Recommended Reading

I'm not going to hit my mark this year of tackling 50 books, but 40+ isn't bad... I've still been drawn to short stories and am finally getting to read a few popular hits from the year, including Lena Dunham's book and The Vacationers. Did you have any favorite reads this year?

1. Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" (Lena Dunham)

'Is This Even Real?' 
Gran didn't marry until she was thirty-four, which in 1947, was the equivalent of being Liza Minnelli on her fifth gay husband. My grandfather, also named Carroll, was massively obese and came from great wealth, which he had squandered on a series of misguided investments including a chicken farm and a business that sold "all-in-one sporting cages." But Gram saw something in him, and within two weeks they were engaged. From this union came my father and his brother, Edward, aka Jack. (P. 225)

2. The Vacationers: A Novel (Emma Straub)

She was on Villette, working her way through the Brontës. She’d read all of Jane Austen that year—Austen was good, but when you told people you liked Pride and Prejudice, they expected you to be all sunshine and wedding veils, and Sylvia preferred the rainy moors. The Brontës weren’t afraid to let someone die of consumption, which Sylvia respected. (P. 60)

3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (Joan Didion)

'7000 Romaine, Los Angeles'Why do we like those stories so? Why do we tell them over and over? Why have we made a folk hero of a man [Howard Hughes] who is the antithesis of all our official heroes, a haunted millionaire out of the West, trailing a legend of desperation and power and white sneakers? But then we have always done that. Our favorite people and our favorite stories become so not by any inherent virtue, but because they illustrate something deep in the grain, something unadmitted. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Warren Gamaliel Harding, the Titanic: how the mighty are fallen. Charles Lindbergh, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe: the beautiful and the damned. And Howard Hughes. That we have made a hero of Howard Hughes tells us something only dimly remembered, tells us that the secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power's sake (Americans are uneasy with their possessions, guilty about power, all of which is difficult for Europeans to perceive because they are themselves so truly materialistic, so versed in the uses of power), but absolute personal freedom, mobility, privacy. It is the instinct which drove America to the Pacific, all through the nineteenth century, the desire to be able to find a restaurant open in case you want a sandwich, to be a free agent, live by one's own rules. (P. 71)

4. Fever Pitch (Nick Hornby)

I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it. (P. 7)

Currently No. 15

I've been thinking about this phone case for over a year, but it's so expensive... My taste much exceeds my budget lately. How is your holiday season going?

(1) Dior Crème de Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm (2) WWAKE Arc Lineage Earrings

(3) Oribe Crème for Style (4) CV Cobalt Tassel (5) Julie Kostreva Indigo Ombre Case

Everlane

Seriously crushing on these new sweaters from Everlane, even this chunky turtleneck and turtlenecks make me claustrophobic. Check out the new styles here.

via A Cup of Jo

Currently No. 14

I'm slowly replacing most of my IKEA purchases (only minimal offense to IKEA ;-)  and this woven rug might just do the trick as a new area rug in my living room. I love the classic fair isle pattern in French Blue & Ivory. Also, the coral version of Dior's Addict Lip Glow has been sold out the last few times I've looked, so I might just have to snag it over this holiday season. Anything on your radar lately?

(1) Dash & Albert Fair Isle Cotton Woven Rug (2) Aquamarine Prong Studs
(3) Dior Addict Lip Glow 'Coral' (4) Pebble Bud Vase

Black Ankle Boots

I've been searching for a classic black ankle boot to add to my burgeoning shoe collection. Here are my top three:

1. Sam Edelman Petty Booties - Simple, classic, everyone has them. They're kind of a no-brainer.

2. Charlotte Stone Kari Boots - Supposedly comfy, waxed leather, handmade in Brazil.

3. Alexander Wang Kori Booties - Signature Alexander Wang. I love the matte black plate that rests inside the sliced heel.

(Charlotte Stone via Miss Moss)

Currently No. 13

A smattering of my current wishlist. Crisp, scalloped sheets, sleek black ankle boots, and a few cult beauty products. Anything on your radar?

(1) Crane & Company Scalloped Sheet Set (2) Bobbi Brown Art Stick 'Rose Brown'

(3) Pixi Glow Tonic (4) Alexander Wang Kori Leather Ankle Boots

Recommended Articles

A few articles that have caught my eye recently, two longer articles with a little more color on ISIS and the conservation efforts in Patagonia and a shorter one by the always charming Jim Hamblin. Have you read anything interesting lately?

1. Filkins, Dexter. "ISIS vs. the Kurds." The New Yorker 2014 Sept. 29

The incursion of ISIS presents the Kurds with both opportunity and risk. In June, the ISIS army swept out of the Syrian desert and into Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. As the Islamist forces took control, Iraqi Army soldiers fled, setting off a military collapse through the region. The Kurds, taking advantage of the chaos, seized huge tracts of territory that had been claimed by both Kurdistan and the government in Baghdad. With the newly acquired land, the political climate for independence seemed promising. The region was also finding new economic strength; vast reserves of oil have been discovered there in the past decade. In July, President Barzani asked the Kurdish parliament to begin preparations for a vote on self-rule. “The time has come to decide our fate, and we should not wait for other people to decide it for us,” Barzani said.

