Tuesday, February 22, 2011

"What does your Chuck Color mean?" Or, "My Life in Chuck Taylors."

Good Morning darlings,

As far back as I can remember, Chuck Taylors have been my weekend shoe of choice in all seasons other than a hot hot summer (havianas always win). I have had more pairs of chuck taylors than any other shoe out there. I am a big believer that you can wear chucks with (just about) anything, and as a rather confident teenager, I would even rock the pink ones with formal dresses (before everyone else did, please and thank you!!!)

As a woman in my mid-twenties, I feel a little less certain that chucks are an appropriate choice for women at formal affairs, but I still kind of love it when boys  (or men, whatever) wear chucks with their tuxes. I still believe that nothing looks better on a woman on a Sunday at brunch than a mans white oxford, a pair of straight (NOT skinny) jeans, and a pair of chucks (at this point in my life, I say either navy or cream works best).

But the timeline of the color of chucks that one wears in their lives is interesting. Here's mine and I would love to hear all of yours as well:


0-12 years old: Here's what I remember about these years: I used to wear chucks with looney tunes on the sides of them with leggings and t-shirts with cats in baskets. Basically I was entirely ahead of the curve, as this is what just about every hipster in Philadelphia wears these days. I even had the big grandma glasses from about 9 - 12.  So the next time you walk into Dirty Franks, you can thank my childhood self for inspiring the dirty young adults of the future.


13 - 14 years old: I started my love affair with chucks during these years. I got my first real job, and thus had my first real disposable income. It was during these years that I rocked the neon chucks, the textured chucks, and the flat out weird chucks. I was just starting to get into the social scene where everyone wore chucks...and I always wanted to be ahead of the scene, so I always had to have the newest and coolest chucks. Of all of the pairs I had, my favourites were my pink low-tops. I wore them with everything from skirts to jeans to pajamas to dresses. I would probably still wear them once in a while, but I have no desire to be mistaken for a 14 year old girl who shops at Hot Topic and goes to Good Charlotte shows (which I was when I wore them).
"If you would be my punk rock princess..."




15 - 18 years old: I became far too hardcore for my pink chucks. You were only a serious rocker if you were wearing black chucks. So that's what I wore. Black chucks. Some days I wore high tops, most days low-tops. The high tops had a much different connotation than the low tops. So on the days I was listening to Dashboard, I wore the low tops with argyle socks and a mini skirt, and on the days I was listening to (trying to learn to enjoy) Fugazi, I was wearing hightops (with skinny jeans, again before the craze).

I also met the first love of my life during the black period. He wore black low tops, had tattoos, and wore a studded belt. He drove a Wrangler that had band bumper stickers like Saves the Day and The Get Up Kids. He was much older. We went to shows every weekend and watched Empire Records on rooftops. I learned a lot during the black period about boys and the way that they like to treat girls. I stopped wearing black chucks soon after the first time the first love of my life left my life.


"And I feel dangerous & vexed"

"Youth's the most unfaithful mistress"









19-21 years old - This is the time when I was dying to be a grownup. The only grownups I knew who wore black chucks were my friends dads (and, yea, okay my dad) who wore old Springsteen t-shirts, and still had kind of long hair. I got rid of my studded belts, sold my autographed band tees on ebay, and bought really really expensive jeans. What would one wear with really really expensive jeans other than a pair of white(?), yes, white chucks. I think that I found a picture of Drew Barrymore in like YM or Seventeen and decided that I was going to style myself after her. 

Gratuitous pic of Drew circa like 1996ish.  The best Drew period.

She was wearing white chucks. She had red lips AND a baseball cap. And she just looked so hip.  I wore the white chucks for a while, getting so angry at the people who suggested that I clean them. To me, buying a pair of white sneakers and then CLEANING them was so declasse. It was something that people who bought white Reeboks did, not something that I did to my white chucks. 

"I am the last of the famous, international playboys." 

