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WELCOME TO 2011, KITTENS!

We have arrived, at last. My dearest darlings, on this most brand spanking new day all the year round, here’s to wonder and good fortune newfound. I hope you all had a grand old New Year’s Eve, full of deliciously naughty and wonderful things, with a sloppy wet kiss on top (for good measure). So many of you, so it seems, have had a spectacularly shit 2010, and I do hope things take a turn for the best this year.

Here are some of my favorite inspirations, because why not share what makes you happy?

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here’s to the roses and lilies in bloom.
You in my arms and I in your room.
A door that is locked, a key that is lost, a bird and a bottle, and a bed badly tossed, and a night that is 50 years long.

- SF’s very own Herb Caen

2009 wasn’t the easiest for us, we faced a lot of challenges and endured staggering loss. I’m not gloating when I say that 2010 was pretty tremendous. We needed it to be. We certainly earned it.

We had a steady stream of lovely houseguests, and walked countless miles on SF’s streets. I read Anna Karenina. I met the man behind Bulleit bourbon. I took an incredibly empowering self-defense course. We took fencing together on a whim, which was equally hot and challenging. M took me to paradise Isla Mujeres for my 30th birthday. Her company went public. FFAF was a top contender for a Lezzy Award in the Culture / Entertainment category, and saw collaborations with Tulle, Modcloth, and Autostraddle. I became a member of the Femme Collective and helped to organize, then attended and presented at the Femme Conference. I started a terrific new job. The petite left home for the first time on a service learning trip to Nicaragua. We road tripped to Portland. We stayed at a 4-star resort in Carlsbad. We spent a long, rainy, perfect weekend in a tiny cabin in the wine country, along the Russian River. We went to a “no pants” party, I went to two Stars and Rufus Wainwright shows each, I got bangs, I grew them out, I got them again. I, master scorner of music festivals, went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and the Treasure Island Music Festival. We discovered that we’re too old for SF Pride (but not for the Dyke March). I fell in love with the World Cup, managed to find a nugget of pleasure in baseball (but only just), Miette, the Creme Brulee Guy and El Porteno’s empanadas. We moved. Again. And we’re so, so happy.

We’ve vowed to hit the new punching bag (20,000 for M; 10,000 for me), explore more small batch whiskeys, not get groped by TSA, and to throw ourselves into a secret project for 2011. I want to invest more in my studio for FFAF, read a book per week on average, visit the shooting range a few times per year, and ride horses as often as I can afford to.

What are you looking forward to in 2011?

Fur: Vintage
Blouse: Kensie
Vest: Jenny Han
Skirt: Old Navy
Tights: The Gap
Shoes: Elie Tahari
Bag: Freebird by The Sak

Here are some cheeky pics from our New Year’s kiss last night!

XOXO,

FFAF

That’s one of the best beauties of our golden state. Click your heels, hop in your car and your landscape can change dramatically in a matter of minutes. We’re 5 minutes from the ocean, 5 minutes from the bay, 5 minutes from the restless, saturated bustle of our old neighborhood. 5 hours can bring you to snow, desert, farmland, coastal redwoods and more.

Lying somewhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours, myriad wonders beckon constantly with an infuriatingly urgent languor.

What you’re seeing here is more like 5 seconds – it’s our new backyard!

I can’t stop fantasizing about garden parties with little sandwiches.

This is just a soft, worn-in summer frock that seemed right for an unseasonably warm mid November afternoon of errands and lying around the house. I got it at the femme swap awhile back, and I paired it with new sailor blue patent leather BCBG pumps and a bit of trusty old sparkle – my sequined Jenny Han bolero. The vintage Dooney & Bourke bag seemed like an easy choice.

Hard to see here, but I’m loving the new adorned bobby pins from Banana Republic – same with these earrings (which you cannot see but which I am wearing daily as they go with EVERYTHING):

Moving day! It feels like so long ago already. M & I are obviously very happy and accompanied by two very helpful, exhausted tomboys who are sweet and dear friends of ours. We too are beat for sure, but the giddiness of the move trumped all subsequent aches and pains!

I took a few dizzy, quick photos of the exterior. I don’t know that we’ll ever tire of all the green and blue!

This past week, it’s been pretty amusing to go from moving on a crisp Fall day to a steady rain to a brisk cold front and swing around to balmy weather in the mid-70s this weekend (and today).

Alas, the time change poses a problem you’d think I’d have mastered by now: by 5PM the light is gone, gone, gone.

