big break but back if but briefly

internet friends! so i took a long break there from blogging for no reason whatsoever except that i am known for being "phasal".. you know, going through phases. i coined the term "phasal", even, as far as i know. should i continue now? now that i've become addicted to facebook? dude, i got like, 100 friends in 2 weeks and there's no greater high than that. i will eventually figure out the difference between myself and my business, as well as determine what platform best suits each one. i'm just glad i never really bothered with myspace or friendster cuz i can pretty much tell facebook will be around for a while. GAWD, though, do you get all these invites from linkedin and classmates and LOADS of other social networks? you know, i feel sorry for friendster. does anyone do that anymore? my word, i gotta figure out viral marketing and all that jazz, and again, differentiate between me and my company. booty boutique and i will, i suppose, be competing for face time. what a RAD problem to have, i am a lucky gal.

come visit me on facebook. when i get sick of that, i'll come back here. or maybe i'll interchange the two or.. who the hell knows what wild hair i'll get and where in the world wide web i'll feel the need to express myself.

that picture up there, you curious about it? it's cock-walking! goooood times! especially as opposed to cock-blocking, which is WAY worse, i hear.

fancy

these are the fanciest sunglasses i have ever owned. same day of purchase, i tried on my pair of $15 ross sunglasses in front of a pal, then tried on my new purchase and asked her which she liked better. she chose the ross sunglasses. sigh. but you know what, these glasses i swear are so lightweight and fabulous they tickle my face and make me kind of nervous and totally self-conscious. never has such magnificence rested upon my nose and wrapped behind my ears.

happynings

"I was hovering near the Yerba Buena Center for the Pretensious Arts one evening contemplating my next martini and why i didn't have one in my hand at that exact moment, when i ran into a group of women my husband knew from work. Sitting, I stared at one's stomach while trying to ignore the conversation and noticed she had on one of Kyra's buckles. I was like "Oh! You have a Kyra". She was all like, "uh, no...THIS is a BOO-TEE BOO-TIQUE". I'm like "yeah, Kyra. She makes great stuff. where did you get it?""Well, she let me into her home! We designed it together". And it's true - Kyra will make your dreams come true, all in a 3x3 perfect package that you can jauntily hang above your hoo-hoo for all to see and admire. I'm now trying to get her to make me a bustier completely out of buckles. We'll see how that goes."

that's a review from erin, aka lily z. she has some great reviews on yelp, i think. a very funny lady, that lily.

so hey, i haven't written much lately, eh? i've been very busy being on vacation, working, and sleeping. speaking of which, i just got even more validation for my ways. apparently the more you sleep, the more healthy and slender you can be! well, i half believe it because if it were really for real, i would weigh about 98 pounds because i sleep like a little bear who never ever gets the memo that spring has arrived. i just love it i tell you. my dreams are insane and intriguing and fabulous and i always want to see what happens next. i am pissed EVERY morning when my alarm cuts my crazy head movie off. it's extremely frustrating and sometimes i press snooze to try to get back to the movie (ok, every morning, 5 times) and then the movie changes to all crazy and morphs into a condensed drama that's more anxious because my subconscious knows it only has 5 minutes before the next snooze to stuff me full of "fun". but that part ends up not really fun, it's just anxious. waking up unnaturally is not healthy. but i guess the alternative for me would be waking up at 10:30am every day and that's not healthy, either. well, regardless, i am a bit sleep obsessed at the moment mostly because i don't get to have very much. the booty buckles are being peddled in shows for the next three weekends in a row. this saturday night at mezzanine..

next weekend at the mission bazaar..
and the following weekend at the capsule street fair in hayes valley..
yay fun work now bye.

belize

me, mamacita, papa john, and jimbo & michelle went to belize on holiday a couple weeks ago. we started out in belize city then on to ambergris caye a wee flight away. that's where we stayed, on the beach in a great 3 bedroom place. somewhere in there was a boatride back to the mainland for a rainy mayan ruins extravaganza, a boatride back to ambergris for more lounging, fun in and around all things watery plus a visit to sister island, caye calker, eating and drinking vacation-style (as if it might be going out of style), then a wee flight back to belize city. 10 days of unforgettable tropical adventures (& more for jimbo and michelle who loved it so much they stayed a few extra days). here's a couple favorite shots. this is papa john and two empties of the 12,000 bottles of water, i mean beer, that we drank..
here's some island kids happily posing for me when they thought i'd be buying a necklace from them. of course i didn't and they hated me two seconds after the shot. hey, if i would have bought a necklace from all the peddlers there, i could not have afforded any beer at all. i have my priorities, sorry kids. oh man they were ruthless, though.