When I was twenty, I met the second love of my life. He was a Spanish artist (something every lady should try at least once) and he was incredible. I went to visit him in Spain and my world view was broadened, but I lost my white chucks --  I gave them to my lover (same shoe size, strange)...but not after wearing them to the best karaoke night/too much whiskey/disco I have ever been to...If you look to the far left of this photo, you will see the back of a twenty year old Lyndsey after her first European all nighter, waiting for the train at 7:00am...wearing the white chucks! 


"Por un beso de la flaca, yo daría lo que fuera aúnque solo uno fuera"
(The only song I knew in the karaoke list was La Flaca by Jarabe de Palo)

Alas, our love ended and he ended up with the chucks. But perhaps, it was time for a change...

21-22 years old : At the end of my first year living in Boston, I went on a shopping spree. I remember it so vividly. I bought a green dress to wear to Berklee's booze cruise, three necklaces, a new pair of heels, and a pair of the washed navy chucks. LowTops. I thought that they were the most grownup chucks that I could buy. They said "I am still a punk rock girl at heart, but I still want you to take me seriously." After the shopping trip, I met my friends for curry at Bombay Cafe, and changed into the chucks almost immeadiately. I felt like a new person. They gave me a new sense of confidence. I was a person who went out and got what she wanted when she wanted it. Apparently that included a boy with a stallion tattoo (please, just try to fill in the blank, _________ - American, or __________- Stallion). He wore a gold chain around his neck and was studying to be an Engineer. He interested me because he was a new thing. He thought that I was the most happening lady around, and for that I will be forever grateful to the Italian Stallion of my navy period. 

More importantly, the navy period brought the third love of my life. We shared a mutual love of navy chucks, aviators, and judging other people based on superficial things. We both had a background in underground music scenes and low self esteem. We bonded over our alternative teaching methods and flirted by smearing mud on each others faces. 
"You take me out shopping, and all we'd buy is trainers"
When, after a shot or two of Patron (and a pair of false eyelashes), I finally worked up the chutzpah to kiss him, we were both wearing navy chucks. In fact, I suppose you could say that we shared our first kiss over navy chucks. 

The navy chucks may have been the most short lived pair of chucks that I have owned. They went into the garbage after I killed a large spider with them. I was sure that the eggs from the spider had made their way into the crevices of the shoes and that one day I would be wearing them and I would have a spider explosion on my feet. 

23 - Present: Today I wear cream colored chucks on the weekend. I don't wear sneakers during the week at all anymore, unless I'm at the gym. What does this mean? I have no idea. I think that time can only tell what the color of the chuck means. But let's hope that by 25, I can find my own personal classic color. I will report back in t minus 21 days. 


What color chuck defines you? 

xoxo
LCF

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Dinner Party Dream Land

Darlings,

While I was going through my photos tonight, I realized that I took almost no pictures of the food I made or my guests. I think that this is the absolute best sign of a great dinner party (i mean, not to toot my own horn) because it means that you were enjoying each other and the food, and not running around styling food or reapplying lip gloss.

This dinner party was one of the best I've ever hosted. It brought together old and new friends, and my mother even made an appearance...okay, okay she was the life of the party.

The loose theme of the evening was garlic and I made a Portugese garlic soup, a roasted leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, whipped potatoes, creamed spinach, and a fabulous flourless chocolate cake.

We drank wine, reminisced, looked to the future, and had a great time.

In case you were wondering, I wore this gem <-----



This picture doesn't do it justice. It's this amazing piece that I bought about three years ago at Target for 30 bucks! It is a knit jersey top with a v neck and a deep v back. And it has a knee length net tutu!!!! It's a fabulous piece. It is my go-to when I need something to dress up just for fun.



I alternated my chef coat and a  cute black boyfriend-cut blazer from the Gap. And obviously I was wearing these beauties, old Kellys from Kate Spade. They are not only the most comfortable heel that I own, they are such a great silhouette. They make legs look miles and miles long without making said legs look like they belong to a stripper.
 
