Jul 18

2013

# # # # # # #

Life in England: Stately Rides, part 2

So at the end of our first full day of riding, we arrived ready for a rest and a cup of tea at the home of Christopher and Marian Houghton near Broadway. To me, this quintessentially British couple and their home epitomised the best of English country life. Christopher has been the secretary and then chairman of the North Cotswold hunt for 25 years, and his family’s affection for the sport is evidenced as soon as you walk in their door with an impressive and worn collection of hunting coats, boots, hats and whips in the front hall...

Continue

Jul 17

2013

# # # # # # # #

Life in England: Stately Rides, part 1

About a year ago, my husband mentioned a company that a childhood friend had started. It’s called Stately Rides, and it gathers a small group of people together and gives you on a horse riding tour of some of the most beautiful countryside in Gloucestershire while staying in a beautiful private home each night. I knew immediately that I would have to go on this trip and I knew when and with whom. Each summer our family friend Regena comes to stay with us with the simple goal of riding horses incessantly with my daughter Coco and me...

Continue

Jun 18

2013

# # # # # # # # #

I ♥ Your Wedding Style: Rachel Chandler Guinness

While I’m on the subject of weddings, can we all just take a moment to be obsessed with Rachel Chandler Guinness? I first saw her about three years ago at a fashion show. It was Tara Subkoff’s second Imitation of Christ show after attempting to take back the label she founded, and all the cool girls were there – Chloe Sevigny, Jen Brill, Liz Goldwyn – but it was Rachel I noticed most. What caught my eye were her Belgian shoes...

Continue

Jun 13

2013

# # # # # # # # # #

On the Road: Kim’s Wedding, part 2

When we saw that great weather was coming for the wedding day, we planned a last minute picnic on the lake. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. Despite the hot, sunny weather, the lake is still ridiculously frigid at this time of year, especially as it had snowed in the Adirondacks just the week before. I was impressed to see that some of our friends had already been swimming by the time I arrived with the bride in tow...
Continue

Jun 11

2013

# # # # # # #

On the Road: Kim’s Wedding, part 1

Our whole reason for being in New York for half-term was to go to my sister Kim’s wedding. She got married in the Adirondacks, the dramatic mountains in upstate New York where we have spent summers since early childhood. Kim had always maintained that one day she would marry in The Uplands – a charming, eccentric and huge old wooden house in Keene Valley that belonged to a family friend. The whole thing was a scene right out of The Royal Tenenbaums – kooky WASP chic – a three day adventure of frigid lake dipping (we didn’t stay in long enough to call it swimming), dancing to blue grass by a bonfire, toasting and roasting the bride and groom, and cheering them on as they had their first make-out as husband and wife...

Continue

Jun 07

2013

# # # # # # #

On the Road: My NYC

In most cities I visit, I find myself on a manic dash to visit all the cool new stores, restaurants and museum shows I’ve read about or heard about from friends. Not in New York though. When I return to the city (there’s only one, right?) these days, I find myself wanting to go back to the same places over and over. I want to feel like I’m home. I want to go to all the places that make it feel like mine. On my most recent trip, because Christopher and the kids were with me, we woke up on our first day there, left the house and found ourselves doing our usual weekend routine – walk down Houston, get the kids a smoothie at Miss Lilly’s, get ourselves a coffee at Third Rail and then head to Washington Square park – except because we didn’t have Ginger with us, we went to the playground (for old time’s sake) instead of the dog run...

Continue

Jun 04

2013

# # # # # # # #

I ♥ Your Painting Style: Anh Duong

At the moment I’ve been fixated on looking at fashion thru the eyes of artists. I love the timeless quality clothes take on when they are painted, regardless of how trendy they are in real life. Anh Duong is a particularly compelling painter of clothes. Because she is a girl who loves fashion in her own life, there is a particularly personal and complex relationship between herself and the way she dresses herself in her paintings. They are not only engaging to see when first painted, but as with some of the older ones shown below, they will become even more interesting and iconic over time. ..

Continue

May 15

2013

# # # #

Life on the Farm: Kaiser and Bang Bang

For all the animal joy that exists on the farm in every direction that you look – chickens, kittens and dogs on the lawn, pigs and horses in the stables, donkeys and more horses across the field – there is, unfortunately, also a good dose of animal heartache.

Late in the autumn, Coco lost one of her beloved pigs suddenly and without explanation. The twin Gloucestershire Old Spots had been her 10th birthday present the summer before last, and she fed them and cared for them all that first summer...

Continue

Apr 26

2013

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

Life in England: My Favourite Houses, Part 2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

The abundance of great houses, both big and small, formal and rustic, untouched or newly restored continues to capture my attention here in England. We make whole day trips to go see a house or a garden, have a picnic, let the kids run around and hope that they absorb at least one thing they learned from the adventure. My 11 year old has just begun to take an interest. When we drive around now, she comments on houses she thinks are special or beautiful or that she thinks I might want to take a photo of. I think it’s important to teach kids about inspiration – the idea that we can be excited by things we don’t have to buy, the idea of developing a visual vocabulary, and the idea of sharing opinions – sometimes agreeing, sometimes not. It’s fun! ..

Continue