I have a confession.  From being conspicuously single when Femmeiniste launched, I have rapidly progressed to being in a full-blown relationship. You’ve heard about The Man With The Hidden Talents before.  We have been “temporarily” cohabiting since July.  I can now say definitively that he is also The Man With The Hidden Weirdnesses, but as I am the owner of a stuffed Malaysian tapir, I am not in a position to throw stones.

I’ve actually been shocked at how easy and natural it was, and I can’t quite decide if it was easier or should have been harder because we had no actual intention of the living together lasting this long.  I’ve never lived with a guy before, and this is supposed to be a BIG DEAL.  So far?  There’s nothing easier.  It actually makes me a little suspicious. Isn’t this supposed to be hard?  I’m sure it’ll be more challenging if the temporary cohabitation becomes permanent, but for now it’s all hearts and flowers and caramel macchiatos in bed.  (Benefits of a guy who has to settle for street parking.)  I always imagined that moving in with a guy would mean putting up with a lot of annoying personal habits, but possibly I was just assuming that because The Ex had annoying personal habits.  I guess we’ll see.

The fact that a theoretical two weeks has extended into three months has finally brought home to me, however, the need to make room for the boy’s stuff.  Living out of a suitcase was okay for the first few weeks, but it began to seem a little inhospitable by the time we hit September.  I have cleared him two drawers and some closet space, but he owns stuff.  The same kind of stuff I own.  The stuff that is currently all over the place.

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I have a problem, I’m willing to admit that.  I looooove Adam.  Love it.  I’m perfectly aware that in seasons when I’m trying to save money (like now), I would probably be better off just not looking at the latest round.  Do I have that much self control?  Come on, now.  Since when was self-control any fun?

The ensemble at top is the current object of my desperate lust.  The top by itself, totally cute.  But with the skirt?  The combination of deep colors is just what I need to convince myself that I can survive another winter.  Both pieces come in other colors, but I am in love with the deep purple and blue, serious and sophisticated.

Adam, Adam, Adam.  I might be able to afford that one outfit, but all of the stuff I want?  No way.  Here’s the rest of the haul: read more »

This actually exists. Seriously.

Any other readers of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book out there?  I am far from clear whether there is an actual Neiman Marcus store near my apartment, but the Christmas book still gives me good entertainment on an annual basis.  If you’re unfamiliar with the book, Neiman Marcus goes out of its way every year to put on a good show.  Yes, there’s some stuff in there that normal people might actually want to buy.  But there’s also always a whole parade of preposterous Christmas gifts that someone might buy, but certainly no one I know.

This is my favorite of this year’s preposterous gifts.  It’s not anything like the most expensive at a mere $25,000, but isn’t it great to imagine someone actually going to the trouble of designing and building these things for a Christmas catalog?

Dawn at Oquaga Lake... Life is hard.

Fall returns!  I don’t know about you folks, but I am feeling an urgent need to live it up, as I fear that this may be the last of it that we get.  Last week’s sojourn in late November was in no way enjoyable.  If any of you haven’t made it out of the city for a little fall color yet, here’s a little vicarious foliage for you with the second half of my trip to the Catskills.

After our trip to Storm King, we drove west to Deposit, New York, to stay at the Chestnut Inn at Oquaga Lake.  If you’re looking for a weekend getaway with your honey, I can’t say enough nice things about the Chestnut Inn.  It was, quite frankly, so romantic that the boy and I started speculating on the things that would have to happen next if it was a movie.  You know, tragic misunderstanding — one of us diagnosed with terminal illness — we catch Legionnaire’s Disease from the two-person jacuzzi tub.  (On second thought, that last would be more of a slapstick comedy.)  Deposit’s a bit out of the way (it was about two hours from Storm King), but well worth the trip.

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Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY!

Let’s hear it for fall!  Normally, I am a reluctant connoisseur of autumn. Yes, fall is great,but I am not one of those people who get really sick of light summer textiles before, say, November.  More importantly, fall also heralds the onset of winter, which I hate with a burning passion.  This year, though, I am enjoying it the hilt despite today’s awful East Coast drizzle.  Although I’ve done the fall foliage thing in New England and the Midwest in prior years, this last weekend was my first chance to explore the local resources during a trip to the Catskills.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip for folks looking to get out of the city this fall.

