9.25.2013

Pip-squeak Chapeau :: Fall 2013

This is just about the most wearable and easy collection pip-squeak chapeau! -- Everything is made in the USA, in Brooklyn for that matter by hand (with love). This was the easiest photoshoot we have had, it all fit's perfectly, we love the pockets and honestly, it needs no accessorizing! (okay maybe a Clare Vivier bag here and there... (!!) needless to say I want it all - y e s  p l e a s e...

collarless shirt dress w/o belt or...

or with belt... I like both!

yes, this may look like black to you but it is the most gorgeous NAVY! (perfect.)

the monkey dress is a pip-squeak favorite! easy dress throw on.. and GO!

the perfect white shirt in the perfect Japanese cotton!

oops... your clare vivier is showing!


orphan pants, chic and cool.. so far everyone looks fabulous in these!

polka dot pin dot... THE skirt! (a little later it will be worn with boots but for now it's with sneakers!)
shop the collection here at nonchalantmom! (LOVE)

oops one more...

poet shirt. (b-e-s-t)

halloween lashes

Have fun and dress up this Halloween... or just scare your kids one day!




I thought these were super CUTE, they are made by Paperself, but I found them on FAB... take a look here. I can't imagine they are easy to use... but what the heck... we can do it for one day!



I can think of a million ways to use these and have a bunch of fun... even if you AREN'T going to a Halloween Party! I honestly would just like to wear them OUT one night!

L  O  V  E



click here to visit their website
or here on FAB
another site not pictured here, with cute lashes is shimmer twins

9.24.2013

who knew? tea with leaves

we are starting a new section called "who knew?" - I was having dinner with a friend and we just started to laugh about this... so I thought it would be a good section on my blog... don't YOU? The idea is that if you click on "who knew?" you can be enlightened to a plethora of new ideas! AND if you have an idea yourself -- by all means, send it to me!! I KNOW I'm not the only one with them... ha!


Today we are suggesting Tea with Leaves... we mostly do this before we go to bed at night but really it can be for ANYTIME. Our favorites are mint, sage and ginger (well that's not a leave but same idea) but there are SO many!

take a few leaves and add to a cup of boiling water - that's it! (if we have a dinner party we make a pot of mint or sage tea) - how simple is that... it's a delicious way to end the day ANd you have some benefits...

mint - for digestion
ginger - keeps you warm and digestion
sage - astringent and relaxing
parsley - refreshing

there are SO many more... I was just reading about rosemary to help memory... I need to give this a try! Sage has a host of benefits really... the list is long.. it's quite potent so go light on the leaves.

quite often I give my daughter a sip of camomile tea before she goes to bed or if she is having trouble getting to sleep (she is SUCH a night owl) and it's almost like a sedative... bang! she's in bed sleeping after just a SIP!

some herbs can have very strong results so make sure you check on each one before you begin a new leave tea...you never know... who knew!?

9.19.2013

BACK IN STOCK!! - Lucky Fish Octopus dress

lucky fish octopus tank dress

I just can't seem to keep this little lady in stock... but NOW IT IS!! Lucky Fish Octopus tank dress

come and get it... sizes small - medium - large!!

shop ALL Lucky Fish for WOMAN here

shop this style here

BOXes! and BOXES!!

HA! that's not really our warehouse... just kidding!

I just came back from NYC (buying Spring 2014!!!) and I have piles of boxes to work through... so in the meantime enjoy the Favorite Thing of the WEEK and our Sale on top of the Sale things for (use code: 'fashionweek' - to take an additional 20% off of sale items) but as soon as I have this all worked out... WATCH OUT... Nonchalant Mom will be full of goodness and NEWness!!

-can't WAIT!!

favorite thing of the WEEK! :: GOAT MILK

After a very SHORT summer we are returning to our 'Favorite Thing of the Week' - each week we will post our favorite thing.. maybe kids, maybe mom... maybe BOTH. We will usually offer it for a discount or maybe we just have one left... you never know!



This week our favorite thing is... GOAT MILK :: they are our always favorite underwear and underpinning's brand and we will usually never put it on sale but here we go (it's organic TOO!)... for just a week! 20% off all goat milk... prices as marked!

shop GOAT MILK at Nonchalantmom here!


9.12.2013

Arches (not the national park!) - your eyebrows!