2. Hamblin, James. "Always Make Promises." The Atlantic 2014 Aug. 27

Imagine you're a kid with a cookie and a friend who has no cookie. What happens if you eat it all? Your friend will be upset. What happens if you give all of it away? Your friend will like you a lot. What if you give away half the cookie? Your friend will be just about as happy with you as if you gave him the whole thing. His satisfaction is a pretty flat line if you give anything more than half of the cookie. People judge actions that are on the selfish side of fairness. Maybe because we denigrate do-gooders, or because we're skeptical of too much selflessness, the research shows that, as Epley put it, "It just doesn't get any better than giving half of the cookie."

3. Saverin, Diana. "The Entrepreneur Who Wants to Save Paradise." The Atlantic 2014 Sept. 15

In 2004, Conservación Patagonica acquired the Chacabuco Valley and has since been turning it into what the Tompkinses call the Future Patagonia National Park. It is this 178,000-acre plot of land that everyone in the region is now talking about. Once they bought it, the Tompkinses began their efforts to restore the land to the state it was in before humans exploited it. They sold almost all the 30,000 sheep and 3,800 cows that came with the property. They built several large stone buildings with wide, divided-light windows and pitched copper roofs. Their employees and volunteers removed more than 400 miles of fencing and pulled plant after plant of invasive species out of the ground. 

Meanwhile, gauchos and locals in town puzzled at the couple’s desire to build stone mansions and bring back wild species. Tompkins’s tendency to drop out of the sky in his small red and white plane and his insistence that all guests and employees take their shoes off inside his buildings only added to the mystery. Few in neighboring towns were quick to trust their eccentric new neighbor—the organic farmer, the WASPy backpacker, the amateur architect, the billionaire entrepreneur, the high-school dropout, the former ski racer, the grizzled mountaineer, the bold whitewater kayaker, the daring bush pilot, the audacious land-grabber, the radical environmentalist, the would-be savior of the Patagonian wilds—Douglas Tompkins.

Vanity Project No. 2

I thought I would update what's on my vanity (here are my picks from March) after 6 months or so of Sephora and Amazon orders. Here are a few of the products I've been reaching for lately...

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black Rollerball is an addictive blend of sandalwood and vanilla that strikes the perfect balance between masculine and feminine. I love the rollerball for quick application.

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate® Intensive Exfoliating Treatment is my go to exfoliate, a little goes a long way and this stuff is magic.

Avene Thermal Spring Water Spray is addicting, I use it as a toner and to set my makeup, so fun and luxurious. Count me in on the thermal water spray trend.

Philosophy Time In A Bottle features a high-potency vitamin c8 activator that protects skin from aging environmental aggressors and further damage. It has a really great finish unlike some serums which can get a little tacky.

Yves Saint Laurent Top Secrets All-In-One BB Cream Skintone Corrector has a lovely finish and the color blends really well.

Benefit Cosmetics They're Real! Mascara is great at catching all of your lashes and has a natural-looking finish.

NARS Illuminator 'Laguna' works with even the fairest of skin as a bronzer and for subtle contouring.

NARS Lip Lacquer 'Chelsea Girls' is a perfect neutral color and the thicker lacquer has some staying power. It's also sort of discontinued, so if you can find it, grab it!

Yves Saint Laurent 'Touche Éclat' Radiant Touch is a great highlighter. I love this video that shows you how to use Touche Éclat correctly, it really brightens and adds polish to any look.

Tarte Cheek Stain 'Flush' has a lovely berry tone, it's a little intimidating in the packaging but goes on sheer and blends well.

Stila Eye Shadow 'Kitten' is a favorite of makeup artists, a great nude pink with just enough shimmer -- my go-to eye shadow.

Laura Mercier Rouge Nouveau Weightless Lip Colour 'Sin' is a deep plum color that builds well. I love a darker lip all year, but I'm especially partial in F/W.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pen 'Universal Light' has better staying power than a pencil and the color is really natural-looking.

Do you have any perennial favorites?

Currently No. 12

I'm discovering that my tastes don't exactly fit my budget that easily, but slowly building my closet up with quality pieces this year has been strangely satisfying. It's nice to have quality over quantity and pieces that will last years, rather than one season. Although it's still nice to pick up something at the Gap or Zara once in a while;)

(1) Elizabeth Suzann Billie Sweater Dress (2) Gap Leather Buckle Clutch

(3) Larsson & Jennings CM Gold-plated Watch (4) YSL Top Secrets All-In-One BB Cream

Recommended Reading

I love reading people's insights on life and love, from Montaigne's unique views during the French Renaissance, and the ongoing interpretation of his essays, to Daniel Jone's observations from reading 'Modern Love' submissions. The depth of the human experience is incredible.

