Oh, Michelle! Thank you for being such a class act in
representing American women as you accompany your husband to London for the G20 summit meetings. You understand that in your position image is so important and you wore your favorite creative and entrepreneural American fashion designers — Isabel Toledo and Jason Wu — and fresh and springlike sparkles and mint green from classic icon J. Crew. You have been graceful and gracious, respectful and confident, strong and kind. You combine high-style with American frugality and your own sense of playfulness. You embody the best of what we want to be — what we imagine we ourselves could be … if only. You inspire and motivate. We have only one question: Can we go shopping with you?
Category Archives: shopping
A Week of Spring — Easter Candy
Welcome to day No. 3 in A Week of Spring. I love Easter
candy! Well, not really the candy part — I’ll take a bar of deep rich dark Green and Black’s over a milky chocolate bunny any time — but the oh-so-cute and whimsical spring-time packaging always makes me smile. And who wouldn’t? Fresh Market has an overflowing abundance of Easter candy this year and I can’t help but picture adorable Easter baskets filled with
all sorts of sweets and treats. I think it’s the fascination of boxes and wrappings and what-wonderful-things-could-be-inside that’s so intriguing. And I probably have passed that on to my
daughters, who are in their 20s but still delight in candy-laden Easter baskets … although they rarely eat it all. Since they’re vegetarians, we’ve banished Peeps but anything with caramel, fudge, peanut butter or vanilla creamy goodness at least gets a nibble. We’ll see if my 1-year-old grandson carries on the family tradition — I’m betting one bite won’t be enough for him! Come back tomorrow for day No. 4 in A Week of Spring.
A Week of Spring — Pink and Green
It’s day No. 2 in A Week of Spring and we’re taking a look
at those wonderfully fresh and pretty spring colors that make us smile. I spend most of winter in black turtlenecks, so as spring approaches I’m definitely ready for something different. I love finding blooming spring colors in unexpected places, like this gathering of pink, green and yellow at Harrison Brothers Hardware in Huntsville, Alabama. On the city square since 1879, Harrison’s is part museum, part antique shop and part gift boutique. These spring gotta-haves were between the massive old safe and the tempting candy aisle. Sweet! I’d take everything, from the pink and green toile trays to the mint-green glasses. But my favorite is the pink-and-blue paisley ice bucket. For some reason I cannot resist cute ice buckets. I’ve got a gazillion, including washtub-sized ones we’d need for my daughters’ high-school parties and smaller sizes like this one that are perfect for book-club night. I mean, really, how many ice buckets do you need? But that’s what spring does to you — makes you start planning parties out on the deck. With plenty of pink and green. Come back tomorrow for day No. 3 in A Week of Spring.
A Week of Spring — Entertaining
Here in Alabama the tulips and dogwoods are in full
bloom with the irises close behind, so it must be spring! No matter the weather — mornings are still chilly around here — we’ve all got lighter and fresher on the mind. So this week I’m taking a closer look at spring things that have caught my eye. First in A Week of Spring is this beautifully set table my friend Cheryl surprised our four-
woman book club with this past week. Although it really was no surprise — Cheryl’s one of those gracious hostesses who makes you feel so welcome and special, like she’s waited all day just for you to come over. (I’m the one who answers the door with, “Oh, hi. Was tonight our party? Well, uh, come on in but watch out for cat hair.”) Cheryl also is one of those smart shoppers who knows where to find bargains and stocks up when the price is right so all she has to do is pull things together. The butterfly-print tablecloth and napkins, the china-flower napkin rings and the pretty floral plates needed only a few spring blossoms for Cheryl’s menu of fresh green salad and a light pasta salad. And since we read “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortens0n (we liked it both for the history and culture and also for the inspiring story of the difference one person can make in the world), we had plenty of tea. And wine. Come back tomorrow for day No. 2 in A Week of Spring.
Shoes
Oh, yes — come to mama! Never mind that a recent
Facebook quiz pegged me as classic ballet-flat-wearing. (Read “boring.”) When I saw these shoes at our local mall earlier this week, I had the classic symptoms of shoe lust: Sweaty palms, increased heart rate, rapid breathing. Or maybe that was from the
burrito I’d just eaten. Doesn’t matter. I fell in love with almost every pair of these totally inappropriate and probably wildly uncomfortable shoes. And actually, I believe I had a pair exactly like the bright and shiny pink pumps about 20 years ago — didn’t we all? Sadly, common sense prevailed and I moved on empty-handed. But I can’t get those purple python platforms out of my head. And those brown strappy sandals. And the animal-print pumps. So take that, stupid classic-ballet-flats Facebook quiz.
