The Seaport Maxi (Evening Version)

I finally broke out my Seaport maxidress this past Saturday. It was about time, since I bought it in the dread of winter. To be completely honest this is one of those things that would have probably been a pass hadn't I bought it so ahead of the season. It was the excitement for one of the first purchases of the new season to make me oblivious of the fact that a thin maxi with sleeves isn't the most practical piece of clothing for our summer weather. Add to that that my husband doesn't like it and that in the meanwhile it went on sale and you have a mistake. Under the old return policy I would have returned it for a store credit but since I am stuck with it I decided that at least I am going to make the most of it.

Don't get me wrong, I still like it and I still think that it is a very chic dress if styled it the right way. Which I think I did Saturday night to go to friends for dinner. It was the perfect evening for this dress because it was warm but a bit windy so having sleeves was actually a plus. But as I said evenings like this are not the norm here in the summer, it is suddenly so hot that you want to be sleeveless.
The thing with this dress is that it needs to be belted. Without a belt it is a bit old-ladish IMO. In this case I used the flower elastic belt from a few seasons ago (I love these, I also have the winter version with rhinestones and sometimes it still pops back on the website). I accessorized it with the double-strand giraffe necklace because one of the strands has the same cream/black color scheme of the dress, but I wore it with the clasp (the giraffe head) hidden behind my neck. I am wearing a XXS:




One of the effects of my shoe storage reorganization is that I rediscovered these Donald Pinter nappa sandals that I had bought years ago at Saks. They are are very comfortable, have a manageable heel and look stylish with both pants and skirts. Love the slints on the sides of dress, BTW!



In case you are stalking this dress in the sale section, you should know that it wrinkles very easily because of the linen content and tends to stretch out.
Do you have this dress? Do you like how I styled it?

OOTE: The Sovereign Paisley Cafe Capris

We had a end-of-the-school-year cocktail party yesterday night and I finally wore my sovereign paisley cafe capris that were waiting for an occasion to get out of the closet. I have more than enough pants but I bought these to wer as "evening" pants which I don't really have legions of (it is difficult to find pants to wear in the evening that are not black or not a solid color). The print is a bit crazy as you know but you can tone it down with a black top (as opposed to a neon-y lime or a aqua or a berry, just to mention three of the colors in the print). I am wearing a 00, the 0 was too baggy and less elegant (my other cafe capris are all a 0). I hesitated between this outfit and wearing my new Frances dress in lifesaver print. In the end it was a good call to wear pants because while we were at the cocktail (it was held in the outside patio of a residential building) a friend of mine dropped her glass of wine and my feet got completely soaked in wine. Had I worn a long silk dress the hem would have been soaked too.

Anyway, this is how I wore them (the top is from H&M (from last fall, one of the best-fitting tops ever). Incredibly enough for someone who owns +100 pairs, I have a very few pairs of black shoes and I didn't want to wear closed-toe ones, so my only option was these old sandals (I like how they toughen up the outfit a bit):

I was struggling to find a necklace to add as a pop of color with the outfit. A green lime necklace would have been ideal but in the end this old version of the bubble necklace did the trick (you can't really see in the pics but the smaller stones are a different color than the bigger ones, they are almost a neon purple that goes well with the purple in the pants):

I got lots of compliments on the outfit and I got "the look" from another lady who was wearing JCrew from head to toe and clearly recognized the pants and necklace.
I am in a hurry but will be back soon. How do you wear these pants? What are your favorite evening pants?

Weekend Recap and OOTD (the porcelain paisley alternative)

Good morning, I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. As I mentionned in my previous post we stayed in the city this weekend (my husband travelled too much for work in the last few weeks and needed to relax a bit) and we took advantage of my MIL being here to go to the movies and eat out worry-free.
Saturday night we went with a couple of friends to the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem to celebrate my husband's birthday (it was his idea to go there, since when he was younger he lived for 6 months in Syracuse, NY, home of the original Dinosaur BBQ and he has always been a bit nostalgic about it). It was quite the expedition (our taxi got lost) but it was a fun and different way to spend an evening in town (we missed the live music that started too late). I didn't take a pic of my outfit because it was very casual (headache tee and cargo pants).