Anything on your reading list as the weather changes? I've been waiting for cozier weather to tackle Middlemarch; I hear it's all the rage right now ;-)

Here is a short excerpt from each:

1. How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer
(Sarah Bakewell)

If they liked the Essays' style, English readers were even more charmed by its content. Montaigne's preference for details over abstractions appealed to them; so did his distrust of scholars, his preference for moderation and comfort, and his desire for privacy -- the "room behind the shop." On the other hand, the English also had a taste for travel and exoticism, as did Montaigne. He could show unexpected bursts of radicalism in the very midst of quiet conservatism: so could they. Much of the time he was happier watching his cat play by the fireside -- and so were the English.
Then there was his philosophy, if you could call it that. The English were not born philosophers; they did not like to speculate about being, truth, and the cosmos. When they picked up a book they wanted anecdotes, odd characters, witty sallies, and a touch of fantasy. As Virginia Woolf said à propos Sir Thomas Browne, one of many English authors who wrote in a Montaignean vein, "The English mind is naturally prone to take its ease and pleasure in the loosest whimsies and humors." (P. 275)

2. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories (Raymond Carver)

I Could See the Smallest Thing
I was in bed when I heard the gate. I listened carefully. I didn't hear anything else. But I heard that. I tried to wake Cliff. He was passed out. So I got up and went to the window. A big moon was laid over the mountains that went around the city. It was a white moon and covered with scars. Any damn fool could imagine a face there.

3. First Love and Other Stories (Ivan Turgenev)

There is a sweetness in being the sole source, the autocratic and irresponsible cause of the greatest joy and profoundest pain to another, and I was like wax in Zinaïda's hands; though, indeed, I was not the only one in love with her. All the men who visited the house were crazy over her, and she kept them all in leading-strings at her feet. It amused her to arouse their hopes and then their fears, to turn them round her finger (she used to call it knocking their heads together), while they never dreamed of offering resistance and eagerly submitted to her. About her whole being, so full of life and beauty, there was a peculiarly bewitching mixture of slyness and carelessness, of artificiality and simplicity, of composure and frolicsomeness; about everything she did or said, about every action of hers, there clung a delicate, fine charm, in which an individual power was manifest at work. And her face was ever changing, working too; it expressed, almost at the same time, irony, dreaminess, and passion. Various emotions, delicate and quick-changing as the shadows of clouds on a sunny day of wind, chased one another continually over her lips and eyes.

4. Love Illuminated: Exploring Life's Most Mystifying Subject (with the Help of 50,000 Strangers) (Daniel Jones)

Being the First to Say "I Love You"
Everyone knows that just because you realize you're falling in love with someone doesn't mean you're supposed to blurt that out until you've gotten a good sense that your declaration of love will be reciprocated. If you think of your relationship as being like a seesaw, with you on one end and your love interest on the other, then you want to try to keep that seesaw roughly in balance and avoid any sudden shifts that can result in a sharp fall and a broken ass.
For example, if you say "I love you," and the other person says "I love you too," the seesaw remains balanced. But if you say "I love you," and he or she pauses and then says, "Um, I really like you a lot, but--" it's as if your seesaw partner has stood up and let you go crashing down.
The big decision, though, is figuring out who is going to be the first to say "I love you." Well, it turns out there's some consistency in this matter, at least in heterosexual relationships. Researches at Penn State University have found that men are actually three times more likely than women to be the first in the relationship to say "I love you." Surprised? I was, and so were the 87 percent of people in the study who expected women would be the first to profess love. The logic seems clear, though, when you understand the timing and reasons why men are often the first to cross that threshold.
According to the study, men typically say "I love you" before they have had sex with the woman, and the reason they decide to say it, consciously or not, is because they want to have sex, and they think the woman is more likely to agree to have sex if she is told she's loved.
Although this makes sense, I doubt it's so coldy calculated in every case, because from what I've seen (and done), a man's brain can confuse intense physical desire with actual love, and in the heat of the moment, he may or may not be able to process his feelings and thoughts appropriately. In these cases, his brain may seize up, and before he even knows what's happening, his mouth just spits out the words "I love you." He sort of means it but also sort of can't help himself.
In any case, if it works, and the man gets to have sex, he's happy, even if he hasn't quite thought through the long-term repercussions of how the woman may interpret his declaration and what she will hold him to going forward and how often she will remind him of it.

Currently No. 11

It's already the end of summer and I'm ready to stock up on some finds for fall, including a camel colored trench and cult favorite Davines Volu Conditioner. Dewy skin was all over the runways during NY Fashion Week and this Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist looks lovely for recreating the look.

