A Peek Inside Honor Brodie's Carry On Bag

The other day, we were delighted to visit the Tory Burch offices for the second time this month. We're still working on our plot to move into the stunning mango and raspberry offices, until then, we're going to keep on coming up with excuses to visit.

On top of having gorgeous offices, Tory employs the nicest people. We convinced Honor Brodie, the editor-in-chief of Tory's Style Guide to let us look in her carry on bag. This was a special thrill for us, as Honor conceived of the idea of peeking in people's bags back when she worked at InStyle and wrote the "What's in Your Bag" column. That's Honor above, when she made a special guest appearance on this season's Gossip Girl. Here's what Honor travels with:


Tory Burch Matthais Weekender Bag



a D. Porthault makeup bag filled with Nars Laguna bronzer and Maldives highlighter stick, which Honor uses on the apples of her cheeks


Essie Pink Glove Service,


A Mason Pearson brush, Goody pony tail holders and Cherry Chapstick round out her bag.

T Anthony brag book filled with photos of my son Nicholas (JSG Note: We saw the photos. He is a delicious little budding J. Crew model.)



Handheld Tetris from Hammacher Schlemmer. Honor plays it so much she fesses to dreaming in Tetris. She also has a Blackberry Pearl and Cyber Shot digital camera.


Honor always borrow her hubby's Paul Stuart cashmere socks for the plane ride:



She travels with a Tory Burch cardi, similar to this one, for the inevitably chilly plane:




A whole pile of magazines, so she can get caught up. Faves include: In Style, Vogue, People, Allure, Elle, Bazaar, Grazia, New York, The New Yorker, and Elle Decor.

Honor raved about Happens Everyday by Isabel Gillies, the true story of a jilted woman.


For snacks, Honor likes Diet Sunkist, Balance Bars, Big Red, Jolly Ranchers and always has Gold Fish when son Nicholas is traveling with her.

Tax Day 2009 Restaurant Specials

Work in D.C. and still agonizing about your taxes due today? We feel your pain since we had a hefty check to pay this year that we just mailed off.

The restaurant Zola located in Penn Quarter is offering specials in its bar today: not only is there a fixed priced tax-free lunch and dinner and a specialty IRS Rasberry cocktail (a tempting mix of bourbon, lime, Steaz raspberry and green tea soda); but tax prep advise. If that's not enough, they'll provide your IRS forms, calculators, pencils, and envelopes. They'll even mail your forms for you if you finish by 11:00 p.m.


Already finished your taxes (you showoff!), why not head to Robert Wiedmaier's newest restaurant BRABO located in Alexandria, Va. adjacent to the new Hotel Lorien and enjoy your lunch or dinner tax free? BRABO has a Belgian inspired menu with five onion soup, roast beef and havarti sandwiches with Belgian frites, wild mushroom fois gras ravioli and Belgian waffles (when we visited they sent us home with a waffle dipped in dark chocolate- totally decadent!).

Do you know of a hot spot near you offering to ease the pain of Tax Day? We'd love you to share!

Bath & Body Works Japanese Cherry Blossom

We arrived home last week in the middle of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (if you've never been it's a beautiful couple of weeks to visit D.C.) to find a package full of Bath & Body Works' Japanese Cherry Blossom products on our doorstep. How timely!The new Sheer Japanese Cherry Blossom scent is lightly floral and fruity and suited to the welcome springtime. Our favorite products were the Limited Edition Rice Dry Oil Spray and the Sake Oil to Cream Cleanser. The cleanser was great to use in the shower since our skin is dried out from the cold weather and the Rice Dry Oil Spray smoothed out our ashy legs on Easter Sunday (no, we didn't wear stockings to church, gasp!). Both come in cool sake shaped bottles.
top photo courtesy of the National Cherry Blossom Festival

Scarlett Johansson - Inspiration for our Spring Haircolor

It’s that time of year, when we usually start to think about going lighter with our locks. But with our funds a little tight, we don’t want to spend the money on highlights. Ben Stewart, Color Director at Cutler/Redken Salons in NYC, agrees:

When the feeling of our environment is a little more somber, like right now with the economy, wearing a darker color can reflect someone's mood. Many times blondes will tone down their color to a softer blonde so as not to appear frivolous to what's happening in the world.

