Ends and Beginnings

Ah, the official end of winter—only, if you live in NYC like myself, it's got us in a vice grip for as long as it can. These photos are actually from earlier this season, and I realized this week I needed to post them before the weather changed...ha, ha! By the way, if you're a curious weather nerd like me, today isn't actually the first "day" of spring—it doesn't start until 6:48p tonight! Fingers crossed for a warmer, more spring-like tomorrow.

The West Village is, hands down, one of my favorite places to be on weekends (and, ok, it makes for cute photos). The little side streets are never crowded, and my friends and I tend to wander around admiring the brownstones and joking about owning one someday...#marryrich, right? I like to get brunch around noon at Joseph Leonard—if there's a wait, my friends and I usually head across the street to a cute letterpress shop or the nearby puppy store. I would never buy a puppy from a puppy store (#adoptdontshop!) BUT, it's not the dogs' fault they're there and playing with a puppy is a 100% guaranteed way to put you in a good mood. Post-brunch, if the weather is playing nice, we usually wander around Bleecker and the surrounding streets, popping in to cute shops. Since I have a sugar problem, it's a safe bet I'll be scooping up some candy from Sockerbit.

This weekend is going to have a different kind of puppy time in it, though. A few months back, I signed up for orientation with Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue so I can start volunteering, and I finally made it off the wait list! I used to volunteer with a rescue league back home and have been wanting to get involved out here in NYC for quite a while, but I actually found that a lot of shelters are outside the city besides the big ones like ASPCA and the Humane Society, and I wanted to work with a smaller rescue where I can get more involved and be of help. 

Alright, back to wishing for spring weather to match up with the start of the season. Anyone going someplace warm that can fit me in their suitcase soon?

wearing:

Zara Coat

Zara Plaid Scarf

360 Sweater Cashmere Sweater

Rag & Bone Dre Jeans in Surfer

Loeffler Randall Fenton Bootie

Illesteva Sunglasses

Sole Society Bucket Bag

Sunday Morning // Link Love

This post is brought to you by my desire to be lazy this morning—because even though we're now halfway through March, spring is stubbornly refusing to come join us…today is barely 40 and very windy, and we're even going to see a night or two below freezing this week. Meanwhile, back home in Iowa, they're going to be above 80 tomorrow. That "8" is not a typo, unfortunately—but at least we've been warm enough to melt most of the snow, although a little has been lingering in a corner of my front yard that doesn't get much sunlight. This countdown is for real, though.

Despite the less-than-ideal weather, I'm still making an effort to end my usual winter hibernation (which never really even got into its full swing this year) and start exploring again. Recent weeks have included many a spring press preview, a trip to both the ballet and a favorite off-broadway theater, Orchid Night at the New York Botanical Gardens (though the grounds were smothered in snow at the time), an ass-kicking workout at The Fhitting Room that left me sore—in the best way—for two days after, an intro party for this year's Spring Street Social Society members and a meet-and-greet with one of Instagram's most famous dogs yesterday. So, this year is off to a pretty decent start…although I do need to be getting a few more workouts in somehow, because eventually we'll get some beach weather, right? 

Anyway, though I've not had much time for blogging lately (let's just say there have been a few too many nights lately where I fall asleep with all the lights on before I even wash my face), I have been bookmarking some things around the web that I wanted to share!

Read this:

• The other side of getting healthy–and how it can make you financially un-healthy.
• The Scam of Olive Oil, and how to avoid it. 
• Why writers should talk about where their money comes from. I think this should stretch to blogs, too. 
• Fascinated by this blog. What would you save if your house burned down, and what does it say about you? 
• This is not a new concept, but why you should aim to create more than you consume.
• 10 Truths You Need to Accept to Get Good With Money (yes, I visit Chelsea Fagan's witty and smart blog daily). 
• Really intrigued by this investing app. Have you tried it? What do you think?
• How to freeze herbs so they last.
• This topic isn't new, either, but one that still needs examined—on why "busy" is a sickness.
• Opting Out of Motherhood. While I'm glad to see this topic is becoming less taboo, I still dislike that women have to defend their personal choices. 
• And, speaking of motherhood, 10 questions to ask your mother.

Shop these:

• Zappos has a killer selection of Converse sneakers for the spring and summer. 
• Speaking of shoes, it's no secret Loeffler Randall makes some of my favorites, and their SS '15 collection is no exception.
• Remember those rag & bone shorts that were everywhere last year? They're back—I'm already planning to scoop up a pair. 
• Madewell's got a great selection of sunglasses right now—these ones remind me of sunshine incarnate!

*image via

Brocade This, Brocade That

I'm going to both apologize for and blame any mistakes or grammatical errors in this post on House of Cards...

I wanted to finish the season before too much time passed and someone inadvertently spoiled it for me, which meant multi-tasking between blogging and Netflix (thankful for whoever invented Smart TV's). I succeeded at about 10p last night…and all I'm going to say is, this was really Claire's season (sorry, Frank!). I haven't talked to many other people who watch it yet, so if you did I want to know what you thought of the season! 

Anyway, back to the reason for today's post, aside from the fact that I needed to get one up since it's been a while (oops). Let's rewind to a few weeks ago—I don't want to get too in-depth on NYFW because really, what do I have to say that's different from what anyone else can say? I think Hallie summed up what's going on in the blogging industry side of NYFW pretty well in this post; I did very little reach-out on behalf of my blog, but I did attend some shows for work—or, more aptly, I had invites to a lot of shows for work that I didn't even make it to. We hosted a little party at the SoHo Grand on Friday night that week, which meant an early morning, late night, and whopping five shows missed that day (including my favorite, Suno!). 

Saturday rolled around and I finally rolled my already-dragging ass out of bed to hit up Tibi & Mara Hoffman, which the NYFW gods had put one right after the other in locations 50 blocks apart. I hoofed it a few blocks east after the Tibi show to beat the crowds, snagged a cab, and zoomed uptown as fast as I could. Both shows were beautiful in their own right—Tibi had a great color palette for fall with unexpected pastels and soft, chenille-like fabrics, while Mara Hoffman continued to grow away from her signature printed fabrics and experiment with embellishments and hints of oversized accents. Afterwards, I met up with Emily to grab some much-needed caffeine, catch up before she jetted off somewhere warm, and snap some photos in the snow…we are fashion bloggers, after all, and what's a winter without snow photos? I kid, obviously, but it does make a nice accent (and help hide the huge bags under my eyes). 

It will be interesting to see how NYFW continues to evolve in coming seasons to accommodate bloggers and the demand for instant gratification, but for now I'm just glad it's over. It was right back into a busy work week for me after the weekend, and I haven't really slowed down since—spring is coming, after all! I've been packing my calendar and just this past weekend saw both the New York City Ballet and a Broadway show; yesterday morning was spent hanging out at Jonathan Adler's incredible SoHo store to kick off his collaboration with Pond's, and tonight I'm going to get my ass handed back to me with my first-ever class at the Fhitting Room's new location in Flatiron. Wish me luck! 

Zara Jacket (old)

Elizabeth & James Brocade Blazer

J. Crew Blouse 

Acne Studios Jeans

Tibi Brocade Boots

3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli

Bite Beauty Lipstick in Violet