This week we learned…

-Most importantly, your regularly scheduled writer is back in the West and is back to writing

-We are quite passionate about backpacks and schoolbags and totes

-If we beg enough for reader mail (send it here!), we’ll get some

-Pants are confounding, but perhaps only to us

-Jeans are confounding to EVERYONE

-Lush is a treat, but we don’t entirely trust it

-We all love high/low fashion (but we secretly love low more)

-We desperately need to rest our aching noggin

Have wonderful (hopefully long) weekends!

Orla Kiely Weekender, $295

-LB

We had a friend staying at our apartment in Park Slope, and because she is an idiot, she cracked our (admittedly ugly) hanging-from-the-ceiling lighting fixture. She replaced it with something equally ugly. Now that we think about it, we obviously should have held her ransom for $2000, because we loooooove this “effervescent chandelier” (er, okay) and … this is the kind of thing that has us wondering if we could still sell our eggs. TMI, obviously, but we sure do like it.

Maybe we could instead become champion glass blower \ designer.

The effervescent chandelier from Anthro, $1999

Labor Day: the most bittersweet of the major holidays. Er, besides Memorial Day. Veteran’s Day. Etc. Still: as holidays go, quite far down our list, as it means that the thing we love most, besides our dog and actual people, and not all of them, we would like to add, is almost over. This may be the year we manage to move to the southern hemisphere before, say, snow, but in case it is not, we bid it adieu with a last look back at our favorite summer-y things, and their fall replacements. Just a few, of course, as it is a holiday weekend.

Above: Eau de Vie Coconut scent, $18, and Stila’s Mandarin Mist, which reflects nothing as much as our new obsession with all things Chinese except Chinese food, in China, which contains entirely too many things like oxtails and tongue

We were going to put an Old Navy tank up here with the note that we wore it basically every day on the way Mongolia, but for some reason the site keeps crashing whenever we try to open that page. So: no Old Navy today. We’ve had too much of them here, anyway. We are realizing that the original concept for this post is idiotic, because we pretty much wear the same clothes all four seasons, just in various degrees of layering-ness. We are so baffled, by the way, for which direction to go with our fall jacket, but at the moment, pea coats are winning. Above: Rebecca Taylor pea coat, $473

So obviously, we’re realizing, one of the problems with all the seasons other than summer is that everything is so much more expensive. We are so moving to Australia. Witness: Havaianas, $18. We weren’t even going to put these here, because the hearts design is not our favorite, but how could we resist the promotional copy: “Love is in the air…Better than chocolates or flowers, Havaianas Hearts are the perfect gift to show someone you love them.” (Really? Really really? Not really.) But then, see, now that it’s fall, we want boots. Like these.

ETA: When we crossed the border from Mongolia to China, we had a “fixer,” we think, anyway, and he escorted us through all the weird border things, sometimes with the help of an actual Mongolian solider, which was very exciting and 24, if you will. The problem was that our Mongolian had something resembling Hanta virus, and would do things like open the Jeep door, sit on the side of the road, and spit out some phlegm. And then he would do things like sneeze on a pen, and then literally hand it to us, to which we would be like, “Oh-my-God-thank-you-so-much-but-we-already-have-one!” even though we did not. Anyway, we now have his cold, and we are forgetting some basic elements of daily living, not limited to the price and provenance of those boots: The Canter and Trot boots, $248

Have we mentioned how much we love reader mail? MORE than a basket of puppies, and if you know anything about us, we fucking LOVE puppies. Especially in baskets. Since we cannot have a basket of puppies every day, we look to our reader mail to keep us as happy. We got this from Caille today.

For my question: Like many other people, I
work. In an office. And while I do my best to look smashing and
interesting yet still professional every day, every once in awhile
after a late night I need to roll out of bed and just throw on some
decent-looking pants and a nice shirt. This is where the khakis come
in. They work, in an office, they even work, with many different
colors, but they all look so terrible when I try them on in the store!
Do you have any idea where I can find some that are remotely flattering
and not too expensive? Keep in mind that I have the problem many women
have: my waist is smaller than my bottom, so I have the dreaded "gap"
in the waistband with most pants. If anyone has any ideas to solve this
problem, they’d be ever-so-appreciated.

