Tights Weather

I love tights and I'm excited every year when tights season finally rolls around.


And every year around this time it occurs to me that I still haven't found a really good system of organizing my tights drawer.  It's currently a snarled tangle of old tights,  new tights, over the knee socks, fishnets, stockings, garter belts and random Halloween costume bits and pieces.  In a perfect world there would be clearly marked spaces for tights that are Wolford, tights that are not Wolford but still perfect, tights that should only be worn with boots because there's a little fuzzy patch where the boot zipper has rubbed, tights that have a hole in the toe but will do in a pinch, tights that look too shiny in daylight but are perfect for night, tights that are anything but black and therefore will never be worn, tights that should be thrown out immediately but are being kept for an emergency which necessitates old tights, tights that are too sheer and tights that I hate but can't remember why.  


Maybe someday...

Over the knee socks

Chanel Tights

Vinyl tights.  And also, I wish I could wear this every! single! day!

Painted Books

I love artist Jeanne Shapton's painted books.  These one of a kind pieces made from acrylic and house paint on wooden blocks merge two of my passions books at art.  Her titles lean heavily towards English and French fiction and belles lettres and they are sold exclusively through John Derrian in New York (www.johnderrian.com).

It would be difficult for me to choose my favorite.  But I'd have to go with Raymond Carver.  When in doubt it's never a bad idea to go with Raymond Carver.  And just because, here's my favorite poem ever...

“Luck” by Raymond Carver

I was nine years old.
I had been around liquor
all my life. My friends
drank too, but they could handle it.
We'd take cigarettes, beer,
a couple of girls
and go out to the fort.
We'd act silly.
Sometimes you'd pretend
to pass out so the girls
could examine you. 
They'd put their hands
down your pants while
you lay there trying
not to laugh, or else
they would lean back,
close their eyes, and
let you feel them all over.
Once at a party my dad
came to the back porch
to take a leak.
We could hear voices
over the record player
see people standing around
laughing and drinking.
When my dad finished
he zipped up, stared a while
at the starry sky--it was
always starry then
on summer nights--
and went back inside.
The girls had to go home.
I slept all night in the fort
with my best friend.
We kissed on the lips
and touched each other.
I saw the stars fade
toward morning.
I saw a woman sleeping
on our lawn.
I looked up her dress,
then I had a beer
and a cigarette.
Friends, I though this
was living.
Indoors, someone
had put out a cigarette
in a jar of mustard.
I had a straight shot
from the bottle, then
a drink of warm collins mix,
then another whisky.
And though I went from room
to room, no one was home.
What luck, I thought.
Years later,
I still wanted to give up
friends, love, starry skies,
for a house where no one
was home, no one coming back,
and all I could drink.

Gold Fever

Taxidermy badger with crown

Gold Bug in Pasadena is my new favorite store.  Nestled amongst the usual suspects of J Crew, H&M and Baby Gap, Gold Bug is a little oasis of charming eccentricity.  

This quirky little shop carries a unique collection of one of a kind jewelry, taxidermy, gold crowns, corsets and a carefully edited selection of home accessories including John Derian, Agelio Batle and Andy Paiko.  Whether you're in the market for a cast bronze talon bottle opener for a hostess gift, a pair of steam punk bloomers or a set of Victorian paper dolls, Gold Bug has something for everyone and for every budget.  Love!

John Derrian platers, vintage medical ephemera

quartz skull

They also have a fantastic online site www.goldbugpasadena.com

Gold bug pasadena

22 East Union

Pasadena, CA  91103