Bath salts for sore bloggers!

I've been working out a lot more than usual -- my goal is to work out at least four or five times a week if I can. I'm also considering running a 5K in June, which would be something completely new for me (and would be completely shocking to everyone who knows me).

Naturally, this is both good (hooray! running! skating! doing good things for my body in general!) and bad -- my muscles are shrieking at me all the time about how they hurt.

Since I'm a regular bath-taker anyway (I have seriously turned down apartments because they don't have bathtubs, just showers -- true fact), I've been adding epsom salts to the water to help soothe my muscles. I originally bought the lavender-scented salts from Walgreens, but the smell was so pungent that it clung to me all night. There's got to be something better, I said to myself.

Then I realized -- of course, Etsy will have lovely epsom salts!

- Right off the bat for sore muscles, there are Muscle Rescue aromatherapy salts from thesoapbuffet.etsy.com. They feature eucalyptus and peppermint oils, and would be really refreshing after a long workout.

- The beautifully-photographed (as you can see above) Oats, Milk, and Honey Dead Sea bath salts from mookasoap.etsy.com sound perfectly relaxing and soothing with powdered goats' milk and oats for soft and calm skin along with the muscle-relieving epsom salts.

- After my experience with the Walgreens lavender salts, I have a good feeling that the lavender salts from foxtrotting.etsy.com and the lavender and geranium from ripebeauty.etsy.com will be a great improvement.

- I love a smoky leathery vanilla just as much if not more than a cupcake-vanilla, and soaking in the velvety vanilla bath salts from housemakara.etsy.com sounds like it's right up my alley.

Ultimately, I did jump and buy the Apple Crisp Salt Snow from productbody.etsy.com -- the offshoot studio of one of my favorite body product shops, productbody.com. I'm looking forward to smelling delicious and to having happier muscles!

What are you up to lately? And are you a bath or a shower person? (Seriously, I'm a bath girl. It's totally a dealbreaker.)

image from mookasoap.etsy.com

What's Your Jam? for February 10th

After all of my grousing, here's something to lighten you up -- it's my jams for today, February 10th!

- First off, my first jam is the movie, Sita Sings the Blues. It's showing tonight at the Red Vic Theatre in San Francisco, but it's also available to watch through a Creative Commons license at www.sitasingstheblues.com. I adored it -- it pressed pretty much every "things Jeanne loves" button.

- Lady Gaga, of course, is also my jam. I think we should be friends, just because I would love to hang out and get a little time inside of her head. "Fame Monster" is the bomb and I love working out to all of her music (although everyone probably is wondering who the crazy chick rocking out on the elliptical is -- whatever, I don't care, it's my JAM). And while I'm still hesitating on buying those Heartbeat headphones, I can at least pick up MAC's new Viva Glam Gaga lipstick for all of my Gaga-karaoke needs. (Turns out it's the lipstick she wore to the Grammys!) And Viva Glam Cyndi also looks like a great color to add to my collection. Viva!

- It's just about New York Fashion Week time, so everyone on Twitter is at fever pitch getting ready. I'm not going this season, because I knew that February in New York would be difficult, but I'm excited to see what comes up! NYMag has the entire NYFW schedule here.

- Oh, and Valentine's Day is this Sunday, of course. What I do love is eavesdropping, and so this collection of overheard love stories (if you can call them that) from San Francisco. With charming lines like "If he can't figure out the public transportation system, well... I don't want you dating him", how can you resist?

What's your jam right now? What's lifting you up in the middle of February?

Fe-blah-uary Blues

Happy February? Well, not really.

I'm still in a very blah sartorial mood lately -- I've been holding onto my budget as tightly as I can, which means I'm not bringing much if any new clothes in, and my "give to Goodwill" bag is growing. (This goes for make-up, too -- I got a $50 gift card to Sephora for Christmas, and I haven't made it to the store. Yesterday I went to the beauty supply shop, and they had all of the OPI Alice in Wonderland and Hong Kong polishes, and I didn't buy any.)

I'm feeling incredibly bored by my whole wardrobe and "look"; I feel like I've followed all of the "find what you like and what looks good on you and buy ten of it" rules, but now I've got a wardrobe full of solid or striped long-sleeve tops, solid sweaters and cardigans, and dark jeans. It's the same thing every day and I'm just sick of everything I own and wear. I've been constantly pouring over websites and looking through stores, but I'm still in my "there's nothing here worth spending my money on" funk. I haven't even purchased anything off of Etsy since September or August (and you know I love spending my money at Etsy).

Plus, since it's February, I don't want to go and buy a new coat or boots, since spring is coming up (and I'm tired of looking at coats and boots), but it's also not close enough to actual spring to start buying spring clothes (especially in San Francisco, where there isn't much spring anyway). It's seasonal limbo and I hate it.

It's one of those months where you just have to push through at this point, and it certainly doesn't make for inspiring blogging. (Sorry!)

I will say that I'm dying for a pair of Swedish Hasbeen peep toes for spring and summer; they're everything I've ever wanted in a spring sandal. Again, budget-wise, they're not in the picture right now. But I do love them.

Right now, I'm finding the most inspiration from Sally Jane Vintage and Liebemarlene Vintage -- I always love what they do and find. So I'm starting to perk up a little, but we've got a ways to go before spring...

