fitforafemme.com

It’s been an incredibly busy week at work, but happily so. Plus, I found out I have lunch buddies I could hit with a quarter if the windows from my office opened (they tend not to in skyscrapers), they’re that close, so I won’t have to go to the Ferry Building all by myself like I have been (though sometimes I imagine I will, because there’s something a little bit magical about that, especially on a warm day with gloriously blue skies). I’m lucky enough to get away with outfits like this at work, for the most part, even when it’s not a Friday!

Urban Heritage light denim, pink blouse, Free People floral blazer, vintage necklace and leather belt from Modcloth.
Madden Girl conical nude pumps.

I’m watching Moulin Rouge! It’s one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I told M that I would just watch the beginning. Right now, Satine is walking out of the theatre to send Christian away, and I swear to God I would wear the outfit she’s got on in this scene every day for the rest of my life if I could. (It’s the long gray wool suit, with the matching hat and veil.) M & I are sipping some cocktails that I made with this new American gin we’re trying called Leopold’s. I muddled some fresh strawberries with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a fistful of basil, added gin and some lavender-infused simple syrup, and they are heavenly. (I love how when Satine is crying and singing on stage her make-up is all jacked, and she doesn’t look perfection, but it doesn’t matter, because she loves, damn it. Oops, this is very definitely the end of the movie now.)

I got a new product from the Fekkai line and I can’t wait to try it:

I got tickets to this and I can’t wait to go!

Action shots, Bird looking very thirsty, my new muddler from Sur La Table:

Palettes! THESE ARE A LOT OF COLORS. But it works.

I’ve had this really fabulous Kenneth Cold necklace forever and as far as I can tell, it’s made a single, sad little appearance on this blog.

I still remember buying it!

M & I were at this amazing, super industrial outlet store near our old place – in its heyday, I’d leave with an armful of shoes, and its slow decline saddened me – and I saw it in the glass case. The brown leather is unbelievably supple and buttery, and the little pearls randomly strewn through out this textured silver, well, I died. Of course, I took it home, never once suspecting it’d end up around my waist one day.

I love it this way and probably ought to have more faith in its construction, but I was a little afraid all my rigorous running around and climbing up and down rickety old stepladders might break it. It turns out fate would take care of that for me, when I spilled a shitload of cooking oil all over the front of the dress whilst preparing for dinner with poor scientist. will blog for food, requiring a head-to-toe wardrobe change.

It happens to the best of us, right? Or maybe just me. Hm.

Hey, are you voting daily? You know, to help FFAF win a richly deserved 2009 Lezzy Award? WELL, GEEZ, GET VOTING ALREADY!

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!

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.

CONFESSION I: Let’s start with this bit for a change! For weeks, I’ve been threatening to make some homemade simple syrup in delicious flavors using fresh produce. On Monday night, M & I took one of our lovely, meandering evening walks into the Mission to Mission Pie and a Mexican market and bakery for some goodies. We got peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries, mangoes, oranges, lemons and limes. Because I found a set of three of these darling baby pitchers at the Community Thrift Store, I decided on the following three types of simple syrup: Peach, Strawberry and Citrus (made from the zest of lemons, oranges and limes). So far, I’ve just tackled the peach, but it’s delicious! We had sparkling strawberry lemonade cocktails last night, so I’ll do strawberry next, then citrus! It’s very exciting.

(more…)

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: Since I will be attending a local fashion show tonight to review AND shoot it for my new gig, I must away, for I’ve an appt. in an hour with the Aveda people to get my locks cut. Question: Will Skinny slice and dice her long tresses for summer, or just leave them be save a modest trim and touch-up? OH, GOD. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

Scent: L’Artisan Fleur de Narcisse. Something must be up, because this is the second fragrance in a row that I’ve felt is lacking in sweetness. Normally, I find things too sweet! Granted, this is before the dry down, but still. There’s the pristine white floral, something dry and cedar-y and almost smoky, a stern edge. Blond tobacco! Leather! The last note surprises me, while the others – narcissus, hay, hyacinth, blond tobacco, iris, blackcurrant bud, moss – do not. One review said that it’s rather like a roll in the hay, or “…think of Lady Chatterley and her gamekeeper and you will have a very good idea of what goes on in Fleur de Narcisse.” I beg to differ. There is no forbidden sex here. At least not on my skin! (Well, you know what I mean.) I would wear this to a friend’s wedding with a lovely, elegant dress on a summer’s day. That’s what it’s like to me. Well-behaved, beautiful and serene.

PS. Perhaps I like my leathers to be too aggressive, doused in gasoline and dragged through dirty, rumbled linens. Who can say? If anything, this is new leather, not yet begging to be broken in. Is it Friday? Are we talking about sex? Huh? What? Nothing!
PPS. I meant rumpled, of course, but have decided that rumbled works just as well. Sometimes it’s less a roll than a rumpus!