jessica mcdougall

Bye, bye Bahamas. I'm so happy that Jeffrey and I were able to make the trip to join Ali, Chris, and Simon on their spring break vacation. We had several nice dinners together and relaxed at the pool and enjoyed the warm weather.

When lounging beach or poolside, it's always nice to have an extra rubber band to pull back your hair. I found these hair elastics at J.Crew and decided I could turn my necessary rubber band into a delightful bracelet and still have the rubber band in case I needed it.

Urban Outfitters has a ton of delightful items right now - at great prices. I'm loving that I can mix many of their items with things I already have. Here are some of my favorite picks - you'll see them in my upcoming fashion choices!


They also have a great selection of fun sandals.

I love this book. For reference. For ideas on how to eat better. For a reality check about your favorite restaurant and grocery store choices. And because the entire book has pictures!

What a delight to have all the family together!

Photograph by Yanick Dery. Illustration by Jacqueline Bissett.

I received this question from Tracy:

I've recently moved to Chicago, only steps from Michigan Ave, and am just waiting for my new job to start so I can have the needed cash to begin my shopping excursions. I've found so many stores here that I could do damage in. How often do you go shopping? And do you shop bargains?

And here is my response to her:

Ooh, how fun that you’ve moved to Chicago. I’m thinking of having a girl's weekend there in the future — you’ll have to let me know what would be on your list of to-dos.

In some form or another (mostly of the perusing type), I’m always shopping. I look at catalogs and magazines, I look at shops online, I visit several ‘regular’ stores in Charlotte when I’m in town, I have several people that email me what’s new, and I love to discover boutiques and stores in cities when I’m traveling. I’m not always buying though. The majority of the time I’m gathering ideas. In a magazine, I may see something I already have and take inspiration from how they’ve styled it to wear it in a new way that I hadn’t thought of. I’m always pulling ideas out of magazines — things I’m interested in. I have a super organizer at home that files all the ideas for me. Then when I have time (HA!) I go back through them and decide if I want to ‘make a purchase.’ Yes, I definitely bargain shop. Getting something funky, different, or hot for a better price than normal is always a thrill. But many of the luxury items that I especially like don’t go on sale. So I try to think of them as investments in me!

With so much opportunity to shop right out your doorstep — take time to walk through the stores and absorb the environments, the fabrics, and the fashion. I get as much of a buzz being in the shopping environment as I do buying.

How often are YOU shopping?

Lots of life reflection going on in my mind. My mom asked me to help piece together a eulogy for my grandma's funeral this weekend. It's had me in deep thought of how to best capture the feelings that grandma inspired within me through her presence.

It's pretty difficult to capture and encompass the greatness of one's life in less than 1,000 words, but it's a good challenge. I'm hoping we'll have time to put together a slide show for the funeral. Many happy memories live within photographs.

It will be nice to have several silent moments in the company of family over the next couple days to think and reflect on how grateful I am for my life.

And of course there's the fashion-related question of what to wear to a funeral. I've chosen all black with a fun shoe. It's in grandma's honor. She always had a flair to her style and with my shoes, I'll be honoring her.

Thank you to all who left such kindhearted comments and extended thoughts of sympathy in relation to the passing of my grandmother. I appreciate you!

I'm leaving Miami today after a great weekend of relaxtion in South Beach at Delano Hotel, where you quickly learn to always keep your eyes open for the delights that abound. This is the front entrance of the hotel. Could it be any more inviting?

And upon entering your room, you're greeted by this apple and the inscribed holder that reads "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." At night, they transform the pool area into a beautiful social gathering place with candles and beds to look up at the starry sky.

A good reason to get up early.

South Beach has beautiful architecture.

And the hotel had delicious homemade granola and fruit. My favorite breakfast.

If you stay alert, you just may see a Spice Girl across the pool!

When my mom, Pati, was gathering stories from the family and grandkids to read to my grandma as her health has dwindled over the last several weeks, one of the things I mentioned was that my grandma was the only family member I ever wanted to kiss on the lips.

Several days after I emailed that fact to my mom she responded back that she had found the above photo of me and my grandma in her archive of photographs. It's a blessing to forever have this mental image of what a beautiful and delightful woman my grandma was - and how much love she shared with her family.

She passed away a few hours ago and she is now reuniting with her one true love, my grandpa. I love you, grandma. Kisses to you for the sweet impact you have had on my life.

