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This little lace jacket is the best thing ever. Well, the best $24.95 I’ve ever spent at H&M, anyway. (Since the time I got this dress.) Since it’s been all Tahoe! Tahoe! Snow! Snow! here lately (you didn’t think I was done posting those, did you?), I thought I’d give y’all a wee break to show you how delightfully sunny and temperate it’s been this weekend.

It was a perfect Sunday. We slept in, made Eggos and cooked our bacon in a bit of Macallan’s short-lived Amber Whisky Liqueur, which was a very clever idea I had while lying half-awake in bed this morning. A friend gave us about 8 0z. of the precious golden liquid last night and we are savoring every delicious, pecan and maple flavored drop. I gave the dogs some much-needed baths and M tooled around the yard, and then we fetched the petite from her grandmother’s, where we all had birthday cake for her auntie.

And then we went to go and see COUNTRY STRONG, and it was fantastical. Yeah, I said it. F A N T A S T I C A L.*

*This has nothing to do with my crush on Blair, I mean Leighton.

Last night we had dinner in the wine country, Yountville to be specific, to celebrate a friend’s birthday at a restaurant called Ad Hoc (for temporary relief from hunger, you know). Yountville at night is positively enchanting, all the trees alight and the picturesque road twinkling like a pristine Mamet set just waiting to be wrecked by humanity.

Ad Hoc was bustling just the right amount when we arrived, the service was almost impeccable and the courses came out at an indulgently languorous pace – we were there for 3.5 hours! There were two highlights for me: the fried Tolenas Farm quail with blonde castelfranco radicchio and a chili garlic vinaigrette, and their magical, magical monkey bread. I’d never had monkey bread! The birthday boy, who is from Kentucky, couldn’t believe we’d never encountered it before. It was served with pecan ice cream and miles and miles of sweet, golden caramel.

We drove all the way back home and had a round of festive nightcaps at the Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda. That’s a pic of us in our little tiki booth up there – I should have worn my coconut bra!

Nothing much else to report except my excitement at having mastered the fine craft of careless, so-what French braiding! I was going to leave them down in pigtails, but the silhouette was so interesting that I twisted them just above the nape of my neck, tucked the ends in haphazardly and pinned the mess into place. On a whim, I clipped these feathers and rhinestones in like I would fresh flowers and that was that.

Lace jacket, hair clips: H&M
Cowboy boots: Nocona
Dress: Zara

The earrings were a Christmas gift from M – dainty, faceted citrine drops with hand-hammered silver rings, the watch is Guess with a vintage band, the talon bracelet and single feather silver necklace are from Banana Republic.

The last hurrah for my bright white linen tunic! I love the pintucks and the rolled-up sleeves. This was a few weekends ago, when M & I decided to go hunting for treasures at the Alemany Flea, and boy did we find treasures! Mine are too numerous to count, though my new brown lace-up booties are at the top of the list, and M’s is featured below.

Here are some hints:

It’s politically incorrect.
It’s made of leather.
It’s vintage.

Any guesses?

This makes no sense, I realize, but there was a half-broken chair just lying in a alley and so I had to finish breaking it. I just had to.

Even Scab the Cat agrees, you see?

Are you still guessing?

You know what else doesn’t make sense? THIS MURAL. What the hell?!?! It’s a near-naked lady riding a snaggle-tooth pig-hippo thing. Maybe she’s even nude. WHO CAN SAY. This lady. Also, her foundation doesn’t match her body. It’s too dark. SWATCH THAT ISH IN NATURAL LIGHT, FOR GOOD GRIEFS! Sigh.

IT’S A HOLSTER! A very handsome holster in supple leather made right in Texas, thanks. And do you know what M did the night she got it? She put it on over her manties (like Whitney, but different), and slept in it. I would awaken lightly in the night and M & I would rotate our spoons in the other direction, and I’d get a lovely whiff of tomboy skin + leather, and do you know what that combination does, ladies?

Yes. Yes, you do.

It makes femmes desperately, inconsolably horny.

Well, not inconsolably. But it’ll take awhile. The consoling and such.