Caille

We feel we need to come clean about something. We own 2 pairs of pants (we are still unsure what the correct plural form of pair is, so we are going to waffle). We own 1 pair of super skinny brown pants that we love and cannot replace, and a pair of very boring, very basic Gap black pants. However, much as we hate wearing pants, we understand the need for them. We do not put a whole lot of effort into our work wardrobe because honestly, it’s work. We are currently wearing old skinny jeans, a brown polo shirt, a turquoise wool sweater, and gold ballet flats. We are happy if our clothes are clean. But, we are lucky enough to work somewhere where the dress code is non-existent. We understand that most people are not this fortunate. So. Khakis/pants it is.

Now, we understand that the Gap has disappointed us more regularly than not lately. But we will stand by the fact that they can do pants and work clothes like no other. We wouldn’t wear a full Gap ensemble to work (unless you are a prisoner, Starbucks barista, or safari explorer), but mix some of their plain pants with fun tops, and you’re good to go. PLUS, we really, really love that the Gap has a bunch of different fits. So you can scoop up an armload of pants and try them all on at once.

Above, Striped Straight Leg Pants, $59.50

We actually love these pants, and are now thinking about going and buying them. The wide leg is on trend, more comfortable than skinny pants, and should be pretty flattering to every body type.

Solid Tab-Front Wide Leg Pants, $49.50

For the dreaded back gap problem, we highly recommend Gap’s Curvy line. We have the same issue, and generally we will just wear a belt. But sometimes we would really rather not wear a belt and have a clean front line. If these pants fit like Gap’s other Curvy pants, they should come up slightly higher in the back so there is no gap, and they should fit pretty smoothly. We definitely recommend at least trying them.

Clean Curvy Pants, $49.50

We have to say, we definitely didn’t intend for this post to be all about the Gap. But we looked at other retailers, and honestly, this is one area the Gap does an excellent job. They miss the mark a lot of the time, but for not-expensive, fairly well made work pants (especially pants that aren’t trousers), this is where it’s at.

-LB

We got this awesome email today from a reader:

dear lil bunny,

I really need some help. I’m in desperate need
of a new tote bag, my old bag is from urban outfitters, but alas it is
in sad state now, and I can’t seem to find any other bags that I like.
It needs to be some what big and sturdy, because I’m still in high
school and need to lug around those dreadful chemistry books. Also, as
far as price range goes, I can’t afford anything too expensive because
I can only work weekends now that school is in session.

Please help! I know I’m still in high school, which I suppose makes me
kind of lame/obnoxious. But, I promise I’m not one of the overly
tanned, hollister wearing, vera bradley toting, clones that make up
most of today’s suburban teenage population! Seriously, I need your
advice badly!

-elizabeth   

Elizabeth, we would never immediately discount someone because they are still in high school. We were in high school not THAT long ago (hm, actually it was quite some time ago. Ick), and while we are sure we were annoying to an extent, we were probably similar to you – we did not tan, we did not shop at the 1995 equivalent of Hollister, and we never, ever would have (or would now) carry a Vera Bradley anything.

Unfortunately, since it’s been so long since we have been out of school, we are not entirely sure what kids are carrying these days. We carried a Jansport backpack throughout most of high school, switching to a messenger bag during our last year. We’re not entirely sure what you like, but we can definitely appreciate not having loads of money.

We quite like the Saltbox Canvas Tote shown above. We are not entirely sure how we feel about the snake graphic, but we really like the color combination, the canvas is fairly heavy (we think, at least), and the straps look long enough to wear on your shoulder. It’s a shade pricey, but we’re into it.

