turning the sunday scaries around {with botanics beauty}

When it comes to my weekly routines, I've had a touch and go relationship with Sundays. In fact, I used to hate them. Don't believe me? I've written about it quite affectionately several times in the past, here and here. And I'm probably not preaching anything new here to y'all. Sunday scaries, otherwise known as an excuse for millenials to brunch way late in the day, spend a lot of time on social media into the evening and then wonder how they're going to get everything done before Monday morning meetings start. Until eventually saying "f- it" and picking up a cheap bottle of wine instead. 

I've definitely succumbed to this. Heck, I still do from time to time. We're only human after all. And us humans like to get distracted.

But you know what? I think I've finally turned a corner. It only took me 30 years to realize that Sundays aren't ALL that bad. 

For me, it all comes down to little pleasures and routines that I can look forward to. Sundays are usually my day for both rest and catch up. I don't run or exercise on Sunday (my one day a week to just veg), I usually have a longer phone conversation with my mom (it's hard to fit in during the week sometimes with the time difference), laundry gets done, Elvis gets an extra long walk to Washington Square Park and I spend a bit more time in bed in the morning reading the Sunday New York Times. 

I try not to focus on work-related catch up until later in the afternoon/early evening when I'm more settled inside for the rest of the day. That's when Elvis and I put on some tunes (either country music or Michael Jackson) and the laptop comes out. I'll get caught up on email, edit photos, organize my editorial calendar for the week -- all the while, usually with a face mask on and House of Cards playing in the background. 

We've talked about skin a great deal lately (my last post here) and I have another big skin update coming your way soon, namely about some hormonal prescriptions my dermatologist has me on, but the general spoiler alert is this: I'm slowly getting more comfortable in my early 30s skin. Granted, no one warned me that things might shift and change in this department, post teenage years, but hey, there's a lot of things you don't get warned about in life -- sh*t happens and you gotta roll with it. 

So rolling with it, I am. 

What does this mean for my Sundays exactly then? It's my chance to pamper my skin and have my own little girls night in with Elvis. If I can avoid it, I'll forgo makeup for the day, lather on some of my best body creams and slap on an ionic clay mask, like this one by Botanics. Since my skin has been on the oiler side in recent years, I love using a clay mask once a week -- it's much more absorbent and effective at drawing out impurities in my skin, like blackheads and the early stages of zits. This particular mask contains willowbark (a natural, friendlier form of salicylic acid), which I've found has really made a difference in tightening and minimizing my pores (because, hey, I got big pores and I cannot lie). 

The downside though? Elvis hates it when I wear my masks -- it's as if he doesn't recognize me. I guess he's the one with the Sunday Scaries now. 

If you're looking to revamp your Sunday routine (or maybe just want to update your mask game in general for a little Botanics Mask Night), Botanics is giving away their latest ionic clay mask to lucky readers in honor of #EarthWeek. Simply head over to their Instagram now, follow their account and be sure to leave a comment on their #EarthWeek giveaway post. Best of luck! 

Photos by Lydia Hudgens

This post was in collaboration with Botanics Beauty. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

highway 1

Dress: Otte NY; Jacket: Old Navy (old, but contemplating this jacket here for an update); Shoes: Steve Madden; Sunglasses: Celine

You can take the girl out of the West Coast, but you can't take the West Coast out of the girl.

It's true. It really is. As much as I've reflected on the past year (how crazy right -- it's been an entire year since I've moved to New York!), I've undoubtedly loved my time living on the East Coast. The pace, the energy, the people, the cities and of course, the learning experiences it's brought along the way -- definitely worthy of a life update post, which I'm working on at the moment.

But there's something about returning to California, even for just brief weekend visits, that remind me how much I loved my time living there as well. Nostalgia is a funny thing isn't it? It floods back almost all at once at the smallest triggers, a sunset, a song, a long drive home. And you're suddenly remembering former versions of yourself, former afternoons you've spent and the people along the way. Whenever I head back to California, no matter how brief the visit, I try to get my hands on a car -- any car -- to just drive down Highway 1 right before sunset. This past visit I was lucky enough to partner with Sixt Car Rental, who graciously offered this Mercedes GLA you see here. It was the perfect steed to literally drive off into the sunset -- and with the right oldies blasting on the radio, I couldn't help but smile about all the good memories California holds for me and will likely always hold for me.

Photos by Anna-Alexia Basile

This post was in collaboration with Sixt Car Rental. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

postcards from the sea {sailing away with celebrity cruises}

Floral dress: Cynthia Rowley // Wetsuit: Cynthia Rowley (mine and Christine's); White dress: Reformation (from last summer, similar style here); Hat: Hat Attack

There's an interesting thing that happens when you embark on a cruise ship. OK, actually, there's a few interesting things that happen. The first, and probably the most obvious one, is that you immediately become painfully aware of your balance (or lack there of once the ship starts sailing). And the second, you will never really understand what a nautical knot is. Trust me on this. Many of the staff will try to explain it, but your landlocked brain, much like mine, will find it hard to grasp. And the third? At times, you'll find yourself wondering how you could possibly eat another meal, but once that fresh mahi mahi comes out of the kitchen, you forget all your stomach woes.

