Hiking

This last Saturday we took a hiking trip to lake Cushman! The weather was weird as usual, (sunny, rainy, snowy, and super windy) and it was great! If only the day had been able to finish out as well it started.... (le sigh...)

It's a really amazing landscape! I can only imagine what it's like during the summer....

NYFW

I love fashion. If you know me, you more than likely already know this, but if you didn't, now you do. It's kind of funny, since I wear sweats most days, but as an art form, I adore fashion. I also have a huge amount of respect for designers, and have no problem whatsoever falling in love with clothes. and shoes. Wear-ability is chiefly what I look for in clothing design, although I loves me some Haute Couture and think of it as being in the same realm as fine art.

So having said that, New York Fashion Week (which is actually 8 days of events spanning Feb. 9-16 this year) just wrapped up, and I'd like to share my favorite runway shows from the ready to wear collections. (Click on the designer name to view the runway show from this year. courtesy of Style.com)
Derek Lam was my #1 favorite. I LOVE what he's doing with leather and proportions.
Number #2 would have to be a tie between J Crew, which, try as I might to be 'edgier', is still my favorite 'basic' brand, the entire collection is so my style right now. 2.2 would have to be Chris Benz. Every look was like 'bam! ~ bam! ~ bam!' like 'Mad Men' meets Gwen Stefani, So good... I also LOVED Michael Kors. He basically hit all my usual buttons, so to speak. (plaid? check. lace? check. leather? check. chunky knits? check. 20s and 40s inspired gowns? check.) Nanette Lepore was amazing, her play with color and textures really made me smile, and Marchesa was just wonderful. If I hadn't already gotten married (and had the money) #13 (in the slide show) would have been everything...
The rest of my favorites were a bit harder to quantify. Rachel Zoe had an amazing collection this year, I love what she does with layers, and her designs are just, in a word:classic.  Preen, Rachel Roy, and the Row were expertly cut and tailored on the edge of a knife, so so SO terrifically chic. Tory Burch was so cute, very 'Blair Waldorf'.
I really liked Victoria Beckham! I really like how she used the boots/socks through the whole show, very cute. That's definitely a look I can get on board with this season. I really liked J Mendel also, although nothing really surprised me there, it was all very lovely. I liked Marc by Marc Jacobs too. The way he plays with masculine/feminine has always intrigued me. I didn't love the metallic bits, but I loved the boots. I also liked Rodarte. I'm not loving the whole, military style exposed pocket thing, or the hand print stuff, but LOVED the shoes! I had to look at the collection twice because I was so taken with them the first time around.
Badgley Mischka and the gowns at Jenny Packham and Vivienne Tam were exquisite,  they make me wish I had a fancy event to go to. *sigh*
No one does draping like Doo.Ri, and she did not disappoint this year either. Her sweaters and gowns are amazing! I'm kind of excited for her Macy's collection too... Tracy Reese was so 'of the moment' with the mix of media, and Y3 for 'Adidas' was both unconventional (as usual) and super comfy looking, there were definitely some pieces I'm going to be trolling for in the near future...
Cynthia Rowley was an interesting one for me. I'd have to go thirdsies on that one. a third of it I loved, a third of it was 'meh' and a third of it I really didn't like at all. The third of it I loved, I really, really love though, which is funny, because the third I don't like, I really, really don't like, (she did some 'inside bits on the outside' thing that I'm not a fan of) and that's unusual for me, especially since I love Cynthia Rowley full stop usually... 
One that surprised me was Sharon Wauchob's designs for Edun! The colors! The patterns! Everything! It was so 'right now' Blown away...
  
Until next year, New York...

i got the music in me

yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with discovering music. mostly because, as with anything, there's so much out there that just doesn't 'do it' for me. I worked at Sam Goody once upon a time, so my tolerance for any and all music is pretty high, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, right? When I was farming, I kind of got out of the loop a bit, having to rely on what ever Jared had to offer from the road (which shouldn't be discounted!) but I didn't do much for myself as far as adding to my ipod.
Having said that, I don't stray too far from the main stream (love: ADELE! FLORENCE! GAGA!) but I do very much appreciating hearing a great song on TV (for once) or being introduced to a new band from a new country or whatever.
There are two bands that I'm currently crushing on, Gotye, and the Lumineers, and I highly recommend picking up their albums (the lumineers comes out next month) or seeing them live if you get the chance...

Gotye: Somebody that I used to know

Lumineers: Ho Hey

reading rainbow

I like all books. I'm not kidding. I could read *just* about anything and find something I appreciate about it (even if it's just that it's over) and I'm a firm believer that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie/show. I recently read several books in anticipation of the movie(s) or show and I'm so glad I did!

I totally recommend reading all three 'millennium' series books before watching 'girl with the dragon tattoo'. They are so captivating that they are an incredibly quick read, although, they did take me a bit longer than usual since I don't speak Swedish, like, at all, the names hung me up a bit...

EVERYONE should read all three 'hunger games books' I mean, it's 'young adult' fiction, and there's less than 1000 pages all together I think...(although, there aren't a lot of movies coming out in the near future that I'm MORE stoked for!)

   I'm also powering through the 'a song of ice and fire' series as best I can, before I embark on the 'game of thrones' HBO series (i know, i know, it's AMAZING... and I'll get to it ;))

resolution update

so it's now been a month since everyone promised to be healthy wealthy and wise (for once!) this year. In the interest of being honest, and to keep myself on track, I'm going to track my progress the best I can, and this is my first update. My plan (if you didn't read it) was/is to:


work out weekly
no more junk food (3 home made meals and 1 snack or high quality restaurant food only)
pack a lunch/snack daily
eat breakfast
drink more green tea
no more regular alcohol (1-2 glasses of wine with dinner, no hard A)
jog with abbey and do yard work at least once a week
monthly massages and pedicures

so, full disclosure, the 'work out' portion never really made it out of the gate, I'm taking walks with Jared and/or Abbey as often as I can in the 'hood, but it's soo coooold! pretty much anything under 60, and I'm inside huddled by the heater with my blanket or cranking the heat/seat warmers in the car while I shiver and dream of warmer climates.
I've done really well with the eating portion. I've only hit the fast food twice since the new year (once because Dicks was like, screaming my name from 100 miles away, and once because, sometimes a greasy breaky sammich is the only thing to chase the hangover blues away) I haven't been snacking on carby nastiness which is a major improvement, and I've managed to only eat lunch out once. I've had breakfast almost every morning. (sometimes I just get up too late on Saturday!) I haven't been able to curb my coffee addiction for green tea, but, you know, baby steps. I have only had wine with dinner at home.
I was able to get most of the yard work I wanted to do before Jared came home. My amazing friend Jillian treated me to a pedi for my b-day, but I wasn't able to squeeze in a massage, better luck next month, back!