Things I Should Have Been Blogging About This Whole Time

Lest you think this dormancy is permanent, I give you the following things that I should have been blogging about in the past few weeks.  Shame on me for my lack of presence lately.  Why is it that when so many exciting things are happening, it's hard to find the time to record them?

1.  A trip to Biarritz, San Sebastian, and Bilbao with an old friend.  (Takeaways:  my bile toward Frank Gehry is ever-bitter.  I almost lose my shizz [in a good way] in a Serra sculpture.  Pintxos are rad.  Must visit San Sebastian again, on a non-rainy day.  Bilbao is definitely the Pittsburg of Spain.  The Basque wild ponies are my babies!)

2.  A new job!  I'm moving to Sweden!  It's official!  I leave Paris August 2!  The only exclaiming I do on that day will be in a sad way, as it's going to shake me to leave Paris, my dream city, my favorite city, my home for the past year and a half.

3.  Paris sales, starting tomorrow.  I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight.

4.  Moringa oil.  I got a hot tip on this stuff from one A.T.S. and holy moly, google it for yourself.  Now if I could just find a supplier in Paris.  Or maybe I just shell out for the shipping costs?

5.  The spicy peanut sauce I made for dins tonight.  I even did the dishes afterward (an event that rarely happens on the same night) in order to avoid this blog for a while longer.  It didn't work.

6.  My first midsommar in Sweden.  It was glorious--the skies that were bluer than blue, the quaint country house, the barbecued meats and the gluten-free fika, the heavy metal mowing and the interpretive dancing, the mosquito tent.  I couldn't have asked for a better time.  If I had brought a change of underjams, I might have even stayed an extra day.  Who knew I could get down with the country like that?

7.  Mad Men.  Damn you, Mad Men, for being as good as they all said you were.  Damn you for sucking up my evenings and for keeping me up late to watch episodes before bed when I've prematurely pulled myself away from real socialization because I was getting itchy about what Don Draper was going to do next.  And damn you most of all for making me part of your cult so that I have recruited others.  At least I have more people to talk about you with.  Mad Men.

8.  The dear new friend I have made here in Paris, though I will be moving to her home country soon. (Hey irony, why don't you jump?)  Still, we have been maximizing our time while we are in the same city and no doubt will know each other for a long time.

9.  I am getting older.  Again.  On Thursday.  I will be transitioning from my mid-thirties to my late thirties.  Or so they tell me.  I ain't skeert!  Besides the hangovers, life just keeps getting better.

These Things Have Been Happening

My feet are torn up.  Torn up on the level of someone who lives in the jungle without shoes.  Actually, the feet of someone who lives in the jungle without shoes probably morph into something like shoe-feet, all coarse and leathery and tough--without the 1st world blisters and rubs mine are currently exhibiting.  So it's closer to say that my feet are torn up like a castle-dweller who was suddenly dropped in the jungle and forced to subsist unshod.

I mean to say that there are blisters and open sores and glaring manifestations of pain all over my tootsies.  I am running out of "safe" shoes that avoid the problem areas.

So what am I doing?

Well, for one, I bought these:

It was part celebration (more on that later), part because I know they are well-made comfortable shoes (Chie Mihara), and part because I have coveted them since they appeared in the Manoush window two days before.  Hey, at least I could wait 2 days.  

I have also been hammering.  My shoes.

I've tried to break in every damn pair by dousing them with "shoe stretch" spray, wearing multiple pairs of socks, and tippy toeing and rolling my ankles all around the apartment.  And you know what that did?  Got me right into this oozing open blister mess.  So you know what I do now?  HAMMER.  

I pound, pound, pound and break it down.  And somehow, it feels satisfying to lay it back on the thing that caused me pain.  Even if it is an inanimate object.  

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I don't know how I got by without Mad Men for so long.  Now I am in the throes of some serious addiction.  We're talking at least one episode a night, ending meet-ups with real live humans early so I can crawl into bed with some Madison Avenue haps.  And of course I remind everyone that sexy/naughty Don Draper is really from my hometown.

The best part is, I'm still on season 1.  This can keep me distracted for most of the summer!

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You know what else I've been into?  

Socca:

It's just chickpea flour and water, and it makes a magnificent pizza crust for those of us off the flour.  But you can also cook it thicker, more like a pancake, and eat it un-topped.  Actually, you can do just about anything with it.  It's pretty marvelous.  David Lebowitz has a nice bit on it here.

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You know what I don't care about?  The Diamond Jubilee.  All apologies to my English friends, but really I could give a rat's.

Stuff on Walls #194

One Outfit, Five Photos

This old thing?

Dress, vintage.
Bracelet, Marni x H&M.
Sandals, Rachel Comey.
Necklace, ?

The frog at the end of this necklace is actually a dog-training instrument.  He makes a snapping "ribbit" to keep the dogs in line.  Unfortunately, it has no effect on cats.

One Outfit, Three Photos

Dress, Nanette Lepore.
Shoes, Jeffrey Campbell.
Both old, old, old.

One Outfit, Four Photos

Necklace, H&M.

Shirt, H&M.

Skirt, UO.

Shoes, Chloe.

Damn, I love that necklace.

One Outfit, Five Photos

Necklace, Marni x H&M.

Shirt, COS.

Bracelets, vintage and H&M.

Shoes, Osborn.

Let's talk about these Osborn shoes for a second.  They are handmade in Guatemala and even signed on the bottom.  (Thanks, Carlos!)  I love the fabric, and they are oh-so-comfortable.  Also, the guy at the Apple Store last weekend saw them and congratulated me for being the "most stylish customer" of the weekend.  I'll TAKE it!

One Outfit, Four Photos

Silk dress, Marni x H&M.
Earrings by me.
Shoes, can't remember off-hand and too lazy to get up and check.