Arizona, here I come!

so i leave for the conference tomorrow on a 6:40 AM FLIGHT!!!!!! geez. that means today will be filled with running into the office for some last minute printouts and then running around doing last minute errands.
some thoughts about travelling..
•why is it that every time I'm going on a trip i have to go out and find some of those little bottles for my shampoo and other grooming essentials? do they evaporate in my bathroom cupboards after each trip????
•why can't hotels have REAL blowdriers? why do they all have those little ones that are attached to the wall???? i could do a better job by putting a tube in my mouth, aiming it at my head and blowing.
•where do they get the air in hotels? do they import it from a cheese factory in France and THEN filter it through old underwear?
•is it TRULY necessary to "turn down" the bed every evening? are there really people who can't manage to get those covers off the bed without a head start from the maid? it creeps me out enough having a maid in my room ONCE while I'm gone...
•am I the only person who just drops the towels on the floor of the bathroom when i'm done with them? I don't know why I do this in hotels as I'd never do this at home.
•am i the only person who goes to extremes to hide my underwear when i'm staying in a hotel? i don't know why I do this in hotels as I often just drop mine on the floor of the bathroom at home.
•do you ever stand at the peep hole in your room and look at who's walking down the hall? nope? just me then, i guess.
•why do cigarettes in hotels cost THREE TIMES AS MUCH as anywhere else? even if the anywhere is just down the block?
•while waiting at the luggage carousel, am I the only one who pictures my luggage emerging from the chute ripped to pieces with every piece of my underwear exposed for the entire airport to see?
•why do I panic every time I'm going through airport security? I don't understand my paranoia. especially since I've stopped travelling with all my BOMBS with me
•can anyone think of a real reason why you have to turn off your laptop whenever the plane is landing? for that matter, can anyone think of a real reason why the 7 year old sitting next to you has to turn off his GAMEBOY while the plane is landing???
that's it for now... i'm sure i'll think of other things...
your thoughts, please.

the late shopping list

lots. lots and lots of stuff. too much to go into any detail or to even remember. I'm in a bit of a shopping fog right now. things that come to mind immediately:
1 great pair of black sandals from Gimme Shoes
1 swaddling blanket with matching hat from Johnathan Kaye (gift for a co-worker's soon-to-be born baby)
1 vintage fabric baby blanket from Johnathan Kaye (a gift for Nance's newly adopted daughter)
1 8 pack of Prada lip balm from Neiman's

total: good question...

OH! the lovely Jack Spade navy suede bag arrived yesterday. it's just as delicious in person as it was staring back at me on my computer screen.
sigh.

Son of The Best Salesman in San Francisco

so the magical shirt was back from the tailor on Thursday. My hellish week at work left me no time to pick it up and the poor thing sat languishing at MAC... a Friday pick-up was not looking good either as I had to go to the editing studio to work on some videos that we're producing for "the conference". as i sat trying desperately to stay awake while the editor plucked away at his computer, my phone rang. It was Scott. "Hey Mike, i just wanted to make sure you remembered that your shirt is ready"
"Thanks... I'll try to swing by for it in the next couple of days - I'm swamped."
"Are you at work?"
"Sort of... i'm at an editing studio over in the Haight"
"What's the address? I'll send it over."
I love that guy.

