Summer Lovin: How to Pack for a Beach Vacation Part 2

Day 1

1. Easy travel day outfit

2. Birthday dinner with Mr. C at a local spot

Day 2

3. First day was chilly so my printed pants were perfect for exploring our neighborhood. Where we were staying there were a series of docks, each one with their own bar at the end! Our favorite had $2 drafts. Obviously we became regulars. 

4. Shorts and a fun top were perfect for checking out the local night spots (and navigating all the 21 yr olds at the Sloppy Tuna)*

Day 3

5. More exploring! And more $2 drafts. Also, you haven't been to Montauk until you've been shooed off of a private beach.

Day 4

(not pictured) Beach day! This was my favorite :)

6. Evening stroll on the beach, followed by fresh seafood at Sammy's (I tried raw clams on the half shell, delicious!) 

Day 5

7. For our last day, we had a few hours to kill before our train. We spent it tasting beers at the Montauk Brewing Company and walking along the beach on the Atlantic side of Montauk. 

*In all honesty it was freezing that night, so I ended up throwing on something else, but ideally this is what I wanted to wear ;)

Summer Lovin: How to Pack for a Beach Vacation Part 1

All you need for a weekend at the beach

Two weeks ago, I submitted my final  paper (paper is a strong word, it was more of a creative info-graphic, but it's the symbolism that counts, right?) and, just like that, my first year of grad school was done. Boom! As you might have guessed from the lack of posting around here, I'm still getting the hang of this whole school/life/work balance thing.  The end of the semester was a pretty grueling few weeks as a gazillion group projects came to an end. Thankfully, I have a few fabulous weeks off to hang out with Mr. C before starting my summer internship (not going to lie, school is great, but I'm pretty excited to be working again). We kicked it off this past weekend by heading to Montauk where we rented a beach house with my cousin, sister-in-law, and their significant others. As a southern California girl, I'm still getting used to east coast beaches (less sand, smaller waves, fewer tan people). But, it was amazing to get away from the city, hang out with amazing people, and eat fresh seafood by the water. And, of course, it was an chance for me to finally pull out all of my summer clothes.

A few years ago after lugging a 50 lb suitcase through Europe for two weeks (let's be real, it was really Mr. C doing the lugging), I realized I needed to start taking a more strategic approach to packing. I've come up with a pretty simple formula that works for me 90% of the time:

(Number of Vacation Days - One travel day) x 2 = Number of outfits needed

This ensures that I have a day outfit and a night outfit for each day of the trip, plus one travel outfit for the beginning and end of the trip. Obviously, I adjust this depending on the type of trip. For this trip, I knew we were going to be a lot of grilling and hanging out on the beach, so I adjusted the total number of outfits down slightly,  assuming there'd be at least one day where we'd just be chilling on the beach.*

Thinking in terms of outfits versus items of clothing does a couple of things. First, it forces me to plan ahead so that I don't end stuffing everything I own into a carry-on at the last minute. Second, it helps me figure out what I actually need rather than showing up with 20 items of clothing that I love, but that don't really go together.

The other thing I do, is I start with the three-five statement pieces that I know I want to bring (e.g. a colorful dress, printed pants). Then I add in basics, accessories, and shoes to help dress each item up or down. Except for rare occasions (things like traveling to a friends wedding), I try not to bring outfits that can't be dual purposed in some way. Even shorts can be dressed up for a dinner with the right shoes and accessories.

This what ended up in my packing list for a five day :
1) One Beach Cover-Up: I love this one from H&M and, as a plus, it's under $10!

2) Two Swimsuits: I'm a big fan of J.Crew's swim suits. They last forever (seriously, I've had one for 7 yrs that still looks new and that I'm almost wishing would wear out so that I can get a new one). As a plus, you can mix and match a lot of their styles. And, if you're more of a one-piece type of gal, they have a lot of pretty cute offerings

3) One printed dress: I'm partial to longer summer dresses that have an un-even kerchief type hem. Since I'm on the petite side, finding a maxi dress that doesn't need to be hemmed or that doesn't drag on the ground can be a little . . . challenging. Plus, am I the only one that finds maxi dresses to be a bit of a heat trap in the middle of summer? My favorite dress to pack for beach weekends is a few years old from Anthropologie, but the one in the set is from H&M and is really adorable in person.

