happy holidays...see you next year!

I'm taking a break to enjoy the holidays! Be safe and warm and happy! See you here, next year!

xoxo C

nora charles...my hero

Have you ever seen The Thin Man? It's a comedy/mystery movie made in 1934, based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett. The main characters in the movie are Nick Charles, a former private detective, and his wife Nora, a much younger, wealthy socialite.

Nora Charles (played by the lovely Myrna Loy) is beautiful, smart, confident, witty, chic and sophisticated. She is always well-dressed, has impeccable manners, and wields a razor sharp sense of humor. She's also gracious, charming, kind, and compassionate; a lady from head to toe. Nora is the whole package, tied up with an elegant silk bow. And her husband knows it...

The quality that makes Nora special is her authenticity. She's wealthy; she has always been wealthy; and she makes no attempt to play that down. She loves expensive clothes, furs and jewelry, and enjoys the finer things in life. But she's not a snob. She goes with Nick to the racetrack, eats hot dogs at boxing matches, and tags along with him to seedy clubs and boarding houses searching for clues on a murder case. She plays poker with her husband and a friendly group of hobos in a boxcar, perched on a steamer trunk, perfectly coiffed and groomed, and dressed to the nines. And she thoroughly enjoys herself...

Nora does everything with class, however she's far from prudish. She delivers her share of zingers and double entendres, but her risque remarks never veer off into tacky or tasteless. And she can drink martinis and still maintain her decorum...

When it comes to Nick, Nora is game on; loyal, monogamous, and dedicated to her man. And he absolutely adores her. They flirt and banter with each other on a daily basis. She loves and accepts him, warts and all; and he does have his flaws, from drinking just a little too much, to socializing with his colorful, but somewhat shady friends. Through it all, Nora never whines or complains, but she clearly defines her boundaries and holds her own. She manages to be a wife, lover and pal, while retaining her allure and a bit of mystery.

Nora Charles was one of my first role models for "what I want to be when I grow up," and she is fabulous!

xoxo C

thought for the day .05

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

- Roy L. Smith

and now, for something different...

I rarely wear colorful clothing, preferring to stick to the basics; black, brown, gray, ivory; solids and neutrals; very few florals or prints. But occasionally I get the urge to dress up in something a little more frivolous; like one of these dresses from Topshop; so fun for a party, or a night out on the town...

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shop dresses here  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

quaintrelle...

 

images via tumblr

A perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life...

A perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life, is one of my all-time-favorite books. It's a collection of essays and photographs by Mary Randolph Carter on how to live creatively with collections, clutter work, kids, pets, art, etc.

One of my favorite lines from the book, along with the title, is "don't scrub the soul out of your home." My sentiments exactly...

Mary Randolph Carter, or "Carter" as she is known by family and friends, is an author, photographer, and longtime creative director for Ralph Lauren. She is also a self-professed "junker, " and has written several books about collecting and living with junk/treasures.

Check out her website here

ten books that shaped my life

JAMESON'S BOOKS

1. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
2. Island Of The Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell
3. Sixteen, by Beverly Cleary
4. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck
6. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
7. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
8. Giant, by Edna Ferber
9. On The Road, by Jack Kerouac
10. Happy All The Time, by Laurie Colwin

I was an avid reader as a child, and I've never lost my fascination with books. My daughter is also a book lover. My grandson Jameson is following in our footsteps, and already has quite the collection of books.

If you have children, please encourage them to read. Reading stimulates the imagination in a way that television and computer games will never do. Give the kids in your life books this Christmas. You won't regret it...

xoxo C

photo via Jennifer Martin

jil sander - spring 2014 ready to wear collection

absolutely sublime...although I think I might go with a sexier shoe...

images via style.com

thought for the day .04

"Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don't want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you're doing here. Believe in kissing."

~ Eve Ensler

image via telusers

come on baby, light my fire...

Entertaining outdoors is a little more difficult when the weather turns cold. However, these fire elements by Menu Design, a Danish design company founded in 1976, make me want to throw an outdoor party; or at least hang out around a fire, roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Menu Design "collaborates with some of the most talented designers in the world, to deliver high quality design with an aesthetically Scandinavian look." These are a few of my favorites...

Shop the Menu Design website here

inspirational interiors - loft apartment/ kungsholmen, sweden

I love...and I mean...LOVE...this loft apartment in Kungsholmen, Sweden. It's spacious but not cavernous; neutral but definitely not boring; and modern and clean-lined, but not cold and soul-less. I could be so happy living here...

Check out the rest of the apartment here
image via FRESH PALACE

rumpled beds are best...

