California Fever

BlogHer shoes

Wanna see how people have dressed their feet for BlogHer?  Beth's got a Flickr set here.

Poppi Swim

I rarely order clothes online because I haven't had good luck with fit, but my Poppi Swim swimsuit arrived on Thursday and it fits perfectly.  I found out about Poppi through Rozanne.  She recently bought a Poppi suit, too, and when I told her how much I loved mine and thanked her for the referral, she wrote back about her suit:

"Not only is it cute and flattering--it's comfortable and it fits perfectly. No binding or irritating scratchiness like most suits. And the workmanship (workwomanship, no doubt) is top quality."

I couldn't agree more!  No tugging here to make it less ill-fitting there.  It just fits.  And if you're in or near the Portland, Oregon metro area, for a small fitting fee, owner/designer Pamela Levenson can make you a custom suit.  I chose the Retro Halter suit, but there are plenty of one- and two-piece suits to choose from.  She's making unique, one-of-a-kind swimsuits with a retro feel in fabulous fabrics.  If you're in the market for a new swimsuit this summer, please check out her line.

I know this probably sounds like some sort of paid endorsement, but it's not.  I'm just thrilled to have found a swimsuit vendor that truly delivers--in every sense of the word.  Pamela couldn't have been more accommodating. 

Poppi Swim is my entry this week for Favorite Things Saturday.  That's because my Poppi swimsuit might just be my favorite swimsuit of all time!

retro

Patry has assigned to me the letter R.  I must ponder R a bit to see where it takes me...  Want a letter?  Hop on over to Patry's blog and let her know.  (I loved her M post.)

You can still help send Ms. Kathleen's shorties to the shore!  Go to her blog and "click on the flipper-wearin' shortie."   I know the kids will appreciate anything you can give.  Please help fund their trip to the beach.  They're helping themselves--selling and selling and selling--but they could still use our help.  Can't you skip that latte for just one day and send it to the kids?  Thanks.

We're going to see Curtis tomorrow night.  He's got a series of club dates in Northern California this week:  Chico tonight, Newcastle (NE of Sacramento) tomorrow night, Mill Valley Thursday night (same club we were at last Saturday night) and Mt. Shasta (my Mom's old town) on Saturday night.  The Newcastle show is only about half an hour away, so we'll surprise him there.  The "Concert for Curtis" on June 13th in Portland was a big success.  They raised a good chunk of money to put toward a liver transplant.  The tumor in his liver has apparently shrunk enough from the treatment he's been receiving to qualify him for a transplant. Now everything has to be right to make that happen:  enough money, the right liver, test results, etc.  Please hold a good thought for our old friend--time is of the essence.  It was apparently quite a show on the 13th...Steve Miller, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray, Everclear...the Oregonian review is here.   The "secret weapon" in the last sentence of the review is a much-loved old friend.  We always say if we ever get around to tying the knot that he's gotta be the best man...he's got a good track record as that.

Speaking of Portland, thanks to Rozanne's tip on her blog, I will soon be the thrilled owner of this swimsuit.  I just ordered it.  I can't possibly describe how happy this makes me.  All those years in the tropics, I wore the same little bikini with boy shorts--grabbed at K-Mart on St. Thomas when I first arrived.  I bought one more similar style suit from our friends' bikini store down there, but it never fit right, even when I tried it on.  I guess I just wanted to make a purchase from them to show my support, but it was quickly shoved to the back of a dresser drawer.  Last summer, our first on the mainland in six years, I didn't don a swimsuit ONCE.  How sad!  When my sister-in-law said "Bring your suits!" the other night so we could soak in their (new) hot tub after dinner, it occurred to me that I'm WAY overdue for a new swimsuit.  Not to mention the fact that I'll be in Vegas two weeks from now and one of the things my mother wants to do during my visit is get in some nighttime swimming in her complex's pool.  (It'll be too hot during the day and she has a severe vision disability, so can't get herself there at night.)  Although I'm still thin, there comes a time when a gal (over 50!) doesn't wanna have to worry about sucking in her tummy to wear a two-piece.  A boy shorts leg (so flattering!...at least on me) on a one-piece?!  My dream come true.  :)  Check out all the suits at Poppi.  How ironic that the store is located in my old Portland neighborhood of five years--wish it had been there when I lived there.  But wait, when the hell did I ever wear a swimsuit THEN?

