Lanvin, the cult-followed French line has landed at Wayne Edwards, where Philly guys can snatch up their voluminous, lightweight and neutral-hued summer looks. But ladies, Wayne’s got something for you too: According to shopibel.com, NYC gals are buying up his Chuck-esque men’s sneaks in smaller sizes. You’ll find this shiny-toed low-top pair retailing for $565 here, right now. Run! They’ll go fast.
This week, I had the contradictorily unpleasant pleasure of moving into my first-ever very-own house. The actual move was bad enough. Now, the thought of unpacking and reorganizing all my worldly possessions — not to mention cleaning out the wretched basement, eliminating omnipresent drywall dust, I won’t bore you with more household details — makes me break out into purple hives. My only solace: The realization that, as a homeowner, I am duty-bound to fill my very own dwelling with righteously stunning furnishings and appointments.
My first mission: Reupholster a Sixties-chic couch and ottoman scored from Old City’s Reform. If I have my way — and, let’s face it, I usually do — I’d get Fishtown-based custom upholstery designer (and Philly Mag Home crush; check out her “Wings” pattern in our spring issue) Lauren Rossi to redo the honey blonde wood pieces with her absolutely one-of-a-kind hand-screened fabrics. Rossi’s new website recently launched. So addictive is it, with its splashy florals and organic geometry and stunning brights, that you’d think it was thesuperficial. Or, at least, bluefly.
The other morning, as I was dumping the contents of my oversize tote onto my bed during my Daily Bag Switch, I noticed several slips of paper fluttering to the floor. A phone number scribbled on the back of a receipt, a doctor’s appointment reminder on an index card, the dimensions of a couch I’m thinking of buying jotted on a Post-It. Basically, when it comes to self-reminders, I’m barely a step above the middle-school method of scrawling notes on the back of one’s hand with a marker.
Thankfully, Philly’s own Joy Deangdeelert Cho (whose sweet, smiling face you may recognize from our fall 2007 cover of Philadelphia Home) is bringing note-taking to a whole new (and deliciously cute!) level.
Her travel-sized “Things to Note” journals, with their supercute scalloped edges and spring-y prints, are simply perfect for jotting down all the random scraps of information and delightful bits of inspiration I collect throughout the day.
Now, where are my Post-Its so I can remind myself to buy one?
Nantaka Joy notebook, $12.75 at nantakajoy.com
So many shopping events these days! (As if I need an event to shop, but, you know.)
This Thursday, cross the bridge into Lambertville for Lime Boutique’s Spring’s Most Wanted party. Owner Lorena Reyes and her helpful staff will be on hand all day to help you hand-select the most awesome spring styles ever (including those from her new lines, Diane von Furstenberg, Tory Burch and Mint by Joni Arnold).
The party’s going on all day long — but pop in between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. for champagne and a gift bag filled with fun.
I was kinda bummed that I’ll be out of town, and therefore not able to make it. But then I checked with my wallet, and apparently, that’s a good thing.
While doing my per-usual Sunday brunching at the Callowhill Street Sabrina’s this past weekend, I was titillated by urgent news, but ironically it had nothing to do with the fact that Larry Mendte and his fam were sitting at the next table.
No, my excitement was generated by my friend K.’s tip that Ethnics has been and is still having a 20 percent off sale on the whole merch shebang — BUT this is the last week to get the Antique Row gem’s Indonesian imports like teak or mahogany furniture, baskets and lamps at marked-down prices.
My husband and I heading to Miami for our one-year anniversary next week. I’m supposed to be figuring out rides, meals and hotels, but I really only care about what I’m going to pack. I pulled out my honeymoon dresses from last year and they seem so boring and, sigh, fit my long-gone post-wedding weight. While doing reconnaissance on said hotels and meals, I discovered how great Miami’s shopping scene is.
So, I’ve decided to forgo trying to pick up cute dresses in snow-laden Philly and make shopping my first activity of the trip. (Well, spray tan first, shopping next.) I was psyched to see that there is an Intermix not too far from my hotel. This NYC-based store seems to be spreading its wings (yes, I’ve already asked for a Center City location in my bedtime prayers) and is carries a department store quantity of stuff. My first purchases:
OK. So, I’m tooting my own horn a bit here, but, as a minor cog in the wheel of Philly Mag’s newly redesigned Home magazine, I gotta say, our spring issue looks damn awesome.
Yes, I’m one of the editors at Home, so I could be slightly biased. But I doubt it. Aside from the prettiest-ever potting shed on the cover (the space belongs to Bucks County gardening guru and Martha Stewart buddy Jon Carloftis), the mag features the perfectly modern house of the cutest ever Radnor family, a brilliantly made-over Chestnut Hill manor (that’s not at all fussy manor-y), three super-amazing city lofts, a huge, utilitarian guide to the green life at home, dozens of the region’s best landscape designers, and products you’ll wanna buy way before the crocuses rear their darling purple blooms.
The issue’s officially on sale Monday. But everyone knows that bookstores, Whole Foods and Wegmans love to sell magazines as soon as they get them. So keep a vigilant lookout this weekend. (By the way, if you’re shopping in a Barnes & Noble, you’ll likely find it shelved among the regional magazines.)
Go. Run. Quick! I may be partial, but I’m predicting a sellout.
Home pamperers, your chariot awaits. As soon as I entered Haverford’s Nancy Koltes at Home — the few-months-old light and airy showroom of high-quality, Italian-crafted linens and sweet goodies like tableware, candles and even men’s boxers and comfy loungewear for gals — worries about thread count numbers dissolved. I was immediately encouraged to throw around pillow samples (the clever way they show the lines’ colors and patterns) in an effort to mix and match my way to the bed dressing of my dreams.