Sometimes it's what you DON'T notice that makes a face really beautiful. Recently I was talking to a friend and I was telling her that she looked FANTASTIC, did she just have a vacation? was she on a cleanse? did she just do yoga?... Wow, did she look great! And funny enough, she said she just had her eyebrows done, I could hardly believe that was it! But it WAS, and when she said it and I looked at her brows they looked perfection! To tell all, I asked what did she have done... waxed, dyed and shaped. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about my eyebrows in my facial regime. When I got home I took a look at mine and I was completely surprised, they were all spotty (since I am blonde), didn't really have a shape and practically disappeared.

tatiana patitz

Off I went marching to the Beauty Spa -- and when I asked about my eyebrows she just said, I'll fix them up! We didn't talk about the shape or anything, but I wanted those Tatiana Patitz amazing arches (like my friend had) what I came out with was okay, much better.. but they didn't 'arch'. Then I starting filling them in with a pencil (just a bit) and I got a few comments like... I love your new haircut (when it wasn't cut) and "you look great, what are you doing?"... at the time I didn't even think about it but really it was the eyebrows!

As we get older your eyebrows start to disappear, get spotty, and generally need some attention. You KNOW I'm not into getting made up but if I had to pick two things I need to do it's a tinted moisturizer and pencil in my brows... well maybe some lip tint too... but that's it!


Recently on the goop blog there was a tutorial on eyebrows that was very helpful and answered a bunch of questions that I certainly can't! Click here for that link and you be on your way to beautiful brows! There is also some help from a cosmetics company called "Benefit" they offer a "Brow Bar" at some Sephora locations. It's important to note that you want to tell anyone who is working on your brows that you want them to look NATURAL... today's brow is slightly thick, arched well for your face, follow your natural brow and you really just want to make sure it's nice and clean and full.

Goop eyebrow tutorial click here
Benefit Brow Bar

9.10.2013

Nico Nico - Fall 2013 photoshoot!

We just finished a photoshoot of Nico Nico... this collection is really a favorite in our house! So the photoshoot usually results in a good time had by all and my kids wanting EVERYTHING! It's so easy... we can put just about anything together and it looks great!

shop nico nico here



Sue Tsai is the designer and she knows how to make a terrific T, she incorporates overlock stitching, unfinished hems, shirt tails, and even all of the above in one t-shirt! She makes it FUN but also durable for long, and comfortable, wear. Her leggings are a long-time Nonchalantmom favorite, we blow through them very quickly (get yours NOW) and the new pant's for this season are super fun, slim and look OH so cool!


Favorite piece... the MOTO jacket! - this jacket is fully lined with soft flannel, zippers everywhere (kids are always excited by that!) and the biker look that just makes you want to strike that pose...




The collection has a nice mix of what you need and what you WANT... I love that her graphic t's don't have a message, just a graphic mix of design that creates a statement that isn't a statement (the best part!) a bit of Art, maybe... all graphic artwork is created as a collaboration between Sue and her husband - a direct reflection of the collection.



And the softest bear hug of a dress...

soft pink dress in a bear hug of cotton fleece

Just about everything in the collection is unisex... one of the early directives of Nonchalantmom that I still stand by..

the new nico nico slim pants

thermal henley w/harem pants - all super soft and oh so cool!

marine blue henley a unisex favorite!
 
Shop Nico Nico now!

9.08.2013

Road Trip!! - Southern California to Colorado

somewhere in the desert

This year we took our summer vacation at the very end of our kids summer holiday, so we were practically the only ones on holiday... it seems our school in Rhode Island started at least two weeks after everyone else! (but to make up for it they were not done with last year until the END of JUNE!) Honestly it was a bit of perfection... none of the crowds that normally present themselves while on a summer vacation, so mark your books - summer vacation the last weeks of August and you are GOLDEN!

managed some surfing with family in LA

a few breakfasts at AXE (for me)

We started out in Southern California, El Segundo to be exact, it is where my husband had a stint as the Artist in Residence at ESMoA (El Segundo Museum of Art) - we found El Segundo to be a secret little paradise, in the craziness that is LA! For me it's perfect since it's only minutes to my favorite street... Abbot Kinney at which I had two breakfasts at AXE and one at Gjelina and a delightful celebratory dinner at AXE... you might say I am all AXeD out.. but I'm NOT! (toast w/hummus and Avocado... with so much garlic you could kill someone.. mmmm... still dreaming of it!)

car window photo!

Enough of that... onto the important stuff... R  O  A  D    T  R  I  P.....

I am telling you NOW this is the PERFECT road trip for someone who does not like a road trip, we DO and this was the EASIEST road trip EVER. You think you can't hang with your kids in the car for more than an hour... I promise this is the trip for you... it's never more than five hours in the car at a time and the view is so GORGEOUS that you will never even turn on the music!! It's possible our kids watched one movie but I really don't think they did... (I don't remember because I was too busy looking out the window at the B  E  A  U  T  Y!!)

Start your trip with a bit of Southern California - pick your spot and stay wherever... we love anywhere in LA! (well just about...) But I would suggest a visit to LACMA (Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art - see my post here) it's great for kids and it's a great place to spend the DAY. I would also suggest a day at the beach... maybe Manhattan Beach or something easy like that... There are so many places to stay I can't even start - but I might suggest something near the beach with kids so that you can start the day with a nice walk around, anywhere, maybe Santa Monica (we have stayed at the Viceroy in the past and that is a really nice location).


