Cat Nap: A Series

Lazy Sunday afternoon naps. 

Every then minutes or so I would look up and mr. kitty would have rolled over or stretched out into a new oh-so-comfy looking way.

"oh hi, u been watchin me?"

xoxo

First Impressions: Astoria

The big news in my corner these days is that I recently moved to a new apartment in a neighborhood that is totally new to me: Astoria! Having spent three years living in Harlem I was ready for a change and was drawn to Astoria for it's affordability, laid back residential feel, and plentiful tasty restaurants. While I've been pretty busy with getting myself moved in and settled into the new space, I have found a little time to explore the neighborhood as well and check out some of the local restaurants. I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite discoveries so far for anyone curious about the neighborhood! 

Right down the street from my new place is a cute restaurant and bar with outdoor seating called The Bonnie. Since it is close to where I live this was one of the first places in the neighborhood that I tried, and since their menu all looked so good I've been back for more! The first time I went in I ordered the Burrata BLT sandwich, and it was phenomenal. Served on thick cut bread with crisp bacon and soft burrata, this was a total win. They also had a cocktail special that night which involved gin and blackberries that was a total hit too. The next time I went back (only a short time later!) was to try out some of the salads I had seen other people enjoying on my first visit. I got the strawberry poppyseed salad and loved every bite. Not only was this salad pretty to look at with all the bright colors from the strawberries, greens and soft white cheese, but every bite had something tasty in it, including almonds, and cucumbers and feta. I also have my eye on their fried chicken sandwich.... the next time I'm there I'll be sure to tell you how it is.

Exploring along Ditmars Ave one evening landed me at the Pomeroy which was blasting all the best '90s rock songs out the open front windows. So many of the drinks on their menu looked tempting but I settled for the Down by the Bay, a watermelon and cucumber cocktail that was so tasty and summery. Made with fresh watermelon juice this drink was perfect for a hot summer night sitting in the open air seats by the window. 

The Ditmars area of Astoria is known for its Greek restaurants and plentiful bakeries. So far I have only tried the Lefkos Pyrgos bakery, but I know that I'll be hitting up all the rest soon! At Lefkos Pyrgos I ordered the baklava cheesecake to share... and OMG was it delicious! A bottom layer of some of the best cheesecake I think I've ever had, with a top layer of flaky Greek baklava combined for an amazing sweet treat. So many of the cakes and sweets in their case looked to-die-for so I know I'll be back here before long! 

One of the most exciting discoveries I have made though, is that I live right down the street from some of the best bagels I've ever had -- and that's saying a LOT. I am very picky about bagels, and have so far been largely unimpressed with most of the bagels I've tried in New York. I knew the good ones had to be out there somewhere but I had yet to discover them. I like my bagels to be dense and flavorful - I can't stand when they are fluffy and chewy (think Dunkin or anything similar). Up until my move to Astoria the best I'd found were Tomkins Square Bagels and Blackseed Bagels, both of which are very good, but somehow weren't quite perfect. But moving to an apartment right near the Astoria location New York City Bagel and Coffee House has changed everything!! Their bagels are hugeeeeee and so tasty, and definitely my favorites in New York! On my first visit I got an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a sesame bagel and it was so so so good. I had to save half of it for later though because the bagels are so big! On my second visit I had a toasted bagel with bacon scallion cream cheese which I gobbled right up! And just to top things off, they also serve Dough doughnuts in the cafe - so yeah that's dangerous to walk by every day! Phenomenal bagels AND phenomenal doughnuts all in one place?! Almost too good to be true.

xoxo, CC

Back to Blonde

Hello and happy summer! Last month I decided to change up my hair a bit, and went back to blonde just in time for the height of summer! I had let my highlights grow out for the past two years so my hair had been looking pretty dark with a slight ombre fade from my natural darker color on top to a lighter blondish color at the tips. After trying out my natural hair color for a while I was feeling ready to get back to a brighter blonde shade that I'm more familiar with, since I've kept my hair blonde for most of my life. I also can't believe how long my hair had gotten! I tried to keep some of the length but had the stylist trim up the damaged ends a bit for a smoother look. Anyway I wanted to share a little before and after pic of the results! 

