the classic tote

i've recently gotten myself in check where the CANVAS TOTES are concerned.  somewhere along the line i fell into a tote k-hole, because what's $20 here and there where a cute hand-screened cat head is concerned?  i'd amassed quite the collection, and never really used them.  i donated most, with the exception of my beloved fieldguided kate bush tote, and the savage beauty souvenir tote i picked up from the met two summers ago. 

i was so pleased with the quality of everlane's basic tees, that i decided to give their $35 canvas bag a whirl.  i chose basic black with brown leather handles (goes with everything!), and i've found it to be the perfect summer tote.  an inside pocket for my phone, room enough for my everyday essentials (an umbrella 'round these parts), and even a towel if a trip to the beach strikes my fancy.   the classic tote comes in a handful of colors, and is a chicer alternative to those cat prints i'd been slinging around!

nysummer sale

a month from today i'm going do something i've never done before.  i'll put my vintage shop in "vacation mode" for the first time since opening it in 2008.  usually when i travel, i put up a shop announcement letting gals know that items will ship after such-and-such date, and respond to inquiries on the road via the etsy app on my iphone (do you have the etsy app?  i love the etsy app.)  not this time!  i'm going on full-on vacation while we're in new york for two weeks.  (mark however, is bringing his laptop and will work a bit each day; too bad, so sad.)

so!  in an effort to sell as much vintage as i can before i go (for the murray's bagels fund), i'm having a shop sale.  25% off everything with code NYSUMMER at checkout until june 19th.  treat yo self!

{shapes of nyc by yoni alter}

belately

in honor of my MOTHER joining instagram this week, how's about an IG roundup?  haven't done one in awhile!  little bits include:

+the opening of florida's third shake shack last month in boca raton, just a mile from my office.  we went to the grand opening with my dear friend, a florida/new york transplant, and her discerning SS tastebuds.  we went again on mother's day to bring mark's mama into the fold.  as a vegetarian, i'm probably shacked out for awhile; that 'shroom burger is a force to be reckoned with.  still, we're happy it's here.

+despite feeling really really sheepish about owning one after years of protesting their existence, that silly kindle paperwhitehas been the answer to a lot of life's burning questions.  (such as: i have a coffee table art book addiction and live in a one-bedroom condo, AND, how will i read the latest housewives' memoir without others knowing?)  i'll never quit beautiful book collecting, but i've really grown to like the kindle for the one-time reads.

+GREEN TEA.  i have recently become a convert and frankly, it's a travesty that it took me so long.  my late great-grandfather, who lived to be 98, and whose wife is 100 and still going strong, told me years ago that his secret to longevity was green tea.  i've made the switch to tea from coffee, discovered that i prefer herbal to black, and green to herbal.  tazo zen, unsweetened, has become my go-to.  but recommendations... i want them!  favorite teas?

+oana, my beloved blog designer and sweet friend, sent me the original illustration of beautiful girl on bike.  the original!  it's being professionally framed as we speak.  i'll treasure it forever.

+i had too much fun collecting summer vibes to stuff into a box and mail to my brother for his birthday.  i'll spend the next month working on the same for my sister's and brother-in-law's birthdays.

+i love the new kate spade saturday line.  i treated myself to an adorable and practical pair of ks pf flyers and dig them so hard that i actually wrote one of those online reviews (size down!).

+our beach.  our beach has been more heavenly than ever lately.

popcorn

a quick blog interlude about popcorn?

i promise i'm not grasping at straws here.  but first.  do you guys watch scandal?  you should be.  i never watch anything while it's actually airing on television (unless it's full of hbo smut), but scandal has become the exception.  and you have to start from the beginning, so i recommend subscribing to hulu plus until you're caught up, then canceling your $6/month membership.  and then coming back here to dissect with me how not-sexy that president is.  that show is SO effing good.  (finale thursday!  WHAT will happen?!)

which brings us to popcorn, sort of.  if you're a watcher, or when you become one, you'll notice the only thing the main (babe, best work-wardrobed) character olivia pope is seen eating for dinner happens to be an oversized glass of wine with a side of popcorn.  this has also happened to me recently,  thanks to long work days and this fantastic little stovetop popper.  just throw in kernels and a splash of sunflower oil, and i'm telling you you've never tasted better.  

just trust me on all of this.

(pinterest-y image via)

vintage overload

FINALLY.  my camera battery died last month which prompted the realization that i might have left the charger in a hotel room.  i'm stubborn and cheap, so i only got around to buying a new one a couple days ago.  i have a backlog of vintage goodness to photograph and add to my shop, and new pieces will be trickling in over the week.  (i have wednesday and thursday off, yesssss!)  if you haven't already, add stylebook vintage to your etsy favorites and/or circle for BREAKING NEWS in vintage dresses.  xo!

dreamtime downtime

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lately my downtime in the evenings has consisted of wine, pinterest, and my new kindle paperwhitesoundtracked by the nba playoffs on my boyfriend's silly flatscreen.  it's not the worst life.

well hello there

so very much radio silence over here the last month and a half; my bad.  my job is its busiest january through may, which is amazing considering that's only 5/12 of the year, but it's also intense while i'm in the thick of it.  april was swamped, and it's a shame that my one year anniversary as a delray beach resident- and then 16 days later- my one year workiversary, slipped by without the cool-shit-i-did-this-year recap i'd planned to share here.  it's coming.  like, after may 20th?

