I normally don’t read DailyCandy much any more, but this interview with Linda Rodin, the creator of Rodin oils, is priceless.  I want to be just like her when I am ‘of a certain age’…

Blazer and handbag – TopShop

Top and flats – H&M

Shorts – Mango

Love,

Justina

Beautiful Simone Rocha Coat seen in the FT’s How To Spend It App this weekend.  Silk-mix and not cheap, £896, but a design that would suit lots of shapes and plus-sizes.  So pretty.

Farmer’s market attire. I think I was trying to “blend” in.

Fresh lemonade in lieu of caffeine.

It tasted more like lemon water, but it was good.

Cinnamon rolls just seem to taste better in the summer sun.

I bought bright zucchini and summer squash. Kait and I ended up making zucchini enchiladas. They were surprisingly tasty. Recipe soon.

I also bought fresh lavender and let it dry out in my car. My car smells like a garden right now; it’s magnificent.

After the farmer’s market, Kait and I stopped in a sweet tea shop for a nice chat. They have so many tea types and flavors. It’s so good that it’s overwhelming.

My current obsession is “Kettle Corn” tea. It has real popped popcorn in it. I can’t even articulate the flavor, but with a touch of rock sugar, it tastes like a carnival.

See, here I am gulping it down.

Kait got a type of green tea. It was delightfully citrusy and refreshing.

Also, don’t you just love her outfit? She thought it might be “too baggy,” but can clothes ever be too baggy? The answer should be no.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I have to say, it felt fabulous to trade in my work shoes for some weekend Chacos. So fabulous that I refused to wear real shoes to work today.

I keep the Brides magazine LIST in the front of my binder at all times, maniacally checking off items as they’ve been taken care of. For the 12-week mark, we are in great shape!

Since weekends prove our most useful time to hash out details, and our pet-filled house tempts us with constant and myriad distractions, we came up with the concept of the working brunch. This allows us an hour or so to go through things, binder and notebook in hand, draft to-do lists for the week, check off items we’ve recently completed, and sketch out the more creative elements. It lets us hold each other accountable, but in a public place, so bickering’s not allowed. And Bloody Mary’s or mimosas are always on hand, as is coffee, natch.

Josh isn’t the only man in my life who’s curious about what’s going on in that wedding binder…

This Saturday, I prepped for our brunch by laying out all my materials on the coffee table in the living room and getting busy. I realized that at our current stage, once we get through the sending of the invitations (which will happen throughout the course of this week and next), and I crank out my thank-you notes for the shower gifts, all that’s left to do for the most part are creative and fun logistics. Chair backs, final music selections, DIY place cards, and so on. I’m also working on a makeup lookbook for my bridesmaids and other cool projects that Josh couldn’t care less about, so it’s important to keep our sections separate.

Learn what your groom needs to be involved in, and what he doesn’t. If I start to ask Josh how he feels about hot pink blush on the bridemaids, his eyes will glaze over. But I could flip through these tear-outs all day with delight.

In order to keep everything organized, I’ve now separated the to-do lists into sections: Legal, Rehearsal Dinner, Ceremony, Reception, Honeymoon, and Assorted. Each one has a long list of logistics under it, both completed and not, so we can keep going back to each and checking off tasks as they are handled.

At brunch, we ordered egg whites, mimosas and coffee, and got down to business. My groom, usually distracted and not up for talk of the wedding during or after a long day at work, was in good spirits. He even humored me as we discussed the minute-to-second calculations of our processional music and logistics of the First Look, among other action items. I know that a part of Josh just wants to get this over with and arrive at the dance party on our wedding night, but it warms my heart immensely to watch him laugh as we come up with some silly surprises for our guests, and to get a little squeeze from him on our way out of the restaurant.

This polka-dotted binder serves as a miniature version of The Bridal Binder, which stays at home for safety sake. The rose-covered notebook offers a space where we can sketch and lay out details.

Post-brunch, we hightailed it to the mall for two important groom-specific fashion needs. The first stop was Cartier where my betrothed tried on the narrow platinum band he’s been eying and then, predictably, fell hard for a much more extravagant and interesting design. Whatever, this is what we’ve been saving for, I told him, and if he promises it’s never coming off, I don’t care what it costs.

The other need was not to be found at the mall after all, so we drove to the fancy shopping center at Highland Park and entered the heaven that is Ralph Lauren, where Josh found out two things: one, their suits look perfect on him, right off the rack; and two, this fact will likely end up being quite an expensive revelation for us down the line. One Starbucks run and twenty minutes later, we were curled up on the couch watching “What’s Your Number?,” him with iPhone in hand and me flipping through ELLE.

We enjoyed some much-deserved couch time on Saturday afternoon.

