Upper Cuff

The first Christmas card we received was from my insanely chic friend, Tory. She has a beautiful family, but it was her upper arm bracelet that caught my eye. Granted, Tory has the upper arms to wear one as does Kate Moss on the January 2021 cover of British Vogue — I’m inspired nonetheless.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

‘Tis the season of gift guides and here is my contribution. It’s no secret that books and music (we have a turntable) are my preferred presents to give and receive — they can be incredibly thoughtful. The Green Vase paper flowers, Smythson note pads, really good olive oil, and a wood scented candle are, also, a few of my very favorite things.

‘Cool Dad Gift Ideas’

Courtesy WSJ. Magazine

Christmas is just 3 weeks away, but I’m in okay shape. The WSJ. Magazine men’s gift guide is particularly good this year and I bought a few things for my husband from it. It lists a reissued Rolex, which I gave him for our first Christmas together 25 years ago. His watch has the navy face and is truly a classic.

Then, our older daughter recently moved from Brooklyn to Vermont so she is getting a season pass to ski Sugarbush, snow tires, and a lighter fly fishing rod. The younger one turns 21 on the 23rd and, sadly, celebrating her birthday in Rome is postponed. We are quarantining (and praying for snow) so we can go skiing instead. I’ve already given friends books, each with a note thanking them for their friendship. A wooden, refillable Advent calendar was passed down to my 5-year-old niece, and I sent a box of sweets to Mother. Ta da!

Chanel Leggings

The silvery grey leggings peeking out from under dresses and skirts in the Chanel 2020/21 Métiers d’art collection are a nice bit of throwback styling. Sign me up.

Reset

After I picked up the mountain of clothes from Alteration Specialists, which felt like a shopping spree since many of the items were unworn, I shifted the spotlight to my jewelry. Specifically, to a number of cocktail rings from my mother. The stones are gorgeous, but the settings are seriously ’70s, and not in a good way.

I posted this picture of Sarah Harris wearing a bunch of Susan Foster rings in 2015 and I asked Ms. Foster if she would take on this project. First up, resetting an Australian fire opal horizontally in a barely-there rose gold setting. I’m excited to finally wear the luminous stone pictured below.

‘Scenes From Afar’

Holiday magazine’s Autumn/Winter 2020-2021 issue was produced in Saint Petersburg and I love the styling in this story.

Photography by Krisztian Eder   Styling by Tony Irvine

The Day After

Ironically, I cooked the best Thanksgiving dinner of my life. Every dish, even the turkey, was delicious — go figure. Maybe, since it was just three of us, the pressure was off. My husband put on a jacket (no tie) and my daughter and I pulled out dresses that have not seen the light of day in 10 months. It was very nice.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that today is Black Friday. It feels like it started weeks ago, which I think it did. I’m not a big sale shopper, but now that everything is available online I’m going to put on some comfy shoes — these Saint Laurent loafers would be nice (sigh) — and see what’s what. I already upgraded a few kitchen staples from Williams Sonoma that arrived in time to be used for Thanksgiving dinner. To be continued.

‘Power Lines’

Head to toe monochrome is my thing and I’ve had my eye on this Peter Do look that Kaia Gerber is wearing in December Vogue. Perfect at-home holiday dressing.

Photography by Ethan James Green  Styling by Tonne Goodman

North Country

I could not be happier in our new ‘hood and look forward to exploring and visiting friends who also live in the Hudson Valley. Being able to hike during COVID has been a mental lifesaver and I love the Upstate vibe. In a nod to north country style, I’ve been pulling out all of my Fair Isle and plaid pieces to wear over the holidays.

Book, mittens, head kerchief, skirt, boots, lip balm.

Is Cauliflower The New Kale?

This post first ran in December 2016, but I dug it out to make the recipe for Thanksgiving.

Cauliflower is my new favorite veggie, its up there with zucchini noodles. The mild nutty flavor works with just about everything. I like this roasted-parmesan recipe from Epicurious–talk about easy.