"Merry Christmoose"

I have very clear memories of the "Christmas book" that my Mom would tote around with her throughout the holiday season. This book kept the "naughty and nice" list for everyone in our family,  planned our holiday meals, and also documented everything that my brother, sister, and I were asking Santa for each year. It didn't take me long to figure out that she kept a running lists of the gifts that she bought for us in that book. I was that child who consistently did my absolute best to ruin surprises that my parents had up their sleeve (although they were wise to my tricks and usually managed to pull a fast one on me anyhow)...so it doesn't come as a shock to me when I received the following email from my Mom yesterday that said:

I am cleaning out my closet, and I came across one of the books where I wrote down ideas and selections for each of you for Christmas. Sure enough...on the last page, a note from Milltini, letting me know she was lurking: "Hi Mommy! Merry Christmoose!"


Pretty bold move as a child, huh? Not only are was I breaking ALL the rules by taking an unauthorized peek at the Christmas gift list, but I also made no attempt to hide it...in fact, I WANTED her to know that I had been snooping. Pretty bold, indeed.

Are any of you guys habitual surprise-ruiners/Christmas gift snoopers like myself?

Holly Golightly--Style Icon for the Ages

Who doesn't love Audrey Hepburn, right? This weekend, while D. was out of town on a boys trip, I took the opportunity to jam in as many chick flicks as I could...starting with Breakfast at Tiffany's. It had been a good long while since I had seen it, and it really is one of those movies that strikes me with something different every time. Mostly what gets me is Audrey's beauty, and also the iconic style of Audrey's character, Holly Golightly.  Look at all the different style staples that can be traced back to this one character--the little black dress, classic pearls to make an outfit, statement jewelry pieces, oversized sunglasses, etc. The film was released in 1961, but the looks that define Hepburn's character transcend time and place. Her style set the bar for classic elegance and sophistication that the fashion industry and women around the world continue to emulate even today. Let's take a look, shall we?

First things first, her iconic LBD and the fabulous pearl necklace that draped in the back. This outfit will forever be the picture of Audrey Hepburn that I have in my head.

Another amazing LBD, this time with a little fringed flair for added interest.

The Grecian-inspired party dress--the picture of sophistication

I'm pretty sure I just saw that exact coat at J. Crew  online: the button detail, the fabulous color, the bucket hat, and the oversized sunglasses...this picture might as well have been taken in 2009!

The wrap dress--I wonder who made this particular one. Today, you could find the exact same style (and maybe even color) from the likes of Calypso and DVF .

And finally...who doesn't find a happy ending in a classic Burberry trench?

In fact, I'm channeling Miss Golightly myself today (and also serving as an unofficial advertisement for Starbucks, I suppose), but nobody can pull it off quite like she did....*sorry for the awful picture quality.

That's all the fashion chatter and style musing from me today, hope you all have a great one!

***Update, Sarah from a life more exciting brought up an excellent point when she asked "where the hell were you taking pictures"....she thought my place of work had some freaky bathrooms and that I was actually taking coffee into the bathroom with me. Valid point, but rest assured this picture was taken in the elevator on the way to work and I don't bring coffee, or any other food/beverage items for that matter, with me to the bathroom...unlike one of her co-workers (to learn more, please check out her blog and the story of the mysterious corn kernel found in her office bathroom  .

Jewel School

As much as I love the little black dress, I've come to the recent conclusion that I need to infuse my wardrobe with a little more color...color of the jewel tone variety. Color that is bright, vibrant, and perfect for almost any occassion. Lucky for me, jewel colors abound this season. Here are some of my favorites:

Aidan Mattox via Saks

BCBG from Saks

Topshop

Jay Godfrey via Saks

Milly via Saks

DVF via Shopbop

The colors seem to be all over the place, but I found countless options that caught my eye at Saks. Which is your favorite?

Your Closet: Rent vs. Own?

