LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

Soundtrack: Lotus Flower, Radiohead

Happy 2017 everyone!  It's been ages since I've written here.  To be honest, the election and its aftermath threw me into such utter confusion that I had to make some radical shifts to my daily routine.

One of the biggest changes is that I logged off Facebook.  Almost entirely.  I check it once a week at most, usually scrolling for about 30 seconds before closing out in disgust.  In fact, I've given up virtually all online "news" sources.  I don't miss them at all (and my hunched, zombie-like phone time has decreased dramatically).

As a result, I now live in a post-reality fantasy land, somewhere between denial and blissful ignorance.

(Headband, River Island; dress, BCBG; shoes, Jessica Simpson; sorry all old)

The air up here is so nice PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME LEAVE

Though I'm thoroughly enjoying this starry-eyed catatonia, sadly reality beckons and I know I can't keep my head in the sand forever (that should be my next Photoshop!).  I doubt I'll ever return to Facebook, though, so I apologize in advance for missing your birthday.  In fact, I wish you a happy birthday in 2017 right now.  Happy birthday (whenever it is or was), I hope you have (had) a wonderful day (to come)!

Thanks for reading, friends.

xxo.J

GOAL #2: ALWAYS BE LEARNING

Soundtrack: Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, The Smiths (Pretty in Pink soundtrack, specifically)

Hello everyone! My posts have been increasingly infrequent; I apologize.

If you've been following along, I've been sharing some of my goals for the remainder of the year. My 2nd goal is to KEEP LEARNING.

Senior year rules! Dress, F21; socks, H&M; shoes, Tory Burch (old); Kate Spade Wordsmith clutch, available on eBay.

I've always loved school, and if I didn't have to work I'd be a full-time student. I doubt I'd run out of classes to take. Physics, car repair -- it's all fascinating to me.

When I find myself stuck in a rut, it's often because I've stopped learning. Things have become too routine. Work and motherhood provide opportunities but these "life lessons" can be heavy. It's much more escapist to immerse yourself in the intricacies of, say, welding.

A few things to help me Always Be Learning (coffee's for learners!):

Read more books by picking less difficult books. I naturally gravitate towards books like The Theoretical Minimum. But snuggled into a warm bed after a long day, it's physically impossible to read more than a few pages of The Theoretical Minimum.

Enroll in a class. Community colleges in Cleveland have great continuing ed courses, including Astronomy, Content Marketing, and Holiday Desserts.

Do unfamiliar things. Last year I joined -- of all things -- a fantasy football league (I am currently in first place!). You can't believe how much the world of conversation opens up with the most basic sports knowledge. I'm sorry I looked down on it for so long. I still don't care much for professional sports but I think my prior disdain cost me from getting to know some interesting people.

In summary, read easier books, make Holiday Desserts, root for NFL teams based on points assigned to players known to me only by their first initial, last name, and geography.

Have a great week everyone!

xxo 

(Blouse, Asos (old); sunnies, vintage Dior)

SECOND TO THE RIGHT, AND STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING

Good afternoon, Knuckles!

Whenever I feel conflicted about wearing super-girly things, I think of Zooey Deschanel's quote in Glamour: "I’m just being myself.  We can’t be feminine and be feminists and be successful? I want to be a f--king feminist and wear a f--king Peter Pan collar. So f--king what?"

(Sunnies, Target; dress, Romwe; blouse, Banana Republic; shoes, Sam Edelman; purse, Elliott Lucca; necklace, Francesca's Collections; bracelets, F21, Banana Republic; rings, H&M.  I know this dress is a Mary Katrantzou Spring 2013 knock-off but let's face it, I'm more likely to have a third child than spend that kind of money on a single item of clothing.  Wealthy benefactors: DM for my size). 

Have a great week, Knuckles!

BRRR, TOO COLD FOR THIS BLACK AND WHITE NUMBER

Hot diggity damn, Knuckles!  I am sooo tired of winter.

It was freezing this weekend and too cold for the dress below; I had to change.  Look at the goosebumps on my neck!

(You may be wondering where my other leg is.  I honestly don't know.  No Photoshop was involved here, promise!)

(Sunnies, Carrera; dress, new, BCBG; shoes, Style&Co., purse, vintage Gucci; bracelets, Alex+Ani, Claire's; necklaces, MyNameNecklace.com, PersonalizedBoutique.com)

I like the juxtaposition of my $4 black jelly bracelets from Claire's with the vintage Gucci purse.  It's from around the Tom Ford era and it's the weirdest purse I've ever seen.  To open it you slide the rings around the handle so the bag hangs like a shower curtain.  It was one of the first designer purchases I ever made, many moons ago.  I was with my Mom at the Northbrook Court Neiman Marcus and I was like "Check out this weird Gucci purse!" and my mom was like "You crazy, girl" in Korean.

