Latest Posts

Style

The Real Real

December 16, 2015
Black and white blouse and matching skirt from Zara with yellow Christian Louboutin shoes

Me + Purple Pants + Rooftop | December 2011

A few weeks ago, I decided that what I wanted to wear to Kendrick's company holiday party was a pair of loose-fitting purple velvet pants - the ones pictured above, specifically - and a silky white button-down, plus lots of big jewelry. Sort of an aging 1980s socialite look, because that's always fun.

Except I couldn't find the pants; it appears that they were either sacrificed to the moving gods or donated in a moment of terribly poor decision-making that I have since forgotten. Which makes me sad because I like those pants so much, but mostly because they belonged to my Nanny Ruth. But no use crying over spilled milk, et cetera.

Continue Reading
ENTREES

Fettuccine with Sweet Tomato Sauce, Ricotta and Asparagus

December 16, 2015
fettuccine with sweet tomato sauce and asparagus on a red and white tablecloth

I once read a Nigella Lawson cookbook (and I do actually *read* cookbooks, cover to cover, as if they were for-real books with plotlines and such; it's my favorite thing to spend Christmas Day doing) in which she described a pasta dish - I think it was carbonara, but I'm not sure - as the kind of dish you carry to your bed and eat straight from the pot, preferably with someone you think is sexy.

I don't know about you, but anything that gets described that way is a thing that I want to eat. Like yesterday. This pasta dish, which I first wrote about back in 2010 (although the recipe has evolved over time into what you see below) is my personal eat-straight-from-the-pot dish: it's rich and creamy and cheesy and a touch sweet, and is - yes - the perfect thing to eat while laying in bed next to someone you think is sexy.

Or alone, in your pajamas, while watching Love, Actually. And I think we all know that's going to happen at some point during the next week or so, god willing, so here you go:

Continue Reading
Decor

It’s A Very Tiki Holiday

December 15, 2015
tiki inspired holiday tablescape with green and white elements

Everyone has those friends who make you want to just follow them around all day to see how, exactly, it is that they do life so damn well. For me, that's Stephen and Dave. You've been hearing about them for years now, ever since I started blogging - they're Kendrick's best friends from college, so we've known them forever, but we also lived in the same building for a few years and had some epic rooftop adventures. And then they moved to the West Coast and we thought, cool, let's do that too. (Kidding, but only sort of.)

Every time I go to their apartment - an industrial-style loft in San Francisco - I need to photograph it; it's just that well-done. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that every time I visit, I notice that it looks even better than the last time, but not because they've added stuff...it's usually, rather, that they've taken stuff away. Pared it all down.

Oh.

Continue Reading
DIARY

Carrying On: An Excerpt

December 11, 2015
Jacqueline Bisset Illustration from Carrying On by Jordan Reid

Illustration by Jacqueline Bisset

{ Buy Carrying On: Style, Beauty, Decor (and More) for the Nervous New Mom HERE }

Remember what I said about my second book being released in a couple of weeks? Scratch that. Apparently the date was pushed up and it's presently hanging out in Amazon warehouses right now (with an arrival date as early as December 14, depending on the shipping method you choose). Which means: if you're looking for a holiday gift for the mom-to-be or new mom in your life, you can totally get it into your (and then her) hands well in advance of Christmas Day.

Continue Reading
Lifestyle

Spotlight On: Iconery

December 11, 2015

Wren Yellow Gold and Rose Gold Opal Rings | Katie Diamond Opal and Diamond Ring

I recently discovered this jewelry brand through a friend who works with the company, and it's perfection. The goal of Iconery is to make fine jewelry unfussy, the kind of stuff you can wear everyday. My favorite pieces: the opal rings pictured here. Simple enough for stacking but spectacular enough to wear on their own, and priced in a way that allows you to actually buy one, rather than stare at them longingly through a store window.

Continue Reading
DIARY

A Stroll Down Memory Lane: The Glory Days Of Facebook

December 10, 2015
Jordan Reid and Kendrick Strauch in 2007

Remember when Facebook photos didn't look like professionally filtered, lit and cropped art pieces and actually looked like...snapshots?

I distinctly remember when I first joined Facebook, because I did it in 2008: way, way after everyone else (I also did this with Twitter, Instagram, and virtually every other technology-related everything that I have ever encountered). It was about three seconds before I started blogging and taking ten thousand photos of everything I did and everywhere I went, so very quickly my feed went from the occasional random shot to...well, lots (and lots) of occasional random shots. Most of which you've probably seen before if you've been reading my site for the six (!!!) years its been in existence.

My life has always looked the way my life looks: sometimes happy, sometimes not, definitely messy. But the way it appears - that's changed in a big way. And while that's partially because of what I do and partially because of the fact that I didn't used to be interested in photography and now I am and partially because of how the nature of social sharing has changed...I'm a little conflicted about it.

Continue Reading
Lifestyle

Lumberjacking

December 9, 2015
Tiny pigtails and checkered shirt

When I was growing up, "picking out a Christmas tree" meant walking over to 43rd street with my mom and dad, looking at the selection of trees leaning against the side of the local Food Emporium, then lugging our pick the two blocks home and up into our fourth-floor apartment (and then retracing our footsteps with a broom to pick up the pine needles we'd strewn across the lobby and elevator floor). I've heard of people cutting down their own trees, but figured that was a pastime bestowed exclusively upon the residents of, like, rural Vermont. I also figured you probably had to be relatively adept with an axe in order to actually do this.

Not so, as it turns out. Apparently going to cut down your own Christmas tree is a pretty normal thing to do in parts of the world that aren't New York City.

Huh!

Continue Reading
ENTREES

Homemade Alphabet Soup (Sopa de Fideo)

December 9, 2015
mexican comfort food soup called sopa de fideo

Let me first just say, in case you're under the extremely mistaken impression that I am a food snob, that I have absolutely no problem with canned soup (or canned anything, for that matter). I think it is delicious, and have deeply-entrenched food memories that emerge when I so much as smell some Campbell's chicken noodle.

That stuff is DELICIOUS.

But! I also recognize that it's...maybe not, I don't know, the healthiest thing in the world, what with the sodium and the vaguely questionable meat cube-things that floating around in there. And soup is one of those things that is so easy to make in big batches and then throw a bunch in the freezer to eat later, so:

Continue Reading
My Looks

Bejeweled

December 8, 2015
Dogeared gold rings, midi rings, ear crawler and necklace

Good morning!

I think it's pretty obvious by now that I have a serious thing for rings, so it's probably not surprising that the gorgeous stackable ones you see pictured above make up the bulk of my curated collection for Dogeared. Click here to check out my collection of holiday gift picks (and a fun little interview).

P.S. Check out that ear crawler! (I had to google what an ear crawler was. But apparently it's that.) I love it...especially with my NY stud in the other ear ;)

Continue Reading