they said it was the slowest high season they'd had there in 10 years. you can tell by all the white people-less photos in the full slide show. it was great, but it would have been nice for all the local sales folk to have had more people to sell to than just us.

i whittled the total photos down to 381 from my original 919. and that's without night photos, which i still don't know how to take. not bad for ten days, eh? you'd think the camera was in my face the whole time i was there but it totally wasn't. my face was mostly in the water, gazed fixedly at a scrabble board, shielded under a hat from rain, and sucking on belikin beer. all at once! belize is magic ;-)

parched and powerful

here's a kick-ass video of how your brain works. i personally dig it especially since it seems to advocate right-brainishness, which i am like, big into and am basically powerless against. now i can point to this genius and say, "it's a good thing, dangit, I RULE!" so there.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

here's some powerful stuff that's sticking with me for good, i think. in a good way. it's photos of people before and after death. these people all knew they were dying and the photographer interviewed them about what they thought and how they felt about it. i am moved and touched and provoked and introspected and extrospected and a million other things from this. i got the link from a blog i frequent, dooce. she got all kinds of crazy comments regarding that particular post. the subject apparently really churns people up. go figure, it's death! it's a big thing. big big thing, for sure.

on a lighter note, you wanna know another grrrrREAT thing? i can take off "drink a bunch of fucking water everyday" off of my list of things to do! apparently it's totally overrated! thank goodness because that has been one of the super dusty items, not marked off for so long that it's faded to blahland. now if only they can do the same for flossing one's teeth, i would be a very happy girl.

interviews and chilly views

a friend of mine, colin, had me on his radio show this past saturday night (dj: coleo, show: spicy meat parade, station: pirate cat radio, 87.9fm). it was my first interview and i was terrified for some days prior but with the encouragement and advice from a number of buddies, the experience and results came out much better than i could have hoped for.

here's the link to the show. it takes a minute or two to load (it's not downloading to your computer, though).

the interview, plus me playing guitar and singing, come on about two-thirds of the way through the mp3. colin plays/djs some great music up until that point but you can move the button to the 2/3rds point to get to the interview & skip the first part of the show, if you like. but it's really good and includes another singer/songwriter, drew piston, right before me. he's great.. sounds kind of like tom waits but more listenable-to.

in other news, i took a trip on my scooter down to burlingame a couple weeks ago. i wanted to kill two birds with one stone by using the drive as a photo opportunity plus as transportation to go hang out with my brother and his wife in burlingame for an evening of scrabble, snacks, and libations. it was way too cold to have gone on this mission, transportation-wise (and scrabble-wise, cuz i got whooped TWICE!).. at least i should have taken the bus.. but the photos i got were almost worth it, plus the food and company and libations were fabulous as always..

and lastly, a shot taken from felipe's window recently. i love this view..

jesus' vs. the bunnies kickball game, golden gate park, easter 2008

easter sunday was the 2nd annual jesus' vs. the bunnies kickball game. jesus' won. what does that mean? it was chilly out but i still wore shorts and just tried to move around a lot..
felipe was the grand master of the games, of course..
it was nice and sunny and we had a lot of beer and it was lovely. here's marteeen, cesarrr, and michael soaking up the sun..
you can see lots more photos here, if you like. you can also find a youtube video of the event, and if you look from there, i think you can find more incriminating videos of this and last years' games..

murals of the mission

me and michael went to community thrift store on valencia in the mission last week to pick up some nonsense. he calls it "the magic thrift store" because before heading there, he meditates on what it is he's in need of and every single time, he'll find just what he needs. community thrift is on the corner of mission and clarion, & clarion alley is where i took these shots of some super rad murals..



there's LOTS of great murals in the mission. if you're ever 'round those parts, keep your eye out for them. you can even take a special tour just for that purpose!

fun with a camera phone

looking out from casanova's on valencia street between 16th and 17th in the mission..
sunset along the walk/bike/jogway looking east, along the great highway, ocean beach..
bird perches on the great highway at noriega st..