Spring Decorating and Coffee Cups
When my two now 20-something-year-old daughters were little, I went all out for holiday decorating — a trait I got from my own mom, I think. At this time of year I’d have bunnies and chicks and eggs and flowers everywhere. Now that the girls have their own spaces (one with her own family in their apartment and the other in her dorm room at college), I’m taking a break. I’m sure once I get the dozens of grandchildren I’m hoping for, I’ll once again turn our house into Holiday Headquarters — again, just like my own mom. But until then, my nods to the changing of the seasons are few: A new wreath on the front door, different candles in the living room and changing the coffee mugs and espresso cups I keep out on a tray in the kitchen, always ready for a hot steaming cup of goodness. This past weekend I finally put away all the winter mugs and cups and replaced them with 
the spring ones. I love the pink and green Portuguese-pottery espresso cups. They come in three designs: Rabbits, frogs and cabbages. I’ve found them the past couple years in discount retailers such as TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning but haven’t seen many so far this season. Plus, there are pitchers, bowls, dessert plates and serving platters — I finally had to stop buying because really, how many lavender bunny-themed cake stands do you actually need? I also adore this blue and green teapot and espresso cups with flower-petal saucers I found at a gift shop and the two pottery espresso cups from Starbucks I bought just a few weeks ago. And now I think I’m all set decorating-wise until July.
Shopping
With store-closings and business-bankruptcies in the news every day, it’s easy to forget that some favorite shopping destinations disappeared years ago. Remember, for instance, when downtowns featured thriving and vital department stores and it was a Big Deal to go shopping there? When we’d visit my grandparents in Illinois I’d wear my best dress (this was when blue jeans were for playing outside only) and go with my grandmother to shop in downtown St. Louis. We’d admire the department-store window displays and then ride the elevator upstairs to the tea room. Tres chic! Read more shopping memories at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090320/ARTICLES/903205000
Spring
Here’s what I figured out yesterday while I was wandering around
downtown and running boring errands: You can have a “spring break” anywhere. I was coming from the dry cleaners, juggling some winter clothes I’d picked up with a cappuccino and muffin from the coffee shop, when I saw this joyously fresh silk arrangement. It was brightening the corner of a florist’s and gift shop and I immediately wanted to exchange my jacket and sweaters for a beach bag and my coffee and muffin for shrimp and beer from Joe Patti’s — our favorite seafood market in Pensacola, Fla. Isn’t it amazing what a little bit of spring can do?
Spring Trends
After being assailed by an e-mail from Anthropologie about harem pants being the new It trend this spring (gag), I was so glad to see some good news in my inbox today. Such as the wedding boutique at www.net-a-porter.com. Net-a-porter.com is an online retailer specializing in true designer and runway looks for less — still way beyond my budget but still fun to browse through. The editors’ picks at the new wedding boutique will have you scanning your mail for invitations. I love the pretty and feminine dresses paired with statement-making accessories, all organized
according to wedding type: beach, evening, day, etc. If you’re like me, you pick your favorites, then head straight to TJ Maxx!
And then there was the e-newsletter from www.myhomeideas.com, the home-decor online arm of Southern Living, Southern Accents, Coastal Living and other must-have magazines. Featured today are spring-decorating trends, how to create spring bouquets and 10 new uses for old things. Did you know that filigree would be big this season? I love the light and lacy look, although it’s not quite manly enough for my husband, I’m sure. But I’ve noticed delicate ironwork pieces showing up in home-decor shops lately, so maybe I can sneak something small into the house to get the same effect. This room looks so calm and peaceful that I just want to camp out there — wearing a gorgeous pink silk dress, of course.
Fashion

I usually am so happy to see the Anthropologie e-mails in my inbox. I love Anthropolgie, especially in the spring, when everything is fresh and cheerful and colorful and pretty. So all I can say today is, “Why, Anthropologie? Why? At a time when everybody’s counting pennies and sales are dropping and people want feminine and sweet and classic, why oh why are you featuring the horror of harem pants on your site?” Or am I missing something? Is this the fashion wave of the future? I know that harem pants were the darling of the spring fashion shows this past September, but I so thought we had all agreed that that was just designers having fun and we normal regular people knew better. And, besides, haven’t we done harem pants already? And weren’t they disasters every time? So why, oh why, are we trying again???