Saltbox Canvas Tote, $48

Gee, another printed tote? We really, really like canvas tote bags (we’ve even started a small collection of our own). This one is cute, it’s handmade, presumably one of a kind, and it’s kind of cheerful. More cheerful than a snake, we think. It’ll stand out without being obnoxious, it’s unique, and it seems perfectly functional.

Sturdy Canvas Market Tote, $45

Now, the old person in us is saying, "No! No totes! Think of your back! Think of your shoulders!" And honestly, our back does get tired from carrying heavy things. We really like this backpack from Manhattan Portage. They were incredibly hip for quite sometime, and fairly underground. We always liked their products, though they were never quite water resistant enough for us. But either way. We really like the classic lines here; it’s just so freaking SIMPLE.

School Backpack, $45

We are not entirely sure if kids are still carrying messenger bags. We have mentioned we have a few bags from ReLoad, and we swear by them. They are basically indestructible, and you can customize it to be your dream bag – you can specify size, colors, pockets, trim – even what side of your body the strap will sit on. We know they are probably a little more expensive than a regular bag for school, but they really are awesome.

Celery Small Civilian (custom stock), $95

We could probably go on and on (bags are our favorite thing to shop for), but instead, we will just suggest a few other things to look for. You could try LL Bean’s Boat and Tote Bags. They are about as inexpensive and indestructible as you can find.  We would also suggest checking our Stars and Infinite Darkness, just to see what they might have. Unfortunately, the price point might be higher than you want. Jocasi makes bags that are mindblowingly awesome, but they can be expensive, too.

Hopefully we’ve helped you find something you like. We tried to pick heavy-duty bags because we will never forget being in London with our sister who, at the time, carried a green canvas bag. In this bag, she carried everything she could find. This bag straight up split while walking down a cute street. All of her stuff fell onto the wet, dirty ground. We would rather that never happen to us.

Anyway. Happy school!

Ok. We just got home after spending 2 hours in an Urgent Care facility and our brain is broken (we, in fact, just typed "are" instead of "our". Oops). No need to worry, we are fine. We learned that we are doing all we can do to treat the massive, blinding, skull-stabbing headaches we get. We learned that we are anemic. We learned that we need to find a GP, and we need to see our dentist (this after we told the doctor we had a cracked tooth and had significant dental work done in the past and upcoming). We learned how to make our veins pop up like a junkie (thanks, Howard the nurse, for teaching us this. In these terms. He actually said, "Do your best junkie impression and make those veins pop." We just looked at him and held our arm out because honestly, we didn’t know what to do. Nod out? Drool? Wear a hat like Pete Doherty?). But, all things considered, we are very pleased with the services we received; however, that doesn’t help our headache or our thinking capacity, so this morning’s post will be things we like just because we like them. We promise to step it up for this afternoon. Rather, we will do our best. We apologize for any nonsense, but it feels like we are being stabbed repeatedly with a hammer inside our head.

Above – you can never have too many black t-shirts. This one, from UrbanOutfitters (used to be called the Charlotte Tee, now it’s just the Basic Tee) is a sweet 50/50 mix, an excellent length, and cheap enough to lose. Which sadly a pre-req in our book.

Basic Tee, $16

We used to wear Chucks until we realized that now they’re made in China, they’re basically pieces of crap. We still love them in theory, but man, we need our sneaks to last more than a month. We love Adidas Sambas, and these white ones are pretty hard to find. They’re not as crust punk dirty as the black ones, and they go with everything

Kids’ Adidas Sambas, $46.99. Adult sizes, $49.99

We have a lot of hair. Our stylist says so. It’s rather long, and it’s fine, and there is just a shitload of it. Our mom bought us these hair ties on vacation 2 years ago, and we have used them ever since. Obviously, since we lose entires pairs of pants and shirts and whatnot, we have bought more. They’re available just about anywhere, and they’re so much better than a rubber band.