But I must admit that by the end of the night, I was rocking my other favourite black patent leather shoes:
Le Dansko 
         favored shoe of chefs, doctors, and those who have given up on life everywhere.



 Anyway, here are some photos from the beginning of the party.

One of the two smaller arrangements for the dinner table

That's right, those are garlic cloves, not marbles.  

La mesa (wheat Sourdough from Metropolitan Bakery, thanks Jess!)

Flowers, candles, mint jelly, and butter! Amazing!
My favourite candelabra. 
Lillet & Tis.

I couldn't get the cake before someone else got to it! Chocolate with fresh whipped cream and raspberry puree

This is a still of what we like to call "a good time."

"I'll clean up in the morning."   



xoxo
LCF

Fashion Wednesdays

Hello Darlings,

Wednesdays are so good, are they not? They give you hope that the weekend is actually on it's way, while still giving you plenty of time to work through the pile of papers that is growing on your desk while you are busy (ahem) blogging or finding new shoes to wear on said weekend.

It's true that I like to start planning my wardrobe for the weekend on Wednesdays (if I know what I'm doing of course, {For every particular social outing, there is a particular wardrobe choice}).

It's also true that for the most part during the winter, I can be seen in something of a uniform --
Blazer and skinny jeans and boots, or leggings and boots during the week.
Mini dress, tights, blazer, and heels during the weekend nights.
Jeans, a man's oxford, a blazer, and chucks on the weekend days.

SIDEBAR
It's pretty bad news that I have become so gosh darn predictable. 
But it's too darn cold for anything else. 
Some days I get home and walk around the house in espadrilles and sundresses. 
I get so sad looking at my cork wedges and linens -- sometimes on really dark days, I whisper to them "Don't worry, we'll get you out of this dark and dusty closet soon." 


Did you see a recurring theme before the sidebar so rudely interjected? Somebody needs to get me out of this blazer situation. I have been collecting blazers since Isaac Mizrahi put out his first Target collection in 2003. He had the most amazing hot pink corduroy blazer with round wooden buttons. I saw it in Vogue (anymore Isaac for Target is a little too lowbrow...but when it first came out, it flipped the industry over) and I remember that I made my ex-boyfriend come pick me up early from soccer practice (I managed the boys soccer team for all four years of highschool) so that we could drive to New Jersey so that I could buy it before it sold out. I still have it. 
After that it was all over.

 I love blazers more than I love anything.
Blazers are a godsend.
Blazers make you look hot when everything else makes you look fat.
Blazers make you feel powerful when everything else makes you feel like the assistant that you are.
Blazers are the rose colored glasses of apparel.
Everything is better in a blazer.

I've got black blazers, seersucker blazers, wool blazers, plaid blazers, blazers with piping, blazers with velvet, blazers with gold buttons and blazers with no buttons. 

Have you noticed something missing? 

Because this morning I did. 

A LEATHER BLAZER.
I need a leather blazer. 
Obvious. 
How could this item have escaped me for so many years?

And so I searched, and I found the leather blazer of my dreams. 

I think that the rosettes below the lapel really give it a more feminine look than most leather blazers can achieve. I love the seaming and the rounded lapels and well, I really think that Giorgio has outdone himself this time. And if anyone knows leather, I think it's Giorgio.

So, I'm turning 25 next month and here's the link 
Use those two pieces of information however you see fit. 


Anyway, since I got off on that tangent, I will save the weekend wardrobe update for tommorow. Tonight, the dinner party goes up. Promise.

xoxo
LCF

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day One of A Life Sans Delicious Foods

Good Morning darlings,

Now, I love vegetables. I have never not loved vegetables. I love all the vegetables that most people hate. I have one friend who used to hide her lima beans in her milk glass at dinner, I used to order lima beans when we went out to dinner. One of my dearest cannot stand the smell of brussel sprouts, I would eat them raw. Broccoli and Bok Choy appear on my dinner plate five nights a week probably, and well I just love the sliminess of Okra (sometimes I feel like I should be drinking a HiC Ecto Cooler with it).