Do you have anything on your wishlist for the changing season?

(1) ASOS Classic Trench (2) Davines Volu Conditioner

(3) Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm (4) Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist

Olivia Terrell Jewelry

Obsessed with this rose gold armlet from designer Olivia Terrell. Born and raised in Nashville, she currently lives in Madrid, Spain. Miss Moss featured her new Deco lookbook and it is divine...

(Ruthie Armlet - Olivia Terrell)

Gallery Wall Additions

I've been looking for another addition to the ever-expanding gallery surrounding my TV. Here are a few pieces that have caught my eye recently...

Kate Miss | Big Sur

Michael Cina | SPC-71

 Julia Kostreva | Night Flowers

Laura Dro | Watercolor Floral Illustration

Currently No. 10

The summer is already waning. The last concert of the Twilight Concert Series is tonight and I've been listening non-stop to San Fermin. I also bought a last-minute ticket to the Sylvan Esso concert tomorrow night. Do you have any end of summer plans?

Here are a few things that have caught my eye lately...

(1) Giorgio Armani Eye Liner 'Quarzo' (2) Caudalie Beauty Elixir

(3) Smith Optics Marvine Sunglasses (4) Aesop Resurrection Rinse-Free Hand Wash

(5) Cuyana Silk Sleeveless Blouse

Recommended Articles

I'm really excited that the US Open started yesterday, since I pretty much only watch tennis and HBO and almost every HBO show is on hiatus, including John Oliver and Bill Maher. I've also been mulling over a few options for a long weekend trip this fall, these 5-day workweeks can be brutal. Has anything caught your interest lately?

1. Mah, Ann. "Searching for ‘Anne of Green Gables’ on Prince Edward Island." The New York Times 12 Aug. 2014

I turned off one highway, down a clay road edged by towering spruce trees, stopping at the edge of a field “starred with hundreds of dandelions,” as the author wrote in her journals. For as far as my eye could see, there was only farmland, interlocking patches of red plowed fields and green meadows dotted with solitary farmhouses, a view that could have been lifted straight from the books. Indeed, as I explored the area west of Cavendish — small communities like French River, Park Corner and North Granville — I realized I needed only a bit of imagination to picture Anne beside me. Any of these dirt roads could be “Lovers’ Lane,” the secluded cow path where Anne liked to “think out loud”; any of the farmhouses her Green Gables; any of the sun-splashed ponds her “Lake of Shining Waters.”

2. Ross, Terrance. "How John Oliver Beats Apathy." The Atlantic 14 Aug. 2014

Yet for all of his strong opinionating, the show’s nowhere near as polarizing as you might expect. Though he does lean left socially, Oliver, who’s English, still approaches his topics from the viewpoint of an outsider sneakily peering over the hill (in this case across the pond) with his binoculars. It’s refreshing in this partisan age to hear from a commentator with a point of view, but not a political agenda.
For example, Oliver’s rant about wealth inequality was equal parts praising and criticizing. His ultimate point revolved around American optimism, “one of the things that I love the most about this country.” That's in contrast to his home nation, where, he says, “We’re raised in a rigid class system where we have all hope beaten out of us." Yet he turns the idea around, showing the dark side of the American dream: “Your optimism is overwhelming positive except when it leads you to act against your own best interest.”

3. Gay, Jason "The Revival of Roger Federer." The Wall Street Journal 24 Aug. 2014

Remember those dark clouds of last summer? The Inevitable Decline of Roger Federer was an open, awkward discussion. Now a familiar confidence has returned to the game's most recognizable player. There's a new coach, Stefan Edberg; a new, larger racket; and most important, improved health. Federer has been wearing a Nike T-shirt that says BETTERER, which seems to wink at his resurgence, and among his international legion of fans—the rapt Federer-verse—there's a happy rush on optimism. Suddenly, a sixth U.S. Open title for Federer doesn't sound so crazy.

4. Sopher, Philip "Where the Five-Day Workweek Came From." The Atlantic 21 Aug. 2014

Nearly a century later, mills have been overtaken by more advanced technologies, yet the five-day workweek remains the fundamental organizing concept behind when work is done. Its obsolescence has been foretold for quite a while now: A 1965 Senate subcommittee predicted Americans would work 14-hour weeks by the year 2000, and before that, back in 1928, John Maynard Keynes wrote that technological advancement would bring the workweek down to 15 hours within 100 years. 

Recommended Reading

It's funny how what you read influences what you read next, I just requested four books from my library referenced in books or magazines I've read. I love how reading goes in phases and some months are enthralling while other months it is hard to find a book to sink your teeth into. Hope your late summer reading is going well!

