THREE FOR THE END OF JANUARY

1) January/polyvore 2) Meghan Collison by Michael Donovan for Vision China 3) "Early wake ups. My parent’s home. Disposable camera. Sometime, December, 2011" by Francesca Zmetra

Warm colors and soft fabrics to help me shake off all these wintery feelings. This week I am busy getting ready for a shoot that is just about the antithesis of all this--but that's cool, too.

IN THE COLD, COLD NIGHT

My pal Frankie has been blogging on the regs again over on her site Lawrence, and I couldn't be happier! Recently, she asked me to contribute to a roundup of little things that help get us safely and sanely through the winter months--and I'm in mighty good company! If you're feeling blue, or if that's just the color your toes have been turning lately, click over for a sneak peek at a few well-loved pick-me-ups.

CRYSTALINE ENTITY

Home in the islands for a while, hunkered down, ploughing my way through Jane Eyre, wooing shy felines and baking big chocolate cakes. Hope your 2012 thus far has been as magical, and then some, as this torso-sized amethyst I saw on the top of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina in 2011. Strange, strange magics indeed!

¡VIVA TULUM!

Initially inspired by Nidhi's photos, and subsequently encouraged by countless friends and friends-of-friends with stories to tell, tips to offer, and nothing but the glowing-est of recommendations, Alex and I took a trip to Tulum, Mexico back in the beginning of November.

For us, it was a vacation in the purest sense, a rare and precious thing these days: no internet, no phone, no museums or shopping destinations or itineraries, few preconceived notions. Only sand, water, sun, rain, bicycles, hammocks, books, food and piña coladas 'til next Tuesday. An hour and a half distant from the rack and ruin of Cancun, when we stepped from our shuttle onto the powdery roadside sand the air smelled like flowers and sea and coconut, and there were conch shells in place of faucets in our hotel bathrooms. Other highlights of our five days of cabana life in the state of Quintana Roo included: going to bed at 8pm and waking (gladly) with the sun, forgetting what pants even feel like, having a different form of shrimp for every meal of the day, and buying strange, beautiful citrus by the sackful from the side of the road. It's true what everyone told us: you won't visit Tulum only once. You'll be back.

...ARE YOU LISTENIN'?

A very Merry Christmas from Phil Spector, Ol' Blue Eyes, and me!