Beef Ribs and Checkered Wedges

If you read my blog, you'll probably come to realize that one of my loves beyond good shoes is good BBQ.  Always ready for a new BBQ adventure, my friends and I had dinner at Hill Country in Manhattan this week.  

Only one of the many pieces of down South inspired decorations that adorns Hill Country.  Definitely thought it looked kinda cool hanging from the industrial like ceilings.

Everything here is pretty much self serve, except for the drinks (wonder why).  You go up to the counters and order your meat, which they serve to you in this old fashioned butcher paper (you also pay by the pound), and your sides.  This is my lovely dinner of BBQ chicken, mac & cheese, and corn pudding.  Margarita with Jalepinos is in the background.

My friends and I about to chow down.

Maggie trying to eat her monsterous beef ribs.  Next time we'll stick with the pork.

More lovely decor at Hill Country including the cowboy boot lined bar.

They also have live music on certain nights and the best part is the back drop for the band which is made entirely out of denim and bandanas.

Close up of my favorite part of the stage back drop.

That night I wore a peach dress with a ruffled collar from JCrew with super high ribbon checked wedges by Joey O.  Also had on a super long gold and blue stone necklace by Amrita Singh, which is unfortunately hard to see here.  www.amritasingh.com

Close up of the wedges, which apparently kind of make gross veins pop out in my feet.  Kinda makes you wonder what heels do to your feet...anyway, I love these wedges because the checkered design on them is created by interwoven pieces of silk ribbon!

Promenade

Today my friends and I decided to check out the new promenade in the Meat Packing District.  It was a really cool walk lined with flowers and amazing views of the city and Hudson river.

Today I wore an LNA zipper pocket tee shirt with mineral wash denim running shorts from American Apparel.

I paired my outfit with these crazy cool shoes from Irregular Choice.  I love the geometric cloth heel and how unique they are.

After our walk we stopped by Los Dados, a restaurant at the bottom of the Promenade.  We had delicious and refreshing cucumber agave and blueberry margaritas and a yummy baked grapefruit (a new discovery for me).  

This piece of art was really cool.  A Juan Valdez photo made entirely out of dice!

Close up of my tie-dyed leather clutch from Urban Outfitters.  I love how it has a super tough vibe, but that the leather is buttery soft.

Also wore this hand wrapped sterling silver ring by Carmen Q today.  I love the randomness of the wrapping and how intricate it is.  www.carmenq.com

Lastly is a close up of my thorn necklace from Mignon Faget based in Louisiana.  A tough, but feminine and petite necklace. www.mignonfaget.com

Such a fun day, only interrupted for a moment by one of the craziest rain storms I've ever seen hit NYC.  It literally almost blew the door off of the Urban Outfitters I was in!  Excited to relax and catch up on TV for the rest of the night!

Crushes

Hand in hand with my love of fashion comes a love of shopping and it's safe to say that at any given time I have a mental (and some times physical shopping list) of all the items I want.  There are usually stand outs within this list which I pretty much tend to fixate on.  I thought I'd share these items from time to time in a post called Crushes.  Today is all about the shoes!

I found these little Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon beauties while surfing the satorialist last night and promptly went on a hunt for them.  They are sold out on many sites, but luckily asos.com still has them in my size.  I will be ordering these puppies soon.  They're very unique and kinda kitchy.  Can't wait to figure out what to wear them with!

Next up is the Wowee Zowee from Irregular Choice.  I found these on a jaunt through SOHO last weekend, but didn't buy them!  (I bought another pair I'll be wearing and posting soon).  However, they've been haunting me ever since.  The off center stacked heel is super cool looking.  I'll be back downtown to buy them as soon as I get a chance.  http://shop.irregularchoice.com/womens/product/2688/wowee-zowee.html

I've also had my eye on these very cool Haley wedges by Elizabeth and James.  I think they look kind of rugged, kind of fresh, and kind of hippy chic.  Either way I can see these working great through the end of the summer and well into fall with some tights.  http://www.shopbop.com/haley-buckle-back-platform-wedge/vp/v=1/845524441845635.htm?folderID=2534374302152292&fm=browse-brand-viewall-shopbysize

Lastly, not really a shoe (ok not a shoe at all, but he wears them) is Kiptyn from The Bachelorette.  I have an overall love for the show, which wraps up on Monday night, but Kiptyn has stood out as my favorite bachelor.  Now the only question is do I root for him to win Jillian's heart or lose so he can be next season's Bachelor?