Scunci Hair Elastics, $2.49

Add a pair of jeans to the above selections, and you’ve got our weekend outfit. We are off to rest our pretty little head, and we will be back (lord willing, feeling better) later.

-LIL BUNNY

We cannot begin to explain how much we really want to love Lush. The first time we ever saw their products, our older sister brought back some kind of shower gel from Italy. We have no idea what kind, only that it smelled reasonably delicious. There was also an odd hunk of what could’ve been wax or soap; to this day, we are still unsure. But it scented our apartment for the three years we lived there. Of course, that could’ve been from it falling behind the heater and getting melty. But either way.

And then when we went to London for the first time, we nearly fell over when we saw the Lush store. If you’ll allow us to pause for a minute, some of you may be wondering, "LB says she falls over a lot. How can she possibly mean that? Is she lying to us?". No, no we are not. We truly do fall over very easily, without the aid of any kind of intoxicating beverages or substances. We have been compared to a baby giraffe more than once. Anyway. At this Lush store, we bought some wonderful soap, some shampoo, and we trudged it back to the States. Lush slowly started to become our vacation treat to ourselves – we bought it in San Francisco when we were visiting, and then in Colorado on a little weekend trip. Even when we went to a neighboring city (less than an hour away!), we made our dear friend take us into Lush and poke, touch, and smell everything.

Now that we have a Lush in our own city, we have to admit, we are not as in love. There are certain products we’ll continue to love. Big shampoo, shown above, does make our hair especially shiny and full. The salt crystals are very painful if you have any kind of cuts/scratches/what have you anywhere the shampoo might get, but we love the idea of scrubbing our hair clean.

Big shampoo, $19.95

We also, like someone else we all know, quite like the Ocean Salt face scrub. Many of the same reasons as why we love Big (it should be noted, it does not make our face shiny and full of volume. Just clean. And the salty bits can sting). We have gotten it into our mouth every time we have used it, but we still like it a lot. It’s also a really pretty blue color, and honestly, we are suckers for things like that.

Ocean Salt, $16.95

Our dear friend was searching for a quality toner, and she quite likes the Eauroma Water Facial Toner. We forget what she said she liked about it so much, but we know she was on quite a mission to find something she liked – and there were loads of exclamation points in her email when she told us about this.

Eauroma Facial Toner, $15.95

Even though we’ve tried so many things and only loved a couple, we
still love Lush a lot for what they stand for, their practices, and
honestly, because we will always feel like we’re on vacation when we
buy something there. We peeked at their Coming Soon products, and it
looks like we may need to take a trip to pick up the Curly Wurly
Shampoo. You can read about it here.

-LIL BUNNY

We are lucky enough to not only live near Ikea, but work near another location. We didn’t go to Ikea much before we had an apartment with a 26" wide staircase, but we soon learned the beauty of Ikea, and developed quite a taste for their $1 frozen yogurt.

As  such, we have made oceans of trips to Ikea. We used to have a tall friend (like 6’5) who would sleep over all the time and he couldn’t comfortably fit on our couch. We wanted to continue to have him sleep over (he is honestly one of the funniest, best people we have ever met and we wish we could have another sister so he could marry her and be part of our family forever), so we bought a futon from Ikea for him to sleep on. It’s long gone, but we remember the sense of accomplishment we felt when we finally nailed and melted the last plastic screw (yes, we had to nail it and melt it. We didn’t say we did it RIGHT). We promptly called our father who, bless his soul, told us we did a good job in between fits of laughter.

Tonight, we are recovering after spending 3.5 hours assembling a new tv stand. We, for the first time, were not missing any hardware (instead, we had the disturbing extra pieces). Our back is killing us, but it required very little ghetto rigging. And now we can curb the horrid, awful, disgusting tv stand we’ve had for a few years. We cannot even talk about how ugly it is. It is the butt of jokes.

