Making It Look Easy

Just spotted this well dressed gent on the Sartorialist. So simple and wonderful and he's making me look forward to shorts weather!

Jolie-ing

The internet has officially been 'leg bombed'...and it's the best thing to come out of the 2012 Academy Awards. Thank you Jim Rash for starting a national obsession :) Look, there's the right leg on Abbey Road!

There it is again in the Monty Python's funny walk!

Oh my gosh...there it is again...on the moon! Love it!

What I Wore Today...the book

If you loved the concept and then the flikr to follow, you will adore the book What I Wore Today. Gemma Correll's brilliant idea of documenting (through drawing) her daily outfits (and overall mood :) is, as I love to say when it applies, nothing short of brilliant!

Now if only she'd publish her 'daily diaries' ; - )

Yawn...the 2012 Oscars

Predictable. Dull. Just a couple words that come to mind in thinking about last evening's Academy Awards. Usually I like to do a little after show wrap-up of at least one or 2 dresses that I loved but to be honest, not a single thing jumped out at me last night so I am not even going down that road. Instead, I am going to heap praise on fellow Greek-American Alexander Payne, who, with his team of writers last evening, not only picked up the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film The Descendants, but also mocked the totally ridiculous Angelina Jolie and her spectacularly stupid thigh stunt. While Mr. Payne didn't look all that pleased with the antics of his colleagues, I thought it was the single most awesome moment of the show. And for those of you who thought she was joking and mocking herself ... well, I have one word for that attempt at humor...thud.

Nostalgic for a time when actors and actresses attended these awards and didn't act like well, kind of ridiculous? Perhaps this fabulous photo of Audrey and Grace from the lovely tumblr Fine Things will help jump start your brain after yesterday. Love.

Noun As Symbol

I'm totally loving the Noun Project right now, a depository of free visual symbols that have been submitted by designers. If you have a project and you need some well-done graphic symbols, this is definitely the site for you. Did I mention they're all free?

Even Fish Deserve Great Design

Absolutely loving this fishbowl from the designers at Aruliden. If your pet fish can't live in a beautiful ocean or pond, you owe them a well-designed home. And this hand-blown glass sure does the trick!

Spring '12 at LLBean

Have mercy...new this spring at LLBean...the pink polo with embroidered Bean boot. Absolute love.

On The Subject of Legos...

Apparently, Lego has been making sets for girls since 1994 but they scrapped the old line and just introduced this new line which includes a different color palette than the boys line. I'm digging the fact that they're not entirely pandering to stereotypes. (One of the sets is, of course, a bakery.) This tree house is pretty awesome and so is the Invention Workshop which has a young female Lego doll building a robot. Hm, now maybe we can get some gay Legos too (interior designer set, hair salon set, etc.)!

Pinterest Addiction

Folks...there is one reason and one reason alone that I haven't posted a single thing on Ooh La La in days...Pinterest. Let's face it, there are only so many hours in a day and only so many of those hours that I feel I can spend online without losing my mind and these days, those very hours are being eaten alive by this new addiction. As I said to JP, I don't think it will last too much longer but if you haven't signed up, you are so missing out. So much fun...so much fabulousness and just so much out there to gaze upon. 

If you already know Pinterst then I don't need to say anymore and if you don't...oooh boy...what are you waiting for :)

* Gorgeous photo...from where else :)

Boarding Pass Makeover

If we made a list of all the things in the world that sorely need a redesign, the airline boarding pass would be pretty darn high on the list. Tyler Thompson decided he had had enough with the status quo of indecipherable numbers and letters and he started a website for people to send in their design ideas, of which the above image is just one submission. Delta took the hint and has since revamped their ticket design but, of course, didn't do anything even half as cool as some of the designs on Thompson's site. We can dream, though, can't we?

Sleek Lines

I'm loving these sleek lines in this Armani ad which showed up in the most recent NY Magazine. The clothes are gorgeous and I love the backdrop of the skyline behind the models. Fab!

