Tuesday Shoe Day | Bootie crushing on Aruna Seth

So swooning over this gorgeous grey suede bootie by Aruna Seth.

Perfect for glam evenings, pair with your favorite dress or skinny jeans.
Extremely comfortable due to the special padding.

xo

Vuitton inspired metal peter pan collar

Peter Pan collars are an irresistible DIY. There's only one collar out of our reach, the king of collars, the Vuitton metal peter pan collar. Impossible to DIY. without using metal? No, I found a way to make one similar using some quite strange items : felt, a blow dryer and mirror paper.
Felt it's a very interesting material because it becomes moldable when exposed to heat and keeps the shape when cool. We'll use the blow dryer to shape the felt.
The mirror paper it's a self adhesive stiff paper that looks like mirror, we'll use it to give the metal effect to our collar.
So grab the blow dryer and let's see how I made the collar.

I colletti Peter Pan sono un'irresistibile DIY. Solo uno era rimasto fuori dalla portata di noi ragazze, il re dei colletti, il colletto in metallo Vuitton. Impossibile da riprodurre senza utilizzare il metallo? Invece no, ecco come realizzarne uno simile utilizzando dei curiosi materiali : del feltro, della carta specchio e un phon.

Il feltro è un materiale molto interessante che diventa malleabile quando esposto al calore e mantiene la forma una volta raffreddato. Utilizzeremo quindi il phon per modellarlo. 

La carta specchio è un tipo di carta rigida e adesiva con la superficie riflettente, la useremo per creare l'illusione della superficile metallica.



This is what you need:

get the felt that is sold in stiff sheets or it won't keep the shape

Vi serviranno: un foglio di feltro rigido, un foglio di carta specchio, una cerniera, un phon, della colla

the inspiration Vuitton metal Peter Pan collar

get the pattern here: peter pan collar free pattern

scaricate il modello del colletto peter pan  ritagliate la forma in feltro e incollate la cerniera sul retro

when it's warm lift up the rounded edges and the inner border, let it cool for a second and see it keeping the shape

usate il phon per scaldare il feltro, appena sarà malleabile modellatelo con le mani: alzate il bordi esterni verso l'alto e il bordo interno all'infuori, dategli tridimensionalità

Usando il modello ritagliate la carta specchio

until you get the shape that you want.
To be sure that the felt will keep the shape forever spray it with a sealant.

Incollate la carta specchio sul colletto in feltro e continuate a scaldare il feltro fino ad ottenere la forma desiderata. Alla fine spruzzate con un fissante il feltro per essere sicure che non perda più la forma.

Coming Apart

David Brooks gives Charles Murray's new book a good review.

I’ll be shocked if there’s another book this year as important as Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart.” I’ll be shocked if there’s another book that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society.

Spencerblog concurs.

UPDATE: Except maybe for Brooks' suggesting about requiring the jamming together of the two "tribes" into a National Service Program. Color me agnostic.

Commander in Cheap

If we're going to cut the military budget, it's best to stay on offense. At least drones are relatively cheap

Teacher of the Decade

The face of what's wrong with teachers unions

From the New York Post: 

Deemed a danger to kids, the typing teacher with a $10 million real estate portfolio hasn’t been allowed in a classroom for more than a decade, but still collects $100,049 a year in city salary — plus health benefits, a growing pension nest egg, vacation and sick pay.

Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo can call for better teacher evaluations until they’re blue-faced, but Rosenfeld and six peers with similar gigs costing about $650,000 a year in total salaries are untouchable. Under a system shackled by protections for tenured teachers, they can’t be fired, the DOE says.

Scapegoating JoePa

Michael Novack says the lilliputians on the Penn State Board of Trustees gave Joe Paterno a raw deal.

 First news of the Sandusky scandal, in which longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was accused of sexually molesting underage boys, broke in March 2011, and it came before the board of trustees that June. They said it was not a Penn State problem, because Sandusky had left the university in 1999, though he continued to use an office there for several more years. It was a problem for the institution Sandusky had founded, the Second Mile organization for youngsters. 

