Mother's Day

Our new silk/cotton short just introduced by TailorByrd is my "Nut of the Month." I love the feel, detailed stitching, length and color choices (light khaki and chambray). The soft hand of the fabric comes from the silk/cotton blend -- don't be afraid of the "silk." They are still machine washable and not dressy like your grandmother's silk dress. The detailed top stitching is a great touch; very classy. The length is a smidgin shorter than what we have seen in past years. Just like women's dress lengths that vary, men's short lengths vary too. Above the knee is much more stylish for a more refined look, which is where these shorts take you. The colors are simple and straight forward pairing well with anything in Black Squirrel, and most likely in your closet too!

Dress yourself or your man up a bit in a pair of these. It is almost summer!

Nut of the Month

Whoever said you can’t treat yourself on Mother’s Day? Go ahead, I did!

I just returned from a long weekend in Atlantis with my boys (Quinn & Hayne), my good friend from Colorado, Andrea, and her two boys (Ben & Ryan). While Atlantis may not have been mine or Andrea’s top pick, the vacation criteria was somewhere warm with lots of convenient activities for our boys – and it hit on all the metrics.

Here are a few of our favorite things:

• Snorkeling with Capt. Basil of the Blue Hole
• Conch salad and grouper fingers at Bro B's
• Sunsets on the beach
• Caribbean beverages for all ages
• Mayan temple slides

These things were all great, but truly my everlasting memories will be of all the smiles, laughter and idle chit chat with good friends and family. While great memories can be created anywhere, it certainly does not hurt having blue skies, warm air, green seas and laid back island attitude to put you in the right frame of mind.

I admit my early Mother’s Day treat was a bit extravagant, but I blame that on Andrea’s persuasive ways. If you can’t pop down to the islands for the weekend, let me offer you some of my favorite “island tested” Black Squirrel goods. My Island Company board skirt was a perfect complement to my bathing suit and worked well with running shoes when the boys and I walked across the bridge to the food “shacks.” My Island Company Niki shirt was super comfy and just the right length. Lastly, as I have said before my Native sunglasses were a huge hit.








































If you do treat yourself at BSQO or anywhere please share your purchases or experiences with me. Happy Mother’s Day!

Wide Open Spaces, Women & Wool

My youngest son and I are crazy about the new ChappyWrap blankets. You may associate blankets with winter, but think again. Spring is time to be outside watching a game, having a picnic or listening to a concert. This cozy blanket will keep you dry and warm when you are sitting on the cold damp spring grass and double as a wrap to protect you against those not quite summer yet cool breezes. How many times have you sat on the sideline of a spring sporting event and found yourself freezing? Or, you venture out for an early summer boat ride or beach outing, the wind picks up and you are cold? Black Squirrel has you covered with the perfect spring blanket – a ChappyWrap. You will want to keep one in your car, boat and beach bag.

We discovered these comfy blankets at the NYC gift show. Here is our attraction:

1. they feel great
2. they are practical
3. they are oversized
4. they are easy to care for
5. they are way “cooler” than other stadium/beach blankets

ChappyWraps are 60% cotton to provide extra fluffiness, 33% acrylic and 7% polyester to prevent shrinkage and pilling. Reversible, machine washable, and extremely durable, ChappyWraps are sure to become your everyday blankets ($105). They certainly have for me.

So far our ChappyWraps have seen our couches, beds, hockey rinks, and sidelines. I can’t wait to use a star ChappyWrap at this year’s July 4th fireworks.

ChappyWraps make great gifts. Stay cozy.

Opportunities

Wide open is how I can best describe my "girls" trip to Big Sky, Montana. The vastness of the Gallatin Range once again embraced me and provided me with a complete escape from the daily routine. With my ski buddies and our female instructor, Noelle, we explored Moonlight Basin from glades to chutes to her secret powder stashes. Noelle introduced us to new lingo and snow descriptors that only women would relate to. While the trees and chutes were fine with me and have their place, it was the wide open spaces of the Headwaters of Lone Peak that won my heart on the slopes. Here the snow was dreamy delicious and the view delectable.

I found spending time with all women was wide open too. The conversations, the laughter, and the tips traded opened all of us to new ideas on skiing, parenting, website finds, new vocabulary words and, of course, ski apparel. The one common denominator by trip’s end was – WOOL. Frequent readers of this blog know what a huge fan I am of wool products, but for a change I was not the one pushing this floccus find. Those that had their old poly fleece neck gaiters and poly pro base layers all ended up tossing them out and opting for wool. "Why?" you ask. I answer, "Why not?" It is warmer and more comfortable. It breaths and works better on or off the slopes.

As we put away the ski clothes in hopes of spring temperatures everywhere, don't put

away thoughts of wool. It is a fabulous and practical fabric for warm weather too. For women, I adore the Rambler’s Way spring tops. They have such great style and as always feel so good. For men, the Ibex Indie polo is a spring “must have.”

While transitioning to spring don't forget to take a moment to savor the wide open spaces of the great outdoors.

When opportunities present themselves you often have to act quickly. Such is the case with three opportunities that recently came my way.

The first two relate to design and lacrosse. My boys have been lucky enough to be part of the Larchmont Mamaroneck lacrosse organization for many years. In fact, this will be Quinn’s fifth and final year playing for them. Every few years the organization buys new uniforms and here is where I got lucky. They asked Black Squirrel to design this year’s uniform. The uniforms just arrived and the boys and coaches are excited about them. Seeing the smiles and hearing the enthusiasm has been very rewarding.

Fast forward to Pelham’s new lacrosse program and my knowing a few folks involved. This opportunity came about by default, but an opportunity nonetheless. Garth is a coach and organizer of the program and when the group met to divvy up responsibilities he got uniform design. Needless to say we can’t wait for the new uniforms to arrive. They are just as classy as the LMYL uniforms.

The third latest opportunity is thanks to my older sister, Alicia. She planned a girls ski trip and invited me. I leave on Thursday for Montana. Perfect timing, right before lax season really gets underway. I will let you know how it goes.

Don’t pass up any opportunities and don’t miss out on Black Squirrel’s new finds. Visit us at bsqo.com or in the shop.