SUMMER! (and maternity loot)

It is 70 degrees today (20+ celsius) and feels like summer! The crocuses and daffodils are blooming, kids are having a great time on their scooters and living is easy :-) 

I did manage to buy about 20 pieces of maternity wear yesterday..of which 3 pieces have to go back after more careful home inspection. I only bought the black tunic top from Heidi Klum's Loved collection. I was not impressed with the fit or quality of the other items. The tunic is really cool though and I can start wearing it right away, and probably will wear it through to the end.. 

Here is the loot that I am keeping:
2 pairs of work pants (black and pinstripe)

2 pair of leggings (black and jeans)

1 skinny jeans (black)

2 "funky" tops (red and black; and black, green and turqoise)

1 long black t-shirt

1 long black jersey tunic

1 empire waist black top

1 "sexy" silk ruffle top (black, of course)

1 long dark blue jersey tunic

1 "pantyhose" leggings (black)

1 black jersey dress

1 black pantyhose

1 extra large denim shirt

1 pair of yoga pants

Maternity Fashions

I have been waiting for the cheap chic designer craze to make its way into Maternity wear. Hello to Stella MacCartney or Phoebe Philo, both mothers of small children - don't you pleeeeeaaase have an inspiration to design stylish maternity wear???  (Stella has done a really cure children's wear collection for Gap, more about that later.)

Anyhoo, I checked out the latest, i.e. Heidi Klum's collection for Motherhood Maternity, called Loved by Heidi Klum. The following pieces I will try to find - wish me luck on my hunting trip tomorrow - I am beginning to burst out my clothes and need something to wear. And I don't want to spend a ton since I am NEVER going to wear these clothes after this pregnancy. (Truth be told I never wanted to wear any of the clothes of my previous two pregnancies again, and threw them all out the minute I could fit back into my pre-pregnancy clothes.)

Here are my favorites from Heidi:

Live Couch for the Living Room

On Saturday, braving the storm that felled trees and caused more than 100 000 people to be without electricity, we drove back to the Maurice Villency store that is closing. They had received a gorgeous sectional, in the perfect cognac color for our living room with a vaulted ceiling with cognac color beams.

The picture shows the sofa in dark red, which is also very beautiful, but for our house the cognac color was just perfect. The leather of this couch is like butter, so soft and luxurious.

Suburban Thoughts

Now that I am becoming a suburbanite for the first time in my life, I am thinking about how life will change. One of the big changes for me is that I will have to start driving. I have always (37 years!) lived in a city area where driving has not been necessary. Of course we have a family car, but my husband has been the designated driver. That will change when we move to the burbs. I do have a driver's license since I was 18, but if I am completely honest, I really don't know how to drive since I never had to.. I am actually a little worried about this whole thing. Once we move, there will be no soft landing. I will have to start driving immediately, or otherwise I won't get to work, or the groceries, or the gym, or pretty much anywhere where I need to go. Will I be one of those annoying bad drivers who get stuck in the middle of the parking lot and don't know which way to turn the wheel? Or the idiot who cannot change the lane smoothly and misses the exit, or worse, causes a dangerous situation or a close call? Or cannot pass a slow-moving vehicle and creates a traffic jam? Thinking about driving makes me nervous...and no, it's not like riding a bike! It's much more dangerous and expensive!

BITCHOLOGY

When I stand up for Myself and my beliefs,
They call me a Bitch.
When I stand up for Those I love,
They call me a Bitch.

When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts
Or do things my own way, they call me a Bitch.

Being a bitch means I won't Compromise what's in my heart.
It means I live my life MY way.
It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.

When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a Bitch.

The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid,
or when I act a little selfish.
It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I 'should' be...

I am outspoken, opinionated and determined.
I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that!
So try to stomp on me, just try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me.

You won't succeed.
And if that makes me a bitch, so be it.
I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

We finally did it!

Bought a house that is... We are house-owners now. For the first time ever! Goodbye City, Goodbye rentals. Welcome money pit. Welcome space. Welcome unlimited potential to create the kind of home we have always dreamed of. Welcome home.