So the title of the blog is wrong, my life has not become void of delicious foods, it has just been deeply saddened by the loss of things like cheese, and olive oil, and avocado. Once I see how this "diet" is affecting my body, I will be able to make a more educated decision regarding whether or not a life without olive oil and avocado is really worth a more pronounced clavicle and a less than taut core. In fact, I'm really thinking about this as more of an experiment than a diet, per se.

My boss has this hugely expensive scale that measures four things: Lean Body Mass, Body Fat Mass, Body Mass Index, and percent body fat. Now that all of the experts have decided that BMI is pretty much BS, I don't pay much attention to that. I pay the most attention to my lean and fatty masses. So according to this scale, my body is 65% muscle, which is great because the average adult woman has only 30-40% muscle. So that is something that I am very proud of. However, I have been getting so frustrated lately because I am not losing any fat! This may have a teensy weensy bit to do with the copious amounts of red wine I have been drinking, but where else really do you expect me to get all of my antioxidants?

Anyway, this "experiment" will probably last until my birthday (except this weekend, the ladies are coming to town, and we are going to Barbuzzo and seriously how can you expect me to go there and not eat the Octopus? That would be torture of the worst kind).

What is it exactly you ask? Well it is called The McDougall Program. It is pretty much based upon living as clean a life as you can, which I am not doing to the fullest extent because I am not giving up drinking or smoking all together. I have cut down on the nicotine, but I still use it to get through long arduous classes and when I'm out and twitchy on the weekends. So sue me, I'm 24 years old. Basically I am not supposed to eat any meat, dairy, or fat of any kind. The meat and dairy parts are hard sure, but the fats is killing me.  No nuts, no avos, no sesame/chili/olive oil? I have to say that I am taking fish oil supplements (sorry Dr. McDougall)...mostly because I am afraid of what this diet is going to do to my hair/skin/nails. I am also taking copious amounts of vitamins to protect my joints from this experiment, along with the cold weather, along with my workout schedule. I take a vitapack (including multi, triflex, and fish oil) and 1500 mg of MSM in the morning, and flax oil and MSM again at night.

So what have I been eating? Yesterday I had 2 slices of ultrafiber toast with a banana smashed on them for breakfast, an apple and an orange, 2 small baked potatoes with corn and black beans and mushrooms,  a banana pre-workout, wholewheat pasta with homemade primavera sauce for dinner. I also am sneaking  4 shots of espresso with soymilk in the morning, but am drinking ridiculous amounts of green and hibiscus tea throughout the day...

Speaking of which --- have any of you tried hibiscus tea? It is my absolute fave. 

A. It is hot pink
B. It is known to reduce blood pressure, which is an awesome thing if you are born into the Fox family.
C. It tastes great and it really flushes you out. 

I buy mine at Wegmans, The Republic of Tea makes it: 


I take mine 2 bags at a time, in a big 16oz mug with the juice of one lemon (or if you are feeling really special, a meyer lemon). A nice after dinner treat. It also tastes great iced! 

Well I guess that's it for now. I will keep you updated!

xoxo
lcf.

Monday, February 14, 2011

In UnCelebration of Valentines Day

Here's when I like love. 

When it comes from Cartier.


Love is best when purchased 
Love is best with diamonds
Love is best when you can wear it around your wrist

Well let's be honest, the love bracelet is a classic piece. This one is made of platinum with diamonds. However, my personal favourite is the love bracelet made of rose gold. Rose gold in my absolute favourite metal. It has this fabulous feel of beautiful tradition, while still retaining the modern look of the piece. 


So in conclusion, every day can be Valentines Day thanks to the little red box. 

But I will leave this mini post with the anthem for VDay 2011. 
ENJOY








I know that I am behind on my dinner party post. I am going to upload the photos and write about it tonight. So sorry! But I will tell you that it was a smashing success! 