Last night we finally saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith via Netflix.  We enjoyed it for what it was.  I'd forgotten that Vince Vaughn was in it.  How creepy is that?

I'm off work, thanks to the S.W.A.T. team taking over our campus for training exercises today.  Back at the job tomorrow and Thursday...and then I'm done.  Jeffrey didn't wake me when he left this morning (his start time has been bumped up to 5:30 am), but like a doofus I automatically flipped on my alarm last night, forgetting I had the day off, so I woke at 6.  Got up for a bit, which immediately seemed like a bad idea, so I crawled back into bed and started reading short stories.  Love this book (purchased for fifty cents at a parking lot book sale).  Fell back asleep until a phone call from an automated survey ("Do you favor having a Target store in Davis?"  Hell, YES!) woke me.  J. called right after that...and didn't even sound mad that I was lounging in bed while he was hard at work in the hot sun.  Could I love him any more than I do?  Don't think so.

t-shirt surgery

Okay, all you Project Runway wannabes!  Get out those old t-shirts and get busy!  I read this article in today's San Francisco Chronicle while chowing down on cheese blintzes this morning.  Although I've known how to sew virtually my entire life, I've only ever followed patterns.  But this idea appealed to me--maybe even I could funkifize a simple t-shirt.  (Insert Tower of Power singing, "You got to funkifiiiiize...")  And how cool is it that there's a place in San Francisco--Stitch Lounge--where you can rent a sewing machine AND buy the t-shirt and accessories to do it?  Now that's a cool business.  And there's a whole community of folks out there doing this--here's a link to the LiveJournal "t-shirt surgery" community. 

dish

After having slept away the entire evening on Tuesday night (curling up on the couch about 6:00 for a little catnap...only to wake 4-1/2 hours later), yesterday when we finally got home from work (after J. fought an inordinate amount of traffic in Sacramento which made him half an hour late to pick me up...which was okay because I wasn't done working anyway...and driving up to Woodland for a bite to eat), I forced myself to tidy up a bit before 'assuming the position' on the couch for a night of television.

Let me just insert here how much I loathe housework.  What's an even stronger adjective than loathe?  Whatever it is, that's how I feel about housework...and always have.  I like it when everything's shiny and sparkly--I just hate being the one who has to do the manual labor to make it that way.  Not because I think of myself as some sort of pampered princess--quite the opposite.  It's because I've been cleaning from a young age.  Hell, my mother used to pimp me out to the neighbors to clean their house, in addition to having to clean up around ours.  When my mother left when I was 14, my Dad made me do all of the housework.  And I spent two teenage summers cleaning motel rooms.  I cleaned house two days a week for a chiropractor's family when I was 25 to be able to study dance for a year.  Add years of roommates to the equation, which forces one to clean on someone else's timetable.  And because Jeffrey works two jobs (playing music in addition to a full-time day job), our agreement has always been that my second 'job' is the housework.  I mean, it's a fair bargain on the surface...until you find yourself years later wondering why the hell YOU'RE always the one cleaning everything.  I hate, hate, hate it.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, last night...

I was a TV whore last night.  My mother is HOOKED on "American Idol" and has been since it first aired.  I've only ever watched a few snippets here and there.  But I thought maybe this season we might watch some of it; Jeffrey seems to kind of enjoy it (it is, after all, about music).  Having slept through the 12 girls singing on Tuesday night (and J doesn't know when it airs), we watched the whole two hours last night--all 12 guys.  Okay, who watched?  Who ya rootin' for?  Jeffrey thought the only good singer was the goofy-looking guy with the big ears who sang the Stevie Wonder tune.  Personally I didn't care for him because I didn't like the tone of his voice even though I could appreciate that he was a good singer.  I'm very picky about vocals, and not in an educated way--there just aren't a lot of singers that I like.  (Jesus, no wonder I rarely listen to music anymore...)  :)  By the end of the show I realized the only songs I'd enjoyed were the Bon Jovi one sung by the Vin Diesel look-alike and the George Michael tune sung by Ace.  And then I had to wonder if it was because I've always liked those songs.  (I was never a Bon Jovi fan, but hearing "Dead or Alive" instantly transported me back to a certain time in my life.)  I was ready to not like any of the singers, since I've yet to see a singer on Idol that I liked, male or female.  The local Fox station (in Sacramento) did a tease for their 10:00 news about a story on one of the female contestants who they said was born and raised in Sacramento (which differs from her bio).  But there is a girl from Sacramento--this one from Fair Oaks.  (I'll try not to hold the Jesus plug at the end of her bio against her...)  We didn't watch the 10:00 news though, because then it was time for...