Hi. Console me. Accessory city, good grief! Let’s break this down, femme-style:

Camel-y suede ruched boots: Buffalo Exchange
Leggings: Nordstrom Rack
Tunic: Banana Republic
Belt, Bag, Earrings: Vintage
Mini-purse: Modcloth
Watch: Guess face w/ vintage wristband

M wears a Fyasko shirt with BDG jeans and Etnies sneakers. Aldo sunglasses. Vintage .357 revolver gun holster.

The pics above are from an excellent little block party we stumbled upon after the flea-marketing. Amazing quesadillas fresh from the grill, paired perfectly with homemade sangria, a cheeky poet at an old typewriter writing custom poetry, a nice band, friendly folks, cute dogs and a fierce bean bag competition. Which I won, natch.

There is only one day left in this year’s femme conference and I can scarcely believe it.

I am exhausted, I am inspired, I am giddy with all of the magical, wondrous, truly life-changing things that can and have occurred when you get a bunch of femmes together to do thangs. It’s as humbling as it is empowering, and I almost feel outside of my own involvement and contributions in helping to make it happen by being a committee member and presenter, as well as an enthusiastic participant. It’s surreal! Of course, I can’t say that every single moment of every day thus far has spoken to me or been poignant for me, but nobody promised me it would, and the bottom line is that the benefits have easily outweighed any of that.

I shan’t say anymore! The fine folks at Autostraddle have asked me to do a little FemmeCon recap and I need to cull my resources and reflections for that guest post. I will say that I wore this pretty little outfit today, and it was a smash. The ladies practically needed fainting couches when I told them it was a find at Buffalo Exchange on Valencia, and the dress itself is from a little Australian designer called Runaway Pony.

For those who are curious, my TechFemme workshop yesterday morning went very smoothly. There was a very special attendee present: keynote speaker, author and bona fide femme Jesus (and freshly crowned Miss Femme America) Kate Bornstein.

Y’all should follow the official Femme2010: No Restrictions hashtag on Twitter, if you want to. It’s #femme2010 and it’s pretty damn inspiring on its own.

I think over the past 72 hours I’ve only seen my girls for maybe 5-6 of those, and that’s been surprisingly hard on me! As a result, I decided to sit out tonight’s amazing Glitterati and Hella Gay events, since I went to Femmes On Fire and Friday Night Lights last night and there’s an incredible femme short film festival bright and early tomorrow morning that I cannot bear to miss. Chances are high I’ll regret this, but cuddling on the handsome one and telling the petite all about the conference has been really, really perfect.

Dress: Runaway Pony
Belt, Clutch: Vintage
Earrings: El Mexico
Boots: Rock n’ Rose
Watch: Guess

Here are just a few of the incredible individuals I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at the conference over the past few days. Really wonderful folks, all of them. I’m a lucky femme!

The tomboy is showering. The sun is shining. The champs bubbling. I’m inside shivering a little and listening to a new album by The National at the NYT and waiting for my turn. My favorite part about the article so far is this, “When Bryan’s cymbals splash in a song about a rainy-day loss of faith, you don’t just hear the water; you see a thousand dead umbrellas.” It’s like Angel Island on fire all over again.

Shower, hot rollers, makeup, shimmying into whichever dress I choose at the last minute. (Maybe it’ll be a tomboy’s choice.) Oh! I’ll have to try not to forget (again) to paint my nails with the poppy red Jeffrey Campbell polish I love so much. We’re going dancing in the light of day, and I hope it warms up more than it had when I stepped out into it to fetch some Mexican pastries for breakfast, while M stayed in and tended to the pups and the french press.

The shadowy pics above are from Thursday night, when a fellow femme threatened to toss me over the balcony at a queer ladies night party for being too vixen-y or whatnot. “Like Mean Girls! But with lesbians!” I trilled, and she said, “No, no. More like Lady Gaga in [some video I'm not privy to]!” You know you look good when people are plotting your demise…

It just occurred to me that I haven’t seen my Christian Dior suede obi belt in ages! I must look for it. I still like this dress best here.

