Back in action, sorta

Kicked off the week (Halloween Monday!) with a meeting downtown this morning. I've been having some trouble with the space-time continuum today; for the past four hours I've thought it was 1 p.m. I think this has something to do with flying—I always feel pretty wonky and dehydrated 24 hours after any flight. Current status: Eating sliced mango at my desk and contemplating taking a little nap after I write my next Food & Wine story. Having dinner with a friend tonight at BENIHANA (He forwarded me the Opentable reservation without comment this morning. I think this is his idea of a good sense of humor.).

But first, catch-up on my last couple of days at Graceland.

The day I bought a lot of postcards.


The day I saw some ducks in a lobby.

Graceland hotel tour, fashion, and GBBO

Good morning Graceland! It's the beginning of my second full day here and this afternoon we're heading over to Graceland proper for a tour. I'm super excited about visiting (esp. the gift shop). Here's a little video of the property tour we took yesterday with the GM along with a few other things my brain put on the internet yesterday.



Elle — What a celebrity stylist does in a day

Food & Wine — Here's what we know about the Great British Bake Off Christmas special

Hello from Graceland!

Good morning from Graceland! I'm shacking up this weekend at the grand opening of the Guest House at Graceland. It's my first time stepping outside the airport at Memphis and so far (I've been here for 10 hours), I'm loving it. The people are A+, the food is delicious, and the brand new hotel property is stunning.


Allure — Vintage-inspired looks for Halloween

Food & Wine — Important life skill

Pop culture Wednesdays

You'd be surprised sometimes how much back-and-forth it takes to make something as simple as a hairstyle or makeup listicle come together.

Allure — Taylor Swift's beauty through the years

Allure — Taylor Swift's hair through the years

Food & Wine — Now there's a Dash button for Cheez Its

Food & Wine — Scarlett Johansson's lifelong food dream realized

Food & Wine — Genius idea: live, social cooking show

Also, I've been thinking I should start doing my hair in my old age. And something about handbags.

Monday recap: Shoes and Bourdain

Here are some things I did yesterday before eating sushi for dinner and talking to my friend, a big cahuna at a major publishing house, about core values. That Lululemon Immersion stuff really works, you guys. Last week, right after I landed, I had dinner with a friend and gave him some "real talk" about free will, happiness, and doing things with intention.

Harper's Bazaar — Shoes shoes shoes

Elle — Day in the life of a fashion blogger

Food & Wine — Anthony Bourdain heads to Houston

Food & Wine — The great vegan brisket internet fallout of 2016

Food & Wine — A Bourdain Market non-update

A case of the Mondays

New week, new list of Things To Do. Why not procrastinate and buy shoes online instead.

Elle — Fall's investment shoes

Marie Claire — Useful info for when you can't even on a Monday

Friday fashion (and food)

A few things from my brain, scattered around the internet.

Elle — 4 looks, 1 dress

Harper's Bazaar — Style inspo from LA

Marie Claire — How to wear trends to work

...and one food story about one of my favorite NYC chefs.

Food & Wine — Dominique Ansel's wildest dessert experience yet

Three days in Canada

Some things I've been up to this week. Tomorrow, back in NYC.

Day 3: Yoga, workshop, hike, yoga


Day 2: Yoga, lunch, yoga


Day 1: Vancouver to Whistler

Snackable content

Hello from Vancouver (again)! Heading to Whistler tonight, but did a 24-hour stop in Vancouver to, uh, sit in my hotel room and write, mostly. I did get to squeeze in a massage last night, which was divine. It's raining outside, so I don't feel too guilty about staying indoors.

Food & Wine — When you really love a pair of shoes

Food & Wine — Netflix without wifi will soon be a reality

Food & Wine — Nadiya Hussain signs with the BBC

5 Things I always bring on trips

1. Socks
2. Mifi
3. USB hub
4. Canvas tote
5. Headphones

Other things I am procrastinating packing right now:
— Books, real print books
— Sweatpants, I never regret bringing sweatpants on a trip
— Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser
— Simple micellar wipes
— A good handbag
— At least two outerwear options
— A variety of socks

I'm still procrastinating

I have 17 stories due in the next six days, a photoshoot tomorrow morning, an all-day travel day Sunday, and two days booked out next week to meditate on a mountaintop in western Canada.

