Yankees, Southern Belles and Junkin'

This past labor day weekend I packed a suitcase and headed down south to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Greensboro, North Carolina.



I know I didn't pack my passport, but I think I may have ended up in another country....


My mom and I practiced our "ya'll's" on the plane, and I finalized a design for a very cute tote bag I am making, which will be available on my website next Wednesday! (keep your eyes open for that one!) Anyway, my adorable cousin, Carlee came to pick us up at airport and took us over to my aunt Michelle and uncle Don's beautiful southern home. I come from a long line of antique fiends with stylish tastes, including my grandmother, mother and aunts.

There was a treat waiting for me at the house. My aunt had purchased episode 1's paper towel dress, so there it was hanging up in the bedroom. Touching the {surprisingly} sturdy paper construction once again brought back great memories of good times at project runway. My cousin modeled the dress and we agreed that I need to make a dress out of fabric like it for her homecoming.

Then, I was told we were going bumpin' butts and junkin' in Virginia the next morning.
I needed a translation, so I included one here for you:

{Southern belle : Yankee translations}

junkin' : antique shopping

bumpin' butts : there will be some big crowds where we are going


OH, we are going antiquing at a big antique show. ok, ok. I love shopping.

Now that it was clear what we were doing, we headed out early Sunday morning for some treasure hunting. It was a great time and I got a couple cute things, including quirky salt and pepper shakers from the '50s and a trifari necklace.

Later that night we went to dinner and then watched some tv together.
Guess which show my very sharp 6 year old cousin, Jack, wanted to watch?
Project runway, of course! He told me he loves to see me on the old episodes. Then he proceeds to tell me that he couldn't remember who was the designer, but for the Olympic challenge, he thought the "design with the gold sequins at the top of the sweater was the worst in his opinion"-FYI, mine. Apparently he agreed with the judges. But I bribed him to change his vote by telling him I would bring him the finale in New York next week if he did.

He was totally pulling my leg. He has watched the episodes several times and knew exactly which garment went with each designer. So at this point, I was curious, what would Jack design for the grocery store challenge?

After a momentary pause, Jack said he would use utensils and bend and glue them onto a tablecloth. Once tablecloth left his mouth, he quickly changed his mind-"no, no tablecloth, I would glue them on paper towels."

Good plan Jack.

On Monday, we did a little more shopping. We were in a very cute store in Greensboro called Scout & Molly's (http://www.scoutandmollysofgreensboro.com/) where the salesgirl was a little surprised to see me at the store. She did the "you look like that girl from proj--" thing. I was like, "oh, I haven't been recognized much during this trip here in the Carolinas." She responded, "I'm not southern."

As we headed back to the airport, I thought about my southern experience. My new southern friends are very friendly and welcoming.

They are also fast thinkers. I asked for a medium latte at the airport and got a small (in possibly the smallest cup in the world).

"excuse me miss, I asked for a medium."

She quickly comes up with this crafty line: "our sizes are medium, large and extra large, ya'll."

I guess you can't argue with that.

Once upon a vanilla latte....

As you may have read previously, I am an american fashion designer living in Italy. I used to live in New York when I was attending the Fashion Institute of Technology, and now 6 years later, I find myself in a small town in tuscany. It may sound like a dream to you, it may not. I would fall into the latter category. I can't say that I SHOULD be complaining, seeing that live in a place where the sun greets me almost every morning, and where I can arrive either at the beach for a swim, or in the snow capped mountains for a cup of hot chocolate in less than an hour. I quite frequently DO complain.


Well, not so much complaining, but comparing.


Yes, I COMPARE a lot.


While, neither America or Italy are perfect utopias, I quite often feel a nostalgia for my home country. Which is ironic because if I think back to when I was younger, I probably secretly wished I was european. There is an elegance and style that is connected to europe, which I have always admired. How is it possible that now I long for the over-the-top comforts of America?

Soon I will be returning home for a visit, and it is always around this time that I have the most wonderful dream. I dream that I am in New York City and I grab a grande vanilla latte from Starbucks and head over to the Anthropologie store in Soho, where I literally pass hours looking at all the clothes and home accessories. I usually hem and haw about choosing one object to buy, and then purchase it. That's the whole dream. But I wake up feeling like the happiest person the world. I live in a country where I can get a cappuccino for .90 cents made by a barman that actually studied at a "coffee university", and yet I long for a passable coffee in a to-go cup made by a high school student.

Ahhh, just one more week.