How are you doing this February? Are you inspired, or are you in the doldrums like me? What's inspiring you lately? (Please share!)

image from swedishhasbeens.com

When Movie-Inspired Hair Goes Wrong

I love the girl who cuts my hair. She's great, she's very affordable, I'm always happy to see her, and we've gotten to the point that I can sit in the chair and she knows what to do. She gives me tea, we talk about life, all is well. This summer will be three years since I started seeing her for my hair, and I won't go to anyone else.

We both know that we love the Jean-Seberg-in-"Breathless" haircut, as below, as she is My Ideal Style Icon in so many ways:


I love having it, she loves cutting it ("I saw you were scheduled for today and I was so excited to get to cut your hair!"), and it works out perfectly. I get compliments, and I give her card out.

There's a catch, though -- she's so good, and now she's gotten so popular, that I have to wait longer and longer for haircuts. Three weeks ago, I tried to get a haircut scheduled for the next week before I left on vacation. No go. I got pushed back to this week. The last time I got my hair cut was in early November, and so I've just been getting shaggier and shaggier.

Due to this, I unintentionally have a new movie-beauty icon -- this guy:


Yeah. My hair has decided that it wants to be Edward Cullen's hair.

This is not okay with me.

It's particularly bad on waking up, especially if it's the second day after washing. It stands up if I run my fingers through it, and it definitely stands up if I brush it up.

I kid you not -- there is no product, just brushing up my less-than-clean hair:


BAM. RPattz hair. (And fake-Wayfarers, because vampires and hipsters are pretty much the same thing.)

But maybe you're having a hard time seeing the resemblence? Here, I've fixed it:


There we go. (Also, how awesome is my bubble wrap calendar in the background? SUPER-AWESOME. My mom knows me so well.)

My haircut appointment is today, and I'm pretty relieved.

(EDITED TO ADD: Dang it! She's rescheduled! I'm stuck with RPattz hair until Friday! I jinxed it!!)

But if I get jumped by a pack of teenage girls before then, well, you can see why.

images from imdb.com, twilight-review.com, and periodicstyle.blogspot.com

She Talks Like A Woman and Walks Like A Man

I am a woman on a mission, in search of the world's most perfect men's-tailoring inspired flats that are neither frumpy nor impossibly girlish. Just functional, fabulous, powerful shoes for your workaday businesslady. Inspired by the lovely selection of vintage and reproduction saddle shoes at Muffy's and Re-Mix Vintage Shoes, I've been poking around looking at my options...we're talking all wingtips, spectators, creepers--generally, leather lace-up flat shoes with men's detailing! I want to look like a Savile Row lady, what else could you want?

-Every time I peruse the shoe section at Nordstrom Rack, I stop and try on the variety of Jeffrey Campbell flats. Jeanne, Kati and I all own various versions of the Steppin heels, I nearly wore mine through after six months working in New York! I find the laces on those to be quite slippery and the heels have worn down to the point that it's a little unsafe to wear them on cobblestones for balance's sake, but I still love them to pieces. Mademoiselle Robot interviewed the very Jeffrey Campbell, making us love her and the brand even more.

-Speaking of Jeffrey Campbell shoes at Nordstrom Rack, I came across a single pair of his Driggs lattice-woven, lace-up flats in a size too small this past summer and I have been DYING TO OWN THEM in a size 9 ever since. Of course everyone else had the same idea and now they have disappeared completely, even from the internet. Come on!! How great would those look under some lovely slacks for work? Some wool socks to keep your feet warm and you're good to go in the winter, cropped pants and a gingham check blouse for spring/summer, it's the look of effortless cool that I aspire to achieve someday. Even my favorite shoe-store-blog, Williamsburg's Shoe Market covered these as part of their menswear detailing for ladies' shoes bonanza.

-Free People, bastion of faux-hippie high-waisted shorts and shredded babydoll dresses surprised me with this lovely pair of buttery leather lace-up wingtip shoes. Give me a pair of these, some navy tights, a corduroy skirt and a warm sweater and I'm a happy girl. The leather laces look just as slippery as my Jeffrey Campbells, but a little double-knot never hurt anything.

-San Francisco's local fabulous shoe purveyor Shoe Biz has the F-Troupe contrast oxfords in black and grey canvas, I love the clean, simple lines. Very Fred Segal, I feel like I could find these in some amazing Japanese men's style magazine with funky scarves and knit caps. An alternative is the Gaga-tastic Kenndy [sic] loafer by Sam Edelman. Those would make any woman look HARD. AS. NAILS. and badass as hell.

-If you've ever been to your area outlet mall, you've seen the Bass stores. At first glance, they appear to cater solely to the hunting-hiking-rough'n'tumble crowd, but if you are savvy they are a great source of hardy work shoes for women as well as men. ShoeBiz surprised me with the Bass Burlington oxfords, clunky but superbly functional!

-The other day, I tried on the Steve Madden Tuxedo in black and white with high hopes, doesn't it look like EXACTLY what I would want? Unfortunately, like every other Steve Madden shoe, these are crazy wide and both the sole and outer leather so thin you'd quickly wear through the entire shoe.

Well, my search continues for the perfect menswear-for-women's-shoes. With a perfectly pressed pantsuit for work, or opaque tights and a mid-thigh-length skirt, you'd be the smartest dressed woman in the room, no high heels necessary! What aspect of menswear do you wish you could bring over to the misses' department? We've taken over three-piece suits, fedoras, neckties (just a little), the boyfriend jean and tee-shirts since women started wearing slacks almost a century ago. Perhaps a pocket square is next for me...if only my suit jackets had front pockets!


Images from FreePeople.com and ShoeBizSF.com