I read somewhere that making up our beds in the morning is a bad idea, because bed linens need to "breathe" after soaking up moisture from our bodies all night; makes sense to me, and it also makes me very happy because I hate making up the bed every day. I am not "Miss Hospital Corners" (see When Harry Met Sally). I prefer rumpled beds, and there is nothing better than these soft, rumple-able, pre-washed 50% Egyptian cotton/50% Italian linen blend sheets from Au Lit Fine Linens. Cotton and linen are both natural fibers; the cotton is silky soft to the touch, and the linen wicks perspiration away from the body, making for a cozy, comfortable sleeping experience. Fabulous!

shop au lit fine linens here

origins calm to your senses...relaaaaaax....zzzzzz

I've been using ORIGINS Lavender and Vanilla Body Souffle for a while now. I like to put it on in the evening, after a long, relaxing bath and right before going to bed. It's super moisturizing and absorbs quickly into the skin, leaving it smooth and soft instead of greasy and sticky. Lavender and vanilla are known for their calming and comforting aromas; I guess that's why they call it Calm To Your Senses...

 

 

style inspiration - black and brown

Many people believe that you can't wear black and brown together, but I am not one of those people. I love the combination, and wear it often. Brown softens the black and provides just enough contrast to add depth and interest, without the drama of...say...black and white or black and red. Here's my idea of a winning black/brown combo...with a tiny bit of bling.

SHOP THIS OUTFIT:  jacket: haider akermann net-a-porter / sweater: haider akermann net-a-porter / bag: kendall conrad / boots: acne / leather cuff: kendall conrad / cuff ring: kendall conrad 

the wisdom of a young girl - anne frank

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."

- Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

photo via annefrank.com
read about anne frank here

nicole franzen, food, lifestyle and travel photographer

I love food, and I love to travel. Recently, I discovered a blog called la buena vida, by Nicole Franzen, a food, lifestyle and travel photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She is fabulous! I'm definitely inspired to get out my camera and sign up for that photography class in January...

check out la buena vida here
read about nicole here
images via nicolefranzen.blogspot.com

mama needs a brand new bag...

I travel a lot. And one thing I learned a long time ago is, if I travel with six pieces of luggage, I will have to schlep around six pieces of luggage. So I resist the urge to pack ten pairs of shoes, my entire arsenal of toiletries, and an outfit for every possible occasion, and try to whittle my stuff down to one bag. While not inspiring, it can be done.

For years, I've traveled with this; a heavy cotton, faded turquoise bag, swimming with lime green fish. Not particularly classy, but lightweight and easy to find in a sea of black rolling bags on the luggage carousel. And no one ever wants to steal it...

But lately, I've been craving something a bit more adult; and a little less embarrassing. Yes, people can be cruel...

I would love to have this Cavalier II No.97 Fawn Suede duffel bag from GHURKA. Perhaps as a Christmas gift? Christmas is coming up soon. Anybody...anybody?

shop Ghurka here

ten myths about thanksgiving...

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING (1915)
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930)

I'm not sure if any of this makes a difference to the way I perceive Thanksgiving, or the way I celebrate Thanksgiving, but I find it interesting...

MYTH #1: The Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving.

To see what the first Thanksgiving was like you have to go to: Texas. Texans claim the first Thanksgiving in America actually took place in little San Elizario, a community near El Paso, in 1598 -- twenty-three years before the Pilgrims' festival. For several years they have staged a reenactment of the event that culminated in the Thanksgiving celebration: the arrival of Spanish explorer Juan de Onate on the banks of the Rio Grande. De Onate is said to have held a big Thanksgiving festival after leading hundreds of settlers on a grueling 350-mile long trek across the Mexican desert. 

Then again, you may want to go to Virginia.. At the Berkeley Plantation on the James River they claim the first Thanksgiving in America was held there on December 4th, 1619....two years before the Pilgrims' festival....and every year since 1958 they have reenacted the event. In their view it's not the Mayflower we should remember, it's the Margaret, the little ship which brought 38 English settlers to the plantation in 1619. The story is that the settlers had been ordered by the London company that sponsored them to commemorate the ship's arrival with an annual day of Thanksgiving. Hardly anybody outside Virginia has ever heard of this Thanksgiving, but in 1963 President Kennedy officially recognized the plantation's claim. 

MYTH #2: Thanksgiving was about family.

If by Thanksgiving, you have in mind the Pilgrim festival, forget about it being a family holiday. Put away your Norman Rockwell paintings. Turn off Bing Crosby. Thanksgiving was a multicultural community event. If it had been about family, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them.

MYTH #3: Thanksgiving was about religion.

No it wasn't. Paraphrasing the answer provided above, if Thanksgiving had been about religion, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them. Besides, the Pilgrims would never have tolerated festivities at a true religious event. Indeed, what we think of as Thanksgiving was really a harvest festival. Actual "Thanksgivings" were religious affairs; everybody spent the day praying. Incidentally, these Pilgrim Thanksgivings occurred at different times of the year, not just in November.

MYTH #4: The Pilgrims ate turkey.

What did the Pilgrims eat at their Thanksgiving festival? They didn't have corn on the cob, apples, pears, potatoes, or even cranberries. No one knows if they had turkey, although they were used to eating turkey. The only food we know they had for sure was deer. (And they didn't eat with a fork; they didn't have forks back then.)

