It’s that time of year again when the calendar winds down and we all start thinking about what we did right and what we did wrong in the course of the last twelve months. Then we sit down to figure out how to live a better life in the coming year and make resolutions to change, improve, and rearrange our lives.

Two weeks later, most of us find ourselves disappointed with our progress and ditch the whole shooting match until another calendar hits the recycle bin and we start all over again.

Still, hope springs eternal. We try again and again. I try again and again to be a better person. And so I do have a list of New Year’s resolutions which I will share with you all.

(more…)

A recent article of Plumcake’s resonated with me on a gut level. Like her, I have a fiery hate of annoying things written in tacky ways across clothing and accessories. But there’s another thing that sticks in my craw at least as badly, and that’s when designers and manufacturers write their own names and stick their logos all across perfectly good clothes, purses, and jewelry.

I don’t need the word ‘Juicy’ emblazoned across my well-padded rump. I don’t want my purse be covered in interlocking Fendi ‘F’s. I’d rather not announce to the world that my scarf is made by Somebody Famous. None of this says I have class, but rather that I am so insecure in my choices that I have to prove my good taste to the world. I don’t need to do that. I don’t want to pay top dollar to act as a walking advertisement for your products. I have no interest in being an unpaid spokesperson by the simple act of walking down the street.

I would much rather choose my clothes and accessories by color, cut, and quality. If a particular designer floats my boat by making great clothes that make me look and feel my best, I’ll buy…but only if I don’t have to play billboard.

Mind, I’m not against having a small, discreet logo somewhere or wearing a piece that a particular design house is noted for. Chanel quilted purses with chain straps are fine by me. I’m down with that.

What I’m flat-out in hate with is the concept of something that is seen to be by a particular designer not because of style but because it has someone’s name emblazoned over the entire freaking piece.

Let me put it this way: you should pay for the billboards and ad space. I should not have to pay to be your ad space.

Make clothes that I fall in love with. Make purses that are ingeniously practical yet stylish. Make shoes that make my feet sing hallelujah in comfort and joy, comfort and joy.

But if you want me to be your ad space, you can pay me…not the other way around.

Oh L’Air du Temps, how you take me back. You were my first bottle of grown-up perfume and your flacon with intertwining doves designed by Lalique for the 1948 Nina Ricci launch, is probably the second most recognizable perfume bottle in the world after le monstre, Chanel No 5.

It’s not a perfume I would wear now –although I’ve heard the original formulation is fantastic– but it IS a classic, sophisticated choice for the young lady who is just beginning to explore the world of scent.

Interestingly, Olivier Theyskens –the edgy and brilliant designer at Nina Ricci– honored the history of the house by referencing l’Air du Temps‘ iconic status in his Fall/Winter 2007 ballgowns. A teensy bit literal with the gold one, but charming and gorgeous none the less.

Or at least the best sentence I’ve read today from the always entertaining Candy Blog.

“Like toffee & pornography, I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.”

Happy Boxing Day, y’all!

So I’m confused. A partridge in a pear tree?

That’s a gift?

Do you know what my quote-unquote True Love would get if he thought that giving me some louse-ridden bird was a good idea? Well, I’m a lady so I won’t say, but they’re blue and they’re two of them.

Of course, you could always go traditional, with a partridge in a pear tree brooch.

and yet somehow this doesn’t seem “partridge in a pear tree” as much as it does “leprous grackle in an eggplant tree” but hey, who am I to argue? Personally I think I’d like this bar pinjust a bit better, lack of eggplant tree notwithstanding.

If you still wanted to be literal with the pear theme –and I do love figural jewelry– I’d go for this fantastic and fun little swag necklace with pear drops. This is not Serious Jewelry, it’s fun, light, but I bet you’d wear it all the time. It’d be perfect in the winter when you don’t want to do Obvious Seasonal Jewelry. Plus how cute with a little boatneck top for a picnic in the spring?

(you’ll die when you find out how inexpensive it is. Seriously, I’ve paid more for a cup of floofy coffee. PLUS it comes with an extender chain. Sweet.)

I also find these charming, though a bit more on the serious side. As we’ve previously established. If you don’t wear big earrings but feel the need to move to something just a little more glamorous than the classic-but-boring little studs, these perfectly-sized diamond and citrine earrings would be a fantastic choice.

How Grace Kelly are these?

There’s just something so timeless about this style, every woman should have something like these in her collection. I would put these more in the category of costume than fine jewelry, although technically the stones are “natural.”

Francesca, Plumcake, Twistie and Manolo would like to wish to you all a joyful and meaningful Christmas!

Let’s be honest. I think we all know that my favorite lesson is “never carry anything heavier than a twenty dollar bill” and my favorite carols are the ones pictured below:

(I will never NOT love Carol Channing. Y’all don’t even KNOW)

ANYHOODLE

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I’m still not in the holiday spirit. I’ve done all the preparation; I’ve mulled the wine, I spot-cleaned my muff, I went on walk through Austin’s beloved Trail of Lights which turned out to be like the Bataan Death March except with less war crime and more kettle corn, and I even did a test run of my new Christmas shoes on the church carpet so I don’t do a face plant in the nave, because it’s all fun and reindeer games until the fat girl buys it in front of the bishop.

(Also, what says “Let’s celebrate the Birth of Our Lord” better than a pair of tiger-striped sequined Manolos? NOTHING, THAT’S WHAT.)

ANYHOODLE

I’m not in the Christmas spirit now, but at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow I will be, because that’s when the Lessons and Carols service broadcast live from Kings College, Cambridge will begin.  3 p.m. CMT, so if the spirit so moves you, adjust your clocks accordingly and tune in for some grade A, hyper-potent holiday cheer.