Denim Doing Good

Have you heard about Rialto Jean Project yet? No? Well, that should change—stat. RJP is a sustainable jean project that donates a portion of their sales to benefit children's art programs…specifically, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and New York Presbyterian Child Life Services, which use their art programs to help children learn to cope with their hospitalization and illness by expressing themselves  through a variety of art forms and therapies (the Children's Hospital says it best—read about their programs here). 

I can't exactly remember how I first stumbled across RJP—I have a feeling it could have been through Jean Stories, a really great denim blog, or any other number of sites I work my way through during the day, but I know I was hooked right away. It's not exactly a secret that I don't shy away from color (although my wardrobe has gotten more neutral-friendly over the last year) and I'm often found in a great jean whenever possible, so I love the vibrant, paint-splattered palette. Erin Feniger, the creator of RJP, selects high-quality vintage jeans (think Levi's, Gap, Paige, 7 for All Mankind etc.) in a variety of washes and styles, from traditional blue flares to pink skinnies and distressed boyfriends. The jeans run between $200-$245, and if you're in NYC you can see even more styles at their pop-up shop at 206 Front Street in South Street Seaport.

Thinking I need to get a boyfriend style first. Which pair is your favorite?

 all images via Rialto Jean Project. Shop the entire collection here!

Indian Summer

Today's post is an homage to the weather, while we all nervously await the arrival of colder weather this weekend (only 45º on Saturday…I don't want to think about it).

Here in NYC, we're going to hit a high near 70 (!) for the day. While that's not quite like a summer 70, where the sun feels warm and you could even break a small sweat, I'll take it. Today's IRL look includes a sleeveless black maxi tee dress with a light sweater layered on top, but I'm nostalgic for a few weekends back when temps neared 80 and I was able to head out in my favorite chambray pants and a lightweight (ahem, slightly sheer) tank for a day of brunch and rooftop hangs in Brooklyn. After today, I think it'll be time to say goodbye to bare legs 'til next spring, and start looking toward my next adventure…London! That's all I've got for today, as I've got to dash out the door for a work conference (well, really I have plenty of time, but it'd be a waste of a day if I miss the free coffee/breakfast part…that's like, at least half the reason I agree to go to these things).

Francesca's Collections Tank  (old) || J. Crew Chambray Pants || Jeffrey Campbell Loafers

Michael Kors Crossbody || C. Wonder Chain Bracelet || Illesteva Sunglasses

East Hampton Getaway

I'm having a bit of déjà vu as I write this post and can hear the rain falling outside my window…earlier this fall, a few friends and I had decided a trip was in order mid-October, and the morning we left it was raining, and continued straight through mid-afternoon! We'd been thinking about heading upstate, since I've enjoyed all the trips I've taken somewhere up there each fall so far, but after our Saturday in beautiful Montauk (during which we discovered it is 100% legal to have a bonfire on the beach!) we opted for a cabin the Hamptons instead.

The rain definitely tried to put a damper on Saturday, but we opted to get set up at our cute little cabin then walk into town for a long (late-ish) brunch after we got settled. We were just there for two days and I had to head straight to my office on Sunday, so I packed very light—a few sweaters and a tee for layering, sweats to sleep in and my new favorite slip-on sneakers, since I knew we'd be walking around a lot. By the time we wrapped brunch, the rain had stopped, so we strolled around town and popped in a few shops, eventually making our way down to the beach to scope out a set-up for our beach bonfire.

We headed back to town to pick up wine ahem, supplies and snacks and got back to the beach around sunset, getting set up and our fire going right before sundown. Thanks to the drearier afternoon, there wasn't much of a show, but we lucked out and got two of a different kind a little bit later. We started toasting s'mores and I put on Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue...moments later, we noticed fireworks down the coast near Montauk! If you haven't listened to it, Rhapsody in Blue is nearly 17 minutes long—the fireworks lasted the entire song and then some. As if the night couldn't get any more spectacular, as we burned the last of our firewood and scoped out the night sky for constellations, a huge blood moon rose to the east.

Sunday morning, we rose to a clear, crisp and beautiful day. I rarely get an opportunity to cook for a crowd, so I whipped up Challah French Toast and scrambled eggs, accompanied by copious amounts of coffee on the porch to counteract the previous night's wine. I was sad to see the weekend come to an end so quickly, but we're already itching for another trip back next summer!

525 America Sweater c/o Zappos || Rag & Bone Dre Jeans || Schutz Rosa Slip-Ons c/o Zappos

Vince Camuto earrings c/o Zappos || Diamond Palm Tree necklace (similar)

Fall Firsts | Giving In

This post contains a few firsts—both for the season and in my life.