Then, quite suddenly in November 2011, with a huge national scandal erupting, the board suddenly acted as if the burden were on them. They did not weigh their own responsibility, their own inaction, their own failure to get to the bottom of the scandal of five months earlier. In a fit of what to many alumni seems to have been fear for themselves, the board’s members ducked their own responsibility, and in the most ignoble and impersonal way, made JoePa, the moral giant of Penn State, a moral outcast.

What did they do? Despite the fact that JoePa had said he was going to resign after the 2011 season was over, they gave Joe (after nearly 60 years of leadership unparalleled in the annals of any university) over to the national press and the national mob as a scapegoat, to bear the whole heartbreaking scandal on his shoulders, to be burned as a live offering, in expiation of their sins.

Winter Wonderland Wedding Inspired Shoot

In Rochester, New York they live in a world of lake effect snow. This styled shoot is the perfect way to showcase how truly beautiful it can be in the winter and inspire those who were dreaming up winter wedding of their own. Maura and her team at SasSaFras Flowers used the theme of jewels and ice to inspire an elegant winter wedding scene at Warner Castle in Highland Park. The team was completed with Ryan, stylist and owner at Salon Raven, Moire’s Millinery who provided incredibly unique handcrafted headpieces, and Bella Carta Studio who created custom paper goods.

Details:
Photographer:  Mary Dougherty Photography
Hair Stylist:  Salon Raven
Floral Designer:  Sassafras Flowers
Stationer:  Bella Carte Studio
Veils and headpieces:  Moire's millinery
Venue:  Warner Castle

xo

The End Is Here

Walter Russell Mead is trying to help his fellow liberals get it through their heads: The "blue" governing model is over, kaput; it simply doesn't work anymore...

The core institutions, ideas and expectations that shaped American life for the sixty years after the New Deal don’t work anymore. The gaps between the social system we inhabit and the one we now need are becoming so wide that we can no longer paper over them. But even as the failures of the old system become more inescapable and more damaging, our national discourse remains stuck in a bygone age. The end is here, but we can’t quite take it in.

Valentine's day heart nails tutorial

avrete bisogno di: occhielli salvabuchi o in alternativa  forbici e scotch carta, smalto

APPLY A COAT OF RED NAIL POLISH

Applicate uno strato di smalto rosso

click onto the image to enlarge it
cliccate sull'immagine per ingrandirla

Sovrapponete gli occhielli salvabuchi sull'unghia (in alternativa ritagliate 20 cerchietti di scotch) in modo da ricreare la forma del cuore. Applicate uno strato di smalto bianco. Aspettate che lo smalto asciughi e rimuovete i cerchietti.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make the Valentine's day nails. The idea is to overlap reinforcement rings to create the heart shape. If you don't have them you can easily cut out small circles out of paper scotch.



Ecco un veloce tutorial su come realizzare la manicure perfetta per S. Valentino. L'idea è quella di utilizzare gli occhielli salvabuchi per realizzare la forma del cuore.

DIY idea: Valentine's day heart nails

via Nail art by Heatherface

A little Valentine's day inspiration for you: aren't these nails cute?

The State of Education: Everything's Feinberg

Haverford's Larry Feinberg has a few ideas about what we can do to improve the situation in Chester Upland. Not all of them are bad, just some of them. And he thinks most public schools are just fine.

I respectfully, disagree.

My print column is up.

Find of the day: * Chloe Susan boots online retailer *

Chloe Susan boots via
starstyle

Chloe Susan boots  via
Carolines Mode

After being 2008 best seller and celebs's favorite the Chloe Susan boots has been reissued. The new spreaded from blog to blog and they all told the same thing: go to your Chloe nearest store there's a waiting list! What if there's no Chloe store around? I finally found an online retailer of the famous Susan boots and of course my first thinking was to share the new with you. Grab a pair while you can they'll sell out fast!

