The Etiquette Police

Walking around the city today, I happened upon a few of these awesome signs from the "Metropolitan Etiquette Authority." Turns out it's a project from artist Jay Shells (who put up these genius subway etiquette posters last year—yes, people really do clip their nails on the subway).

The signs are pretty great, and hit on two of my pet peeves. First, why is it ok for smokers to litter? And second, watch where you're going, I'm walkin' here!

Images via Joe Holmes on Flickr and Laughing Squid.

Practically Perfect In Every Way

Kate Spade introduced a line of lipsticks with a name inspired by Ms. Practically-Perfect-In-Every-Way, Mary Poppins. The new Supercalifragilipstick line comes in four shades of pink and red, and has had the song stuck in my head all week.





Which really isn't a bad thing because I looove Mary Poppins (I'm tempted to say it's my favorite Disney movie, but I'm terrible at favorites). Embarrassing Mary Poppins-related story: in college I sang "Supercalafraglisticexpialidocious" (badly) in front of a panel of teachers for a grade! It was awful. Maybe I should buy the lipstick, to associate better memories with the word...

Instagram Books

Even though I'm currently a Droid user, I'm totally jealous of the iPhone camera (it takes way better pictures than my Droid) and the Instagram app. And now, another reason to be jealous/another reason to buy an iPhone: Blurb is making Instragram books!



It looks like a fun, inexpensive way to get all those images off your phone without having to delete them. Or, you could make them into a pretty, graphic photo wall like this.

Top Instagram photo via my iPhone-owning pal Kate.

(Apple-icious) Weekend in Pictures

{little leaf!}

{fall goodness}

{apple cider donuts, mmm...}

{another little leaf!}

{cinderella pumpkin, plaid}

Even though fall is being quite the tease this year (it's hot and humid in New York!), it didn't stop my friends and I from indulging in the typical yuppie fall day trip: apple picking! We left the city and headed out to the farm, where we trudged through muddy orchards in wellies in search of perfectly ripe apples. Then we rewarded ourselves with lunch at Cracker Barrel and a looong time spent wandering the aisle at Wal-Mart (I went a little crazy in the ribbon aisle!). How about you, is it fall where you are? If so, I am jealous.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Friends, it is supposed to be a very wet weekend in New York City. I have tickets to an outdoor Wilco concert tonight, so I can pretty much bet I'll be spending the evening wet. Looking for a bright side (since I was, admittedly, being pretty grumpy about the weather) when I was out and about today, I remembered one of my favorite things about rainy weather: dogs in raincoats.





It's totally silly and probably doesn't even keep the dog that dry, but I smile every time I see it. Especially when they're wearing little tiny rain booties. Ha! So, here's to seeing the silver lining/dog-in-a-rain-coat on this rainy weekend.

Images: "Wonky Bumbershoots" by hartart13 on Etsy, red rain coat, yellow rain jacket.

A Stylish Umbrella Holder

There's a tiiiiny break in the daylong rainstorm in New York today, and I've been seeing the stylish men in my neighborhood carrying their umbrellas in the coolest way.



Resting on top of a worn canvas tool bag. It looks so cool, and keeps them from juggling both the bag and the umbrella.

Hey Dudes

I just happened across this great blog for dudes, and I've been getting a kick out of the posts even though I'm a dudette. Hey Dudes is written by two women who think that men are awesome "but there are times when you could be awesomer." From drinking like a man, to hosting a party (it is completely true, dudes, that it's totally hot when a guy is a good host), to emulating leading man style, the ladies behind Hey Dude give some spot-on advice.

And they've even attempted to demystify a few head-scratchers about us girls: why we take so long to get ready and what is up with all of our shoes?

The Night Sky

This past weekend, when I retreated to New Jersey, I found myself doing the thing city dwellers can't seem to help but do when we leave our metropolis—craning my neck up to the night sky, commenting on how many stars there were to be seen. One night by the campfire, we could see one particularly bright star and debate began over whether it was a star or a planet.



I remembered hearing about the Google Sky Map app during a work assignment awhile back (at the time, I couldn't figure out why people would use it), so I downloaded it to see if it could end the planet vs. star debate. It turned out to be so much (nerdy) fun! You just point your phone at the sky and it tells you the constellations (and more) that you're seeing. It even has a "time machine" feature that lets you see what the sky will look like the next day, what it looked like the night before, and even the night of Apollo 11. Of course, we all laughed that the app was making us look at my phone instead of up at the pretty stars :)

Oh, and in the planet vs. star argument, it turned out the planet camp was correct. It was Jupiter!

Images via weheartit and lifehacker. This is not a sponsored post, I just really liked the app.

(Woods + Pups) Weekend in Pictures

{a chilly morning, somewhere in new jersey}

{nature & sunlight are pretty darn good for the soul}

{fall footwear}

{giant campfire}

{creepy traveling companion}

{making new friends}

{perfect fall weather in brooklyn heights}

{impromptu coffee & cookies}

Have you ever had a weekend that was simultaneously incredibly restful and incredibly exhausting? That was my weekend. The retreat was just perfect - a little break from the city with a great group of people, talking about loving God and loving people. 