Here are some classy tote recommendations at various prices - as requested by Jeanette:

Tote bags a great way to infuse color or patterns into an otherwise neutral outfit. They can hold a multitude of items. I use a tote to carry a pillow when traveling and it's perfect that once I have the pillow out, I can fold the tote down to nothing for storage on the plane. Click on the text below for a larger screen image of a delightful piece of history from The New York Times (June 11, 1964) about how society viewed the tote bag back then.

How does what you put into your tote bag compare with the typical contents in 1964?

If you've purchased the refuel option, there's no better state than this to return a rental car.

Received this question from Sara...

Can you give some thoughts on what you think about highlighted hair for brunettes? I have very dark hair but enjoy getting highlights to "brighten things up." What kind of highlights do you think look best? The very chunky ones that are clearly not natural looking seem to be popular...what about those?

Here's my response for Sara: It all depends on your skin tone and hairstyle. I've had a combination of all the different highlights - chunky, one color all over, and the very thin and natural-looking highlights. My favorite is having an all over color with highlights on top that are one shade lighter than the all over color. That works best for me and my blonde.

I've discovered that the lighter I go, the brighter my face appears. But when I wore wigs for my fashion shoot I loved the deep brown with almost no highlights - the more solid the color, the classier I felt it looked. Looking at wigs online is a great way to see the various highlight styles and how they might look on you.

Here are some of my favorite brunette looks:

It's also important to note the impact of treating your color treated hair. Brunette looks best when it's super shiny and healthy. Here are a couple of my favorite hair treatments that do an awesome job protecting and conditioning.
 

Jeffrey and I made the drive from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania to Lancaster, Pennsylvania yesterday. Since the majority of all trips I take involve very little car travel, it's always fun to have the chance to travel by car, explore the life of the locals, and stop where you want. Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the Heart of Pennslyania Dutch Country. Jeffrey mentioned that we'd get to see Amish people traveling by horse and buggy - but I had no idea until my eye caught the passing of the first one what type of emotion that would spark in me. It was like traveling back in time. We chased several of them down by car to get a great picture. The horses are beautiful and the buggies move like ice skates gliding on a pond. It was a delightful site to see.

Since I know very little about how the Amish people live, I found this site very informative and interesting. Although I now feel terrible after reading this...

"The Amish are generally private people and often find all the attention and curiosity about their lifestyle disturbing. They believe that the taking of photographs where someone is recognizable is forbidden by the Biblical prohibition against making any 'graven image.' Please respect their desire for privacy when visiting here."

Hopefully they exclude their horses from this!

If you're ever in this part of the United States, be sure to stock by Cackleberry Farm Antique Mall in Paradise, PA. Wow, it's incredibly full of gems, yet clean and bright.

I'm a longtime fan of Claudia Schiffer and I look up to her as a style icon. It was several months ago that I saw her in the Chanel ad campaign with this delightful chain hairband. I've been looking for one ever since. Chanel told me they weren't getting them in stores. But last night I came across one at J.Crew that's a close Chanel-inspired match!

And here's a look at more of the hairbands on the Chanel Cruise 2007/08 runway:

What is your favorite hair accessory?

Good morning cool clouds in Miami.
 
And hello to fun cloud-inspired garments.

Delightful things I'm dreaming of...

 
• A great trench for the winter to spring season transition • Wall art. • Miss Couturable's take on tea parties. I wish I had had her insight when I was in high school • Turkey burgers at Big Pinks - just off Ocean Drive in South Beach. •  Off-the-shoulder and sparkly • A mod dress in a great print • Hats, hats, hats • An upcoming trip to the Delano Hotel

My current favorite t-shirt brands:

 
Delights of the weekend. Spending a few nights with John and Liz and playing with my nephew Henry. Catching up with Jessie and Rebekah. Spending time with Mark - my long lost little brother. Home cooked food at John and Liz's. And seeing this...

A wonderful little 1968 Volvo 122S. I'd love to have one of these and step out of it an outfit like this or a combination of these fun pieces:

Do you ever think of coordinating your clothes with your car?!

I've received several emails and comments about the top I was wearing on February 16, 2008. I love ruffles and anything with lots of texture. They're cute on their own or peeking out of a lightweight sweater or blazer. I found that top last year in Romania at Zara. I got it in two colors because I new it would be a great piece. I always get it dry cleaned to preserve the original shape of the ruffles.

Here are some other delightful ruffle pieces: