of urban vampire raves and auminum racing pedals

At the races yesterday, we were talking about movies we liked, and a particular indie film came up that me you and everyone we know (HAHA!) was trying to tell mere was fantastic and she should just get watching it already....

She rebutted with - lots of excuses - which included that she was not sure if she'd like it since she was more about movies like the Blade series, and Superman - though the recent one was not nearly as good as she'd hoped...

I sorta giggled about the Blade thing... I mean sure, the first Blade was worth seeing, but 3 of them?!?!?!? And Superman.... well... not going there. I told mere that she should add me as a netflix friend so I could share with her some GOOD movies, that she really needs to see.

Cut to this morning when I was recounting to my officemate how last night MB and I watched the oh-so-AMAZING "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift" and how even though the second one sucked because they replaced Vin Diesel with Tyrese (! the travesty !) and that this one combined many of my fascinations - fast driving, cars, and japan all in one!!! and the fantastic twist of Vin's cameo at the end...

it took a moment, to absorb the look of stunned disbelief on her face, and a beat later truly understood the look i was receiving from her as I went on excitedly about the driving, and the suspense and the CARS!!!!! - since I'd pretty much been giving mere that very same look just the day before....

(links to follow)

a Hot Cat with mustard and pickle relish please...

This post made me think about our own AniPals, and their inclination for being toasty warm. Nipsy used to lay so close to our massive gas powered furnace I feared for his fur catching fire... you could see the pilot and the flames in the heater if you were at the right angle and I always worried we'd walk into the room one day and there would be a pile of singed remains at the floor near the heater.

Since we've been *enjoying* a cold snap that's been like no other, and employing many space heaters (practically in vain) to take the chilly edge off of our tiny apartment, THE Bengals have been clustering around the heaters... the other day I leaned down to pet spot and he was so hot I could barely touch him...

I just wonder how long it would take to cook their flesh if they get too close.... eek!

of bathtub gin, Dutch Babies and Ruth Azawa

Sunday:

Slept really well after a short night of circling the tenderloin looking for parking so we could speak easy, but ended up swigging instead - with a parking spot right in front. We tried to go to Bourbon & Branch, but since there was no reservation for our group, the plan was to go hang out in the library room which I believe is open to the public, but when we got there, the door was locked... or we were too weak to open it... or it was a 'push' not a 'pull' regardless - we hoofed back up to swig and to compensate for our missing out on the speakeasy experience, we were treated to a couple of girls having a dress up Gangsters & Flappers birthday party (which is totally the new 'pimps and ho's' party) so we got that 20's speakeasy feeling with the comfort of being in one of our new favorite places!!

Woke up inspired to make a Dutch Baby.. not THAT kind of baby... THIS kind of baby... and YUM-a-licious it was... thanks Smitten! and Orangette!!! Definitely a repeat.

Then we headed out to the deYoung to catch the Asawa exhibit before it ended - we'd seen it before in Oakland, but it was once again such a treat... this time the lighting was much better. The Oakland exhibit seemed a bit more like a kids museum - white walls, brightly lit, open space, old school style curation (is that a word)?? The deYoung in all of its shiny new-ness and hip-ness and Swiss-ness did a MUCH better job with dramatic lighting and shadows that really added to the mystique, skill and organic beauty of the pieces, allowing them to float before the viewer in their awe-inspiring glory.

Also finally got a chance to go up to the tower at the deYoung and appreciate one of the better views in the city - soo amazing! peaceful despite the room filled with a glut of Sunday museum visitors. They also have a really bitchen satellite photo of the entire city, and you can find a teeny version of your very own home on it - so much fun !

Return of the Mac

I wish I was a baller....


no, but I do wish I was under 30, and had the energy to really enjoy bars and clubs the way I used to. I was remembering my early days in SF and how the weekend days stretched before me ... not nearly enough to do, and not enough money to entertain myself through them...

My saturday is over before I realized that Friday at 5 even happened. Too many errands, obligations, responsibilities, and plans... Fun stuff all of it, but I can't help shaking the want for those afternoons that would hesitate to yield to club filled nights, days orchestrated by other friends where I would passively show up and enjoy every moment in wonderment and awe of how great my new and interesting urban life was.

....before cell phones...
....before texting...
....before 'owning' anything...

I secretly (or not so much) yearn for no commitments, easy days, less money, less responsibility, more afternoons that just linger lazily before me....

t.m.i.