The truth is, you need your groom to participate in the planning of the wedding. Sure, there are things that he will never care about, like the colors you suggest for your bridesmaids’ manicures or the style of runner selected for the ceremony. But this is his day, and if your guy is anything like mine, he might just surprise you with some pretty serious opinions. (I never would have imagined, for example, that Josh would request an ombre cake, but I’m so glad he did. And our cake is going to be a true work of art, thanks to his vision). Get your man involved by ironing out the details in advance and giving him a manageable checklist. But don’t keep him from the fun part either. You’d likely be hard-pressed to find anyone who gets jazzed up about calling the caterer a fourth time to confirm there will be at least one gluten-free offering at the cocktail hour, but everyone likes to conceptualize the cool details of a fun party, your groom included. Let him in on the action, and always make sure there’s some booze on hand.

Deodorant cream (Kiehl’s)

Cologne (D.S. & Durga)

Shave kit (Harry’s)

Tooth paste (Marvis)

Foot powder (Gold Bond)

Soap (SMN)

Sounder Goods Original Shades Anchor:
Having a pair of sunglasses requires a bit of care. Recently I obtained a nice pair of American Optical Original Pilot Shades. In less than a week I managed to drop them 1/2 a dozen times. A neoprene strap wasn´t an option for this type of glasses. I was more then happy when Uwe from Amtraq / Bluesun yachts charter gave me the fitting Anchor for it. The special rubber fitting, fits on nearly all classic shades and the veg. tanned leather strap is very comfortable. Available in various leather colors and two different styles. The tight fit of the strap gives the glasses just enough place for movement, not too lose or too low.  Available within Europe via Amtraq distributed shops.

It´s holiday season, take care / anchor your shades!

Here at Established & Daughters we love, love, love a heel but boy do we suffer for it. Consequently we are thrilled to see that sneakers + dresses = cool. Tomboy chic, bring it on….

1. lecatch.com

2. Carolinesmode.com

3. Vogue.co.uk

4. Blog.mintsider.com

5. & 7. thesatorialist.com

6. & title image – WWD

www.pourlavictoire.com

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And the best part? Your first box is free! Just use the code FREEBOX and all you have to do is pay the $3.99 shipping! I got two nail polish colors and a hand scrub in my first box and for only $3.99, it’s an awesome deal.

Julep matched me with the Boho Glam style after I took my quiz, and I love the nail polish colors they sent me that matched the style (shimmery green and purple)!

If you refer your friends, you can earn Jules, which you can use towards free products and free boxes. If you’re going to take advantage of the free box promotion, make sure you enter my Julep code (18056038) into the referral box when you sign up for your account!

Trust me, you’ll definitely love Julep and all of the customized beauty boxes you get each month!

I can’t tell you how much I look forward to summer, but not in the way you would expect.  Sure, I like sunshine and vacations, but its the tomato and mozzarella all summer long that I live for.  Call me simple, but NOTHING beats fresh sliced tomatoes (room temp) with mozzarella and basil.  Make sure to use the best aged balsamic you can get your hands on, fleur de sel and fresh ground pepper.  The best summer meal ever…add an ear of corn and some grilled chicken if you’ve got company coming over.

I will let you in on a secret.  My favorite balsamic vinegar is Saporoso.  You can find it online…I bought my first bottle in Milan, and there’s no turning back from the best.  You can purchase various aged versions at http://www.houseofbalsamic.com.  The 8 year is magnificent, but the 6 year is excellent too.  You can also pick up a balsamic glaze for a similar effect (but not the same).  Whatever you do, don’t use cheap balsamic vinegar.  It will skew the taste to tartness, which will ruin the delicate balance.

All I can do now is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best!!

I’m off to the gym now guys!! Hope your all well

I no be ‘gentle’ woman at all,
I be African woman, original…

Sunshine means many things to many people and for men – especially for those more traditional ‘blokey-blokes’ – this means getting the chance to really play in the field of accessories. When the summer season hits you tend to see a surge headwear, bold coloured belts and of course… sunglasses. The right pair of shades on a guy can have the same effect as the perfect pair of shoes or that perfect bag on a woman’s outfit, and choosing the pair that works for your face is the key to getting that just right.

Classically some great figures in men’s style history have known exactly how to rock the perfect shades. For instance, James Dean, the screen icon from the 50s who had a more rounded/oval face popularised the wayfarer which added more structure and dimension to his face and helped him coin his stylistic take on relaxed, masculine, edgy dressing.

When you realise the frame that perfectly suits your face you will uncover a timeless, classic pair you’ll want to wear over and over again: industry insiders say it is best to go for a style that is opposite to your own face shape so as to balance your angles. So commonly heart shaped faces, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s (yes that might be why he was chosen for Romeo and Juliet), or even more square shaped faces suit more rounded sunglasses so as to counter-act the sharpness of their faces.

Likewise more rounded or oval shaped face types suit more structured designs such as wayfarers and aviators.

Once you have the perfect shape for your face then you can start to really have fun and jump down the rabbit hole of different trends. A classic trend which will always be around and perfects the jeans and simple tee look is the tortoise shell wayfarer – simple, understated and chic.