The New Minimalism

Since I am a big fan of simplicity and clean lines, I LOVED the new minimalism that was seen at Celine by Phobe Philo and at Stella McCartney. I can't wait to dress like this next fall!

Also, tomorrow is the BIG DAY of closing on the new house! Life will change quite a bit...once we move into the green, leafy suburbs sometime this summer. I wonder if I should change the name of this blog to suburban fashionista?

International Women's Day Today

Happy Womens' Day to all my sisters out there! Women possess amazing strength and are there for each other. Check out what you can to do help women survivors of war:

http://www.womenforwomen.org/

Here it is...

The handy man special that will be our DREAM HOME!

DIY Project

I saw this coffee table in ABC Carpet and Home, and think that it is really cool and has a great organic and earthy look while being modern. In other words I loved it. It would also be the perfect shape for our family room which is fairly narrow. In the end though I decided that this table was not worth the price tag, especially because the table in the picture was the only one left, and it was very abused and had a lot of scratches. So I decided that this will by my DIY project once we move. I will get a cheap wood bench or table such as this, saw off pieces of rods and attach them to the ends just as they did here...

The Family Room Couch

Here is the couch that we purchased for our Family room. We found this in a sale at ABC Carpet and Home. The leather looks shiny in this picture, but it is not, it is a very nice quality leather, and sooo comfortable to sit on. We chose leather because it is so easy to keep clean with children. We also liked the size which is very generous without being very bulky.

The seating around the fireplace

I am looking everywhere for furniture for the new house, making plans and just loving, loving, loving the planning of the interior decoration aspect. My current apartment has been neglected for so long because I've just been wanting to get out. And now there is light in the end of the tunnel! I found this armchair at West Elm for a seating area by the fire place.. two of these, an acrylic table from CB2, and an animal skin rug. Who wants to cozy up by the fire place?

 

 

Sophie Theallet

I want to like Sophie Theallet..but for some reason, her style is not my cup of tea. She was the winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion award, is heralded as superbly talented and hardworking, and has been in the industry for quite a while. Her collection is just a bit too hippy or 70's for me. I don't like to vintage look of many of the pieces. One of her best pieces, IMHO, was the dress worn by Coco Rocha, as seen below.

Move over MJ - Michael Kors is the new KING

I LOVE MK!!! Michael Kors' fall 2010 collection is so fabulous I almost forgot to breathe looking at the pics from the MK collection on style.com. It is such easygoing luxury, each look is sexy, not too young, not too old, not too complicated or weird, but just beautifully tailored, luxurious and fabulous clothes. And the best thing is that they are so imminently wearable. Once I have my current project finished next fall (wink wink), I will be sporting these looks!!

When did the FASHION week become all about CELEBRITIES?

Fashion week is supposed to be about FASHION! For a long time though, the trend has been more about who attends the fashion shows, and who sits in the first row, than the actual clothes that are showed. This spring that seems more true than ever. Another thing that irks me, is that for some reason, mature women are not expected to be fashionable or chic. And if they are, it's a big deal. Witness the picture below, titled "Chic Cougars". These wonderful ladies attended the Donna Karan show, first row, of course.

Yay - Closing Date!!

We finally have the closing date for our new house! We shall become houseowners on March 10th. This journey has been long and arduous - given that we had two deals that fell through before. The first one was a short sale that was just incredibly complicated and in the end was not worth the effort for us, the second was because we did not qualify for the jumbo loan mortgage. Third time's the charm! We will not be moving until June, as the previous owner will rent the house from us until then. That works just fine because for us it's easier to let our daughter finish this school year in the old school, and also it's better to do renovation and move in the warmer months. I am just so happy and relieved now!!