As for what else happens on a cruise ship? Well, the rest is nothing short of an adventure (which trust me, I had my reservations about at first -- but am now a proud believer). And to borrow from my friend David Foster Wallace's piece on cruise ship sailing (mainly the writing format, not necessarily his sentiments about cruising in general), I'd like to share with you a little slice of our week long experience, sailing through the Caribbean Sea with Celebrity Cruises aboard the Silhouette last month.

Ready? Great!

I can now say that I've done and loved the following...

little black dress {speak beautiful at bethesada terrace}

Dress: Self Portrait; Shoes: Steve Madden; Bag: Chanel

Confession: I don't like being in photos. Never have. And likely, never will.

Now, this may seem strange considering I write a blog where I post photos of myself, every day. Actually, it may seem pretty counterintuitive. Or perhaps even neurotic that I, someone who shies away the camera, could keep up with this for over 7 years. And it's something that I thought would get easier with time (and in some ways, it has), but the bottom line remains, if my photographer and I shoot together for longer than 20 minutes, I get anxious.

It's not that I necessarily hate the process of taking the photos (I mean, we hopped down to the subway the other day and had a lot of fun dodging crowds and capturing the movement of the trains). I really do love the art direction and story telling involved in it. What sets me off is more the idea of my face being in the shots -- it leaves me unsettled. Suddenly, my insecurities, as if I'm a teenager all over again, come flooding to the forefront of my mind. "Who do you think you are? You're not tall enough to pull this off. This angle is all wrong for you and your arms. Everyone can see how awful your skin looks here." And I don't think I'm preaching anything new or surprising here. We've all been in this position: our critic and sometimes our biggest enemy, is ourselves. Especially when it comes to our self-image.

As I've entered my late 20s and now early 30s, I've gotten much better at quieting these doubts and self-inflicted insults. I know where they stem from, I know that most of them are only in my head and I know the ones that perhaps have some truth behind them, are by no means, worthy of ruining my day or my outlook. I'm a healthy, active 30 year old living my longtime dream of writing and living in New York, with many other blessings in my life to be thankful for. If I happen to breakout or I'm not feeling as thin or as toned as I would hope in a certain dress, it's a first world problem and I need to put into perspective as such.

Of course, I'll be the first to admit, it's not easy to do every day. Especially with the ease to which social media makes comparing your life to this person or that person -- it's a relatively slippery slope, even for the most positive of people (which I do consider myself one), to not slide down. As supportive and accepting as I think we can be of others (again, not a perfect situation either), we still hold ourselves to these unrealistic expectations of what we think we should look like and be like -- and, unsurprisingly, always coming up short and disappointed.

And we're usually the first and the only people to point it out about ourselves.

That said, when Dove approached me about their latest #SpeakBeautiful campaign, I couldn't have nodded my head faster. In an effort to change how we portray self-worth and self-image online, Dove has developed an algorithm that will essentially measure your 6 month Twitter history, looking for key words and phrases, to provide insight into how your words impact others. And whether you recognize it or not, words are powerful. So powerful. And the minute we can start impacting the tide  of how women view their own beauty and body-image and empowering them to take control of it, I think we will have turned a pivotal corner. But it starts first with recognition.

I received my results just the other day and found the data breakdown fascinating. In general, my tweets have an overwhelming positive sentiment to them, and those pertaining to beauty and body-image, were actually 7% more positive (hey, go me!). But what I found even more interesting, were the simple take away actions. As it turns out, my positive tweet time window is between 6 and 8am, meaning, I'm more likely to say something body-image positive during this time, whereas most women, are more prone to tweet something negative about themselves between 9am and noon. And I totally get that. It's the grind of the morning, schlepping to work, rushing to that meeting without getting a chance perhaps to put yourself together just the way you would have liked. I've been there more than I would like to admit. A little task I've given myself lately is when I like something about someone's outfit, or hair or general attitude/look, I tell them. Because it takes 5 seconds for me to say, and sometimes, it's all it takes to turn someone's day around.

Have you guys had your tweets analyzed? Were you surprised by your results?

This post was in collaboration with Dove. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

Photos by Lydia Hudgens

a taste of film {celebrity cruises}

Jumpsuit: Self Portrait; Bag: Chanel; Shoes: Steve Madden; Sunglasses: Elizabeth & James; Necklace: Jennifer Zeuner

As someone from a relatively smaller town (well, Reno is called the Biggest Little City after all), there are a few things that would signify the start of summer for me, namely the first weekend camping trip of the season up to Lake Tahoe and the opening of the drive-in movie theater. 

