Lately, I’ve been paying attention to the foundational pieces in my closet, getting back to basics…this new ‘haul’ is a bit normcore, it includes all my new essentials:  the transport tote from Madewell in dark navy, these made in Germany narrow arizona Birkenstocks in black for walks in the park, classic keds in black leather for any time, lisa marie fernandez byzantine bikini top, and these super affordable effortless tanks from H&M that go with everything.  I feel a bit giddy knowing how much use I’m going to get out of each of these.

If you hadn’t already noticed, Birkenstocks are back.  It started with Celine, Kate Moss, the Olsen twins, then zara, j. crew, and many other retail stores started making knock off versions.  It became so popular, the German company had to recently expand production to keep up with demand.  The black ones are pretty much sold out everywhere except Zappos if you opt for the Vegan leather version which happens to be $40 cheaper and just as comfortable.  Susie Bubble did a great piece on this shoe craze when she was invited to tour the factory last fall.  Anyway, I’ve been getting a lot of use out of them and my fallen arches are glad they’re back.