This will have to be so, so fast! I’ve been terribly occupied with my new occupation as a bona fide travel editor, and to top it all off the tomboy and I have at last booked our trip for a much-needed Spring Break! In just three short days we’re off to very tiny little island in Mexico, where we intend to drive scooters all around, frolic with baby turtles and sharks and monkeys, lounge on pristine white beaches and eat and drink local deliciousness until we burst. We’re so excited and I cannot wait. The weather here in San Francisco has been lovely lately – balmy Spring days until tonight’s rain came from out of nowhere – but it’s no match for the Caribbean sun and sea!

What are your Spring Break plans?! If you haven’t got any, where do you wish you were going?

Note: The above photos are from nearly two whole weeks ago, when we lunched in North Beach on a pretty Sunday afternoon. Pizza calzone!

This was my St. Patrick’s Day outfit, and I haven’t got a lick of green on (or under, you filthy-minded beasts), but I reckon my background counts for something. Plus, I’m drinking Jameson out of a massive Guinness pint glass, hoh-hoh-hoh! I know that counts! M & I were up real early yesterday morning, and when I say morning I mean MORNING: by the time we watched the sun rise we’d been up so damn long we couldn’t be bothered to fuss over the blazing satsuma pink wave crawling over the dark, velvety eggplant of the South Bay hills. I was delirious pretty much all day long, but my hair looked damn good and my Merlot lips by Besame lasted for well over six hours without a single touch-up, so there is that.

However, by far the most relevant goings-on to report are as such:

My lips hate hate hate hate hate Chanel’s Coco Rouge lipstick. I mean, I’ll give it a another go this week (my shade was Cambon), but for a pretty pink pout that goes on smooth and leaves a nice, natural blush stain, I just might have to stick with Cargo’s Plant Love in Maria. (You’d never think shades that look so red in the tube come out so much lighter on me.) In happier news, my new love affair with Laura Mercier’s incredibly fucking magical powdered eyeliner is going to endure, I think, for all time. (Thanks for the tip, Bangs Are The New Black!) Good for sensitive, contact lens wearers like myself, just WOW. Last but not least, my No You Din’t nail polish by Jeffrey Campbell came today. It’s fantastic. A bold, no-nonsense red that just smirks my femme fatale is better than your femme fatale.

What? I can’t help it. Besides, I don’t want to.

Oh! I nearly forgot. I started a new job today! I’m moving into the world of travel as an editor and I’m thrilled to pieces! Who doesn’t love travel porn, and traveling!? It makes me all dizzy and giddy just thinking of it.

So, in the interests of celebration, let’s just go ahead and have a dance party RIGHT NOW with my girl Kylie Minogue:

I love this song by Rufus Wainwright. It’s beautiful. It takes a few listens to full bloom, so to speak. My favorite line is I have suffered shipwreck against your dark brown eyes. So gorgeous. So true.

Here at the homestead we are eagerly awaiting a lovely guest, who arrives today and stays with us for a few days. Of course, I decided it would be a good time to clean my room (my side of the room, rather) and will somebody please explain to me why I can’t get through a single square foot without discovering 84,000 abandoned projects?

Exhibit A: At last I found my seam ripper and attacked a few tentative repurposing prospects that had accumulated into a dusty pile in the corner (all but one went straight into the trash). In addition to the abandoned projects, there’s a kind of freaky domino effect that overtakes me and I’ll also decide it’s a fine time to begin a new project.

Exhibit B: For instance, the drill battery has been charging because WHERE WILL I HANG ALL OF MY FUR STOLES? (the surface of the dresser cannot be properly cleared until there is a place to put them, obviously). I remembered the awesome panel of hooks that M brought home from Target months ago and thought, if I just move my scarves from where they are hanging (the awesome silver antler hooks) to the new one (which is why the drill is charging), I can relocate my fur stoles and collars to the old one. Genius! It’s perfect! It’s ridiculous. I am ridiculous, but I suppose I get brownie points for enthusiasm and innovation.

Exhibit C: On the upside, I somehow posted and sold three pieces of furniture doing nothing but taking up room and collecting dust on Craigslist in under four hours. That’s kind of a record. Good riddance to stuff I don’t need and have no use for!

On that note, I must return to the above-mentioned tasks. It’s exciting! I’m still basking in the glow of the co-tomboy post from yesterday, though. So many new readers! So much love via tweets! Dreamy, dreamy, dreamy.