Dia Del Deco

The other night the bf had to go to a fancy event at City Club, an old SF meeting place downtown. I was extremely short on the details, and basically just going along to support him.

Me, with more lipstick than I've ever worn in my life:






















Dress: thrifted
Belt: hand me down from a friend
Shoes: Seychelles
Bracelets: on sale at Cost Plus!





































I had no idea what I was in for. Little did I know, we were stepping back in time into a Deco paradise. Below, an original Diego Rivera mural painted in the stairwell from 1931. It's one of the few on the West Coast and his first American mural, representing California.






















Notice that the staircase is made up of little worker dudes...


























































Then there were these incredible stone carvings in the walls.




























































Each of the three elevators had different copper etchings. I only managed to photograph one set of doors, but each was spectacular!






















And my favorite piece, the fireplace. One side is unfortunately covered for a screen used at the event, but the animals going down the right side are an eagle, foxes and a jaguar. Unbelievably gorgeous in person and so elegant. I know it doesn't look as incredible here, what with my super amateur photography skills, but such care was taken to decorate this place.

Needless to say, my jaw was open the whole time and I could not have been more wow-ed. I'm so glad places like this still exist in San Francisco! I gaped throughout the entire evening...

Cigarettes and Coffee

by Otis Redding

Heavy case of the Mondays today, and you? Major insomnia last night. Was up 'near all night thinking about all the things you think about all through the night. But in the light of day, aside from exhaustion, all's well. One thing that did NOT keep me awake...

I must admit I broke all my rules to buy a pair of shoes yesterday that are gonna bring me through summer and fall:















I justified this purchase by telling myself I can wear these with dang near everything I got. A good pair of shoes for this gal is hard to find!

[Shoes spotted via the oddly and amazingly simpatico Compai...]

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog has a new film out called Cave of Forgotten Dreams and I can't recommend it enough. It's a documentary about the 35,000 year old paintings in the Chauvet Cave in France, a place so protected only a small group of scientists are allowed to enter once a year for about a week under strict rules.

I went without having seen any of the paintings or reading anything about the cave probably since it was in the news when they were rediscovered in 1994, which made it extra mind bending. Don't watch the preview -- just go and be completely awestruck by what came so long before us. Truly wonder-ful. You can even see it in 3-D! And as per usual in a Herzog doc, there are a few laughs too, and a touch of German- toned hyperbole.

I found the images staggering and couldn't get them out of my head for days after watching the film. Haunting.

Help Me Make It Through the Night

First of all, can we all agree that this performance is so dang sexy? And Rita's outfit?? YES!




































Second, and totally changing the subject, my mom has had one of these little chalet music/jewelry boxes out on her dresser since she was a little girl. I was always fascinated by it when I was a kid. It seemed like it could be magical and I loved the little rocks on the roof. It's kinda funny that I still dream my house someday will look just like this!

Bridges and Balloons

Happy Mother's Day to the mamas!

Yesterday, in celebration of a mom-to-be, I went to a baby shower for my beloved cousin, who is due in late July, and I managed to convince that man o' mine take my first ever outfit shots (in a particularly unphotogenic corner of my apt -- something to work on) before heading to the blessed event...!











































Dress: thrifted from Hot Couture in Santa Rosa years back
Belt: Community Thrift
Locket: vintage, gifted to me by a dear friend
Shoes: Steven by Steve Madden (it can be tough to thrift shoes when you got big ol' clompers like me! :)

















And here's one of me with my exquisitely flat-faced kitty! His non-profile amuses me to no end. He is obsessed with licking faces.

I had forgotten I had this lovely frock, and it was missing a button down the center. My bf is my seamstress, thank goodness, so while I ran around getting ready he whipped up a fix by using a cuff button. Yes, my man is much craftier than me! :)