Latest Posts

Decor

That Time I Glamorously Lived Abroad Except Didn’t

April 12, 2016

Aerial beach print in a simple white room

{ Coogee Wave, by Gray Malin (from the A La Plage collection) | Lulu & Georgia Lamp }

For a little while in the summer of 2002, I lived in Coogee Beach, near Sydney. Well, technically it was
"squatting," and technically it was only for two months, but it sounds much more glamorous to say, "Oh, I spent the summer living in Austraaaaaalia." My college boyfriend had done his semester abroad there while I did mine in England, and my school year ended earlier than his, so when I finished up I hopped a quick 26-hour flight (via Japan, where I accidentally spent two hundred dollars on a sushi dinner because I couldn't read the menu and thought what I was getting was one roll, not a boat of rare fish the size of a piano bench) to spend some time reconnecting - because semesters abroad are many things, but "good for relationships" is not one of them.

My boyfriend had to go to classes every day, and it was wintertime in Australia so it wasn't quite warm enough to spend hours at the beach, and the house was...well, there's really just no other way to say it: it was fucking disgusting, in the way that only a house inhabited by nine 20-year-old boys and a rotating cast of female companions can be. Boxed wine, flies, dirty dishes, someone threw up in the bathtub, et cetera. It was fun for a party (and that happened basically every night), but not exactly a relaxing place to spend the day.

DIARY

Lost And Found

April 11, 2016

{ Red Light District | Phuket, Thailand }

A few years ago, somewhere between moving from Hell's Kitchen to the Upper East Side and then moving again to Tarrytown, the little camera cards holding all the photos and videos from our honeymoon went missing. We looked everywhere, but ended up trying to cultivate a "well, the memories are more important anyway" attitude about the loss. Which is, of course, true.

Still, though.

Lifestyle

Party In The Pool

April 8, 2016

{ Our Pretzel }

Ummmmm I'm sorry, but when did pool floats transform from those blue styrofoam things that you can surreptitiously pick little holes out of because god is that ever satisfying into...pretzels? And rainbow ice pops? And pizza slices and toucans and FLOATING TIKI BARS?

I think it was sometime during the summer of 2015, when all of a sudden everybody with access to a body of water absolutely required a pink donut with a bite taken out of it or a white swan (with a cute boy sitting on it behind you, obviously) in order to live a happy and fulfilled life. This entire thing is clearly Instagram's fault, but I'm okay with it because what it has resulted in is the fact that I can now purchase a set of tiny flamingos who will float peacefully around my pool, delicately cradling my Coors Light and awaiting the moment when I decide that I would like to drink it.

Eat

Farfalle with Cotija Cheese and Olives

April 8, 2016

Farfalle pasta with cotija cheese and tomatoes

{ Noritake Sandefjord Plate }

Oh god, cotija cheese is so good. It's a crumbly, hard, mild-tasting Mexican cheese that I first discovered a few years ago, when Francesca took me to a place on the Lower East Side called Cafe Habana that specializes in cotija-covered corn (a.k.a. Mexico City Street Corn), and - despite my insistence that I do not like things that have red things (in this case, chile powder) sprinkled on them because red sprinkly things are often spicy, and another thing I do not like is anything spicy - she force-fed it to me.

And it was a terrible, horrible idea. Because what happened next was that I started making this cotija cheese-covered corn (albeit with paprika subbed in as the obligatory Red Sprinkly Thing, because paprika is not spicy) every freaking time it was humanly possible, including every single night during the summertime. And that is a lot of cheese (and mayonnaise).

DIARY

Back To The Beach

April 6, 2016

{ Brie 'n' Me | Venice Beach, California }

{ Free People Dress | Leather-Lace Converse }

{ Prada Necklace (via TheRealReal) | Zac by Zac Posen Bag }

Lifestyle

Links & Love & Stuff

April 5, 2016

Target faux wrap bikini in multiple colors

{ Desert Hot Springs, CA }

The wine delivery service Wine Simple (which uses a personalized taste profile to recommend wines you'll love) is offering RG readers 20% off with code RGVIP20. Not an ad; just a present because I like wine and I'm fairly certain you do, too.

Like everyone on the Internet, I'm all about the off-the-shoulder tops for spring. I bought this one at BCBG the other night in white, and it comes in a blue-and-white-stripe pattern too, and both are perfect and amazing and I think you should own one. Or two.

Anxiety

Why I Had A Post-Baby Breast Augmentation (A Video Diary)

April 3, 2016

A breast augmentation after breastfeeding children

I expected my breasts to change after breastfeeding two children, but I didn't expect them to change quite as much as they did. Going from a C to a G to a god-knows-what-I-was-when-my-milk-came-in and back down to a B twice in three years apparently does a bit of a number on you, and when everything finally "settled," as it were, it settled down (...ha?).

But it wasn't "what I looked like" that was the problem, exactly - it was how I felt. I mean it when I say that I'm more or less happy with my body - sometimes I love it, sometimes I wish some things about it looked a little different, just like anyone. It hasn't always been this way - I've written here and there about the anorexia I suffered from when I was in my early twenties (and will write about it more one day, when I can) - and trust me: after that experience I'm well aware of what it feels like to hate your body.

I don't hate my body. I don't hate my breasts, either. But after having two children, and having them go through such dramatic changes, they ended up virtually unrecognizable to me; they barely even felt like mine. I had no sense of them as a part of my body, and certainly didn't connect them to my sense of sexual identity.

DIARY

Party All Night

April 1, 2016

This may just look like a bed, but let me assure you: it is paradise.

Let me start by introducing you to Morgan's guest bedroom. This bed is, for no especially concrete reason, one of the most comfortable beds that has ever existed in the world (and it's not just me who thinks this; everyone who comes to visit says so). I asked her to tell me what kind of bed it is, what sheets she uses, etc, so I can try to recreate it for my own visitors, but really all it is is an Ikea futon with a really nice memory foam mattress topper and sheets that are super soft because they're really old.

So I can't really explain why it's the best, but you'll just have to trust me on this. It's the best.

Anxiety

Unbalanced

March 31, 2016

Mother and daughter laughing in black and white

Let me tell you about the moment when I realized that even though my work is incredibly important to me, I need more separation, and I need to be able to shut off sometimes - not just in a half-assed way (where I'm technically playing with my kids but 60% of my brain is devoted to the email I need to remember to send by the end of the day), but all the way.

And I need to do this on purpose, because it doesn't come naturally.

This realization has happened to various degrees many times over the years, but it really happened - like, can't-get-it-out-of-my-head-happened - a little less than a year ago, when I was visiting a Children's Science Museum with Indy and Goldie. They were playing with this massive model of hills and trees and buffalos, and I was half-watching them play and half-checking my text messages because even though I'd taken the afternoon off I still needed (wanted?) to make sure everything was cool work-wise, and suddenly I looked up and realized how photogenic and symmetrical the background was and how great the colors were, and thought, oh hey - I should Instagram this! It's cute! And symmetrical! And those colors!

Lifestyle

Finding The Work/Life Balance, Part I (In Which I Actually Answer The Question)

March 30, 2016

My son and me on a Sunday morning. This photo was not taken for Ramshackle Glam.

Today's question, from reader MS, comes from the comments under this style post.

I'm curious how you balance the kind of work you do with making time to be in the moment. You mentioned that this was a "date night," but it also has a work component, given the photos and subsequent post. Do you get [these photos] out of the way in the beginning, or save [them] for the end? Do you ever feel like [your work] intrudes [on your life]?

« Previous 1 … 109 110 111 112 113 … 708 Next »