We made it back to the city Sunday morning, with just enough time to for a shower and quick brunch before heading over to the Brooklyn Heights Association dog show where my friend Derek was one of the judges. After watching a boisterous Golden Doodle win Best in Show, we took some italian pastries and coffee to a friend's apartment to refuel before church. It doesn't sound like that much written out, but I was in by 9 p.m. Sunday night, which is nearly unheard of for me. Was your weekend relaxing?

Happy Trails

Friends, it's the weekend! What are you up to? I'm heading out of the city on a retreat with my church, and I'm excited to breath some crisp fall air and maybe see a few early-changing leaves. Here's a few links to start the weekend:

I just bought this book, expect to see some of these cakes around these parts.

Toms is making ballet flats!

Pop up dinner parties. I'm dying to host one.

My favorite Friend (capital 'F') is on Twitter.

Photo via here.

A Few More

Obviously, my obsession continues. I'm still looking at photos from the Charles Cushman collection. Look at the style in these ones!

{Stunning red coat & heels, New Orleans, 1951}

{Gorgeous ponytail, Istanbul, 1965}

{Flower power, San Francisco, 1967}

So Sartorialist, don't you think? That last one is so San Francisco-in-the-60s, it almost looks staged.

A Time Machine

Wouldn't it be weird to think of your vacation photos being on display in a museum someday? When Charles Cushman died he left his collection of snapshots (taken between 1938-1969) to his alma mater, Indiana University. Taken with almost eerily vibrant Kodachrome film, the images (thousands of them!) are like a time machine in pictures.

{5th Ave from 49th St., 1950}

{Clinton St. near the East River, 1941}

I loved looking at the New York ones and seeing how much has changed while a lot of things stayed the same. He also took really interesting candid shots of people.

{Children of the Mill, Johnston, PA, 1940}

{Regent St., London, 1961}

{230 W. 23rd St., Chicago, IL, 1949}

And he was so well-traveled! You can browse the photo archives by location to see what I mean.

{New Orleans, 1951}

{Excelsior Hotel, Beirut, 1965}

As you can see, I'm mildly obsessed with this catalogue of photos. It's like stumbling across a really cool photo album in your grandma's attic. And it's so interesting to think that someone could use the (billions of) digital photos we take today as insight into what our generation was like. What would they see in your photos?

Thanks to Tracey for sending me the article on Cushman's New York photos. You can browse them by location, year, and subject here.

To Wear With Flannel

When I was in Hilton Head this past weekend, my sister and I took a long bike ride from our hotel to the lighthouse on the other side of the island, then to the ruins of an old plantation. The bike trails took us through somewhat wooded areas, with tons of oaks draped with Spanish moss and a carpet of pine needles everywhere. The woodsy smell of pine warmed by the sun was so amazing, I told my sister I'd like to wear it as a perfume.

When I got home, still thinking about the end-of-summer/firsts-of-fall scent, I was happy to discover that MCMC Fragrances makes a Vermont-inspired scent called Hunter. It smells like fir trees (among other things) and they describe it as "best when worn with a flannel shirt."

Photo via Maja Malou

(Vacation) Weekend in Pictures

{hilton head island, sc}

{boats, marsh, dusk}

{where we ate our weight in shrimp & hushpuppies}

{touristy, but nearly deserted}

{alligator!!!}

{just before sunset}

{sea oats}

Not pictured: all the seafood we ate, a pod of dolphins swimming near shore and the way they caused a middle-aged man to run down the beach to make sure his wife saw them, a bright green bicycle that gave me bruises, the eerie, we-might-be-the-only-people-on-the-planet walk on the beach with my sister at midnight, the giant bottle of whipped cream-flavored vodka that some strangers gave my mom.

Ok. Vacation over. Time for sweaters and apples and pumpkin-flavored everything, finally.

Gone Fishin'

In spite of all my excited anticipation of fall, I've snuck off to enjoy one more weekend of summer on Hilton Head Island with my family. So I'm signing off a bit early for the week, looking forward to a weekend of biking on the beach (the sand is so flat here!), eating fresh seafood, and relaxing.

Have a lovely weekend!

Simple Bracelets

My bracelet addiction might be up there with my cardigan addiction, but I tend to buy bigger, thicker bracelets like bangles and cuffs. But I'm really drawn to these delicate bracelets from Ayofemi.





They're the grown-up version the thin, braided friendship bracelets that accumulated on our arms in elementary school, after making dozens of them all summer long. Did anyone else carry around a clipboard for impromptu friendship bracelet making sessions? No? Just me?

Bourbon Cherries

Now that fall is unofficially officially here, it's time to break out my Mason jars. One of my favorite parts of this season, the in between-y one we're in right now, where the sun still shines but the breezes begin to cool, is canning and preserving. I love that I can savor a late summer cherry or an early September apple in the middle of January, with just a little bit of work (ok, sometimes a lot) now.



So last week, I set out to try a new canning recipe with a few pounds of miraculous farmer's market cherries (seriously, they were the last bags left!). Using this recipe, I now posses five jars of pitted cherries swimming in garnet-colored bourbon syrup, lightly flavored with cinnamon.



I'm looking forward to slipping them into Manhattans on snowy, frigid nights this winter. Or using them as a grown-up topping for a bowl of vanilla ice cream.