Lux Lotus

Windowlicker

At Cafe Katja with a friend tonight, we were discussing some recent professional triumphs over dinner and I remarked, "Don't you wish that years ago when we were always at McHale's (old, much-missed dive bar in Hell's Kitchen), someone would have brought a phone to the table and our future selves, of this moment, actually, would have told us then just a little of what would transpire?" And so we played that game for a while. I don't know what "Lauren From the Future" might've said to me tonight had she sauntered in to impart a tidbit or two of wisdom about my life a few months or years hence. I am sure, though, that if the lessons of the past illume the potential of what could unfold, she would be a) stunning and b) wearing something a little like this...

[RM by Roland Mouret Abbesses Gown, $4385 at net-a-porter]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.

The Smart Set, Eh

The new edition of The Smart Set is at MaudNewton.com, and looking over it now, it makes me laugh that it's vaguely Canada-themed. I was there most of the summer, and could happily spend many more days on Kits Beach as I did in July... and Canada is so underrated for the most part by Americans except for that one night I went to see a band play in Montreal expecting to be pleasantly surprised and it was like, Blues Hammer.

The Postcard Project

One of my fall publicity projects is New Yorker editor Ben Greenman's new book, Correspondences. It's a limited edition high-concept letterpress work of art, but you can play along at home via The Postcard Project. All you have to do is go here, and read the featured story, which involves a tryst and a hotel (sordid!). Then choose 1 of 9 key points in the story when one of the characters writes a postcard and take a real postcard, note the corresponding number, and write what you think it said, or should've said, or what you might have said, or what you did say the last time you found yourself in precisely the same scenario (collect all nine!) and send it in for potential inclusion in a future edition of the book. Think: PostSecret for the Lost in Translation set.

Nothing's Shocking

Well, whaddaya know, the "eleven things I want on a Saturday night" are the same exact ones I was daydreaming about two weeks ago.. I just came back from perfect early cocktails at Good World with friends who were off to the Lit Crawl, and begged off on account of the fact that I'm so enamored of my new bed I can hardly stand to leave it and what could be lovelier on a rainy night in New York? At the moment, nothing could be more alluring than a cup of tea, a good story or two, and perhaps a little midnight poetry: Pray/Let us be happy without being good...

Make It a Red Letter Evening

Save the date... here's the scoop on my next five (free!) events:

• OCT 6: Green is the New Black at Galapagos Art Space (pictured), now in DUMBO and NYC's first LEED certified “green” cultural venue!
• OCT 14: What is Green Architecture? at The Architectural League of New York.
• OCT 6: Alaa Al Aswany + Rachael Yamagata "Upstairs at the Square".
• NOV 6: Ben Greenman's Correspondences Launch Party at the Tenement Museum Shop.
• NOV 10: The New Indie Novel Night at Book Culture.

Windowlicker

I haven't yet decided what "look" I'm about this fall (remember last year's "jazz club coat check girl/opium den/lost Russian princess meets long-locked epic poem's heroine with a dash of early Transatlantic luxury travel by boat"?), but perhaps it will just come in bits and pieces, or I won't have one at all. Surface-level stuff is much less apparent to me these days anyway. I sure do have a lingering crush on this hat, though! It's so Beefeater in Candyland. It makes me want to drink lots of tea and sit on my balcony and sigh a lot and go for long walks in the evening and listen to Golden Apples of the Sun until I just chuck it all and move to Big Sur.  Or, alternatively, dig out all my favorite cool-weather pieces (riding boots, poncho from Moquegua, Florentine silver cuff, and neat little pile of cashmere sweaters) and settle into the sort of knockabout splendor that only New York can provide. Like me, this cap is a specialist in all styles.

[Gucci Felt Hat, $265 at Saks Fifth Avenue]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.

And She Was (Startlingly Chic)

I just came home from the most sublime meal with the most elegant woman I know, who, when I said, Is that an Alhambra necklace, replied, "Well, you know my husband proposed to me at the Alhambra..." Basically, if I was ever that cool for even one second in my life, I would fall off my chair and destroy the mood. Our waiter seemed to agree because when we couldn't decide between two desserts he brought them both, as clearly enchanted by my company as I was! She is going to London next week and I gave her my Hedonist Guide and suggested The Wolseley (which I so loved) and Lula Magazine and picking up a bottle of Chanel "Vamp" nail polish since it's flat and not metallic in Europe (where it goes by "Rouge Noir"), and what else should we tell her?

And also: The new Smart Set can be found here.

Postcards From Omaha (Postmarked: NYC)

(Downtown) Omaha Lit Fest opening party, 9/19.

Take Four

I have to go work for a while (per agreement with my exey taste). To console you in my absence -- and I'm mostly talking to you, mother -- here's a snapshot of me in a subway station photobooth last month. That was the one aspect of Montreal that really reminded me of Paris, and luckily my favorite one, too. XOXO.

Windowlicker

It's no secret that I am a long-time Miss Van fan. I wrote a profile of her a few years ago, and was given one of her prints as a cherished gift from an admirer. Of course, that's not stopping me from daydreaming of adding another to my collection! Today I am fond of this one because my hair has gotten really long. Most of the time I find the notion impossibly exotic, but my wavy (slash wild) locks sort of wrap around everything in a way that can sometimes be annoying. Miss Van understands. And this makes me smile. If too much is ever enough, well, I'll let you know.

["Princesas 2" ltd. edition print, 260 euros at Princesas Market]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.