Here is an excerpt from each:

1. What's Not to Love?: The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer (Jonathon Ames)

"This Other Side of Paradise"
We met at a dance the second night of Freshman Week. She was beautiful, but also very sad, and I wanted to take care of her right away. She was longing desperately for the ocean, had never been apart from it her whole life, so we skipped orientation the next day and I bought us bus tickets for Atlantic City. It was the only beach in New Jersey that you could get to from Princeton using public transportation. So we sat on that bus early in the morning and she leaned her head against me like that, like I was someone who could be counted on. We hadn't kissed the night before because she had mentioned a boyfriend back in California. So I had a noble thought that I would just have to be a friend to this beautiful girl, and as she slept, it felt like the most important thing in the world not to move, not to disturb her. And I remember it was a beautiful discomfort because I was a martyr and already in love. (P. 60)

2. This Cake Is for the Party (Sarah Selecky)

"Throwing Cotton"
Flip is stretched out on the chair, even though the chair itself doesn't recline. His body is slouched down so his seat reaches the edge of the cushion and his head is pressed into the back of the chair. His long legs are crossed at the ankles. It doesn't look comfortable. He takes up most of the living room. (P. 4)

3. Shopgirl: A Novella (Steve Martin)

For Mirabelle, there are four levels of being held. The first, and highest, is the complete surround: he will wrap his arms around her and they will spoon as he whispers how beautiful she is and how he had been transported to another plane. The odds of this particular scenario unfolding from the youthful Jeremy are slim, in face, so slim that they could slip out the door without opening it. There are, however, other levels of holding that for tonight would suit Mirabelle just fine. He could lie on his back and she would rest her head on his chest, while one of his arms holds her tight. Third best would involve Mirabelle lying on her back with Jeremy alongside her, resting one hand on her stomach while the other one plays with her hair. This position requires the utterances of sweet nothings for her to be fully satisfied. She is aware he has barely spoken a sentence that didn't end in "you know" and then trail off in a mumble since they have been together, which makes the appearance of these sweet nothings unlikely. But this could be a plus, as she can interpret his mumbles any way she wants--they could be impeccably metered love sonnets for all she knows. In fourth position, they are lying on their backs, with one of Jeremy's legs resting languidly over one of hers. This is the minimally acceptable outcome, and involves a commitment of extra time on his part to compensate for his lack of effort. (P. 14)

4. Reading Like a Writer (Francine Prose)

With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact it's essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly under-appreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes, the way a painter uses paint. I realize it my seem obvious, but it's surprising how easily we lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted. (P. 15)

Currently No. 9

I love the start of a new month with a fresh budget to divvy up. I've been scouting linen sheets and might just have to add these pillowcases to my collection. I also went down the rabbit hole of beauty treatments and splurged on Caudalie Divine Oil and Davines All-In-One Milk. Lastly, Heath ceramic coffee mugs are perfection and I'm intrigued by the butler's friend wine opener. How long is your current wishlist?

(1) Kerry Cassill Luxury Indian Printed Pillowcases (2) Caudalie Divine Oil
(3) Davines OI / All-In-One Milk (4) Heath Ceramics Large Modern Cup
(5) L'Atelier du Vin Twin Blade Corkscrew

Recommended Articles

A few articles that have caught my eye recently, especially the article about how our perceptions are influenced when we taste wine. It's amazing how quickly we develop bias: from the label, color of the wine, and particularly the price...

1. Brown, Sarah. "It Happened to Me: I Don't Have a Best Friend." xoJane 11 Dec. 2012

But unlike romantic relationships, friendships are often ranked according to age – your oldest friend is usually your best friend. But since all my old best friends have moved on and replaced me with newer, shinier models, where does that leave me? Our society may view romantic relationships as the only kind of relationship worth actively pursuing, but there’s no good reason why we shouldn’t have to work at friendship like we work at dating.

2.Konnikova, Maria. "What We Really Taste When We Drink Wine." The New Yorker 11 July. 2014

In one of the most prominent studies of how expectations can influence taste, Gil Morrot, a wine researcher at the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Montpellier, and his colleagues found that the simple act of adding an odorless red dye to a glass of white wine could fool a panel of tasters (fifty-four students in the University of Bordeaux’s Oenology program) into describing the wine as exhibiting the qualities associated with red wine. The tasters thought they were tasting three wines, but they were actually tasting only two. There was a white Bordeaux, a red blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and the same white Bordeaux colored with a red dye. When Morrot looked at the tasters’ responses, he found that they used similar descriptions in their notes on the red and colored-red wines (chicory, coal, cherry, prune, cedar, and the like), and markedly different ones when describing the white (floral, honey, peach, grapefruit, pear, banana, apple).