The latter holds a special place in my heart. There's just something so nostalgic about going to a drive-in theater -- the tuning of the radio station to the movie channel, grabbing popcorn and Junior Mints at the concession stand, cozying up with someone cute under a blanket as you settle in for your double feature under the stars on a warm summer evening. 

Many of my weekend nights growing up were spent at the drive-in, with friends, with family and sometimes with that aforementioned cute someone. Each time, it made me experience the movie in a much different way than had I gone to a regular movie theater -- there's something much more tactile, experiential, sensory about it -- that makes even the most mundane of movies that much more enjoyable and memorable. Heck, I can still remember seeing one of the Transformers movies in college at the drive-in and while I can't stand that franchise (sorry, not sorry, Shia), I can still look back on that experience and my date at the time, and smile. I think it's why we love eating outdoors and drinking rosé the minute it hits 65 degrees outside. It transports us in a different way.

All of that being said, you can imagine it's been a few years since I've gone to the drive-in. And I do miss it. Dearly. So to my surprise and delight, the folks at Celebrity Cruises recently invited me to their take on the drive-in -- with a twist. As part of a new experiential initiative on a few of their cruise lines (primarily the Asia, Alaska, Caribbean Bermuda and South America trips), they're introducing A Taste of Film, a dinner and movie experience, where cruise goers can enjoy a movie screening under the stars on their rooftop terrace, while different courses, each paired in time with pivotal meal moments in the movie, are brought out to enjoy. Each film is selected for its relationship with and centering around food and a destination -- think along the lines of "Julie and Julia" or "Chocolat." For our evening just last week, we watched "The Hundred-Foot Journey," the story of a young Indian chef's journey to earn a coveted Michelin star. The cuisine, as you can imagine, blended Indian flair with French flourishes. And Michelin-star chef Cornelius Gallagher did not disappoint (my personal favorites included: the Jerusalem artichoke veloute and the lobster feuille de brique). They say smell is one of your strongest memory triggers. Well, the minute I smelled truffle coming out for one of our main dishes, I was sold. And will likely not be forgetting that movie, that meal or that experience of the two together anytime soon.

Huge thank you to Celebrity Cruises for inviting me and reminding me how much I love watching movies outdoors (especially when great food is involved along the way). And I can't wait to set sail with you this Sunday (stay tuned -- we're heading to the Caribbean soon!).

Outfit photos by Lydia Hudgens + Event photos by Ben Hider

This post was in collaboration with Celebrity Cruises. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

checking in {langham place}

Pajamas: Marigot, gifted; Dress: Houghton borrowed from Plan de Ville; Boots: Stuart Weitzman; Fur coat: Vintage, gift from my mother

Perhaps it's just me, but there's something about checking into a beautiful hotel that makes me feel like a little girl. In the best way possible, of course. Almost as if it's my excuse to dress up, jump on the bed (at a reasonable hour, naturally) and order room service pancakes (regardless of the hour). Then there's the fact that everyone insists on calling you Ms. Bick that always makes me giggle a bit to myself. Ms. Bick just reminds me of my mom, so I can't help but look over my shoulder to check for her when called it. 

Yes, at the risk of this being the most first world sentence I've ever typed here on This Time Tomorrow, beautiful hotels are my weakness. And getting to stay at them? An absolute dream, one that I don't take for granted. 

This past fashion week, I had the opportunity to check into my new favorite hotel here in the city. Langham Place, located in the heart of Midtown at 5th and 37th. Granted, this downtown girl doesn't make it uptown that often, let alone, midtown, but that's the beauty in staycations, right? It allows us to see a new part of our own backyard, restaurants and shops alike, and of course, skyline views from my 19th floor bedroom didn't disappoint either.

Amidst the craziness that is fashion week, it was so nice to come back to this (not so) little refuge high above the city, each night. Langham Place boasts some of the largest rooms in the city, and upon walking into mine, I was blown away. (Let's just say, several of my West Village studios could have fit in there.) After a day of trekking around the city, bundled up in layers and not so functional shoes, I rested easy knowing that a nice long bath soak, a fuzzy robe and a bottle of wine were waiting for me. Oh, and putting a little Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald on was the cherry on top each evening.

As far as hotel amenities go, I loved that I didn't have to look far for great food (another first world priority, I know). Most evenings I ducked into their downstairs lobby bar and lounge, Measure, for a hearty bite and night cap and on one certain special Valentine's Day evening, I might have popped upstairs to their Michelin-star rated restaurant, Ai Fiori, for a delicious six-course meal for two.

Huge thanks again to the folks at Langham Place for hosting me. You certainly made this fashion week attendee feel right at home in Midtown and I hope to join you again soon!

This post was in collaboration with Langham Place. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

Photos by Lydia Hudgens