30 December 2010

Is the Snow Gone Yet?

It's finally started to warm up a bit and it's supposed to be close to 50 degrees this weekend.  Thank goodness, it should help to melt all the darn snow that makes getting around in any normal (fun) shoes impossible.

Theory cardigan, DVF top, Joe's Jeans, Cole Haan boots, Hermes belt
I was tempted to bundle up again today but decided instead to add some color to my life.  I bought this DVF top at Barney's on sale about a month ago and hadn't worn it yet but cozied it up with a cashmere Theory cardigan (from the Wrentham outlets).  I also wore my Cole Haan riding boots even though there's slush everywhere, the curbs are hard to navigate and the brick sidewalks in my 'hood are still so slippery.  At least they have rubber soles.


It's too bad that the pretty pleated tulip sleeve was hidden all day under my sweater.  The only person who appreciated it was the girl in the gym locker room who commented on it as I was getting changed.

Nava Glazer leather and chain long necklace, SoHo street jewelry bracelet

Chanel necklace
And as always, no outfit is complete without accessories and jewels.

28 December 2010

Blizzard Attire


This is what my street looked like yesterday towards the end of the blizzard.


It still looked pretty but trekking around in it isn't easy.  This kind of weather always poses the what to wear dilemma.  I'm not usually one who dresses with practicality in mind but the weather caused me to make an exception to that rule.
Banana Republic sweater, J Brand jeans
I wore a basic black Banana Republic sweater, J Brand jeans that I bought from Rue La La and my sensible, furry, rubber soled boots.  I know, it's kind of boring but it was warm and cozy and the practical boots worked for my walk to work.  And maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to take a decent picture of myself that doesn't have my head cut off.   I guess that's what I get for rushing the pics as I'm racing out to work.

Louis Vuitton ring, Hermes belt, bracelets from SoHo street vendors

At least I spiffed it up with some accessories.

26 December 2010

My Christmas Back in Boston

There's an impending blizzard supposedly on its way to Boston but as of now, the snow is still falling relatively lightly. Elisha and I celebrated our Christmas today nestled in on one of the couches at the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons.  It was so lovely to be toasty inside and watch the snowfall.

Lands End cashmere turtleneck, J Crew skirt, Cole Haan boots
bracelet from street jeweler in SoHo, ring from Cadillac's Castle, belt bought in Charleston
I wore a cozy Land's End cashmere crewneck sweater, bright pink J Crew skirt and Cole Haan riding boots that are perfect for trekking through a limited amount of snow.

For the sake of keeping Christmas about spending time with family and friends and less about consumerism, my family and I for the most part have forsaken gift giving with a few exceptions.  One of my exceptions is my annual celebration with my dear friend Elisha.  She's over the top generous and here's what she gave to me.


I love these long hot pink leather gloves that she sells in her shop.  I bought them in brown but she knew I love the pink so she gave them to me.

Dior nail polish in Timeless Gold and City of Gold
These shiny gold Dior nail polishes are just oh so much fun.


I got home and put on Timeless Gold.


She also gave me this fabulous bracelet from her shop that goes with this necklace I bought awhile back.

As if that all wasn't enough, I got this gorgeous Louis Vuitton inclusion ring (the pic just doesn't do it justice).

How lucky am I?  All the jewels and baubles are so fun but only the icing on the cake to having such a wonderful friend to spend the holidays with.

25 December 2010

Merry Christmas from Florida

The Florida sunset from our backyard
I'm just back from having spent the holidays in Florida at my Dad and Susan's house.  The first dilemma of such a trip is always what to wear.  Packing for someplace warm(er) this time of year is always a challenge to me.  Especially when the warm Florida weather wasn't really all that warm. 

Chanel bag, Milly top, J Brand jeans, Chanel flats
This is really the only outfit you'll see from this trip and it's what I wore on the plane over.  I wore this Milly eyelet top that I bought a few years ago on sale, J Brand black jeans that I just recently bought from Rue La La with my trusty Chanel bag and flats which are ever present when I travel.

Chanel necklace and J Crew necklace

Hermes belt, leather and studded bracelets from SoHo street vendors
The rest of the trip didn't really lend itself to showing you all what I wore since we stayed in most of the time cooking and eating.  So the rest of this post will be about the food.

I'm a good cook and I love to get creative but baking has never really been my thing.  My first night in Florida, Susan and I were up after dinner anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sis and brother in law so we decided to fill the time by baking some cookies.  We were going to bake sugar cookies but most recipes call for making the dough and then chilling it for hours before baking and we just didn't have the patience for that.  Instead we made thumbprint cookies (recipe here) and we used strawberry and fig jam. 

Before baking
The finished product
One word of caution, baking after drinking too much wine can cause a few mishaps such as mixing ingredients together that shouldn't have been or softening butter in the oven with the residual heat from dinner (or so you think) but then you realize that the oven is pre-heating for the cookies.

After baking, but while still waiting for the arrival of my sis and brother in law, we watched a few episodes of Bobby Flay's Throwdown.  One of the episodes was an empanada throwdown and having never made them, we got the brilliant idea to make them the following night.  We were having the neighbors over and instead of doing the normal for us Italian menu we decided to mix it up .

There were leftover shortribs in the freezer from my brother in law's last trip to Florida so we stuffed the empanadas with that.  I should re-phrase and say by we, I mean my brother in law tried his hand at the empanadas, very successfully I might add.

We used store bought pie crust, rolled it out a bit thinner and used a martini glass to cut out rounds of the crust. 


The stuffed empanda pre baking
The delicious end result

We also made homemade guacamole.




The guacomole was made with three ripe avocados, red onion, half of a jalapeno (seeded much to my father's chagrin) and salt and pepper.  I would normally have thrown in a bunch of cilantro too but we had some cilantro haters in the crowd so we skipped it.

