We drove into NYC as the July 4th fireworks lit the city skyline. Le sigh!

This blog post is alternatively titled “WWCD,” the acryonym broken down as ‘What Would Carrie Do?’ Get that on your very retro, 90′s throwback, nameplate gold necklace, why dontcha?  I love New York.  Do you love New York?  If you don’t, you should!  There is a frenetic energy that underscores the city, a dash of glamour punctuated with personality, heart and grit. 

Classic Carrie: Did you have a nameplate necklace too? I need to find mine...

OMG, do payphones still exist??! Carrie Bradshaw uses a payphone after throwing her cell into the ocean (rage shame spiral) SATC movie

All of my travels to New York are filled with wild adventure and enough sketchy tall tales to fill a screenplay in which incriminating names and places have been changed to protect the innocent. (Ahem, said film would be directed by Wes Anderson, young me played by Vanessa Hudgens, older me Thandie Newton).  While I would love to share all my secrets, my hair would deflate. 

Here are some fun places to see and be seen, that both Carrie and I quite enjoy….

The iconic Manolo Blahnik shoe. Love this blush satin version of the ones that Carrie left in her walk-in closet.

 Manolo Blahnik (31 West 54th Street) –  My friend C dragged me to the store in search of perfect wedding shoes.  Surprisingly, the store is in a tiny brick building (blink and you’ll miss it) with Manolo’s strewn about on ledges and divans like an Upper East side apartment of an aging socialite.  Apparently, the ladies of Manolo need to take a siesta between 2-3pm.  So make sure you go post-haste, guzzle your brunch Mimosa before they shoo-shoo you out of there.  If you are going to spend a wild fortune on shoes, you should languish in a chaise, take your time and try on high heels a la Cinderella.

BOHEMIAN: Free People gives me crochet and tassles for Summer 2012! I'll have a second helping of that.

Shopping in SoHo – I think this neighbourhood (SOuth of HOuston) in Lower Manhattan has such character with its cobblestone streets, funky boutiques, artsy galleries and cafes.  It is a tourist mecca on the weekends but more casual and chilled out on a weekday.  You can get your boho on at Free People or Madewell, max your credit card at the Bloomingdales shoe department, rock leather and lace at All Saints, run into Clinton & Stacy at Scoop NYC or stalk your fave Kardashian at DASH (mine is Khloe for laughs, Kourtney for clothes).

Madewell: Good enough for It/Hipster Poster Girl Alexa Chung.

Buddakan (75 9th Avenue) – This Chelsea supper club was in the engagement dinner scene of the SATC movie.  The Asian fusion menu is tapas style, perfect for sharing and reasonably priced…until your waiter starts free pouring the Grey Goose.  But it’s ok, you’ve had dinner so the hangover won’t be that bad.

Happy birthday LC! I confess I enjoy fireworks, especially in the shape of a heart.

Writing my blog for the past two years has been both a rewarding and exciting endeavour.  I write about haphazard musings that have taken hold of my fancy, from the frivolous to the heartfelt.  Time and again, I am surprised to meet strangers who follow me regularly, am utterly thankful for your ongoing support and am touched by those who embrace ‘living with inspiration.’  In many exchanges, I am asked how it was that The Love Collage came to be (here is a refresher).

When I originally built my website in WordPress, you only had one instant to choose a title.  The title was everything and for me, it had to convey sincere meaning with a dash of wit. 

“What should I name it?  Hrmm, what should I name it?”  Perplexed, my eyes darted around the room searching for an idea to spark a revelation.  I stared out the window.  The afternoon rays were peaking through the wooden blinds.  I sighed heavily.  My head twisted to the left.  There it was.

A month prior I had decided to feng shui my bedroom.  In my tidied love quadrant, lay charms meant to invoke love, the theory being that a mini-shrine to love would create an abundance of love.  This presumption made sense to me and plus, there truly was no real harm in creating a tableau in hues of red and pink.  Sitting atop an otherwise empty shelf was a vintage postcard of entwined tango partners, a tanned Spanish George Hamilton look-alike in a 70’s one-piece dance outfit and his female dance partner attired in ruffled flamenco garb, an oversized faux rose bouquet and a love collage which I had painted and carefully pieced together on my birthday.

And so became the title of my blog, The Love Collage.

I have come to grow very fond of this title because it captures the sentimentality of memories, the passion of dreams and the small things we treasure.  The Love Collage is more than a diversion – I write because I love to write but am ever thankful that you love to read.

The Love Collage is inspired by…

Early Carrie Bradshaw. I do type in cute outfits where possible or paint my nails between checking emails. Mad skills.

Do you dream in black & white or colour? A sketchbook a day keeps the doctor away. The mini hoarder in me collects postcards, jots down observations and sketches inspiration.