4) One casual day dress: It's hard to go wrong with stripes in the summer, especially by the beach. Plus, this dress is really easy to change-up with a belt or denim vest. This is usually my travel outfit of choice (paired with a hat and some sunglasses to hide the fact that I stayed up too late playing heads-up)

5) One pair of shorts: I like to pack one pair of dressier pair of shorts (either with a fun, but subtle print or lace or crotchet) that can work just as well for grilling outdoors or strolling around town in search of coffee. I've had good luck with Ann Taylor Loft for fun summer shorts.

6) One pair of printed pants: Even though it's finally summer, evenings at the beach can still be a little chilly and I knew a pair of pants would come in handy. I've been looking for a fun, printed pair like these and when I found them at H&M (can you tell I had a very successful H&M shopping trip recently?), I knew I had to snatch them up.

7) A couple of neutral tops: For me this means, a chambray shirt for chillier days or to throw over a dress, a silk top if I need to dress-up my pants or shorts, and two to three t-shirts. Despite my love of Everlane, I have to admit, I keep going back to Gap's t-shirts. They fit me better and are the perfect weight.

8) A sweater: Beach nights get chilly! I have a different one but this sweater from Gap is really adorable and complements everything else on the list.

9) Three pairs of shoes: One pair of heels (I got these cute DV wedges and am in love. They're super comfortable and really sweet, the perfect summer shoe. I may even get them in black). One pair of flip flops (duh). And, one pair of leather sandals. Knowing me, there is a high likelihood that I'll sneak in another pair of shoes (maybe my boat shoes) at the last minute.

10) Accessories: For me, this means a hat, sunglasses, a couple of belts and my trusty jean vest.

* * * 

This might still seem like a lot. But, considering what I used to pack, it's major progress! The biggest sign is that I can now carry my own suitcases and don't have to rely on Mr. C or the kindness of random strangers ;) Check back later to see how I mixed these up to get eight-plus outfits that lasted the whole trip!

*Of course this varies depending on the type of trip, for example, camping doesn't require any going-out outfits. (But, seriously, do I seem like the type of girl who goes camping?)

Review: Ann Taylor Heels

The biggest downside to living in New York is receiving packages. I mean, I know some people live in these magical places that have doormen and elevators, but for the rest of us masses getting anything delivered via mail is a bit of a crapshoot. For one thing, I'm not entirely sure my delivery man even tries the door of my building. For another, you never get a "first delivery attempt" notice. They're all "final notices" that somehow imply it's your fault that they weren't able to delivery your package and, threaten you with the fact that if you don't immediately hike over to some random warehouse that you'll never see your precious order. 

To be honest, it's probably good for my wallet. Nothing is a bigger deterrent to ordering something on-line than the prospect of spending 45 minutes on the phone with customer service while literally chasing a delivery truck around the West Village. Obviously, it wasn't that big of a deterrent though, because the other day, these three beauties arrived on my doorstep (and by arrived on my doorstep, I mean I had to schlep over to the UPS warehouse and drag three different boxes home, but at least they arrived)

(1)

(2)

(3)

As you might have guessed, shoes are kind of my cryptonite. (It's not my fault, it runs in my family and, by all accounts, possibly my culture). That said, I was pretty firm in my resolve to only keep shoes that met the criteria of what I was looking for and were comfortable. Given my recent shoe-tastrophes, I would have been happy if even one pair had worked out. 

