color me kate

Ordinarily, I’m a lady that is in love with black. I went there a long time ago and apparently, never went back. (Psst — I’m talking about my clothes).

But with all this color-blocking showcasing on the sartorial streets of America, I can’t help but be intrigued to maybe cheat on my standard beatnik garb and bloom a little bit. Lately, I’ve been really inspired by Kate Spade. I tend to go through phases where I’m completely bored by what I’m seeing in stores. There’s just not a lot there to reel me in. Shopping is hard. (I know, right?) I’ve even been pinning less these days. WHAT is WRONG with me?

But a recent visit to Kate’s website slapped me out of my style stupor. I literally love EVERYTHING she’s got to show me these days. My head is full of wardrobe inspirations and ideas and I can’t wait to start dressing up my dull black threads with a little pop of Kate… er… color. Maybe I find it a little more relevant because Kate’s showing a little edge, but wherever it is she’s headed, I hope she doesn’t stop.

Check out my favorite Kate Spade finds on Pinterest.

i hope i don’t regret this…

Ugh. Valentine’s Day. I spent the greater part of my adult life hating it. But you know what? It’s not so bad. It really is what you make of it. I will say that all those V-Days (which my father non-affectionately calls “Singles Awareness Day” or “SAD”) when I was actually not attached stung a bit — friends getting showy floral displays from their significant others while I watched the tumbleweeds roll through my office… Yeah, that was really not my idea of a good time.

But, being in a couple, there’s always some expectation that you’ll do SOMETHING to acknowledge the day, even if, in principle, one or both of you think it stinks.

Last year, Chris set the bar impeccably high. It wasn’t so much the stuff that he got as much as the thought that went into it — it showed that he really gets me. He spent most of the day shopping in antique stores to find a couple of vases that I would like and then he arranged a couple of bouquets himself. I was so shocked and proud that he would go out of his way to do that.  He spent most of the afternoon preparing my favorite meal (grilled steak, potatoes and asparagus), which was delightful. Add to that a necklace that I love so much because if I had walked into that jewelry store, it’s the exact thing I would have picked out for myself. Exactly. I was floored. All this from a guy who hates Valentine’s Day because of the pressure it puts on people to be uncharacteristically sappy and overly romantic. What did I get myself into?

So, this year, determined to keep appearances casual, I picked up a pizza from Pi (seriously — one of the best things about living in St. Louis), bought a cheesy card (an Otter wearing heart shaped glasses saying “I hope your Valentine’s Day is Otterly Wonderful!” with an inscription that read “This card is cheesy — just like me and this pizza.”) No big deal, right? Well, into the first slice, I dropped it — possibly one of the best gifts I could ever give Chris. One that will sting me for 24 hours. On a day of his choosing, he gets to be right for the entire day. I have to agree with him about everything. This is a huge deal because most of the time, he feels like I don’t agree with him about anything. That’s because usually, I’m right. (wink).

The man was floored. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He immediately launched into his strategy: making a list of the things I normally won’t let him do or things where we almost always disagree. He’s not going to let this opportunity go to waste. Inevitably, this will be worth it because I value my relationship more than my ego and letting Chris be right (or think that he’s right or think that I think that he’s right) for an entire day will make him feel like a king. And really, isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is really all about — making the one you’re with feel valued and special? Even though it’s going to cost me a little bit of pride and it’s going to be really hard for me to bite my tongue on D-Day, which is what I’m now calling it, I know it was 100% the right gift for a man who I value more than pretty much anything.

Happy Valentines Day, Chris. I love you. And remember, memories last forever, so on D-Day, you better tread lightly.

cool chicks: adele

Every time I see Adele … pretty much anywhere, I fall in love with her all over again. Last night, it was the Grammys. It was her night. She earned every accolade awarded to her. Even though she has a voice and a talent so much bigger than the rest of us, she consistently allows herself to be relatable through her content, her presence and spunky genuineness. She’s the kind of gal that even at the height of her success, you feel that you could easily and almost comfortably sit down with for a chat and a pint. She’s so much of what’s missing in music these days — just a girl with a voice who loves to sing. Someone who doesn’t need to be polished to shine. Someone who, with every note she sings, makes you feel her pain and hate the bastard that made her feel that way.

I particularly loved her acceptance speech for 21: genuinely elated and emotional over receiving the honor of a lifetime after a transformative, and arguably tough year that included undergoing vocal cord surgery. But the best part, was what tranformed this icon back into the girl you could have a beer with at the pub: her complaint that admist all the crying, she “had a bit of snot.” Only Adele could pull that off with as much charm. I wonder if this is the first and possibly only time that the word “snot” has been included in a Grammy acceptance speech. But I wouldn’t have her any other way.