NERD Alert: I am like reallyx3 into the library lately. I want to wear a tweed blazer with patches on the elbows and my Lisa Loeb glasses. Nerd pick-up lines: "Study much?" "Do you want to be my french tutor?"

The possibility of travel: In 2012, I have resolved to hang glide from Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil (tandem of course). Oh yes, I am a fashionistah adventuress.

Classic Carrie Bradshaw: The pink ballerina tutu

Ah November.  Is your social calendar filling with invites to birthday soirees, holiday parties, and BFF dinners?  My favourite after-dark attire is ‘Cocktail,’ not only because it alludes to the consumption of alcoholic beverages but because in my books it’s the most fun look to pull together.

The ‘Cocktail’ hour bridges the truly formal (black tie) and ready-to-wear (skinny jeans).  In your wardrobe, ‘Cocktail’ is the life of the party.  She’s ready to get down with a few rounds of champie, dancing shoes and she’s not ready to come home until the break of dawn.  You like her already.

This party season, I am throwing my support behind Tulle.  Tulle everything – in dresses, in skirts, in your hair!  Voluminous tulle in a fine gauze or larger open weave adds a flirty and youthful playfulness to any outfit.  All of a sudden, Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ sounds off in the background.  It’s the rustle of a petticoat, the use of your hem as a dance prop, the way a tutu makes you galavant carelessly in the street.  Tulle is the absinthe of fabrics, a party aphrodisiac.  Let’s get drunk, shall we?

Alice + Olivia Tulle Party Dress: If you saw this girl in the room, you know she's gonna have a good time. One shoulder & jagged edge hem. Seriously!

Wearing this BCBG Tulle Tutu in blush pink is like pirouetting down a sidewalk singing Mandy Moore's 'I Wanna Be With You' a la Center Stage. Did you get my obscure 90's teen ballet movie reference?

Happy Birthday, LC!!  Like any proud mommy, this first birthday is a cause for celebration.  On this day, let’s reminisce about the good times and the events that led us thus far.  Please sit down (if you aren’t already) somewhere cozy.  I am going to share a story.

About a year ago at this time, I had been marinating for a while on beginning to write again.  I felt compelled to do it but I was pretty scared to start.  Looking back, I was totally having a Julie Powell  moment - anxious with self-doubt, worried about the criticism.  I had a few glasses of wine with my friend M about beginning a blog; she had already began her own successful site on Art Deco Style and it was faring quite well.  She gave me the nudge of encouragement that I needed.

A few days following our encounter, I was driving into work listening to the rush hour radio show.  It was uncommon for me to be listening to the radio as I detested the sound of people squabbling first thing in the morning.  I preferred an uninterrupted playlist to which I could bellow the lyrics at the top of my lungs and bop my head. 

The DJ came on and said, “We have so-and-so (can’t recall the name) here today who has a very successful blog.”   He warmly thanked her for coming to the show and recounted details of the site.  It seemed the purpose of the site was to amass recipes of strange foods and photograph some of the gross or nonsensical examples: meatloaf in the shape of Stonehenge, twinkies wrapped in bacon, so on and so forth.  The DJ then questionned her on a rumour, “We hear that you have a book on the way.  Is this true?”  She paused briefly and answered, “The details are still being finalized, but yes next year we are releasing a book.”  I gasped.  How was this possible? Okay, great for her that she was successful and people were responding, but she didn’t even write and she had a book deal?!?  That was it.  That was my defining moment.  Within the week, The Love Collage was born.

To all my lovely friends and followers, thank you for keeping up with the LC.  I enjoy reading all your comments and feedback.  I try to write about what I know on a variety of topics.  I hope that each post warms your day, makes you smile or laugh, gives you a new idea and encourages you to pursue those things that you love most.

The Love Collage is inspired by…

Carrie Bradshaw, the patron saint of the LC. She blesses all the singletons & friends with fashion miracles.

September Vogues: Why do people love fashion so much? Darling, it's the beauty, escapism and fantasy.

Rachel Bilson, because everyone adores her. Now that she's dumped that Hayden, maybe we're due to turn on the time machine to 2005 and Seth & Summer can reunite. Heck, I'm just reading the collective consciousness. Do you feel me?

 Champie check! Caftan check! Chiffon tent check! Wait a minute…where is the hookah?

Can you feel it?  It’s a strange euphoria taking over fashionistahs around the world.  They are ripping apart their closets for the ‘perfect outfit,’ scheming with girlfriends to confirm a hotspot for Cosmopolitans and breathlessly, anxiously waiting for SATC2 to premiere.  God help the straight man that accidentally goes to the theatres next weekend.  No doubt, it’s gonna be an estrogen overload with the requisite gays thrown in for good measure. 