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Any interest in architecture or interior design? Or, you know, have a possibly prurient curiosity about how the other half lives?  This weekend is Open House New York‘s big annual weekend event.  I have to admit, I’ve been a bad New Yorker in this regard. Even though I’ve lived in New York since the event began (this is the seventh year), I had no idea it existed until about a month ago.  What a thing to miss!  This weekend (October 10 and 11), over 350 behind-the-scenes tours of New York buildings and architecture will be available completely free, including both private homes and public buildings.  Never gotten to see the inside of the Woolworth Building properly?  Here’s your chance.  All kinds of buildings in all five boroughs not  normally open to the public will be available for viewing this weekend.  Even if you’re feeling lazy or afraid to deal with the impending appalling MTA closures, chances are something interesting is open near you.

For a list of the open sites and tours, check out the event guide here.

Ready for next week’s opening of “Where The Wild Things Are”?  I am!  What kid didn’t love that book?  Since its publication in 1963, it’s been a treasured part of the childhood of generations of children.  I’m really hoping the movie does it justice.

Since it doesn’t open until October 16, however, we still have a bit of a wait.  If you’re looking to psych yourself up for it in the mean time, try checking out the Animazing Gallery in Soho (corner of Greene and Broome Streets).  From now through November 8, the gallery is hosting a Sendak in Soho exhibition including more than 200 pieces from Sendak’s own collection ranging from art for the Where The Wild Things Are opera, sketches, art from the book, and limited edition etchings.  I stopped in this weekend and was lucky to walk out without a lithograph in my hand.  Do I need a Sendak illustration?  No.  But that was probably the coziest exhibition I have ever been to.  All the illustrations you loved as a kid, the pictures that made the book so memorable — they’re there.  It was like being in the best decorated nursery in the world.  These are possibly the most adorable illustrated monsters in the history of children’s literature.

If you’re not looking to buy and don’t mind the admissions fee, the Morgan Library is also hosting a Sendak retrospective of pieces borrowed from the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia.   I haven’t had the chance to check that out yet, but the exhibition is designed to show Sendak’s creative process and includes pencil drawings and preliminary sketches for the book.

Let the wild rumpus start!

Dealing with addiction is one of our biggest ongoing public health problems, but did you ever imagine that addicts could be vaccinated against their addictions?  Unlikely though it sounds, the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced yesterday that an experimental vaccine to prevent cocaine users from getting high on the drug is showing promise.  (For a full discussion, see the Scientific American article here.)  The vaccine apparently works by triggering antibodies that bind to the cocaine molecules, preventing them from passing through the blood-brain barrier and as a result preventing the user from getting high.  Although the vaccine still has a number of issues to be worked out (for now, its effects are only temporary, and it’s not effective on everyone), this is potentially a huge step forward in treating addiction.

Aside from the tiny part of me that is saying “Spoilsports!” even though I’ve never had cocaine myself and have no desire to try it, I have to say that this sounds pretty cool.  I’m sure that this method will prove impossible to use on certain addictive substances just because of the chemistry, but still.   According to a quick Google, over 22 million Americans have substance abuse problems of some kind.  A tool that can give addicts some serious assistance in getting their addiction under control?  Fantastic.

“Butterfly in the sky … “

I just learned that the last on-air broadcast of one of my favorite kids’ shows, Reading Rainbow, came to pass on August 28th.  For those of you who might not remember it,  Reading Rainbow has run on PBS since 1983, teaching children about the joy of reading.   New episodes actually stopped airing three years ago, in 2006, but the show lived on in reruns until August.  Now, after 26 Emmys and hundreds of books, it’s over.

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Condé Nast announced yesterday that they were closing four magazines, shockingly including Gourmet.  (Click here for the NYT article on the subject.)  Cookie?  Never heard of it.  But Gourmet?  I was disappointed when Domino folded, but at least Domino was a relatively new magazine.  Gourmet is practically a grand dame by magazine standards, in print for nearly seventy years.  Wow.

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