Octo Ring!!!!

Usually on our last night at the beach we go into the cute town to do some shopping.  I normally find some cute trinkets to bring home, but this year a found a ring that literally took my breath away when I saw him sitting there...

Here I am walking on a beach path after the shopping extravaganza.  Wore this beaded, back cut out dress from Anthropologie.

Here is my shopping purchase.  My new octopus ring!!!  I heart him & have been wearing him at work all week.  I never take him off, but still haven't named him yet!  Also wore a silky bag with tortoise frame from Urban Outfitters.

Close up of the earrings I wore (again from a street vendor in NYC) and the bead and stitch work on the dress.

Nine West Gladiator heels.

Stain Glass Dress

One on of our last nights at the beach we went to a serious seafood restaurant where I actually did order seafood despite my dislike for it (ok it was lobster with steak), but I'm trying to make myself like seafood.  There was an hour and a half wait just to get a table, but luckily it was right off a boat docking area which was fun to explore and get photos around.

I wore this Catherine Malandrino dress that I love love love.  The flower design around the neckline and hem of the dress looks like stain glass. 

I also love the way the skirt fans out to show the full stain glass like flowers.

Close up of the flowers.

I also wore this fun shell ring, because well...when in Rome (or at the beach) and I wore a beautiful aquamarine stone ring that belonged to my great grandmother.
I also put on these cute bow earrings made out of gold and yellow colored metal by By Boe, byboe.com.  I thought they were just delicate enough not to distract from the stain glass dress.

Lazy Beach Days

Here are just a few pics of me hanging out at the beach before heading to dinner.  I decided to wear a breezy navy eyelet dress snatched up at J Crew sample sale.

This pic totally makes me laugh...can't believe we caught it mid jump!

Also wore my giant Cleo and Cat clay ring again.

Paired the eyelet dress with some simple tan and white striped espadrilles from Chinese Laundry and an amazing tie-dye clutch by Deepa Gurnani.

Close up on my floating butterfly earrings from Anthropologie.

Also wore an olive green braided headband from J Crew.

We snapped this quick shot the next morning after breakfast.  I absolutely love love these ripped up jeans from American Eagle.  They're super inexpensive, so comfy and look cute and laid back.  Worn with a men's Haines v-neck, Anthropologie stone necklace, and Banana Republic nude heels.

Oh and a special thanks to my aunt for using her photography expertise to take almost all of my photos from the beach.

Arts + Culture

I've been wanting to post more photos from the beach, but have been super busy playing catch up with work.  I'm pretty excited to be home tonight to be able to post more. 

On one of our days at the beach we decided to visit a nearby arts and cultural center where we got to see really cool glass blowing.  The two ladies below are demonstrating how to make a vase and beads (sorry the photos aren't clearer).  My mom and I bought these cute blown glass ring holders.  This one is mine...didn't get a pic of hers though.

There was also a cool museum there with a large porch and statuesque white pillars.  Snapped some shots there too.  Wearing shredded jean shorts from American Eagle (cheapies, but they go with so many things) a tiered circular confetti shirt from JCrew and some super high multicolored sandals.  I also wore bead spider web earrings from an NYC street vendor and my silver octopus ring from seadesigns.com.


I have a huge fear of spiders, but for some reason I thought this little glass bugger was super cute.

These glass pendants with silohouettes of different people inside where super cool too.

Not sure why, but I also quite loved this little skeleton man in the museum.  Wish I could have brought him home with me!