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.”

ZOMG, THIS BELT THING! When I first saw it at modcloth.com, it kind of reminded me of a cross between a sweet, worn-in leather gun holster and the Zana Bayne leather harness Laia over at The Pop | Geometric Sleep wore so effortlessly awhile back. I will try wearing it as originally intended, but I love this idea – slinging it across one shoulder and packing the pouch with night-out essentials: ID, Besame’s darling and elegant lipstick bullets, blotting papers, cash. Period. I’m sure many femmes can agree: Sometimes not having to carry around a bag or purse or clutch or tote is freeing and happy, and not ALL dresses are made with – or are even practically made at all – pockets.

Plus, it’s inexpensive.

Plus, it’s real leather, which smells good and is super fun to wear in.

Plus, because I said so.

Also, I cannot wait to rock this scarf (also from modcloth.com) even as it warms up. It’s not quite sheer, but wafer-thin and moves nicely. I can see it dressing up a wifebeater, cutoff shorts and cowboy boots, I can see it giving a pop of color to a lightweight cotton tank dress, I can see it at Baker Beach with a 50s pinup swimsuit and some truly excellent shades. For now, it shall keep my neck warm, and prettily!

Saturday began innocently enough. We woke up, put a batch of cinnamon rolls into the oven for breakfast, watched a bit of BBC’s Pride & Prejudice and set out for the East Bay to find M some skater shoes. While I found an excellent new jacket and an adorable ski cap with hearts on it, M ran into one dead end after another with the shoes. To add insult to injury, Buffalo Exchange sent her into a homo panic and some persnickety baby dyke with no manners and a lot of attitude looked me up and down obscenely (and repeatedly) enough to solicit M’s wrath. It wasn’t pretty, but no blows were exchanged. Having had it with Oakland, we returned to SF and freshened up for our date.

Contigo Kitchen + Cava, a cozy tapas restaurant in Noe Valley with a strangely appealing lime green and firewood motif, didn’t open until 5:30PM, so we popped into a few shops and grabbed a warm-up round of pleasant enough cocktails at Bliss bar. DINNER WAS AMAZING. We had the pork belly, lamb shoulder and patatas bravas, and M & I both tried hazelnuts for the first time. They were delicious, as well as the cheese plate and prosciutto (the sheep’s milk was my favorite). It began to rain and as we wrapped up dinner, a few friends invited us out for drinks at a lesbian party at a gay club in the Castro. Much debauchery ensued, and I almost immediately stripped off the cardigan, leggings and coat when we walked in, it was that hot.

Strangely, we seemed to know everyone there. It was like one big, unending jovial reunion of sorts, and boozy texts to have even more friends join us were successful, making everything that much more epic. We woke up in relatively little pain this morning, but were USELESS in our attempt to gather coffee and other supplies, and yet managed to procure M some skater shoes. FINALLY. They are Vox (and from an awesome skate shop called Cruz on Mission) and she is pleased, so I am pleased. As promised, after lunch (desert fries, yum) she took me to see Nine at the Castro Theater. Neither of us had ever been there before, so it was extra-dreamy and romantical. (I wish I could say the same for the movie!)

The storms kept us from a spontaneous trip to the snow, but hopefully y’all have had equally exciting holiday weekends. One more day to go! Whee!

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.

CONFESSION: Last week I received a call out of the blue: Would you like two tickets to the opening night for A Christmas Carol? Why, yes, of course I would! I suppose it was a reward for good parental behavior (I donated several bottles of wine to the holiday auction) or perhaps for my offspring’s own stellar academic performance, regardless, the petite and I left the tomboy at home on a freezing Tuesday night and embarked on a mission in the heart of Union Square to the Geary or A.C.T. Theater (depending on a number of variants or preferences).

Not wanting to freeze my arse off yet insisting upon paying respect to the performances sartorially, I chose this glam-but-officious outfit, topped with leather gloves and a heavy wool pea coat. I haven’t seen the play since I last evolved politically,  but it was wonderful nonetheless. Very spooky and lively and pretty to look at and modernized for today’s ADD-addled audiences. During intermission, the petite and I sipped Orangina and champagne respectively, and it was a splendid evening.

PS. The socks are from Bloomingdale’s or Saks or something, and the fur is vintage. Of course.

PPS. WTF re: my skinny arms? I am convinced it’s the heavy velvet wide-leg pants skewing perspective, because NO.

CONFESSION: Record low temps in the Bay Area mean epic layers for this femme. You get creative. This morning I used the snow scraper we bought up in Tahoe earlier this year to get all of the ice off of my windshield, and while it worked like a charm, I felt a little bit sheepish. Like a crummy rookie. I mean, normally you curse while you grab a credit card or library card or something out of your wallet to get the morning freeze off, and there I was making a big old ruckus with my fancy scraper at 7:30AM, with my petite rolling her eyes at me from the backseat. You know what she got for giving me guff? I picked her up with a 5-hour-old head of Lush henna piled under an old scarf, that’s what. How do you like them apples?

OH, GOD. I’VE TURNED INTO MY TOUGH-AS-NAILS, NO-NONSENSE GERMAN GRANDMOTHER.

On second thought, that’s kind of awesome. Carry on! Stay warm! Send snowy femme photos!

PS. These are the thrifted Bandolino boots, fetched for a wee $16 at Buffalo Exchange, that I tried to patch up with Gorilla Glue. You can’t tell, can you? They are such a supple, pretty, deep and warm brown, I can’t bear to part with them.

PPS. 3′ of fresh snow at Heavenly, my sneaky little email tells me. Is it that time again, already? Let’s go!

CONFESSION: It is 1AM on Thanksgiving Day and I have two pumpkin cheesecakes cooling in the oven, with cinnamon and nutmeg crusts. In the queue for the oven are my butterscotch and chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, and after that my third-generation, closely guarded shortbread is waiting patiently. Yes, I’m a madwoman. The white, spiced pear sangria is marinating in the fridge, so that my mother’s guests can sip on some festive sangria de cava and so far, it tastes amazing. Hangar One Spiced Pear vodka, white wine, chunks of pear, orange, lemon, apple and cranberries, with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon for spices. Yes, all of this has been in this outfit. (No heels! No apron!) Time was of the essence. Still is. When will we sleep? Soon, soon. Hope each and every one of you lovely FFAF readers has a wonderful holiday. This femme is very thankful for you, indeed. Cheers!