The Best Salesman in San Francisco

Okay, so I needed to pick up an outfit for the formal night of a conference i'm going to the first week of august. For last years conference I bought my very, VERY first suit. Yummy Armand Basi black variegated pinstripe numbah. i wore it with a black variegated stripe shirt. sounds crazy, right? heck no. it was just crazy enough - 'specially when worn with black patent Mihara Yasuhiro Pumas. Picked it up at MAC (Modern Appealing Clothing - not the make-up store). So I went back to MAC. Specifically to MAC and Scott. He's probably one of the best salesmen I've ever worked with. Not pushy AT ALL. Honest. Frank. Fun. and just pissy enough for me to handle. I like that he runs around FOR me. Instead of making me trail behind him all over the shop as he pulls stuff, he brings the stuff TO me. Also love that he always offers me something to drink. Nothing fancy... a bottled water or maybe some coffee.
anyhow... i was considering buying another suit. brown this time. the other option was to try and figure out a way to make last years suit look COMPLETELY different. i thought the challenge of making the old suit look new was more fun. first thing we decided was that color would make it look new. Scott pulled a red Armand Basi shirt. plain, clean, RED. it was really, really good. i thought since i didn't wear a tie last year that we might be able to find a groovy tie. next to land in the dressing room was a patterned spread collar number... spread collar killed the idea of the tie, but that didn't break my heart - I hate ties. the other lovely thing about this shirt was the pattern. allover, tight, subtle pattern that at first look seemed like a paisley, but was actually a peacock feather pattern giving it a really cool, exotic undertone. cream body... the pattern was in red. As i'm checking the last shirt in the mirror I see Scott walking towards me holding this, this, this... dream. I can't even describe it and I won't even try. Suffice to say it was INCREDIBLE. impeccable details. color was NOT what you'd immediately think of pairing with the suit but it was really perfect. (that made it even more appealing to me) As Scott handed it to me, I spotted the label inside the collar. Dries Van Noten. Ouch. I only have one other of his pieces - a pair of shoes that I bought at Louis of Boston about ten years ago. I had to skip dinner for three weeks to pay for them (but HEY, I still wear them). I could only imagine how much this dream shirt was gonna be... Scott totally read it in my eyes.
"You realize your timing is impeccable." he said.
"What?"
"This is our major sale time - just about everything in here is 50 percent off."
Yet another reason why I love this guy. the pissy shopboys at Neimans or Saks would've all but pointed and laughed if they noticed the slightest hesitation at a price point. I smiled and took the shirt into the dressing room. before I even dared to try it on, I checked the price. $395. OUCH. I thought he said something about everything being 50 off??? Don't even tell me he handed me a shirt that was originally priced at close to 800 bucks. At that very moment, i could hear ver's voice in my head saying something about a shirt being able to sprout wings and fly someone home. Just as I was about to tell Scott that I hated it, I noticed that there was something handwritten on the tag. some more numbers... a one, an eight and a nine. PLUS a dollar sign. $189. woohoo! $189 for a gorgeous Dries Van Noten shirt with the magical ability to make a one year old suit look completely new? Sold. i got the peacock one too. another deal at 99 marked down from 198.
If everyone behaves, i'll post pics. I've gotta wait for the Dries shirt until Thursday... they're having it tailored for me.
I did good shopping today.

Color My World

we're having the house painted and choosing the colors landed on my plate. a bit of a daunting task. i thought it would be easy, but it turned out to be quite a challenge. we (mom, dad and I) looked at a bunch of paint chip combos that the painters gave us and we made some choices. dad felt it was really important that the colors we chose worked with the houses on either side of us. whatever. anyhow... i went with a combo that we found on a house over on lake st. cream body with burgundy and patina greenish/turq accents. imagine my shock when the base coat goes on and it's flesh colored. like pink baby butt flesh. seems dad made some changes based on what he saw in the paint CAN. breathe. breathe. breathe. i tried not to freak out. honestly, ANYthing would've been better than the 30 year old chipped, faded paint job that we had. no matter what the colors, it would be a new, fresh paint job. it didn't help that homey the cousin and the SO had a little chat out in front of the house regarding the pink baby butt color... that really annoyed me. it's so easy to be a back seat driver. i mean, if they really cared, maybe they could've driven around the neighborhood with me looking for groovy colored houses. anyhow... I got home yesterday to find that the accents and details had been painted. the accent color is a charcoal gray and the trim is white. dusty rose, charcoal gray and white.
It's lovely.

