Coffee's what????

Taken in the break room at my office on the side of the office coffee box.  Apostrophes are hard for America to understand.

After Christmas sales are thebomb.com

I picked up these little darlings at Anthropologie  today. Aren't they fab? 

I've been looking for a western boot forever, and the fact that they were $150 off the original price helped....a lot.  The color is unique (they call it spiced cider, and they actually are a little more cider-y than they look in the photo), the heel is the perfect height, and I think they will look equally great with both jeans and skirts/dresses.  I'm a happy camper.  Or cowgirl. Or pardner. Or lil' doggie.

Murphy's law of perfumes

Of all the beautiful perfume bottles in the world out there, "my" scent  (I Love Love by Moschino), the scent I've worn for years and will continue to wear for years, happens to be encased in a bottle that looks like this:

No boys allowed.

It was an all-girl gathering of epic proportions when myself, my mom, my sister, sister-in-law, and both nieces went to see Ballet West's Nutcracker for Christmas this year.  Luckily, we were able to stay cootie-free because none of the boys were allowed to come with us, whew. I remember going when I was a little girl and being absolutely fascinated by the dancers, the costumes, and the whole magical experience.  Seeing these two beautiful little girls experience the ballet for the first time was an afternoon I'll never forget.

We went out for lunch and hot chocolate at the Beehive Tea Room, and then it was off to our seats!

The girls were attentive and captivated for the whole performance, and had a VERY difficult time deciding which of the many pretty dresses was the absolute prettiest. 

Thanks so much for the memories, ladies. 

Worth a thousand words...

Here's the exact photo I needed to help out this post about my mom's surprise 60th birthday party.  Better late than never. 

Pucci

Mason just finished designing the 2010 line of wakeboards for Wakeology.  We were working at home together and I happened to see an early draft of the girl board for 2010:

Love it!  I asked Mason if he was channeling Pucci purposefully, and his reply was, "Pucci?" His accidental homage delighted me and prompted a fabulous Google search.  First favorite: the master Emilio at work painting his signature pattern:

Second favorite: A swanky Pucci party that I was invited to (in my dreams).  Also in my dreams,  I wore a Pucci dress with Pucci heels and Pucci sunglasses to the dream-party, and when it came time to close the dream-party down, they gave me all of the Pucci Chinese lanterns to take home with me, because they were just going to throw them out anyway.

Pucci's stewardess uniform designs (yes, they called them "stewardesses" back then, so it's OK, and I was being un-PC on purpose):

All the cool kids (literally) are wearing Pucci these days:

 

A Saab story.

Thanks a lot, GM.  I was excited for Koenigsegg, elated about Spyker, but now I'm just......Saabin'.

Saab Sale Cannot Be Concluded,  Brand to be Wound Down

General Motors announced today that the intended sale of Saab Automobile AB would not be concluded. After the withdrawal of Koenigsegg Group AB last month, GM had been in discussions with Spyker Cars about its interest in acquiring Saab. During the due diligence, certain issues arose that both parties believe could not be resolved. As a result, GM will start an orderly wind-down of Saab operations.... (cont'd)

I've owned 4 already ('93 900 Convertible, '94 9000 Aero, '00 9-3 Viggen, '01 9-5 Aero), and it literally pains me to think that that number might cap at 4.  Here are a few of my favorite pics, a tribute to the tiny little Swedish brand-that-could, the brand that will always remain my favorite. 

 

And here's one that accurately depicts the sucker punch to the gut that Snaabs (like myself) all over the world are feeling:

That's how Gretchen, my 9000 Aero, met her demise.  I think we can all commiserate with Gretchen a bit at this moment.

Family ties.

That's me and Mason's family, attending little sister Emeri's dance concert at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.  The two guest stars in the photo are my mom-in-law's cousin La Rene and Aunt Opal.  Opal happens to be 96 years young.  Sadly, I'm afraid that that same group might never be assembled again, but it was so wonderful to be able to take such a unique family portrait.  La Rene drove Opal and her wheelchair all the way from Arlington, Virginia in rush hour Baltimore traffic to attend the concert.  Opal kept us thoroughly entertained throughout the program, leaning over periodically to whisper, "Can you do that? My body sure can't do THAT anymore."  She also stuck around after the concert for the hugs, flowers, photos and introductions like a champ.  I'm just so grateful for people like La Rene and Marsha who make such tremendous efforts to keep family close.  It is SO important.

La Rene, on a side note, is doubly amazing because she also housed Mason, Chamonix, and I when we went to DC for the inauguration in January.  Our last-minute trip never would've been possible had she not provided lodging for us.  She's basically a rock star.


The rest of our weekend trip to Maryland was just as epic. We got shown around the campus, including the acres and acres of "Goucher woods":

We went to Fell's Point by the water in Baltimore:

We got to pretend like we were in college again and go to a bonafide college party, complete with a beer pong match:

And we shot a Starbucks commercial:

(kidding)

Making mix CDs is so 2000.

At first, the iPod amazed me.  Astounded me. It blew my mind that I could keep 30,000 of my most favoritest songs all in the same place and have access to any one of them at any time.  I put my Pod on all random and left it that way for years, never really seeking for a certain song or artist, just happy to have EVERYTHING available.  

Then, I got so sick of skipping through the randoms to find the perfect song I was craving, I started making playlists obsessively. Hundreds of them.  Some by theme (gym, dance, mellow), some by time period (favorites of October 2006), some for road trips, etc.  Even then, they would end up being too long (so what if I had 187 favorites of October 2006?), still requiring much skipping around, endlessly hunting for THE song.  So do you know what I started doing?  Making mix CDs again!  After so much advanced 60GB technology, I am finding the ancient technology of 25 perfect little songs-of-my-moment all on one disc that I can play in my car (without any pesky adaptors) to be perfectly awesome. A friend walked over to my desk while I was making my latest mix and said in a disgusted tone, "Why are you burning a CD???????"  THE HORROR.  

Anyway, here's the latest mix in all its glory. I make no apologies for the songs on it, they're just songs that I happen to crave and love right now and am happy to have on one convenient CD to listen to in my car.  Some are old, some are new, some are borrowed, some are blue.  I encourage you to also make a mix for old time's sake!

Gift idea: fine art from your photos

Need a killer gift for your boyfriend, girlfriend, mom, husband, or parole officer? Mason takes your favorite 80’s photos, wedding announcements, pics of your favorite bands, etc. and turns them into original pieces of fine art. They make amazing gifts because each is completely one-of-a-kind, and if ya’ll are like myself, you enjoy the narcissistic rush of seeing yourself featured in a piece of fine art. Also, if you give one to your mom for Christmas (her favorite photo of you and your little sister from 1985), she will bawl her eyes out, thus making you look like the most excellent gift-giver of all.

Here are some samples. They start at $120 and go up from there depending on dimensions, medium, complexity, frame, etc. Most of the below were under $150. Get your siblings together and buy your parents a gift they'll never forget. Email your picture to Mason@masonfetzer.com to get started.