But, guys. They're all perfect . . . and, I mean perfect. They're exactly what I was looking for style-wise and soooooooo comfortable. First off, I was really impressed with the quality. The leather is really soft and pliable--as a proof of that, I get blisters even thinking about putting on shoes and I wore the last two pairs out on two different nights, for more than 3 hours, without any issues. The shoes have a leather sole, and there's a cute (almost tory-burchish) jewel on the bottom that's a fun detail. But, they don't deserve to be lumped together, so here is the breakdown:

1. Cate d'Orsay Leather Platform: Originally, I was going to order the "Perfect Pump," since I'd heard so much about it. But, at the end of the day, it didn't really excite me. I wanted something a little different and the Cate d'Orsay pump delivered. It just took one look at the snake-skin wrapped heel and I was in. The one thing I was a little concerned about was the height. I usually have a 3.5 inch limit on my heels and these are 4 inches. I've had pretty mixed luck in the past with platform pumps. If you're not familiar with platform pumps, the shoe has a hidden platform that gives you more support. So even though it makes you 4 inches taller, it really only feels like you're wearing a 3.5 inch heel.  Mind games, but when you're 5'2 and three-quarters of an inch, that feels like victory. The trick though, is that you're still putting a lot of pressure on the ball of your foot and a lot shoes skimp on any sort of padding. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Ann Taylor shoes had a lot of cushioning . . . I don't think I'll be taking a wilderness hike in them anytime soon, but I could definitely wear them to an event or around school all day with very few problems. 

On another note, some people feel that a 4-inch heel is not appropriate for an office shoe. Personally, I think it depends on two things 1) the dress code in your office, and 2) the rest of your outfit. Pairing sky-high heels with a really tight, short skirt and a super revealing blouse might send the wrong message (again, depends a lot on your work environment). But, I don't see anything wrong with wearing high heels as long as you tone down the rest of your clothing. It's all about balance.

2. Arlene Shooties: I'd never heard the term "shootie" before and am still not sure what makes this a "shootie" versus an open-toed bootie or a sandal . . . but, regardless these shoes are fabulous. They have a lower heel (3 inches) and also have whatever magical padding Ann Taylor is putting in their shoes. The first time I wore them, I was on my feet for four hours and, aside from the fact that the toestrap started to pinch a bit at the end of the night, they were really comfortable.  The best thing about them though, is the versatility. I have a feeling, that of the three, these are going to end up getting the most wear. I wore them out one night with skinny black moto pants and have also paired them with a simple work/school dress and a pencil skirt. FYI . . . I'm a pretty true size 7 in most brands and these run slightly big when compared with the other two. My foot slips forward a bit, though it's not enough to warrant a smaller size. It doesn't bother me, but I may end up putting in an insert just to keep my foot in place. 

3. Juliette Ankle Strap Heels: My heart has been set on a pair of ankle strap heels for a long time. But, the ones I saw at Zara, tended to be really high (4 inches and up), and this wasn't a style that really lent itself to a platform. I was excited to see that these were only a 3 inch heel (which was well within my comfort range), though I was concerned I wouldn't get the same, elongating effect. I didn't need to be worried. They were just as perfect as the other two. As a heads up, if you have really wide feet or thicker ankles, you might have a little bit of trouble. The toe box is on the narrower side and the ankle strap isn't particularly long. (For reference, my ankles are 9 inches in circumference at the widest point and I had to go to the second hole. Given how short the strap is, if you had to use the third hole, you might not have enough room to buckle the shoes)

* * *

All in all, this was one of my most successful shoe shopping experiences (and I didn't even have to leave the comfort of my couch). It was fabulous to be able to cross off three of the shoes on my list in one single order! If you're looking for a great pair of heels, definitely give Ann Taylor a chance. (on the plus side, they're also almost always having a 40 percent off sale, which means they're basically free . . . or at least a really good deal). They're flats also look pretty cute . . . but I'm veering into dangerous waters.

