a quick visual review of BLACKMAN CRUZ, the finest store in los angeles :

little story first.  when i was just out of college, on my first shoot ever, i wandered into the blackman cruz showroom on la cienega.  adam blackman, one of the founders, let me look at, sit in, and touch everything i wanted to, never hassled me, told me stories about everything.  when i picked out a table, and realized i couldn't afford the shipping back to chicago, he smiled, and told me i shouldn't worry about it.  i was meant to have the table, i would have the table.

perhaps this bit of random kindness lingers with me to this day, perhaps i just like free shipping, but blackman cruz remains a place of wonder for me, a place of imagination, a place where i feel comfortable even as i feel elated.  adam still walks the floor, still smiles and tells me stories, and i still imagine a life where my home is filled with their vision.

filled with:

stone sphinxes

samurai marionettes

antique optical lenses

worn limestone busts

hanging leather pod chairs beside cast glass tables.  mastadon skull on back wall.

cast bronze lamps and studded leather books.

forties lamps on biedermeir tables.

cast bronze bases under travertine dining tables

maybe if i just sit here long enough,
adam will wrap it ALL up and send it my way . . .

the SIX CHICEST THINGS about november : belated edition

1.  the illustrations of richard haynes, 

from his blog "what i saw today", 

which get more and more hypnotic each month.

 2.  the leather trimmed ysl coat i didn't buy,

which became a men.style.com best pick.

evil.

3. anna wintour.

amid rampant rumours of her "retirement",

even about her replacement being fellow editrice, carine roitfeld,

ms. wintour remains, glacially, classically,

quiet.

even, apparently, dining with ms. roitfeld.

ladies and gentlemen,

THAT is truly chic.

4.  the new rick owens lookbook.

the boy is oddly disheveled,

as the clothing remains as lust-worthy as always.

6.  the gay times "recruitment" poster in london.

after right-wing conservative groups in england claimed gays were recruiting straights,

the gay times held a contest to find the most compelling poster to truly "recruit" a straight man.

the winning entry, above.

the text simply says:

"anything she can do . . . "

brilliant.

timothy michael thaddeus francis johnson's birthday : ruminations on angels, hollywood views, and hot dogs.

so i know that everyone thinks our life revolves around food and shopping.

and they're right.

there, i said it.  somehow the combination of food and shopping has given us:
joyous nights out,
amazing travel stories,
tons of new friends,
reconnections with family,
careers,
adventures,
and rather full lives.

so, tim's birthday happened mid-transition down here, and we decided to break the mold a bit.

we shopped AFTER we ate.

first stop, a perennial los angeles favorite,
where tim gets his salmon pastrami reuben sandwich,
and we contemplate the hollywood sign
while sitting on the roof barney's in beverley hills,
the greengrass cafe:

now tim's brother may chastise him for the gray that has crept into his hair,
but personally,
tim's developing this craig meets clooney thing that i kinda adore.

plus, he still puts up with my need to pose with store displays:

and then, a drive cross town to the new location of blackman cruz.
i'll post more on this in a seperate post.  but it's beyond my favorite store in america:

the walking the dogs,
then off to a very special dinner.
see, i told tim we were going to a place that served his favorite food in the world.

any guesses?

that's right.

a condiment.

the man loves ketchup more than anything else in the world food-wise.  it's sick. 
when we first met, i could almost not get him to put down the bottle.

until i started wearing low-cut things to dinner.  but i digress.

it's not the best food in l.a.
but this place may have the most FUN food in l.a.

yes.
five types of ketchup.  with three types of fries.
i was lost.
he was in heaven.

there is a lot of small food.  all ketchup based:

(must admit: chili puppy dogs were amazing.)

it was, as we like, a FUN birthday.

MOTTO TUESDAY : following the signs

i think he's doing a good job of it.

don't you?

i looked down, and there was my life, spread out before me :

(i work out.  i play with the dogs.  i work in fashion.)

and i feel blessed.

of course, i am also apparently a slob.   everything apparently has it's cost.