The "Project Runway" reunion show!  SAM?!  Were you watching?!  Give it to me...what'dja think??  I thought it was okay, but not as entertaining as I'd hoped. I thought during my massive PR marathon a couple of weeks ago that I'd caught up on every episode, but I've apparently missed one that Diane Von Furstenburg was on, because I didn't recall Andrae having that meltdown on the runway.  And I have to say, maybe because I was so distracted by all of his hilarious expressions and physical antics that I'd never even noticed his faux accent--hilarious!  The only bizarre moment in the reunion show (maybe I'd hoped for more of those) was Guadalupe blathering on and on in such a nonsensical (drunken?) fashion.  Kerstin must have been the only 'normal' one in that cast, because they didn't show a single clip of her doing anything.  Heidi (Standridge, not Klum)...well, I'll just leave that one alone...I can't imagine that the PR producers didn't wonder later if she was their Bobby Bennett....

Because, people, did you see that guy singing "Copacabana" on Idol last night?!  Good LORD.  I was shocked when he said he's 19--he acted like he was 59.  It was so unbelievably BAD.  I could care less what his sexual persuasion is, but his act seemed like that of a bad female impersonator...without the flowing clothes.  I looked at Jeffrey with jaw agape...only to see that he had his hand covering his face and was shaking his head back and forth in a horrified way...  When Seacrest asked Simon, "But you liked him in the audition--what did you like about him then?"  Simon could only say, "I don't know."  Exactly.  How did that guy make it into the final 24?!  Wow. 

I just have to say one more thing about Idol and then I'll shut up about it...  Taylor Hicks.  He annoys me no end.  Yes, it's kind of cool that after five years they've finally got a white soul singer of that sort on the show, but maybe because I've seen many singers of that stripe (live...and known a few) that his act just seems corny to me.  If he'd stop trying to imitate Joe Cocker and Ray Charles in his movements and just sing, then it might be tolerable.  But hearing him shout out his slogan "Soul Patrol!" when they put the voting number up irritated me.  Dude, you don't have enough soul to be the soul patrol.  This is the one area where I am a bit of a snob musically--I've seen some great soul singers (live) in my time.  If you're gonna carry the soul banner, you're gonna have to do better than that (and not sing an Elton John tune).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My boyfriend is insane.  He has taken some gigs with Tony this week that will cause his schedule to look like this for the next few days:   Work all day today at the golf course...leave work today and drive straight to San Mateo (south of San Francisco) for a gig...home very late...work all day tomorrow AND Saturday at the golf course (they're jamming on some stuff this weekend and asking everyone to work overtime)...go straight from work on Saturday to a gig in Mountain View (between Stanford and San Jose)...home very late...back at work at 7 am on Sunday...and then his usual gig in Sacramento on Sunday night.  And he wonders why he's tired...

Me, I'll just be hanging out in our little house...minding my P's and Q's...and wondering why I can't keep coming up with excuses to avoid doing some of that Artist's Way work... 

Chilly Willie

We went to a concert last night...at a fairgrounds...to see a living legend.  Yep, Willie Nelson was performing at the 130th annual Dixon May Fair.  We only bought our tickets at lunchtime yesterday, so we were in the grandstand in general admission seats.  About 15 minutes before his set (a Sacramento band opened--they were pretty good), there was Willie's tour bus, snaking its way backstage, the driver squeezing it right up against the stage.  There were already two motor homes backstage.  Very nice ones, too.  Obviously those were for the band and crew.  Ol' Willie's has a lonesome cowboy atop a horse painted on the side.  If you ever see it cruising the highway, now you'll know it's him.