3. Rich, Simon. "Guy Walks into a Bar." The New Yorker 18 Nov. 2013

So a guy walks into a bar one day and he can’t believe his eyes. There, in the corner, there’s this one-foot-tall man, in a little tuxedo, playing a tiny grand piano.
So the guy asks the bartender, “Where’d he come from?”
And the bartender’s, like, “There’s a genie in the men’s room who grants wishes.”
So the guy runs into the men’s room and, sure enough, there’s this genie. And the genie’s, like, “Your wish is my command.” So the guy’s, like, “O.K., I wish for world peace.” And there’s this big cloud of smoke—and then the room fills up with geese.
So the guy walks out of the men’s room and he’s, like, “Hey, bartender, I think your genie might be hard of hearing.”
And the bartender’s, like, “No kidding. You think I wished for a twelve-inch pianist?”

Currently No. 8

Loving light linen, spicy fragrances, hydrating spring water mist, and a sweet tote bag that holds two bottles of wine. Summer, anyone?

(1) Hackwith Design House Chandler Top (2) MCMC Fragrances 'Noble' Perfume Oil

(3) Avene Thermal Spring Water Hydrating Mist (4) Hero Bags Two Bottle Bag

Recommended Reading

After seeing Matt Taibbi's appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, I immediately requested his book at the library. It's a fascinating look at some of the inequalities in our country and the growing divide in how we systematically reward or punish behavior based on position in society. I've also been delving deeper into short stories and as soon as I polished these three collections off, I had four more collections sitting on my nightstand and two more on my Kindle...

Here is an excerpt from each:

1.  The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap (Matt Taibbi)

The laws governing the rights of immigrants are overtly diluted, in a manner that would strike the average American as simply strange, if not outrageous. A natural-born citizen enjoys Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Police can't come busting into your home without a warrant, can't wiretap your phone for no reason. Any evidence seized in an improper search is invalid. This basic principle, that evidence improperly obtained gets excluded, is called the exclusionary rule.
But according to a recent federal court decision called INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, in cases involving immigrants, a Fourth Amendment violation must be "egregious" for evidence to be thrown out. Moreover, thanks to a more recent case called Gutierrez-Berdin v. Eric Holder, even "very minor physical abuse coupled with aggressive questioning" does not rise to the level of an egregious Fourth Amendment violation.
The government's rational here is beautiful in its simplicity. American criminals have constitutional rights not because they are natural-born Americans but precisely because they are criminals. Deportations, however, are not part of the criminal justice system. "Removal proceedings," wrote the circuit judge in the Gutierrez-Berdin case, "are civil, not criminal, and the exclusionary rule does not generally apply to them."
So the undocumented alien who kills a room full of Rotarians with an ax has a right to counsel, a phone call, and protection against improper searches. The alien caught crossing the street on his way to work has no rights at all.
Strangest of all, immigration proceedings are run by immigration judges, who are not "Article III" judges - not members of the judicial branch, as described in the U.S. Constitution. Immigration judges are actually employees of the Department of Homeland Security. In other words, they work for the same branch of government that prosecutes the cases." (P. 203)

2. One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories (B.J. Novak)

The Girl Who Gave Great Advice
"Well," she would say, and then narrow her eyes at the person she was talking to: "what does your heart tell you?" (Sometimes she would use "gut" instead of "heart." She switched those up sometimes.)
"Yes. Yes!" the friend would say, as the girl who gave great advice held her squint and then added a slow, small nod one and a half seconds later. "You're right! Thank you! You give the best advice. I feel so much better. Thank you!"
That's how it happened most of the time. But sometimes, her task was more complicated. These were the times the person would say "my heart tells me..." (or "my gut tells me") but would then say something in a tone of voice that made it sound like the person wasn't necessarily all that happy to be saying what he or she was saying.
The girl who gave great advice knew how to handle these situations, too. She would lower her head thirty degrees and then tilt it back up after two and a half seconds, and ask at a slightly slower pace in a slightly lower voice: "And what does your..." and then she would say either "gut" or "heart," just whichever one she hadn't said before. (This was the part she had to be most careful about. Once, she had said the same word as she had the first time—"heart," twice—and the whole thing fell apart.)
If her first piece of advice hasn't worked, this second piece of advice always made everything all right. "Yes! Yes! Now I know what to do! You give the best advice!" everyone told her. "The best! Ever!" (P. 41)

3. Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)

The Great Leap Forward
Across town, over in the East Village, the graffiti was calling for the rich to be eaten, imprisoned, or taxed out of existence. Though it sometimes seemed like a nice idea, I hoped the revolution would not take place during my lifetime. I didn't want the rich to go away until I could at least briefly join their ranks. Money was tempting. I just didn't know how to get it. (P. 100)

4. Birds of America: Stories (Lorrie Moore)

Dance in America
I tell them dance begins when a moment of hurt combines with a moment of boredom. I tell them it's the body's reaching, bringing air to itself. I tell them that it's the heart's triumph, the victory of speech of the feet, the refinement of animal lunge and flight, the purest metaphor of tribe and self. It's life flipping death the bird.
I make this stuff up. But then I fee the strange voltage of my rented charisma, hear the jerry-rigged authority in my voice, and I, too believe. I'm convinced. (P. 47)

Elizabeth Suzann SS2014

Although everyone and their mother has posted and/or pinned this spring-summer collection from Elizabeth Suzann. I still felt the urge to highlight the simplicity of this chic collection. I'm obsessed with all the reversible-wear pieces and the minimalist palette...