The Boulevard Diederot, the motherland and Pinterst

Oh kids...I have to be totally honest with you...at least for the moment, I have a totally new love ... Pinterest. Have you all discovered it yet? Are you on it? I am not even going to go into detail because I know that our stylish and savy readers already know all about it. If you don't, sign up for an account right this second. It is the single most fun thing online EVER. You know those fabulous inspiration boards we've talked about on this blog for years...well, in a nutshell, Pinterest is basically that but online. Sure, it is a huge time suck..mostly because it's just so much fun. I will try never ever to neglect out beloved Ooh La La but right now...Pinterst is tugging at my heart. I haven't figured out how you can find me if you wanted to do that...but I'm out there and I'd love to see you out there too.   I just 'pinned' the photo above to my board dedicated to black and white photography...'Boulevard Diederot' by the master Henri Cartier-Bresson.

I've also been thinking a lot about my homeland (well, I'm first generation Greek anyway). I have faith, that in the end, Greece will survive but right now, they are just hurting themselves. So very sad.

*Photo of Laura at Sounion.

NY Nicki

This article in NY Mag is a must-read for both fans of Nicki Minaj but also for people who are completely confused by the Lady Gagas, Katy Perrys and Nicki Minajs of the world. David Wallace-Wells, the writer of this piece, creates a compelling storyline around why pop music is being dominated by creative and fierce women right now. Phenomenal article. I'm only half-way through this issue but I'm guessing the whole thing is going to be a great read. (Don't miss the Q&A with Nicki Minaj either!)

Everybody sing!

One more for ... for Valentine's sake . The beloved Beatles, All You Need Is Love.

* I wish the idea to post this You Tube link was mine...alas, I stole it from my favorite Starbucks fb page :)

Awwww...

From Paris v. New York, a tally of two cities...some things are the same, no matter which city you are in :)

Happy Valentines Day to Yooooou!

From Ooh La La Dujour and lovely, happy, chocolate and kisses filled Valentines Day.

*Fabulous drawing by Katie Evans

Small Brick Design

I was in the Lego store here in New York City sometime not that long ago and I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a wall of my apartment built out of Legos?" What appealed to me about the idea is the potential for designing cool colors and geometric shapes into the wall. Well, of course, it's now been done. (Funny how you have an idea and then you find out someone else had that same idea but how cool that someone actually made it happen!) Melissa Marks and Vicente Caride built this wall to separate their 10-year old son, Archie's, room from the rest of the apartment. (See more pics of the awesome place at nymag.com.) The coolest thing about it is that Archie can add and take away pieces as he wishes, building cool structures on top of the existing wall. Amazing!

Happy 2 year anniversary to soulrun!

Another year and another anniversary for soulrun! So proud of Laura and Joe for the work that they do and the gorgeous products they produce. Here's to many many more years, soulrun...from your #1 fans at Ooh La La Du Jour!

*Check out the lovely slideshow full of great soulrun moments, customers and products :)

Pale blue and red...be still my heart

Word on the street is that the Prada Spring 2012 Ready-to-wear collection is loaded with what is quickly becoming my favorite favorite color combo. Look for lots of pale blue and red. Smashing, no?

Lovely way...

...to start the day. A yummy espresso, a soft, wool gray sweater, tussled hair. Love.

*From La Couleur Blanche

Everyone ready?! It's Westminster time!

Are you kids all set for 2 nights of saying nothing but 'aaaaaaaaaaaaawww' and 'so cuuuuute'. The Westminster Dog Show begins tonight and really, do I need to say anything else. Let the adorableness begin!

Remember Hickory...the beautiful and graceful Scottish Deerhound who won it all in 2011.

Random cuteness...love the Frenchies!!

Loving Leopard

Cup of Jo had an interesting post on wearing leopard print flats recently. While they are definitely more daring than basic black, I guess, because they are flats and because I am picturing them with an otherwise preppy/conservative outfit, I don't really see them as being such stretch. In fact, I think I might be kind of obsessed with finding the perfect pair right now :)

*These are Kelsi Dagger and were spotted on The Daily Spark

The Jack-Of-All-Trades

 

When he's not doing this...from The Blue Whitetail

He's recreating his role as Deputy Spacey in the local film production, Mind Rip. Awesome.

