Love in a hurricane?

From time to time, I've done a bit of wedding planning for friends or friends of friends.  And the first wedding I ever worked on took place back when my first hurricane rolled right into DC - and I spent the entire morning of trying to scour whatever candles were left in the greater DC area for the sunset ceremony.  And I have a special place in my heart for any one that gets rain on their wedding day since it rained on ours...No...it poured.  Not a hurricane, but pretty much a wall of water.  On what was supposed to be a lovely sunny day in Poland, or at least, that's what I had been promising people.

But no matter - things like rain on your wedding day might ruin some plans, but it also brings good luck (I choose to believe that as a rainy day bride) as well as a strange opportunity to have a memorable event.  This couple, featured in the Washingtonian, was scheduled to get married this past weekend during the Irene hoopla, and looks like they took it in stride.  And that picture with the umbrellas - that's what they'll show people for years to come.  We certainly do.

and a little shot of our own rain:

Photography by Lisa Boggs, via Washingtonian.
Photography from our wedding (last two images) by Gaia Mikosza.

100 GRAND!

I'm sure for all those who blog professionally or have been blogging for some time, this number would be tiddly-winks (how much do you love the word "tiddly-winks" - almost as much as you might love 100 GRAND bars I bet), but yesterday the blog cross 100,000 views - hurrah! Chocolate bars all around!

Thanks for reading along and here's to the next 100 (grand)!

Surf's up...

Although there's not but a day left in August, I refuse to call an end to summer until after this weekend.  Which means that we can squeeze in just one more beach house.  We didn't have much of a beachy summer this year with everything going on, so I've been living vicariously and this house, featured recently in House Beautiful seems like a good one to wrap up the last days of sunshine and popsicles.  From the use of bright colors, like orange and pink (love!), on a base of white (love love!), to the adorably funky (love love love!) powder room to the perfectly fun and functional master bedroom (love love love love!), this has everything you look for when celebrating the season of Vitamin D without being too overwhelming or too "done".  Let's file this one away for the day when a summer house will be in reach - in the meantime, maybe that guest room is free this weekend?

For the record, if we ever did this look, we'd have a head start - those are our dining room chairs here in DC!

Photography by Johnny Valiant for House Beautiful.

Object of my affection: A Propper Topper...

The fact that I'm obsessed with hats is not a new development, and a couple of times a year I splurge with gorgeous work that Leah C does (delicious hats but they're an investment, I'm hoping one day my daughter will appreciate the collection that will become hers).  In fact, I just reveled in a new Leah C piece for last week's baptism - more photos on that to come - and her holiday collection will be on the way soon as well (time to save for another!)

But I might have to stray this fall for this piece from BHLDN - designed by James Coviello and called the Swing Step, it's got so many elements for you can't help but love: pheasant feathers! peacock feathers! velvet bows! sillk flowers! all on one hat!

Discrete it's not, so it's not for the faint hearted but then again, if you're going to wear a hat, you might as well go all out!

Images from BHLDN.

Sunday Shots: Walk through Provence

Photo by The New Diplomat's Wife.

Exotic America: Stormy weather...

Extra water, check.  Flashlight, check.  Diapers, check.  Non-perishable food items, check.  Critical reading material, like the September Issue of Vogue, check.   And case of champagne, check.  We're ready.

Just loaded up the playlist and we're good to go.  Here's what we'll be listening to as the rains come down - have a safe weekend everyone!

Songs for a Hurricane:

1.  Thunderstruck....AC/DC
2.  Hurricane....Bob Dylan
3.  Like a Hurricane...Neil Young
5.  Bad Moon Rising...Creedence Clearwater Revival
4.  Here Comes the Rain Again...Eurythmics
5.  Destroyer...David Gray
6.  Early in the Morning...Peter, Paul and Mary
7.  Riders on the Storm...The Door
8.  Who'll stop the rain...Creedence Clearwater Revival
9.  Stormy Weather...Lena Horne
10.  Stormy...Santana
11.  Have you ever seen the rain?...Creedence Clearwater Revival
12. Umbrella...Rihanna and Jay-Z

(as you can see, CCR features prominently in this playlist - who knew they were such crooners of the rain?)

Object of my affection: New Heights

The Tribtoo is back.  I know what you're thinking.  "It looks like a hooker shoe".  I assure you it's not.  "It looks uncomfortable".  I assure you it's not.  "It's too expensive.".  Well...there you might have a point.  At $795, it's no steal but that's why it's an object of my affection and not an object of my closet (yet).  I tried these on a few years ago at a store, and ooooo, they make your legs look good.  Last year, YSL issued these with a wacked seven inch heel (um, sounds like a good way to break an ankle) but this fall's model is much more manageable 4 inches, with just over an inch being covered platform, making it not that much higher than an average heel.  And so many choices! Patent cap! Slingback! Gray!

Put these on the fall inspiration list!

Photos from Neiman Marcus.

Exotic America: Highway 1



All of today's earthquake madness made me realize I forgot one batch of photos from our California trip.  Perhaps there is nothing more exotic America than the open road and one of the most dramatic candidates is Highway 1, very much worth a driving tour.  A particularly beautiful stretch can be found between Carmel and the Big Sur park area - gorgeous colors, precipitous drop offs, and shades of blue waves that make me wish I knew how to surf (except for around here it looks a bit cold in that water).  State parks full of trails and picnic places dot the road and offer plenty of first class photo ops.  Apparently the scenery is not only for people either - California cattle graze by the oceanside (which makes this a back up plan in case my reincarnation as an alpine cow doesn't work out). It really is one of the most unique coastlines that you'll see worldwide.

Photos by The New Diplomat's Wife.