J.Crew Accessories Catalog

I came home from my second week on the road to this lovely treat from J.Crew in my mailbox. I am obsessed with the Maribou feathered clutch below, and have a serious case of want for pretty much everything else in there. J.Crew accessories are always perfection, and while the prices are certainly not budget-friendly, its still much more accessible then most similarly chic items.

By the way, all images are from J.CrewAholics, which is seriously the best source for info on all things J.Crew online. I just adore it.

Rugged Nautical Style

(Love the minimalist white walls, modern furniture and vintage sealife prints left unframed. I imagine it as light-filled artist's studio.)

I am really digging the rugged seaside looks often featured in Coast (UK). I adore almost all beach house looks, be they New England nautical, tropical brights or California breezy, but I admit they can get a little generic at times.

These rooms however, give off a more masculine and industrial vibe, which I haven't seen much of before. I think this would be a great option for city dwellers who want to escape to a beach house, but don't want to trade in their usual minimalist aesthetic.

Continuing with the studio vibe, I can picture this room as a study for a sea captain penning his great "tale of the sea." Adore the weathered walls, vintage typewriter and hurricanes.

I love the low-key splash of coral on the seat cushion here. Coral is horribly overexposed right now, but it really is beautiful. A tiny accent like this could be a great way to incorporate the colors and pattern without overdoing it.

A great way to pull in sea glass colors, and how cute are the messages in the bottle?

Couldn't resist this heart made of driftwood...

Check out Coast UK for more photos (that and British Country Living are amazing!)

The Anatomy of a Breaking Wave

If you'll be so kind to let me indulge my ego, I imagine some of you have been wondering where I've been the past few weeks. The answer depends on the day, but it ranges from the rocky Atlantic beaches of Cape May, to the less picturesque, sixth floor of a K Street office building where I bask under the glow of fluorescent lighting, and most recently, a veritable smorgasbord of airports, airplanes and taxi cabs.

So when I decided to put up a post about one of my recent adventures, I thought I ought to go with the beaches of Cape May...after all, you all have your own, exciting cubicle jungles to explore.

One of my favorite beach side past-times is to plant myself in the sand with my feet resting where the waves advance the furthest and then recede. Much to my family's annoyance the majority of our vacation photos are close-up shots of my feet, sand and water. I can't help myself, there is simply no more relaxing visual on this planet then the path of a breaking wave.

Here is a series of photos I snapped of a wave breaking on Sunset Beach, famous for the quartz pebbles also known as "Cape May Diamonds" that wash up on shore.

Kate Moss, Cote Maison and Authenticity

Last year, I came across an article in The Guardian that explained (or so it promised) the key to Kate Moss's effortless style. One of the more interesting tips was #7, which proclaimed, "Go for Authenticity."

Hippy, punk ... glam rock ... 1960s ingenue ... 1920s starlet - Moss flits effortlessly between personae without ever looking like she is wearing fancy dress. She pulls it off because she always buys authentic pieces rather than "get the look" styles. If Moss wants hippy boots, she'll buy the original Minnetonka lace-up fringed suede boots. If she wants to go punk, she'll buy a Vivienne Westwood T-shirt from the late 1970s. She won't go to Topshop and buy a new T shirt with a "punk-style" slogan on. Whether it's a genuine 1920s beaded flapper dress, a man's trilby or Hunter Wellington boots, Moss's clothes have integrity, which is why she always looks like the real deal.

I found this notion fascinating because the idea of actually buying "the real deal" was unfathomable to me. I'd never been called a tastemaker...I was more of a taste-faker, and a tardy one at that. You'd think this would save me from a closet full of bad trends, but I always manage to buy the "it" trend from so and so's cool new line, about a week before it became this season's punchline. I didn't buy Uggs until middle-schoolers deemed them lame, leggings weren't purchased until a holiday weight gain made pants cut off my circulation, and, remember the cowboy boots trend a few years back? Well, I've been a cowgirl the past two Halloweens.

This "late lucy" approach to style meant I wasn't buying a trend until Forever 21 had it in 18 colors with zero natural fibers. Needless to say, I have the upmost respect for those brave souls who wore Frye cowboy boots in Fall 2005.

The same applies to decor. Pottery Barn is my biggest vice... well, that and burritos. I can't help that I'm a fan of real wood at a reasonable price. Furniture snobs be damned.

All of this brings me to the actual point of this post, which was this interesting home I found in Cote Maison. I consider it the Minnetonka moccasin of vacation homes. Not really my thing, but a very cool exercise in authentic living nonetheless. I like looking at homes like this because it allows me to pick up a few clever, "back to basics" ideas that save me from living in a Pottery Barn catalog. It's a great reminder to be unafraid to buy furniture that's a little beat up, mix in some quirky antiques, and bring in artwork picked up on my travels.

What about you? If you're an avid flea market miner, what are some of your favorite sources and tips for separating the gems from the junk?

Literary Inspiration: Truman Capote

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for all things beautiful: beautiful objects, rooms, homes, places, spaces, people. I'm the queen of judging a book by its cover (and I often do buy books for the cover alone.) Much to my dismay, this does not make me the specialest snowflake in all the land. Every person on the planet can acknowledge and appreciate beauty, however they define it. It's a much rarer talent to be able to describe beauty -- and that is why I love reading. I am constantly stunned by the ability of really great writers to describe a feeling, memory, object or place in a way that captures both what we can see, and what we don't.

A recent Oprah Magazine article by Jim Shepard focused on the art of great writing, aptly titled "Castles in the Mind." The main focus of the article to help writers and non-writers alike recognize that writings is not simply a God-given gift, it takes work, lots of it. Shepard explains,

"The same way when I looked at the Empire State Building, I thought, "What a beautiful building," and not, "Whoa. I bet that was a pain in the butt to build."

Of course, the same can be said about interior design, or many other professions. Naturally, being my weird self, one of my favorite things to learn about someone I admire is where they work or live. Whether it's a CEO's office, artist's studio or chef's kitchen I find the the objects, colors and habits of interesting people fascinating. (The Selby is a great resource if you're similarly interested). Take for example, Truman Capote's Hamptons home (as photographed by AD in 1976). While it may not suit everyone's tastes , I love how much Capote's personality shines though. The home manages to be both humble and eccentric, rugged and urbane, impossibly cool and ahead of its time.

Captions below are from AD.

The unpretentious exterior of the flat-roofed, box-shaped studio beach house, surrounded by sun-baked trees, was weathered and timeless.

The two-story living room communicated a mood of oceanside ease tinged with intelligence and humor. Highly personal objects, memorabilia and books—which included copies of his own works in several languages—were placed casually among the simple furnishings.

Capote created a “witchcraft altar,” as he called it, on a small set of steps in the living room. The altar displays an array of accoutrements, including an antique wood cat baring its fangs and arching its back, a bronze bell and a Cocteau-designed needlepoint mask pillow.

Capote’s bedroom was a spartan statement. Miniature wood chests of drawers and a gilt-framed mirror rest on wall ledges above his single iron bedstead. Beside the bed are detective magazines on a card table and a floor lamp for reading before falling asleep.

The living room’s expansive shelving extended to the upper-level gallery, which was reached by way of a steel spiral staircase. The drawing among the books is a pencil portrait of the author. Wicker furniture is beneath windows offering views of the Hamptons landscape.

In a brightly painted and comfortably arranged setting in the living room, the author wrote at this round wicker table. A pack of loose yellow unruled Sphinx paper, some notebooks, a photograph of Capote and his glasses share the space with an open copy of In Cold Blood.