Whiter than white

As warm weather approaches it's time to start bringing those white jeans back into rotation. Or maybe they never left for some of you. I know that white jeans especially are no longer subject to the not after labor day or before memorial day rule. How do you keep yours white? I used to rely on good, old fashion clorox but found that over time, in addition to wearing out the fibers, the bleach caused the whites to yellow. My personal favorite is oxy-lean. I throw a cub full in with all my white loads but for white jeans, capris and my favorite white shirts, I usually saok them in an oxy-lean solution before washing. Another great stain fighting tip is to make paste of oxy-clean and water, spread it on the stain and put out in the sun before washing. Any tips to share?

Where Stirup Cup Meets Fiesta!

One of the traditions of a hunt is the stirup cup. It is the offering of port and perhaps a small snack at the begining of every hunt. In our hunt we have a yearly competition to see who can put on the best one and believe me the competition is fierce. This past weekend it was our families turn. We went with a fiesta theme to complement our western states hunt background. Notice the table cloth? We also did tequila in addition to the port and instead of shortbread cookies we baked cornbread cheese biscuits. It was a solid entry and hopefully a winning one! Here you can see my dad, one of the Master of the Hunt, helping himself to a little port.

The Scoutiest

This past weekend was the matchbox car derby for OPB's cub scout pack. He is in the Wolf Den which is second grade. For the whole pack, his car won the award for being the most "scoutiest". He created the Boy Scout "Arrow of Light". He was so excited and totally thrilled. Although the car was scouty, it was slow and did not win the race but he didn't care!

The Classic Cardigan

Happy President's day everyone. I am taking advantage of the day off to go through my closets and take stock. One thing I noticed was that it is time for some new cardigans. Cardgians are a staple in my wardrobe. I wear them over blouses to the office and over tees with jeans. Here in Northern California and especially at my office in downtown SF, you almost always need a cardigan. Even if its a super warm summer day, rare in SF, the office AC is frigid. Anyway, as I surveyed my closet it became obvious that some of my reliable favorites are begining to look worn and are in need of replacement. I have always been a fan of the Jackie Cardigan from J Crew. A navy Jackie almost always lives in my closet. But I have heard alarming things about the quality of J Crew sweaters lately so I am casting about for alternatives. I've heard good things about the Lands End Canvas Heritage Cardigans. Anyone agree? Thoughts are welcome. I am looking for basic staple cardigans in varrious fun colors. Thanks!

Stripes Ahoy!

I am loving this cute dress from Lilly Pulitzer. It's called the Cassie dress and a fun mix of casual, nautical and yet right on trend for spring. This may be one of the few times that what is in my closet actually could be considered trendy. I'd wear it with flat gold sandles or ballet flats sunny weekend days. And you could add a skinny belt and a cardigan to cover up more or go out for a night of fun. A cardigan is always necessary where I live at night. I love the versatility and nautical feel to this dress and goodness knows I can never say no to stripes! It's to me what polka dots are to some others.

Think Pink!

I bit on J Crew's most recent promo and grabbed the double serge wool pencil skirt in the neon azalea color. It was so bright and cheery, like a pink highlighter, that I just could not help myself. This has really been the year I fell for these skirts. I now have the skirt in the bronze ocher and viridian green and also the flair in the acorn, navy and rose print. I'm stalking others on ebay and the JCA exchange. I plan to wear this skirt with camel and navy, as well as gray but any other styling tips are welcome. I also am wondering about the seasonablity (if that's a word) of this skirt. I live in Northern California and work in SF. We have pretty much a mono-climate. I can se see wearing this with bare legs and slingbacks in spring really and fall. To me this is really a 3 season skirt. We don't have the sweltering summers that other places have although we have some warmer days. What do you think?

Happy Valentine Day

A Happy Valentines Day to all of you! Hope you have a wonderful day whatever you have planned!