Dopo esser stati l'ossessione di tutte le fashioniste del mondo e le preferite dalle celebrità tornano nei negozi Susan, gli stivaletti di Chloè stagione 2008. La notizia si è diffusa nel web di blog in blog ed il consiglio era sempre lo stesso: andate nel negozio Chloè più vicino, c'è una lista d'attesa! E se non ci fosse un negozio vicino in cui recarsi? Finalmente ho trovato un rivenditore online dal quale protrete acquistare questo pezzo da collezione. Svelte ad acquistare il vostro paio, saranno presto esauriti!

Thank You for Not Smoking

P.J. O'Rourke on why the progressive elite is so anti-smoking:

Smoking kills smokers, which is about what they deserve for engaging in such lowbrow, wrong-headed, retarded, vulgarian activity, except they get sick first and that drives up the cost of a single-payer national health care system, plus their second-hand smoke is worse yet because it is a, yuck, inhalation hand-me-down from uncouth people who probably haven’t flossed, and it kills progressive elites who don’t even know anyone who smokes while also releasing greenhouse gases and stinking up the cheery curtains that elites hang in public housing group activity areas to brighten the lives of the underprivileged who are confined to concrete tower blocks with six-by-eight-foot living rooms, seven-foot ceilings, plexiglass windows, and sheet-metal doors with a dozen locks on them. Smoking is wrong.

Read it all.

Update: More...

The elite resent the poor because, although poor people have few pleasures and many troubles, they also have a lot of fun. You can see it in their music videos. The elites whine and mope. You can hear it on NPR. 

America is a meritocracy. Elites think those poor people should earn their fun, the way Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky. And, being that America is a meritocracy, poor people obviously have no merit or they’d be rich and could afford to join the progressive elite.

A NY Wedding Show | An Afternoon of Cocktails with The Parlour Brooklyn

xo

How Thick is Your Bubble?

Charles Murray has written a new book called Coming Apart which details how over the last 50 years our society has become more stratified, with the smart, rich and well to do moving away from living anywhere near the not-so-smart, poor and disadvantaged.

I'm going to get it and read it.

But first I took this quiz which supposedly measures the thickness of the cocoon I've wrapped myself in.

Sample question: "Have you ever participated in a parade that did not involve global warming, gay rights, or a war protest?"

My score was 7-20 and I have the certificate to prove it. It comes with the advice: "You need to get out more."

Fishtown, here I come.

The State of Our Future

Stupid is, As Stupid Sez

Nick Gillespie thinks the dumbest thing said by our president Tuesday night was this:

We also know that when students don't walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state -- every state -- requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. (Applause.)

Writes Gillespie...

There's no question that kids who don't graduate high school don't fare well in the world. There's similarly little question that turning schools into even-more obvious holding pens for such kids will accomplish nothing more than driving down whatever education may still happen inside the brick buildings we misidentify as schools.

Read it all here.

But I think Gillespie is wrong. That wasn't the dumbest thing our president said. This was...

Take the money we're no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.

That money we spent at war? That was all borrowed money! We will be paying off that debt for decades. Or our children will. Now the president wants to borrow more money and somehow thinks he can pay down the debt with it, if only he spends half of it on "nation building." Makes you wonder if this president has a good grasp of how money works.

He sounds like one of those wives who go shopping, comes home with a bunch of clothes, then tell their husbands how much money they "saved" because they were all "bargains."

Sheesh!

The State of the County is...

... Serious. From education to industry change is coming to Delco and it will take smarts, guts, and wherewithal to move forward. My print column is up.