On Sunday we went to the movies to see "A separation", the movie from Iran that won an Oscar for Best Foreign Picture. Well, in case you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to go, it is a beautifully told story. I am glad that we didn't wait for it to come in DVD because it is one of those movies that can loose a bit of their power if you watch it half-sleeping on a couch (it starts very slowly, you have to make an effort to pay attention but then it becomes gripping). After the movie we found ourselves strolling in the West Village where I hadn't been in ages (we are talking years, I hadn't even seen all the new boutiques on Bleeker street) and we had dinner at one of the most romantic terraces on one of the most romantic blocks in NYC (4th and 10th St.) I regretted not wearing something more appropriate for a date night but it wasn't my fault: I had initially chosen my Seaport maxidress (because it is long-sleeved so perfect for the AC in the theater) but my husband hated it and asked me to wear pants instead so I went with my typical "movie night" outfit (typically after a movie my husband wants to eat something fast, like a slice of pizza, so no need to dress up. Well, last night was an exception. Not that I really care but it is a missed opportunity to wear something more special):

The jackie cardigan in this case wasn't only a weapon against the AC. I really love the "Petites Victoires" tee but (as I have already said) I find people staring at my boobs when I wear it, trying to read what the tee says. It only happens when I wear this tee, my other graphic tees don't have this secondary effect (BTW, I told my husband and it made him jalous). Anyway I like to wear the scout gingham chinos and this tee to the movies, the outfit has a little retro-geek feeling to it but I can certainly find something better to wear to a romantic dinner in the West Village. Next time, I guess!

Yesterday we packed a picnic and went on a family outing to Governor's Island. Governor's Island is a little car-free island between the seaport and Staten Island and there is a 10 minutes ferry ride to get there. My daughter was excited to take the boat but to be honest the watertaxi to the Brooklyn Ikea is a better ride. The line was long, there isn't much of a deck and all in all you are only 10 minutes on the water. It was HOT (it topped 90 degrees in the afternoon) and I wore my Vintage cotton stripe tank in navy/red stripes with a pair of old Gap shorts (very nautical, as you can see):

This tank is very low-cut as you can see, size down for sure (I am wearing a XXS and I am usually a XS). I love the primary colors, I think that navy/red is my favorite stripe combo in general.

And now the outfit that I am wearing today. There is a lot of love in the blogosphere for the JCrew porcelain paisley pencil skirt and I certainly appreciate the print and design. It is a beautiful pencil skirt but a bit too much for my lifestyle, especially my summer lifestyle. Instead of this skirt I bought a white linen pencil at the Loft that is more relaxed and could be an alternative for those of you who want a white pencil skirt but think that the porcelain paisley print is too out there. Unfortunately it appears to be sold-out online but it might pop back and I can give you the style number if you are interested (it retailed for $69.50 and I could swear that the name was "crochet" something).
It is a very summery and easy pencil skirt with a very nice crocheted hem and appliques, the only downside is that it is lined in poly. I thought about removing the lining but it is already a bit sheer with the lining, so I will maybe have it replaced with a cotton one if it really bothers me. Size-wise I went with a 0 because it was the only size available but a 00 would have been better. I am wearing it today with the Marrakesh top from a few years ago, that has a crochet detail on the shoulders:

I love it with my Nolita jacket and a tank (the tank is also by the Loft, from a couple of years ago):

What do you think of the Loft pencil skirt as an alternative to the porcelain paisley? Anybody else owns this skirt? What did you do this Memorial Day weekend?
Anybody saw "A separation"?

Catching Up (OOTD And Sale Picks)

I am sorry if I disappeared again. We have been very busy here with birthday parties, end-of-school playdates and the arrival of my MIL who is going to stay with us for a whole chunck of the summer (providing free illimited babysitting, yay!)

