EAT - C O S M O P O L I T A N

Sure, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda made the 'Cosmopolitan' the cocktail to drink with the girls, but truth be told the 'cosmo' has been around way before Sex and the City. Created sometime in the 1970's and brought to San Francisco via Minnesota circa 1987 this ever so popular, pretty drink packs a nice lady like punch.  So next time you have the girls over, mix up a pitcher, pull up your lounge chairs and watch the sunset.  Remember sip responsibly!

xxoo,
Windsor

BIKINI - T R A C K

Thank god for the local high school track.  For whatever reason it's the one exercise oriented thing that I can actually motivate myself to do.  Four times around is 1 mile.  I can do more - 5, 6 , 7, 8 times around seems pretty easy.  And when I am all done doing my laps I flop myself down on the fake grass and do 100 stomach crunches.  Bam!  I am done, in the car and on my way home.  Click on my Facebook badge and check out my trainer.  He's a tough one but super cute.

xxoo,
Windsor

LOVE - I N S P I R A T I O N

My life would be empty with out inspiration.  I see photographically, meaning pretty much everything looks like a photo to me.  I see shapes and forms, mentally crop and take note of the quality of light.  I am inspired by the colors of Santorini, the beach, high fashion, costumes, history, music and much much more.  Back in the day I would make inspiration boards.  Hours and hours of  going through my magazines and ripping  out pictures of things I liked, wanted to be or goals I wanted to reach.  I would pin them to a cork board that hung in my room.  Everyday I would look at my 'inspiration board' and visualize what it was that I was inspiring to be or do.   Now a days there's a little website called Pinterest that I am totally in love with. Pinterest is a virtual pin board.  It let's you organize and share all of the beautiful things you find on the web.  Pinterest has totally opened me up to a whole new inspirational level and I can't get enough!  Check out my boards and if they inspire you make your own.

xxoo,


Windsor

EAT - T A C O ' S

After a long day at the beach who wouldn't want taco's?  I am totally in love with My Brother's Chicken Taco recipe that I found on Pioneer Woman website (love you Ree).  I drive as fast but as carefully as I can back up Highway 1 to my little local market before it closes, pick up the basic ingredients for this dish, shake the sand off of me at the front door, crack open a beer and let the taco frying begin.  Chicken prepped, veggies chopped and POW chicken taco's for all.  Love Love Love.

P.S.  I added avocado and La Victoria to my taco's.

xxoo,


Windsor

BIKINI - P A R T Y

I am busily working on my Summer 2011 Bikini Couture Collection as we speak. Fabric is being printed, seamstress' are busily sewing and not only am I working on new designs to squeeze in, I am also planning a pre view  party!   Basically cocktails and bikini's (no you don't have to wear a bikini to the party) very chill. All of this plus, work, 2 kids, hubby etc.  Cra- cra I say!.  The guest list has been made, menu decided and I am going full out Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic for my party look.  Lots of white, pops of color, big fat roses, peonies, gardenia's and of course tons of bikini's. But the key is to keep everything simple and stress free - It's a party after all.  Save the date - Saturday, September 10, 2011 y'all better be there.

xxoo,


Windsor

LOVE - M O R N I N G S

Morning light streaming in through the redwood trees, just brewed french roast coffee in my favorite pink cup. Birds chirping as the warm morning sun sets the room a glow.  The first sip is always the best.  This is what I look forward to each and every morning.  I get a couple more sips in before my sweet little boy sleepily walks into the room looking for morning  kisses and hugs.  Mornings, I love them.