Although we're glad we went (neither of us had ever seen him in person), I somehow got it into my head when my sister-in-law described the venue that we'd be indoors.  Nope, outside.  On metal bleachers.  And it was chilly.  (Did I mention that the bleachers were metal?)  Thank god I had my goofy cowboy hat on, or I'd have been truly frozen.  As it was, we were huddled up tight trying to share our body warmth.  I had my cell phone on vibrate and it was inside a tiny bag that was sitting in my lap, but I didn't feel it ring when my sister-in-law called (after they'd arrived at the show).  I think I was shivering too much to notice the vibration.

About an hour into the concert, I phoned my sister-in-law on her cell to find out where they were.  (They'd been given tickets and hadn't known where they'd be sitting.)  We decided to leave our seats to hook up with them, but first I wanted to use the ladies room.  I was standing at the head of the line waiting for one in a long line of stall doors to open.  Finally, the first one did...and out walked my sister-in-law.  We hung out with them for just a bit, and then decided to head for the car (and its heater). 

But before leaving the fairgrounds, we stopped at a booth selling all sorts of cowboy hats.  Boyfriend wanted a straw one and he'd told the guy working the booth he'd be back after the show.  Twenty dollars later he walked away with a hat that had been custom-fitted to his head.  And it looks mighty good on him, too.  His first cowboy hat ever.  I'll try to post a photo (if he'll let me take one.)

And lest you think we might have gone all country on y'all...tonight we wanted to drive down to Oakland to catch Lee Ritenour's super group at Yoshi's.  But alas, the 8:00 show is sold out (as are the rest of the weekend performances).  The only tickets available are for the 10:30 show tonight.  And since it's a 1 hour and 10 minute drive each way--and we have to be at the May Fair parade route at 8 am tomorrow morning--we're going to make it an early night tonight.

But back to Willie...  It was certainly the mellowest show I've ever seen.  It was nice to hear him sing some of his hits, but the drummer played the entire show on one snare drum...and a lot of the time with brushes.  Not gonna generate a whole lot of excitement that way.  Willie's had the same drummer for 39 years.  When the drummer walked out and started playing the show with just a snare, boyfriend said, "Not that's a cush gig." 

digs

It's official--we have a place to live!  It's a tiny duplex unit in downtown Davis.  The realtor called yesterday afternoon to deliver the news.  This was SO easy.  It was the first place we drove by and the only place we looked at.  We both really liked it.  Friday (on faith) we went to the post office substation that's half a block from the duplex and rented a P.O. box.   There's so much that will be within walking distance--a branch of our new bank is 1-1/2 blocks away and there's a park right around the corner where they hold the weekly Farmer's Market.  I'm looking forward to getting back to a lifestyle that incorporates a lot of walking.  Yeah!

The duplex will be available May 1, so we plan to chill and relax until then.  Tomorrow night we're all going to the A's game in Oakland (they're playing Toronto right now).   It will be the boyfriend's first time at a professional baseball game.  Woo hoo!  We were going to go to tonight's home opener, but my brother couldn't get good seats for tonight's game.  Supposedly we have good seats for tomorrow night's game.  I promise to post a photo.  :)

K. and Z. start spring break today.  They'll be here shortly.  Looking forward to spending time with all three kids this week.  C. has been a blast.  I've been having such a good time with her.  She's so bright and funny and sweet.  Saturday morning we went to her first softball game.  It was hysterical (although unintentionally so).  The girls were really cute and fun to watch.  C. even got a hit!  (A much bigger accomplishment than it would seem to be.)  :)

Yesterday we had a completely lazy day at home.  TV's tuned to the Masters, most of us in our sweats and PJ's.  CH and the boyfriend did a taco run for lunch.  REAL Mexican food--god, it was SO GOOD!  (There's a large Hispanic population in Dixon.)  We had leftovers for dinner (because, good god, have we ever been eating!) and then boyfriend and C. and I hit the drive-thru at Baskin-Robbins for dessert.  DRIVE-THRU ICE CREAM!  Man, is it ever good to be back on the mainland!  I swear I'm bursting out of my jeans (not that I couldn't use a few pounds...but why does it all have to go to my belly?)  Today we did a little shopping.  Still trying to pick up some wardrobe basics.  I grabbed a black wrap jacket and a black newsboy cap. 

I know this is all boring crap to read, but I'm having too relaxing a time at the moment to come up with anything remotely introspective.  :)

My Life in Colors

The ever-glorious Andrea has done it again, with her My life in colors post (April 6th).  I don't know if she intended it to be a meme, but it's too good to not be one.  So here goes...