I'm a big believer in getting fully dressed for the day before leaving my apartment, no matter what I'm doing (unless I'm heading straight to the gym/a workout, and let's be honest—that's rare). I don't mean full makeup and a planned head-to-toe look, but I rule out sweatpants, college-looking sweatshirts & tees, any type of true running sneaker, yoga clothing, etc., and I have a few reasons behind this—first and foremost, I think how you look directly reflects on your mood. When I'm at home, still in sweats at 2 pm on a Saturday I'm way less likely to get much done than if I pull on jeans and a nice tee. Secondly, I think how you dress says a lot about you to other people, and makes a first impression just as much, if not more, than when you open your mouth. Thirdly, I have the worst luck at running into exes/guys I've been out with on the street/subway/bars/on the street while eating French Fries a friend and I had tucked in our bags after too much wine (that's an embarrassingly true story, but at least I wasn't alone!). 

So, as I donned a full sweater-and-boots look for the first chillier fall weekend last week, I did something else…I wore leggings as pants. 99.9% of the time I'm against this look, usually because the people I see them on wear them too tight, or they're to sheer, or their shirt is too short. The pair I have on here have a faux-leather panel down the side of the leg, with thick fabric and a high waist (!), which I paired with a long silk blouse and layered with an equally long sweater. While I haven't convinced myself to add a lot of pairs to my wardrobe yet, the look is growing on me—as long as it's paired with a long top! What are your thoughts on leggings-as-pants?

Though you can't see them much in the photos above, I had to snap a close-up of my nails because I was pretty proud of myself. I'd done this mani two or three days before these photos, but I'm usually so hard on my nails that it chips badly within a day or two—this time it held up! I put on two full coats of polish, waited a few minutes for it to get dry, then dipped a small makeup brush in glitter and dabbed it into the tips, spreading it up a little to give the glitter a "scattered" look. Since glitter can make your nails rough, the key is plenty of topcoat. I usually do two additional clear coats to seal it on, et voila! Starry night nails.

Zoe Karssen Sweater || J. Crew Silk Blouse || Lyssé Leggings c/o || Steve Madden Bag || Schutz Booties

Sequin Cuff || WWAKE and Catbird Rings || OPI Polish in Into the Night || BITE Lipstick in Tannin

Photos: Emily Tozer

Lazy Sunday // Link Love

Oh, Sunday…you sure got here fast! I see you brought gusty fall weather—the perpetually uninvited guest. No matter, here's hoping everyone is curled up with a cup of coffee this morning, maybe catch up on your DVR for the week!

After all that's been going on the last few weeks months, during which I've barely spent a night a week at home, splitting the rest between work and events, drinks with friends, going to performances, weekend travel and basically saying "yes" to everything imaginable, it really didn't surprise me that by Friday I was feeling majorly burned out. Although work is incredibly busy, I couldn't seem to get much of anything done buy the end of last week—one of those "so much to do, you don't do anything" kind of days, layered on top of exhaustion.

The list could go on and on, but I don't want you to think I'm just playing the "Oh my god I'm SO busy. Like, really, really busy" card…(most) all this busy-ness has certainly been by choice, and it's lead to one of the best years of my life to date! This weekend, though, I just needed to step back and chill out. By Friday night, I was ready to doze off at the ballet and the champagne at the after party wasn't doing me any favors, so I cut out a little early, actually did doze off a tiny bit on the train, came home and fell asleep with all my lights (and makeup) on til 4a, then finally went to bed and didn't set an alarm, which is rare for me. It was so nice to wake up on my own, and I opted to make zero plans for the day. I won't bore you with the rest of the details, except to say my roommates and I did a little feng shui last night til about 2a that has me considering sharing parts of our apartment on here this winter.


Now, since I need to go get ready for brunch (yup, being one of those people today!), I'll leave you with the links I've been bookmarking this week:

Really enjoyed reading Jamie's take on the whole blogger burnout thing on the web right now.

I shared The Cut's hilarious article on "basic bitches" with my co-worker last week, which prompted him to go get his last pumpkin spice latté ever, because he doesn't want to be basic anymore. PSA: pumpkin is not a spice!

Looking for pretty Parisian photos? Hallie's postcards from Paris will do the trick! Warning: inspires wanderlust.

Eventbrite has a great fall guide to NYC…and so does the Otte Blog!

Pretty dotted dishes from West Elm.

How to be more productive at work (a.k.a., advice I desperately needed this week).

I recently got my much-beloved blanket scarf out for the season, which has me looking for a new style or  two to add to my wardrobe this year!

Beautiful still life photography.

I'm a little late sharing this, but Jennifer Lawrence's response to the nude photo scandal reminded me of why I admire her, so much.

