Dear Rain:

I know that it’s not officially summer yet, and I should enjoy my last few days of spring.  I know.  Spring is my favorite season, even.  I am all about the tulips and the hyacinths, for which, by the way, I thank you.  But I am so over this rain thing.  Rain is good in its place — I love a good thunderstorm — but this drizzle that drags on for days and days leaves something to be desired.  You know that absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  I’m not really a Rules girl, but just think how much more everyone would appreciate you if you poured on the drama.  A couple of sunny days — then a big thunderstorm.  You see what I mean?

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Summer is in the air here in New York, and I’ve been on the hunt for cute sandals that can take me from day to evening for weeks now.  I LIVE in sandals during the summer season.  Something about letting my toesies air out of months of winter captivity is so freeing.

Flip flops at the office is a no-no, so I needed something a tad dressier.  The problem? They had to be cheap too.  Hey, it’s a recession.

Luckily I wandered into a Steve Madden the other day and came across this darling beauty:

The Motif sandal is a chic little number that’s available in numerous color options for the bargain price of $39.95 online and $29.95 in stores.  I wore my brand new tan pair the entire weekend, including a 2 mile walk home from my office – can you believe these babies are comfortable too?

Steve Madden FTW!

Having lived in Jersey for almost a decade, I’ve spent many a summer weekend “down the shore.”  And, given my penchant for all things campy, it should come as no surprise that I’m thoroughly amused by the BENNYs that gravitate to the shore every summer.

BENNYs would stand for “Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, New York” – in other words, all of the North Jersey Guidos who make the pilgrimidge down to Seaside, Wildwood or Belmar to spend the weekend.

You know, the guy best personified by Tommy from MTV True Life: I Have A Summer Share.  Enjoy this classic tale of love, partying and cheeseballs – Jersey style:

Chic, appropriate, and cool. From Trina Turk.

That’s right, it’s May, and you know what that means — wedding season is here.  If you’re between about 23 and 33, there’s a good chance that you are going to spend every other weekend this summer at a friend’s wedding.  If you’ve been through a few years of this, you probably have a couple of stand-by dresses that you whip out if you need them, but the chances are you still sometimes get invitations to events for which you just don’t have anything appropriate. I’m a big advocate of making an effort to find wedding-appropriate clothes out of respect for both the couple getting married and the venue.  (Even if you think some of the rules are old-fashioned, is it worth the risk of offending the bride or the groom’s mother on their big day?)  What’s wedding appropriate, though, definitely varies depending on the venue, the time of year, the time of day, and the couple.

The Femmeiniste style advisors have received a request for fashion assistance for attending an outdoor wedding in Cincinnati this August.  The extra twist?  She’s the sister of the groom. While she has wedding-appropriate dresses, well, you can’t wear the same dress you’ve worn to the weddings of several cousins to your brother’s wedding too.  (The earful from the family about that might last the rest of your life!)

If you’re not setting foot inside a church, sleeveless dresses become fair game.  Of course you still need to look like you’re going to a wedding and not a picnic unless the event is pretty informal, but if there’s not going to be a mass, the standards change a little. For an outdoor wedding, comfort becomes more important. Cincinnati may not officially be the south, but it’s not Churchill, Manitoba, either.  Heavy satins will look silly and cause you to poach in your dress, and anything that’s going to show the sweat the second you start to “glow” is a disaster waiting to happen. Don’t forget the wedding pictures!

So, our girl is blonde and divinely fair (may we recommend sunblock for this occasion?), tall, and although she’s slender, does have hips.  Here are our picks for outdoor wedding dresses for her this summer.

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The Good Guys

Ah, the sun.  My trip to St. Lucia was the reason I spent the last 2 months going to the tanning salon.  The first month I only went once a week for 10 minutes, I bumped it up to 12 minutes by the second month.  Growing up in Southern California I was taught to abhor the “fake and bake” in favor of the real thing.  That’s all well and good when the “real thing” happens most months of the year.  However, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Let me insert here that I am well aware of the dangers of tanning. I am also keenly conscious of the “first burn of the summer” phenomenon.   For those of you unaware of this event, it is the belief that one must get an initial, all body burn, in order to tan the rest of the summer.  Don’t ask me why, it was just a commonly accepted fact growing up on the beaches of So Cal.  So, thinking that a Caribbean “first burn” would be worse than a few months getting my skin used to fake rays, I chose the latter.  Having only done carry-on luggage for our flights, we were unable to bring large amounts of sun screen and figured we would just buy it at the resort…which we did… for $17 dollars a can.  I picked a Banana Boat dry oil aerosol spray (this was something new I hadn’t seen before) in SPF 8.  I have to admit that buying SPF 8 is a new thing to me.  My entire life I’ve been a 6 kind of girl, but, being told that the Caribbean sun is hotter, I chose a higher SPF.  The aerosol can was terrific.  I could easily spray my back and it was easy to rub in.  I did, however, use Neutrogena’s Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 30 on my face (which luckily fell just under 3oz and thus was able to make the journey with me).  After all, one must protect oneself from wrinkles.  The Banana Boat ran out after two days.  On the third day I decided to buy a local brand ($10 vice $17), and an SPF 15 at that!  I did this mostly to make my husband happy who frowned every time I sprayed my SPF 8 on.  Never has that old phrase “you get what you pay for” been more accurate.  The Banana Boat 8 was great!  It wasn’t oily, it went on evenly, and I never burned; just tanned after spending all day in the sun!  The local brand 15, however… Not so great.  It left a bizarre white film all over me and after two hours I was burned to a crisp.  Me = not happy.  I ended up retiring to the room early and proceeded to spend the next 18 hours rubbing aloe vera gel all over.  Grrr…. My lesson learned?  Spend the extra dollars on a name brand that you recognize, it just may save your skin…

As summer draws closer, some of you may be thinking of trips to Europe.  If so, here are some tips on airfares to Europe and within Europe.    read more »