spring has sprung

I'm coming off our first full-on warm spring weekend, and boy did it do a body (and soul) good.

Those first few sunny days in the city are the best -- so festive, so hopeful, like all of New York is letting out a collective 'ahhhh'. But they're even better in the country, where it seems the world has turned an instantaneous, happy green (seriously, entire bushes and trees had burst into color since I was up there a week before).

We cranked up the oldies on our outdoor speakers (Van Morrison, Ray Charles, the Stones, et al), dusted off the outdoor furniture, sprawled out with some good reads in the sunshine...

...the hubs fired up the grill, cracked open our first bottle of rosé of the season, took a dip in our ice-cold backyard creek (bold move), and helped Otis and I plant an herb garden...

...and then we all curled back up in the sun for a magnificent afternoon snooze. 

It doesn't get any better than this, folks. It really doesn't. 

Skirting the Issue

Not to brag, but I am really good at skirts. Like really good. Which is a shame, because they are so hard to find these days.

The past few years have been all about shorts, shorts, shorts. To which I say, which cruel, pin-legged fashion execs are behind a garment that expressly highlights thigh circumference?

No. As much as I love shorts in theory (and I get it - they can be cuter than cute), they are not for me. I have, and will, stay loyal to my trusty thigh-hiders (or "skirts," as they are known in fashion industry circles). Even when this means wearing to death the one or two short skirts that J. Crew et al makes each year.

But guys, do I sense change is in the air? That the sweet lil mini is making a comeback? My fingers are crossed.

These might get a place in my collection this spring:

Club Monaco Rowan Skirt 

Club Monaco Cecilia Skirt

Clover Canyon Surf Shack Mini

Madewell Pizete Striped Skirt

Elizabeth & James* Lorca Skirt

*unrelated aside: spied an Olsen twin at dinner last week. She was not wearing a skirt.

Back from the Beach

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I'm just back from a quick jaunt to Florida, still marveling at how instantly restorative a good, solid beach day is. Blue skies, light breeze, a good book... if you want to throw in a rum drink, I won't argue with you. It is my personal definition of happiness.

The hubs is openly puzzeled by both my professed 'need' for frequent beach trips (I believe the word he used to describe them was "excessive") and my ability to spend an entire day motionless, in a lounge chair, once I've finagled my way into one. I have no reasonable defense. None whatsoever. But I shan't apologize.

With my foot in a clunky orthopedic boot (and beach walking out of the question), I literally did not move from my lounge chair this weekend. But don't feel too sorry for me. I did manage to get sucked into a pretty decent book ("Gone Girl" - and don't tell me the ending, as I'm not finished yet!), sip my share of rum punches, and get a cool hexagonal-shaped sunburn on my neck. 

Overall, it was just a smidge better than riding out the still-cold-and-rainy weather (c'mon spring - get it together!) back in NYC.

WANT IT Wednesday

I am so, so, so, so over winter right now. If I have to pull on my black jeggings one more time, I might officially lose it. Where, pray tell, is spring? Doesn't she know I have a closet full of cute lil' dresses and lightweight jackets that are dying to come out of hibernation?

Until the season finally changes, I'm going to start wearing my warmer-weather wardrobe around the apartment -- and continue scoping out easy, fresh pieces like these current faves, below.

1. Amand Uprichard dress / 2. J. Crew necklace / 3. IRO collarless jacket 

4. Stuart Weitzman sandal / 5. Tucker silk top / 6. SUPER shades

Pink vs. Blue

A 'pink versus blue' bedroom debate should really be a sign of one thing only: an impending bundle of joy. But we're talking about our master bedroom color scheme here -- and I find myself torn between these two routes.

Currently, the walls of our not-yet-decorated bedroom are painted a pale blush pink. This shade is particularly lovely in the late afternoon, when sun pours through our West-facing windows and sets the whole room aglow. With white linens and an off-white wrought-iron bed, we've got a pretty blank slate on our hands, and I'm tempted to take the whole room in a pink-y, peach-y, romantic-y direction, like these gems below.

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Finding myself very jealous of a certain "Vivi" 

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I'm aware that the past two are children's rooms....but the palette is perfecto.

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But then, there is something so soothing and peaceful (but perhaps a tad safe?) about a perfect pale blue palette....

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Both palettes are so lovely and romantic in their own right. Which would you choose?