Lusting after a pair of blue suede boots for fall. I'm torn between a heeled pair, a flat pair or a lace-up pair!

image via

Meet Me in Montauk

I'll never forget that line from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which Kate Winslet whispers to Jim Carrey as the house they're in crumbles around them while the last of their memories of each other are erased (kind of a strange plot line when you think about it, no?). When I first saw the film, I'm not even sure I knew where Montauk was, and until a few weeks ago I'd never made the trip.

A friend of mine and I had been dying to get out of the city for a while to clear our heads and slow down, so when a beautiful Saturday where neither of us had plans presented itself late last month, I proposed several ideas ranging from a picnic in the park to a day at the botanical gardens to a trip to the coast—and was excited when she texted back "Montauk!!" minutes later. Since this was entirely last minute and we both had plans Sunday, we opted to just make a day out of it, meeting at Penn Station around 9:30 for the 3+ hour train ride out in the morning.

Once we got there, we really had no idea what to do, neither of us having come that far before (my previous Hamptons trips had only gotten me as far as East Hampton), so we hopped in a cab and asked him to take us "downtown," which was all of a few minutes' drive south and much smaller than what I'd anticipated from other visits! Most of the Hamptons towns are lined with a mix of basic shops and high-end boutiques, but the little strip of Montauk was a downsized version—in a good way. We wandered a little bit, stopped in to the visitor center to ask about bike rentals and finally settled on 668 The Gigshack, which I can't recommend highly enough if you're ever out that way. We were seated outside and both had the local fresh fish tacos topped with mango salsa (sorry, no pics because we ate them too fast! #storyofmylife). I'm normally a vegetarian but was pescetarian for a very long time and make the very occasional exception—this one was so worth it. 

After we'd lounged a while at lunch, relishing the feeling of not being rushed unlike in Manhattan, we realized it had gotten ridiculous warm out and a sudden desire to go swimming in the ocean struck us both. We hadn't brought suits so we popped in a few shops to see about finding cheap ones to no avail, then walked over to the beach to check it out (in downtown Montauk, it's about two blocks from the "center" of town!) and it was PACKED. Like, we would have had trouble finding somewhere to even sit kind of packed. We turned around and headed over to the bike rental shop, figuring we'd cruise around town and try to make it out to the semi-infamous Montauk Point Lighthouse (which I somehow don't have a photo of here), a *mere* five miles down the road. 

My friend was drawn immediately to this big, shiny yellow city cruiser bike. For those who aren't familiar with a city cruiser, they tend to be really nice to look at and bike around a small town like Montauk, not so great for longer treks and especially not if there are hills. We asked the guy at the rental shop if the ride out to the lighthouse was easy and he said it was a straight shot, so we decided to go for it since we still had just over three hours to sundown and the ride was supposed to be 25-30 minutes. I know—that sounds like a lot, and for the first 15 or 20 minutes it wasn't so bad (with beautiful views and lots of nature), til we hit the hills. Plural. Three nice big up-and-down hills just before you hit the end of the island. Suffice to say, my thighs were screaming at me for about two days straight afterwards and felt like jell-o at the end. Since the lighthouse was closing not long after we arrived and we had cumbersome bikes with us, we walked down a short path to the water and, oh, was the ride worth it. Bright, royal blue water as far as the eye could see, dotted with pretty white boats and the most beautiful warm sunshine.

We left the lighthouse and beach about an hour before the sun officially set, since neither of us relished the idea of biking five miles on city cruisers in near darkness on the Montauk Highway. Our timing couldn't have been better—we dropped the bikes off, wandered back down the street and into a fudge shop for old-fashioned sweets, and had about thirty minutes to kill til we had to be at the train station, so we moseyed down to the beach one more time to the below view.

As we stood there (and I snapped away on my camera, both of the sunset and my friend in silhouette there) the colors got more and more rich, the moon a sliver of a bright spot in the sky. We couldn't have asked for a better way to end what turned out to be a truly amazing day, and we were so inspired that we planned a trip that we took this past weekend to East Hampton—more on that to come! 

Wearing: 10 Crosby Derek Lam T-Shirt || Gap Destroyed Boyfriend Jean || Converse Chuck Taylors

And, just for fun (and in the spirit of other recent posts), a few outtakes from this trip. Exhibit A: what happens when I try to jump in the air while standing somewhat precariously on a rock, surround by water and other sharp rocks…according to my friend, I was "levitating." Can I put that as a skill on my resumé?

Exhibit B: This is my "Look, our friends with boats!" gesture, part of a longstanding inside joke about how we'll know we've made it in NYC when we have friends with boats we can go out on.