Then on we go to Las Vegas - it's an easy, less than 5 hours drive from LA (including a couple of pee breaks). Everyone has their own variation on Vegas... mine is to stay the hell away... but my husband, he likes to see the people... there you go, the spectacle, so we compromise. I get to stay at The Palms Place which is just off the strip, with a view of it, but you are not IN it. DO NOT confuse the Palms Place with The Palms... totally different. It's chic, a kitchen, big rooms, great tubs... all you need for kids to have the feeling of crazy Las Vegas and not really be in it. The pool is kinda cool (smoothies available) and the restaurant serves organic food (wha..!?) yes organic, it's quite nice. I like to have dinner at Paris and sit outside so you can see the water show at Bellagio (for me, this is the only reason to go to Vegas... the Bellagio water show - I'm SO boring!).



ONWARD! Next is a delightful destination Zion National Park. We left in the morning so that we would have the day in Zion, it's only about 3 1/2 hours from Las Vegas. As you enter there is a wonderful little town, we heard that there were possible flash floods that night so we found a place to stay in the village instead of camping. The hiking in Zion is great with families of any age.. you can easily choose your trails, kids can get a Junior Ranger kit at the visitors center and learn all about Zion on their own (it's great when they get to tell you about things... ) We spent two days in Zion - you can easily spend a week on various hikes or just a day to check it out - but it's an amazing place.

this guy saved our A** -- he told us what to do, where to go, what time to go, everything in about 10 minutes he set us UP for Zion!

you will see a lot of this!
in Zion you will need: water shoes, hats, hiking gear, water bottles (none of which we had so you can also improvise! But you will probably get wet, at least from the knees down but maybe more)


you see that tiny white spec, that's my husband! this is such a VAST vista its amazing!

The drive out of Zion to Bryce Canyon is equally amazing! So make sure you take that drive in the daytime, you won't believe your eyes. One turn after the other... it's the most beautiful drive I have ever seen. We happened upon a time when we were practically the only ones on the road, amazing! We stopped quite a bit to check out the rocks, and really to just stop and stare! I think this was my favorite part of the trip, it all just keeps unfolding in front of you! As you get closer to Bryce the topography totally changes and you will see antelope, deer and lots of wildlife. We even managed to see a flash flood in action, although the only rain we had on the trip was a few drops here and there, and only for a few minutes.

I could throw down a hundred more of these shots... I took so many and I loved this part of the trip - but I love the way the road winds through this photo

The drive from Zion to Bryce is approx. 1 1/2 hours so we even hiked in Zion and then went to Bryce in the same day. BUT Then we had a bit of a crazy drive out of Bryce through Utah on our way to Arches that was spooky night driving in canyons... PITCH DARKNESS. We hadn't really done any research and found ourselves driving through these little towns, no starbucks, no mcdonalds, just mom and pop motels... it was too bad it was so late and dark but we were not ready to try these places so late at night. My suggestion, stay near Bryce and then head out the next morning to Arches National Park (the next stop).

whoa... and this is just the start....

Antelope (I think!?)

Amphitheater

Bryce Canyon is a mystical place, it really makes you wonder what the heck happened to make this canyon the way it is... I think a tour would be a GREAT idea, there must be so much to learn about how this happened, I just hope my kids will explain it to me one day... fascinating! You can also hike through Bryce Canyon which I would image may be easier than Zion. You drive through the park and stop at each of the 'views' and then at the end is an amazing Amphitheater of all of it... I suggest seeing IT ALL! You will never in your life see something like this again. And obviously photos do no justice to the Majesty of it all!

Bryce Canyon reaches 9000 ft.
There are no fast food places here in Utah... SO refreshing... we had ice cream at this delightful roadside stop!

From Bryce Canyon we were on our way to Arches National Park, which is a 5 1/2 hour drive (again super easy with kids). We hit some road construction delays so we had to turn around and skip Arches for our next trip. I have family in Colorado so we will be nearby again, we chose to get to family and save it for the next trip, we had already seen such amazing things I thought it was a good idea we save some for another trip, besides I'm really excited for Moab and I don't want to rush it. But if you decided to take this trip in a week you could easy take on Arches and Moab for a final look at some amazing landscapes!

Sander fly fishing

I would suggest this trip as a week-long trip, we did it in four days because we were on to see family. I'll just mention that an easy stop after Moab would be Aspen, you could even fly out of Aspen without ever going into the big cities (like Denver).  We flew out of Denver, another gorgeous drive, after staying near Aspen for a few days of Fly Fishing and fun! (more on that later!)

Road trips are THE BEST of ALL!