Things That Make Me Smile: Colorful, Splendid Life.

1) Purple Shoes.
They add the perfect *POP* of color. I love my new Chloes from Paris, and I love these suede loafers featured on The Sartorialist.

2) New Shades-of-Purple Vespas.
If you know me, you'll know that I've always dreamed of having a red canoe and a lavender Vespa. You might also know that I have a fish at my office named Aubergine. I passed this Vespa yesterday and it seemed like fate.

3) Subconsciously dwelling on Paris.
In the last few weeks I've randomly happened to watch a number of movies with French connections:

• Julie & Julia. A truly EXCELLENT and utterly CHARMING film. As she lives and loves in Paris, Julia learns and eventually masters the art of French cooking.
• Taken. A gory action film. Set in Paris.
• La Vie En Rose. Another BRILLIANT film. Set in Paris and New York. It was lovely to watch Marion Cotillard walk through Montmartre then Central Park and think about how I've taken those same steps in the past few days.
  
• Revolutionary Road. I watched this on the plane en route to Paris. Despite its dark tone, the movie sets Paris as the ideal place to be--where one discovers the answers to life's questions and really learns how to live.
  

4) Exploring Brooklyn.
My friend CLB is my best excuse for exploring Brooklyn. This week we had dinner at Clover Club, a nouveau-speakeasy she selected for us.

We sat in the back room, which had a lovely library-feel and a fireplace filled with candles.
And the cocktails aren't bad either!

5) Spending time with friends, particularly friends from far away!

Dinner with CMM, in town for the summer, at Westville East // Sassy new New Yorker RFS post-(a separate) dinner at Westville East.

Kayaking on the Hudson with MVG: We didn't fall in!


Cupcakes at Two Little Red Hens with TAG // Post-Dinner at Kefi with visiting Londoner HP!

Model as Muse exhibit at the Met with TMS, in town from L.A.!

Pool Party on Long Island with my Princeton Gals: CHW, MVG, A(K)K, CJM, LAT, EJS
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I have a great weekend planned and I hope you do too!
Enjoy one of the final weekends of summer!
Cxx.

Things that Make Me Smile

1) BOOKS!
My first true love. Here are the books I'm currently reading, to varying degrees of success:

Here's a snippet from The Bunny's extensive bookshelves; when I saw this collection early on in our courtship I knew he was a keeper:

(Apologies for the low quality of my photos. I'm relying on my Blackberry until I buy a new camera cord, which is on today's to-do list)

2) Princeton's new Bridge Program
I heard this was in the works and received an official email today with the following description:

"Twenty Princeton students will defer the start of their freshman year at Princeton this fall to spend a tuition-free enrichment period abroad focused on public service as the first participants in the University's Bridge Year Program."
I wish this had been in place when I was there, so I'm glad that 20 students are going to partake in this wonderful opportunity. I hope someday every university will offer a similar program.

3) Cynthia Rowley's tulle skirt:

(It looks better in person, and I would buy it in black.)

4) Ivanka and Jared's love.
Seriously, read this article (props to CHW for bringing it to my attention). She's my shiksa hero, and their love story is one for the ages!

5) TAG's care package.
It arrived yesterday with a note telling me that I did, in fact, deserve to veg out a bit. Thanks for being so thoughtful, for understanding me, and for bringing a huge smile to my face.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Cxx.