Monday Morning Links

• Vena Cava has amassed a comprehensive to-do list for LA.  I’m homesick. (Viva Vena Cava)
• P.S.: Vena Cava’s Fall 2009 collection just hit stores, see the collection (Style.com) and shop (Barneys)
• UPDATE: how did I miss this?  Am I the last to know about this or what?  Please advise.  (Amazon)
  
• Dylan Fareed makes a video of Santa Monica beach, I’m still homesick. (Dylan Fareed)
• On a separate note: Thankfully, I’m not the only one who is tortured by the issue of pruning lavender. (Gardenweb)
• It’s peach season, and this looks really good.  (The Kitchen Sink)
• But it just makes crave a real old-fashioned cobbler, and there’s no one I can think of I trust more on the subject of peach cobbler than Lee Bailey (NPR)

Image from thekitchensinkrecipes.com

I think I’ll just have to make both.

I Love I Love I Love My Calendar Girl

There are just too many good things going on these days.

IN ROCKRIDGE:

Craft Fair at Pretty Penny, Saturday July 25, 11am-7pm

Pretty Penny, recent winner of not one, but three East Bay Express Best of the Bay 2009 Reader’s Poll Awards (Best Vintage Clothing, Best Women’s Clothing, and Best New Business) (and my favorite vintage shop to boot) will be hosting a craft fair all day this Saturday featuring Oakland and San Francisco’s finest artisans.  Come enjoy beverages and hors d’oeuvres gratis while browsing their wares–plus the hottest vintage styles around.

A soothing spot to sit in Pretty Penny

Open Opera presents Figaro, Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26, 3pm

Open Opera is a new organization with a mission–to bring more opera to the world to new and wider audiences (starting with the Bay Area)–and all for free.  In order to do this Open Opera’s performances are staged in our beautiful public parks.  This Saturday and Sunday Open Opera will be performing the Marriage of Figaro at John Hinkel park in North Berkeley.  Peko Peko will be on hand in case sopranos make you hungry.  Sylvan Mishima Brackett says, “Intermit with our summer katsu-sando bento, American-size king salmon onigiri, luxury melon drink, and strawberry ice cream sandwiches!”  You know I will Sylvan, you know I will.

August Closing Oakland Location Clearance Sale, July 24, 25, and 26 11am-6pm

I report with a heavy heart that I returned to Rockridge to learn that we are losing one of our inveterate retailers, August.  I could always rely on August to bring me a tiny bit of Brooklyn via Refinery29-style faves like Vena Cava and Loomstate, but no longer.  Thankfully their Mill Valley location will stay open, but their loss will be felt in Rockridge.  Stop by to say goodbye and pick up some of their gorgeous wares at painfully low prices.

—

FURTHER AFIELD (TONIGHT! TONIGHT! TONIGHT!)

Inara George and Van Dyke Parks, Friday July 24, McCabes Guitar Shop

On her most recent solo album Inara George (the multi-talented member of various and diverse acts such as the Bird and the Bee and the Living Sisters) collaborated with longtime friend Van Dyke Parks, famed composer, songwriter, lyricist, arranger, and producer.  The results are intoxicating.  The New York Times says “Ms. George muses on love, yearning and separation in lyrics that can be ingenuous or surreal…meanwhile Mr. Parks surrounds her ballads and waltzes with a nonstop counterpoint of melodies and of allusions…”  And to see these two characters on a stage together (and one as intimate as McCabes at that) is a real treat.

Not events but worth mentioning…

Oliveto Community Journal reports via their Twitter: “Rumor has it Catalan Farms has the first EXCELLENT slicer tomatoes of the season! @ [Berkeley Farmer’s Market Thursday and Saturday].”  Tomato season is on the verge of beginning in earnest.  See more on Catalan Farms here.

and

Commis Restaurant opened while I was away and I can’t wait to try it…if anyone has any early reviews let me know.

