fitforafemme.com

Happy hump day, y’all! I am ever so slightly under the weather with a bit of a head cold, but otherwise life is just lovely. The sun came out again today and despite the fact that I can scarcely breathe, I decided it was midweek and FFAF needed some action. I’ve been living in this outfit, as it’s not too cold here lately, but it’s not warm by any means, either. This is a nice balance because it’s super comfortable, and a great excuse to rock some color, too. I’ll admit I’d hardly given Spring a second thought until yesterday and all the Groundhog Day activity! The internets, they do not let you forget. My head is far too stuffed to continue on in any meaningful way, so let’s make a list of shows I’m obsessed with at present:

1. LOST, because it’s bananas:

2. The Tudors really needs to hurry up and get back on the air already. Sex, violence, religion, politics, corsets. Need I say more?

3. The Pacific, which is a new miniseries coming to HBO this March, a sort of complement to Band Of Brothers, which I really, really loved and always watch whenever it’s on. I need to own it. Maybe they’ll create an amazing box set with both series after The Pacific premieres.

4. Big Love is the show I want to be addicted to, but I’m not quite there yet. It’s in the queue! M & I watched an episode or two awhile back and were pretty ambivalent about it, but have since been convinced by friends that we need to start from the beginning and give it some time. (This better not be like True Blood, y’all!)

5. Last but not least, Grey’s Anatomy. This one is all my BFF’s fault. I’ve mocked her incessantly for years about this show. I’ve spent countless Friday mornings rolling my eyes over coffee while she went on and on about Izzy this, McDreamy that and last season, we somehow got sucked in. Unbelievable. Now we have the video game. Yang, of course, is our favorite, and now I know exactly what the BFF means when she says, “You’re my person.”

CONFESSION: So much! (Such words.) The new hair! The new boots! The never-seen-before couch that so many beloved friends have slept upon! The under-appreciated brown suede tote bag from a Banana Republic sale years and years ago, and still it serves me well! Come in, sit down, have a drink. I’ve got so much news.

First things first, the holiday party I threw last night for work went swimmingly. (If you’re ever in town and want to grab a cocktail at a bar that perfectly melds art with liquor, please visit Madrone. Don’t forget to call me so that I can join you!)

On a whim, I popped into Buffalo Exchange and found not just one but two pairs of fantastical brown boots – a dark chocolate pair of riding boots ($16) in lovingly worn leather and these nutmeg suede, pointy-toed wonders. Love. I still have the gorgeous, supple, high-heeled Donald J. Pliners, but these are great for day-to-day traipsing around.

I wore them tonight to a very special scotch tasting, hosted by Glenrothes at Foreign Cinema (which had even MORE great art). It was great! In addition to the awesomely themed Blood & Sand cocktail, they had tastings of the 1991, 1985, 1975 and Special Reserve, and after a few brief and entertaining speeches and a few rounds of hip-hip-hooray, they cracked open an exceptional bottle of 1979 Single Cask (No. 3808, I think, but I could be wrong) and it was well worth the wait. M said she wouldn’t pay $1,000 (the asking price for one of the remaining 13 bottles left in the world – we drank the 14th tonight!), but could see how one very expensive bottle would last one a very long time. My search for the perfect Lowlands scotch marches on with just 29 days left in the year…

After saying goodbye to some fresh new friends, we popped into the adjacent Laszslo for a round of cocktails (M with her Bulleit on the rocks and me with my favorite, Grey Gardens), and I was suddenly STARVING despite an early dinner, so we popped into a taqueria on the way home for some much-needed Mexican fare.

By far the most incredible news of all is that I will be participating in the Impact Self-Defense Basics Course for Women this weekend. My friend is assisting the instructor and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally, finally be taking this. (I believe an old therapist of mine suggested it way back in 2000-2001, I think, so it’s been a very long time coming.) Of course, y’all won’t judge me if my first thought upon confirmation was, “ZOMG, must go out and get new workout outfits ASAP!” It’s the one weak point in my entire wardrobe! So much to do before classes begin on Friday!

Hope y’all are surviving this freakishly long week after the long holiday weekend! XO!

Here are some pics from earlier tonight – look at that moon…

PS. Also?! THE CURE TRIBUTE AT NEW WAVE CITY THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Most excellent. I can’t wait.

HISSYFIT CONFESSION: Last night M saunters in from her poker game at work, grinning even though she didn’t win, a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte in hand (they give her one every year on her anniversary), talking about how she was invited at the last minute to a work excursion ON A YACHT for a CHAMPAGNE LUNCH during the first real BLUE ANGELS SHOW of FLEET WEEK on the bay. It was for everyone on the team of a specific project she wasn’t on, but had put in so much work on that they wanted to include her, which is super awesome. Not so awesome? She couldn’t take me with her, obviously! Pout, pout, pout.