My Valentine: The Lowell Daybed

It was love at first sight! I have had my eye on this gorgeous daybed from Maurice Villency. It must have been Valentine's Day luck, for today I found the Lowell daybed in a Maurice Villency store that is closing down. I got my daybed for a very decent discount. This is my first purchase for the new house. Some might say that it is crazy buying furniture for a house that I don't yet own, but I believe that if you act like it will happen, the universe will make it happen. The house is just waiting for the Lowell to come home now..

Goodbye McQueen

Such sad news at the opening of the New York Fashion Week. (Lee) Alexander McQueen, a very talented fashion designer with an individual style and vision, passed away in London this morning. 

The whole fashion industry and we non-industry fans are still in a state of schock.

Here's a link to the the Wall Street Journal blog that discusses fashion world's insider's first reactions to McQueens passing.

http://blogs.wsj.com/runway/2010/02/11/fashion-industry-reacts-to-mcqueens-death/

Goodbye McQueen - may your fashions live on.

New York is besieged by a blizzard today. The above picture from NY Times shows Times Square at 7 am, and the snowfall has been much worse since then. My office, which is NEVER closed, will close at noon today. Most people never even showed up for work. But of course, with Finnish heritage, I find that slightly ridiculous and trek in through snow, ice and hale... I am looking forward spending the afternoon with my girls though (schools are closed for a snow day), cozying up at home, making some hot chocolate and watching Dr. Oz (love him!).

Buying a house is an arduous process!

Everyone who has ever purchased property in New York state knows that it is not the easiest proposition. But in addition to all the rules and regulations, lawyers' demands and bank's usual conditions, it is now almost impossible to secure a loan large enough to actually buy anything that can house a family (or a growing family)... Due to the financial crisis and ensuing recession, and the hundreds of thousands (if not millions already) of foreclosures that have taken place within the past couple of years, banks have tightened their lending standards to be extremely risk averse and conservative. To a point that it is almost impossible to get a mortgage! I should know..having been through a wringer..and still waiting for the end result.

We have had to downgrade our plans, from the City to the Suburbia. First time in our lives something felt desperately out of reach financially..a bitter feeling I can tell you..even with a pretty good income from two people. Two people that are fiscally so responsible that we did not want to get caught up with the crazyness of buying with no money down, no doc, piggy bank and no interest loans that banks were offering to everyone regardless of credit rating.

Hopefully in the end we will get our reward for hard work, patience, responsibility and honesty! The reward is a gorgeous five bedroom home with catedral ceiling living room with large picture windows, a great room encompassing the kitchen, dining area and family room in one amazing large space, a basement with a movie theater, sauna and a home gym, a large back yard, 2-car garage, circular drive way, the best school district, private club, etc. etc. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will work out.

Preggers...

It was the New Year's Eve and starting the new year in a romantic and sexy way. And BAM! I so did not expect it but here we are - a new life is growing inside of me. We were talking about having a third child, analyzing whether we should do it when nature decided it for us. This will certainly put a little damper on the style front. Luckily I will be pregnant through the summer, that is so much easier than dealing with winter clothes and winter's more structured clothes. I will survive with long flowing dresses, stretchy light materials, ballerinas and flip flops for the swollen feet. I have not told my oldest yet as she will not be very thrilled that she has to share her princess position with yet a second baby.. And the middle one has to grow up so fast. Aah, such is life! I will treasure this pregnancy and this baby because it will be my last..

Who is going to wear this to the Oscars?

New York Times published this picture of a John Galliano for Dior gown today. I wonder who will wear this absolutely gorgeous gown to the Oscars?

My New Boyfriend

Yes, I have a new boyfriend!!! His name is Robert. Or is it Sherlock?

