hedvig shows some leg

Hello world, just resurfaced. Got the Lag, and got it bad. It was really, really hard to leave, but there are some good reasons to be back in the Nation's Capital, and one big one is style. I saw it from the moment we were @ the gate @ JFK: nothing against NY, of course - we lived there forEVER - but I feel the style there is a bit.. safe. I'm not even saying that British style is necessarily British girls (or boys) - a city is always an amalgamation of every culture on the planet. But for me, in my opinion, what is going on in London is the same thing that happened in, say, Paris in the 30s: it is drawing a lot of like minded creative people.



People like my friend Hedvig. Who I photographed the day before we left, in early July. We just happened to find we were free & she was in my neck of the woods so we met for a coffee. The day was sultry, cool, rainy, like today, and I loved the way she was showing off her mile long tanned legs - she & her Man were fresh off the plane from holiday).



It seems so long ago, that day - so much has happened since. So much, and a whole lot of nothing. We spent a lot of time with friends, family - children seemed to be center focus most of the time - and had such fun. And I swam and swam until my mind went blank. And I feel renewed, but also I've got the Lag, and got it bad. And I started to think that one's personal 'style' is so much more than just the clothes we choose to wear. It's about how we decorate our homes, what we cook, what we do, how we LIVE.

And yet, at Gate 28 @ JFK, waiting with other British citizens, looking around at the gay couple who I wanted to photograph so badly (except, of course you can't really shoot people at the gate: you're about to ride an 8 hour flight with them, it's just not right) but something clicked in me: besides the cat, who I missed so much, and all our friends, and just the whole wonderful BRITISHNESS of it all, what I really missed was everyone's wonderful, personal, unique Style with a capital S.



The thing about Hedvig is she can walk into a shop and zero in on the item that is just exactly her own, personal style. (But the main thing I love about Hedvig is her HEART: she is just such a kind, kind friend). She never seems to wear the same ensemble twice but there are always ingredients from previous times, then something new. It's not always expensive: it just looks it. She mixes up good quality brands (like Acne) with cheaper things, especially from H&M. She's quite loyal to Scandinavian brands, I've noticed (she's Norwegian). Her handbags are usually the most expensive thing, or her shoes.



When I see H next I promise I'll source this for you. All I know is, her top - part poncho, part jumper - is from H&M cause she had just got it when I saw her.

(note: just discovered - we were both away - Hedvig's got a blog!! And she's used the logo I custom designed for her! So excited, it looks great. Check it out: Northern Lights.)

It's hard to be back. It felt like, landing in Heathrow, it was winter and we'd returned from a tropical climate (well let's face it: we did). I don't know how to dress today: I, too, want to show off my tanned, toned pins, but it's f-ing freezing out there, and about to rain. Yesterday, without my camera, I saw two unrelated women wearing summer dresses, black opaque tights and black shoes, that's probably a look I'll steal.

It's true, there ain't no cure for the summertime blues, but fashion is a fun little diversion.

paradise found

Posting this on our last night @ my family's sweet summer place on the end of Long Island. We just came up from the beach: all 106 steps. Not much to say. Going to try to make every minute count tomorrow before we left for the airport @ 6:30 p.m. Still not one 'bloody' fish was caught by the artist formerly known as Mr. Dot. Not one. We can see the Blues out in the Sound, but they won't be near shore before we leave. Last year we were here later in August. Note to self: next year, stay on longer.

Beach people @ the beach near Annie's villa, Cabrera, Dominican Republic, mid July. Paradise.





It was Paradise here, too, on the beach below my parents' deck. Not a soul, just us. We took photos, I promise I'll send you soon as I'm home & settled in.

Sending you all happy wishes. Wish you were here. Or there. Hope you're well, wherever you are. xoxo

p.s. Just a quick addition before we fly out. Please do my friend Jen a favour. I don't have time to do the link but if you go to her blog on my daily reads - Style Crusader - she's got a Marie Claire contest she's entered. She'll talk you thru it, easy peasy. It can be your one good deed for the day & then you're all set. That's all. Style Crusader. Thanks Dudes.

let's do lunch

Typing this in our room @ my parents' summer place: just going to go for a swim then we'll drive 30 miles towards the city, still rural, and 'he' (my new word for my husband, I'm getting bored of 'Mr. Dot' - borrowed that one from the Photodiarist, thanks babe!) will drop me off at a school friend, Elise's house in the woods. I haven't seen it yet, nor seen her since high school, and my other really good friends, Linda (who I had dinner with the other night) and Caryn, will be there.

A girl's lunch.


Meanwhile, cause the whole North Shore coastline out here is so gorgeous, Mr. D - I mean, HE, will bring rod and attempt to fish. It's the bane of his existence: he's having a lovely holiday, but he doesn't swim - just kind of gets wet - and all he wants to do in HIS leisure time is fish. And the running theme on that gorgeous beach below the deck is 'there are no fish'. Every time we pass people they ask 'Catch any fish?' and smile. He did catch one fish, a really weird brown and orange inedible giant - I saw it, saw him swim away - and then, another night, he CAUGHT THE SAME FISH! He was like Dude, what am I, the only fish in the Sound?



What does all this have to do with this post? Nothing, really. These were shot on a day in the Dominican Republic recently. Annie and I had been on the beach the day before, sipping the most AMAZING chopped fresh pineapple coconut drinks out of the most vibrant orange pineapples (I didn't have my camera, you'll just have to use your imagination) and we had ordered lunch - with the boys and Norris - for the next day.



Well, come the day, we saw other glamorous people sitting round on plastic chairs and tables, eating their lunch, but the moment our food arrived - fresh fish, RECENTLY CAUGHT (sorry, honey) and fried plantains and salad and rice - the heavens opened. The fabulous guys who run the 'restaurant' (shack number 12) whisked the food away, set us up under a blue tarp behind the shacks, and hot damn if that wasn't much more magical, memorable, beautiful in every way.





What does this have to do with fashion? Everything, actually. I am loving the deep colours of these blues and greens with the tans and 'sables' of the sand. I love wearing colours that don't belong in the place where I am. I mean, come fall, I can't wait to wear a neon lime green jumper with, say, tan trousers, brown boots, my old true blue long Calvin Klein cotton cardigan.. I love the unexpected, like a tropical thunderstorm when you're expecting a sunny lunch on the beach. That's probably why I loved grey so much last summer: it felt so unexpected in a warm climate. Like the magical days the storm entered my room at the Villa, and Norris, Wallace and I were running around with mops.




Speaking of warm: what am I doing inside. It's another gorgeous day. No sign of rain. I've got just a few minutes to swim before we go. Altho, Elise does have a pool and asked us to bring our swimsuits. Can't wait to see my friends. Have a sweet day everyone!!