Beyond the sheets, there was enough to bedeck an entire home with a thoroughly inviting, romantic-without-being-cloying style that made me recall a party I once attended in the suburbs of Paris where an evening of too much red wine, chocolate, bread and cheese was adieu’d with a spread of fizzy water and clementines.
Outposts of the first-in-New-York life-wares store have been popping up nationwide, from Charleston to Beverly Hills, but we got lucky because linens designer and founder Koltes (who has been selling her chic sheet sets for over 20 years through other retail outlets) hails from Chestnut Hill and wanted to see a signature shop installed in her old stomping environs.
I know what I’ll be doing this Thursday evening — that is, before being dragged off to the Foo Fighters concert by the Boyfriend. Yes, before Dave Grohl must come shopping — at a fabulous Philly boutique, for a fabulous Philly (and NYC)-based cause.
Kimberly Boutique (home to lust-worthy lines like Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, Vince, LaROK and Alice + Olivia, makers of this happy yellow dress) co-owner Jimmy Contreras is hosting a Diva & Debutant Night for Philly native Becky Fawcett’s HelpUsAdopt.org. Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Jimmy will offer champagne, hors d’oeuvres, the ever-so-stylish, aforementioned lines — and 15 percent of all proceeds to HelpUsAdopt; Becky and her husband, through their organization, will offer couples everywhere financial aid in adopting a child of their own.
So buy up. It’s a win-win-win situation. Hmm. Guess I’ll need to drop off my bags before heading back out …
I assumed most 10-year-old girls spent their Friday nights tacking up photos of Hannah Montana to their pink bedroom walls. Which is why I was extremely interested when I read on MSNBC that Dasia Dawson, a South Jersey 10-year-old was going to spend this Friday night hosting a positive image workshop in Willingboro. I mean, what kind of problems can girls this young possibly have?
Turns out the workshop was actually inspired from Dasia’s first project, a jewelry, lip gloss and tee line called Tutu Luv Me. Tutu, which you’ll find emblazed on all her cute Juicy-reminiscent products stands for “Teach You to Teach Us,” a reminder that girls should love themselves, and respect each other.
Which is where this workshop’s shockingly grown-up idea came to life. Dasia wanted a forum where preteens and adolescents can speak openly about problems that may be too difficult to tackle with the ‘rents around. (Although Mom and Dad are welcome to this first one.)
Recently, in a preliminary gathering at the Dawson’s home, about 25 girls, aged eight to ten, showed up to speak about real issues affecting their lives like death and alcoholism. There’s my sad-but-true answer: These girls feel our problems, too. Check out her goods at tutuluvme.com and here’s hoping that next month, the workshop age group will be extended to twenty-somethings. — Emily Plummer
Friday, February 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Willingboro Township Kennedy Center, New Jersey.
Lanvin, the cult-followed French line has landed at Wayne Edwards, where Philly guys can snatch up their voluminous, lightweight and neutral-hued summer looks. But ladies, Wayne’s got something for you too: According to shopibel.com, NYC gals are buying up his Chuck-esque men’s sneaks in smaller sizes. You’ll find this shiny-toed low-top pair retailing for $565 here, right now. Run! They’ll go fast. 
This week, I had the contradictorily unpleasant pleasure of moving into my first-ever very-own house. The actual move was bad enough. Now, the thought of unpacking and reorganizing all my worldly possessions — not to mention cleaning out the wretched basement, eliminating omnipresent drywall dust, I won’t bore you with more household details — makes me break out into purple hives. My only solace: The realization that, as a homeowner, I am duty-bound to fill my very own dwelling with righteously stunning furnishings and appointments. 
The other morning, as I was dumping the contents of my oversize tote onto my bed during my Daily Bag Switch, I noticed several slips of paper fluttering to the floor. A phone number scribbled on the back of a receipt, a doctor’s appointment reminder on an index card, the dimensions of a couch I’m thinking of buying jotted on a Post-It. Basically, when it comes to self-reminders, I’m barely a step above the middle-school method of scrawling notes on the back of one’s hand with a marker.
So many shopping events these days! (As if I need an event to shop, but, you know.)
While doing my per-usual Sunday brunching at the Callowhill Street 
My husband and I heading to Miami for our one-year anniversary next week. I’m supposed to be figuring out rides, meals and hotels, but I really only care about what I’m going to pack. I pulled out my honeymoon dresses from last year and they seem so boring and, sigh, fit my long-gone post-wedding weight. While doing reconnaissance on said hotels and meals, I discovered how great Miami’s shopping scene is. 
OK. So, I’m tooting my own horn a bit here, but, as a minor cog in the wheel of Philly Mag’s newly redesigned Home magazine, I gotta say, our spring issue looks damn awesome. 
Home pamperers, your chariot awaits. As soon as I entered Haverford’s Nancy Koltes at Home — the few-months-old light and airy showroom of high-quality, Italian-crafted linens and sweet goodies like tableware, candles and even men’s boxers and comfy loungewear for gals — worries about thread count numbers dissolved. I was immediately encouraged to throw around pillow samples (the clever way they show the lines’ colors and patterns) in an effort to mix and match my way to the bed dressing of my dreams. 
I know what I’ll be doing this Thursday evening — that is, before being dragged off to the Foo Fighters concert by the Boyfriend. Yes, before Dave Grohl must come shopping — at a fabulous Philly boutique, for a fabulous Philly (and NYC)-based cause. 
I assumed most 10-year-old girls spent their Friday nights tacking up photos of Hannah Montana to their pink bedroom walls. Which is why I was extremely interested when I read on