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CONFESSION: I had a very full, very festive weekend. The last before Christmas! On Friday night, the tomboy and I bundled up (a bit too much – it was wonderfully pleasant out!) and headed downtown with the petite to follow the longtime tradition of peeking in at the puppies and kittens up for adoption, adorably displayed in Macy’s whimsical holiday window displays. (M threatened to physically remove me if I didn’t stop tearing up! I can’t help it! One little creamsicle kitten was hugging herself to sleep!) It was so much fun! We came home and had Mexican hot chocolate and cookies fresh out of the oven, and watched Valentino: The Last Emperor (which really made me cry).

We celebrated my best friend’s birthday at a lovely French bistro on Saturday night (that’s where these fancy photos are from – this H&M top is so FUN with a built-in petticoat underneath the peplum, but I pinned the flower to the waist for a little extra something) – I had a wonderful pear cocktail and ordered the Coq au Vin, which was fantastic. The BFF was thrilled to bits with everything and we laughed heartily through the entire dinner. All were loathe to end the night so soon!

On Sunday, we celebrated my Grandmother’s 90th birthday. Festivities began promptly at a 10AM mass and didn’t stop until we tore ourselves away from her charming stories and copious amounts of her favorite brandy, in order to make it to a dinner on time at Will Blog For Food’s house. She roasted her very first chicken for us, paired with a gorgeous salad with persimmons and endives, a toasty loaf of bread and roasted vegetables (which became quite caramelized and which M could not get enough of). A happy and lovely evening to complete a very busy weekend!

After catching up with my beauty sleep this morning, I have to tidy up the flat, queue up the baking parade, wrap gifts and take care of those inevitable last-minute errands the holidays bring. I can’t wait until Christmas Eve and I hope y’all are ready for whatever wonderful plans await you! XOXO!

Some fancy photos of the tomboy and I, for fun:

Scent: Santa Maria Novella’s Toscano was lovely at first, it really was. I didn’t know whether or not this was a feminine or masculine scent, because while it had aspects of the latter it was still quite sweet and alluring – it’s actually unisex! It began like a curious, unexpected filling in an otherwise predictable cookie, but unfortunately, after the dry down all that was left was a lingering sweet rice note that reminded me of my cunty Filipino grandmother, so that was that.

For everyone else, the fragrance, with notes of bergamot, jasmine, tobacco, birch leaf, vanilla, burnt malt and amber, is typically well-received and noted for being “easy to wear.” The official description reads “…inspired by the famous Toscano cigars of Lucca in Italy, Santa Maria Novella’s latest addition Tabacco Toscano opens with a sparkling fruity-floral note and quickly changes into a warm and leathery yet airy tobacco scent.”

Confession: So, I am pretty sure that I’m still high on adrenaline from my women’s self-defense class tonight. It was so fantastic. There were two instructors; one young woman who did most of the work and coaching, and a lanky guy with tattoos who was trained to be the assailant in the padded suit. In the group, reasons for taking the class ranged from recent muggings to rape to feeling unsafe in general or vague and frankly upsetting feelings of being unsafe in one’s own home. Oh, and a few women had recently moved to sketchier neighborhoods. In terms of age and ethnicity, we were equally diverse. My friend was taking it for the 5th time and had brought another friend of hers along, too.

I BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THE PADDED DUDE, YO.

God, it was so fantastic. We did a lot of verbal and body language exercises, but we also learned a handful of strikes and did a few full-force fights with the padded guy. The first time I fought back he went down after just the second strike! (The highly trained faux-assailants are taught to “go down” when they feel a KO or knock-out strike. I didn’t realize that and returned to the line pouting and asking my friend why I only got to hit him twice when everyone else got at least THREE strikes! Ha.)

It wasn’t even wombmoon, and I was very thankful for that. The pacing was pretty good and everyone was really supportive. Any questions that were asked got satisfactory and educational answers or responses.  Sudden or unexpected emotional bouts were handled with respect and focus. (Warning: Being faux-attacked from behind is REALLY intense in a bad way, but that’s the point. I did not get upset, but my friend assures me that the longer course will require waterproof mascara.) I feel really good for doing it!

In conclusion, I am so so so sold on signing up for the 3-day (24 hrs. of training) course as soon as I can afford it, for it is NOT cheap. Alas, my safety is priceless. After that course, I probably want to sign up for their advanced weapons course, too. They have another advanced course for handling multiple assailants at once, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself!

Seriously, if I won the lottery one of the first things I’d do is fly all my friends and loved ones and yes, even you, FFAF readers, and the Impact trainers to a villa in Antigua for unlimited private training, and it would be amazing.

This is from a different academy, but you’ll get the gist: