We’ve been moving 5th child into university the past few days, and we’re all lingering about, hanging on, fading summer. She opted out of her dorm room last night, and we we’re three in a bed, priceless.
It’s been a summer for the record books, husband and I basically checked out of professional life for two straight months, (him, not so much, me, 100%), and late this afternoon we fly home.
dress | Worth New York
Tomorrow first thing I’m back into styling, and I’m going in cold. Simply gonna jump, no time for slow immersion, stunning new fall clothes arriving overnight air to studio, and late afternoon client appointments.
Thank you, Michele, for reaching out and inviting us to visit and reminding me how lucky we are to dress amazing women in beautiful clothing.
Two weeks ago Saturday oldest daughter was married and it was a very best day and the very best blur. Of course we have crystal clear memories, yet honestly it was all so magical and all so fast, kind of like all best days, leaving an indelible and permanent feeling of euphoria on the mind and in the soul.
Yes, it was a very best day: two families and the gods and the stars aligned. A singular new little family of two was formed, and our two respective families and friends grew exponentially. Love all around.
To get to that day and place required each and everyone of us put forth our very best efforts. The team was immense, intimately intertwined, and planning started the very next breath after the giddy engagement, November 5th. If my math is right, it was exactly 40 weeks of planning and preparation, equal to what goes into a birth, which are my other best days, each one internally tattooed.
Proper ceremony was in the city, and beautiful reception in the country. Husband and I moved ourselves into our summer house the last week of June and gardened our hearts out until the very morning of August 11th, it was heaven on earth.
Today is Monday and there are new beginnings happening all around us. Fifth child starting her collegiate sophomore year and sixth and youngest beginning her first. Oldest son soon to celebrate his third decade, and newlyweds moving from NYC to Boston next weekend.
Thankful for life, and all of its idiosyncrasies. Wishing everyone their very best blurs.
xoxo
professional photos | Sarah Bridgeman @ sarahbridgemanphoto.com
Mom, chic soon to be seventy-nine year old, thought this dress looked flirty, and now, after looking at photos, kind of agree.
Bought it in San Francisco at Saks in Union Square in July, and the husband picked it out. He has a good eye. Wore it recently for oldest daughter’s rehearsal dinner. Felt great. Never underestimate the confidence giving feeling of good clothes.
We love the kind of quiet sophisticated hue and the kind of crazy eyelash print, and the ease of fit. Paired it with a pair of lace block heels, a small top handle bag, and done. Flirty it is, and at fifty-three we’re good with the crew neckline, the below-the-knee length, and the A-line skirt shape. Ease over fitted for the win, at least this time around here at every day dress.
xoxo
really looking forward to getting back in the groove….
Never mind book club, we’ve joined a farm share for the season and couldn’t be happier. Picked up our box last week Thursday, and have cooked and baked from it since.
We’re all about eating fresh, and working on adding in more plant-based items to the daily rotation. Work it is, as I find plant-based a bit challenging, and honestly kind of time-consuming. Maybe it’s just getting in the swing of it, not sure, simply seems to take forever to chop so many ingredients to arrive at great flavor. I have to say though that once the prep is done, the results and the taste and the variety of meals you can create is worth the effort, so go figure. Daughters in the house love when I cook this way, they are all over the Cucumber Rounds w/Cashew Cheese Tapenade.
soaking heirloom tomatoes for consomme and cashews for ‘cream cheese’
recently bought 3 bistro tables from Amazon for entertaining activities
Friday night committee meeting
we like odd numbers
tomato consomme shooters with avocado garnish
roasted pepper pesto crostini with fresh horseradish garnish
cucumber rounds with cashew cheese tapenade and garnished with balsamic figs
prepping Beefless Southeast-Asain satays
serving Beefless Southeast-Asian Satays with Peanut Sauce
(don’t think I’ll ever do this one again, would rather use grass-fed, organic beef)
On Friday I was in kitchen heaven as entire family was out and about. Simply settled in with a counter full of plant ingredients and did what I could for a little patio and lawn committee party we had that evening to kick off WNY Women’s Foundation Fall in Fashion 18. Lovely evening, lovely women.
Sunday night halibut and asparagus
Monday morning halibut on toast with fresh squeezed OJ
As for creating, this morning we started with last night’s halibut garnished with olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade, protein at breakfast in our every day dress world is always a good idea.
strawberry rhubarb pie
A few disclaimers:
Started here as a ‘style’ site and feel like we’ve evolved more into maybe a ‘food’ site? Whatever, we’re passionate about both, even if involves most of our time spent in denim. We can still clean up nice when needed. 🙂
If you read my posts on Facebook, here is my apology: I am freaking terrible at Facebook, and one of my young admins linked my blog to Facebook seasons ago and I still haven’t figured it out, oh, well, always learning and figuring things out. Sorry if I’m not good at replying to comments.
living in denim, and sneakers, and a puffer, still in June
black cotton dress, Dior bag, guitar strap, waiting for Uber
Saturday office look, new shoes, and loving Diet Coke in a glass bottle
Joined a farm share, and had a plant party. xoxo, Rebecca
Weekend activities included several trips to grocery and nursery as even though the landscape guy said he could/would fill the pots, I simply just couldn’t wait.
Large purple plants were on display at grocery for what seemed like weeks and no-one was buying, snow flurries and all. Scooped up 8 of them in two separate trips, and than 5 flats of violas, two separate trips also, at the nursery down the street. Had some potting soil on hand and away we went, dressed up all 8 pots, all monochromatic, because that’s just easy. Never mind we had to cover them all with clear kitchen trash bags while the temperature dipped at nightfall.