exciting things on the horizon keep me going.  we booked a ten day nyc apartment share with some west coast friends for late june, in the most beautiful williamsburg loft.  more and more i'm feeling pulled to new york (broken record, i know), and this is going to be a great chunk of time to see my friends and explore the nitty-gritty.  (send your recommendations over!  i mean food ones.)  i'll still have another week of vacation time to use up before august's end, so imagining the places we might go this summer is a favorite pastime of mark's and mine.

and it hasn't been ALL work, no play.  we've obviously been taking serious advantage of our beach in this precious window: tourist/snowbird season is over, and it's not yet maniacally hot.  and i have so so much good vintage to add to my shop!  soon, babes.

ps- happy birthday to my brother, zack!

pps- pizza's from here.  damn.

birkenwhat?

and speaking of practical footwear, what do YOU think about birkenstocks?  (yes, serious question.)

i bought a pair of sleek, non-birkenstocky, madrids on super sale last summer, and i guess those were my training wheels.  then one morning this past january i found myself entranced by an older woman's gizehs while stuck in the world's longest line at my favorite deli.  after positive affirmations from becca, who seems to have cool down to a science, i went for it.  (red first, which i immediately sold in favor of some ashley olsen blacks.)  not long after my gizeh procurement, amidst teasing from my mother, the above image appeared on the sartorialist.  then this man repeller essay happened. 

this whole thing has me so discombobulated!  i'm really feelin' the birks this summer.  have i been viewing birkenstocks with unnecessary disdain all these years?  is this related to my new obsession with incense?  is it just because i'll be 32 in july and i'm throwing in the towel?  THOUGHTS?!  help me work through this.  or don't, because i've worn things that have elicited the side eye for most of my adult life.  :)

(this post probably should've happened on saturday [4/20], but earth day seems just as appropos.)

sandals & sunscreen

here's what: living where i do, sunscreen is a year-round daily must, and the only time my footwear requires socks is the rare trip to a bowling alley.  i live at the beach, and since most people start thinking about their summer necessities around this time every year, i thought i'd sing the praises of some of my staples. 

saltwater sandals.  while everyone whose blog i read and instagram i follow seems to have a pair, i've never actually seen another woman wearing them in jacksonville or delray beach.  (not like i've seen every florida resident's shoe closet, but you know.)  they're the perfect accompaniment to the vintage sundresses i live in during the hottest months, and actually really, really practical.  you can drown these babies in the depths of the ocean (or a daily 3pm downpour, or splash mountain over and over again), and they'll dry out and maintain their shape and color like a champ.  and you can walk in them for hours.  mine have been to chichen itza- the real one and the epcot one- and yielded no blisters or sore feet.  i've had a few colors over the years, and find myself wearing the red and tan most. they look as good now as they did four years ago!  swear!  (their sizing's unique- madewell has a helpful chart here.  i wear a size 7 shoe, and purchased a saltwater size 5.)

rainbow sandals.  seven(!) years later, these do NOT look brand new, and i wouldn't have it any other way.  these are my beach, pool, mailbox, grocery store go-tos.  and if you've got a pair you know they're a badge of honor... it takes time and wear to break these in to your perfect and unique foot shape.  i really think i'd slip these on if our house caught on fire-- they belong to me and me alone.  sort of like ordering a burger to your exact specifications, there are a lot of options when you buy a pair.  i've got the premier leather sierra brown single layer arch narrow strap (these guys).  when i moved in with mark a year ago, our second stop after bed bath & beyond was to get him his own pair of rainbows.  he lives in them now.  everyone needs a pair of flip flops; don't mess with the plastic ones.  and if your heart doesn't melt after watching this, well.  i don't know boutcha.

sun bum sunscreen.  i'd never given much thought to sunscreen brands, just grabbed the highest spf that promised not to clog my pores, until six months ago when i bought a bottle of sun bum after reading about the company.  i cannot even tell you how damn good this stuff smells.  my skin feels softer after i use it, and i spend the rest of my day smelling like hawaii.  (i'm qualified to make that statement.  i went to preschool there.)  sun bum is a newer company, so if you don't have a surf shop on every corner, you can order it from several sources online.  worth it.  and just like i hope you wear your seatbelt every time you're in the car, i hope you wear sunscreen every single day.  because i care about you!!

also, i swear by ray-ban sunglasses- all sorts (they don't slide off my face and i think they're so timeless).  don't have a favorite beach towel or swimwear company, but i'm on the hunt for the PERFECT sun hat.  i'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath for that review.  surf's up!

march on

my time off of work has been incredibly refreshing, decently productive, and very very fun.  the first day of my "spring break" i met up with my friend abby for lunch in miami.  she told me over drinks about someone she knew who got flown across the country by her company just to instagram a week-long event.  apparently this person only wound up taking one photo the whole time.  my reaction?

"they should have hired me."

eggy

i smiled the other day when i realized the most prevalent image on my pinterest is THE EGG.  oh my goodness, i love eggs.  i could happily sustain on an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet for the rest of forever, but i only lasted three years as a vegan.  and i blame my mother!  when i was itty bitty she'd scramble eggs for me each morning as soon as she heard me rustle in my bed.  (so cute.)  i know that easter isn't really about eggs, but i'm looking forward to hitting delray's farmer's market saturday morning for fresh ones to color, and then ultimately turn into this!  have a beautiful weekend!

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