" The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live."
- Leo F. Buscaglia

I really adore this quote. We are, after all, here to live out loud. And I think at some time or another, we could all use it's wisdom as a little reminder...

The Best Things Come in Small Packages

www.shopbop.com

Although I am a huge fan of statement pieces, sometimes I crave something sweet and simple. This little 14 kt vermeil peacock feather from Gorjana will do just the trick on days when wearing a light, flirty sundress. It is summer after all, and now more than ever, life should be taken not so seriously. Of course, that doesn't mean this little charmer can't stay in your jewelry box long after day light savings. Keep it around for Sunday morning coffee dates with girlfriends, accenting the deep-v in your favorite over sized cashmere sweater that looks anything but frumpy.

Sitting Pretty

www.domino.com

The light, airiness of this room appeals to me. In a way it reminds me of the living room in the house we grew up in. My mother, perhaps one of my biggest style influences, missed her calling. I'm not saying she wasn't a truly fabulous fashion editor during her years at Vogue and Glamour magazines, but her true passion lay in interior design. In her version of this room, she effortlessly mixed antiques passed down through the generations of our family with modern, minimalist pieces she herself designed while living in Asia. Along the walls, she commissioned secret bookshelves, accessible only when pushed in the right spot, which she filled from floor to ceiling with issues of Vogue magazine! One of my favorite details was the white grand piano we had in the corner of our living room. The entire top was covered in 5" x 7" black and white photos of family. Included was one particularly sassy photograph of my maternal grandparents, walking arm in arm on their way down the dock to board a ship to embark on their honeymoon. In it, my grandmother looks the epitome of chic, wearing a floor length leopard fur coat, and my grandfather looking so handsome in a double-breasted pinstripe suit & a fedora, slanted ever so casually. Their era was the definition of fashion divinity.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

-Henry Ford