To the stables and beyond.

One of the best things about being back in New York is the unique opportunity for style watching this city offers. Fall is an especially interesting time to observe people's fashion choices, as New Yorkers rush to show off their new winter wear the minute the temperature drops below 60 degrees. A fashion trend of particular importance this fall seems to be the leggings-boots combo. Now, I'll be the first to defend leggings. They're super comfy, wearable with all kinds of footwear and jewelry, and acceptable bottoms at most nighttime establishments. They come in different fabrics, patterns, and colors, and you can pair them with t-shirts, dressy shirts, belts...the options are endless! And, of course, I like boots, too. I'll wear cowboy boots, short-heeled boots, suede flat boots, and UGG-type boots (but only in appropriate weather conditions, unlike most of Los Angeles...). I'm also a big fan of the riding boots lots of women are wearing these days. I have no basis for this, but I credit Ralph Lauren with the popularity of this style. Pair it with the right tweed jacket, and these cosmopolitan women look like they're ready for a day at the stables. It's so country. So British. Ah, just love it. But my personal tastes aside, some of the boots women are wearing this fall border on the absolute ridiculous. Above-the-knee stiletto pointy-toed boots? Thigh-high leather boots so tight they look like they were painted on- and without zippers? Tall boots instead of pants? Check out this slide show to see what I'm talking about. The boots and women pictured here are in Paris, but clearly New York women are taking their fall fashion cues from the French.

Brother and I spent yesterday morning and afternoon peddling our latest art prints [check out the Famous Seniors art at www.senioritis.net] in Union Square. Wow, what an interesting cross-section of New Yorkers. We set up our table on the west side of the park, next to this awesome comic writer/illustrator who describes his work as "The Far Side meets the Bible." [His name is Cuyler Black if you want to look him up.] Some of his stuff was hilarious. And who doesn't like a good Bible joke? I know I do. Anyway, nicest guy ever. He liked our work and was totally encouraging- he didn't even laugh at us when it took us 20 minutes to make our table fold back into its compact position at the end of the afternoon. The guy on our other side looked like a totally coked-out wannabe rock star slash Edward Scissorhands, tiny and clad in all black. His lady friend wore a fur vest/coat/mystery item held together by safety pins. I thought they looked like former rock stars turned homeless people. Brother said her safety pinned vest thing probably cost thousands of dollars. I was skeptical. Anyhoo, Brother googled their artwork (pretty sweet Japanese pop art) when he got home later and told me about the guy. It turns out he is a former rock star! Played with greats like Billy Idol and Joan Jett before abandoning the stage to pursue his new calling. Oh, New York, how I love thee. The day itself went pretty well. People seemed to really like our stuff, except, of course, for this one d-bag old man who was insulted that our name was senioritis, calling it a "terrible name" and warning "you really need to work on your marketing." Oddly, he remained at our table for a full five minutes, and while berating me about our company name, he managed to look through our entire book of artwork. Ha, some people are just so miserable.

In other news, Halloween is just around the corner. I have a wedding to attend on Halloween. I have one suggestion to make on this topic: if you are presently unmarried, do not plan your wedding for Halloween. People young and old(ish) look forward to Halloween all year. Girls (though not this girl) can dress like whores without (too much) judgment, guys can play with makeup without (too much) judgment, and everyone is happy. The only thing that can put a damper on such a glorious holiday is having to dress up in formal attire and celebrate something totally unrelated to gorging oneself on candy and honoring all that is black and orange. At least the wedding is during the day, and I can salvage the rest of my Halloween by attending a party with both Brother and Sister. Ideas on do-it-yourself three person costumes are welcome and appreciated.

Post Script--
The wedding was actually very fun. While they didn't have a Halloween theme or black and orange flowers, they did wrap bare branches around various objects in lieu of flowers. Perhaps a slight nod to the underworld/undead/all that is spooky? More likely a reminder that it is fall in New York. Either way, I was a big fan. And what can beat dancing to alternating 60's music and current hip hop? I'll tell you what: 80's music. All 80's, all the time.

Speaking of 80's, Brother, Sister, and I donned our finest 80's gear for Halloween night when we drove 30 minutes to join others in costumes to watch the Yankees beat the Phillies. [Unfortunately, the Yanks are having no such luck this evening, as 2 solo 7th inning homers just increased the Phillies' lead to 8-2. BAH.] Between the wedding, Yankees, and Halloween, I consumed a healthy week's worth of calories in three days. Awesome.