My natural darker shade still peeks through for a textured effect, but the addition of light highlights is summery and fun. The change looks subtle here but as the highlights have matured I am feeling great as a blonde again.

Top: Loft. Bag: Rebecca Minkoff.

 Before:

After:

xoxo, CC

Three Years

Happy Monday!

I started this little blog three years ago this week. 

In celebration I threw on a orangy-red sweater dress and matching statement earrings. Pairing it with OTK boots and a faux fur wrap makes the outfit perfectly wintery for a 40º February afternoon. 

After three years you sometimes have to revisit your motivations and evaluate what's important to put time and effort into. On a milestone like this I like to remind myself why this is important for me to keep up with. Why do I blog? Because I love clothes and I love finding different ways to style things, and I want to share that passion with others who enjoy fashion and styling. Clothing is such a fun way to express yourself, and I choose my outfit each morning based on how I feel that day and what look feels right to reflect that. I always like to pair things in new ways so my outfit is always fresh and current to my mood and not stale or repetitive. While it's always fun to have something new and exciting, lately I've been challenging myself to wear old favorites in new ways or to style unique pieces into wearable work outfits. I like being able to share my fashion adventures in this way and connect with other people who share the passion for getting dressed each day.

I haven't been posting as much the past few months as I would like to... it can be awfully hard to find time to shoot photos during the daylight, and then have time to edit them and write as well. As we are getting into the spring I will have more daylight hours to work with (yay!) and hopefully will get settled into a good work routine that will allow for me to allocate more time to a blogging schedule. I've had lots of ideas lately for posts involving other aspects of life as well, such as restaurant spotlights, "book club" posts, and home decor that I'm considering working into the rotation as well. Let's see what this next year brings!

Dress: J.Crew (similar 1/2). Boots: Sam Edelman. Faux Fur: Urban Outfitters (1/2). Earrings: J. Crew (1/2). Lip: MAC 'flamingo.' 

xoxo, CC

Finding Mexico in NYC

Over the weekend I discovered the cutest taco restaurant... the decor and natural lighting make you feel like you're truly on vacation and not in the middle of chilly New York. Anyone who knows me knows I love Mexican food more than just about anything else (with Thai being a close second) and Tacombi served up delicious fresh tacos out of a VW minibus parked in the middle of the restaurant space, along with delectable guacamole and strong margaritas. When you first walk in, the VW bus is the first thing you notice --it's not every restaurant that has a vehicle parked in the middle of their space, retrofitted as a kitchen none the less. Then the casual bright decor sinks in, the metal tables, cement floor, painted walls and white tiled bar lined with bright juice dispensers and real pineapples... I fell in love instantly. 

The decor and the natural light streaming in through several skylights make the space feel truly authentic as though you have been transported somewhere tropical. Everything about it feels bright and fresh with vintage undertones and a laid back vibe. Notice the checkers and backgammon game boards printed of several of the table tops! And the strings on lights! I felt right at home and have to say I certainly plan on heading back soon! They have three locations throughout NYC so I plan on visiting the others as well -- as long as they have bright colorful decor along with the delicious food I'm sure I'll love them just as much!

I've been wanting to share more blog posts like this on places I've tried and liked in NYC, what do you think, should I add a blog series on restaurants and places to try? Let me know if that's something you'd like to see more of! 

Tacombi, 267 Elizabeth St. New York, NY 10012.

xoxo, CC

The Two Best Apps for A Beautiful Instagram

Instagram is the "it" social platform these days, especially for bloggers and influencers since it is wonderfully engaging, easy to use, and easy to gain followers and extend your social reach. Even if you just use it for fun, it's always nice to have a thoughtful, curated feed of photos that really pop! In the past year I myself have come to rely heavily on Instagram as an extension of my blog and a way to gain exposure. There are several other apps and tools which I have have found super helpful in creating the best visually engaging Instagram feed, and I wanted to share my two favorites with you!