Note: I know that everyone has different levels of pain tolerance when it comes to shoes, so my idea of perfectly comfortable may not be yours. Personally, I consider a shoe to be comfortable if I can wear it for at least 4 hours without developing blisters, the shoes don't inhibit my ability to walk or stand, and I don't feel like I'm ruining my feet. That said, if you aren't used to wearing heels all day or a 3 inch heel sounds high to you, you might want to steer away from the Cate d'Orsay pump or try something with more of a kitten heel, like this one)

A Shoe-tastrophe

A few weeks ago, I attended an annual fund-raising fashion show gala that my graduate program puts on. It was a really lovely event and gave me a much-needed excuse to dress up a little. All was great, until I got home and realized that my keys were not in my clutch, but were in my school bag, in my locker . . .  for some reason I couldn't find a cab or an Uber and ended up walking all the way to school and back. To add insult to injury, my go-to black heels which have been with me through every job, grad school, and recruiting event for the past three years . . . decided to pick that moment to give up on life. They'd been on their last leg (err, heel) for a while, but they just decided to stop staying on my feet. I had to do a sort of scoot/hobble/waddle all the way from the LES to NYU. Sadly, this was not my only recent shoe-tastrophe. A few months earlier, the heel broke on my favorite pair of party shoes mid-dance floor at a friend's wedding. (not that that stopped me when "Blurred Lines" came on) and the suede black booties that I love are starting to develop some serious bald spots (someone, please invent rogain for shoes!). 

I needed to invest in some new shoes ASAP and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted:

Oh, and all of the above had to be at least moderately comfortable. Easy peasy, right? 

Ha! Finding a shoe that's both comfortable and stylish is a bit like looking for the holy grail (minus a shirtless Indiana Jones). But, I had too many pairs of shoes that I didn't wear because they seemed to be designed by some sort of mediaeval torture expert (Note to my 20-year-old self: buying a pair of shoes knowing that you'd need to take tequila shots to numb the pain is never a good idea). 

* * *

Honestly, the reason I'd put off buying new shoes for so long (both those pairs of heels were more than 3 years old), was that I couldn't find shoes that satisfied both my fashion and functional needs. The pairs I found would be one or the other, but rarely both (and the ones that were both were a little out of my price range). I'd read about the Ann Taylor "Perfect Pump" on both Capital Hill Style and Extra Petite but had always disregarded it. Not to sound snobbish, but I don't always associate Ann Taylor with the highest quality and their styles can skew a little old-lady for me. The "perfect pump" seemed fine but nothing special. But, my latest shoe disaster had put me in a particularly vulnerable state and I decided I needed to swallow my pride and at least give Ann Taylor the courtesy of browsing their selection on-line (it was that or start showing up to events barefoot). And . . .  I was really, really surprised. I mean, not everything was amazing, but if this was what old-ladies were wearing on their feet than I was in. 

I was really only planning on buying on pair and trying it out . . . but somehow I ended up ordering three (just to try you know. I wasn't gong to keep all of them) that fit all of my criteria above. Check back tomorrow for my review! And, someone please call a shoe-therapist because I might have a problem. 

Blazers: Breaking It Down (Part II)

(Check out Part I of my Blazer Posts here)

One of the luxuries of having really small data sets is that it makes it easy to play around with different ways of analyzing them. This was particularly true here, because it took me a while to figure out the best way to analyze my blazers. More than with some of my earlier analysis, I really wanted to know what I should look for in future blazer purchases vs. just what I should get rid of. First, I tried grouping them by color, which wasn't super informative. (hint: I own a lot of black) Then, I tried building a matrix looking at them by color and style, which was a little more helpful but still only gave me two dimensions to look at the problem.

In my data mining class, we've been talking about using classification trees in analyzing data. On a very basic level, classification trees help you "classify" different items based on their "features" or "attributes". Here, my items are my blazers and I picked three "attributes" that I could use to classify them: Color (Patterned or Solid), Style (Collar or Collarless), and Suit (Part of a Suit or Not)

This turned out to be surprisingly helpful and I ended up with a pretty picture. I knew that I had a lot of solid colors (even the patterned one kind of looks solid from a distance) and that a lot of my blazers seemed to pretty similar in style. But by constructing this tree, I was able to see which were the most important features for each blazer. For example, given how many solid blazers I have, it's more important to know my French Connection blazer is patterned than it is to know that it's got a collar or is part of a suit. Because it's different (and happens to be highly rated), it's both an item I should keep and might be an example of an area where I could add more items to my closet (patterned blazers galore!)