Color Palettes

 

 I'm going to start off by saying that if you aren't reading Matchbook's blog The Daily Spark, you most definitely should. I love it almost more than their online mag. That said, they have this feature that I wait patiently for called 'Color Palette of the Week'. How much time do you spend thinking about color palettes? I have to admit, as a black, gray, et al devotee, I don't do it often enough...but then a color combo will catch my eye and I find myself searching for anything and everything in those shades. These are 2 recent combos they posted. Red and cream is a perennial favorite of mine. I'm also mad about red and pale blue. Hoping to see their interpretation of that one some time soon :)

Yumminess for all your sweeties

Aren't these a fabulous twist on an old fave? Replace the Hershey's Kiss with a Dove heart and you have lovely treat for all your lovely friends :)

*From the lovely blog, Lovely Escape

Hello Friday!

Perusing Matchbook's blog The Daily Spark and came across this beauty by Own Franken. Lovely way to start the day :) Happy Friday to all!

*Title of work...Red Umbrellas at the Eiffel Tower during hailstorm

Fashion Insiders

My friend Lisa Weiss is one of those amazingly fabulous people who can do many things at once and make it all look easy. It's no surprise to me that she's recently launched a blog where she interviews fashion insiders. (I have a strange feeling KatieP is going to LOVE this blog.) The top interview on the site right now is with Mickey Boardman, the editorial director of Paper Magazine. Mr. Boardman is one of the coolest people I ever photographed at Fashion Week runway shows and, interestingly, he mentions the clothing designers ThreeasFour right away in his interview - I am IN LOVE with ThreeasFour and will post on them soon, I'm sure. So, discovering this blog is pretty much a love-fest for me. I love everything about it!

Mac and Fromage :)

As you kids know, I love playing around in the kitchen. I am, by no means, any kind of skilled chef. What I've learned has been self taught and is all trial-and-error and experimentation. I love cookbooks and food magazines and blogs, but most importantly, I really dig a delicious meal. All that said, I've kind of stumbled my way into cooking. I totally love trying new and crazy things but every once in a while, good ole' fashioned comfort fare is all I am about. 

Lately, I've been seeing so many recipes, for so many varieties of mac and cheese. I ask you, is there anything more delicious? For me it's all about the cheese because, while some of you out there are chocoholics (very understandable), I am a 100% bonfide, diehard cheese-aholic. I am going to make the dish above tonight...spotted the recipe on Everybody Love Sandwiches.

This Martha Stewart recipe actually got dubbed the 'Perfect' Baked Macaroni and Cheese!

Saveur has a link to some fantastic mac and cheese recipes. I made this one above..it's a classic rendition.

Greek style mac and cheese. Hello...delicious!

An ode to stripes...

...by artist Wayne Pate, spotted on the Chance fb page. Love.

Tea...for me & you :)

This print by Jenny Bowers could not be more adorable. All my favorite things for an afternoon tea.

Caitlin's spring collection

This print was just added to Caitlin McGauley's online shop. The stripes...the bracelets...swoon.

Coveted item of the week

Ooh La La, I love this adorable scottie bangle bracelet from Agatha :)

From out of nowhere

Kids!! Did you know that Starbucks has Valentines Day inspired cups this year! I had no idea this was even in the mix and stumbled into them yesterday at my fave Starbucks shop here on campus. Aren't they adorable?! And for those of you paying attention...the Cup Magic app has been updated to bring this cup to life in the most lovely way :)

Inspired by the NYC Ballet...

...OPI nail polish has a line coming out this April with beautiful, soft and pretty colors that are positively ballerina worthy. My favorite of the lot...this pale gray called My Pointe Exactly.

Via Refinery 29

I (really do!) heart this tote :)

Yes, I already own around 10,000 tote bags...but really, how can I refuse this one. And just in time for Valentines day :)   From Madewell.

Next Gen Potato Head

Seriously, how cute are these toys? And, yup, that's right, this is another project funded by a Kickstarter campaign. What would the world be like without Kickstarter? I think a more boring world, for sure. LOVE these!!

'Hawaiian Tropic, NY 14609'

Mesmerized by today's post on The Blue Whitetail. 

(Just as aside...I remember when Chris took this shot during the summer...thinking to myself what is he seeing? I can't even believe this is that photograph. The way photographers see truly is different than the rest of us)

Quotes of the day...

Some quotes of the morning..Karl Lagerfeld being sadly hilarious, Karl Lagerfeld being totally on point and Anna on the new football/Vogue fans acquired via Madonna's halftime show.

Karl L ... it's obvious to everyone, isn't it?

I don't totally understand the part about the pregnant women but everything else...spot on.

Via The Cut...I can only hope Anna is on to something :)