On this post, what’s new at Sezane, Kit Kemp’s new book and how to get her design vibe, and more
The 25th September 11th Anniversary
It is hard to believe it had been 25 years since September 11th. Like most of us, I remember the exact time we heard of it. I had an almost 3 year old Jackson and was pregnant with Griffin. It made me scared to think what kind of world was coming for my boys. If we have learned anything from what happened, it is that hate never solved anything and love for each other is all that really matters. I think so much of the people that day who sent messages of love before they perished.
Two heroes- Todd Beamer and Mark Bingham went to our own Los Gatos High School and were part of those on the third plane that was headed for Washington D.C. They decided to charge the cockpit when terrorists took over and prevented what would have been the deaths of many more. Our high school had a military flyover last night from a football game honoring them. Max and I ran out to see the planes last night from our yard and thought of these brave souls. My heart went out to so many yesterday. I am sorry if any of you too lost friends and loved ones.
Lunch with friends
On a brighter note, I have a September birthday, (hello Virgo sisters), I was so lucky to have three girlfriend lunches this week. I am not a party person, but one on one time with friends is precious.
I got my Sezane Sonali zebra dress (same as the denim one) just in time for the heat wave this week and wore it to pieces. It was great for a warm night out.
A birthday tradition in our family is to send pics of the birthday person to our family text chat in the morning. It’s always entertaining to see what pics we come up with. We of course try to find the most ridiculous as well as sweet photos of the birthday person! Pictures of me dressed as a tortilla and hugging many cats over the years were featured.
My best friend Ani sent me the most beautiful flowers!
Saturday my friend Rosie from the UK was here with her family. You may recall I wrote about visiting her charming town of Stratford-Upon-Avon a few years ago. Rosie is traveling for a few weeks on the west coast and she had a free day in my area, so we spent a lovely lunch and some hours hanging out in my town of Los Gatos. We talked more than shopped and I had the happiest day with her. I still marvel I was lucky to connect with a friend across the world and we can chat like we just saw each other last week.
I also had lunch with my friend Heidi. We had some fun at Santana Row and Heidi found these adorable pinstripe jeans at the Loft on sale! She’s been busy getting ready for her daughter’s wedding so we had much to chat about.
I also bought this blue necklace (on sale too) at the Loft which looks so luxe in person. We also loved this green pinstripe track pant . They didn’t have my size, so I may order online. I think they run big – read the reviews. Would be adorable with sneakers and a big sweater for fall.
Sezane Fall bags and more
Heidi and I had to pop into Sezane of course where we checked out the fall collection. Sezane has a new direction with a whole new look in clothes. They have gone in a more modern, clean aesthetic and did a revamp of their logo, new Instagram and website. The store is still getting up to speed, but has many of the new things, one of which was the fall bag collection which I was crazy about. There are a lot of pretty shapes and colors. I loved the chocolate browns, bottle greens and rusty oranges.
I tried a few crossbody bags and fell in love with this dark green Gary Bag, which I bought. The orange was a great color too and I also considered this suede cutie.
I love this bag’s size. The green color will look great with navy and the neutrals I love to wear in fall. The quality of these bags, like their clothing, is so good.
The scarves are also on point this season. I want this one and this one. A chic lady working there had a bandana tied on her wrist as a bracelet and it looked very French. We adored these croissant keychains. Many great jackets and coats were also there like this Jonas plaid trench!
A few books!
Isn’t the idea of a picnic romantic? The thought of packing a basket with sandwiches and treats with a pretty blanket on a fall weekend just sounds wonderful and something we need to add to our lists!
Rosie gifted me Picnic-Tempting transportable recipes for outdoor eating book and I’ve been loving it. It’s inspiring, with great photos, and Rosie said she chose it for the recipes and she was right; they are so good. In it you will find so many fresh ideas for lunches, alfresco dinners and desserts. They had me at Chicken Mango Cucumber Ciabatta, Hunk of Cheese Scones, and Pimm’s Summer Salad! It’s a great gift book- obviously!
You might also like this post with a picnic idea and a few recipes.
The Kit Kemp look
Heidi gave me Kit Kemp’s new book Design Story which has been on my list! It freshened up on my coffee table with the lovely candle she gave me and my hoya plant.
I have been fortunate to stay at two of her Firmdale hotels, and Kit’s eye is unlike any other designer’s. Lots of people are using more color, but the way she mixes textures, colors, and objects is so appealing and special. She layers patterns you wouldn’t think to layer and incorporates crafts and 3-D art into it all. I am inspired to think even more out of the box and try my own version of it after reading her new book.