Above, Besta Jagra, $179

Last summer, we decided it was time to upgrade to a queen size bed. Our bed gets crowded, what with a 70lb dog who will always lay across the bed, thereby taking up as much space as she possibly can. We really liked low, platform beds but we could not make our own, nor afford the ones from more expensive places, like the one named after a tree. The Ikea Malm bed was a fine compromise. It’s low, it’s not terribly expensive, and honestly we are on it right now and we really want to sleep. We will, however, caution you against the Ikea mattresses. Unless you are getting the absolute top of the line, don’t do it. We have the next to the top of the line and it makes our head and back want to crumble.

Queen Malm bed in Medium Brown, $179 (price varies by size)

We are going to redo our extra bedroom (which was supposed to be a guest room, but has ended up being an oversized closet). And when we do, we are going to make it into a study – because love the idea of having a study. Ignore that we have laptops, we do not study (we read, but we read anywhere). We don’t need a study. But we do desperately want one. If we win Mega Millions, we are totally buying this sofa with storage (have we mentioned how much we love things that can multi-task?), and we are designing the rest of the room around it. If only we had actually BOUGHT a Mega Millions ticket. Oops. Next time.

Tylosand Sofa with Storage, $899

-LIL BUNNY

Our tenure here is almost up, and we wanted to put out one last call for reader mail. We have really, really enjoyed getting reader mail from so many people – we get so excited that we generally try to answer it as quickly as possible, be it publicly or not. In fact, last night we received a letter while we were crawling (crabbing, we suppose, mechanic-style) under the tv stand from Ikea we were in the middle of assembling. Not only did we read the letter in this position, we answered it almost immediately.

Basically, we are saying we love the responses and questions and love letters we have gotten, and we are putting out one last call for them. We don’t know when our last post will be, but we will certainly try to respond to any and all letters we get. Tell us you love us, you hate us, you need to know what to wear to your dog’s graduation party (we will admit to having attended one of these). If nothing else, please know we greatly appreciate it – just as we have appreciated the response we’ve gotten over the last six weeks. As always, you can mail us here.

Erm, enough emoting. Carry on!

Oh, the Jocasi bag up there? That’s just in case anyone wanted to buy us a present. Just in case.

Bucket Strap Bag, approx. $110

-LIL BUNNY

We are just wondering: Couldn’t Oprah organize the rebuilding of New Orleans? Could someone ask her about this? All we know is that if someone destroyed Brooklyn, and the president didn’t do very much about it, we think we would ask Oprah. (We will say here that we recently had a very disturbing conversation with an actual South African about the efficacy of the Oprah school there, but that we are resolutely living within our pro-Oprah bubble.) Or Mayor Bloomberg. Etc.

Anyway: We are so anti the anniversary notice, especially with something like this, because it is always like: So sorry, but is this not a problem every day of the year, in addition to this one? We are falling into our own trap today, and we are sorry for it, but we think we are going to take the entire BS enterprise south this fall and revisit this at a less obvious time. In the meantime, though, we are where we are, and below, some questions to, and some answers from, one of our very favorite NOLA designers: Heather Elizabeth of Heather Elizabeth Designs.

Above: Rebuild NOLA belt, $90

BS: What can every American do to assist in the rebuilding of New Orleans?

HE: They can come down to volunteer. They can go here to find out how to volunteer in our area and see what kind of services are needed. Additionally, they can support New Orleans businesses online. Since we have lost much our tourism, it is crucial that we get outside support. You can go here for a listing of online retail places to shop. I encourage everyone to shop New Orleans for the holidays.

New Orleans Watermeter belt, $90

BS: What do you love most about New Orleans, pre-Katrina or post?

HE: I love my city because of the people. The people are the kindest and warmest you would ever want to meet. Some are taken aback by the warmth of my people, but being friendly to strangers is second nature to us. Next I would have to say I love the food and the music. Our food is known the world over and I can’t find it anywhere except in New Orleans! Our brass band music is so energizing and I am so grateful that I can go and listen to these bands anytime New Orleans. Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler!

Faux pearl charm bracelet, $59.95