White Cowboy Boots

I have always loved white shoes, but when you have a foot size 9 and 1/2 and need a wide shoe, white shoes don't usually work. Mostly they just make your foot look 20 feet long. 

But when we went dress shopping, we did a quick side foray to Lester's ware-house pop-up sale, and I found these Sam Edelman white cowboy boots for 75% off. I could not resist the call of the white shoes. The last time I had white boots was when I was 12 years old. And oh how I loved those boots!! 

And I do love these white cowboy boots too! For some reason I was under the false assumption that it's very difficult to match the white boots to an outfit. But so far I've worn them with whatever I happened to have on that day, and it's worked out just fine. I guess that just goes to show that I usually overthink things for no good reason. Next stop: white pumps! 

Dress Shopping

Recently my 17-year old and I spent a couple of Saturday afternoons prom dress shopping. I have to say it was quite fun actually. The prom is not until June, but apparently most everyone already has a dress, and it's important to get one early on so you can put a "lock" on your dress by posting it on social media and claiming rights to that particular dress so that nobody else wears the same thing.

Of course it's important to have the perfect Dress! 

The perfect dress makes you feel beautiful and confident, and photographs well. 

The cut, fit, color, material, and price all factor into the decision. Before I realized that we should have discussed a price range prior to walking into a store, we looked at dresses that cost upward of $5000. But they were couture!!

 I snapped a quick picture of myself and ran out. 

The next stop was a lot more affordable, but also quite overwhelming. 

My daughter tried on so so many dresses. 

This was her initial favorite. But not the final choice. The chosen dress will be revealed at prom time.

Did you notice my shoes changed? While dress shopping, I somehow ended up purchasing white cowboy boots for myself. That's a whole other story and a different post. Ha! 

Thrifting

I've always been a fan of thrift shops. As a money strapped teenager, thrifting was a way to be able to find cool styles that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. I can still remember one particularly cool green leather jacket! These days the appeal is more environmental (recycling and re-using makes so much more sense than landfill!) and I donate more than shop, but my own teen makes really cool finds that allow her to develop her own individual style without being a chain store clone. Vintage shopping is getting more cool in the U.S. and prices, especially in New York City are sometimes a bit insane. Fortunately we found a real thrift shop on Long Island. MyUnique in Westbury is huge and definitely worth a visit if you're into thrifting. Don't expect this place to be a curated vintage shop - this place will require you to go through racks and racks to find the gem. When we went there my daughter found jeans for $7 that were selling on Revolve for $80. I saw a DVF tunic for $20 that still had original tags hanging, and a beautiful 100% cashmere sweater for $15. On my next trip there I plan to look for a  denim jacket that I can bring home and customize. 

California Dreaming

Last week I spent three and a half days at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, in Dana Point, CA. It is one of the most beautiful places and one of the most gorgeous hotels I've seen.  

These beautiful flowers greet you at the check-in. 

I arrived in time to witness this amazing Pacific sunset from my hotel room balcony. 

The golden hour. I'm super jealous of those people who have their houses on the beach. Life's not fair. 

I have a thing for palm trees. These high ones are so California! 

If I lived there I would walk here every day. 

 The surfers are so brave. The temperature was in the 40's!  

That's the Ritz up on the cliff. 

If I win in the lotto you know where to find me. 

Just don't fall in the bushes. 

Goodbye California and your beautiful beaches. I'll come back in a couple of months! 

Happy Galentine's Day

I'm so blessed to have a man in my life who's shared 29 Valentines with me. We've built an amazing life together and despite some ups and downs as in every marriage, our love is strong and we are always on the same team. 

But what makes my life more fun is all the lovely gals in my life - so on this Valentine's Day, I want to celebrate my gals! 

Happy Galentine's Day to all the sweet girls in my life, daughters, friends, co-workers, neighbors, relatives, fellow moms, teachers, etc. Thank you for being the amazing human beings that you are and bringing your unique self, your humor, wits and your gifts to this earth. I wish you all much health and happiness, hugs and kisses, love and light! 

Super Bowl Eats

My family has a long-standing tradition to host a Super Bowl watch-party. We've only skipped a couple of years, for good reasons. Yesterday's Super Bowl game was a little hum-ho, nobody felt strongly about the teams (San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs) since they were nobody's home teams. But I'll take any excuse to have a little party... I had so much fun chatting up my friends and dancing through the half time JLO and Shakira show, that I forgot to take pictures. These are pics my friends took of the food. My Daily Yum food blogger friend Irina brought these amazing chicken wings. And my lovely neighbor sent in a delicious fruit and cream trifle. Yum indeed.

These vegetarian nachos were a hit! 

Of course you must have a football shaped ice cream cake to top it all of!