I'm critically in the midst of PMS right now. I feel like a raging bitchstorm is brewing inside me. People should truly stay away...

but feel free to email - keeps you at a safe distance, and frankly - i'd love the work distraction right now.

is it 5pm yet?!

giggle... finally

Without the horrid and boring details, I didn't have a very nice day. It rounded up with more disappointing miscommunications with the partners, more time logged in straightening that out. Someone (MB) did something nice for me - got dinner for us, which softened my cranky, embittered attitude, but the thing that really just made me giggle was doing something surprising and nice for someone else. Hopefully the universe will make a smooth excecution from here to Australia and a fun bottle of bubbly will soon be heading up to a honeymoon suite to some very nice people.

truth.

Do people who smoke know that they don't smell good?

I always wonder what it must have been like to be around the movie stars in the golden era of film ...


For example, Fred Astaire*- always looks so suave and debonair, and primped... did he reek of cigarette smoke?

It's hard to imagine all those glamorous on-screen sirens - who indeed look very glamorous with their sucked in cheekbones taking long sexy drags off cigarettes, but then how they must have smelled!! Glamorous? not so much...



*originally I'd cited Cary Grant - since in my memory he was always smoking in films... some research proved that he actually quit smoking thanks to hypnosis. (!?)

Treat!

This is what I treated myself to for the new year! Not the current print for Tokidoki... but each piece produced has a different part of the overall pattern - mine features a little grim reaper with "Adios" on his robe.... hahahahahah!!!

the little devils are just the cutest. And it comes with a 'toy'

fashion dilemma - the ironic bag

The ironic bag is a fashion element that is actually pretty hard to pull off. You have to do it just right, lest you look lazy and worse, colorblind! Mind you - I'm lazy with changing jewelry, so I tend to go with classic and tasteful sterling silver earrings that don't really clash with anything... I also happen to be lazy about the bag change-up from time to time, but since my wardrobe is 89% black clothing, I tend to be OK on that front.

The example (failure!) I saw this morning was sad.

location: BART
**super cute a-line wool skirt bias striped light blue with navy/orange/gold stripes
**a blazer made from what I think of as 'office denim' which is slightly shiny raw light weight denim in that is a steely blue-grey color
**a pashmina in light grey knotted around her neck
BAG: Bright, sunshiney YELLOW, oversized bag - slightly worn and a little dirty.

now I liked the shape - kind of a hobo curve at the zipper area on top, and slim profile, but it would have been better in a copper metallic, or a complimenting color, but contrasting print...

how do you (hair)'do?

I feel like a different person - Saturday morning, well OKAY saturday afternoon...(I have a Double Digits rule - to be explained another time...) I headed to a new (for me) hair salon and had the intention of getting a new fun 'do for the new year, and I figured, sure... nothing drastic, maybe go for bangs or something... well, let's just say my bangs are among some of the longer pieces of my hair.

it's a shock - to be sure**, and I can't figure out how to keep it from looking like mom-hair.... ;) but it's a hell of a lot better than the beyond shoulder-length rag of dead protein I had hanging off my head over new year's eve...

so i will be spending my lunch break perusing the aisles of the beauty store figuring out what type of 'wax'/paste will work best..

happy 2k7 hair!

**a shock that I've been calming by using the 'photo booth' application on my mac to make faces and get used to what I look like in my new short hair.

Far away, but not far from 'home'

We took a NYE trip to Chicago to visit our friends who've been making their home there for the past couple of years. We've been trying to get there for a visit all year long, and as the year came closer to a close and the Christmas Bonuses came in, it just got so easy that it would have been silly not to head to the Windy City. We got a fair price on tickets in coach and then raped the mileage accounts to get ourselves upgraded all the way there, and back!! Travel is pretty darn fun, but traveling first and business is FANTASTIC!

The trip was rad, seeing old friends and in quiet times thinking back over this past year - such a mix of great things and horrible things occurred in 2006. The funny thing was in trying to conjure the great memories - I kept being reminded about this blog and the characters I've come across over the year. When they served us warm choc. chip cookies in the business class cabin, I thought of Moose, we saw a couple of Hugh and Maisie's friends in gardens in chicago, watched football - specifically the Bears which of course conjured thoughts of Mere, cooked and ate food that I wanted nothing more than to have been able to catch on film as well as Smitten. And as we were lying in a strange bed, we realized that we had to figure out a new sleeping position - and were at a bit of a loss since we left our little blue bible back home...without anything to consult we found that Cliffhanger pose was what worked for us (for those few days anyway... now we're back to our familiar Spoons classic and/or melting... aah...).

It was nice to feel like 'home' is out there where ever you are - and made for a fun trip to realize how enriched my life is by these women who share little pieces of their world. Thank you all!!! Hope everybody's years are off to a magnificent start!

Vosges chocolate kisses to all of you!
Let's rock 2K7!

only germaphobes need apply

wow.


is it just me or do other people find this to be a wish come true!?