Ramshackle Glam A lifestyle blog by Jordan Reid.

True, and an excellent thing to remember when big (and potentially scary) changes are on the horizon.

Jessica Lange was named the new face of Marc Jacobs Beauty. I LOVE this.

These nude pumps are PERFECT.

So are these completely classic shoulder bags from Everlane (favorite: the Portfolio).

James Murphy of LCD Sound System has come up with the most wonderful, oddly simple idea for adding some beauty to the NYC subway system (which could use it). He also once gave Kendrick directions to the subway from the back of a taxi. Kendrick says he was the New Yorkiest guy ever, except super friendly.

Looking for easy, chic storage solutions? Consider these uber-affordable woven baskets.

The branding of this perfume is so good, I am dying to own it despite the fact that I have no idea what it smells like.

I cannot tell you the number of times during my pre-marriage days that people who saw the tattoo on my arm gasped, “But what will you do when you get married?!” As if the presence of a tattoo on a visible place in my body would completely devalue the whole institution and render our partnership less…sanctified? Pure? I have no idea. Considering the prevalence of tattoos in mainstream culture nowadays, it’s funny to me that this is still even something that people finger-wag over, but apparently it is, making me pretty psyched to see Hayden Panettiere’s turn on the cover of Brides.

I have spent years - years, I tell you – avoiding online quizzes like the plague…and the one that finally broke me is “What Kind Of Cat Are You“? That seems anticlimactic. Anyway, I’m a ragdoll (awwwww).

Check out yesterday’s Wall Street Journal for the official announcement of a fun partnership I’m working on this year.

Is it weird that I think that gold heart-shaped sunglasses have totally transcended the Lolita/cool kid thing and become just another option? (These are really, really good.)

Is it weird that I think that gold heart-shaped sunglasses have totally transcended the Lolita/cool kid thing and become just another option? (These are really, really good.)

Must-have addition to your ring wardrobe: a classic (and affordable) gold cigar band.

One of my biggest dreams in life is to swim with a whale. I love this video of cuddling mama and baby whales, migrating humpbacks, and about a zillion dolphins (shot from a drone).

According to the Harvard Business Review, a significant percentage male business executives still see family issues (including that whole work/life balance thing) as “a woman’s problem.” Cool.

Barbie dolls targeted at making young girls feel better about their bodies. FINALLY.

We have discovered the joy that is hiding underneath couch cushions. (The execution could still use a little work.)

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Kendrick thinks that what happens to my hair in the presence of humidity is really funny.

So much so that he had me pose for a photo while pretending that I was in a 1980s Mentos ad.

It’s true: I turn into a lioness in the presence of even a single atom of moisture; always have. In years past, the fluffball on top of my head has made me nuts; nowadays…less so. And this is partially because I really do try to keep my hair in good condition these days (because healthy hair = less frizzy hair), but also because of motherhood.

And not for the reason (“Oh, I just don’t care about my hair as much…”) you might think. Still care. Still want it to look nice and relatively non-insane.

The reason is this:

I no longer see my crazy waves as “crazy”; I see them as just another toy in the toybox.

Here’s the thing: when I found out I was pregnant for the first time, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the physical changes that I knew were on the way. I wasn’t upset about them, but I didn’t really know what to expect, and certainly didn’t expect to enjoy figuring out how to, say, get my new shape dressed for something like a meeting or a cocktail party or a black-tie wedding. I figured I’d just sort of muddle my way through and get back to being “me” again once I was done.

Except what I discovered over the subsequent months was that the changes that my body went through not only weren’t something to just “muddle through”…they were so much fun. I’m serious. It was like having a whole new set of toys to play with; I loved trying out totally different looks and shapes and fabrics and styles than I’d typically wear in my “real life.”

Once I had my son, that attitude – that desire to play around with style and to step outside the box of what I had decided from years of practice was “my look” – stayed with me to some extent…and now that we’re onto Number Two, it’s back in full force. Lately, with everything beauty- and fashion-related, I just feel so…experimental. Open to testing all sorts of different waters. Free.

And so yesterday evening, rather than trying to wrestle my fuzzy mane into submission or tying it into a bun like a typically do, I decided: what the hell. Let’s have fun with it.

And so I broke out a comb and teased it and teased it and teased it…

And fluffed it and fluffed it and fluffed it…

And tied on a silk scarf because why not…

And ended up with this.

I looked maybe a little (or maybe a lot) ridiculous, and looked a little (or maybe a lot) not exactly like “myself”, and I loved it.

I mostly loved that of all the lessons that motherhood has taught me, one of the ones that’s made the biggest impact has been that playtime is whatever is fun for you, and no matter how old you are or how many responsibilities you have…it’s important. And it shouldn’t be reserved for special occasions, or be about trying to create something “perfect” or even necessarily “beautiful”.

You can find your fun wherever and whenever you like, even if it’s just with a few seconds spent in the company of a bunch of bobby pins and a comb, and even if the end result is nothing of greater significance than some big, fuzzy hair.

Pictured: Jonathan Adler silk scarf; Melinda Maria square turquoise earrings and turquoise necklace c/o; Nashelle dangle earrings. 

“Mini-review” because one of my quibbles (of which there are not many) is that the Wifi is kinda eh, and I’d really like to finish this post before I get bounced off the page.