An article in the NY Times recently featured a company called Rent the Runway that is in the business of "renting" designer dresses for a fraction of their retail cost. The business model is not necessarily a new one, Netflix does it for movies and Bag, Borrow or Steal has been doing it for handbags and accessories for some time now; but the idea of renting high ticket items versus actually purchasing them does serve a specific need, doesn't it? For example, I go to a lot of weddings and recently found myself staring into my closet full of dresses, lamenting that I had nothing to wear to an upcoming one. I have plenty of dress options, but I have worn them all multiple times and have grown a little bored with them...it would be nice to have a low-cost option for spicing my wardrobe up a bit every now and again. The business model that the Rent the Runway founders are operating is an interesting one...rent a designer dress for a special event at rates anywhere between $50 to $200. There is, in my opinion at least, a certain threshold up to which I would be willing to pay to rent a dress (probably around $50-$75, maybe even up to $100 depending on the designer and the dress), but beyond that I don't see the point in paying for a rental--$200 is a lot to pay to RENT something and if I'm going to shell at that kind of money I want to own it, ya know? I guess it also depends on how often you use the service: if you only use it  once a year for a very special event, then maybe it would be worth it? Otherwise, maybe the best option we have is to continue to raid our friend's closets when we've reach a point of frustration with our own. Regardless, it is an interesting concept, especially in tougher economic times when a new party dress isn't necessarily on everyone's list of top priorities.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be hopping on the clothes rental train anytime soon, but I am interested to hear any opinions that may be out there about services like this? How useful do you think something like this is? Have any of you signed up for it, or do you think you would consider joining it? Does anyone do the Bag, Borrow or Steal thing?

While the concept of renting designer pieces is interesting, I think I'm more of a believer in the Carrie Bradshaw mantra: "I like my money where I can see it...hanging in my closet".

Twitter posts, in blog form

My mind is way too scattered to flesh out an actual blog post of any substance today. So...I'll just leave you with a series of random thoughts/statements that really should be twitter streams, but that I'm going to string together as actual blog content because its my blog and I can cop out if I want to, right?

I cannot believe I have to wait until next summer to see another episode of Mad Men. Every TV show that comes on between now and then will pale in comparison to this show in my mind. If you don't watch it, I suggest you go as quickly as you can to the nearest place where you purchase/rent videos and pick up Season 1 and Season 2 and watch them straight through. You will not be disappointed. Then I suggest you download Season 3 episodes from iTunes, or wherever else they are found (can you watch them online? I'm not sure)...and then I promise you REALLY won't be disappointed. Season 3 was even better than the two before it. It is an awesome show, I can't wait to see what they have in store for the characters in Season 4.

In other news, I'm back from a wonderful weekend in Nashville. M&R's wedding was absolutely wonderful, the two lovebirds could not have been more joyful and giddy to become husband and wife. Aren't they cute?

We had a great time, it was so fun to see so many friends--many of whom I hadn't seen for several months. Several of you commented on my last post that I attend a lot of weddings--which is a true story, but I wouldn't miss a single one of them because this "everybody's getting married" phase comes along just once in our lives (we hope) and I want to make sure I'm there to support each and every one of my friends as they take the plunge. Plus, its a wonderful excuse to get everyone together! Here are a few  pictures from the weekend:

Finally, I signed up for a 5K in December yesterday! It should be cold, but I'm looking forward to it. Its been awhile since I have run in an actual race event like this, so I'm looking forward to dusting off the old running shoes and hitting the pavement.

Ok, so that's pretty much all I've got for right now. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Nashvegas Bound

Got my boots packed and I'm off to Nashville for M&R's wedding weekend! Schedule is pretty jam-packed with activities of a celebratory nature, but IF I were to have some free time--what would you do, where would you go? I've been a few times, but I always love to get fun travel trinkets from the rest of you.

In other news, I'm sending positive vibes and happy thoughts to my love Kate who will be walking for THREE STRAIGHT DAYS this weekend (starting today actually). So proud of her, such a great cause .

Everyone have a wonderful weekend, capish?

Missing the boat...

My mom sent this to me yesterday and I thought it was too good not to share. The title read: "For all of your procrastinators out there..."

I don't know why she thought this might resonate with me. I don't know the first thing about "procrastinating"...har har....