Robert Downey Jr. is so good in Sherlock Holmes that he will have the honor to be my new boyfriend. I had high expectations of the movie having heard from many people that this was the movie with which Guy Ritchie redeems himself. But they were not exactly right, because the film would not be all that good without Robert! He is the perfect Sherlock Holmes. Neurotic, socially inept, a bit nasty, fighting demons and addiction, and (of course) SO sexy.. I have not been a huge fan before and did not care too much for Ironman, but Robert has my heart now. xoxo

Chinchilly

After a couple of days of respite from the arctic weather we are back to freezing point. Maybe that was my inpiration for an impulse buy of Chinchilly or maybe it was the fact that it's been raved about everywhere and I finally found it in stock. Be that as it may, during my quick lunch break I spotted Essie's Chinchilly nail color in my local Duane Reade. $8 later this gray, supposedly uber cool, nail color came home (or in this case work) with me. I can't wait to go home, put everyone to bed and try on my new cool color. I really hope that the only co-worker that I have who really appreciates these things comes back soon. As of now I have no one to share my joy with, and no one to show my wonderful nails to.. Well, I am scheduled to go for drinks tomorrow night, with some other co-workers, so maybe my nails will get some much warranted attention after all.

Men's Fashion

Now that men's fashion weeks are taking place, a thought came to mind after looking at the pictures from the shows. Ladies really should take a page out of men's fashion! And I am not just talking about the menswear inspired fashions or the boyfriend jeans or the white shirts borrowed from boyfriends, husbands or dads. As men, we ladies should focus more on cut, fit and quality, and less on trends. We spend way too much money on the latest items, and much too little on the staples that will make us feel good and look good for years to come. That said, I am going to start hunting for the perfect tweed jacket that will last me a lifetime. It will have to have the perfect cut, perfect color, perfect collar, perfect sleeves, otherwise I will not buy it. I will pair it with a pencil skirt, jeans, sharp tailored pants, maybe even a dress. I will dress it up with big necklaces or hanging scarves. Sometimes it may be Ralph Laurenish, sometimes Oscar de la Renta'ish, sometimes Thakoon, or Michael Kors, maybe even Marc Jacobs!

Buyology

I have to admit that I am a recovering shopaholic. Which is to say that I do have lapses from time to time, even though mostly I am very careful about shopping. Except when I get stressed out and need retail therapy. Or have a drink before shopping (what a dangerous combo that is!). Mostly I find that it is best to just stay away from shops. Anyhoo, I am trying to be very mindful about shopping and buying, and am trying to understand my own shopping triggers in general. So when I heard about this book, Buyology, by Martin Lindstrom, that talks about the effect of advertising in the brain, I thought that it might give me some revelation about my own shopping habits and why I buy, or why my brain makes me buy :-). I borrowed the book from my local library (yes, the days of buying books are over) and proceeded to read through about brain scans and emotions, whether sex, beauty or celebrities sells, and why anti-smoking campaigns are not working.. The biggest thing that I took away is that emotions are strongly linked to our buying behavior. So no surprise there. But at least for a while, I will be more mindful when looking at an advert in a magazine, and can analyze what is it in the picture that so beckons me to buy.

COLD and STYLE

Enough with this cold already! The cold is definitely messing with my style. You see, I am too old to sacrifice comfort for style. I have a problem with my knees as they seem to freeze in approximately 5 seconds in sub-zero weather (sub zero Celsius, that is), which is why I need to wear a full length coat whenever the temperature falls at 32 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). I also have a 10 minute walk to the subway, down a very windy street. And anyone who has experienced a New York winter knows it is all about the wind shield!

Even though my full length coats are very nice, they are not the height of fashion. This winter I've been wearing a dark grey shearling coat and a Michael Kors down coat, both down to my ankles, and WARM WARM WARM.

A New Try

I tried blogging for the first time this fall. Being a working mother of 2 adorable children, it is hard to find time for updating the blog, especially with photos, which really make the blog interesting. So I quit the NYC Fashionista blog and stopped blogging.

A couple of months went by and I missed blogging surprisingly much! So I started a new blog with the same name: NYC Fashionista. I am really bad at downloading my pictures so there won't be new photos that often. Maybe I should get a smaller memory card for my camera, then I would be forced to download more often.  The postings will be random, based on how much time I have and what is going on in my work and home life. I don't expect anyone to read my blog. However, it's out there and if someone reads it, please comment and let me know what you think :-)