So how did we get the idea that you have turkey and cranberry and such on Thanksgiving? It was because the Victorians prepared Thanksgiving that way. And they're the ones who made Thanksgiving a national holiday, beginning in 1863, when Abe Lincoln issued his presidential Thanksgiving proclamations, two of them: one to celebrate Thanksgiving in August, a second one in November. Before Lincoln, Americans outside New England did not usually celebrate the holiday. (The Pilgrims, incidentally, didn't become part of the holiday until late in the 19th century. Until then, Thanksgiving was simply a day of thanks, not a day to remember the Pilgrims.)

MYTH #5: The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.

According to historian George Willison, who devoted his life to the subject, the story about the rock is all malarkey, a public relations stunt pulled off by townsfolk to attract attention. What Willison found out is that the Plymouth Rock legend rests entirely on the dubious testimony of Thomas Faunce, a 95-year-old man, who told the story more than a century after the Mayflower landed. Unfortunately, not too many people ever heard how we came by the story of Plymouth Rock. Willison's book came out at the end of World War II and Americans had more on their minds than Pilgrims then. So we've all just gone merrily along repeating the same old story as if it's true when it's not. And anyway, the Pilgrims didn't land in Plymouth first. They first made landfall at Provincetown. Of course, the people of Plymouth stick by hoary tradition. Tour guides insist that Plymouth Rock is the rock.

MYTH #6: Pilgrims lived in log cabins.

No Pilgrim ever lived in a log cabin. The log cabin did not appear in America until late in the 17th century, when it was introduced by Germans and Swedes. The very term "log cabin" cannot be found in print until the 1770s. Log cabins were virtually unknown in England at the time the Pilgrims arrived in America. So what kind of dwellings did the Pilgrims inhabit? As you can see if you visit Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims lived in wood clapboard houses made from sawed lumber.

MYTH #7: Pilgrims dressed in black.

Not only did they not dress in black, they did not wear those funny buckles, weird shoes, or black steeple hats. So how did we get the idea of the buckles? Plimoth Plantation historian James W. Baker explains that in the 19th century, when the popular image of the Pilgrims was formed, buckles served as a kind of emblem of quaintness. That's the reason illustrators gave Santa buckles. Even the blunderbuss, with which Pilgrims are identified, was a symbol of quaintness. The blunderbuss was mainly used to control crowds. It wasn't a hunting rifle. But it looks out of date and fits the Pilgrim stereotype.

MYTH #8: Pilgrims, Puritans -- Same Thing

Though even presidents get this wrong -- Ronald Reagan once referred to Puritan John Winthrop as a Pilgrim -- Pilgrims and Puritans were two different groups. The Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower and lived in Plymouth. The Puritans, arriving a decade later, settled in Boston. The Pilgrims welcomed heterogeneousness. Some (so-called "strangers") came to America in search of riches, others (so-called "saints") came for religious reasons.

The Puritans, in contrast, came over to America strictly in search of religious freedom. Or, to be technically correct, they came over in order to be able to practice their religion freely. They did not welcome dissent. That we confuse Pilgrims and Puritans would have horrified both. Puritans considered the Pilgrims incurable utopians. While both shared the belief that the Church of England had become corrupt, only the Pilgrims believed it was beyond redemption. They therefore chose the path of Separatism. Puritans held out the hope the church would reform.

MYTH #9: Puritans hated sex.

Actually, they welcomed sex as a God-given responsibility. When one member of the First Church of Boston refused to have conjugal relations with his wife two years running, he was expelled. Cotton Mather, the celebrated Puritan minister, condemned a married couple that had abstained from sex in order to achieve a higher spirituality. They were the victims, he wrote, of a "blind zeal."

MYTH #10: Puritans hated fun.

H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy!" Actually, the Puritans welcomed laughter and dressed in bright colors (or, to be precise, the middle and upper classes dressed in bright colors; members of the lower classes were not permitted to indulge themselves -- they dressed in dark clothes). As Carl Degler long ago observed, "The Sabbatarian, antiliquor, and antisex attitudes usually attributed to the Puritans are a 19th-century addition to the much more moderate and wholesome view of life's evils held by the early settlers of New England."

This article, by Rick Shenkman, was first published by History News Network
Rick Shenkman is the editor of the History News Network.

Reed Krakoff - Designer

RDK HOBO

born 1964
raised in Weston, Connecticut
graduated from Parsons School of Design
worked at Ralph Lauren Corporation for five years
former Creative Director at Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
former President of Coach, Inc.
launched his own exclusive brand, Reed Krakoff in 2010


BIONIC ATLANTIQUE POUCH

LEATHER T BAR CUFF

BIONIC XL BANGLE

RK STUD WATCH

T BAR BRACELET

shop these items and more  REED KRAKOFF
photo of Reed Krakoff via boston common magazine