(1) Maxine Crop (2) Winnow Tunic

(3) June Dress (4) Marlena Lined Dress

Recommended Articles

Traveling and creativity are endlessly fascinating topics; particularly traveling alone (which I have come to have a love/hate relationship with) and the dynamics of creativity on an interpersonal level.

Here are snippets from a few articles that have caught my eye recently:

1. O'Hagan, Andrew. "Yes, Please | Party of One." The New York Times 09 May. 2013

The first rule of travel is that you should always go with someone you love, which is why I travel alone. The writer’s life is more openly narcissistic than most, yet it takes a true connoisseur of self-involvement, a grand master in the art of selfishness, to experience the world’s delights as they are meant to be enjoyed: through one pair of eyes, via one set of ears, with the perfect use of your own nostrils, tongue and touch. I believe that traveling alone is the last great test of who you are in a world where everyone aches to be the same.
I mean, you meet people. But you also meet yourself. That is the beauty of going it alone.

2. Shenk, Joshua Wolf. "The Power of Two." The Atlantic 25 Jun. 2014

For centuries, the myth of the lone genius has towered over us, its shadow obscuring the way creative work really gets done. The attempts to pick apart the Lennon-McCartney partnership reveal just how misleading that myth can be, because John and Paul were so obviously more creative as a pair than as individuals, even if at times they appeared to work in opposition to each other. The lone-genius myth prevents us from grappling with a series of paradoxes about creative pairs: that distance doesn’t impede intimacy, and is often a crucial ingredient of it; that competition and collaboration are often entwined.

3. Andreasen, Nancy. "Secrets of the Creative Brain." The Atlantic 25 Jun. 2014

I’ve been struck by how many of these people refer to their most creative ideas as “obvious.” Since these ideas are almost always the opposite of obvious to other people, creative luminaries can face doubt and resistance when advocating for them. As one artist told me, “The funny thing about [one’s own] talent is that you are blind to it. You just can’t see what it is when you have it … When you have talent and see things in a particular way, you are amazed that other people can’t see it.” Persisting in the face of doubt or rejection, for artists or for scientists, can be a lonely path—one that may also partially explain why some of these people experience mental illness.

Currently No. 7

It's been a moody start to the summer... with Mars in retrograde and all. So, while I'm still digging the oxblood trend, a little turquoise and brass to lighten the mood never hurt anyone.

I'm off to Las Vegas today for the National Charter School Conference, so I'm hoping to catch up on some serious reading and podcast listening during downtime. You can follow the highlights on my Instagram.

(1) Free People Strappy Back Bra in 'Wine' (2) Mollie Hook in 'Peacock Blue and Brass'

(3) Retro Bullet Planter in 'Turquoise' (4) Laura Mercier Rouge Nouveau in 'Sin'

Recommended Articles

I've been making an effort to read a lot more this year: a goal of 50 books, a subscription to The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and generally checking Google News for interesting articles. Sometimes all you need for a change of perspective or a quick refresher is a good article. 

Here are snippets from a few that have caught my eye recently and one of my favorite travel articles from a few years ago:

1. Perrottet, Tony. "O’Keeffe’s Hawaii." The New York Times 30 Nov. 2012

Then there were the coastal hikes. “Georgia did like to walk!” Patricia had told me. And she memorialized what she found in her work. O’Keeffe painted two lava bridges — natural arches formed over the crashing waves of the ocean below. Finding the first was not hard: it’s visible from the parking lot on the cliffs of Waianapanapa Beach. But to find the second, I set off on the Coastal Trail south of Hana township, where I was whipped by sea spray as I traversed several farms where cows stared at me and dogs yapped at my heels. After about 45 minutes, I spotted the lava bridge. A Hawaiian family was camping next to it, with teenage boys casting fishing lines from precarious rocks nearby.

2. Nussbaum, Emily. "Snowbound." The New Yorker 23 Jun. 2014

Maybe I’m burned out on bloodbaths. But “Fargo,” FX’s adaptation of the great film by the Coen brothers, created and written by Noah Hawley, left me feeling a thousand miles away, despite its strong cast and shrewd beauty. It also raised a question that’s become a cable-drama default: How good does a violent drama need to be to make the pain of watching worth it? “Breaking Bad,” thumbs up; the brilliantly nightmarish “Hannibal,” too. Other shows—“The Walking Dead,” say—have seemed like a bad bet. As the critic James Poniewozik tweeted recently, “TV’s not a chili-pepper-eating contest.”

