Home

Hello! I’ve missed you! I got caught up in trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up….such a waste of time really, because thinking somehow always leads to paralysis (for me), which leads to an inevitable downward dip in emotional spirits. It’s time to stop thinking and start doing; that can be as simple an act as just getting out of the house...

I feel like the older I get, the more casual I become. Moving from New York to Los Angeles fifteen years ago didn't help, since a lot of the time I'm ensconced in a car, as opposed to on display on the 23rd street subway station waiting for the N train. Sometimes I wonder what my younger Marie Claire-beauty-editor self would have said to my now wiser, and less caring of others opinions, self if told...

Is there a better time-wasting tool than the internet? No, no there is not. Take this house (above) for example, it's for sale, it's dreamy and I stared at it for 45 minutes. In that time I moved in, rearranged the furniture and decided that the one thing I'd keep is that amazing pop of color on the wall (I think it's Gary Baseman whom I really enjoy on Instagram).

Really January? I’m supposed to clean and organize my house, start exercising, get a hobby, lose five pounds, AND get my taxes in order in the name of new year resolutions? Well, the universe had other plans; my washer and dryer broke, the car died, and I got the flu ( and not even the stomach flu, that at least, would have taken care of the five pounds!).

Me: Look at this cake I just ate! (shows pic on phone)
BF: It looks just like those shoes you showed me a picture of yesterday.
Me: OH...MY... GOD. (Having epiphany of life-altering proportions)

I wasn't born here, actually didn't arrive on the preppy shores of Connecticut until my mid-teens, so when it comes to the holidays, Thanksgiving is neither here nor there for me. 

I’m a Swede, but one of my favorite Scandi words is the Danish one, “hygge." It roughly translates to “taking pleasure from the presence of gentle, soothing things.". If that’s not your bag, then we can’t be friends. Have a little hygge on this mellow day; here’s how I’m doing it.

I do love a quirky sweater, probably more than I should. Sadly, living in Los Angeles, it's sweater weather for approximately 3 1/2 weeks before Christmas. So, I make the most of it. This years fave is a cashmere polar bear number by another quirk-lover G. Kero.

Fact: It takes 21 days to form a new habit. When it comes to skincare I fall into the "minimum effort maximum results" category, which is sadly a category that doesn't really exist. Like all things, good skin (unless you're freakishly genetically blessed like Beyonce or, personal fave, Julianne Moore) takes a bit of effort and it's about time I put some elbow grease in!

One of the oddest observations for me when I moved to LA in the mid-90’s, was how many in the Mexican-American community were totally bonkers for Morrissey. At first, I couldn’t think of what connection a kid from Montebello could possibly have with a (now) middle-aged man from Manchester, but as always, angst, alienation, unrequited love and an appreciation of beautiful words are universal.