I have been doing a bit of shopping too. I ended up returning the Lucille dress and getting the Frances in the lifesaver print instead. This dress fits me like a dream and the sale price with the 30% off makes it the same price than the Lucille so it made sense, not to mention that we had a lot or rain around here and I couldn't wear the Lucille to the two cocktail parties I had planned to (and who knows when the next occasion will be, at that point it might as well be on sale already).
I am really starting to realize that it is worth to pay full price for things that I can wear immediately and I see getting a lot of wear out of, even if it something that could seem overpriced. It is the case of the Short-sleeve sweatshirt. I fell in love with how this sweatshirt it is styled in the "Looks we love" (look n. 16), with a white shirt and a white mini. As I said it has been pouring or about to pour the whole week and a white bottom was out of the question but I wore it with my Minnie pants instead and felt very pulled together (I am wearing a XS, fits TTS):

Of course it looks good on its own, with a bottom like on the website:

And because of all the rain, I thought I could use something like the linen slicker, so when it popped back on the first day of the sale with 30% and in a size 2 I jumped on it. It is strangely a bit big around the shoulders (the 2 is my usual outwear size and I never have problems in the shoulders area) but because it is outwear and I tried it with a thin tee I am going to keep it (on the other side I like that it is a bit longer and protects my legs from the rain). It is unlined (which I appreciate, being it a summer raincoat) and it has a hoodie. I am on the fence about the gold hardware, it is borderline tacky but makes it special. I also like that it isn't navy or black or khaki but a light color:

My last pick is the Talitha blouse in the wreath color that is now $69.99. I have been strangely not interested in this blouse when it came out during the holidays (I tried it on at that time but didn't get the feeling) but it picked up my interest recently when I saw it paired with the cafe capri in art polka-dots on a SA and with white jeans on a mom at school, that made me realize that it is more versatile than I thought (I always considered it a holiday top and I don't need another one). Once again, when it arrived and I first tried it on, I didn't get the feeling but when I paired it first with my white matchsticks and then with my floral fresco capris I really liked how it looked. In the first case (white matchsticks) the color really gains from being lighten up by a light bottom (I always thought that the color was a bit dull on me):

In the second case (the floral fresco), well, it is the perfect top for those pants as you can see (I have been struggling a bit with what to pair them with):

That's it! We are having a relaxed weekend (it was my husband's birthday yesterday and we went to the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem, an outpost of the Syracuse joint) and we will probably go to the movies today (to see "A separation", the iranian movie, before they don't play it anymore in the movie teathers).
Happy Memorial Day everyone!

JCrew New Arrivals Fitting Room Pics: May, Part 1 (Dresses)

First of all, thank you for your sweet comments to my Mother's Day post, I really appreciate the time that you take to leave comments and even if sometimes I am slow to reply or don't get around to it, I want you to know that I read and enjoy every and each of them.

Remember the giant pinata for my daughter's bday that I had schlepped home from downtown? Well, I had to schlep it back on Monday because the gym didn't allowed hitting pinatas (liability issues, I had to buy a pull-on one), so since the party supply store wasn't far from the JCrew store on Fifth Avenue, I rewarded myself with a little try-on session after. They had just received the new collection, the one featured in the May catalog, and everything looked brand new in the store. In any case you are in for a treat because I could try on a lot of new arrivals (and some not-so-new that I hadn't the chance to try before) so I will break it down in two posts. Most of this stuff isn't online yet but I picked up a catalog and I will note the style number when available.

