Chicago!

I'm in Chicago for a work trip and it's still freezing here.  I'm about the bundle up and go wander the city (coffee securely in hand).

The Buccaneers

By Edith Wharton, from here

Warmer weather...

Leaves me with cravings for pretty dresses and picnics.

Texas

For some reason I've been thinking about Texas a lot lately.  I went there around this time last year and the vibe's stuck with me.  All photos from Life.

Fall 2011

 I finally got around to looking at a few of the Fall 2011 RTW shows.  Here are some of my favorite designs (all photos from Style).

Cacharel

Proenza Schouler

Chloe

Erdem

Jil Sander

Marni

Marni

Marni

On my list

To go: Lapland, from the Life archives

To buy: the perfect sandals, from JCrew

To sew: Cynthia Rowley pattern, from Simplicity

Daylight Savings Time

Travel bug

I've been feeling the need to travel lately--and since it's not possible right now, I'm reliving my last trip.  We went to Sweden, Norway, and Iceland last October, and here are some of my favorite pictures.

Shelley Duvall

A great combination of quirk and charm, Shelley Duvall has been growing on me lately.  We just watched Thieves Like Us, and her wardrobe and character made the movie for me.

source unknown

source unknown

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Cocktails

I like a good cocktail, and I even have a pretty good bar set up at home (shaker, decanters, etc).  The only problem is that I never actually have any booze around with which to make said cocktails.  I'm going to try to remedy that, starting with the Savoy cocktail book and this recipe:

Dubonnet Cocktail (from here)

1 oz. Dubonnet Rouge

1 oz. Dry Gin

1 dash orange bitters

Combine in ice shaker; shake. Strain into martini glass and garnish with twist of lemon.

Batik

I've been obsessed with batik fabrics lately, and am plotting making a dress for myself (with this pattern) as soon as I find the perfect one.

So many different ways to get to the same place

I've got a work trip to Chicago this month, and it's gotten me thinking about travel.  While I love seeing new places, I don't like the hassle and stress of the airport--which has led me to romanticize other modes of travel.  I'm sure that traveling by horse drawn carriage, or train, or cart, was as much of a hassle as our modern way of doing it, but that doesn't mean I won't look at pictures of traveling in a slower time (all images from Shorpy).