How to dip - Dye your hair

Ombrè hair, shaded brighter hair at the end with darker roots

Watch how to DIY  dip-dye hair

Thakoon show

neon ombrè hair

Kevin Murphy color bug

Shatush or dip dye, these are the names used to call ombrè hair: brighter hair at the ends with darker roots. Years ago those hair, with roots exposed would have been messy but not now. The shaded hair are fashionable and allow brunettes to bright up their hairstyle. How do we make it at home? Watch the video and discover the technique. If you've been following trends lately you may know that neon shaded hair were hot last spring. Things change fast nowadays and if you had to  "ruin" (or at least damage) your hair to obtain that look last spring, this season you'll have a brand easy, pain free product to get it. It has been used in Thakoon show to color model hair. It's called Color bug and it's a powder, you only have to rub it on a wisp and hair are colored and it goes away with a shampoo.
Update: you can find color bug here: color bug

Qualche anno fa, quei capelli con la ricrescita in vista, sarebbero stati considerati disordinati ma non oggi. Oggi lo shatush,così si chiama, è di moda e permette alle more di illuminare il colore schiarendo solo le punte. Come si realizza? Guardate il video per scoprire la tecnica. La scorsa primavera, seguendo il trend di stagione, i capelli si sono accesi di colori neon. Se un anno fa dovevamo danneggiare i nostri capelli per ottenere quest'effetto, quest'anno possiamo provare un nuovo prodotto. Si chiama color bug ed è una polvere che si strofina sulle punte e i capelli sono colorati: solo per una notte però, il colore verrà via con lo shampo. Potrete cambiare colore secondo l'umore.
Aggiornamento: potete trovare color bug a questo link : color bug

The Wisdom of Signing Wilson

With the signing of Wilson Betemit, the Orioles seem to have found their DH for 2012.

That is a statement made with tongue firmly in cheek but it's not as crazy as you might think. To beat the rotting horse's corpse that I love so well:

                       AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS   G   WAR   
2009-2011 Betemit     .284  .354  .467  .821  201  1.5
2009-2011 Guerrero    .295  .332  .458  .790  397  2.5

The signing of Vladimir Guerrero at this time last year was hailed as filling a gaping hole at DH for the O's. Betemit will surely do no worse.

Especially if he's deployed in the correct way. If Betemit is the DH against righties (.817 career OPS against RHP) and, say, Mark Reynolds gets the bulk of DH starts against lefties (.882 career OPS against LHP) with scattered DH at bats for Matt Wieters, Nolan Reimold and others, that doesn't seem to be a bad solution to improve production from that spot in the lineup.

Betemit is billed as a utility infielder but honestly, he's never been a great fielder. Imagine a tick or two below Ty Wigginton and you'll get an idea of what he will look like in the field this season. While he will get some starts int he field, the Orioles will be wise to have him serve primarily as a DH and a pinch hitter. (And as unorthodox as that may sound, I believe that is exactly the plan for him.)

Nor does Betemit create any kind of roster crowding or crisis. The projected members of the roster, position players only, assuming a 12-man pitching staff.

C
Matt Wieters 
Taylor Teagarden

IF
Chris Davis
J.J. Hardy
Mark Reynolds
Robert Andino
Matt Antonelli
Ryan Flaherty
Wilson Betemit

OF
Endy Chavez
Nolan Reimold
Adam Jones
Nick Markakis

This assumes that Flaherty makes the roster at all (no guarantee of that) and I am certainly not counting on Brian Roberts playing for Baltimore in 2012. If Flaherty does not remain with the MLB club, there would be room for Ryan Adams or a resurrected Roberts. This move may signal that a trade is in the works but I hardly think it's necessary based on the current construction of the club.

And considering the price Betemit signed for ($3.25M for 2 years), the 30-year old is virtually a slam dunk to be a good return on investment. (OK, the 2-year commitment was a little weird...) But this signing, if he is to be used the way I expect, makes way more sense and gives the team way more flexibility than the Guerrero and Derrek Lee signings of last offseason.