For the main course we made Mexican lasagna a la Rachael Ray (recipe here) and a basic salad with a very vinegary dressing.  We modified the lasagna a bit by skipping the beans (we had refried beans on the side instead), using ground turkey and using a different combination of spices.




And if all that wasn't enough, the neighbors brought over a homemade ricotta cheesecake.


For Christmas eve dinner, we followed the tradition of the Italians who celebrate the feast of the seven fishes.  We didn't quite have seven but we certainly had an abundance.
We started with some shrimp cocktail and followed with a feast cooked by my brother and Susan.

Susan made calamari salad.  She cooked the calamari ever so briefly and then cooled it in ice water to stop it from cooking.  This kept the calamari ever so tender.  She chopped up some celery, red onions and carrots and then we dressed it with a very lemony dressing that I made with lots of olive oil, the zest of half a lemon, the juice of the whole lemon, some fresh chopped oregano, about a clove of garlic and salt and pepper.

My brother made a very delicious linguine with clams.

The clams sauteeing


Very garlicy and delicious linguine with clams

My brother also stuffed two whole red snappers with loads of onions, lemons, garlic and whole sprigs of rosemary, sage and oregano.





All in all, a lovely few days with my family filled with more than plentiful and delicious food.  Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

21 December 2010

Wishing for Spring

OK so today is only the fist day of winter and Boston has just been blanketed with its first snow.  But a girl can still wish for spring, can't she?


I'm DYING over these red Miu Miu polka dot sandals.  Love the color.  Love the platform.  Plain old love.


How gorgeous is this orange Bottega Veneta dress?  Especially worn after being a bit sun kissed.

I can totally see myself running around in these Alexandre Birman ankle wrap sandals.

This YSL arty ring would be gorgeous with a regular old t-shirt and white jeans.

I think I should ask Santa for a Carribean vacation for Christmas!

20 December 2010

Sunday Supper: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

I had a package of ground turkey on hand so I was waffling between making turkey meatloaf or turkey meatballs and the balls won out.

In a bowl, combine ground turkey (I had about 1 1/3 lbs) with one egg and about 2/3 a cup of breadcrumbs.  You can use the plain breadcrumbs or the flavored ones.  I use the flavored but still add in more dried basil and lots of grated Pecorino Romano cheese.  Once combined form into balls.  If you're worried that you might need to spice it up some more, make a small patty and cook it to taste.


Fry the balls in some olive oil on medium heat until nice and brown.  They don't have to be cooked through at this point because they will continue to cook in the tomato sauce.

Once they are nice and brown, take them out of the pan.  In the same pan start the sauce.  I used two cartons of Pomi chopped tomatoes which I seasoned with some dried basil, salt, pepper and chili flakes.  Once the sauce starts to bubble a bit, put the meatballs in and simmer for about 45 minutes.



Once done, serve atop pasta of your choice.  I used Barilla whole grain linguine.


I drizzled the finished product with some really good olive oil and sprinkled with grated Pecorino Romano cheese.  Delish and plenty leftover for later this week and to archive in the freezer.

19 December 2010

Getting Gorgeous

We all know that it takes a lot of work to get gorgeous every day.  The multitude of lotions and potions is endless.  Here's what's in my arsenal of products.

Pureology products
I switch back and forth between the Pure Volume and Essential Repair shampoo and conditioner.  Each day I use Pure Volume thickening spray pre blowdry and either the Essential Repair leave in conditioner or ColourMax color protection spray. I know you all think my blond hair is oh so natural, but it's not so I need these products to keep my color treated hair eternally soft and shiny.


I definitely splurge on some things but certain things I buy at CVS.  I wash my face with Aveeno positively ageless exfoliating cleanser which seems to do the trick and is pretty inexpensive.  For face lotion with SPF I use La Roche Posay but for extra moisturizing I use Chantecaille's flower harmonizing cream and stress repair concentrate eye cream.  These are definitely on the high end spectrum of moisturizers but when it comes to keeping my older skin looking younger, I'm willing to splurge. 



After all the buffing, fluffing and moisturizing, it's time to put on my makeup.  I love Trish McEvoy's planners.  They just make it so easy to keep everything all in one place.  But I also really love MAC makeup so I mix and match the Trish and MAC stuff.  MAC has the absolute best eye shadow base and believe me when I tell you, it really helps keep the eye shadow on all day.  My favorite mascara is YSL.  I've tried all kinds but I always find myself coming back to it.

Trish McEvoy planner pages

I seriously think I must have just about every color eyeshadow that Trish McEvoy makes!

18 December 2010

Bedecked, Bedazzled and Bejeweled

Ring from some random street jeweler in SoHo, necklace/scarf from Elisha Daniels
What better time of year to go all out with the over the top jewels and accessories than the holidays?  Since I spent the better part of last week sick in bed I feel like I've already missed out on some of the holidays so tonight I was determined to make up for it.


I knew that I wanted to wear something sparkly and I was thinking I'd wear a sequin blazer that I bought last year at H&M.  But then this gunmetal sparkle dress that I bought close to five years ago at Nanette Lepore floated into my consciousness and when I put it on, it was exactly what I was in the mood for.

Nanette Lepore dress, Stuart Weitzman boots, Longchamp clutch
Even though the sparkle of the dress can stand on its own, I still amped up the bling by adding this scarf bejeweled with pearls and rhinestones galore. 

On another note, you know that "rule" where if you haven't worn something in a year you should get rid of it?  Well I no longer abide by that rule.  I can't tell you how many times I thought of getting rid of this dress for that very reason but tonight I was so glad to have it.  And as my wise and fashionable friend Elisha says on many occasions as she did tonight, it's more "now" than when you bought it.