No matter that I’d been geeking out on the air shows all day long and had pretty much memorized the schedule. Thursday, noon – practice. Friday, 2PM – practice, 3PM – show. Saturday…you get the picture. Anyway, I decided to put my big girl panties on and go with her today no matter what. My plan was to send her off and then find a nice spot on the wharf somewhere to watch all by lonesome. With a flask, preferably. M threatened to kill me if I let any hot tomboy pilots pick me up and take me for a ride, though, so there went that plan! (Pfft…whatever happened to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?)

Tune back in tomorrow for more pics and the rest of the story. Yes, I’m a tease. I know. But the tomboy just made a round of cosmos and it’s urgent. And guess what?! Sunday = cowgirls, go-carts and In & Out for a very special birthday girl’s celebrations. It’s going to be a good weekend, y’all. Have fun!

Confession: Tracy at Sole Salon on Bay Street, I love you. Thank you for making sure that my hair is absolutely perfect. You totally made my Summer / Spring 2009. Do y’all know what I did this morning? I showered, twisted a fistful of hair on each side of my part back and clipped it, and pinned the rest up into a messy chignon and set off for a meeting in SF. I put nothing into it except a dollop of shine serum. Several hours later, when I unpinned it, I had the loose, soft-as-hell, shiny waves of a fucking goddess. They were almost spiral waves, in some places. This is totally, totally, totally not even reality in my hair world, except now it IS, thanks to her. I have no idea what she did, but I’m never leaving. HEAR THAT, TRACY!? You’re stuck with me. You’re the one. Incredible. It’s effortless. Effortless! I would do the exact same thing with my hair pre-Tracy and not achieve anything near what I can now.

And that was before she really perfected it a few hours ago this evening. Now my hair is the ultimate force to be reckoned with. Well, it will be after I Lush it to death. That is neither here nor there.

Confession: Here is my outfit for the local fashion show. Guess what? NOT GOOD FOR KNEELING IN THE PHOTOG PIT TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THE MODDLES, GUYZ. Also? Why was I the only one in the photog pit not just in a dress, but FEMALE?!?! Plus, I held hands with a woman on stilts, clad in a flaming red costume with so many sequins. She insisted. There were also people roller skating in head-to-toe spandex with little flashing light tubes twisted around every inch. It was like someone threw up Burning Man into a giant convention center, right into the khaki laps of its attendees. Like, there was actual fire and I didn’t like it, y’all. ACTUAL FIRE FLAMING FIERY HOT AND I WAS YAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNNNNNN. So bored.

The fashion part was stellar, for the most part, like red carpet, hand-beaded Bollywood madness. I wanted to snatch every dreamy tunic off those skinny models and wear them scandalously, without pants, and sky high heels. Plus, I got to pop backstage and meet the designer.

Oh, and I was forced to drink a Jack and coke (I know) and now plan to NEVER go out to one of these things without at least two bottles of mini-booze in my bag. To be on the safe side. Like a grown-up version of a Girl Scout.

PS. M took these photos of me. Didn’t she do a really, really good job? Isn’t the one with two faces awesomely creepy?

PPS. I love love love my new haircut. It is exactly what I wanted and I got it all wavy like this just by scrunching. SCRUNCH.

Confession: It has come to my attention that when it comes to music, I am a fast sucker for a good horn section. Triumphant horns, despondent horns, horns that shout jubilation through a downpour of misery gasping for air – give it all to me, I’ll take it. Most recently it’s manifested in Beirut’s entire discography and Carina Round‘s new song, Backseat, from her newly released EP “Things You Should Know.” (The EP is kind of all over the place – I’m hearing Evanescence and Mazzy Star and she’s used to getting a great deal of PJ Harvey comparisons, as well – but she’s got quite a pretty, clear-as-a-bell voice. Plus, she’s really cute!) Anyway, it’s my favorite off the EP, with a lovely crescendo of horns toward the end. I adore it. I get into the same sort of helpless state in the last bit of Bright Eyes‘ Nothing Gets Crossed Out, which has got horns and much, much more. Songs that level you, you know? I’ve been leveled. So that’s how this post got named what it did. She sings those words like she’s just seen the last sliver of her life’s love walk off into the sunset, never to return, and she’s just sort of whimpering it into the wind, not quite sure whether or not she can stay upright. I told you. (Well, what would you sound like?) Onto cheerful things!

Scent: Italian invasion! There isn’t too much to say about Gianni Campagna’s Gelsomino. It’s wild Italian jasmine, so sultry and a little bit bossy or overbearing. Exquisite, but can be overwhelming and can knock you over with one sniff! In a good way, I think, for something this concentrated and intense, you really do have to apply it very sparingly and let it just sort of waft around you. Others get notes of cedar and clean sea air, even bergamot, but I’m not sure. It might also be for men, but I cannot imagine it.  Here’s some pretty wild jasmine to look at AND the actual bottle.

PS. My sewing machine is supposed to arrive today! Tonight! NOW! I’m going to run downstairs now and check.