Thursday Trend Day | Custom Wedding Map Totes by Maptote

MapTote! A bride's best friend, these crafty totes can be personalized or custom designed as keepsakes for your special guests. Getting married in Manhattan? They have a map tote for that. Brooklyn? Long Island? New Jersey? They have one for that too! You can even have one that is custom! Think mapping where you will get married to where you got engaged to where your bridal shower will be. Super cute!

Maptote products are lovingly hand screen printed by hand in their light filled studio in The Old American Can Factory, Brooklyn. The Maptote range includes environmentally friendly reusable totes, note cards, wine totes, baby onesies and toiletry travel cases – all with their signature schematic maps of popular cities featuring the most popular neighborhoods, icons, and landmarks.

Wanting to capture your ceremony and reception locations, or share the story of where you got engaged and your hometowns? Embrace your inner creative in finding small touches to make your wedding feel just like you, such as filling your customized tote with local goodies to make your guests remember the celebration long after the sparklers have been packed away.

Then choose from an entire alphabet of fun buttons to decorate your totes with pops of color.  Spell out the initials of your wedding party's names, and use sweet heart and plus buttons to splash your message all over totes or clothing.

Fun, right?!

xo

Redistribution, Baby, Redistribution

From today's the Wall Street Journal:

Remember the moment in 2008 when Charlie Gibson of ABC News asked Senator Barack Obama why he would support raising the capital gains tax even though "revenues from the tax increased" when the rate fell? Mr. Obama's famous reply: "I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness." Well, we were warned.

Q. What sort of president would prefer taking in fewer revenues to the government as long as he could stick it to the "wealthy"?
A. A bad one.

Read the whole thing here.

Bill Cosby on education: More funding is not the answer

(Posted by Dannytheman)

Dr. Cosby can't seem to get people to listen to his story in the inner city.
H/T to Caroline May at the Daily Caller

According to Cosby, the country can try as many education reforms as it wants but the real key is getting parents involved and concerned about their children's education. Cosby added that additional funding is not the answer to America's education woes.

Somebody better tell Chester Upland!!

According to Cosby, his mother was the one who sought out this teacher.

"For some reason, I wound up in the front seat directly in front of her desk," he said. "When I graduated from 6th grade, I went from low grades to all A's because this woman stayed on my case and she wrote on my report card, which I have today — this white Orthodox Russian woman, 4'11'' — 'I'm afraid that as William moves on to 7th grade' — which was junior high school — 'that if he does not have the same intervention, that he will slide back to his old ways.'"

"I am telling all you parents," Cosby said. "You need more Mary B. Forchicks in the classroom.

I have spent some time with Dr. Cosby, he has real answers. People need to listen and react.  He rubs elbows with some true power people and he shares his thought process by telling tales that hit home with there humor and truth. I shared my story with him of a nun who was the teacher in my life who made me reach higher. He used my story, slightly embellished, about 2 hours later on the stage he was doing his show on.  I don't see him as often as I use to, but when he speaks I listen, because he truly knows what is needed.

As Long As They Can Send Their Kids Elsewhere

In a Letter to the Editor in today's Daily Times, Chester Upland union leader Gloria Zoranski argues for more funding from the state to support the district.

She closes her plea with this:

I urge Gov. Corbett and Secretary Tomalis to resolve this crisis, invest in Chester Upland’s public schools, and ensure that the students of our community receive the public education to which they are entitled.

Given that fact that a disproportionate percentage of public school teachers send their own kids to private schools why is it so important that students of any community receive a "public education" as opposed to say, a good, rock solid, competent education?

More and more low-income families are choosing charters, religious and private schools when they have the opportunity to do so. When they do they are just following the example of public school teachers.

According to 2004 study by the Thomas Fordham Institute...

In Philadelphia, 44 percent of the teachers put their children in private schools; in Cincinnati, 41 percent; Chicago, 39 percent; Rochester, N.Y., 38 percent. The same trends showed up in the San Francisco-Oakland area, where 34 percent of public school teachers chose private schools for their children; 33 percent in New York City and New Jersey suburbs; and 29 percent in Milwaukee and New Orleans.