Friday, February 11, 2011

Be Mine.

Good Morning Darlings,

Perhaps it's my abhorrence of cards from the drug store, or maybe my disapproval of red roses with babys breath, or really it could be my disgust of chocolate that comes with a site map to tell you where everything is (my theory is: Who cares? If it's good chocolate, you are going to eat the whole box anyway). It doesn't matter exactly why I despise Valentines Day. I just do.

Here's how Valentines Day works in the average lifespan of a woman:

PreSchool Years: What's not to love about Vday? You get to have an extra special arts and crafts project AND get cards from ALL of your classmates (obviously, Valentines day cards in a classroom have become regulated) AND you probably get to eat cupcakes with pink frosting (gluten free, no tree nut products) in the middle of the day.

Elementary Years: The card giving is still compulsary, and I think that this is when parents start to judge one another. We used to make our Valentines to give to the class from doilies and construction paper and (my personal favourite) sequiiiins! Just about every one else in the class bought theirs at the drug store (you know, the Ninja Turtle themed rinky dink Valentines). (Side note: We were not a store bought family, in fact I am scared for life because my Queen Esther costume was the only handmade Purim costume at Hebrew preschool. Everyone else has store bought Purim costumes. Who even knew those existed? And of course, now I appreciate it, kind of, but it was really awful at the time. Sidebar to the sidebar: I'm pretty sure that it was also a recycled She-Ra Princess of Power costume from the previous years Halloween)  It's possible that this is when my mom starting realizing that she was probably the coolest and most creative mom in the class (Valentines day was only to be topped for my mother when she came and cooked Latkes in front of the class for Hannukah). The moral of the story is: This is when parents start to either judge one another for having too much time on their hands or not be hands on enough.

The Middle Years: This is when you stop having to give Valentines to everyone in the class. Perhaps this is when your school starts giving you the option of having a carnation delivered to your secret crush in the middle of class on Valentines Day. I don't know that I have to remind you that we were all pretty much our worst selves in Middle School. I had short blonde hair, wire-rimmed glasses, braces, AND pretty much my entire wardrobe was made out of synthethic fabrics. I probably wouldn't have spent a whole dollar on a red carnation to my middle school self either. Whoever came up with this "fundraising" strategy should be ashamed of themselves, because while the carnations died by the end of the day, your embarrassment from not getting a carnation can live forever.

The High School Years: A-ha! Puckerman never serenaded me in high school. Buut we always had to write valentines to one of our classmates in Spanish class. And one year in highschool I had to write a Valentine to the boy who I was having a torrid makeout affair with at the time. He was going skiing over Valentines day, so I believe that my Valentine went something like this :


Feliz Día de San Valentín 
Le deseo weren' esquí que va de te 
Espero que poder comer el almuerzo junto cuando usted vuelve y va quizá a un concierto

His Valentine to me went something like this: 

 Feliz Día de San Valentín 
Quieres vengarle a mi casa despues este clase?


I think that was the day I realized that all boys want the same thing.

The College Years: Red wine. Vodka. Red Wine. Vodka. Red Wine. Vodka. Floor.

The twentysomethings: What a waste. Valentines Day is awful. Dinner at restaurants for the entirety of the week is out of the question because everybody is serving prefixe menus where everything is red or everything is an aphrodisiac. Puhlease. I would rather rent The Royal Tenenbaums and eat some yogorino. 


The saving grace in all of this nonsense is Kate Spade. The company really knows how to handle the Valentine situation. Years ago, they made a great Valentines Tote, which I still carry often



And this year, you can send terrifically fabulous ecards through the website: 


So, I mean, if you must send some Valentines, at least do it this way (better for the environment) or set aside some time on Saturday to whip out the construction paper, doilies, and glitter. You can always call me if you need creative advice.

xoxo

LCF

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Important Message to the young ladies.

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2011/02/plus-sized_models.html#


I just read this article on nymag.com and although I applaud it and think that it has all the best intentions, I keep asking myself, "Is this really a good thing for young girls self esteem?"