Get the Kit Kemp Look…
I love this zig zag wool rug, this scalloped table that would be so cute as an entry table or at the end of a sofa. I found a few of her collaborations on pillows, wallpaper and also added other pieces that have the Kit Kemp look here…
A Cozy Connecticut Farmhouse with Gilmore Girls Charm
There is loads of charm in the collected home of Taylor Swaim. I like her styling ideas, like a garden pot to hold kitchen utensils. One of the great things here was keeping her kitchen in the original farmhouse configuration and the linoleum floors. You can follow her also on Instagram.
Other good things
Want to host a fall dinner party? This fall dinner party by designer Peter Som will inspire you.
Mary Ann, Annie, Cindy and Susan did posts on fall dressing and they are packed with good things and pretty pieces to consider for your fall closet.
Annie’s Most Lovely Things Shop has reopened and she has so many vintage treasures from her travels to France!
I was just sent this No Makeup- Makeup by the original natural makeup guru Victoria Jackson and I am loving it. You use the excellent brush to just softly pat a small amount of this on and it covers yet looks so fresh. It’s also fast to get on which is nice. I got this pretty lipcolor too.
If you missed last week, I shared why Summerland needs to be a stop on your next road trip, David Byrne and cool fall pieces that should be on your radar.
Have a lovely weekend,
Kim
Please stop by Juliet and Elizabeth’s blogs for more good things.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY! It sounds like you had a fun time.
Looks like Sezane still has some great things.
We were living in Paris, my kids were in school and I was ironing in our living room when some of the scenes came on tv. So scary. Yes, we all remember where we were. The next day, one of our French neighbors left a garden bouquet of roses at our front door. And in the days following, American flags hung from hundreds of windows on the boulevards.
Take care. And thanks for mentioning our fashion posts.
Mary Ann, Thank you! I appreciate you sharing this story of living in Paris during this time. How wonderful your neighbors were so kind. I am not surprised at all. I still remember seeing all the American flags on the graves in Normandy, and how well kept they were by the French. Even the towns still had American bunting flags all over.
It hurts to hear how we have been treating our allies after all this love and support.
Loved your fashion posts!
x
I was actually in Nashville recruiting new flight attendants … when the news came on and we were in disbelief.., the job fair was canceled and we headed back to the hotel to double and triple up in our rooms to make room for the other flight crews. We were stuck in Nashville for 5 days until the flights were allowed to fly again. It was such an weird time to be stranded so far from home. When we flew home our Captain stood at the door and reassured us that he was getting us home safely. Wow, how flying has changed because of 9/11.
It sounds like your birthday was great!! I love your dress!!
Martha, Wow. I didn’t think about all those who were stranded somewhere. Definitely made people bond with others didn’t it? I think of all that Canada did for us too with all the flights and the homes people stayed in up there. They were so good to us.
You have been there and seen the changes with aviation through all this!
Aw thanks this is the most comfy dress too. x
Happy birthday sweet friend. So much fun you are getting in! I am a big Kit Kemp fan. I loved her cafe at Bergdorf’s.
What?? I am not surprised you like Kit!
I need to know about this cafe?! Thank you dear Anita! Was a fun week.
Kim! Happy Birthday! I love your family group chat tradition … as well as multiple lunch celebrations. More birthday lunches, more better. How fun to have a Sezane nearby, I’ve read so much about their rebrand and have been curious. I love the Gary bag, I’m a fan of mini-buckets and this one looks perfect. I’ve also been wanting to try the No Make-up Make-up so I’ll use your link to make my purchase. It’s impossible to believe it’s been 25 years since 9/11 which feels like yesterday and forever ago. Hearing that you were pregnant at the time brings a new perspective … so many of our younger generation weren’t born yet and are learning about the attacks via family stories, school, and television. Like we learned about WWII. I remember Todd Beamer so well, and his wife who I believe wrote a book about her life following the tragedy. I didn’t remember that they were Bay Area locals. What unimaginable bravery they showed on that day. xo
Juliet I love the mini bucket too. I think you’ll love the foundation!
Yes Todd’s wife did write a book I think. They were amazing people and I think of them and all those we lost. x
Happy Birthday Kim!! I hope you have a fabulous fun filled year! Love your zebra dress and the cute bag; Sezane has so many lovely things. Looking forward to the US Open finals!! And 9/11 we must never forget.
Thank you so much Francesca. Aw thank you. xo
Hi, Kim – Happy birthday, youngster!! Glad you had so much friend-time. Nothing beats that quality time catching up and hanging out.