I haven't seen a more recent study, but it's hard to believe that those numbers have changed drastically in the last few years, unless it's thanks to the closing of a good number of Catholic schools. It's not as if public schools in those cities have become noticeably better. I guess my question for Ms. Zoranski is what percentage of Chester Upland teachers allow their own kids to Chester Upland's schools? I doubt she knows. I doubt she wants to know.

Who Pays What in Taxes

About Mitt Romney's taxes...

Between 87 percent and 97 percent of American taxpayers have an effective tax rate that is lower than the 15 percent rate under which Mitt Romney says he falls.

But, hey, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good ol' class-warfare smear.

Democrats, "progressives" and other connivers hoping to capitalize on the ignorance of the Menckenian "boobeoisie" made much of Mr. Romney's statement that his effective tax rate is about 15 percent.

They then bloviated along some variation of the line that "here's yet another rich bastard taxed at nearly half the rate of most working Americans!" Or, as one New Jersey newspaper editorialist put it, it's yet further proof that the "game is rigged for the fat cats."

How embarrassing and shameful for those lacking the intellectual wherewithal to understand the facts and for those intentionally misrepresenting them.

Read the rest here...

Sympathy for T.O.

Call me a bleeding heart, but after reading this I feel sorry for Terrell Owens.

UPDATE: Look at the size of those mitts. No wonder he was such a great receiver.

From the story:

It's the sad old stereotypical song of the up-from-nothing black athlete: He let other people take care of things…

"I hate myself for letting this happen," he says. "I believed that they had my back when they said, 'You take care of the football, and we'll do the rest.' And in the end, they just basically stole from me."

He'd be even more sympathetic if he didn't blame everyone else for every bad thing that has happened to him. But then he wouldn't be T.O. if he didn't.

New York Real Wedding Engagement Shoot with Parris Whittingham

I'm in LOVE with this engagement photo shoot by Parris Whittingham! Their Story by Parris:
East meets West is a styled shoot that we created for newlyweds Stephen & Uma.
Stephen was raised Catholic in America. Uma was raised Hindu in the US and India.

Getting married presented the challenge of bringing two cultures together for 1 celebration.
Captured on the grounds of St.Johns Cathedral; East meet West honors the fusion of Indian and American culture.

I was also lucky enough to interview Parris and ask him more about him and his photography.

What makes Parris Whittingham Studio unique? 
To help answer this question, we asked Patty Sung (engaged). Her reply: you are not just taking pictures, you are telling a love story with the photos. This is exactly what we are looking for. And you took the initiative to want to learn and understand each love story, which we believe is the only way to capture the essence of a relationship.

What services do you provide?
We document remarkable love stories through photographic essays and cinematic films.

What can you advise brides and couples to be aware of or avoid when looking for a photographer?
Instead of focusing on WHAT you get (how many of these and those questions), discover WHY and HOW the photographers you're considering arrive at the end result. This creative process and experience, will help you better appreciate the "feel" of working with that person(s). Also, be sure to clearly state your ideas/needs/expectations up front. Waiting until after you sign a contract may reveal additional charges or bad chemistry between you and the photographer/studio.

Do you have a favorite wedding?
No. I have the pleasure of watching couples grow and learn years after marriage.

Here's a short clip on Parris and his team describing their work and passion for their client's big day.

Details:

Stylist: Niki Hall

Make-up: Brandy Gomez Duplessis

Hair: Melissa Paldino

Wardrobe: Exclusively.In  

xo

Doubling Down on Solyndra

The president doubles down on clean energy. Not because he believes in it but because he needs the campaign dollars of the environmental/watermellon * left.

Holman Jenkins explains...

Not for nothing did Canadian Resources Minister Joe Oliver, after Mr. Obama's Keystone decision, gripe about the influence of "billionaire socialists from the United States." 

No, Joe had it right.

* watermelons are green on the outside, red on the inside. For more on that observation see this...