What does this actually mean for my shopping habits? Well, there are a couple of ways to interpret this data. Someone who had no experience with women's closets or any personal knowledge of me, might use the last branch of the tree to suggest that I go for a suit blazer but not buy the rest of the suit . . . or only shop for used suit blazers at thrift stores. That might be a little tongue-in-cheek, but it does show that you definitely need context when interpreting data!  In fact, those happen to be my oldest blazers, and at least two of them are on their last leg. More likely, one of two things are going on, either:

a) I've figured out what styles/colors works for me and I 
should just stick with them, buying more of the same

OR

b) My closet could use a little diversity 
(I'm leaning towards "b"). 

If I went with option "b", the features I have on my tree present different ways I could add a little more pizzazz to my wardrobe. I could choose to diversify based on cut. Or, if the suit style is really best for me, I could choose to add more patterned pieces. Or, I could be really wild and go for both. 

Zara Printed Kimono Blazer

Boom. Sold. (except that pattern gives me a headache)

* * * 

*Please note, that classification trees are normally built out using much more rigorous techniques. I used the idea more as inspiration rather than actually building a mathematical model. However, you could say, in theory, I used some sort of majority classifier approach. Another thing to know is that the patterned blazer is both part of suit, and a collared style. But because I started with color as the first branch of my tree and there was only one patterned blazer, color ended up being the most important attribute for this particular instance. 

Blazers: Breaking It down (Part 1) and Coming Back From Break

Oh helloooo world!!!! It's really nice to see you again. I know I kind of dropped off the planet, but somewhere in between the last snow storm and trying to get a bunch of projects done before spring break, I went into serious hibernation mode. Then, I spent 10 lovely days with Mr. C, exploring New York's irish bar scene (you have never celebrated St Patty's day until you've spent it with a Cullen boy). 

Since then, I'm slowly re-emerging into the land of the living . . . which means tackling another part of my closet: blazers.  Well, until I actually counted them and realized how many I owned. Nine. That seems like a lot, right?!?!? How did I miss this in the three closet clean-outs I've gone through in the last year? And, if I own so many, why do I keep adding new, brightly colored blazers to my Zara and Nordstrom shopping carts?

I blame the nine blazers on the fact that when I started my career in DC, I was constantly being mistaken for an intern. So, I stocked up on a lot of suits before realizing a) that my office definitely skewed more on the "casual" side of "business casual". And, b) I still got mistaken for an intern. Over time, I got rid of different parts of those suits (there was one particularly tragic coffee spill that took out some khaki trousers), but kept the jackets and started pairing them with separates. I just hadn't realized how many I had or how long I'd hung on to them. Even Mr. C didn't believe how old some of them were until I walked him through the timeline (the ratings are in parentheses):

As you can see, six of the nine are more than four years old. And, with the exception of my tweed blazer, which I still love and is in mint condition (from the days J.Crew paid more attention to quality), my older jackets tend to have lower ratings . . . either because they don't fit with either with my changing style, my new work/school environment, or they're just really worn out. For instance, I used to love that 2007-Velvet blazer, but it's looking a little  more like the velveteen rabbit at this point and less like a jacket these days . . . This helped pair down the list a little bit:

This leaves me with six blazers, which still feels kind of like a lot (and yes, for now, I do actually need two black blazers. I promise they're different). But, I still feel like something is missing . . . there's a lot of black in there and there's a floral jacket at Zara that seems to have my name on it. But, before I indulged myself, I wanted to take another look at my blazer situation and make sure that a) I really needed many more another jacket and b) I was buying the right things. Check back Wednesday for Part II!