It's Here!! Shopbop Friends & Family

If you've been hanging out around this space for a while now (hi, and thanks!) you know I don't post much about shopping sales—partly because I'm too tempted to shop them myself if I do. That being said, I'll make a MAJOR exception for the Shopbop Friends & Family sale. Today through Thursday, you can take 25% off your ENTIRE purchase with code FAMILY25. This is one sale I shop year after year, because you can get current-season merch at a discount and I'm a firm believer in buy-now wear-now. Last year I scooped up these Schutz ankle boots, some Calvin Klein basics and a striped t-shirt dress. 

This year, I've been eyeing luxe basics, like this Rachel Pally sleeveless dress (been on my wish list for WEEKS) and fun, easy-to-wear pieces like Each x Other's Lost Youth sweatshirt (I've tried it on in-person and the fabric is irresistibly soft). It's also the perfect time to stock up on shoes…naturally, I'm eyeing everything Loeffler Randall and Schutz, along with sneakers from Superga. Check out more of what's on my wish list—and possibly in my shopping cart—below!

Happy shopping! Let me know what you're eyeing—or, better yet, adding to your fall/winter wardrobe in the comments below.

Life, Lately | Looking Ahead

Ahh, fall, the season of sweaters and Pinterest-inspired cozy fashion, long walks through the fallen leaves and pumpkin spice…just kidding, because first and foremost, pumpkin isn't even a spice! Fall has never really been my thing, because let's be honest, people, there are only a handful of days peppered between late September and early November where it's not freezing, or pouring rain, or moody and cloudy and most of us are stuck in an office on those beautiful days, and once that passes us by as fast as it can, we're stuck with several months of winter. This year has been a year of yes for me, though, so I am taking advantage of the slight Indian Summer we've been having for as long as possible, because come winter, I somewhat proudly retain hermit status and curl up in my apartment with books, magazines, TV and lots of wine til it gets warm enough I want to venture out again (besides work, that is). 

As soon as the cold weather dissipated in late spring, I started to pack my social calendar with as many chances to get out and about, from trips to the park to rooftop drinks, beach days, brunches galore and exploring the city, peppered with trips to somewhere, anywhere I could go whether for a day or an entire weekend. Something about fall kicks my itch to get away for the weekend into even higher gear than summer. I think it's the chance to escape somewhere and enjoy the crisp, sharper air while the temps are still bearable to be outside, curling up and unwinding from the always-long workweek. 

This coming Sunday marks three (!) years in NYC for me and I'll be marking it with what has become something of an annual trip. My first year, I took the train out to Rockaways (weird, I know) about two weeks after moving and spent the entire day by the ocean—it was so new to me to be so near the ocean all the time! The next year, a friend and I took the train up to Cold Spring for a weekend shortly before Thanksgiving where we stayed in a beautiful old inn on the river, hiked up about 1,000 feet in the nearby Hudson Highlands and moseyed around the town for food and antique shopping. Last year,I seized the chance to rent a car for a day and drive up to Storm King art center in mid-October...the foliage was breathtaking on the drive up and wandering the grounds was exactly what my mental health needed.

This weekend, my friends & I had been thinking about a trip upstate, but after a gorgeous Saturday a girlfriend and I spent in Montauk late last month (more on that to come!) we decided to head out east...especially after we discovered beach bonfires are totally legal in the Hamptons! So, we've rented a cabin and are hoping on the LIRR bright & early Saturday morning. I'm sure I'll be sharing photos from our trip here, but to follow along in semi-real time, head over to instagram! 

Reminiscing on summer has me wanting to ditch my date with my couch & DVR tonight and plan more trips with friends. Do you get the urge to travel more come fall, too? What's on your agenda before winter?

all images via my instagram

Minimalism

This weekend was all about housecleaning, both online and off…which is why I'm bringing you one last set of summer photos before we fully call it quits (RIP til next year, summer). 

Although we took these photos in late July—I know, I know, get it together, Rose—I wore variations on this look from the beginning of summer all the way through mid-September, breaking the whole white (on white) after Labor Day thing repeatedly. I found these bamboo (!) pants last summer in a Boerum Hill boutique. They've become a summer fave thanks to the slightly relaxed fit and breathable fabric, and I'm already sad I've had to pack them away for the year now that the temps seriously dipped this past week.

The blouse, on the other hand, is a four-season'er. I've already worn it this fall with dark jeans and a blazer; come winter, I'll layer it under sweaters thanks to the long, asymmetrical hem, and come spring pair it with skirts and light jackets. Just typing that sentence already has me excited for all this cold weather BS to pass, but alas there are still several more months to suffer through.

Zara Blouse || Dagg & Stacey Pant (in black!) || Zara Sandals || Shark tooth necklace

Michael Kors Watch (similar) || Ray-Ban Sunglasses || Essie polish in I'm Addicted

Photos: Ashley Manfred