Charting a New Course in Chester

Swarthmore College music professor John Alston is the founder of the Chester Upland School for the Arts. He partnered with the school district to start this promising school. Now four years later, budget cuts and the district's reorganization has left it bereft of teachers and in limbo.

He is convinced that its future rests on it becoming a charter school. My print column is up.

UPDATE: "lfeinberg" comments:

CMON GIL - next column you'll be telling us that charters and vouchers cure the common cold.

The DING DING moment was when the Governor's budget cut Chester Upland's budget by $29,000 per classroom while it only cut Radnor's by $950 per class. 

I am hoping "lfeinberg" is Larry Feinberg, the Haverford School Board director and Chairman of the Delaware County School Boards Legislative Council, I will be contacting him soon to find out.


The "ding ding" moment he refers to came twice to Alston. First when the CU Super Greg Thornton convinced his group to partner with the school district and second when the district was forced to cut 70 percent of his teaching staff and he realized that the only way for them to create and keep a great school was to be free of district and union interference with the power to hire their own teachers and staff. 


lfeinberg makes a fair point. One that people should remember. 


They should also remember this, summed up neatly by Gerald Ford: 


"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. 


Except that in this case, as I understand it the state cut its subsidy to Chester by 20 percent. If my math is correct that means the state was funding the district to the tune of $150,000 per classroom and cut that down to $120,000 per classroom. If it cut Radnor's slice so little it's because it was giving it so little in the first place.


There will be no forthcoming columns about vouchers and charters curing the common cold. But there might be about how they provide a chance to improve the educational opportunities and outcomes for a great many Chester students.

How to avoid the hem: the ankle slit

Asos Trousers with slit - denim trousers via man repeller

 The problem of having a pair of trousers that are too long often has an obvious solution: a shorter hem.
For those of you that find this practise boring or for those who are just  too creative to do what others do here's a different way to treat those pants: a front ankle slit. I'm advicing you to use scissors instead of neddle and thread. I like it because it somehow frames the shoes putting them under the spotlight.

Il problema di un paio di pantaloni troppo lunghi di solito trova un'ovvia soluzione : un orlo.

Per coloro che trovano noioso orlare i pantaloni o per coloro che sono troppo creativi per fare quello che fanno gli altri ecco un altro modo di risolvere il problema, aggirarlo se volete: prendete le forbici e aprite uno spacco sul davanti fino alla caviglia. L'effetto che otterrete è quello di incorniciare le scarpe mettendole in evidenza.

The Last Harrah

Chester Upland school teacher Sara Ferguson has been invited to attend President Obama's State of the Union address tonight.

No doubt, Ms. Ferguson came to the attention of the White House through her appearances on MSNBC's Big Ed Show.

For those unfamiliar with Big Ed, he is a big fan of huge, intrusive government and doesn't care much for Republicans. He also believes that no amount of money is too much to throw at our public school districts. After all, it's "for the kids," as they say.

Ms. Ferguson is being lionized for her offer to continue working even if the district wasn't able to pay her. At least for a little while. Other Chester Upland teachers said they would do the same. And yet, none of them, as far as I know, have offered to take less in salary and see their benefits cut in the long term so that more teachers can be hired.

The fact is, the district was never in any real danger of being shut down immediately. And if teachers weren't paid for a couple of weeks, no doubt, they would have been paid eventually.

There are a few heroically good teachers working in Chester today and Sara Ferguson may be one of them.

But there are heroes and there are heroes. The firemen who rushed into the World Trade Center to save people's lives are one kind of hero. Teachers willing to wait a couple of week until a school district is given the money to pay them are another kind, a far lesser kind. What, after all, are they really risking and sacrificing?

The oohing and ahhhing over this obvious P.R. play, especially when it comes to the media, is embarrassing. We journalists are supposed to be a little more discerning when it comes to these sort of attempts to play us.

