easy bake oven-esque cupcake maker. really! and inside: it had a groupon for cupcakes 101 at butter lane in my neighborhood. it took almost a year for me to actually use it, but i went to the class tonight and it was pretty glorious. in my group of cream-cheese-frosting-makers (there were also chocolate- and vanilla-frosting-makers), was a girl and her sister. one of them documented the entire experience. the other sister helped her out by taking pictures of her using the mixer, pouring in the sugar, etc. she perfectly arranged half-eaten cupcakes and then pushed all of the frosting bowls to the center of the table to capture the most appealing photo. she frosted her cupcakes just so that she even won the class award (and gift certificate!) for making the nicest-looking treats. but in the time she took the photographs and frosted one cupcake, i had finished frosting four and was putting them away in my to-go box.

so, as you might have noticed, i haven't blogged since october 10. i was going to post a laundry list of reasons why, but i didn't. in general: i am busy. more than ever, i've been immersed in my work. but luckily for me, i have a wildly incredible job. i don't want to write about my day-to-day (besides it being a conflict of interest) because i don't want to be another bragging blogger. if i was to write about my recent weeks, i would sound as if i have the most glamorous life. which i do and i don't. before glamour's women of the year awards (with so many celebz i can't even count) a few weeks ago at carnegie hall, i had a mcChicken for dinner and then took the city bus home. i had +/- 15 dollars in my bank account at the time. the week i interviewed oscar de la renta and met snooki, was also the week i stayed in and watched back-to-back-to-back episodes of bored to death with my BF. whatever. i think a lot about how people cultivate internet identities. picking, choosing, omitting.

furthermore, i seldom bring my digital camera anywhere. and if i take pictures, i almost exclusively use a disposable cam. i like waiting for my film to develop. i like having pictures to hold in my hands and to show my friends when they come to my apartment. but this also means that the pictures are no longer instantaneously available. and that makes it a bit tricky when thinking about a blog. but the quality of a picture on film is a thousand times more beautiful and i love that each camera only allows you to capture 27 photographs. think of how many times you take a picture with a digital camera to get it just right, i prefer not to have that "luxury." one chance is all i get and all i want. my friend told me that while on vacation, her friend was going through her camera while sitting on the beach. enjoying, scrutinizing, deleting. YOU'RE ON THE BEACH.

it's also tiresome/weird to preface stories which i tell in real life that are on my blog with "i posted this on my blog and i don't know if you've seen it yet, but.." maybe it's just me being a little too self aware and self conscious, but i hate re-telling stories. it's pretty obvious when people are recounting a tale for the 3rd of 4th time. it sounds like they're rehearsing lines for a play. the perfect emphasis, word usage for maximum effect, pausing at the right moments, etc. i don't want to regurgitate the same stories to everyone and so i feel the need to warn people that what i say to them is also on my blog. an act to seem more genuine, i guess. a courtesy?

and i am not the sunshiney-cute 22 year old that i was when i started charmly. i am not nearly as positive. and i'm totally fine with that. also, "this would be a great post for my blog!" is no longer an immediate thought when something wonderful happens.

but, i am ambivalent. i absolutely love having 2+ years documented on charmly. i have not forgotten the bouquets of flowers i bought myself and afternoons spent with friends. i am so happy to have entries like this, this and this. i am thankful for all of my entries.

so maybe i will try this month to be a better blogger. to really push myself to write and post pictures and get back into the swing of things.

rosey

i like to walk the length of my street from the east village to the west. even though i've lived in the west village before, and even though it's only a mile away from my apartment now, it seems like a world away. and so it makes for the perfect walk at night with ben. but last night we switched it up and walked east down my street to avenue d with the specific goal of seeing rats. rats love alphabet city and i love (seeing) rats. very new york. anyway, we saw three. it probably would have been more but we stopped paying attention.

ben waited on my stoop and i came downstairs wearing a navy sweatshirt, even though it must have been 90 degrees outside. i'm bad at gauging the temperature (especially if i am inside with an air conditioner) and i was immediately hot when i walked outside. anyway, he brought me the most beautiful pink rose and i carried it on our walk. it was romantical. i love when ben brings me flowers. i have every single one he has ever given to me. i should probably learn how to dry flowers properly because most look like sad, shriveled-up things. regardless.

the third night that ben and i saw each other, after we met in january, it was snowing and probably 10 degrees outside. we decided to just stay in my warm apartment and sing along to records, but i told him that he had to also bring a sweet treat with him. he came over with the best cookies in the entire world (tate's) which we both have a love for, and flowers. i knew he was the man for me. flowers on an ordinary night.

back from vermont

ben and i went to visit annie in vermont for the week. we got back to manhattan at midnight.

vermont was beautiful, as it always is, and we spent every day in the water. it was incredible to have a burlington summer, if only for a week.

spring day

the emilys and i went to brunch today at spitzer's (of course) and then strolled and strolled and shopped around soho. today was the first day of spring for me (as i have missed all of the other spring days being in my office) and it felt wonderful.

the usual. crispy eggs + spinach ricotta terrine

our former front door on eldridge street

i must remind myself that i can not buy vintage clothing that looks like a costume. as pretty as it may look, i will never wear it.

good lock

on grand street

nyfw FALL 2011

i am so grateful that i was able to attend fashion week again. i had so many lovely and weird experiences backstage while i was reporting. each day was something different.

i witnessed top models have complete meltdowns. and i witnessed them being darling sweethearts. i sat in the front row once. but usually i was in the 3rd row or sometimes i was only backstage. i was in the same room as countless celebrities. i met (my idol) joan rivers and she was so nice and funny. it must have been from all the good karma i have, from (incessantly) recommending her documentary, that i got to meet her. P.S. go see her doc. really.

here are a few things that i saw.

reporter's notebook

the week's schedule

and my collection of press credentials

but, my favorite memory of all:

i (very glamorously) took the m23 crosstown bus to twenty-second street and tenth avenue to center548, where the jason wu show was being held. two girls were denied entry before me and as i walked towards the elevator after checking in, a security guard pulled me aside and mistook me for a model. i smirked and then tweeted about it and took the elevator upstairs to the backstage area. as far as backstages go, everyone was down to business at jason wu. i threw my sleeping-bag coat off into a corner (i did not see a coat check) and went over to the makeup stations where models were getting ready. a woman came up to me and told me that i needed to have my hair done, she must not have seen my reporter's notebook in my hand. "thank you, but i'm a writer." five minutes later i was interviewing her. she was the lead hair stylist. and to have this happen at one of the major shows of the week where some of my favorite models (hi, lindsey wixson! you're fab!) were walking! insane. a good fashion week memory.

so now, i miss getting my copies of the daily (the mag that is given out everyday during fashion week that reports on collections, but is also very who's who) and having rows of half-full miniature bottles of fiji water line my fridge (coolers were stocked with them everywhere you looked). and i (sort of) miss waking up at a six-thirty to be at a show at eight, catching late cabs home and being wildly exhausted in the best possible way. but, most of all, i miss the energy of just being at lincoln center through all of it.

le sigh.

having these wonderful experiences certainly makes me reminisce. two years ago, i went to the fall 2009 shows (a few weeks after i moved to manhattan!) and it was all just a massive culture shock to me. now it is my favorite time of year and luckily, it occurs twice.

marigold

a peek inside my new apartment

my dreamy junior one bedroom in the east village.
i lovelovelove living here.

chocolate brown, peach, cream and red.

an exposed brick wall with tons of floral.

obviously.