UNUM: I have come to rely heavily on this app, and it's hard to remember life without it! UNUM is an extremely helpful app for organizing the photos you plan on posting to your Instagram and seeing how they will all look together before you post them. It is super useful for maintaining a color scheme and making sure you are spacing out your outfit shots vs. close ups, food, and scenery shots. I love that I can plan my posts ahead of time and play around with where I want each photo to go and what order they look best in. You can also edit your photos right in the app, have captions ready to go with each image, and even see stats on which hashtags are getting the most results, and what times of day your posts get the most interaction. The only downside is that this app is for iPhone only (sorry everyone else!!). 

Lightroom: Can you believe the mobile app is totally free to download on your phone?! How amazing is that. I have wanted to download Lightroom onto my computer for ages, but the application is fairly expensive, so I was thrilled when I found out the iPhone app is free! It is extremely helpful with editing photos for my Instagram page -- in particular I love that you can adjust each color in a photo individually. I had previously become frustrated when I wanted to to saturate certain colors in a photo without saturating all of them (for instance saturate the foreground outfit colors but not the leafy green background!), and Lightroom enables this! After using several basic photo editing apps, Lightroom is a dream with the features it offers. It has become my go-to for editing color in my images, and I sometimes will even send photos from my computer over to my phone so I can edit the colors!

Now you know my secrets! Between UNUM and Lightroom I feel like I have been able to massively upgrade the quality of my Instagram photos and feed. Of course, taking good pics is an essential foundation to creating an visually appealing page (and I can't say that all my pics are perfect, but I give it a shot!), but having some helping hands in the process certainly can't hurt!
I also recently started using a follower-tracking app which shows you which of your followers are not following you back, who has unfollowed you, etc. and this info is super helpful if you are trying to boost your following and understand follow patterns. Between these few apps I feel like I have a much better approach to creating a beautiful Instagram feed with photos that represent my life and the things I love!

Check out my Insta @charlotteclaraxo!

What are your favorite apps? I'd love to hear in the comments!

xoxo, CC

Travel Diary, Milano Day 1

Ciao! I just got back from my trip to Milan, and I am so excited to share some of the pictures with you! We spent most of our time exploring around Milan, sightseeing and eating tons of good food. Our first full day was spent walking around Sforza Castle and Simpione Park, as well as discovering that we could not get tickets to see Da Vinci's Last Supper fresco at such last minute notice. However, we did discover a hidden garden at the back of the church, complete with a fountain and cobblestone-paved pathways. I had heard before that Milan is known as the city of hidden gardens, and this seemed to prove true! Many times I could just glimpse some greenery behind the gates of a walled private garden in the city.

Since the weather was chilly I bundled up in layers with my faux leather jacket and a voluminous scarf to combat the chill as we walked around outdoors for most of each day. Comfy boyfriend jeans and cute booties were ideal for hours of walking, and this periwinkle blue sweater (last seen here) added a cozy touch. I kept accessories to a minimum, but topped it all off with this fun colorful scarf to add a pop of pink to the look, and a berry pink lip. Whether in NYC or traveling, jeans, booties and a leather jacket makes the perfect fall outfit for a day of exploring.

Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Da Vinci's Last Supper is on display

Outfit// Sweater: Asos, now on sale! Jacket: Zara. Scarf: Yarnz. Jeans: 7FAM. Booties: Jessica Simpson via DSW. Bag: Rebecca Minkoff. Lipstick: Sephora Rouge Shine No 65 "hot & fun."

Sforza Castle

Michelangelo's Pieta, his last, unfinished sculpture.

Simpione Park

xoxo, CC