These women are beautiful, just like all models (just like all women), but there is something unsettling about this. These women are considered for all intents and purposes, the fat models in the industry. Most girls in the industry of life would kill to be a size 8. Most girls in the industry of life aren't built to be a size 8. What do we hear over and over again? The average woman in this country wears a size 12. And sizes? In this country? Completely ambiguous. I have worn a size 10 for years, I will probably die a size 10 and I'm pretty sure I was born one as well, but there are stores that I go into and can't fit a calf into a size 10 (or a 12). Off day? Bad cut? I don't know.

 But my point is...how can we learn to love ourselves when we are constantly reading articles about girls who we are just starting to love because there is this new niche in the industry. I see a 16 year old Lyndsey looking at these photos and saying "If she is plus size, I must be obese." I see a lot of trauma for a teenager or for a twenty something who has never accepted her body for how beautiful it really is. All of us treat our bodies like you know what. We are binge drinkers and smokers. We eat too much meat and stay up too late. We starve ourselves to fit into a dress for an occasion. We take pills. We take the bus. We put too much emphasis on other people's opinions of our body. So how can we expect our bodies to respect us? I am guilty on almost all counts. I have been through every phase imaginable trying to make my body into something that it SHOULD be. Something that other people wanted to admire. Am I over that? Absolutely not. I work out instead of doing school work, I drink green and hibicus tea by the gallon because it'll flush me. I've thrown my food up, I think we all have, and I'm not saying that it's right. But none of us are perfect, right? So why do we expect our bodies to be perfect?

Reign it in, Lynds. Getting off topic.

Anyway, what I mean to say is that while I think it's wonderful that models come in many shapes and sizes now, I think that we need to reevaluate why were have models that come in many shapes and sizes and figure out how we can incorporate not just many, but ALL shapes and sizes. It's a tough life, being a lady. You live a life of paradoxes. And food and fashion is only one of them.

So I end on this, maybe we should all listen to our bodies a little bit more. Maybe if we learned to respect them, they would do us a favor once in a while too. But again, just a thought.

xoxo
LCF

Bienvenidos!!!

My darlings,

If you are reading this, welcome! I think that this will become my daily/weekly/monthly sounding board for all things food, fashion, and nonsense related. What gives me the authority to talk about these things? Well nothing really, aside from my bank account crushing love of fashion and my waistline expanding love of food...And really, although I have had formal education in both areas, I believe that the action of loving something gives anyone authority on the subject.

And if you think about it, fashion and food are not so far apart from each other. They both require risk taking, creativity, and love on the part of those producing the products as well as those consuming the products.

It's kind of a strange time for me to start a blog about food, however, because starting Monday I will be embracing a low fat vegan lifestyle for about six weeks in order to jump start my body a little bit. She is getting a little weary in the snow and ice covered city this winter, and needs a little kick in the butt. So, I'm starting this project. An experiment on my body, if you will. It's called the McDougall Program. I figure, why not? And you now get to experience it with me!!!

My other passions in life are dancing (I Zumba, West African, and Ballet), tennis (I'm awful, but I love it), and Bravo.

Right now, I am obsessing over these glasses (well this website in general)

they are from this great website: http://www.warbyparker.com/

The website donates a pair of glasses to kids who can't afford them in our country and many others for every pair of glasses that you buy!!! It's really awesome. They also have this great program where they will send you up to five pairs of glasses for free (credit card authorization required, no dummies here) to try on at home before you buy them!! What a fabulous idea. 

And, I'm not sure that I mentioned the best part: All of the glasses cost a mere 95 bones. INCLUDING PRESCRIPTION!  Completely unreal. I'm waiting for mine in the mail, and every day I go down to the doorman to ask if they are here (I should really apologize to him, I get a little sassy when he tells me they aren't here yet). 

Watch out tomorrow for my final dinner party post pre McDougall. 

xoxo LCF