So, if you’re thinking about going darker, a la Scarlett Johannsen, a color change Ben likes:

I feel like it is a nice change for her. It is a very rich color and it looks so glamorous on her. I feel that she could pull off any color she wants. It really bring out the color of her eyes.

But aren’t quite sure, Ben suggests:
If you are thinking about a drastic change, you want to be really sure that you are ready. It is not so easy to return to your former color if you aren't satisfied. You may want to go to a wig store and try on a couple, just to get an idea of how much it will change your perception of yourself. And I would recommend a consultation with a professional make up artist. Be prepared - your make up and the colors in your clothes may not work the same! (Annie learned this lesson the hard way, with her blush.)

MAC's Rose Romance

Leave it to MAC to make girly pink not only pretty, but sexy, too with their Rose Romance collection. These are the perfect hues to get us through the rest of spring. We’ve been rocking Way to Love lipstick (far left) and the Steal My Heart Lipglass (5th from left) and have already gotten tons of compliments. The lip See Thru Lip Colours (the three on the right) are gorge, but like other MAC stains , they’re not long lasting, unless we prep our lips first.


The limited edition Rose Romance collection goes on sale at MAC on April 23.

Spa Week April 13-19

We're always excited when Spa Week comes around and we can try out new salons and treatments for only $50. Last year we took advantage of the good deals and had facials that would normally cost us $100. Thanks, Spa Week! Be sure to ask for the Spa Week specials when you call the salon.

This year, we'd like to try the new Ted Gibson Salon and Hela Spa in Chevy Chase, Md. The Hair and Scalp Renewal Treatment with the Signature Ted Gibson Blowout and Classic Manicure (all for $50!) sounds tempting; but we also could really use the 45 minute Greta Garbo Deep Cleansing Facial with T-Zone Extractions. Maybe we should do both? It's practically two-for-one at these prices!

We've toured the gorgeous new Red Door Spa at the Willard InterContinental; but haven't had a treatment yet. There's no better time than this week and the 50 minute Stress Buster Ritual has our name on it.

Want to get ready for bathing suit season? The Cellulite Center at Luminesa Medi-Spa in NYC is offering a 50 minute Body Slimming Treatment. If you try this, let us know your results. It's one treatment we haven't done yet.

Completely Bare has three locations in NYC that are offering Laser Hair Removal for the Bikini area or a Brazilian Wax (ouch!) which will round out your beach prep.

Visit Spa Week to find the hundreds of other spas across the country that are participating this week only.

On Our Radar: Alabama Chanin Workshop

Here at JSG, we’re not the craftiest types. Annie can barely read her own handwriting, much less draw an identifiable stick figure, while Hope is a little more artistic and went through a jewelry making phase a few years back.

We do, however, enjoy designing our own T-shirts. On our annual get together with our high school besties last year, we even brought along a stack of American Apparel tees, scissors and a few embellishments. Even though we’re artistically challenged, we are able to create cool and funky tops from basic tees. (See the results below.)


After meeting Natalie Chanin, the designer of Alabama Chanin, at the HBO party celebrating their partnership, we’re ready to take our do-it-ourself tees up a notch.

Natalie is known for reusing fabrics to create gorgeous concoctions, as she did with a stash of HBO tees from Sex and the City, True Blood, Entourage, the Sopranos and Flight of the Concords. That’s Natalie at the top with models sporting two of her shirts. You can buy the Alabama Chanin tees at the HBO store in NYC (they may be available online in the near future. We'll keep you posted. Or you can call the store at 212-512-7467.) Personally, at $65-$85, we think they’re a bargain, since each tee is a hand-designed one of a kind.



Lucky for us, and other crafty JSGs out there, Natalie is generous enough to share her secrets, both in her book, Alabama Stitch Book, and in her day and weekend long workshops. We’re seriously considering hitting up the one in Richmond, May 15-17. Wanna join in?

Don't forget to enter our contest to win a Smythson jewelry roll!