Tuesday: brown Miu Miu clogs

We now return you to your usual programming after a week’s vacation. Well, I’m not sure if you can really call a vacation a vacation when it consists of spending 11 hours every day in a veritable sweat shop! But I took a week off from work to take an intensive jewelry making workshop. I figured it was time to learn how to solder and make bezels and set stones and weave chain and all that good stuff.

All good stuff indeed! I annealed and quenched, I dry-fluxed and soldered, I wielded a torch. What more could a girl ask for? That was the good part. The not-so-good part? The second-degree burn on my left index finger from accidentally grabbing the lid of the kiln with my bare hand… The various scrapes from too much filing and sanding… The backache from sitting at the bench for 11 hours a day!

But I finished the week with some new skills (not to mention new safety tips), four rings, three bracelets (including the granulated cuff below), an enamel pendant that took two and a half days (!), and a lovely new scar on my finger. Ah, I’ll wear them all proudly!

Technorati Tags: jewelry making

Tuesday: blush crocodile Prada d'Orsays

I’ve had this fantasy for a while now. When I win the lottery and can retire early (like 30 years early), I want to open an arts and crafts shop, where people can sit around for hours, knit, make jewelry, needlepoint, whatever, chat, drink coffee… I’d be there to help them find supplies and work on projects, and do my own. I could spend eight hours a day doing that. Who says I’d be bored if I retired? It could be a real business, I suppose, but it would really be an excuse for me to sit around and do crafts! New York City needs a place like that.
Well, what do you know? It already has one. The Make Workshop beat me to it. It’s just the kind of place I’d love to hang out! I think I’m going to have to try out a class — maybe wallpaper making? I’m definitely thinking I need to learn me some crewel…

Technorati Tags: crafts, knitting, jewelry making, classes

Friday: Roger Vivier slides

It’s a miracle! After two days of using Blinc Kiss Me Mascara, I’m happy to report that I’ve had great results. No more raccoon eyes. . . mostly. After a long-overdue trip to the gym — brought on by the despair I felt after getting my wedding album and realizing how badly I’ve deteriorated since that glorious three-workouts-a-week era — some of the mascara somehow ended up well under my eyes. Not smudged, more like transported one lash at a time. It was almost Mod, in a Twiggy kind of way.

But aside from the post-gym look — and I willingly confess that that was aberrant behavior — there was no flaking, smudging, raccooning. I should note that I read the directions for once and avoided wearing my usual super-rich Kiehls eye cream (which I still swear by for overnight), which seems to seal the deal. Victory!! I no longer look like the evil Emperor from Star Wars (or Pope Benedict).

Photo courtesy of

http://www.agrandillusion.com/2005_04_01_agrandillusion_archive.html

Tuesday: snakeskin Prada slingbacks

There are dark circles, and then there are dark circles. True, I don’t sleep enough, and it shows on my face, right under my eyes. But beyond the bags under my eyes I’ve long suffered from the dreaded racoon eye syndrome. It’s so bad that a facialist once told me she’d never had such trouble removing eye makeup before. I’ve tried waterproof mascara, I’ve tried cream eyeshadows that are supposed to stay put through snow, rain and dark of night. To no avail.
Could this be the product that will change my life? My friend Madge swears that Blinc Kiss Me Mascara won’t smudge, won’t somehow migrate to the area right under the eyes. Something about how the mascara coats the lashes like little tubes and yet can be removed with just water. Well, Madge, I’m gonna try it out! Stay tuned…

Tuesday: gold Jimmy Choo sandals

As in, Save Our Sample Sales! Yep, it’s that time of year again… the sample sales are coming fast and furious, and I just don’t know if I have it in me anymore. Shocking, I know! But the thrill of the chase (or rather of the chasing of the girl who just made off with the last XS) no longer has its hold on me. It’s been a long, long time since I was so excited to sharpen my elbows and get my sample-sale shop on that I woke up before my alarm clock even went off. Okay, so maybe part of the problem is that I’m so sleep deprived these days that I’m no longer capable of waking up before my alarm… but that’s another story altogether!

And anyhow, I feel a little disappointed in myself. Where is my sense of competition, my appetite for finding the perfect gem among a bin of castoffs? Perhaps I can ease myself back in, dip my toes into the kiddie pool, like the Lola Hats sample sale this week (Tuesday to Thursday, 10-7, 535 Eighth Ave. 20th floor), rather than the deep end of, say, an Hermes sale. Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: sample sales