Let's start from the cover ;-). I was really looking forward to seeing the Ella dress in porcelain paisley (#77196). For some reason I was not excited by the pencil skirt (which is beautiful BTW), probably because I have waaaay too many pencil skirts for my lifestyle, but the dress seemed very special in the previews and I can do strapless so I had high hopes.
The dress is absolutely beautiful. It is made in the same fabric than the pencil and the print is even more stunning than on the pencil because it continues on the bodice. It fits TTS, I tried my regular 0 which was perfect (but if you are more busty than a 34C you will need to size up, I think. It "just" hold my ladies in without being uncomfortable):

Side view (no pregnant look):

Detail of the fabric and waist seam (it has pockets!):

As I said it is really a beautiful dress and I really wanted to get it when I saw the price tag. I was expecting $198 or $228, not $298. Now, I have nowhere to wear this dress, I can't even conjure up a fantasy where I am wearing it, lol! The fact is that it isn't an easy-breezy dress for the summer, it has the inside boning of the occasion dresses and I couldn't zip it up by myself. Now, if you need help to wear a dress, you are not going to wear it to stroll down the street, let me tell you. This is not a criticism of the dress (quite the opposite, actually, it is very well made) I just don't think I am going to wear it if nothing changes in my summer plans (there is a remore possibility that I have somewhere fancy to go but it is still up in the air). But for those of you who have an occasion and can do strapless, it is certainly stunning.

The next dress feautured in the May Catalog is the Dree dress in deck stripe (#85741X, retails for $148). When I saw this dress in the catalog I was under the impression that it was a knit, but it is a silk dress. In fact it is similar to the blouson dress but instead of spaghetti straps it has a sheat-style top. This is a shorter dress but very flattering on and quite cool, I really liked it. I am questioning the poly lining because in the dog days of summer you don't want poly against your skin (although is lightweight poly lining, so to speak, like in the blouson dress). That and the price make it a "sale wishlisted" dress for me. This is the 0, fits TTS:

On page 7 of the Catalog we have the Lucille dress in cotton-silk faille. I tried this one for the blog, but ended up taking it home with me, this color is too flattering and cheerful and I have actually a few cocktail parties coming up where I can wear it. I didn't try the dressed down version that is showed in the Catalog (with a tee shirt underneath) yet but I doubt that it works in real life, since the skirt is a bit poufy. It is lined in poly (the heavy, unbreatheable type) and I am probably going to take it to a tailor (or give it to my MIL who is arriving next week) to have the lining removed (after all it is a summer dress and I don't need a lining. This is the 0, fits TTS to slightly big (I could have squeezed in a 00 but it would have compressed my chest. If you are small chested, you can probably go down a size). I like that the simple shape, that makes it versatile:

The Lucille also comes in a lace version (#83887X, retails for $188). This is the bright sun in a 00 (they didn't have a 0 to try):

If I am not wrong the lining in this one is cotton or acetate, which makes it less poufy than the cotton-silk faille version. It is a beautiful dress but too occasion-y for me, I can't see myself wearing it.

Another occasion dress (this time labeled with the Occasions and Parties label) is the Cha cha dress, that I thought some of you would be interested in seeing (I tried it only for the blog). This dress is 100% linen (it is lined in acetate, I checked) and it is HEAVY. It was a hassle to put it on with all the fabric, the peplum and the peekaboo on the back (too many holes!) and I almost gave up but I perseverated and here it is. Again, this is the 0, fits TTS. It is a beautiful dress if you have an occasion and it is cheaper than the Ella:

The next one is more weareable. It's called the Back-bow dress (#84356). It is a simple sheath with a bow detail in the back. You can easily cover up the back cleaveage with a cardigan and wear it to the office, the length is appropriate. It is a blend of cotton and linen but it is lined in poly (bummer). Fits TTS, this is the 0:

Here I wanted to show you the bow detail in the back but it is probably better if you look it up in the catalog:

Let's move on to an easy-breezy dress that I can see myself wearing ;-). This one is not in the Catalog and it also comes in stripes (you can see the striped version on ajc here). I really liked this one, I find the pattern and colors interesting, but it is very overpriced at $68. I am pretty sure it is rayon or a blend of cotton/rayon and would cost between $12.95 and $17.95 at F21 (same exact fabric/quality). It is also very thin so it has probably some sheerness to it in the natural light. This is the XS:

