bridal shower recap

Good morning, friends! I hope you're all loving this cool weather as much as I am! Even with the rain this weekend, I've been bundled up happily every day (also how gorgeous was yesterday??). Through the rain on Saturday, a few friends and family and I made our way to Palma in the West Village for my bridal shower. It was an awesome afternoon, despite the rain.

My friend Emily had her 30th birthday here, so when my sister and I were narrowing down spots for the brunch, this was on our short list. Out of all the restaurants my sister reached out to, she said Palma was the most responsive, so in the end we went with them!

How magical is their private room? It's in a sort of carriage house in the back of the restaurant; we felt transported to someone's country house in England or something. So pretty!

For whatever reason, I had been obsessed with the idea of royal icing cookies as escort cards, and scoured NYC for the perfect match. I ended up ordering these from Tribeca Treats, and had a great experience with them (super responsive, really great customer service). To be honest, I wasn't worried too much about taste, but the cookies are great!

For favors, I got each of the ladies a tube of Smith's Rosebud salve. Aside from the pretty packaging, I borrowed my friend's tube at a wedding recently and it completely saved my lips!

The food ay Palma is absolutely delicious; everything is served family style, which is perfect because none of us wanted to miss a single bite.

You may remember from this post that I love the idea of pastels for a bridal shower. Something about it feels so "ladies who lunch," so I was pumped to find  this dress half off over the summer.  Super comfy with plenty of room for eatin', and long sleeves which are my absolute favorite.

Pretty ladies :)

It was a great day, friends. Thanks for reading!

xoxo,

weds-day: the best facial ever

I think my wedding motto is, "If not now, when?" So, with looking and feeling my best on the wedding day in mind, I decided to try a pre-wedding facial at CAP Beauty, and they did not disappoint.

If you remember way back when, I've been searching for a great facial to prep for the big day on and off all year. I researched and read reviews and finally decided to pull the trigger after hearing wonderful things about CAP Beauty in the West Village.

I believe their Spa is relatively new, but you wouldn't know it. Their approach to skincare is a natural, holistic one, and the products they sell in their storefront are almost exclusively organic, cruelty-free, and vegan. Awesome.

Can I just tell you that I had the best experience ever there? I've only gotten a couple facials in my life, but this was far and away the best. The entire hour long treatment was customized to my skin's needs (moisture, anti-aging), and I was so relaxed that my entire body was free of tension for the rest of the day. The best part about the facial is the lymphatic drainage massage, which, I believe, is just a fancy way of saying detoxifying massage, but it feels so incredible.

There was no push for me to buy products after the treatment, and the tip is included in the cost (whaaat?). The next day, I received a thorough skincare guide from my aesthetician, outlining products that would work well for my skin, and what kind of routine I should follow.

My skin has been glowing in the weeks following the facial. I'm not getting paid to say this, I am just fired up and wanted to share the love. I might sneak in one more facial before the big day (I didn't break out after), and I'll let you guys know how it goes!

xoxo,

greetings from wedding land...

...where it's all wedding, all the time. Hashtag basic bitch?

Lovely friends, I'll post here when I've got something good.

Otherwise, follow along on Instagram, won't you?

xoxo,

dress better

The other day, I met a friend for dinner in Midtown. I was tired and hungry and generally moody. The entire trip to meet him, I couldn't help but be consumed by negative thoughts. Listen, I'm all for positivity, but midtown in New York City during the summer is anything but a positive place, and I found myself saying over and over again:

We. are. gross.

Let me be more specific. New Yorkers, Americans, whatever - and I'm making a huge generalization here - do not take pride in what they wear. I am not exempt from this statement. We really, truly, don't care how we look. Maybe it's the American, nay, the New York notion that work is the most important thing you do. Maybe it's the trickle down effect of being "so busy" that makes us neglect our minds, our bodies, and our creative selves. Whatever it is, we need to work on it. The most stylish people in the world live in this city, and I saw perhaps only two of them on the way to meet my friend. The rest of the poor souls looked as though they had rolled out of bed, slapped on whatever their eyes first touched, and left the house without a second thought.

When I lived in Spain, you would smell a man before you saw him. Sweet smelling but not overbearing cologne would hit your nose and you'd turn around to see the most perfectly coiffed gentleman. Every time. Shiny leather shoes, suit tailored within an inch of its life, exceptional hair across the board. It's not that Spanish guys are better looking than American guys. It's that we don't care and we've never even given ourselves a chance. We think pink shirts on guys are too "girly" and that skinny jeans are too "metro" or "gay" and we tell ourselves these lies, why? I'm curious what happened and when because American men used to look like this:

That's my Grandfather, Frederick O'Connor Sr. who served in the Coast Guard. Hell, even on the deck of a ship he looks more dapper than half the gents I know. We need a reality check and fast.

We work ourselves to the bone and everything, everything, falls by the wayside. I realize that putting clothing on our bodies is wayyyy down on the list of important things, but it is important. How we look affects how we feel and how we feel affects how we perform. What if we just decided today that we'd never make a fast fashion purchase again? What if we decided we would spend a full 60 seconds every day planning our what we wear? What if we challenged ourselves to wear a new-to-you outfit every day for a week? You don't have to be a millionaire or have a stylist (alright, maybe a stylist ;) to look on point every time you leave the house.

All I'm saying is that we can do better, New York. We're a good looking city and we deserve to treat ourselves as such.

That felt GOOD.

xoxo,

top image by Ashley Caroline.

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gratitude

It has taken me nearly 2 years to be where I am now. I still have so much further to go, but after a weekend filled with incredible work, co-workers, and most importantly, clients, I am so grateful I could burst. A little peek at what I've been up to the past two days...

xoxo,