Boys

A week or so ago I hosted a sleep over for AGB's 11th birthday. He had his three best friends over and they had a blast. First off there was a ton of baseball/soccer/football. This is a group of boys into sports. Then they munched their way through a huge bag of pretzels. For dinner we had a tacho bar and again the food dispeared. They watched the movie "Real Steel" which I have decided is really the movie "Rocky" with robots during which they had popcorn. But the highlight of the evening was the make your own sundays as seen above. It was quite fun. I suppose I should be glad they weren't doing their hair and sneaking out to see the girls down the street. I suppose that comes soon enough. But for now a good time was had by all.

Key Nautical Pieces for Spring

Nautical looks are always big for spring and this year seems to be no exception. I love navy blue, I prefer it to black so I adore this chnace to pick up new pieces. It's hard to find navy pants, except in the spring. Anyway, there are always a few key pieces that help to establish a nautical feel to your wardrobe
First is white jeans. These are a spring/summer staple for me. After Memorial Day of course! I do love these j Crew skinnies but have to confess I prefer bootcut white jeans. I also love my white J Crew cafe capris. Remember that white must be spotless so it needs to be replaced when it starts to yellow or otherwise look dingy!

Skinny red pants. Bright pants are all the rage and although I am waffling on the look I adore these from the Gap. I think they are something I will have to try on. I can just see them with a navy and white striped tee.

A nautical print is also fun to throw in. This tee from Banana Republic is boaty but not over the top. I can totally see it with navy slack or a navy pencil skirt and the office to add some fun and then with shorts or capris for the weekend.

Nothing says nautical like a striped shirt and J Crew is my go to place for this. Whether they are red and white or navy and white, long or short sleeved, I can never have enough of these. I love this one and have added it in to my rotation.

Do you go nautical in the spring?

De Ja Crew?

Over on the wonderful J Crew Aficiando blog this wonderful vintage J Crew photo was pictured today. I loved this skirt when it came out but simply could not afford it at the time. I think the look still is modern and current and this was my favorite J Crew model ever. However, I saw this very similar skirt on the Ann Taylor Loft web site today and simply could not resist. I had also seem it on the wonderful bloggers Shopping with M and AudreyBella. I don't like how ATL has it styled and plan to wear it very similarly to the J Crew pciture above. I can't wait for spring!

What do you think? Do you have either one of these skirts? If not, will you be checking out the ATL version?

A Weekend of Fun

We went fox hunting in our favorite territory this weekend and had a great time. One of our members is a great trainer and her horse was sore so she rode CMB's horse Dancer and was able to school him a little. So CMB rode another members terrific horse Sunny and also had a great time as the smiles below attest.

CMB riding Sunny. She had a really fun day and it made a nice change from falling off Dancer which she has done the last 2 times she has riden him.

The price of all the fun. Tack must be cleaned and put away!

Cleaning the Masters boots is also a tradition. In this case it is my father who is the master so cleaning her grandfather's boots is a little more fun. Here CMB is showing her younger cousin E how to get the boots really clean!

A Venerable Age

This past weekend we attended my grandmother's 90th birthday. It was a terrific party. Grammy, as we call her, is in excellent health and retains a sharp memory. She's above with her great grandchildren. She's really overcome some rough things in her life. A breast cancer survivor, she lost my grandfather to lung cancer about 11 years ago but kept moving forward and at 82 actually remaired a lovely widower she met when he moved in next door. Truely she has reached what people call a venerable age and has done it with poise and grace. Happy Birthday Grammy, we love you!

A Tale of 2 Shirts

I have to say one of my favorite things at J Crew are their perfect shirts. I love the patterns, the way they look great with the sleeves rolled up on the weekends, under blazers and with a pencil skirt. So it should not be a surprise that I was trolling the J Crew web site for new aricals and fell in love with the liberty print in the second picture. But the price is ouchy, at $150 that's to much for me right now and these prints rarely make it to sale. But then I saw the Lands End shirt below. It's pretty similar and only $50. Hum, might make a good subsitute!