On My Calendar

I thought I was done traveling for the summer, but it looks like I’m going to be making a trip to Mill Valley for a celebration of Japanese culture with clothing, ephemera, and food all from Japan.  The event is being held at August‘s Mill Valley location and features August’s new shipments from Tokyo, Mato Creative’s handiwork, and Peko-Peko’s delicious cuisine.

Should be a good time.  Hope to see you there!

Results of an Afternoon Shopping Trip in Rockridge

I went out on the hunt for coasters (I happen to love coasters and constantly be on a search for good ones), but in this case I was gift shopping.  Who doesn’t need coasters?  I found some I like on the Gumps website (on sale too) but I am absolutely hell bent on spending my money where it matters–in Rockridge.  I decided to see what was new at Atomic Garden, and found the perfect coasters for my recipient.  Clean design with natural flare.  Could go in either an ironic or earnest direction, depending on the surrounding decor:

Coasters from Atomic Garden ($6 ea.), crystal tumbler by William Yeoward

Then I took a little detour to hit August-they are having a huge sale.  Super premium denim from Habitual, Loomstate, and everyone’s favorite, Acne, is marked down-down-down!  The Acne dark rinses they have at around $100 are especially enticing—get over there!  They have tons of sizes too.  Very exciting if you’re like me and you’re loath to pay full price, but would love something a little more special than the 3rd-hand Levi’s you usually wear every once in a while. 

My last stop was Pretty Penny, one of my absolute, number one favorite spots on College.  Just look at what I found:

Can you tell I have a white loafer obsession or what?  Guess how much?  Just guess.  $26.  !!!  I love Ferragamo and I love Pretty Penny.

The final thing I found on my shopping trip doesn’t make me happy:

Another empty retail storefront.

Dear Rockridge residents and any Oaklanders who enjoy the Rockridge life,

Rockridge is in danger.

Small businesses, especially retail establishments, are closing one after another.  Unlike some places (perhaps New York City) small retail business closings do not beget new, hipper small retail business openings.  Instead, we get Jamba Juice and Pasta Pomodoro.  Residents of Rockridge have the income to afford small boutique shopping.  If you’re smart about it, it doesn’t cost any more than a trip to Nordstrom and a tank of gas to Walnut Creek, Emeryville, or San Francisco.  If we lose these small businesses, our neighborhood loses charm and functionality, and ultimately, the value of the beautiful homes and neighborhood we work so hard to maintain.

Please join me in supporting our local retail vendors.   More on this on ARL to follow.  

Summertime

Memorial Day is past and so is Easter, so we’re officially landed safely in white-shoe time of year.  And while summer won’t start officially until the solstice on June 21st, why not celebrate with some white Car Shoes?

I haven’t mentioned soothing in a while because I was afraid the term got overexposed, but summer is close, and it seems appropriate to resurrect it.  Moccasins in general soothe.  White Car Shoe moccasins?  Super soothe.

So–there are less than 3 weeks till school’s out and while my students are probably daydreaming about keggers and no curfew my mind is set on warm afternoons spent with rosé and good friends (and possibly some fleur verte).  I’m excited about this bottle of Shramsberg generously bestowed on me by my favorite neighbors/friends/partners:

Rosé soothes.

More Fashion, and Mothers

Apologies for the many fans of Heidi Klum who may or may not have been offended by the title of the last post; it was meant to be ironic.

It just came to my attention that Mother’s Day is coming up.  My mother loooooooooves scarves.  If anyone has a spare $1,700 you can help me purchase this gor-ghwah Loro Piano creation (cashmere/silk):

Something that will make you starve for just one month rather than a whole year can be found in this beautiful linen option by Pucci:

hmmmmm…I would spend $1M on my mom if I could.  She’s worth it.  What are you doing for your mom?

Why Does Everyone Love Heidi Klum So Much?