Summary of this week:

(Huit bathing suit)

YARRRRR. (“Yarrrr”, in case you don’t speak Me, means “This is good; let’s do more of this, please.”)

My son seems to like it okay, too.

When I told a colleague I was going on vacation to Club Med, she kind of gave me a “…Huh? Why?” look. I get it: all-inclusive family-friendly resorts are not everyone’s idea of an awesome trip. Growing up, my vacations with my parents were much more of the running-around type – no cruises, no resorts with “activity calendars”, and definitely no all-inclusive anythings. And I never thought these kinds of places would be my thing, either, until I realized:

1. Money is such a major life stressor, and it’s so nice to be able to just get another appetizer or glass of wine if you feel like it, without even thinking about the price;

2. Club Meds are F-ING PARADISE with a child.

So here is my mini-review: if you do not have a child, do not come here. You will not like it, unless you really, really enjoy having children around you doing children-like things at all hours of the day. You will trip over high chairs, you will scoot around strollers, you will have random two-year-olds who are not yours wander into your room (this just happened).

If you do have a child, do come here. Club Meds make it so easy on you: they offer activities for kids all day long, set up your room with a Pack ‘n’ Play, stroller, changing table, and everything else you need (so you don’t have to bring much), have kid-type food available 24/7, and even do nice, parent-friendly little things like make sure to straighten up your room first thing in the morning so housekeeping won’t interrupt naptime.

It’s interesting, actually, being an environment stocked exclusively with people who are in the exact same situation as you. The first day I dropped our son off at the day camp, I burst into tears while walking away, and was able to commiserate with the crying mother walking next to me instead of feeling like a weirdo. When our son woke us up at 6AM this morning, we went on a walk and ran into lots of other parents who were doing exactly the same thing: strollering around while the sun rose with their up-too-early child. It feels like you’re part of a community, and it’s nice.

Besides, being around this many other parents also means that you don’t have to worry about kids doing the stuff that they will do, like drop things, or run up on a stage that they’re not technically supposed to run up on, or cry in the middle of dinner. Honestly, a decent percentage of the relaxation comes from the total absence of worry that you’re bothering other people.

(BCBG Avery dress)

About the Sandpiper Bay Club Med in particular: it’s located on a river as opposed to on the ocean, which means that the waters are very calm, but which also means that activities occasionally get closed down because someone spotted an alligator (for real; this happened yesterday). I liked the Club Med at Punta Cana (in the Dominican Republic) slightly better because it was bigger and was next to the ocean, but the fact that this one was less expensive and easier to get to balanced it out.

Pros:

- Sandpiper Bay is way less expensive than the other Club Meds, mostly because it’s located in the U.S. and the flights are super-cheap (ours were just $300 each round-trip);

- There are short, direct flights from lots of major airports;

- There’s very little raucousness (no drunk, partying twentysomethings wandering around, which not everyone would necessarily consider a “pro” but is in our case, what with the toddler and all);

- There are excellent golf and tennis facilities.

Cons:

- Golf and tennis are the major activities, so if you aren’t into those specific things you might want to consider going somewhere that funnels more resources towards other things;

- The food at the buffet rates a solid B (it’s pretty varied but not phenomenal, slightly better than you’d expect at an all-inclusive);

- The resort is small, so it feels very intimate and cozy, but there isn’t a ton of ground to explore.

P.S. The ice cream deserves special note, because it does not resemble ice cream in any way at all, and yet is MAGICAL. I cannot stop eating it.

P.P.S. Also of special note: there are bunnies.

P.P.S. So much for the mini-review; I’d call this a full-on breakdown. The Wifi held out!

I know next-to-nothing about Sofia Vergara, and still: I cannot help but think she is wonderful. She wears ridiculous sequin dresses, is rarely pictured without a glass of champagne and doing some crazy dance move in an era when stars try to cultivate a photo-perfect image at all times, and she and Julie Bowen posed for the this send-up of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield:

That is an amazing photo.

She has to be wonderful.

Anyway, she also appears to have quite wonderful taste in food: I, too, am a fan of Buca di Beppo from my LA days (my boyfriend’s daughter loved it, so the three of us went there all the time), and while it seems to me like Sofia may have some kind of endorsement deal with the brand, she also seems to genuinely like it.

I mean, that is a happy face. And she recently shared “her” (a.k.a. Buca di Beppo’s) meatball recipe* with People, and since I love  Sofia, Buca di Beppo, and People’s recipes, this seemed like a no-brainer to make.

What You Need:

For the meatballs:

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

6 cloves chopped garlic

Salt & pepper

For the sauce:

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

1 24-oz can tomato sauce

1 16-oz can diced tomatoes

4 oz water

Salt & pepper

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly, but don’t over-mix (or the meatballs will come out tough). Divide meat mixture into six equal portions and shape them into meatballs. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, and bake 13-15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make your sauce: saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until translucent, then pour in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and water. Season to taste and let simmer for a few minutes.

3. Transfer the meatballs to a Dutch oven, and pour over the tomato sauce. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake an additional 35-45 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve by tossing cooked spaghetti with 3/4 of the sauce and topping with meatballs, then ladling over the remainder of the sauce.

*Meatball recipe adapted from People Magazine. Sauce recipe my own.