If it weren't so overpriced I would have bought this one. Instead I bought the Altuzarra for JCrew Patricia dress (by the way, if you are looking for one try to call the Fifth Avenue store, they had it in all the sizes). At least it is overpriced for a reason, the name that comes with it. I tried the XS first but it was a bit shapeless, the XXS was a great fit. I liked everything in this dress (like the patches on the shoulders that make it a little bit more interesting) and how it holds its shape. I wore it with a blazer to a breakfast organized by the kindergarten school that my daughter will attend next year and it looked very polished. The only thing is that it has superskinny sleeves, I hope that they stretch out a bit as they were borderline uncomfortable (especially at the elbow seam). In any case it is very flattering on and I plan to to take it with me to Paris at the end of the summer. The perfect dress for Paris, methink!
I honestly can't remember if these are the pics of the XS or XXS (I think XXS):

The last dress that I tried is the Garment-dyed neon shirtdress. I tried the 00 but if I had to get it I would go with the 0, it was very tight in the sleeves. It is made of the same fabric than the garmednt-dyed toothpicks, so a bit heavy for our summer. The color is much more neon-y IRL than in the pic:

Since I am grouping all the dresses in this post, I am going to include the pics of the Scatter dot (#85792X) and the Nili Lotan Striped dress that I had tried quite a while ago and never got around to posting.

The Scatter dot dress was very comfortable and swirly on, in a child-ish way. At this point I am dotted out but if it came in a beautiful solid color (like a neon azalea) I would consider it on sale (by the way, I think that it is already on sale in stores). This is a 00 but I would probably go with a 0. There was a lot of static clingy-ness due to the poly lining, but I still liked it. The pockets on this dress are awesome:

The Nil Lotan stripe dress was a big disappointment. It fits very small, for starters, and it is completely sheer. Not sure where one is supposed to wear this dress besides a beach setting, I don't think you can wear a slip under it. I still love the stripes and the fabric. If I am not wrong this is the S:

All in all I think there are some beautiful dresses in this rollout. Do you like any of these? Any question let me know.
I am going to reply to the questions that some of you left in my previous posts, so be sure to check back. I will be back soon (probably tonight already) with the second part of this new arrivals post so that tomorrow morning when the new arrivals are on the website you will have more info to decide if you want to pull the trigger on something.

A Special Mother's Day

My beautiful daughter is going to turn 5 tomorrow. This is the first time since she was born that Mother's Day falls on May 13th, the day just before she was born. Yes, I missed giving birth on Mother's Day by only one day and I had to wait a whole year to celebrate my first Mother's Day as a mom. How cool would have been to become a mother on Mother's Day? OK, maybe it doesn't rank in the top ten coolest things ever, but for me Mother's Day will always be the day when I "almost" gave birth. I don't remember if I ever told the story on this blog but my due date was in June so after having brunch with my husband five years ago on this day, I kissed him goodbye as he left for the airport to catch a flight for Mexico, where he was supposed to meet up with a group of collegues/friends (it was a business trip that he had planned months in advance that was also sort of a reunion with old friends). Let's just say that he was really looking forward to it, and since my due date was three weeks away we didn't think that there was a risk that our daughter would be born while he was travelling. Well, while he was on his way to the airport, I started to feel bizarre and have spotting (that I didn't have at all during all the pregnancy), so I called my doctor and she had me go to the hospital for a check. I stayed in the hospital all the afternoon until 7 pm and then I was dismissed as "fausse alerte", but in the meanwhile I had stopped my husband from getting on that plane. I think that he was a bit mad at me at first for "ruining" his trip (he still thought that it was nothing and I had overreacted because I was feeling lonely) but when my water broke that same night he had to change his mind and thank me for not letting him go.
History clearly repeats itself because today we had brunch and then he hopped on a plane (but this time I had no excuses to stop him).

