Corks and Caftans

I have this little quote snipped from a magazine that I’ve hung onto for years. It’s good advice, and advice I wish I’d inherently understood from ages 15-30. Quick retrospective: Ages 1-7: sport clothes for life that involves crotches full of sand, full days on flats boat baiting shrimps with hooks through their eyeballs in [...]

[Chicken paprikash, a la Wodehouse, a la a really old, run-off copy of a page from Good Housekeeping my mom passed down to me ages ago, with a tiny "Yo!" in the corner I doodled on her recipe sheet while chatting with a friend on the phone in the kitchen circa 7th grade.] There’s a [...]

[VMFA in Richmond, walking distance from my home in The Fan.] Ha ha! Fanny! I’m sorry, my dad came up with that last time they were visiting. And since fanny is one of my favorite words, it stuck. I’m a Fanny. I live in the Fan. Get it?

[Chop Suey Books in Carytown, Richmond, VA.] The more chances you have to be around people—strangers, in particular—the more opportunities you have to be proven right about them. Or wrong, however you view the glass. I tend to assume every person is both fundamentally kind, and trustworthy. Within certain parameters, of course. Just as likely [...]

Testicular metaphors! My specialty. Rob was quite the bacon maker this weekend, so I found myself in need of free entertainment. Emphasis on ‘free.’

[Staring at Stars t-shirt and bra, Urban Outfitters + Free People shorts + Sam Edelman booties + Dannijo purse + Low Luv pendant.] My father wasn’t a big man. He was only inches taller than my mother—scrawny, almost, but strong—with hair that was always a little too long, unless it had just been cut, in [...]

Homemade pickles, Croque Monsieurs, desserts made fresh daily, and a simple chalkboard wine list—we found our local haunt. Now we just have to become locals—a status that can’t be quantified by a certain number of visits… or mayoral rankings on Foursquare. It’s a sense of belonging; it’s neighborly, it’s taking ownership of the handful of [...]

Yesterday, I went for an icy dip in the Battenkill. It was an inexorable request I made to Rob, and not the first time it’s been made, either: I want to swim. There was the arduous process of “getting used to it” that I haven’t had to endure since I was 13 and August had [...]

[My nephew, Trent at The Black Sheep: I'll take 4 Battleships, two Bloody Mary's, and your best cut lemon.] I breathe—I sleep—I exist—but most importantly, I wear lots of fringe. Reporting live from Richmond, VA, this is your very own Caftans correspondent, Carey! Experimenting with heat rash, the oversight to pack only fringed boots for [...]

This morning I sat up on the deck alone for a few hours drinking coffee, while Rob slumbered away downstairs where I’d left him. Warm enough for shorts and a sweatshirt, Vermont made an irrevocable promise this morning that she’s agreed to shift into Spring. And in my forgiveness of her grievous wrongs of the [...]

[H&M lace vest + squash blossom necklace + Made with Love bracelets + A Wang tee + J.Crew cords + Joie lace up boots + Gorjana bracelet and pendant.]

This is something the guys can understand—bare feet, a pair of tight jeans or corduroys, undone hair and a comfy sweater on your lady. Sexy. Add an oversized wine glass holding the last splash of something special, and the photo lights are destined to start warming. This is my kind of outfit post.