Need some spring, and just couldn’t wait.
Happy Monday dear readers, and almost, can you believe it, May?
Six years ago today we put our first post up here, and if we’re completely honest with ourselves we’re looking to reclaim some of our mojo. It’s kind of funny, no one is really out there waiting for a new entry. Yet when we don’t write I feel anxious, and let it go for a while, and then feel more anxious, and then it feels even harder to get back to it. Kind of like the gym, when you’re in the habit it’s a daily do, and you feel better, even when you don’t.
So, here goes: writing and posting here keeps my brain engaged, even if it’s simply content about food and clothes. We’ve had a love affair with both for as long as we can remember, and we’ll need to be fed and dressed for as long as we’re here so content continues. If you’ve been a reader for a while thank you, I like sharing my space.
Several years ago through my professional work with Worth New York I heard Tom Black, entrepreneur and wine collector, speak. Motivational, yes, and since then I’ve subscribed to his Success Quotes for Daily Living. Yesterday, this landed in my inbox:
Ignore all hatred and criticism. Live for what you create, and die protecting it. – Lady Gaga
And with that, we continue. Every day dress, and every day cook. Food and clothes, in any order, with as much style as we can gather.
of the several group photos this one’s a favorite, as it shows love, laughter, movement, and no perfect posing
Photos here are of recent visit to Charleston, South Carolina. Easter Sunday we brunched at The Obstinate Daughter, Sullivan’s Island, and did a beach walk afterwards, thank you, Lucy. There were eleven of us in total, now ten of us are back in the northeast and we’re all waiting on spring.
Four daughters will buy suits in multiples, me, not so much. I’ll do one at a time, maybe two. Husband and I dropped oldest at Tampa International Airport, and then stopped at International Plaza to run in and return a broken belt buckle at Louis Vuitton, and to pick up a new suit.
Two things about this quick visit, Louis Vuitton handled the repair with grace and courtesy, and will be shipping out a new buckle in a few weeks. Nice, good things go on. When I started this site seven years ago I thought I was starting a site about fashion for the over forty set, and now it seems it and I have evolved to more about style, not necessarily fashion, and style with respect to clothes, food, make-up, life, and perhaps not that age specific. Fashion to me can feel exhausting, and endless. Style feels like it can be cultivated and counted on for the long run. That Louis Vuitton belt and buckle will endure.
Now, secondly, the suit: we’re in Florida for a little so obviously spending some time poolside. I brought a classic black Eres tank suit, (actually gifted to me by the husband a few years ago), and a Dolce & Gabbana floral bikini I picked up last summer in Portugal. The Eres suit is as classic as classic gets, and fourth daughter likes to wear it as a bodysuit with her denim. With proper care it will last a good, long time, yet it’s not a piece I like to wear when sitting pool side, it’s a little hot. I wanted to add another to the rotation, and prefer a two-piece for pool time, and don’t care about maybe a two piece is not the best look for women my age in some opinions, in my upstate New York State of being. Truth: last summer posted to Instagram while wearing a white Eres bikini, outdoors in the country side cooking for the family, our dog in the background, and it was reported, and deleted. Come on, really? Is that why I get seated in the backside of the restaurant for breakfast when dining alone yet when I return with the twenty-something daughter the very next day we are shown a table up front and center? Yes, this is a tangent, and probably worthy of more space yet simply had to get it out there. While traveling in Europe I never feel or sense this ageism, two piece suit or not.
The takeaway? Women, wear what you want, and feel good. I’ll upload the photo of the suit I bought as a flat-lay, yet not going near the body in the suit, at least for now. Think I’ll wait until I’m sixty or seventy or eighty something, when I/we really look good feeding the family at the country house with the dog in the background.
Every day dress, a new suit, and it’s a two piece.
Snowing again, and we’re totally jazzed by the idea of a white suit, or really anything all white.
Here we go, writing and posting at the end of the day, and not very first thing, as we had researched about habits, and productivity. There’s always tomorrow, that’s what we really love about the every day.
In a few days second daughter, or now MOH, (that’s Maid of Honor in wedding lingo, something I had no idea about), travel to NYC for a round of white dress look sees with first daughter, bride to be, (or is it BTB?). Obviously there’s been a lot of dress looking, for the bride and the wedding party online and on Pinterest, (another social site we’re just not that good at), and this has us thinking about a lot of white.
So, above you see some looks I’ll be working with this spring/summer 18 for clients, and myself. Our spring selling season opened today, I was in the studio wearing not yet a white suit, but white denim. I was cleaning, and prepping the show calendar, and organizing. A white suit for so many women sounds amazing, particularly in the middle of winter, yet for now we’re going with white denim (yes, white denim for sure in winter), and the standard but luxurious black turtleneck sweater. No photo, simply imagine the simplicity.
Over the weekend we we’re thinking about what it is that we really do, and why. We like to help answer the professional question ‘what to wear’, and the personal question ‘what to eat’. We love good clothes and the start of a new season, and we’re always honestly thinking about our next meal, truth.
We kind of wore a suit over the weekend, denim on denim while out in ski town, and last night upon arrival city-side cooked up a quick delicious batch of The New York Times Creamy Pasta with Smoked Bacon and Peas. Anyone that’s not eating vegan, or gluten-free etc. should have this in their repertoire, it’s a supremely good basic. All ingredients can and should be pantry staples. Add a green salad and dinner can be on the table in about twenty-five minutes.
What to wear and what to eat?
At the end of January it’s denim, of course, blue, black, or white, and lots of black knitwear. Moving towards spring, a white dress, and a white suit.