Lime green:  Wearing this color makes me ridiculously happy, and I don't know why.  But over the years I've had lime green t-shirts and shorts and flip-flops and jackets and even a pair of jeans.  I loved those jeans.  They were stolen by one of the West Indian ladies who did our laundry at the wash-n-fold service.  (The same ladies also stole my favorite pair of cargo pants I brought with me from the States.)

Brown: I HATED most of the colors that my mother liked when I was a child.  The exterior of our house had been a pale pink, and when you're little, that seems cool.  Then Mom decided she wanted the house to be a mustardy sort of gold.  Even worse, she painted the living room an even deeper shade of mustard--the color of Gulden's.  She tossed our super-comfy old couch (which was upholstered in a fabulous cabbage rose sort of fabric) and bought a cheap-ass sectional and had my uncle reupholster it.  The cushions were a very dark brown and the seats were a floral print in earth tones (brown, orange, gold).  I detested 'earth tones' for decades after that.  In my 20's and 30's, nothing could push my buttons more than having my mother tell me (when I'd forget how much I hated the color) that something brown I was wearing looked really good on me.  To this day, there's very little brown in my wardrobe.

Red:  This was my signature accent color for many, many years.  Red cowboy boots (two pairs) and lots of red accessories (coats, berets, bags, etc.)  There was a time in my life when I couldn't have imagined having a wardrobe that didn't consist almost entirely of black, red and white.

Black:  Still love it, but I wear more color these days.  But nothing can make me feel as 'classic' as black.

Periwinkle:  I honestly don't know if it was the shade or the name, but if you'd asked me as a child what my favorite color was, this would have been the answer.  Magenta was a close second.

Yellow:  I adore yellow--all shades of it.  The only time I liked my bedroom when I was a child was when it was painted a light yellow.  Yellow makes me happy...sunflowers particularly so.

Purple:  Like a lot of females, I went through my purple phase.  I had a fabulous old purple wool coat that I found in a thrift shop in Humboldt County.  I always regretted tossing it during one of my major clothing purges.

Turquoise:  This color is a real touchstone for me.  It's one of the reasons I dreamed for so many years of living in the Caribbean.  It was all of the shades of turqoise I could see in its waters.  I've only just begun to fully realize in the last couple of years how much I'm drawn to nearly all shades of blue.

Dark Brown:  The color of my boyfriend's smooth skin.  Yummy.

Bright Orange:  My hatred of earth tones aside, I do love bright orange.  A roommate gave me a neon orange wrap raincoat years ago and I wore the hell out of it.  She'd spotted it in a thrift store and thought it was 'me.'  And I spent my first few years in the Caribbean with my face shaded by a bright orange canvas hat that I bought at Benetton.

Pink:  This is my Lynnie color.  The 4-year-old in me adores pink.

Family lore has it that my maternal grandfather invented a 'color machine.'  I don't know the particulars, but my mother has always told me that it was designed to use colors for healing.  The family doesn't own the machine; Mom says Grandpa donated it to the Edgar Cayce Institute.  I don't know if it's true that he invented a color machine, or if Mom and my Aunt just want it to be true.  But you gotta admit it's a nice idea--a color healing machine.  Personally, I think the only 'machine' I might need to do some color healing would be a box of 64 Crayolas.  :)

Out of the closet...

When I say I got rid of most of my 'bored-robe,' I wasn't jokin', sister.  Most of what has resided in my closet the last five years has consisted of pathetic items from Super K (for the job), hand-me-downs from my 70-year-old mother (thankfully, she has good taste...but still, hand-me-downs FROM MY 70-YEAR-OLD MOTHER!) and hardly anything I actually like.   I haven't had good experiences with shopping online--I really need to try stuff on.  Size 4 is not the same size 4 everywhere.

Last weekend boyfriend and I both went through our closets and tossed about 80% of what we had in there.  Much of it was donated to the Humane Society thrift shop (although our excursion there made it seem more like the Insane Society).  The really raggedy stuff was just tossed.

