The power of fashion (and turning off my phones)

My migraine is finally gone. I felt so bad Thursday night I couldn't go out to dinner. One friend is in from NYC for meetings and she told me Bruce and Demi were at the next table celebrating Rumor's birthday. She also said the food was very good. The chef at the Tower Bar used to work at Ammo and I always loved his food there.

It is blazing hot this weekend but I have fall on the brain. I haven't received my big fat September issue (over 800 pages!) of Vogue. I cannot wear super skinny jeans. I'm only 5'2 and have muscular legs. How excited am I that full trousers are hot for this fall/winter? The colors gray and purple are the big colors for the season. I went to J. Crew today and found a pair of jeans that actually fit. With my shape, shopping for jeans is a pain in the butt (no pun intended). I'm not very hippy but I do have a butt. Jeans that fit my thighs and butt are too big in the waist and vice-versa. I will pick up the pants next week once they are altered (I had to have the hem shortened).

I happend to catch the last fifteen minutes of "What Not to Wear" on BBC America. This time Trinny and Susannah worked with two women over 70. Both women had given up on life, basically just waiting for the casket to close. What a difference an updated haircut and a good bra makes. These women after their makeovers looked decades younger. One woman, who's ex-husband's current wife described her as non-descript, went to meet them for tea. They were speechless. The other woman was a widow who stopped caring about everything after losing the love of her life. Her own son didn't recognize her. I got a little choked up when the women were talking about how now see themselves.

Speaking of "What Not to Wear", the co-host of the American (and more PC version. Trinny and Susannah are very blunt) Stacy London, had a special on shoes and bags. What made it an extra special hour was the travel. Stacy went to Paris to meet with Christian Louboutin, Florence to meet with James Ferragamo, New York City to visit the Manolo Blahnik store, among others.

In Florence she went to the Ferragamo factor and one of the workers showed how a sketch became a shoe. I had no idea it took that many people or hours to make shoes by hand. Stacy spoke only a little Italian and her tour guide spoke two words in English but it all worked out. I thought it was interesting to hear why high end shoes cost what they do (labor and material, especially with the dollar so weak and the shoes are not made in China). There are some labels where you are clearly paying for the name (I won't mention names but I noticed Ms. London did not talk about them either), the quality is not that great, so even if I had a bigger clothes budget, I would pass on those shoes.

The last few years I have used my birthday money to get a very nice pair of shoes or a bag. I don't think I am going to do that this year. I have to see what is going on with work. I know what shoes I want but seeing how I could be unemployed in a few months I will need that money to put toward my rent.

I cannot wait for fall. This year I will be in Toronto so I will really feel it. One of my Canadian friends here told me to pack some sweaters.

I did no work yesterday and turned off my phones. I wrote in the morning then went on a hike.


This is a little scary. I haven't seen snakes up there but one time two coyotes walked past me. That was not a fun experience.


So is this. It can't be good for us to be breathing this air.


I like how the San Gabriel Mountains look at this time in morning. You can kind of see the Hollywood sign in the middle.


Okay my break from work is over. I must get off the internet.