3.  Esfahani Smith, Emily. "Masters of Love." The Atlantic 12 Jun. 2014

There are two ways to think about kindness. You can think about it as a fixed trait: either you have it or you don’t. Or you could think of kindness as a muscle. In some people, that muscle is naturally stronger than in others, but it can grow stronger in everyone with exercise. Masters tend to think about kindness as a muscle. They know that they have to exercise it to keep it in shape. They know, in other words, that a good relationship requires sustained hard work. 

“If your partner expresses a need,” explained Julie Gottman, “and you are tired, stressed, or distracted, then the generous spirit comes in when a partner makes a bid, and you still turn toward your partner.”

Currently No. 6

A few things that have caught my eye this June...

Not technically diamonds, Herkimer diamonds are actually a variety of quartz crystal. Harder and with more sparkle and clarity than most quartz varieties, these unique gems are found only in Herkimer County, New York.

(1) Herkimer Diamond Stud Earrings  (2) J.Crew Panama Hat

(3) Freda Salvador Sky Blue Tejus  (4) Beyond Yoga Salt and Pepper Long Legging

Recommended Reading

Lately I've been gravitating toward short stories and biographies. I love getting a glimpse of different perspectives and particularly the powerful influence of one's childhood.
What has piqued your interest lately?

Here are snippets from all four:

1. “Goodbye, My Brother” (John Cheever) – "I have grown too old now to think that I can judge the sentiments of others, but I was conscious of the tension between Lawrence and Mother, and I knew some of the history of it. Lawrence couldn't have been more than sixteen years old when he decided that Mother was frivolous, mischievous, destructive, and overly strong. When he had determined this, he decided to separate himself from her. He was at boarding school then, and I remember that he did not come home for Christmas. He spent Christmas with a friend. He came home very seldom after he had made this unfavorable judgment on Mother, and when he did come home, he always tried, in his conversation, to remind her of his estrangement. When he married Ruth, he did not tell Mother. He did not tell her when his children were born. But in spite of these principled and lengthy exertions he seemed, unlike the rest of us, never to have enjoyed any separation, and when they are together, you feel at once a tension, an unclearness." (P. 16)

2. Blue Nights (Joan Didion)
"I continue opening boxes.
I find more faded and cracked photographs than I want ever again to see.
I find many engraved invitations to the weddings of people who are no longer married.
I find many mass cards from the funerals of people whose faces I no longer remember.
In theory these momentos serve to bring back the moment.
In fact they serve only to make clear how inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here.
How inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here is something else I could never afford to see." (P. 46)

3. Grace: A Memoir (Grade Coddington) – "Yves Saint Laurent was one I never skipped. He was modern. He proposed an entirely different couture, one that reflected the influences of youth, popular music, and what was happening in and around the streets of Paris's Left Bank. It was not at all for little old ladies. Cardin and Courrèges were modern too back then, but theirs was a different kind of modernity: It was futuristic, and I don't usually "get" futuristic, because I think it's just an effect. Dior I found a bit shocking. There was always one point in the show where they sent out three exotic fur coats together in a group for les petites bourgeoises and they were usually made from some extremely endangered species like snow leopard. I considered it rather disgraceful and didn't care for Dior at that time." (P. 100)

4. Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection (Gordon Ramsay) – "We spent a lot of time practising our menus. We always trial new dishes over and over until they are perfect. As a result, the menu at Claridge's was, and still is, exquisite. You can start with a beautiful dish like a smoked eel and celeriac soup with crushed ratte potatoes and poached quail's eggs; follow it with a roast cannon of new season's Cornish lamb served with confit shoulder, white bean puree, baby leeks and rosemary jus; and finish with a classic carmelised tarte tatin flavoured with cardamom, and vanilla ice cream. Or, if you fancy something a little lighter, you could start off with a chilled Charentais melon soup served with a Cornish crab vinaigrette, followed by baked baby sea bass served with roasted fennel and confit garlic, and finish with blood orange semi-freddo with an Earl Grey tea sorbet and glazed pink grapefruit." (P. 177-178)

Currently No. 5

After my trip earlier this month, I'm looking to embrace a sort of European minimalism. Here are a few things that have caught my eye recently: a small leather tray for jewelry, a travel bag properly sized for a weekend, Davines Volu conditioner, and anything and everything Sézane.

(1) Canoe Leather Tray (2) Herschel Supply Co. 'Strand' Duffel Bag

(3) Davines Volu Conditioner (4) Sézane Rio Heels

Bon George

It's starting to feel like summer here and Bon George is the ideal wardrobe for the season. A socially and environmentally conscious brand based in LA, the pieces in their new collection are beyond chic.

Our American-handcrafted garments are designed, sourced, and assembled locally in Los Angeles and are brought to life using salvaged vintage textiles and trims. All of our pieces are limited-edition which means you get your hands on a unique piece that you can get excited about. - Bon George

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