EAT - I N D I A N

When I was sixteen years old, I went on vacation to India for six weeks.   The furthest I had been was Hawaii so this was a big exotic deal.  From the minuet I stepped on the Air India plane I was in culture shock.  I felt like I was in little India with the locals.  My trip was memorable.   I rode elephant's to the top of an old palace laden with baboons who were angrier and smarter than your average monkey, saw the Taj Mahal on a full moon and stayed in the most fabulous Maharajah's palace that was converted into a hotel.  I almost got killed in a speeding car driving up the Himalayan mountains but my friend pulled me to safety as the car door swung open and I went sliding out to meet my dismay at the bottom of a rushing river.  I also lost about 20 lbs.  I didn't really need to lose 20 lbs - but due to being an extremely picky eater and turning my nose up to everything that was offered to me I lost weight.  The milk was from buffalo's, the eggs were "dirty" (meaning not pristine white like you find in the super market), the food was too spicy and who knows what they were trying to pass off on me - monkey brains, snakes, cockroaches.  I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie.  So, I settled on toast, banana's, cola, King Fisher beer and lots of potato's.   As I got older my taste changed and Indian food is one of my favorites.  My mom has traveled back and forth to India for years now and has become an expert at cooking Indian food.  One of my favorite dishes is Chicken Tikka.  Don't let the recipe intimidate you it's actually pretty easy and you can find all the spices at the super market.  This dish would be perfect for a summer dinner party.

BIKINI - D E S I G N

Today is a red letter day.  I am going to San Francisco and having some fabric printed that I designed.  When I was in high school, my crazy art teacher that no one respected told me I should think about going into textile designs based upon some abstract paintings I did.  I thought she was C U C K O O - textile design?  What the hell was she talking about?  I had no idea and I couldn't  grasp the concept because when I was in high school digital did not exist. I would have had to take a slow boat to China, have fabric molds made, dye lots created and many many strike off 's shown to just get 1 yard of final fabric.  Then a few years ago at work we started digital fabric printing and I managed production for small fashion designers based in SF, LA and New York.  I was in heaven and my art teacher's comment came rushing back to me as I saw what the possibilities were for "textile design."  No slow boat to China for me, it was at my finger tips and I started designing like crazy.  Now I have swatches and yardage and color charts strewn upon my work space like a big beautiful fabric bomb exploded.  So, off I go to the city today, dropping off files, picking up some suits from my seamstress and having lunch with my friends overlooking the San Francisco Bay.  Ah life is good.

LOVE - C A M E R A

"You give us those nice bright colors , you give us the greens of summers, makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah! I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph so Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away "  Paul Simon
     Well my mama didn't  take away my Kodachrome she's actually responsible for giving me all of my camera's from my first to my current Nikon.  She's my biggest fan.  But the sad news is that my Nikon D-80, my baby that I never ever leave home without is sick. I had to take her to the camera doctor and they had to send her to the Nikon hospital.  Boo hoo!  I feel like my arm is missing or that I've left my kid on the bus, naked is what I feel.   Tomorrow I find out what her prognosis is and how much it will cost to fix her.  I am hoping it's just a simple computer chip and she'll be better than new.  Fingers crossed.  


xxoo,


Windsor

EAT - B L O O D Y M A R Y

Sunday's are for Bloody Mary's.  They can cure Saturday night's hangover or give you a Monday morning hangover, either way it's all good.  I learned how to make a killer Bloody Mary when I first started bartending.   I found that most people wanted them spicy and the spicier the better.  And don't forget the celery salt it makes or breaks a great Bloody Mary.

BIKINI - S K I N N Y G I R L

Most bikini girls want to be skinny girls and if your sipping cocktails by the pool the calories are gonna add up.  I've been eyeing Skinny Girl Margarita at the super market for some time now, but not sure if I want to waste $15 bucks on what might be a novelty.  Then a friend of mine of who openly admits that she is a "drinker" and loves tequila told me that she loves Skinny Girl Margarita's.  That's all I needed to hear.  Off I was to the supermarket to buy me a bottle. So there I am at the store looking up and down the shelves for Skinny Girl and I can't find it.  I say to myself out loud "where is that Skinny Girl?"  All of a sudden from the back of my shopping cart my brilliant little boy says, "there it is Mommy" and points to a display stand of Skinny Girl Margarita's - right in front of me, of course.  I say, "how do you know that's Skinny Girl?  You don't know how to read." He says, "because there is a picture of a skinny girl on the bottle."  Now that's some good branding.  So, not only has Bethenny Frankel of Bethenny Ever After fame brilliantly branded her product, proved that she is a amazing business woman and can play with the big boys,  she makes a hell of a great (low cal) margarita.