This whole thing reeks of political calculation and cheap theatrics. In this election year, the president is counting on public school teachers and their families to turn out for him. But even he can't protect them from what is coming; more budget cuts, more free market solutions and greater educational freedom for poor kids.

A Hero Passes

This email arrived this morning.

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in a jungle in Vietnam.  It's November 11, 1967.    Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.  You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.           Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter. You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.  Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.  He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.            Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.  And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!  Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.  He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.   Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.           May God Bless and Rest His Soul...                   Now... YOU pass this along. Honor this real hero. Please.

Tuesday Shoe Day | Shoe Crush | J.Crew Shoes

Today is a fun post with some shoes I'm crushing from JCrew lately. Aren't they cute! I loved the striped preppy ones but the marigold color is also a fave. I can so see wearing them for a lovely Sunday brunch or just wearing them for everyday wedding excursions ;)
What do you think? Any shoes you are crushing lately?

xo

More Laws, Better Government?

On Fox News Sunday, Speaker John Boehner answered a question from Chris Wallace just the right way.

Wallace pointed out Congress has only passed 80 new laws and most of them housekeeping, keep the government going laws. Isn't that the sign of a congressional failure?

"Is the measure of the job Congress does the number of laws we passed?" Boehner replied" "No, it isn't. Most Americans think we have too many laws already."

Of course Boehner added that the House has passed a bunch of jobs bills that didn't pass the Senate. He failed to forcefully point out that the Senate is controlled by Democrats.

Busy Day

Best 10 Men a/w 2013 runway looks to be jealous of

Men fashion shows are taking place around the world. Men fashion is commonly associated with elegant classic style (see Ermenegildo Zegna) , high attention to materials and details but with little room for experimentation. After watching men shows you'll find out that men fashion is anything but boring. Below I've made a chart of the best looks I've seen, clothes that  I too would like to wear (have you seen the pink leather jacket above?) for the high level of creativity (Moschino), heavy decorations (Versace) and highly luxurious materials used (feathers, leather,silk).
Men fashion is reducing the distance with women fashion and it's more colored than ever. Men looks are now bolder and they don't despise furs or high heels. What do you think about excess in men fashion? Are men looks becoming too girly or it's time to get over old clichè (for example that pink is just for women)? How should your boyfriend be dressed? Would you wear these looks?

See my selection after the jump.


La moda maschile è comunemente associata all'eleganza classica, un mondo in cui l'innovazione si esprime nella ricercatezza delle stoffe, all'attenzione nei dettagli, ma in cui c'è poco spazio  per la sperimentazione o l'eccesso. Dopo aver visto le sfilate maschili scoprirete che la moda maschile è tutto fuorchè noiosa. Ho selezionato per voi quelli che seconda la mia opinione sono i look più sorprendenti delle sfilate milanesi, dei look che possono piacere anche alle donne (avete visto la giacca rosa in pelle qui in alto?).

La moda maschile riduce la distanza con la moda femminile utilizzando stoffe fino ad ora riservate solo al guardaroba femminile come pelliccie, piume e seta non escludendo neanche i tacchi alti.

Che ne persate dell'eccesso nella moda maschile? Sta diventando troppo femminile oppure è ora di superare vecchi clichè (come ad esempio che il rosa è solo per le donne)?

Come deve vestirsi il vostro fidanzato? Indossereste voi questi look?

beautiful leather jacket with crocodile imprint

I see a DIY here: sleeves are covered with studs and buttons
Vedo un fai da te: le maniche sono decorate con bottoni e borchie

Funny Moschino shows a suit with graffiti print

a bold leather jacket

a feather jacket

an astrakan fur

I need this suit!

some of the accessories shown;clockwise: Etro loafers with paisley print, Trussardi luggage; Versace bag - studded gloves by Burberry Prorsum
alcuni accessori proposti; in senso orario: babbucce Etro con stampa paisley; valigia Trussardi - borsa Versace . guanti borchiati Burberry Prorsum