Jazz Age Lawn Party

This weekend, Alex, Toby and I took the ferry over to the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island.
A jazz band played old-timey tunes, and there was a tug-of-war, pie contest and Charleston lessons.
People dressed up in fabulous 1920's ensembles--lots of pearls, suspenders and straw hats. (I, of course, wore a nursing shirt:)
Toby mingled with the dapper crowd.
And this girl wore the most fabulous swimsuit (which she had made herself). Yowza!

It was a wonderful day! See more photos here. xoxo

Fall trend #1: Army jacket

This fall, the fashion trends are SO adorable (and accessible), so I figured I'd make a little list of them this week. First up, army jackets! Would you wear this tomboy look? Perfect for the flea market and cider mill.

(Photo by A Continuous Lean)

Infant Bows Part 2

I had some offer some other great suggestions on how to get bows to stay on an infant heads.

Betts Family  offered this great advise:
If you live in a humid place like I do in Seattle Karo and KY don't work as well as in dry places so I discovered that a traditional Elmer's glue stick works wonders. . .bows stick all day and it washes out with water! I love the looks when you're caught glue-ing a bow on a babies head! I love your blog thanks for all the fun ideas.


I wanted to thank Betts family for giving us this information.  I live in such a dry climate I hadn't thought about the humidity. 

A year ago today.

Alex, I love you more than ever.

(Photo by Max Wanger)

Have a fun weekend!

My dears, what are your plans this weekend? Alex and I have a "date afternoon" today, and he's taking me on The Shark Boat, a hilarious boat that goes 45 miles per hour in the New York Harbor (you get splashed!). I've wanted to go on it for ages, and I'm so excited about it. Hope you have a good one, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

Four ways to style bangs.

Summer tan lines. (Which are you?)

Tiffany-lamp-inspired wedding cake.

My favorite red lipstick = Devious. (It's the perfect cherry red.)

Don't we all want to be this girl?

Now I'm dying to go to Maine.

Such a cute baby!

Japanese diving women. Incredible.

100 ideas for wedding favors. (Here's what we did.)

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you might have missed:
* French flower markets.
* Bike rush hour.
* Baby accents.
* Dog photo booth.
* Leopard print.

(Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg)

Friday giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Ruche, an adorable boutique with a vintage touch. They're offering one lucky winner a $100 gift certificate to spruce up her fall wardrobe. They have so many cute pieces! (I think I'd go for this tank and these moccasins.)

For a chance to win, please visit Ruche and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Monday. Good luck!

Update: Allison from Washington is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing. xo

Lauren's Double Braids from Make it or Break it

Another fun Make it or Break it hairstyle from Lauren.

Make a center part and make large part french braid as shown below.

Make another french braid as described above. Below is a picture of what I did.

Then pull all the hair into a ponytail.

Top view

Side View

Annie Hall poster

Lurve this poster. (Also, I watched Something's Gotta Give this week; Diane Keaton is so charming.)

(Via Carina)

Thursday giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from My Sweet Muffin, an adorable online baby shop. One lucky winner will receive a soft Dwell bath wrap. It's perfect for toddlers, and would make a great gift, too.

For a chance to win, please visit My Sweet Muffin and leave a comment below with your favorite print--sparrow or transportation. A winner will be chosen at random tomorrow. Good luck! xo

Update: Sarah V. is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing.

The Messy Bun Step by Step Instructions

Recently I have had a lot of people asking me about my messy bun.  So here goes if these are not clear please ask questions I will do my best to explain what I do.

Because we don't just like plain messy buns at our house you will get a few instructions on rolls for the front of the hair.

I first made a roll across the front of her head this pulls all the bangs out of her face.

I then made a 2nd roll and 3rd rolls as shown below.  1 almost parallel to the first and the 2nd to make a t. I secured them in place with small bobby pins

Then I made 3 more rolls.  Another one parallel to the 2nd roll and one that follows the t shaped one.  The last one is parallel as shown below.  (I hope all that made sense if not try and look at the picture)

Now to start the messy bun.  Take all the hair and put it into a ponytail.  Don't pull the hair all the way through on the last loop of your elastic.

