Happy New Years from the Big Easy!

Dress: Rachel Roy Tights: Betsey Johnson Shoes: Michael Kors Wristlet: Marc Jacobs

Happy New Years!!!! Bourbon St. here I come!

Every Girl Should be a Bendel Girl!

I love Henri Bendel. It’s one of my favorite stores to visit on 5th avenue while in New York City. The brown and white stripes of Henri Bendel marked the forefront of fashion in the early 1900s when store founder Henry Willis Bendel, a milliner by trade, decorated New York’s elite in his accessories. When I was in the hunt of a good Christmas gift for my friends, I knew Bendel’s would be the place to find it.
I picked these amazing, yet simple bow studs to give to my friends for Christmas. They are everyday earrings, a nice little pair to dress up your run to the grocery store outfit. I loved these earrings because the backs were just as amazing as the front of the earrings.

If you haven’t made yourself a Bendel girl, you need to NOW. Henri Bendel has great accessories and handbags and everything in the store would make a great gift for your friends! I could spend hours on henribendel.com and if you click it, I promise you will too! Here are some pictures from Bendel’s 5th Avenue Holiday windows too.

GAGA's Workshop in Barney's

I love Simon Doonan. He’s been the creative ambassador at large for Barney’s for awhile as well as a writer for the Slate. Not to mention he’s married to another favorite of mine, Jonathan Adler! Simon Doonan puts up the best Holiday windows out I have ever seen. Last year’s Holiday Foodie Window (see few posts below) was absolutely amazing and then this year he did not only do the windows, but he transformed the entire 5th floor of Barney’s into Gaga’s Workshop. The workshop sold a lot of goodies Lady GaGa related from Alexander McQueen heels cookies (I LOVED THIS, but was $78!) to jewelry, clothes, makeup and stuffed monsters. 25% of the proceeds went to the Lady GaGa’s Born This Way Foundation.

Ooh La, La Laduree

The most amazing thing about being in New York City is that you can go to Paris any night of the week.

Once I learned that Laduree was opening up in New York City, I made it a mission to be able to get some of the macarons! New York City is the only city in the U.S to get a Laduree, so I’ve heard reports of the line being wrapped around the block all day long. Luckily, we arrived right at opening on Sunday, so we were maybe 10 people back. The macarons are flown daily in from Paris and with each box you are given a little card that tells you when they are made and the last day you should eat them. I got a cute little box of macarons for a friend and one for myself. Unfortunately, no pistachios were flown over, so I got the next 6 that sounded enticing. By far my favorite was the salted caramel. Not so much salty, as delightfully caramel!

I managed to get a few pictures of inside the store before I was told that they don’t allow pictures inside of their store.

On the streets of New York City

Jacket: Mango Sweater Dress: rsvp  Boots: Stuart Weitzman

Strait's

I celebrated my 25th birthday a few days early amongst my friends since I would be in New York City. I decided on something a little bit more low key and picked to have brunch at Strait's at City Centre. Strait's in an Asian fusion restaurant during the day and a lounge at night. On the weekends they serve bottomless mimosas for $12 and we love any excuse to drink mimosas on a patio! We were seated at a beautiful outdoor tent with couches. Luckily tent also had a fan because we started to feel the heat. Unfortunately, Strait's is a little bit stingy when it comes to "bottomless mimosas" Between my entire party of 12 people they would only bring us one pitcher of mimosas out at a time and would bring out refills slowly, even though we requested more pitchers for our table. One pitcher at a time is good amongst 4 people, so our party felt a little jipped on the "bottomless" mimosas. I ordered the fried chicken and waffles and was presented with a beautiful plate. The chicken was fried to perfection and the waffles were so fluffy, topped with mango. Maple syrup was drizzled across the whole plate and gave both the chicken and waffles the right amount of sweet. My entire party enjoyed their food. If not for the service, the food alone would make me come back! One of the best plates of chicken and waffles I have had to date!

Strait's Restaurant

800 W Sam Houston Parkway N

Ste 940

Houston, Texas 77024

Mt. Rush Hour (David Adickes art)

For those Houstonians who fight the I-10 traffic into downtown Houston, I'm sure a lot of y'all have seen what has been dubbed as "Mt. Rush Hour" by local artist and sculptor David Adickes. He's also done the work of Sam Houston statue down I-45N and Stephen F. Austin down I-45S. His studio, Adickes Studio in the Heights has even more of these beautifully done statues of presidents, the Beatles, and my favorite; "We Love Houston". It's a great place to go and view some art for free and even take some out of town guests to take pictures in front of! A lot of the statues are behind a gate, but they are still easy to see and get great pictures of. A friend and I met David Adickes at Dharma Cafe one night and had a lovely conversation about his work and why a lot of it just stays behind a gate. He didn't hesitate to say it's because he holds out for a certain amount of money to be displayed elsewhere and most of the offers received are just not good enough!

 

 

Just to show how enourmous these statues are in person, I couldn't help but perch myself on the shoulder of President John F. Kennedy!

Adickes Studio
2500 Summer St

Houston, Texas 77246