P.S.  I am not getting paid to write this or promote Skinny Girl or Bethenny Frankel.  I just love it!

xxoo,

Windsor

LOVE - L A V E N D E R

Intoxicating is what it was.  I could smell it throughout the garden of the Napa house but couldn't see it.  As I wandered down stone paths, past the plum tree and through the bright green grass the smell became overwhelming but still not in sight.  The sounds of bee's buzzing loudly lead me onward past the over -  grown jasmine plant and down a small dirt path.  To my left, a small vegetable garden and too my right a massively wild lavender bush rustling in the warm summer sun.  Mesmerized by it's beauty and aroma, I took a deep breath in exhaled out and felt the zen wash over me.

EAT - S T R A W B E R R I E S

Hi - my name is Windsor and I am a strawberryoholic.  I am not afraid to admit this and I don't care what you think.  I can't get enough and I am always jonesing for more. Drive me to the closest strawberry patch and let me pick my fix.  As Brains are to zombies, cookies to Cookie Monster, Smurfette to the Smurfs, Windsor is to strawberries.  Show me some strawberry love.

xxoo,


Windsor

BIKINI - B I K I N I L E S S

I have been eating, breathing and dreaming of bikini's for so long now you would have thought I would have remembered.  I have piles of bikini's exploding across my desk, dining room and work table.  But I forgot.  Forgot to pack a bikini for my vacation!  Me of all people.  Travesty, blasphemy, disbelief were the emotions that ran through my veins.  Well, I made do with a tank top and cut off shorts and this week's goal is to even out my zebra stripes.

xxoo,


Windsor

LOVE - V A C A T I O N

As some of you know, I just spent four glorious days in Napa, California.  Forty miles from my home, about an hour drive and get this, it was the first time I had ever been.  I know, CRAZY.   Now, it wasn't about visiting vineyards, wine tasting or 5 star dining (brought my sweet little boy with me.)  It was all about relaxing, recharging and eating.  And that I did.  With that, I also took some great pictures, designed some new textile prints and became totally inspired by my Auntie Colleen's Elle Decore Magazine collection as well as her interior design aesthetic.  It was a much needed vacation and I will definitely keep Napa on my "go to" vacation destination list.

xxoo,
Windsor

EAT - S E X O N T H E B E A C H

Who doesn't like a little sex on the beach.....oh behave and get your minds out of the gutter girls.  The problem with this drink is that it goes down like Hawaiian Punch, but much better.  Before I know it I am drunk, hooting and hollering and wanting more sex on the beach..... the drink that is.

xoxo,

Windsor

BIKINI - S N A C K S

If you know me by now, you know that I enjoy the occasional "junk food."  But not necessarily at the beach.  Yes, the snack bar has yummy options but do I really want to eat a big fatty cheeseburger and then go romp around the ocean?  No, I don't and if you do your suppose to wait at least 30 minuets before you go back in the water (thanks mom).  Almonds, fruit, water, cheese and crackers is what I bring to the beach.  Good for you and you won't feel like a beached whale when your done eating.

xoxo,

Windsor

LOVE - O C E A N

I wanted to be a Marine Biologist and live in Hawaii.  Even though I practically failed science my entire school career, this was my dream.  Upon telling my parents my career decision my mom burst out  laughing and said "Windsor, you've  practically failed every science class you've ever taken." In the interim I worked at the Bay Area Discovery Museum teaching kids art and science with an emphasis on local bay sea life.  I loved this job and discovered that the general population takes the ocean for granted dumping what ever they like into it - slowly killing it.  Last week I went to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito to check out their new exhibit Washed Ashore.  Wonderful, whimsical sculptures of sea life all made from washed up garbage - Appalling it was, but the message came across loud and clear.   Locally I know that people in the Bay Area are very aware of the plight of the oceans.  I am hoping that the tourist that come to Sausalito and visit the Mammal Center get the message loud and clear and spread the word.   Needless to say, I didn't become a Marine Biologist, but my passion for the ocean and keeping it alive is still as strong as ever.  Stop polluting the oceans and get involved!

xoxo,

Windsor

http://www.savethesea.org/index.htm
http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/what-we-do/
ghttp://www.surfrider.org/
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/

EAT - S ' M O R E

Roasted marshmallow's, chunks of melted chocolate, graham crackers all mushed together into perfection - S'mores.  The one most single desert that you can create any where as long as you have open flame.  Who doesn't love that?  I just love everything extra melty and delicious.

