[EATING] 3 SUMMER SALADS

If soup is my winter staple, salads are my favorite foodie thing about summer. I feel too guilty indulging in strawberries in the middle of January (he says on the internet) and can't stand so-called "winter salads" of like, beet root and artichoke stump or whatever, so the seasonal dietary change is always welcomed with open arms. Here are three of the most perfectest salad combos for summer (counter-clockwise from top): strawberries + spinach, chickpeas + parsley, and avocado + tomato.

Put your personal spin on these recipes with a twist and a tweak - some nuts, more cheese - or add homosexualist flair by serving them with a "tossed salad" joke! (Don't ask, Mom.) (Wait - don't Google it, either!)

{Images + recipes via: A Daily Something, Simply Delicious and Simple Provisions. Like this post? Check out this recipe for quinoa bibimbap!}

4 DOS (AND 5 DON'TS) FOR SUMMER

Dear Men...How are you? How you feeling? It's raining like balls out in NYC today, but we had some nice weather earlier this week, didn't we? It was so nice, in fact, that you made some life choices that we're going to have to talk about. You see, just because summer is approaching doesn't mean you have free license to dress like Matthew McConaughey at a bathhouse premiere of Spring Breakers. Below, some guidelines for the warmer weather ahead...(click image for source.)

Click through for the 5 DOS and DON'TS of summer dressing!

INSTAGRAM LIFE VOL. 1

Summer is winding down, can you believe it? This is the month all of Europe hits the snooze alarm and people start to actually go back to school, holy crap. To savor the flavor while it lasts, here's a brief look into some of what I've done this summer...

clockwise, from top left: I made new business cards! And I'm passing them out like crazy. Like how the font on the card is the font of the blog header? #designminded // I went to Riis beach for a shoot recently, more on that later! These bushes were pretty and the ocean was spectacular! // Great storefront signage on Rivington

Picasso-viewers at MoMa...it feels like I took this forever ago! I love MoMa, holla Target Fridays // These are some African-print shorts I picked up from a street vendor whose nephew ships them over here from Nigeria. Or Senegal. Or, you know, like...somewhere in continental Africa // Boats on the water in Central Park // Kelly looking Virgin Suicides-y in the Park

Cherry tomatoes I cut up to make the salad featured here // A new read for the season...I'm telling you, plants are my new obsession! // Spinach and a Gorgonzola-Blue Cheese hybrid I picked up at Eastern District to make this dish, so good.

Follow me on Instagram @thisfruitsnaps

[SUMMER LAYERS] TORN

photos Kelly Kollar // jeans 10 ft. Single by Stella Dallas // teesh Your Neighbors // sweater J.Crew (seen here) // shoes vintage Bass (seen here) // sunglasses Ray-Ban

Today's outfit is my first from New York! Here I am on a rooftop in Harlem, doing my thing...you know how I roll. This post and next week's are about transitional summer dressing, i.e. I know it's 100 degrees outside, but AC kills me! Having a cardi on hand is just like, so necessary. Last week I blogged about being in love with my new platform House of Holland Supergas and the trend continues here, as you can see I'm all up on my my vintage Bass Vibrams. What can I say, except shorties got big dreams, too! I've been thinking about heavily distressed wide-legged denim ever since seeing the first pic included in my inspiration board below (after the jump), like, five months ago. Now, I feel like I've seen the look everywhere, from Vogue's Social Shopper to Stop It Right Now. They're a great summer staple because they provide mondo ventilation. Buy them a few sizes up and wear 'em loose and cuffed.

The only shiny new thing in this post is my pair o' sunnies, some super-hot blue-tinted Ray-Bans I bought (at more than 50% off!) instead of eating. They've not been the world's biggest success (They got poo-pooed at work, garnering comparisons to Will Smith circa The Fresh Prince and The Beatles - but those are both good references, people!), but I am totally in love with their shape. Big ups to mi amiga Kelly Kollar for snapping these photos and offering up the unsolicited yet valuable fashion advice, "Are those jeans really a trend right now?" and, "I can't tell if your hair is supposed to look like that." Check out my inspiration board below...

Click through to continue reading this post!

DEAR INTERNET No. 21

Loving this old photo of Natalie Wood and RJ Wagner...baby boy is killing it, no? A halfway unbuttoned shirt + major high-waisted action, #ftw

These illustrations by photographer and graphic artist Anthony Gerace are part of his Final Decline & Total Collapse series, which is supposed to impart, "a sense of melancholy and elegy, of nostalgia for eras that have passed, and the recognition of an era that is passing." Deepness. His portraits are also pretty incredible...check him out on Flickr here.

Amanda Peet's L.A. pad, as featured in this month's Vogue, is finally up online. With landscape design by Miranda Brooks captured as beautifully as ever by François Halard, you simply must check this out.

Oh, man, some summery foodie-ness to share...spiced black bean, grilled avocado and goat cheese tacos by Naturally Ella, Coffee Hazelnut ice cream from Top With Cinnamon and a summer salad of peaches, tomatoes and cherries with herbs via The Kitchy Kitchen. Someone make it all for me? There's a hug in this bargain for you!

Die Antwoord just released the video for their new single, Baby's On Fire (my favorite track off their 2011 album, Tension). It's a bit like a John Waters-cum-Quentin Tarantino John Hughes movie, or at least definitely a lot less creepy than their video for I Fink U Freeky.

Happy Friday! Get your fix of *fruity weekend fun on Instagram @thisfruitsnaps

THE BROOKS BROTHERS SHIRT

This shirt is so quintessentially summer, no? Vintage Brooks Brothers from Low, 100% fine cotton - so eighties, but so now! Summer shirting is tricky because I royally suck at the polished thing any time of year, but am not even willing to try in oppressive heat. I use either my patent-pending Twist & Tuck method (not to be confused with Buffalo Bill's T&T method from The Silence of the Lambs, a clarification I'm required to make for legislative purposes) or a loose front-tuck (seen here and on Lucy Chadwick below), or sometimes I just let my shirttails roam free. I love my shirts voluminous for that "borrowed from the boyfriend" aesthetic - a lazily half-popped collar here, a flash of nipple there when my halfway-unbuttoned shirt falls open as I lean forward to pick some chard in the community garden...what could be sexier? Probably nothing.

original photo by Joel Codiamat; loose-tuck inspiration photos via The Sartorialist and Vanessa Jackman, visit me on Pinterest for more!

SUMMER WEIGHT

Here I am working the pensive thing pretty hard, having obviously just descended from the back of my pony to struggle with further rejection from Zac Efron. I’m sorry I didn’t realize you weren’t interested in the computer rendering of what our baby would look like, Zac. Anyway…this outfit might be a little preemptive considering it’s not even May, but we all know this year’s been unexpectedly warm so hark, and listen to my wisdom.

The Uniqlo button-up is lightweight cotton that I washed and dried by crumpling it up into a little ball. It’s so fine that it holds the wrinkles and looks like linen. Or a crinkled-up-ass shirt you pulled out from the bottom of your dirty laundry. Debate! I roll up the sleeves and loosely tuck it in front for that “je ne sais quoi” effect. The scarf is a double-sided Dries Van Noten silk that I rarely wear because it’s so fancy, but the color! The detail! So good. And last, but not least: woven belts for summer. #revelation

P.S. I am aware that Madonna has nicer arms than I do.

photo Joel Codiamat