In any case, this is my daughter, five year after that Mother's Day. We had her birthday party yesterday and these pics were taken just before the madness (she is wearing a Strawberry Shortcake dress that I found on ebay, since the bday party theme was Strawberry Shortcake):

I have been so busy this week that I hadn't even thought about my outfit until an hour before the party, that was held in a kid gym in the city. In the end I chose to wear the green toothpicks and this Lilly Pulitzer tee because of the cheerful colors (I took off the cardigan of the pics with my daughter because it was too hot outside). Here is the detail, with the JCrew paisley necklace:

Because of the crazyness of the bday party (and bday present opening) yesterday and the fact that my husband was leaving right after lunch, today was pretty low-key. We had brunch together at home and late in the afternoon my daughter and I went for an ice-cream and then to the playground. I was very casual but I spotted a lot of people wearing JCrew for the occasion in the neighborhood.

I hope that you all had a fruitastic Mother's Day!

Checking In (And My Week Out) ...

Hello everybody! I have been super-busy with my friends visiting from France (they left Tuesday night) and then with organizing my daughter's birthday party this coming Saturday and this is the first time in almost ten days that I actually have the time to breath and sit down half an hour while I wait for a load of laundry to be done. I apologize if I haven't responded to comments or left comments on other blogs (that I kept up with, more or less, thank you Android!), I should be able to resume the normal blogging-related activities early next week.
So what I have been doing? Here is a day-by-day account of my week with out-of-towners (I will try to post outfits in another post, I didn't take pics of myself while my guests were here):

Thursday - I take my friends to the JCrew flagship store on 5th Ave. Girlfriend is unimpressed to say the least, she only buys two vintage cotton tee shirts (only after seeing that they were on promo: she initially barks at the $29.50 price tag). I show her Crewcuts for her daughters. She doen't like the style and the colors (too neon-y or too dark, she will end up buying stuff at Gymboree). They are still a bit jat-lagged so we have dinner at home with another couple of friends who speak French and we have a discussion about the imminent French Presidential election (in France everybody talks about politics and when French people get together they can't help it). Now we now how it ended.

Friday Night - We take them to one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Barbuto in the West Village/Meatpacking. They like it (impossible not to like it, the food is delicious and the place is unpretentious while being very NY). After the restaurant we check out a few clubs in the Meatpacking. We try to get into LeBain (the club of the Standard hotel) but we aren't on the list (even if my husband drops names) and we are bounced back. Let me tell you: being bounced back in your 40s is not like being bounced back in your 20s or 30s, you don't feel like the total loser anymore, you feel superior because you have a life that doesn't consist uniquely of going out. Plus, I had already seen the spectacular view up there. I think we would have gotten in if we had insisted but my husband hates the attitude so we go to another club, which is supposed to be the new hot place and where we are on the list. The club isn't open yet (too early) so we check out the restaurant and lounge where a million of New Yorkers are pressed against each other and if you are a guy and tall enough you have a very good view on every single female's boobs. Restaurant and lounge are on the second floor, club is on the third floor but you have to take another elevator to access the third floor. So after a drink we go back downstairs where there is a bouncer with a rope who lets people up. My husband tells him that we are on the list. List is at the door, he can't check, we have to call the guy who is at the front. My husband goes back and tells the guy that the gorilla wants him to confirm that we are on the list. Which list? Apparently, there are several lists, the iPad list, the printed list and some-other-device list. He finds us on the iPad list, so he calls his assistant who escorts my husband at the elevator (where we were waiting) and tells the gorilla to let us up. After all this you would think that the place is something extraordinary but when we arrive on the third floor we are let in a black cubic room that reminds me of a place where we used to have afternoon disco parties back in the 80s when I was a teen. The place is almost empty and nobody is dancing (music is terrible). My husband and my friends have a drink, then we leave and checkout the other place were we are supposed to be on the list. We are let easily into this one and the place is actually pretty cool (sort of a big grotto) but we are again too early (a private party is ending and the regular crowd isn't arrived yet). We dance a little bit but it is almost two in the morning and we have to go home and let the babysitter free. As we exit, we see that there is now a long line outside. So apparently, nobody shows up in a club before 1.30/2.  Oh well, nobody has kids either!