I really hope it warms up.  Come on, spring!

Have a great week, Knuckles!

RE-CREATION TUESDAYS: IT WAS OUR FIRST DATE, AND I WAS YOUNG

Hello Knuckles!

There are some outfits I’ll never forget, like the get-up I wore on Mr. Brass Knuckles’s and my first date.

It was a Tuesday night and I was supposed to meet Mr. BK at Arlene’s Grocery for an early evening show before dinner at a low-lit Tibetan restaurant (that I later found out he took many girls to.  Oh hey-y!).  I rushed home from work to change into a ruffled plaid XOXO mini-skirt, thigh-high boots, and a cotton motorcycle jacket.  I’d gotten the skirt at Macy’s and the boots and jacket from Beverly Island in Hong Kong.  The boots were suede and were partially held up by some long ties that I had to wrap around my legs so tightly they were basically tourniquets.  All in the name of love!

In honor of our many years together, the other weekend I assembled this outfit.  Only the jacket is the same.  I had to part ways with the original thigh-high boots because in general I prefer circulation in my legs, and the skirt got too age-inappropriate. 

(Sunnies, Gucci; dress, Patterson J. Kincaid; shirt, J.Crew; jacket, Hong Kong high street; belt, H&M; tights, Wolford; boots, Miu Miu; jewelry, ASOS, Alex+Ani; minaudier, Luella Bartley for Target.  Since there are no Targets in New York City, my dear mother bought the minaudier for me when that collection came out.  It's pre-smartphone and back in the day it had just enough room for my credit cards, ID, house key and cigarette case).

When I donned the outfit above I asked Mr. BK if it reminded him of anything and he looked at me blankly.  When I told him it was similar to the outfit I wore on our first date he shook his head and said, “No, that skirt was plaid.”  WOW, Mr. Brass Knuckles remembered!  Now that’s what I call complete outfit success!  Thanks to that trashy first date outfit we are now a couple of suburban-dwelling MBAs with two kids!  

Have a great week, Knuckles!

FUN WITH CINEMAGRAM, IN A VINTAGE DRESS

Hello Little Knuckles!

There are a few things in my closet that I'll carry to my grave, like this dress below:

(Jacket, Buddhist Punk; dress, Awesome; purse, Mulberry for Target; shoes, Prada; belt, D&G; necklace, F21; bracelets, Claire's, Alex+Ani, Pandora)

This is my high school graduation dress, which I purchased at an awesome little boutique in Evanston, IL called The Mexican Shop. Back in the day The Mexican Shop had all sorts of fun hippie clothes and jewelry.  It's still around today, though I haven't been back in years.

Anyhow, at my high school graduation we didn't wear caps and gowns.  Instead, the girls wore white dresses and the boys wore matching tuxes.  After the ceremony the school held a sponsored dance that I went to for about 30 minutes and that was the literally the last time I wore the dress until this weekend.

Sadly, the fabric is starting to get really fragile so I think this dress might only get two wears in my lifetime.

Have you guys discovered Cinemagram?  It's an app that makes cinemagraphs.  I first used it a few months ago but re-discovered it this weekend and I'm obsessed!

Have a great week, Knuckles!

A DOLLHOUSE WORLD

CoStar is very creative and has a great eye for photographs.  She often steals our camera or iPhones and takes beautiful pictures of the most mundane things, like a dining room chair:

A self-portrait through the TV:

Or her baby brother (so small back then!)

(All photos Instagram mine)

So while I was browsing through our little point-and-shoot the other day, I almost fell out of my chair in delight when I saw that she had taken photos of Barbie in her dollhouse:

I loved this idea, and wanted to enter her world myself.  Don't you just love my chandelier?

(Dress, Aryn K; necklace, Tuleste Market; shoes, Chanel; scarf around ankle, Hermes)

I purchased the dress from Akira last year, and it's one of my favorites even though it's only made one appearance so far (at a company retreat, no less).  The shoes were a gift from my sister-in-law.  They are the original FLOs (For Limo Only) but I feel like a friggin basketball wife whenever I wear them.  The Hermes Twilly scarf was my first orange-box purchase; I bought it ages ago at the Hermes store on Via Sant' Andrea in Milan.  Nowadays the only things I buy that come in orange boxes are Doritos Locos Tacos from the Bell.

Have a great weekend Little Knuckles!