The Met Gala looks were a real disappointment this year.  I haven’t been feeling Marc Jacobs for a while now (sorry ED).  His short dress edict bombed.  The women look horrible!  They all wear heels that are too high that over-accentuate their boney calves and the short dresses just make them all look like cheap tarts (except for Cindy Crawford, who looks like a cheap tart in a long dress with a big slit up the front).  Statements must be made:

• Kate Moss.  For an old hag with major drug problems, she totally worked it (in spite of my previous comments about the short dresses) although her heels are an abomination.  I have no idea why everyone picked up on Christian Louboutin, like, ten years later, and then he started making hooker heals.  Fashion insiders, any insight?  Again, props to Moss, but she’s not really worth a picture.  She looks haggard all the time.  She should stop doing drugs.  On the real. 
• Do I need to go into the disaster that was Posh and Madge?  Oy ve!  MK deserves honorable mention, I love Lacroix, but she’s too damn short for that dress, and you can even tell in the pictures.
• Gisele: *BIG yawn*

Best dressed goes to Kate Bosworth, Shalom Harlow (I die.  And am forever devoted), Kate Beckinsale (she’s a bore post-Cold Comfort Farm, but that dress is pretty amazing), Iman, and Claudia Schiffer.  Honorable mention to Leighton Meester.  But only the models deserve pictures tonight.  When will fashion get over the boring TV stars?  Honestly.

Other people who looked scary:

• Rachel Bilson (please cut your hair!)
• Blake Lively
• Jessica Alba (???)

It’s Fashion Week Somewhere

Photo by Olivia Jade Horner

While we in Rockridge are as distant as can be from the front row, Fashion Week marches on in New York.  There’s no better place for vicarious front row viewing than our friends at Refinery29.com.  Not only is the Pipeline blog being updated around the clock (honestly, so many updates we can’t keep up), R29 has made the bold move of twittering the shows and parties.  We all love Vogue as an institution, but Style.com pales in comparison to R29’s honest and pleasantly snarky reportage. 

My favorite posts are R29’s “a minute with…” posts.  So far we’ve heard from Rachel Zoe (she’s bland) and Susie Bubble, of Style Bubble, whose bangs really soothe me (that does not mean you should all run out and get blunt bangs–it doesn’t work on everyone–but Susie works them hard). 

As usual I am BLOWN AWAY with the Vena Cava presentation, and just SICK that I wasn’t there.  The Marisa Tesauro installation looks phenomenal, I only wish we could get even more photo coverage.  The clothes rock, rock, rock.  And while Style.com isn’t my standby for fresh fashion news, they did get my favorite quote from Vena Cava designer Sophi Buhai:

“If we were acoustic before, now we’re digital,”

Vena Cava’s move to digital in 2009 might have just eclipsed Dylan’s move to electric in ’65.

It Was A Rainy Night

We stayed in and watched Married to the Mob.  You should really watch the trailer here: Married to the Mob trailer.

Have you EVER seen shoulder pads that big?  Honestly!

Michelle Pfeifer’s outfits are so insanely out of control and I love it.  But the reviewer on IMDB is right–as adorable as Michelle Pfeiffer is, the paranoid Connie Russo as played by Mercedes Ruehl steals the show.  Amazing.

The gloomy weather made me too lazy to cook.  I ate mac and cheese from Trader Joes and sprinkled some 5% truffle salt on top.  Sinful!

PS: I discovered some pretty intense Michelle Pfeiffer fansites while looking for images from the movie.  Does everyone call her “The Face?”  Am I just behind the times? She’s pretty amazing looking, but still…

What I’ve been reading at nytimes.com this week

I can’t wait to read the Vena Cava blog.

I love Brussels sprouts.

The more I think about it, the more upset I am about this.

I’m so glad this is not my life.

The achievement gap is even wider between high-income high-achieving whites and high-income high-achieving blacks.

Let’s get more in-depth about how the stimulus will help schools that serve low-income students.  This is a start.

The sketchy 7-5 keeping another innocent man behind bars.  Justice is a joke.