bucklevelution

the oldest known belt buckle dates back to the 12th century and was excavated in perth recently. cool, huh?! it's made of copper alloy..
now check out this "complicated mechanical buckle for men" coming soon out of switzerland..
i cannot imagine how that would work. and most men i know would definitely be intimidated by it. i wonder how much it costs. thanks, quent, for those links!

and thanks to jennieB for sending me the link to these $18,000 buckles. wha?!well, we've come a long way in buckleland, haven't we?

yay sun

here's a shot of the cool wave sculpture at the children's playground in golden gate park..
and in front of the conservatory of flowers in golden gate park..

it was eery and overcast on sunday when i took these photos. same weather or better than it's been for a while, on the inside and outside of san francisco, it feels like. i just came out of a two-week fog of nasty assty flu. TWO WEEKS. that was a long time to be sick. ah, but now it's sunny and warm and i'm healthy and life is much better. i hope it stays this way for a while.

whole day out

i've been sick with the sick-ass flu for 7 days now. i've been getting out a bit anyway, though. like yesterday i went to the beach to walk with tim and karms.

people were out in droves enjoying the sunshine..
and the sunset..
karms loved it as always, of course..

and the neighborhood was inspiring to shoot at sunset, as well..we had such a lovely time and we ran into some friends, one of whom mentioned she might be interested in buying my camera. i know, i know, i was sooo excited to get this camera when i did but i've found it's too big and cumbersome to take everywhere and i still haven't really figured out how to use it properly. so i'm itching to get rid of it and get a little convenience camera again. oh, the grass is always greener on the other side.

this shot from the corner of 45th and noriega..
and this shot from ocean beach..

..reminded me of the reason why i voted for obama: 2 hours before i was to head to the polls, stevie wonder left me a voicemail saying, "hi, this is stevie wonder, and.. i just called. to say. i love you.. and i'm here to urge you to vote for my friend, barack obama.." i was totally on the fence until that happened.

we ended the day with take-out from a new, fabulously-named restaurant right across the street from my old house on noriega at 46th..

i talked poor tim's head off all day being that i'd been cooped up for so many days without too much other-human contact. after my 68th television reference, i started to get a little embarrassed, though. like how i'd learned so much from watching every episode consecutively of A&E's intervention. so fascinating, that show.. no, really!

in other news, i have a favorite new site to recommend for shits and giggles: hot chicks with douchebags. glorious with very well-written commentary.

file pile breaks

i had a lovely time the other night hanging with laurel, allison, sarah, and the concentric circles of folks whom those bright stars seem to attract with the greatest of ease. for hours we discussed politics (is mccain really gonna win like dan predicts, or will my dream come true that hillary will be prez with obama as vp then in 8 years obama takes over or maybe halfway inbetween they switch up?), relationships (hmm..), preschool (can mike really tell which kid shit his pants by smell alone?), work (ahhh), and who knows what all else that the orbit room's endless supply of continental gimlets helped conjure up from the depths of our excitable minds and souls. we took photos, too, but as usual, my nighttime photography skills suck soooo bad and nothing came out really worthy of keeping. i did get this shot of the laundromat next door whilst out on a smoke break, though..

better than nothing. i should really get out more during the day so i can get some decent photographs already. i'll make a note of making a point of trying to do that relatively soon. and i'll tie a ribbon around my finger to remind myself to check my notes.

in other news, i was fryin' up a freaky frozen trader joe's chicken patty thing the other day and i look over to see..

..maya and gertie trying out their doggy gimme gimme please gimme telepathy on me. but it didn't work probably because of the glass inbetween us or maybe because i'm a rapacious chicken patty hoarder (or last morsel of food left in my house protector). they were probably so tired after this unsuccessful session which left me with a happy tummy and all of us with a porch o' drool. maybe next time, bitches. that's what i call them, bitches, because they are female dogs. i say it in the sweet high-pitched voice-for-pets-and-babies, though, and then maya will bruise my leg with her wagging tail and gertie will blow wet stuff out of her nose like she does every second and a half anyway. loretta says, "you just don't like gertie, do you?" and i say, "well, she blows wet stuff out of her nose onto me if i get close to her, so what's there to like?". i don't tell her that hello, why do you think they're called pugs? they're repugnant little completely unlikable creatures! awe, but i still am nice to gertie because she's my neighbor and jesus says love thy neighbor and i do want to go to heaven.