SANITY IN A FINGERPAINTED WORLD

Hello Little Knuckles!  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

On Saturday Mr. Brass Knuckles and I went on a well-needed Date Night.  He and I have differing opinions on Date Night.  He generally prefers seeing a movie and grabbing dinner somewhere dark and intimate, where we can press noses and gaze into each others' eyes in relative privacy.

I, on the other hand, like to go to wherever is the most crowded place in the city so I can feel like a part of Planet Earth again, and not isolated to my small finger-painted fortress.

But Saturday night we readily agreed on the latter.  We were feeling coop'ed up and needed a break from the id-driven dictators tearing up our house, so we headed to Big Star for tacos and greyhounds.  There were about a million people at Big Star and the evening did not disappoint:

(Dress, French Connection; Shoes, 9 West; Bag, Mulberry for Target)

Okay, I admit that the dress is a little Kardashian.  In hindsight I probably should've worn Spanx or something.  

I bought a pair of Spanx about 10 years ago for my cousin's wedding.  Her bridesmaids dresses were champagne-colored silk, and I swear you could make out every hump and lady lump.  Occasionally I'll ponder the utility of Spanx, but can't bring myself to wear them because no matter what else I'm wearing I feel horribly unsexy and always think of poor Wendy Beamish, Mare Winningham's character in my favorite movie, St. Elmo's Fire.

For your viewing amusement.  Will some please for the love of God make an animated gif of Rob Lowe playing his sax at the bar?

Anyhow, Saturday night was the first time I wore the dress -- it requires a little confidence (luckily, there was plenty of "confidence" to be had at the bar!).

The shoes are a great find from the back of my closet.  I bought these Nine West wedges years ago for a business trip to China.  I wanted shoes that were comfy yet stylish for the plane.  For some reason I stopped wearing them and they were relegated to the closet to gather dust.  They need a little TLC, but after a trip to the cobbler I think they might become my favorite "new" pair of shoes!

Have a great week, little Knuckles!  May it be filled with the wails of funky, funky sax.  SERGIO!

DREAMING OF A POST-VACATION VACATION

Good morning Little Knuckles!

Yikes, I have been absent for awhile!  Many apologies.  I was on vacation in picturesque New England, visiting my in-laws.  Mr. Brass Knuckles and I had the opportunity to share some nice evenings together, but with kids no vacation is truly a vacation.  Take heed, my childless friends!

My in-laws are in the process of moving, and in the chaos I found a dress that I left there many moons ago, and happily wore this weekend to dinner:

 (Dress, Splendid; shirt, H&M; shoes, Minnetonka moccasins; purse, Elliott Lucca; necklace, Montserrat de Lucca.  On the little guy: Spiderman t-shirt, Target; plaid golf shorts, Carters).

Mr. Brass Knuckles bought me this Splendid dress for my birthday a few years ago.  He knew that I liked this little store called Intermix, and found the dress there.  I love the thought of him browsing the racks at Intermix, buahaha!

I'm normally neither a huge pink nor maxi dress person, but it is always nice to have a strong pop of color in your wardrobe, especially for casual summer dinners when your son is trying to gleefully escape (I love the narrative in these pictures!).

I wore the dress with a pair of Minnetonka moccasins that I bought for $20 at the Union Square Strawberry about a million years ago.  Is that store even still open, I wonder?  The purse was a gift from my beautiful friend Lauren of Undeclared Panache.  It doesn't really go with the outfit, but I wore it on vacation and didn't have a chance to switch purses.  It's the perfect bag for the plane; in addition to my laptop, it holds a ton of other mom-crap, like diaper wipes, snacks, emergency toys, crayons, etc.

Finally, I wore one of my favorite necklaces, by Monserat de Lucca via Modcloth.

Here is a better picture of it:

Cute and Astute necklace, Monserat de Lucca, Modcloth

I love this line of jewelry, and would wear anything on their website.  Their designs are whimsical, fun, and unfussy:

 Large Birdnest necklace, Monseratdelucca.com, $100

 Brass watch bracelet, Monseratdelucca.com, $80

Have a great week, Little Knuckles!

RAINDROPS WERE FALLING ON MY HEAD

Last Thursday was Community Service Day at work, so we all took a bus to a camp for inner-city kids in the suburbs.    

I was on team woodchips, which was a great job but would've been slightly more pleasant had it not been 50 degrees and raining. 

I knew it would rain, so I unfortunately had to break the clothing fast to purchase a raincoat.  I tried to borrow one first, I swear!  But none of my friends or family own any raingear (apparently the Knuckles clan is not very outdoorsy).

