0 Katy Perry for Vanity Fair

I am head-over-heels in love with these shots of Katy Perry in June's Vanity Fair. They were taken in Paris by famous photographer Annie Leibowitz. Could you imagine ever getting to wear couture like this? Seems mighty glamorous from my sick bed, where I've been lying for the past four hours watching Parks and Recreation and popping cough drops by the dozen. (This is the first time in my life that I've literally lost my voice. Come back! I have a phone interview at 8:30 tomorrow morning!)



photos scanned from VF via

0 Tuesday tune

Beautiful. Maybe one day I'll learn how to play the acoustic guitar like that.

0 All-American

Happy long weekend! What are you all up to? My aunt from Oregon will be here for the weekend, and my grandma's coming up from the city tomorrow. Plus, we're having a three-day long celebration for my friend's birthday. Hope it's a sunny one wherever you are!

And, on a more serious note, let's not forget the real reason for Memorial Day: to honor those who died while fighting in our armed forces.

photo

0 On the radar

arrangements at honey of a thousand flowers
as determined by Kris Anderson of New York magazine

books galore

bleached blonde hair

1950s summer style

self-portraits by Mariell Amélie (via)

giant balloons (via)

0 Southern Charm

In the South, strangers smile and make conversation; everyone is "ma'am" and "sir" and "miss." I was taken aback by it on our first day in South Carolina, but I soon caught on. Generosity is contagious. Also, there's a sort of calm, a relaxed spirit, so integral to the South. Maybe it's the heat. But I enjoy any reason to move a little slower, to take a little more time.

0 Tuesday tune

0 Love and Southern Sunshine

Hi beloved readers! I'm back from Hilton Head, South Carolina, where I spent a week under the sun, laughing and drinking vodka tonics with friends who are family and family who are friends. The wedding couldn't have been more beautiful: set on the beach under a shade of trees, the bride and groom read vows so heartfelt it was impossible not to cry. It's late and I'm travel-weary; more pictures to come.

0 Tuesday tune

Why am I up at this ungodly hour, you might ask? It's because...I'm off to a beach wedding! The daughter of our very dear family friends (our dads met in kindergarten and went to college together!) is getting married in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The weather has been horrible in New York and I'm super excited to lay on the beach with a good book (I brought this and this). Our flight out of here will undoubtedly be delayed because of the weather...but we'll get there eventually.



This Tuesday's song has a sweet story behind it: Paul Simon was playing in Toronto last week when a fan from the front row called out he play "Duncan" because it was the first song she learned play on guitar. With little hesitation, he calls her onto the stage to perform it, and she does the entire song seamlessly, sobbing tears of joy. It's such a pure moment and it makes me love Paul Simon even more than I already did.

0 On this rainy day

I'm missing Bergerac sunshine.

0 Radar

travel photos of London and Paris

Mexican embroidery dresses [via]

Lykke Li inspiration board

magazine cover of Adele [via]

my best friend, in Madrid

flowering quince

0 London in 36 hours

1 St. Émilion

I got my disposable cameras developed from my last month in France and I love how the pictures turned out. I might actually start using disposables more often! The quality is very cool and kitcshy-looking, and it's super cheap to get them developed on a CD rather than getting prints. This first batch is from when my best friend was visiting and we spent a day in St. Émilion, a gorgeous vineyard town halfway between Bergerac and Bordeaux. St. Émilion is known for making some of the best wine in France, and we certainly supported the town's economy that day with the amount of bottles we bought.

0 Tuesday tune

Hey, here's a new thing I'm gonna do every Tuesday, cause we all know that Tuesdays are the worst. I would argue that Tuesdays are even worse than Mondays, cause you know what you're gonna get on a Monday. And then you get through it and you realize, hey it's Tuesday and the weekend is still so very far away. So I'm gonna give you a new little ditty to listen to every Tuesday, cause I don't want you to hate Tuesday anymore.


Lilly Wood & The Prick is a Parisian duo I discovered during my many hours of watching French TV. This is my favorite Santogold song and they definitely do it justice. I love how bare this video is and how natural they seem playing together.

3 Little things

This website makes me smile.

0 Hippie, nerd

It should be no surprise to anyone by now that I kind of love TV, so I bet you can guess one of the reasons I'm really happy to be home: I get to watch my favorite shows when they air. Did anyone catch last week's Fleetwood Mac-themed episode of Glee? It really pulled at my inner flower child's heartstrings. My favorite part was the chorus of acoustic guitars in this rendition of "Never Going Back Again."



p.s. Follow my blog with bloglovin!

1 Bright and breezy

I'm just loving the spring collection at Cardigan. The soft, light-weight sweaters in bright colors are right up my alley.

P.S. Did you notice you were redirected when you came to the blog today? It's cause I have a new domain: prettier-world.com!

0 Mamas

Happy Mother's Day mommy! I'm so happy I get to be with you today! That's me, looking up at my mama in awe... Doesn't she look like Princess Diana in this picture?


This is my mom's mom - my Nana - at age 16. Is it just me or do 16-year-olds now look no where near that sophisticated?


Mimi, my dad's mom. How cool does she look? (Mimi, do you still have these sunglasses?)


And me with Gigi, my great grandma, who lived until 99. Here she is enjoying her nightly glass of whiskey. Jameson, neat.

Happy day to all you mamas out there!