Bits and pieces

I'm going to just jump right in and pretend my last blog post was yesterday - not June 3. Good lord. My early New Year's resolution is to do much, much better.

In my long time away, I kept a list of thing I could - and wanted to - write about, i.e. books read, products found, articles loved. So here are a couple of those thing to kick off the start of a new commitment to blogging.

It feels like a million years ago now, but over the summer I read, among other things, Big Little Lies, The Arsonist, and, most recently, And the Dark Sacred Night by Julia Glass. I hated for this last one to end, so I'm now rereading Three Junes and plan to go back to I See You Everywhere, two earlier Glass books I loved. Quick tip: And the Dark Sacred Night revisits characters from Three Junes, so if you read Three Junes first, it helps (but isn't necessary).

I was chatting with a friend on the playground not long ago about the death of Boston Mayor Tom Menino, which led us to how we keep up (or don't keep up) with the news, and she told me about the skimm. Have you heard of it? It's a daily email highlighting the news stories of the day (or, really, the previous day) and - more important - explaining those stories in simple terms. Whoever writes the skimm is funny and smart and keeps things brief, and I love it.

I'm also loving a new-to-me blog that has nothing to do with the daily news. It's called The Mom Edit, and it's a fashion blog, but a kind of everyday, mom-ish fashion (in the best sense of the word), with articles such as "Seven Ways to Style a Basic Grey Sweater Dress," "How to Tie Your Scarf Like the November J. Crew Model," and "That Time I Wore My Mom's Dress to New York Fashion Week." "The Mom Edit" is really for new mothers trying to get back to their more stylish selves, but Shana Draugelis writes in such a down-to-earth, fun way that it works even for those of us whose babies aren't babies but who still need help getting dressed each morning.

My youngest daughter, Livvy, who is nine, asked the other day if iPhones were invented when I was little, and she was shocked when I told her there were no iPhones when she was born. Imagine. It reminded me of this fabulous article in The New York Times Style Magazine about how - despite what we might tell our children - life wasn't really better in the old days, when we didn't carry our phones with us and there was no Internet to keep us connected 24/7. "We can't become hostages to the romantic notion that the past is always a better country," Andrew O'Hagan writes. "There's a few million girls with flatirons who will happily tell you the opposite."

Photo: Free People

Bits and pieces

Some favorites from the week:

Going outside for the very first time.

I loved Maine and Commencement, both by J. Courtney Sullivan, so now I'm reading The Engagements, and yes, it's a good one.

Some thoughts on age and beauty.

A nanny's love.

And a reminder that it's never too late to start.

I hope you have a happy and fun long weekend, with lots of down time and good things to eat.

(Photo by Jessie Webster for Smitten Studio.)

What they're wearing now

I always wished for a brother. During a drawn-out tomboy phase, I envisioned someone who would play basketball with me on the driveway or skateboard down the hill. When I was a teenager, I pictured a sibling who would be both protector and friend and who would bring home his own fun friends. What I never thought about were the clothes.

But in our house, at this moment, it's all about the clothes. My oldest daughter has become almost more interested in her brother's closet than her own. My youngest daughter looks carefully at what he's wearing and wants to wear the same. Suddenly, athletic shirts and shorts, crew socks, boy fleece, and grey T-shirts are all the rage.

The child least interested in fashion is leading the fashion pack. Who knows how it began or how long it will last. For one of us, it can't end soon enough. Because not only is the style of clothing appealing, the actual clothes are best of all. And he'd like his sweatshirt to stay on the shelf of his closet, not to find it at the bottom of his sister's backpack. He wants his socks to remain in his sock drawer. "That's mine!," I'll hear him yell from upstairs.

I suspect this may be his lot in life, and he certainly won't be alone. Sometimes the boy clothes are just better. But for now, I'll play my part, that of backup. "That's his," I'll say. "Go get your own jacket." I'm happy with my role: I know in seven short years, he'll be gone, and I'll no longer need to help defend his drawers. I'm confident he'll be ready. He's getting such good practice.

(If you're interested in more feminine fashion, Kate Spade is having a 75 percent off sale, but it ends tonight, so hurry.)

While the drawings are still girly, the everyday clothes are less so. Illustration by Livvy Fletcher.

Fashion forward

It started with the designer Vera Bradley.

Several years ago, my daughter Kate fell in love with everything Vera Bradley: bags, wallets, lunch totes. Fortunately, she didn't need to look far. My mother had a pink Vera Bradley bag that was headed for a garage sale, so Kate grabbed it.

To me, the bag looked like something a grandmother would carry, precisely because a grandmother had carried it. And of course I love that particular grandmother. It just surprised me that this bag - and this designer - could look fresh and modern and appealing to not-yet-teenage eyes.

And it's not just Vera Bradley. If Kate were to make a list of shoes she's currently coveting, the list would be very, very long. One of the pairs on that list would be the "Authentic Original" leather boat shoe from Sperry, with the emphasis on "authentic original," meaning not the new, fun, sometimes sparkly Sperrys, but the ones that were popular when I was Kate's age. They're brown and sturdy-looking. To her, and many others, they're wonderful. I just can't get past their past, if that makes sense.

Then, the other night, I was reading the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, and there was an article about making summer handbags that look exactly like Bermuda bags. Remember Bermuda bags? With the wooden handles? I had forgotten all about them, and there they were. When I look at the picture of these bags above, I think they're really very cute and Spring-like. I just don't know if I could carry one - again.