I am extremely overjoyed that this installment takes place in the North African dessert as I am confident that its influence on pop culture will ripple effect.   If you follow the LC, you know that boho luxe is my favourite wardrobe choice.  Everyone who followed the HBO series, often concludes which character they most resemble in personality and style.  Of course, I choose Carrie Bradshaw. 

J’adore Dior t-shirt with boho circle skirt and the best coral studded gladiator stilettos.

Oh Patricia Field, you sass you.

• Vintage Carrie – I love how Patricia Field (costume designer & NY emblem of downtown cool.  I mean, what is NY without Pat Field??) mixes her wardrobe high and low, matching the casual with dressy.  An homage to early SATC, Carrie wears her trademark ’J'adore Dior’ t-shirt.  Maybe we should do the same? Ladies, dig into your jewellery boxes and dust off your gold script nameplate necklace.  It’s so 90′s retro.
• Turban Town – I like Carrie in a turban.  It works for her.  I mean, when in the Arabian desert…  My friend A, infamous ‘fashionistah-eccentric’ from the ‘What Anna Wore’ post has been trying to promote the wearing of turbans for a few years now.  Somehow the trend has yet to catch on.  A few years back, I hostessed a bridal shower where I asked invitees to make wedding dresses out of toilet paper, ribbon and tulle.  As creative director of her team, the model’s toilet paper Vera Wang was accompanied by a turban.  Of course, I had to declare them the winners.   

Fashionistah Adventurous: I’ve never seen anyone pull this off in real-life. Will you be the first?

• Living In Truth – For all the ‘ra-ra girrrl-power’ that SATC brings for us womenfolk, you know that there are going to be some bad apples that try to ruin it for the whole bunch.  Buy your tickets in advance and get to the theatres at least an hour early to secure your seat.  The last thing you want is a Friday night catfight.  I can envision it now: some girl puts her chartreuse capelet on a row of seats, another woman hit with the crazy-stick throws it on the ground and refuses to move her Jimmy Choo’s.  Someone pulls out her Louis Vuitton switchblade, hair pulling, chipped mani’s and parody ensues.  Note:  These are the same women that fight in line while waiting to pay at Christmas.   

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JPH-ZtZSw&feature=related]

If you ask a guy what their favourite band is, they invariably will say 8/10 Radiohead.  Sooo predictable.  It’s a guy-crush thing for Thom Yorke I suppose.  Try it as a social experiment sometime.  I couldn’t tell you best song as that one produces less mathematical, inconclusive result but Karma Police is a fair guess.     

My all-time favourite is the title of today’s post, True Love Waits.  It’s the strength of the melody and chorus as well as Thom’s teardrop tsunami vocals.  I love that lyric: ‘true love waits’ as it can be interpreted in so many ways.  For me, when I think about love, I think about the passions in my life that have come and gone.  If you have read my ‘About’ section, you may know that I waited for many years to begin to fully put my writing out there through the forum of my blog.  Often, I forget myself, but when I take a moment to think back and reflect on my formative years, the seeds of inspiration were always there waiting patiently to grow.   

Like a Midas touch, I wanted to push the creative envelope –  from writing my own HTML at 14 which I have long forgotten, and dipping Shakespearean English assignments in tea, burning edges and calligraphy writing in pen and India ink.  Pre-Imitation of Christ, I would tear apart vintage garments and reconstruct them for an evening out.  I felt like I could do anything, be anything I wanted and somehow that clear direction towards the pursuits that made me feel most alive got lost in translation.  I had lost sight of my path.  And I didn’t have a compass.  Or a cell phone.  And I was really allergic to trees.

Somehow, through the magic of the virtual web, the LC has reached over 14,000 visitors.  14 is a very fortuitous number for me, auspicious even.  I was born on the fourteenth and in numerology 1+4=5 the number of Change.  In terms of personality traits, I am supposed to be upbeat, motivational, versatile, curious and quick-witted.  So true!  haha.  I jest. 

All my life, I knew, sensed that I was a writer and an artist but even still I suppressed that urge for whatever reason.  I felt like a bird in a cage, banging hopelessly against the metal confines of my cage.  It was only when I made a conscious decision to change did I realize that my cage had an open door.  And when I took flight, I began to see that the brilliance of my youthful hopes and dreams were not lost, nor faded.  They were slowly coming alive, lighting up like an empty colouring book filling with vibrant watercolours.  My true loves waited for me to be ready.  It was as though no time was lost. 

And if there is someone, something or even yourself that you have been holding your breath for, be courageous and take action.  When you are ready, your true love will be waiting… 

Channelling Carrie: I do wear cute outfits while writing in case you were wondering.

Again, thank you to you lovely followers of the LC.  I love writing so thank you for reading.