xoxo,

Windsor

BIKINI - B E A C H H A I R

semi-dry 

 I remember when I would do everything in my power not to get my hair wet at the beach.  It would take me like an hour to get my hair "beach ready" so why would I want to ruin it with one big woosh of a wave?  But sometimes the inevitable happens and a cute boy splashes you or thinks it is funny to hold you under the water just to get you wet.  And from this I learned, salt water does wonder's to your hair.  As you exit the ocean, run your fingers through both sides of your hair, "style" it as you would dry hair and then as you walk back towards your towel, looking oh so glorious from your dip, scrunch the ends.   The more you scrunch the "wavier" your wet hair will become and the "drowned rat" look will be gone.  As your hair dries naturally in the sun you will have such pretty beach hair.    Now, if you are not near an ocean, lying on on a roof top somewhere in the city and you want to get "beach hair," here's how you can do it with a few ingredients from your kitchen/bathroom.

Beach Hair Spritz

     1.  Plastic Spray Bottle
     2.  10 ounces tap water
     3.  10 tsp of fine crystal Sea Salt
     4.  2 tsp of conditioner - I use coconut of course but anything will work
     5.  Juice from one lemon
     5.  A dollop of hair gel

Mix water and salt together in spray bottle and shake vigorously - you want the salt to be totally   dissolved.  Add conditioner and hair gel and lemon (if you don't want sun kissed hilites leave the lemon juice out) give it a quick shake again to mix it all up.  Spritz onto damp or wet hair and scrunch per above. Let the sun do it's thing and you will look oh so pretty.

P.S.  When spritzing make sure you don't get it in your eyes!

xoxo,

Windsor

LOVE - F A I R

Hot and dusty, screams and laughter, fried food and barnyard animals. Only at the county fair.

H A P P Y 4 T H O F J U L Y

Okay, so I am not a big fourth of July person.  Traffic, emergency room trips, and DUI check points don't sound like fun to me.  So with most holidays, I am working - it's safer that way.  But for some people the fourth of July is the uber holiday of the year.  BBQ's, clam bakes at the beach, parades, fireworks and lots of American pride.  I like my friend Emily's fourth of July tradition.  She wears pigtails, puts on a pretty summer dress and drinks beer - every year.  Now that's Fourth of July spirit my friends.

EAT - C O R N D O G S

It's corn dog season baby and I am going too eat as many as I can while the short season last.  Season you ask?  That would be "Carnival Season" and for us in Nor Cal it last about a month.  The county fairs make their way up and down the coast and I attend at least two of them.  Corn bread battered, stick encrusted, tender juicy all beef hot dog dipped lovingly in hot hot oil.  You eagerly take the corn dog being offered to you by the Carny and slather mustard up and down your dog.  Now actually eating your corn dog lady like is a problem.  A little on the phallic side (just a bit right?) I take my first bite from the side and then push the stick out of the corn dog taking dainty bites all the while covering my mouth with my hand  - I am not putting on a show here people.  Seriously have you thought about this before?  Don't forget napkins for the aftermath of your mustard covered face and hands.  And if you're still standing in front of the corn dog stand, walk away slowly, don't look back just get the hell out of there before you're tempted to order another one.

BIKINI - T O N E

Asphalt kicking your ass?  Treadmill feeling like a hamster wheel?  Take it to the beach baby.  A little fresh ocean air, warm sun and a much better work out.  Running on sand consumes more engery, burns more calories and makes you lower calves super toned.  Also the impact force on sand is lower which allows for better running and less strain on your body.  Not up to running?  Take a walk sister, it's better than nothin' and your legs will thank you for it later.

B I K I N I - C O L O R

My every day wardrobe is dominated by black. Don't get me wrong, I love color but more as an accessories, just a pop of color here or there.  As for swimwear I am more drawn to dainty prints in washed out blues, yellows and lavender.  So so pretty.  but if I am feeling more like HEY LOOK AT ME, it's all about hot pink, neon orange and day glow green.  That's the great thing about dressing at the beach you can be as wild and crazy as an 80's spring break party or pretty and flirty as if you just walked out of a Tommy Hilfiger ad.  Do what you like, dress as you please, let your personality shine like the sun.