Definitely part of this is just me. I'm showing my age. But a little part also might be Vera and Sperry and Martha. Because yesterday I was looking through the new Anthropologie catalog and saw a shift dress and a peasant dress, both of which looked like something my mother might once have worn, as well as something I had as a little girl. And guess what? I flipped over these dresses. I thought they were fresh and modern and so appealing. Go figure.

(Image from Martha Stewart Living.)

Celebrity

Jenna Lyons, executive creative director and president of J. Crew, is everywhere. A profile in Fast Company. Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year. One of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. The subject of a New York Times article, "Jenna Lyons, the Woman Who Dresses America."

My favorite Jenna Lyons piece, though, is the April Harper's Bazaar "My List" column, in which she describes a typical 24 hours of her life and, in the process, describes herself. Reading it was like reading US Magazine's celebrity feature called "They're just like us!," with photos of famous people doing ordinary things such as grocery shopping and tying their shoes. As I read the Harper's Bazaar column, I thought, "She's just like me!" For example, she says, "I try to get my coffee to taste as close to coffee ice cream as I can." I do too. "One of my assistants gave me a T-shirt that says Sorry I'm Late." I don't have an assistant, but I'm always late. "My preferred mode of communication is silence!" Me too. "I check my Instagram far too much." I do as well. "I'll go for a year eating the same thing and then I'll switch. Right now I'm eating Cobb salad; last year it was tomato soup." I do the same. "I like to go out with just a few people at a time. I'm not good in giant group situations." I do too, and I'm not either. "I love looking at magazines. I get every possible one.... It's a problem." I do too, and yes, it is.

So, not too shabby being like the very lovely creative head of J. Crew.

Meanwhile, love, love, love the cover of the May issue of Harper's Bazaar. Partly it's because I like Gwyneth Paltrow, partly it's the colors - white, pale blue, pale pink, and grey - and partly it's something else I can't quite figure out. It feels both old-fashioned and very modern. It has an almost other-worldly feel to it. Just so pretty.

(Photo by Daniel Jackson for Harper's Bazaar)

Good reads

I read this and this recently. They're so different but both good. I can't wait to read this. And I read this a few years ago, which I really loved and which turned me on to author Elizabeth Strout.

One of my favorite things in the world is requesting books online from the town library and then getting an email saying they're being held for me. It's like buying something new for free, and there's never any guilt. That's how I read Woman in the Mirror, a beautiful book by Richard Avedon of his photographs of women - some previously published, some not - from 1946 through 2004, the year he died. I like the earlier images best, particularly from the 1950s and '60s, but it's fascinating to see how his work changed, getting edgier and edgier as the years passed. My only disappointment with this book is having to give it back.

(All photographs from Woman in the Mirror by Richard Avedon)

A thought on fashion

It's New York Fashion Week, but I'm thinking less about couture and more about skinny jeans. I may be among the very last to get on board the skinny-jeans bandwagon. I've always believed that skinny jeans are for true skinnies. Love them, just not on me. Until...

Two events took place one after the other. The first was reading an essay by fashion photographer and blogger Garance Dore on, yes, skinny jeans. In it, she swore they are the most comfortable, most flattering type of jeans out there. She said she won't wear anything else.

The next was my walk through a store where I came across a pair of skinny jeans on sale for a price that made it impossible not to stop. To at least think about it. I figured I would take them home, try them on, and bring them back. I'd return to my straight-but-not-too-straight jeans. But then something happened. The jeans fit, they were comfortable, and while they may not be transforming, I think they look OK. Best of all, when I put on my boots, they slip right in, no tucking or scrunching required. I love that. So now I'm hoping this still-going skinny-jeans trend will hang on, just a little bit longer.

(Photo by The Sartorialist for Tiffany & Co. "True Love in Pictures" Project)

Fabulous and funky

The Sartorialist: Closer

It was still bitter cold and gray on Saturday, so the bookstore seemed like a good outing with my daughter Kate, who's 13. Kate's a shopper and lover of anything fashion, so I knew exactly the aisle she'd head for. She also had a gift card with her.

I thought for sure she would choose kate spade new york: things we love, and she was awfully tempted. But in the end, she made a different choice. Earlier this fall, we were supposed to go to a book signing but had to change plans at the last minute because one child wasn't feeling well or another needed to be picked up - I don't remember now. I just know that street photographer and blogger Scott Schuman was in town to read from his new book, The Sartorialist: Closer, and Kate was mad she missed it. So she bought the book, and last night when she was sleeping, I took it for myself.

I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It's a little quirky, with commentary on bullfighting, cowboy boots, and even a Mennonite girl on Route 45 in Pennsylvania. But that's what's best about it, I think. It's not just about fabulously and funk-ily dressed people on the streets of New York and Milan, though there's that, too. In the introduction, Schuman says he now wants to understand the people he shoots more than he once did, and for this book he tried to photograph a greater variety of people. That's why, he says, there are pictures of house painters, bartenders, fashionistas, and nomads "just to name a few."

More than what they're wearing, I love the faces of the people in this book. There's one photograph of two girls sitting on a sidewalk in Paris. Their arms are crossed over their legs, and they're leaning forward. They're smiling, and I feel like I know them. They're probably 17 or 18, but they remind me of a certain 13-year-old.