More contemporary versions of the classic tortoise shell style have been seen at Gucci who interpreted the style into aviators.

A favourite trend for this season is the clear, perspex frame which looks high fashion, contemporary and fresh and is very versatile.

Similarly the vintage, retro style is making a comeback on the high-street.

Also with the summer of festivals season gearing up the more braver fashion man may look to dabble in some of the more alternative sunglasses trends such as reflective, coloured lens or print frames.

Ultimately there is a lot of choice for men in this field of fashion which is quite rare and which is why we must make the best decisions for our shades, because if the eyes are the windows to the soul then they need good, stylish protection right?

Little Stories from a Large nation ( India).

#1

She did not know what to cook that day, there were just two tomatoes left and it was a special day.

The day they had met by the market, and her parents’ vegetable cart, how odd that seemed now, as she searched for something to cook. The kitchen waited, cleaned and shining, after he had left for work and the kids were at school, even the neighbourhood was quiet as if everything outside waited for things to settle inside.

Jamila sat on the mat and waited for something nice to do. She could not even pray. The words were not there, nor the sentences. Mostly she prayed with a few flowers and often she knelt, face down in the floor her eyes closed or half not there. When she prayed it was real, often formal, and rarely informal. She knew He was there, like now.

English: Ripe & Unripe fruits of the Curry leaf plant (Murraya koenigii) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He was here.As close as the rolled up mat and she needed to mutter about a few things so she whispered, just in case more of His retinue heard and thought badly of her. Kajal had stopped sending any gifts for the kids like she used to, and these days it was torn or clothes bought from the seconds store. She did not really  mind that, seeing she had grown up with hand me downs, but Kajal was not poor and these were the second-hand clothes she also bought for her ‘ servant’.

Jamila loved Kajal her younger sister, the way older sisters loved baby sisters. What had gone wrong was that she could no longer buy them all nice things on birthdays and other days like she used to, or serve them 4 course meals at least.

After she had finished telling God this and a few other things that hurt her, the day looked nicer. Like a venom had been spilled out and demons had left. She cleaned the house, rinsing it with the last of the Pine Floor wash. Then she fried 4 cups of boiled rice with tomatoes, onions, a lime, seasoned turmeric and curry leaf, shredded pudina from the pot in the yard outside where the sun and rain poured down together like kisses from heaven.She even forgave Kajal and apologised to God and His retinue sitting there in her kitchen waiting to bless her meal that would marinate with he scarped out bottle of ghee – served with a pot of cooled curd.

The next day she got a job as a house maid. Yes her wedding bangle had to be pawned for the kids’ schooling but she didn’t care. God was in her kitchen and in the yard. Also He had set things right between Kajal and her and fixed her cooking, which was a lot of work she could not have done on her own.

English: What is cooking : a scene in a Indian kitchen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pata Pata” is the name of a dance … we do down Johannesburg way. And everybody … starts to move … as soon as, Pata Pata” starts to play…
“Hoo, every Friday and Saturday night … it’s „Pata Pata”-time. The dance keeps going all night long … till the morning sun begins to shine – hey!”

Which of these swimsuits from aqua de coco do you like best?!?

” What do you see for yourself 2 years from now..”

I have a vision for myself, but the words do not wish to see daylight. Am so glad the dreams I used to dream never came true. I used want to be an airhostess among somethings, thank heavens it  never happened, ‘ cuz I discovered I’d be scared of airplanes and heights.

Yes, dreams and visions change, but this one that I have now, my ‘ dream’ , has grown from an infant to a toddler ; though I cannot tell the Lady.

She is maybe 60, maybe 90. Has that flawless kind of skin and searing ageless eyes. I feel hypnotised but will not speak.

“ You should be able to speak about something as important as that, ” she says and her look in inscrutable. Why is it important for me to say it out loud ? She mayn’t believe me, it may seem impossible to her and she could discourage me. Besides, isn’t this personal ?

We sit there a few seconds, while I tell her I used to want to be a singer- song writer, an earth shattering novelist, an actress even ( a long time ago), but with each year, I changed. It was like shedding old skin for new. Things work differently for different people. Me, Life was/ is a series of Books. Maybe a human being is a whole shelf of books. A whole library. A series of libraries. How was I to know for sure till life was over.

So.

” So ?” she asks, a sudden twinkle in her eyes. Like she is pleased. Now what.

” Now,‘ she says, reading my mind. ” Now I see you are strong. You can hold your … your…vision.”

How could she possibly know all that. I don’t know. But yes, there comes a time, you will have a vision. Hold on. Two powered words.HOLD ON.

Related articles

• Your Vision (momsoffduty01.wordpress.com)
• Do You Dare to Dream… (tracielouisephotography.net)

After shaking all the flea market dust off of myself, I wanted to share some of my vintage gems with you. I’ve officially opened up my Etsy store, so please don’t be a stranger. Feel free to comment if you like something and feel free to comment on things you’d like to see. Here are a few of this week’s finds:

(click the picture for a link to the store)