Watch the video from PopSugar below.

cool chicks: linda fargo

A woman after my own heart: fabulous hair and an affinity for animal print. I love Linda Fargo (SVP at Bergdorf Goodman). She’s always an inspiration.

Images courtesy of Zimbio and Fanpop

top ten: winter beauty essentials

Winter is great for many things — ice skating, down comforters, hot cocoa, scarves, mittens and snuggling. Those things aside, winter is a totally unapologetic meddler in the quality of one’s skin and hair. The static, the constant dry, itchy skin. Ugh! It’s almost got me craving the heat and humidity that comes with a Midwestern summer. Almost.

Below, my top ten essentials to help you make it through the remaining winter months relatively un-scaled.

1. Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, $6 Burt’s Bees

Sweet Almond Oil and Cocoa Seed Butter moisturize and soften cracked cuticles while Vitamin E and sunflower oil nourish dry, brittle nails.

2. Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream, in the neighborhood of $35 per jar, available online and at Whole Foods

Boasting a roster of all-natural ingredients including olive oil, beeswax, honey, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis extract, this “crème,” which is really more of a skin salve is intensely moisturizing and can soften scars, burn marks and relieve chapped, dry skin and eczema.

3. Miracle 7 Leave-In Conditioner Spray, $12.99 Sally Beauty Supply

A direct competitor with It’s a 10 Miracle Leave in Product at a lower price, this  spray protects and seals the hair cuticle, protects color, adds shine and fights frizz. Best of all (for me, at least), it’s a detangler, so less breakage of my baby fine tresses.

4. Aveda Hand Relief™, $20, Aveda

One of the best, most luxurious hand creams ever invented. You can even wash your hands once or twice without needing to reapply (which, in winter when all those nasty cold and flu bugs are roaming around your office is more than welcome).

5. Rosebud Salve, $5, available at Sephora

One of the best, most versatile salves out there. I use it on lips, skin, cuticles, dry elbows, and even minor burns sustained during holiday entertaining. One tub lasts forever for a minimal price of $5 a pop.

6. MAC Russian Red Lipstick, $14.50

Sometimes, in weary dreary winter, a gal just needs a pop of color.

7. Origins A Perfect World™ Antioxidant moisturizer with White Tea $39.50 at Origins

In addition to being just a super creamy, beautifully-scented facial moisturizer, this little gem is chock full of White Tea, a super-potent antioxidant that helps fight aging, stress and nasty environmental pollutants.

8. Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash, $8.99 at Drugstore.com

Soap can be quite naughty to your skin, especially drying in the winter months. Add to that escalating water temperature in your shower and upon exiting, your skin is likely to feel a little parched. Not so with Dove Deep Moisture, which is more like a cleansing lotion for your skin that helps seal in moisture.

9. Spa Wisdom™ Africa Ximenia & Salt Scrub, $28, The Body Shop

You’ve got to get rid of all that dead, dry skin somehow. This is one of my favorite ways to do it.

10. WATER

With all that moisture-sucking central heating going on, staying hydrated is super important and just good practice for your skin and hair all year long.

head case: losing the dryer

My hair and I have a somewhat abusive relationship. I’ve dyed, fried, teased, combed, brushed, burnt, curled, flattened, twisted and pulled it into submission since I could remember. Every morning, I spend about 30 minutes on my locks … most of it with a dryer trying to remove every last ounce of moisture so I can bound off to work, bouncy coiffure flowing behind me. With shorter hair, this isn’t as big of a deal, because I’m lopping off the evidence every couple of months. But as I’m in the process of growing out my hair, all that torture is front and center for everyone to see.

A recent post I wrote about minimizing my beauty routine focused pretty solely on matters of the face. But it got me to thinking … Those lovely goddesses that were inspiring me to put down the foundation bottle and pick up a little sanity and self love had something else — gorgeously shiny, clean, fuss-free hair. Hmmmm … what could they be missing? Well, probably a hair dryer to start.