Saturday - my daughter is invited to a birthday party at the Soho House. For the non New Yorkers, the Soho house is a private event townhouse (there is also a hotel inside) where you have to be member or know a member to get in. They have different rooms but it is especially known for the coveted pool on the roof (it is the place where Samantha pretends to be a member after finding a membership card in the restrooms in an episode Sex and the City). It was still too cold for the pool, but the party (held in the library room) was as fun for the kids as for the grown-ups, with an open bar serving champagne and margaritas (it was Cinco de Mayo) and oysters/mini-hamburgers/fat crabs from 3 to 7. That evening we let our friends go to a restaurant without us and we went to bed at 9. Actually my husband did but I took advantage of him sleeping to watch "The skin I live in", the last movie by Almodovar. I usually like Almodovar (especially the early work) but I was afraid of watching this one after reading the reviews. It is certainly not for everyone (some scenes are very strong/violent) and it is disturbing but if you can endure it it is very rewarding, with one of the best twists ever that I didn't see coming at all, even if I knew that there was a twist. The cinematography is sublime and you can feel the direction of a very mature Almodovar. I would say that if you are a fan of Almodovar, you are going to like it. Plus, Banderas actually looks like himself.

Sunday - only sunny day during my friends stay. We decided to show them the Highline and have brunch at the Standard Grill. We are seated in an almost timely manner for NY standards and we have a decent meal (with a very yummy mimosa) but the best part (especially for my friend) was bumping into Julianne Moore in the restrooms (I have to thank my daughter because if it were for me I would never go to public or restaurant restrooms). She was next to us washing her hands at the "communal" sink where I was trying to wash my daughter's hands and she commented back in her very recognizable voice when my daughter said "this is a very big sink" (she said something very sweet like "you are right, this is REAAALLY a BIG sink").
I have to say that she looked as she had just jumped out of bed and she was wearing a simple black and white striped tee (had I my camera with me I could have snapped a picture and sent it to US magazine for their column "Stars are like us", with a caption saying "They wear stripes!") with black ristop pants. I tought of Gigi, maybe Julianne Moore is stripesick too and can't stop buying striped tees (even if this one in particular looked like it had been in her closet for a looong time). Of course my girlfriend was delighted by the unexpected encounter and we made her husband jaleous because he had missed Julian Moore (we actually also spotted Tory Burch on the UES but they had never heard of her). Definitively a story to tell friends and family back in France!
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking on the Hudson promenade (actually stopping at a playground every five minutes) until we arrived at the almost completed Freedom Tower and we collapsed on the subway that took us back.

Monday - my friends had a free day to get around the city but in the evening we had to take them out again as it was their last night in NY. Where to go, where to go? Not only it was a Monday night but it was also very drizzly, a weather that we don't have very often here. In the end I decided (I say I because my husband's idea of a fun night out was going to the neighborhood chinese restaurant) to take them to the Lower East Side, hoping that there would be something going on there. I must be the last New Yorker to check out Beauty and Essex (on Essex St) but in case you haven't, this is really a place that will make your mouth drop in amazament. For starters, you have to go through a pawn shop to access it (the entrance is like the back door of the pawn shop) and the contrast between the decor of the pawn shop and the "grandeur" of the place is astonishing. The bar and dining rooms are gorgeous and it is worth checking the place out at least for drinks but don't go only for the food (avarage and overpriced). The place was packed even if it was a Monday night and there is a lot of attitude going on, so I would go on a "quiet" evening  and not a Friday and Saturday. We spent a great night and because it was Monday it was OK to come home before midnight (babysitter appreciated too!)

It was a fun but exhausting week, and it was also good to have a break from the Creworld (new word????) I will try to do a post with my going out outfits next week. Thank you for reading, especially without pics to rest your eyes!

Have you been bounced back from a club recently? Have you been to Beauty and Essex? Have you seen "The Skin I live in"? Any other celebrity spotted wearing stripes?