books rock

Gayle is one of the most striking women I know. She's also my favorite librarian. One of the enameled pieces on her bracelet says, "I read banned books."

The eye may not be posting for a bit, snow, snow, and more snow forecast for GRR. It's hard to get pictures when everyone is so bundled up!

just right

When buying a birthday gift for a friend today, I met Connie. She looked so cute in her trapeze-cut black shirt and animal print cardigan topping skinny gray cords and (who doesn't love) converse sneakers. The delicate pendant necklaces make this ensemble just right.

for starters

Betsy Borden owns one of my new favorite shops on Cherry Street, Peninsula Trading. I love to travel and Betsy's shop has all you need to be a chic and practical traveler. I've been in this shop 4 different times now and each time Betsy has looked fashionable and cute.


This is Josh. I spotted him while I was sitting in Kava House typing the first entry for this blog. He seemed a little surprised when I asked to take his picture and modestly claimed he was not nearly as fashionable as some in Eastown. Be that as it may, there was something about his aviator sunglasses and red striped sneakers that I liked. That plus the fact that he is a classic Michigander (even if he's not, I didn't ask) because he's outside basking in the sun in 34 degree weather!

two things

One of my inspirations is my Mom. She is one of the most beautiful women I know. She is native Hawaiian and Chinese and I grew up with her being widely praised for her beauty. She is also smart and extremely capable at all she does. Her beauty was hard to recognize when I was a child. She was just a warm wonderful presence called "Mom." It's only now that I'm an adult that I can stand back and see her outer beauty which is of course intimately linked to what is inside.


The second thing...also somewhat related to Hawai`i. When I moved here, the agent at the Aloha Airlines ticket counter was tickled by the airport designation for Grand Rapids, GRR. "Oh," he said, "I like that! Grr...grrrrrrr" he growled. So GRR it is and maybe be commonly referred to in this blog by it's sound. I am a tiger after all and this is our year.

let's begin

I love fashion, I love clothes, and I am an admitted clothes horse. I read fashion magazines, fashion blogs, buy books about fashion. When I was young, my fashion sense was severely restricted by budget and imagination. I don’t think I really came into my own fashion sensibility until my forties. Part of this was an initial reluctance to be fearless and to stand out. Once I reached 40, I felt liberated. I wasn’t getting any younger so what was I waiting for? So out came the vintage fake leopard skin coat bequeathed to me by my grandmother. I wore it to the next Christmas party.

This brings me to my reasons for starting this blog. As I mentioned earlier, I love fashion blogs, not just because of the clothes but because of their sense of beauty. The very best blogs present beautifully composed images of the clothes but also offer us glimpse into the character of the wearer. This is perhaps why I love street fashion, real people putting together outfits that work for their daily lives and yet say something about them. To be human is to have some artistic sensibility. Even those of us who are not artists by any definition of the word use our bodies as palettes to express our moods and our thoughts.

My second reason for starting this blog is that most of the bigger fashion blogs and most “street fashion” in the media is from fashion capitols, New York, Paris, Milan, etc. Many of them have beautiful, gorgeous images of lovely people wearing clothes that most of us could never afford and footwear that seems a little impractical. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good pair of heels, it’s just I just rarely see people wearing them (even in NYC) as they run around on their daily business. Yet I see so many lovely and delightfully put together people who are stylish and chic and practical. So I'm out to explore GRR with an observant eye.