The back of the hair will look like this after all the hair is into the ponytail.

Now I take the hair that is looped and pull it upwards towards her head.  This makes a circle shape in her hair secure this with a clear small elastic.

Below is the hair after I have pulled the loop upwards. 

Now bobby pins become your best friend.  I use bobby pins to put the hair where I want it as shown below.  If you put the hair into a bobby pin and it looks to small put your finger in the loop and pull a little bit.  You can also pull small amounts of hair and pull it to the other side and secure with bobby pins. 

Below is the finished messy bun.  If this doesn't make sense please ask me more questions.

Bathroom art

I love how Vicente Wolf hung this Tina Barney photo over his bathtub. "They're looking at me, I'm looking at them," he says. Cheeky!

(Photo by Patrick Cline for Lonny)

Diagonal French Braid to Bun

Follow the post before for great 2nd day hairstyle

Now the difference is to take the end of the braid and wrap it around itself to make a bun.

If the bun doesn't lay how you want it then take bobby pins and move the around until you like the bun.

Below is the side view.

Cookie swap

So, last night, I hosted the Cookie Swap!
The ladies came over at 7pm with containers full of lemon squares, magic bars, homemade thin mints, and Cornflake cookies, among many others. The coffee table was overflowing. (Toby made a quick cameo before bedtime; you can see him cuddled in my friend Samantha's arms above.)
We passed around pitchers of ice-cold milk (and bottles of wine), and people found cozy spots on the floor to hang out.
Megan (right) made her grandmother's recipe for bark with almonds, chocolate and Matzoh!
Susan Cernek, a fashion editor at Glamour, didn't have time to make cookies, so she brought bottles of nail polish instead. :)
Alex came home just in time to say hello to the ladies, including pretty Lee from Copenhagen.
Toby zonked out about fifteen minutes into the festivities, but we still doted on him (and his sweet bald head) by video monitor.

It was a really fun evening and yummy excuse to get together. Thank you so much to everyone who came! xoxo

Diagonal French Braid

This style was so easy and fun and litteraly took minutes to do.

I started by making a french braid starting at her left ear that went diagonally towards the right side of her neck.

Above is the starting of the french braid.

Below is the back view of the french braid.

Make sure to braid all the way to the end of her hair.

When Mom's Out of Town

Just recently I was out of town and told my husband will you please just put our daughters hair into a ponytail for school.  I figured this would be the easiest for him. 

This hairstyle is no glamour do, but it means the world to me.  I came home and got showed these fun and cute pictures.  All this style is, is a plain ponytail.

My husband took pictures of his hairstyle to share.  He took pictures of the front side and back of this style. 

I could not be married to a better man and I just wanted to share this fun story with everyone.

Below is the back view

3-year-old charmer

Oh my goodness, this video of a 3-year-old reciting a gorgeous (and long!) poem is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. I posted it on Highchair Critics; watch it here. I can't believe he memorized the whole thing.

Travel fantasy: Poet's loft

When Abbey found this amazing California rental house, my jaw dropped. The house is near Point Reyes, where you could hike to the lighthouse and eat fresh cheese. And it has a hot tub. Damn. Wouldn't you love to stay there?

Nursing baby deer

Speaking of camping, when Marina and her family were camping in Maine, they peeked out of their tents and saw a nursing baby deer! How sweet.

(Photo by Marina Porter)

Sleeping bags

You guys made camping sound like so much fun (bonfires! ghost stories! air mattresses!) that I couldn't help looking up a few cute sleeping bags, just in case.

P.S. This one is nuts.

Fall style

I've been wearing the same nursing tees for the past twelve weeks (sorry, Alex!) and am itching to dress up a little more. This pretty girl is my inspiration. What a pitch-perfect autumn ensemble. xo

(Photo by The Sartorialist, via Pigeon Toed)