Colleen Taylor

I can say without hesitation that E. Jean Carroll's column is the number one reason that I continue to subscribe to Elle. She is just an absolute gem. 

Her advice in this instance also dovetails very well with the recent Harvard Business Review article which I discovered thanks to the lovely Laura Oppenheimer, entitled "Women Need To Realize Work Isn't School."

This year I also looked at the photos taken with my smartphone, which turned out to be a different kind of retrospective. I don't have an iPhone, so my camera phone kind of stinks -- I use it more to look at things from another angle than anything else. "Real memories" I try to use a proper camera for.

So going through my mobile photo album was equal parts embarrassing, boring, yet also weirdly entertaining -- like cleaning out your belly button or looking back at your search engine history (have I really Googled 'did Anne Hathaway have a nosejob' and 'cash out big booty lyrics'? Yes, yes I have.)

Anyway, just for kicks, I thought I'd share some of the trends I've found from my past year in dumb smartphone photos. 

Perhaps more than anything else, I documented my experimentation with a lot of new nail colors:

I took a crap ton of photos of drinks -- some healthy, most not so much:

I had a lot of meals -- the majority of which were apparently eggs benedict:

I tried wearing bright lipstick -- and I used my phone as a makeshift mirror to check on it obsessively while out and about (still trying to get used to that look):



I window-shopped -- for clothes, sunglasses and shoes -- and sometimes tried stuff on (pretty sure I didn't buy any of these things):



I saw and snapped pics of a lot of cute animals. Mostly dogs, but also peacocks, mounted elk, and baby ostriches:





I took very blurry photos of Weezer, Third Eye Blind, and Jay-Z on stage -- all of whom I saw perform for free at various work events (who said there's a tech bubble?)



Also in that vein of humble bragging (or just brag bragging), I took cellphone photos of some pretty fun firsts: Appearing on TV and getting ready to test-drive the car of the year, the Tesla Model S:



There's a lot more where that came from (I had an extremely nasty pimple inside my ear back in January 2012 that I documented very well) but I will spare you from too much TMI.

Anyway. Here's to more naval gazing moments in 2013. Auld lang syne to you all.

These days I've been feeling that my hair is too long, too raggedy, too tangle-prone, and frankly an overall sloppy mess. I mean, the last haircut I had was this past July, and it was one I gave myself over the bathroom sink (so does that even count as a haircut?) 

So I've been thinking a lot lately about splurging on a big professional haircut to just chop it all off. Not quite Anne Hathaway style, but you know, get some kind of a "chic bob" going. Maybe add some subtle layers. A real grown-up look.

And then, I see a photo like the one above of the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. 

I'm putting it here to serve as a reminder to myself that it's never a bad idea to second guess certain impulses that tend to tug on the heartstrings every once in a while -- whether it's "spring for an expensive drastic haircut" or "get fun Katy Perry nail art" or "add a bunch of false hair extensions" or "layer on tons of big blingy 'statement' jewelry." 

Those things look really, really amazing on some people. But if it doesn't quite feel right to you, you are probably better off sticking to the basics. More often than not, that haircut isn't going to change your look as much as you think it will. And no matter what, simple is almost always beautiful.