there's a whopping record 237 belt buckles to choose from on the booty boutique website now. i don't believe there's ever been that many but i just can't stop making belt buckles, it's so addicting.. especially when it rains every single day and it's freezing and there's nothing else to do. except "file the pile", the new mantra i came up with to help me tackle paperwork challenges. if i repeat that fun phrase enough, i actually get some left brain business stuff done, too. i'm declaring this weekend "file the pile" weekend. it's kind of working so far. ttfn!

special needs

cousin kelli's in town. here she is at lefty o'doul's near union square the other night..

i had never been to lefty's and i was pretty impressed. there's a long bar for alcohol on one side, a big tommy's joynt style cafeteria food buffet on the other side, and a piano bar in the front! one stop shop. the piano man looked just like kevin spacey, it was hokey and fun, especially when kelli donned my scooter helmet and danced around the bar declaring herself as "special needs"..

we also got to enjoy dancing atop the sir francis drake hotel at ever-cheesy and fabulous harry denton's starlight room where i think i was impregnated by a giant man named alojuon on the dance floor and where kelli unsuccessfully tried to get an admission fee discount by showing the bouncer her special needs helmet. so many highlights of that evening, including getting an elevator attendant to show us the ancient secret speakeasy room/floor that requires a special key in the elevator and is located in between floors. that was super cool elite.

a couple days before this adventure i had the pleasure of spending the evening with the inimitable felipe and anthony, who discovered they were wearing matching underwear so of course i had them drop their drawers right there in the bitter cold outside of the homestead and pose for my camera phone. they are such good sports..

in other news i've seen both "no country for old men" and "there will be blood" and i highly highly recommend the latter. i'm still thinking about it. fucking daniel day-lewis was phenomenal.

some fun

haaaaay, i had some fun! last weekend me and laurel went to see paulie's band, if ever, at the house of shields downtown..

the band was great. the experience was strange and a bit surreal, in a good way, in that the bands play in this tiny upstairs area where everyone is kind of stuffed in there. i had never been to house of shields before and definitely recommend it. the place has been in business since 1908 and feels like it - lovely, tiny tiles everywhere and lots of wood, high ceilings and wee nooks, expensive, hoity and cozy.

then we took off to attend a nutty house party and rode around in the night on my scooter. here's laurel.. ..tipsty-texting as i come out of the convenience store, where i spent far too much time figuring out how to spend the $10 limit it took to use my atm card. you can choose some very interesting items in that situation.

later in the week i got to hang out with the famous jennieB and reap the fruits of my ever-kicking-more-ass neighborhood. we visited the stupendous city beer, where we drank the deeelicious beverage of heaven, saxo beer, then headed on down the street to an incredible new wine store/tasting room/bar called terroir. that means soil in french, jennieB wine connoisseur tells me. we met the hip and rough and tumble HANDsome (and quick to mention taken) owner, dagan, and his mesmerizing helper, luc, who served us a platter of mouth-watering cheeses, quince and toasty french bread on a giant wooden cutting board. we drank an '03 p.frick reisling from the alsace region of france, and an '03 s. babinet (cab franc - anything from that region apparently is the bomb). sweet mother mary of jesus i was one freaking happy camper upon returning home with a belly full of all that goodness and a worth-it empty wallet. i'm going back monday.

the engines

the booty site has been updated with almost 100 buckles..

and it's kinda more streamlined now. i'm so happy. and tired. i deserve a beer. i will go buy one now..

ahhhhh...

..ahhhhh

since last we spoke i discovered booty boutique got the december 31st mention at mighy goods. awesome!

the only other thing that has happened besides being completely immersed in glues and tiny shiny things, cameras and this computer, is that i went to breakfast with my buddies brian and adam..

let me look into my filofax to see what else might have happened since last we spoke because i know i did more than buckle mayhem, clean the hell out of my apartment, and watch my giant television..

dang! just business and more business. i need to have some fun already. i'll try to have some of that before my next post but i sure can't promise anything. unfortunately.

well, as gary sinise said: "careers, like rockets, don't always take off on schedule. the key is to keep working the engines." lo, i worketh the engines, tho it is not quite quite memorable on a day to day basis. sigh.