The prospect of losing the dryer was a little scary at first. How could I ever show my head in public? I mean, I’m a gal that even takes my dryer along on camping trips. Slightly pathetic, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right? But I offer a valid point for consideration: women in France (you know, the ones who are envied by women the world over?), while also skimping on an overly made face, tend to eschew the hair dryer as well (along with other torturous heating devices) and embrace the natural texture of their hair. They do something most American women I know would never do — let their hair air dry. GASP!!! And you don’t see anyone looking away from Carla Bruni, Clemence Poesy or Audrey Tautou in horror, do you? Didn’t think so.

But seriously, there are some pretty legitimate reasons to think about:

Damage done: According to the blog The Beauty Brains (Where Real Scientists Answer Your Beauty Questions), blow drying causes a “flash drying” effect that not only removes the surface moisture but also removes water that is bound to the hair.  The effect of this flash drying is that the cuticles become dried, rigid and brittle. When the hair flexes, the pressure causes the cuticles to crack. One study showed cracks occurring not only on the surface layer of cuticles, but actually two and three cuticle layers deep. Combing hair with this degree of cuticle cracking causes significant breakage.

My, what a big carbon footprint you have: Consider the 1875 watts of electricity your dryer uses to power on. Now think about how long you run said hair dryer each morning. Now think about how OFTEN you use your dryer in a given week … or month… or year. Now, think about how much power we’d all save if every woman just let her hair air dry one morning each week. That’s a lot of electricity saved, my friend. Do your head a favor and lower your carbon footprint.

Precious, precious time: You only have 24 hours in a day. Subtracting those working, sleeping and personal maintenance hours of the day, what’s left for you? Say I skip drying my hair most days of the week, I save about 20 minutes on the low end. That’s 140 minutes each week; 560 minutes each month — or just over nine hours. That’s almost an extra DAY. In a year, that’s 6,270 minutes, or roughly 112 hours, or 4.6 days. Congratulations, I just gave you an extra week off of work.

So taking many of these reasons into account, this weekend I gave it a shot. And I tell you, the results? Not too incredibly different than what I get when I spend 30 minutes blasting it with hot air. And Chris happens to love the more down to earth, natural-looking me. And LORD! The extra time I had! MIRACULOUS! So … this morning before work … I did it again! It’s amazing. Life goes on without a hair dryer and no one has run away screaming.  I’m free, I tell you. Or, at least, I’ve been given the keys to the jail.

Tell me, would you consider giving your dryer a rest every once in a while?

no more resolutions … just words

Recently, as I was planning out my exhaustive list of resolutions for 2012, I took a break and visited a favorite blog of mine, Austin Eavesdropper, written by the lovely, whimsical and charming Tolly Moseley. I was so inspired by her New Year’s Post pointing to a tradition adopted in recent years — a movement, if you will, away from resolutions, which are limiting and exhausting. Instead, she chooses a New Year’s Word — one word that is intended to serve as an anchor in decision making. In 2010, her word was “balance.” Last year, “openness.” This coming year: “evolve.”

I LOVE THIS. Rather than an arbitrary list of restrictions and stifling guidelines for the coming year, choose one word that you can aspire to to help you make better decisions and grow. Inspiring.

So, scrapping my entire list of resolutions, I set out to choose my word. I thought about it for several days and thinking back on what I’ve struggled with in past years and the kind of person I want to be, I settled on it. Healthy. Healthy is my word. Healthy is my choice.

I mean, Madonna gets it ...

Simple. Empowering. Multi-faceted. And it’s setting well already.

Today, I went to the gym. I’ve had a gym membership for the past year and a half and it’s quite possible that the total number of visits to said gym could still be countable on two hands. So sad. But rather than focus on a resolution to visit the gym more, I simply asked myself when deciding if I wanted to watch another movie on the couch with just one more teensy sliver of leftover pear cake, “What would a healthy person do?” Duh. Just like that, I was sliding my feet into my new Vibram Five Fingers (total game changer, by the way) and heading my way down the street to get some time in on the treadmill. Afterward, I felt great. Empowered. Healthy. And quite pleased with myself.

Post-gym, I promised Chris I’d pick up lunch. Normally, without a second thought, I might have just popped over to McDonald’s or Lion’s Choice for no other reason than proximity and convenience of a drive thru. But I asked myself, “What would a healthy person do?” Probably skip McDonald’s. So, I hit the takeout bar at Whole Foods and picked up ingredients for a healthy, home cooked fish and veggies dinner while I was at it. Big hit with Chris.

Now, I’m taking time to write this blog. And several others for the coming week. Then I’m going to read. For pleasure. Why? Because a healthy person takes time for herself. And in 2012 and beyond, that is precisely what I intend to be.

Happy (and healthy) New Year, loves.