Just my luck.

Like most ordinary people (huge assumption here), I look forward to a nice refreshing shower after a hard workout. I had such a workout this morning, as I enjoyed my building's gym after my building-mates had left for work. Unfortunately, when I returned to my apartment and turned the knob to run the water, absolutely nothing happened. Oh, except for the hissing sound coming from the pipe. At first I wondered whether, after 5 days of being out of town, I had forgotten how to turn on the shower. I quickly turned to the sink and twisted the hot water knob. No water there either. I called the building manager and was told that there was a problem and the water had to be turned off. It would be back on in a few minutes, he assured me.

I waited thirty minutes and tried again. Still no luck. I got an email from Austin City Limits, announcing that their early bird 3-day passes for next year's festival were officially on sale. I clicked on "Buy Now" and was taken to a cyber "waiting room." I opened two more windows in my attempt to purchase an advance pass, all of which took me to the same waiting room. Finally, I refreshed the initial Buy Now window, and received the news that the advance passes were sold out. Fun morning, eh? All I can say is it's a good thing there was a Law & Order marathon on USA all day today. Oh, and for the record, Olivia Benson makes a WAY better detective than Dani Beck. [Additionally, upon imdb-ing Benson's alter ego Mariska Hargitay, I learned that she met her husband on the set of Law & Order. A useless bit of information that for some reason made me very happy.]

After five hours of waiting, I decided I could mask my sweaty exterior with perfume and a big sweatshirt, so I left my building for the first time all day. A Starbucks visit and grocery shop later, I returned to my building and was greeted by one of my fabulous doormen [no sarcasm there; I adore them] who remarked with a smile, "Your hot water has returned." Overjoyed, I practically ran to the elevator bank.

It was top 10 best shower of all time.

Tomorrow normal life resumes as I hope to make it out of the apartment sometime before 4pm.

Ok, for real this time.

Here's a list of things I have done since I last wrote:

- London and back
- Boston/Maine and back
- Westchester to meet new Baby Cuz (love at first sight)
- High Holy Day #1
- Got cable and internet (and the cable even works sometimes)
- Decided to be '80s every day by getting bangs (see facebook for proof)
- LA and back
- High Holy Day #2
- Saw FAME remake and was inspired to learn how to dance (similar to inspiration following viewings of Centerstage, Step Up, and Step Up 2 The Streets)
- Austin for ACL (most amazing weekend ever) and back

Now that that's out of the way, I can share the most important news. Two words: Girl Talk. He is this absolutely fantastic (that word is wildly underdescriptive of this talent, but I am at a loss for something more accurate) DJ that Small Asian Friend, Roomie, and I (and about 5,000 other people) saw during ACL. At first I was skeptical, wondering how a DJ would be able to compete with all the live bands present at the festival. But this guy is a complete genius - pairing current dance rap with 70s and 80s-tastic rock ballads, keeping the beats consistent throughout. There's nothing I can say but genius. Oh, and this: http://www.myspace.com/girltalk Check him out!

Also, I love Texas. I bought a pair of real, official, authentic cowboy boots. Did I mention they're from Texas? That means they're the real thing. They couldn't charge that much for anything other than the real thing, right? They're just amazing. And the Austin nightlife is pretty crazy. Granted, we only made it to one bar the entire time we were there, but there were plenty to choose from. We certainly didn't want for alcohol, though, with all those double beers being sold left and right. Roomie and SAF were in denial about the whole double beer thing and scolded me when I mentioned their having six beers in one afternoon. They decided to count beers based on the number of cans they opened rather than the number of ounces they drank. Hey, whatever works. All I'm saying is I had a double Tecate and it was pretty gross. ACL, next year I recommend double cans of cider. I won't even be particular about which type. Maybe there are some hidden cider mills somewhere in Texas. You know, down by the Mexico border. Yeah, I'm sure you guys could work out a deal.

I will close with a few additional non-headliner ACL highlights:
- John Legend
- Dr. Dog
- Airborne Toxic Event
- Avett Brothers
- Bon Iver
- The Virgins

Oh yeah, and Lily Allen, I'm mad at you for not attending.

Addendum: As a future lawyer, I feel obliged to note that while Girl Talk undoubtedly makes a fine DJ, he is an affront to copyright law. I'm really not sure how he can possibly argue that his clips constitute fair use, but apparently he's serious in his contention. Check out a severely outdated article on the subject here here.