Yesterday, my husband and I watched a re-broadcast of the 09/11 Today show, which is how I learned that a plane had flown into the first tower on that day. It was notable to me that Matt and Katie did not make much mention of the wellbeing of the thousands of people who needed to evacuate from those 110 story buildings, even as the buildings collapsed. My memory is that I was typically rushing around, preparing to drop my kids at middle school and high school on my way to work. My daughter says she recalls she came downstairs and I was just standing in front of the TV, instead of “doing a million things, as usual”. And then it was so quiet once I was downtown — no air traffic and everyone was just stunned, wondering what would happen next.
Meanwhile, I just listened to the James Talarico spot with Jimmy Kimmel on YouTube. Ridiculous that the FCC tried to censor it! So far it has nearly 8,000,000 views! Isn’t Jimmy Kimmel a national treasure? I received and wrote my 100 Blue Wave postcards. Hope that everyone will make an effort to vote (early, if possible), and encourage everyone else to do so as well!
Aw thank you Julia, I am glad you mentioned that. I only became aware of all those trapped in those buildings last year when I watched a documentary. We never heard about all of those who were trapped. It was hard to know how awful that was.
Funny how your daughter remembers too where you both were. I forgot how we all were so scared after too,
I was so glad James Talerico’s spot on Jimmy was going viral after Trump censored it…. in our America! Love Jimmy and James. Thank you for doing the Blue Wave postcards. That is awesome!!
Yes thank you for the reminder to vote early! x
The flowers are beautiful! There is nothing more exciting than a beautifully curated store! If you have the funds to blow or are just inspired by what you see- it is like an art! Looking forward to fall. Take care, Kim.
Thanks Nicole. I agree. I’m so excited for fall too.
Hope you had a good week ! xo
I wonder if you have availability of Canadian tv channels there , as I have NBC, ABC, CBS , PBS here ?
The reason is Global National had such a comprehensive look at 9/11 recently , with the inclusion of of past Presidents at the 25 year memorial as you mentioned and , of course , how Gander Airport in Newfoundland factored so dramatically in those events. The “ plane people “ …nearly 7000 passengers and crew aboard 38 planes that were diverted to Gander as part of Canada’s Operation Yellow Ribbon were welcomed by the 10,00 residents there. I landed at Gander in 1958 ( age 7) enroute to Scotland to refuel , as was typical back then for transatlantic flights. Because it was one of the busiest airports in the world then, there remained long runways available for the many aircraft that were diverted. There are still many strong ties between American passengers and their hosts that were made at that time. Included in this Global programme was the visit of George W Bush to Canada a couple of years later thanking Canada , and particularly Gander, once more for its humanity and care . Sadly, this is such a different time for our neighbouring countries.
Cath, I have caught a few shows on how wonderful Canada was to us in that tragic event. It was amazing all the people who took these passengers into their homes so kindly. 7,000 passengers!! It is such an act of love and kindness to strangers we should never forget it. That these people are still in touch with some of their hosts is just the best.
Canada has been so good to us in so many ways, it makes me embarrassed and ashamed of the way this president has treated Canada, our dearest pal. One day, I hope we can make it up to you all. Just know Americans love you all and he does not represent most of us. xo
I just reread your post on Vancouver BC as I am visiting it now. Loved the piece on Rosie Daykin’s home. You captured it all perfectly. Fabulous spot. Thank you for your writing. Each and every post is full of so much from family to food to politics and style! Wonderful.
I share your body type and for me the short waist and fuller bust are daily challenges.
Please know that your work is much appreciated.
Carole I hope it helped on the trip. Enjoy. Vancouver is a gem.
Rosies’ home was so good. Aw thanks so much for your kind words!
Glad to know there are more of us with the same figure… It’s a challenge isn’ it? xo
Dear Kim,
Yes, September 11th will forever be etched into my heart, and I will never forget. The whole thing was shocking. Humans are generally pretty fleeting and they are onto the next big thing. This stuck with all of us. I kept a plate attached to the back of my SUV for over ten years, a remembering message. I usually do not put things on my car, it’s just not me, but it just felt right to keep my message up.
Gee Kim, it looks and all that you shared you had a wonderful celebration with your dear friend Rosie from the UK. Yes, I recall Rosie, she took you and Max to a lovely dinner one night. Heidi and you are the adorable ladies, always shopping and enjoying a nice lunch together. I hope you are having a good birthday month each and every day.
Have a wonderful rest of your eeek.
Katherine mine too. You’re so right, this will never leave us.. I love that you kept your message up that long. It says so much about you.
Rosie is such a dear friend. I feel lucky. Heidi too.
Hope you have a great week too. xo