Food & Wine — Brexit affects Marmite and Pot Noodle supplies

Food & Wine — Something about yellow food and I worked VC Andrews into the lede, yassss

Fancy trains and bougie mustard

I love getting out there and talking to people—doing interviews in person, jumping on long phone calls, asking questions, meeting people at their studios and seeing their craft first-hand. But those days where I have lots of meetings and lots of calls are also the days where I get the least amount of writing done. Tried to batch all my big calls and interviews this week into one day (yesterday). While I was out, here's what went online.

Conde Nast Traveler — Things to do on a 10 hour train ride

Food & Wine — Grey Poupon and rap

Three different levels of food story

Three different types of food stories from inside my brain today.

Food & Wine — Interview with and profile of human person I know and like

Food & Wine — Thing about Chinese heritage I found on the internet

Food & Wine — Something about carving funny faces into fruit

Look who's back on Glamour.com

Spoiler: It's me.

Glamour — Celebrities get creative with handbag holding (Yes this is an actual thing)

My first beauty story in years

I haven't been a beauty editor since 2012, when I left my Glamour job at senior online fashion and beauty editor (online was smaller back then and one staff editor could handle both departments—now the fashion and beauty online teams are much more robust). I haven't written a beauty story since! I forgot how much I love writing service-oriented stories (they're also the exact kind of beauty story I like reading most, as well).

Elle — Easy ways to straighten hair without using heat

Also here is a random chat about work life stuff.

Oculus Saturday

Heading down to the Oculus for the first time later today to meet up with a friend and I remembered I put these shopping stories together for Harper's Bazaar and Marie Claire. Excited to see what the Westfield shopping center downtown has in store! Can't believe this will be my first time there.

Harper's Bazaar — What to wear tonight, for any occasion (I'm especially obsessed with the red Karen Millen dress in the first look—so 80s!

Marie Claire — Stash these in your desk for easy after work hijinks

More fashion, more cheese

Elle — What Chloe Norgaard Wore

Harper's Bazaar — Something shoes

Harper's Bazaar — 1 bag 5 ways

Food & Wine — Nefarious cheese fraudster story

Catching up, slowly

OK, I spent all morning procrastinating, but got some work done, so now I'm only THREE stories behind. I have a phone interview in an hour, so off to prep for that right now. But first, snacks.

Food & Wine — Look, I'm still writing about family leave

Food & Wine — How to go viral on Instagram

Food & Wine — What is a Marionberry?

Food & Wine — Fruit flies: they're just like us

This is what procrastination looks like

Here is an incomplete list of things I miss about England when I'm not there:

— The milk
— Great newspapers
— The correct way of doing things
— Breakfast
— Television
— Yeo Valley yogurt
— Sandwiches
— Good bookshops everywhere
— Pubs
— London friends
— The country
— Clotted cream

Here is an incomplete list of things I miss about New York when I'm not here:

— Seamless.com
— Family
— My really fast home wifi
— My bed

Places I still really want to go:

— Easter Island
— St. Petersburg
— Moscow
— Saudi Arabia
— Morocco
— Macau
— Chengdu
— Mongolia
— Hawaii

Places I'd really like to return to:

— Cairo
— Aswan
— Beirut
— Damascus
— Taiwan
— Nairobi
— Dubai
— Alaska

Social life and science

A+ social day yesterday—got to have a late lunch with one of my favorite former colleagues, then drinks/interview with one of my favorite menswear gurus, then a press dinner with Patagonia (one of my favorite brands) which was hosted by one of my favorite humans and where I bumped into a few of my favorite media humans.

That said, I didn't get very much work done, but here are two tiny science things.

Food & Wine — A tall Pike Place Roast a day could help prevent dementia

Food & Wine — When is Hyperloop coming?

Fashion and food Tuesday

Some new stuff for Tuesday morning.

Harper's Bazaar — 9 models to follow on the internet, but not in a creepy way

Food & Wine — When clean eating goes too far

Food & Wine — Space is "Virgin" territory

Panama City Beach without spring breakers

I had such a fun time in Panama City Beach last month—and as a first-timer who'd popped down to the region expecting wild partying and spring break craziness, I was super-surprised to discover a very mellow family-oriented, not-crowded-at-all, seafood-and-beach vacay atmosphere. Here's my teeny tiny tip sheet for anyone looking to head down to PCB and avoid the party scene (which seems to only happen in one very limited part of town anyway).

Food & Wine — The softer side of spring break

Good morning Monday!

Some fashion bits and pieces for this morning.

Harper's Bazaar — Styling tips to steal from the runway

Harper's Bazaar — Evening bag, you know you need one

Marie Claire — Hands-free bags to make your life easier