Sometimes

...i feel so anxious, my skin crawls
...i feel like my head is going to explode
...i wish that a car would run me over when i'm coming back from getting my coffee in the morning
...i feel like i have no choices
...i feel so out of control that it makes me dizzy
...i feel like i can't breathe
then i go shopping.
then i feel better.
for about ten minutes.

shopping List 7/11/05

1 Silver Pendant on a LONG black cord from Rolo
1 Brown Leather Bracelet from Rolo
1 Brown hooded zip front sweater from Banana
1 Pair of Khaki pants from Banana
2 iSight cameras

Total: +/- $600.00

okay... the silver pendant on the LONG black cord from Rolo is kinda' dumb. i mean, i'd have to leave my shirt unbuttoned down to HERE for anyone to enjoy the pendant. what's THAT about??? the bracelet I get... some new guys line, forgot his name, but it seems like i'm starting a little collection. actually, both were stress-relief purchases. I had a meeting with this idiot videographer that i'm working with and he and his insipid assistant drove me over the edge and right into the waiting arms of the shopboys at Rolo on Market.
the hooded sweater? i've got the exact same one in charcoal. love it. needed to have the brown one.
Khakis? who doesn't need another pair of khakis? they're like the mashed potatoes of the fashion world - they go with just about anything. just about... nothing exotic or too terribly interesting. i mean, you wouldn't serve mashed potatoes with sushi, would you? same thing.
yeah... 2 iSight cams. well, one was for Sara and - so she'd have someone to use it with - i got one for me too. silly. fun. we'll see. she's just getting back to new york now so we haven't had a chance to try them out.
dat's it. i think.

new beginning

so i mentioned we threw a party this past weekend. at the party i was chatting with Nicole. she's a dancer. not bad. pretty good technique. very expressive. she was telling me about a company she dances with in the city... 'you've got to come and take class". she was telling me all about the choreographer, "you'd really like his class. he's totally lyical and he'd love your technique". hmm... okay. 7:30 on wednesdays? yeah... i could do that. IF i showed up at work at 7:30am on Wednesday, I could probably escape by about 6:30 or 7:00... rush over to 7th and market and make it to class. Well, that's exactly what I did. I escaped by 6:45... wolfed down a ham sandwich and made it to the studio by 7:15 only to find out that this teacher had called in sick.
shit.
shit, shit, shit.

Shopping List 7/5/05

1 haircut
1 jar of Bumble and Bumble Sumo Tech Moulding Compound for Hair
total: $130.00

how much is too much?
is 20.99 too much for a 1.5 oz jar of hair stuff?
is 85.00 too much for a hair cut? (Ron's a genius, but to be honest, i think this cut's a bit too short - whatev. It'll grow out)

Double Post Alert!!!

We threw a party on Saturday night. It was lovely... dropped about a hundred bucks on foodstuffs. I made a pot of adobo (just chicken wings) and then broiled them, basically turning them into adobo buffalo wings. yummy. made some wontons... and for the vegetarian in the group i did up a bunch of wontons made from tuna. not canned, goofballs. i used fresh tuna. chopped it up, added soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster suace and scallions. wasn't sure if it would work, but turns out they were a hit with everyone. woohoo. ordered some garlic noodles from ppq and laid out some crudite to round out the spread. overall, not too bad... no food left the morning after which i think is a good sign. Lotsa laughs and my iTunes mix went over huge. everything from show tunes to Gwen, with a bit of silly summertime stuff mixed in (rock a hula!). (the party was officially dubbed a summer kick-off after all...)
don't know how to end this entry... so, see ya.

re: HELP!!!!!!

thanks (i think) for the suggestions. I'm hovering around Stevie Wonder's "If You Really Love Me". I have an affinity for ballads but i'm being pushed to do an up-tempo. I think this song can keep me and "the powers that be" happy... it's got the fun, peppy little hook as well as the groovy slow part. Yeah... i know it's a duet, but that is easily dealt with.
BUT, like I said, I'm "hovering"... i'm still open to more suggestions. DIG DEEP mah peeps! Keep the suggestions coming!