That vulgar pig pictured above was here before we arrived. I haven’t got the heart to move him, the cheeky bastard. The rest is just some foliage from our new surroundings. Roses, apples, lemons, and who knows what else. Lots of spiders. Spooky, pale, bony trees that are fast becoming my favorite.

Hello there, strangers. I’ve returned from paradise or, as it’s called, Isla Mujeres. Guess what else? I’m thirty years old today. How badly I’m wishing I was still on the birthday trip of a lifetime! It was incredible, y’all, we fell in love. My first time in Mexico and M’s first time to this part of Mexico did not disappoint – everyone was friendly and gracious, the island and seas surrounding it were tremendously pretty) and oh-so restorative for one’s mind and soul), our hotel was amazing – I could get used to being handed champagne in the lobby upon check-in, we discovered how peaceful and otherworldly snorkeling is (especially when it’s a private boat and tour of the coral reefs, without a soul bossing you into a life jacket or refusing to let you drink beer whilst hanging off starboard by one skinny, sunburned arm), we were tripping over adorable feral cats and pups and wild iguanas the entire time, I rode a scooter all over the island in a bikini with M holding onto me for dear life, we ate better than kings, even, and we were truly beside ourselves when we had to leave it all behind and come back home.

Last but not least? It’s, like, always happy hour there. I hope you enjoy the pics – I’ll try and slap together another FFAF post or two from the trip, but honestly, we lost ourselves there in the best way and I can’t promise anything but more of the below:

Our first morning! Fantastically warm, albeit a bit windy and overcast, but it cleared up by noon. Above, we’re hanging out on our balcony in between breakfast and the rest of the day’s journey via scooter to the southernmost tip of the island, where the national park, ruins, lighthouses, sculpture gardens and more await us.

Below is our arrival to the island and some, uh, evening shenanigans!

It’s been a lovely, sunny 55 degrees or thereabouts here in San Francisco lately. While not quite as warm as, say, Puerto Rico (82-85, according to the awesome Geometric Sleep), it’s definitely warmer than Atlanta and certainly New York, so I shan’t complain at all. The light was so lovely that we decided to go shoot outside, even though this is really just a mostly plain and relaxed outfit (and so sorely needed after Saturday night’s shenanigans). The silver sequins strewn in heart form across loose-fitting, skin-tone silk is really the icing on the cake.

We weren’t the only ones out yesterday afternoon! Meet “Scab”, one of our neighborhood cats. He’s a surly-looking guy who likes to watch M out in the garden or hang out under cars, bossing Boots around. I scorned him thoroughly until a few days ago, when we realized he hasn’t got any tags and responded so enthusiastically to a little bit of attention, so I watered and fed him. Now we’re old pals!

Last but not least, M made an amazing panini from scratch yesterday.

Come back tomorrow, for I have a very pressing femme question to answer from a dear reader! XOXO!

*Big bag by Betsey Johnson!

CONFESSION: So, the weekend! It was officially kicked off at bartending school, where we sped through our lesson to get to the tequila lecture and tastings. I learned that sipping tequila straight is like unleashing a pack of hellhounds on your palate, unless it’s an anejo, or extra-anejo. M & I stayed up late watching old episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and eating the Indian food we had delivered.

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CONFESSION: Last night one of M’s old college friends from MIT, who now lives in Brooklyn, came to visit. We discussed the latest book he’s reading (Velvet Rage) over Pimm’s No. 1 Cup cocktails and debated his decision to pass on a bright pink Marc Jacobs polo on sale, while I cooked our chicken fettucine alfredo dinner, nibbling on bread with Loretta Lynn singing softly in the background. It was a fantastic visit, and we ended the night with Mexican hot chocolate and fresh, delicious homemade churros. You’d think that’d do away with my sweet tooth, but by the time M came home from work today I was itching to pop into Anthony’s for a big box of cookies. She promised last night that we could! I’m a happy kitten.

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CONFESSION: Although this outfit is from Monday, technically, it’s been a fantastic Wednesday. I had a great meeting this morning, all of my moving errands were a breeze (pleasant, really) – the move, by the by, is on schedule and going well – and there are bottles of cava chilling in the fridge, waiting for my baby to come home from work. By this time next week, she’ll be home a whole hour earlier than usual! This, my friends, is why we’re making the jump across the bay. New Wave City is having Brit Night this Saturday, the weather is still gorgeous and my heart is happy and cheerful and full of gratitude.