These are snakeskin booties.

Mock snakeskin, to be precise. They are leather. Look how pointy!

They may be a symbol of my belief in personal freedom, or they may be a symbol of the fever I mysteriously woke up with today, since I bought them yesterday. Better keep the tags on for a couple days, just in case I was as delirious when I bought them as I am now.

Slacking on the blog fashion here! Tsk tsk. No opportunity to plaster pictures of oneself all over the internetz, or to give globe-spanning chain stores free advertising, should ever be passed up! I do like to see what other people are wearing, though, and I also like getting tipped off to things I might want for myself, so what can you do?

I need to photograph the things I got in Turkey because they are handmade and very cool, and also a crazy shrug I bought the other day, but I am in no condition to prance about for pictures today. It half killed me just to take pictures of my feet. (It kind of did actually.)

Anyway, the weather is changing, and when that happens, thoughts turn to boots. I find myself wearing the same (metallic bronze Repetto) boots year after year, so I have been looking for another pair of ankle boots with a lowish heel that, despite the lowish heel, are flattering enough to wear with skirts. I tried on a bunch of ankle boots, at Zara and elsewhere, and they all looked terrible--clunky and yuck. So then I was roaming around Zara, spreading germs and sulking because they didn't have the suede tie wedges I liked in my size, when I saw the snake(esque) booties and halfheartedly stuck one on.

I believe, perhaps even more than I believe in personal freedom, that a bootie or ankle boot that looks good on a bare leg is a bootie or ankle boot one needs to own, because it will look good with anything. Turquoise tights? Sure. Pom-pom anklets? But of course. I wear the Repettos perenially because they are the only ankle boots I have that possess this magical quality. I don't know exactly why the Zara booties have it too, but they do. Unfortunately I had to wear tights for the pictures because I probably need to shave and can't deal with that today, but I promise they looked good yesterday. Unless it's all a fever-induced hallucination, that is.


The trusty old Repetto warhorses


Zara

And these are the suede wedge booties I liked. Not quite what I had in mind at the time, but they looked nice on.



By the way, Zara's shoe size conversion is off. They call 38 US 7.5, 39 US 8. No. Their 38 is an 8.

Stop the love and sex and magic

My bacchante looks like she's about to cry, doesn't she? And yes, she does bear a faint resemblance to Stephen Thompson. Ideally, everyone would. But why so sad? Dunno. She just came out sad, but I suspect my annoying habit of playing the same song over and over has driven her to the brink of tears. What else could it be?

Sad Cameo, 14"x11", colored pencil, gouache and graphite on paper

Russian Summer

From left: Blueberry (first two bottles), Pomegranate-Cardamom-Orange, Strawberry, Peach, Cherry.


Ossifer's Jam next to Strawberry

Actually, I did meet a lot of Russians this summer, but I didn't go to Russia. No, it was a Russian summer because it was a vodka summer. And to be perfectly honest, although these concoctions are supposed to age for months and months, I want to start drinking them now, so I had to document them pronto before they disappeared. I wrote about all but cherry and ossifer's jam in this post and this post, so I'll just give my impression of each and links to all the recipes here.

Blueberry: It is the youngest and needs to age more, but tastes pretty good. It was the easiest to make, as the blueberries didn't break down at all and so it didn't need much filtering.

Roxelana (Pomegranate-Cardamom-Orange). This is the only one I wouldn't drink by itself. The flavor is nice, but very strong, and the pomegranate is overpowered by the cardamom and orange. That's okay with me because I love cardamom, but I'd like to make a pomegranate-only vodka at some point. Very aromatic and spicy. I think a generous splash in a glass of Prosecco would make an awesome Cardamosa. Need to try that soon.

Strawberry: The first one I made. It's good. It has lost almost all the vodka burn and doesn't really taste alcoholic. Great for kids who won't go to bed! (j/k)

Peach: Similar to strawberry in that it became very smooth and barely seems boozy. Kind of a pain to filter, but really good. If it lasts until December I'm going to use it in my eggnog instead of peach brandy.

Cherry: This one is interesting. It's an Italian recipe, and no I didn't drink half of it (yet), the recipe makes a small amount, and says you will only want to sip a tiny bit, and also that it should age for at least six months. I wanted to make it because it includes crushed cherry pits, which are supposed to give an almond flavor. Once I found I could crush the pits in the food processor, I was all for it (worked but was kinda scary). Anyway, this one tasted good right from the start, and I wish I had made a double batch. It has been the hardest by far to filter though.

Officer's Jam, or Bachelor's Jam (It has become Ossifer's Jam to me, because of that old joke): It isn't vodka, it's brandy, but it's fruit and alcohol, so I invited it to the party. I found myself in possession of a bottle of cheap brandy (you know to be scared if the label says simply "French Brandy"). Since I don't have a Zippo, I was looking for some other way to use the French Brand Brandy, and found Officer's Jam, which is fruit preserved in brandy and sugar. You can use the fruit and the fruit-flavored brandy for desserts in the winter. It's really simple to do, but the fruit keeps floating to the top and it's hard to weigh it down. I've been keeping it in the fridge, but when the weather cools off, I'll stick it in a closet, I guess. So far the brandy has turned red and tastes like cough syrup. Haven't tried the fruit, I think it is too soon.

I wish I had made at least one without sugar but that can be a future project. If you like sweet fruity flavors, you will like any of them, except Roxelana, for that you really have to be a cardamom fan. They are all wonderfully aromatic.

Vodka dreams and brandy wishes to you!

Oh the shark, babe

Look out, old Macky's back.

Stevie T.

Well, Fashion Week is here once again, and what better way to celebrate Fashion Week than with a Fashion Model?

I have a folder where I keep images to use for inspiration or as starting points for projects. Here are some examples:












Now, can you imagine how I felt when I first saw Stephen Thompson?










Yes. I died.



Stephen Thompson, colored pencil, graphite, and watercolor on paper, 17"x14"

I should give photo credits, but unfortunately, since I saved the images for myself, I don't have them. The first image is a ball-jointed doll, second is Picasso's Woman in White, third, Mary-Kate Olsen, fourth, a cameo depicting Hera, and fifth, Caroline Trentini in Vogue. Some of the Stephen Thompson photos came from the Tumblr fuckyeahstephenthompson (lol), which is a great blog to check out if you'd like to see more of Stephen.