Here's what I have left:
2 pairs of jeans (Levi's 501's and Tommy Hilfiger low-riders)
1 pair of green cargo pants (those'll be worn on the plane)
1 pair of ivory slacks (purchased in the States in '03)
a few pairs of shorts
1 red broomstick skirt (bought in Taos in '93)
1 leopard print skirt (just 'cause I like it, even though it's old)
3 sundresses
1 black sweater
1 grey hoodie
1 green jacket the boyfriend bought me at the pro shop before he lost his employee discount
some shirts and t-shirts
1 black handbag
1 yellow straw handbag (see previous post)
1 straw tote
1 pair of black with mother-of-pearl inlay sandals (Xmas present from the boyfriend)
1 pair of hot pinkish/red sandals (ditto)
a few pairs of flip-flops
1 pair of black suede clunky walking shoes (bought because my feet were freezing during our visit to the States in '03)

And a fabulous hat made by the babe-a-licious Kat. 

As you can see, it's a sad state of affairs (not the hat, my lack of clothes!)  I've never been a vain woman, but I've always had my own funky style, even back in high school.  But here, style went right out the window.  Living in the constant tropical heat, it became for me all about comfort and ease and minimalism.

At this age and stage of my life, I'm not interested in fashion for fashion's sake.  What I am interested in is how my exterior affects my self-identity.  It may not affect it a lot, but it does make a difference.  And I'd like to take that old thing (my self-identity) off the shelf where it's been sitting for the past five years, blow the dust off it and see if it still fits.  And one of the quickest ways to do that (for me) is new duds.  That's why one of the first things I plan to do when I hit California is SHOP.  I know what kind of interior changes I've gone through in the last five years...now I just need my exterior to reflect that.

Let me just roll up my purse...

Boyfriend and I headed downtown today.  I had a belated birthday lunch with the secretary (hers) at my former office.  Boyfriend went to the recording studio to hang out with his friend.  When the birthday lunch was finished, I checked in with him.  He and his friend were heading out for roti...so I went shopping.

This bag caught my eye.  When I arrived at the studio to hook up with him later, he saw my shopping bags and asked what I'd bought.  I pulled out this bag and he looked at it...then at his friend...and then they both started laughing.  I think they thought it looked like a window blind.  Of course, it looks much cuter when it's full of stuff and not just flat.  I realize I have funky taste, but come on, it's not that bad...is it??  (I don't care...*I* like it.)

Lord knows what my brother (aka John Wayne, Jr.) will say when he sees it.  :)  He phoned me a short while ago.  He and his (childhood) friend were driving home from Phoenix...in a motor home. They were near Palm Springs and he said the wind was blowing like crazy!  (Not a good feeling in a motor home.)   They'd been to some spring training games.  My brother knows Dusty Baker, the manager of the Cubs.  He'd given them tickets to a Cubs game, and I think they also saw a Giants game.  Before Phoenix they'd gone to Vegas for a NASCAR event.  I'm not sure what happened to all of the other people who had accompanied them to Vegas in the motor home--they must have flown home.  (My sister-in-law flew home from Vegas on Monday.)

We're still two weeks away from departure, but our packing is well ahead of schedule.  By Tuesday we had 14 boxes ready to go.  And yesterday I packed seven more (several of them pretty tiny).  (The seven are labeled with pink Post-It's because it's boyfriend's job to seal them.  They're numbered to match the box inventory list...yes, I'm anal that way.)

We probably have about five or six boxes left to pack.  But the only thing left to sort is our files--everything else has been sorted through, tossed, given away, sold or packed.  We have a buyer for the car (yay!) and the recording studio is buying boyfriend's drum kit and all of his drum gear.  (He's getting all new custom-made stuff when we get to the States.)  I think we did a pretty damn good job of paring down our crap.  Not bad for five years in the tropics, eh?!

Eight of the boxes contain books, DVD's, CD's and VHS tapes.  Those are all being shipped via Media Mail.  Everything else will go Priority Mail.  Then we'll be down to two suitcases apiece, a set of golf clubs, the laptop...and we'll be off!

Luckily for us, we rent the condo fully furnished, so we still have dishes, towels and linens at our dispoal.  We'll deliver the TV's and printer to their respective buyers just before we leave.  So it makes it easy to pack up everything except the clothes we need.  Boyfriend was pushing me hard to get as much done as possible the last few days so we could squeeze in some relaxation the last couple of weeks...I think he succeeded.  :)