Splurge or Save: Clarisonic Mia versus Konjac Sponge

In my operations class last week, we were discussing how a company should decide whether to make something themselves or buy it somewhere else. We were looking at data to figure out at which point (based on volume, things like that) it's cheaper to out source something versus make it in-house. I'm not sure I was supposed to think of it as a "Splurge vs. Save" problem, but that's definitely where my mind went.

Should you get the $600 designer bag or the $150 knockoff? Do you invest in the expensive jeans or the ones from H&M? Do you spend a lot on a trendy item that might only be relevant for a season or its cheaper sister? We're faced with these kinds of "Splurge vs Save" scenarios all the time (or is it just me trying to decide whether I should shop at Wholefoods or Safeway?). It can be hard though to figure out which option really does offer the most value.

Yesterday, I posted about how I had decided to use the Boscia Konjac sponge instead of buying a Clarisonic Mia.* The Boscia sponge is $18 while the latest version of the Clarisonic Mia is $150, plus you have to replace the brushes every 3 months. It seemed pretty obvious that the Boscia was cheaper (and it was working for me). But, I decided to test my hypothesis by constructing a table similar to the ones we were using in class.

Just to set it up, the Clarisonic Mia comes with one brush head to start you off. Replacement brushes are $40 for a pack of 2 (so $20 a pop). The Mia also comes with a 2 year warranty, so let's assume that after 2 years, you'd want to replace it. This means that over a 24 month period, you'd need to purchase an additional 7 brush heads. (For simplicity's sake, I'm ignoring the fact that you have to buy the brushes in sets of two so you'd be left with an extra brush at the end. If you're at all like me, you're bound to break one early and need a back-up anyway). Here's what the cost comes to per month, with the Mia.

$12 a month isn't bad (I mean you can get unlimited netflix streaming for that much, but we're talking about the promise of eternally youthful skin here). Next I applied the same analysis to the Konjac sponge. According to the packaging, the Boscia Konjac sponge is supposed to last 2 months. In my experience, however, it's more like 6 weeks. I recently found a different version of the Boscia sponge on Amazon for almost half the price.  I'm still waiting to see if it works as well, but I went on ahead and did the calculations using both price points:

Surprisingly (to me), the Boscia sponge was only slightly (8 cents) less per month than going with the Clarisonic Mia. This means that using the Boscia sponge rather than the Clarisonic Mia would only save me $1.92 over a 2 year period. Money bags! Imagine all the vending machine snacks I could buy with that! (sarcasm implied)

It gets a lot better when you look at the Amazon version. If it works as well, over a two year period, using the Amazon Konjac sponge rather than the Clarisonic Mia would save me $130. Obviously, I'm assuming that these two products are equal in quality. Also, if you already have the Clarisonic Mia, it might not make sense to switch at this point since it's already a sunk cost. However, if you're debating which one to buy or you're looking to replace your current Clarisonic, you might want to consider the Amazon sponge instead.

* * *

What do you think? Would you do these types of calculations to figure out whether to splurge or save? I have to admit, this was fairly simple to do for something like a facial cleansing system that you use on a daily basis. But, it gets a little trickier when you're looking at something like clothes or jewelry (though I certainly tried with my "cost-per-wear" analysis a few weeks ago).

* * *

*Note: According to Sephora's website, the "Konjac Cleansing Sponge is made from 100 percent preservative-free konjac root from the pristine, idyllic Jeju Island in Korea. Konjac root is an Asian-cultivated, root-based vegetable that the Japanese have traditionally used as a detoxifying dietary staple, and as a calming, exfoliating sponge for delicate skin. It is naturally alkaline and balances the acidity of the skin’s impurities and oils while being enriched with protein, carbohydrate, iron, phosphorus, copper, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin D, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and folic acid. Gentle enough for the most sensitive skin types, this naturally deep-cleansing, pH balanced sponge can be used throughout the face, neck, and even the very delicate undereye area."