Lest you think I took this opportunity to buy a Burberry trench, let it be known that I went to Target and looked for the cheapest, most utilitarian thing I could find.  It was super slim pickings, but I was determined not to leave without a raincoat so I scoured every department until I found this little number on the clearance rack:

Raincoat, Target.  Note two things in this photo: 1) the price tag, clearance, a mere $8.98; 2) the claim "Water Resistant."  Perhaps this claim is valid if you are running from your car to the movie theater in a light sprinkle, or if you are casually strolling through an outdoor mall during a spring shower.  This claim does NOT apply to 5 hours durations of woodchip shoveling in a hard pour.

There's nothing very cute about this raincoat, but I was pleasantly surprised that I found one in yellow (actually, it was the only raincoat in my size in the entire store).  Mostly because I have been obsessing about yellow and pink this spring:

Illamasqua, Rare, $14; Thakoon for Nars, Anardana, $18; both at Sephora

Trousers, Preen, Net-a-porter.com, $735

Sail dress, Zero + Maria Cornejo, Shopbop.com, $626.50

Becky silk jacket, Rebecca Minkoff, Piperlime.com, $348

Scooter Sporty Platform Shoes, Topshop, $156

On Sunday we took the kids to the Chicago Botanic Garden, and I was feeling inspired by all this color so I pulled out a pair of hi-waisted pants I haven't worn in years:

Pink pants, Judy Rosen, $(I don't remember)

I bought these at the Mini Mini-Market on Bedford Ave ages ago, back when I was still making handbags in my apartment.  I used to sell them to the Mini Mini-Market on consignment and would obsessively check if they'd sold.  Also, Mr. Brass Knuckles (just boyfriend Brass Knuckles then) lived upstairs in the girdle factory, so needless to say I was in the Mini Mini-Market a lot.

I wore the pants with an H&M sweater that has what CoStar calls "Princess Sleeves" because they are puffy, like on a Disney Princess dress:

Extra points if you know all their first names (you think this is easy, but unless you have a 

3-year-old daughter there is no reason why you should know Sleeping Beauty's first name).

Finally, I wore my trusty Dolce Vita for Target sandals and a stack of black jelly bracelets.  I found these bracelets at a Claire's boutique a few years ago.  They remind me of elementary school, and they look surprisingly chic now.

It was a lovely day for frolicking in secret gardens:

and riding in (and pulling) our pimped out canopy wagon:

Have a wonderful evening, little Knuckles!

A GIANT, REFLECTIVE SURFACE ON A HOT DAY

Happy Tuesday after Memorial Day, everyone!

Our weekend was pretty low-key; we spent lots of time with my family, had a few BBQ's, and set up the sprinklers and kiddie pool in the backyard (it's nice to see CoStar and her brother run through the grass in bare feet with abandon.  I have a strange phobia about bare feet and grass; here's hoping irrational foot rot fears aren't necessarily inheritable).  

On Memorial Day itself, Mr. Brass Knuckles and I took the kids to Millennium Park downtown to explore the Bean and Crown Fountain.  The Bean and Crown Fountain are these incredibly beautiful works of public sculpture, and they are normally surrounded by a million tourists:

Cloud Gate (aka The Bean), Anish Kapoor; Crown Fountain, Jaume Plensa 

Who would've thought bringing the kids to a giant reflective surface on a 97 degree day would actually be a good idea?  They loved it!

My outfit was nothing extraordinary:

Silk dress, F21; Vest, La Rok; Shoes, Asos.com; necklace, Francesca's Collections; Lolita-style sunglasses, bought at a kiosk in Times Square. On CoStar: sailor dress, H&M; sequin Mary Janes, Target; Dora the Explorer sunglasses

I bought the dress -- which is real silk, surprisingly -- sometime in the last two years from Forever 21.  I purchased the denim vest, which attaches to a blazer, at a LaRok sample sale years ago.  I just Googled LaRok to see if they're still around; sadly, doesn't look like it!  I used to wear the vest/blazer with a sleeveless yellow bubble dress, which I still have, when I was first pregnant with CoStar.

The shoes have silly googly eyes and eyebrows on them.  When they first came in the mail, CoStar was HORRIFIED.  She begged me not to wear them: "Everyone will make fun of you!" She has since learned to appreciate the absurd, which is a good thing since I loved the shoes so much I got them in two colors:

These shoes are the flimsiest things ever and manufacturing them definitely contributed to the downfall of the polar bear.  Also, they reek of plastic and glue, so much that they give you reverse foot stink: they actually give your feet BO.  I feel guilty wearing them, but they've got eyes and eyebrows, you guys!   

Anyhow, the Bean was a lot of fun but hot, and the Crown Fountain was the perfect complement:

And now it is Tuesday and now it is back to work.  Good night, little Knuckles!  Hope you are reading this with a tall glass of wine, cuz I'm drinking one as I write!