I've been talking about it a lot * "the most wonderful time of the year" week

A string of opinionated random thoughts.

A big S/O to my followers, especially those who have become friends, virtual and no. You inspire me, motivate me to keep writing and stimulate my creativity.

Let me give you an example.

Laura De Valencia Kirk

posted in her stories these shoes, Baku Artesanal. They are Made in Oaxaca, Mexico, with pre-consumer scraps of leathers sourced locally, tanned with organic plant-based techniques, and soles made from recycled bicycle tires. They recall the idea of the original Friulane in some way, designed and produced following ancestral techniques and applying all the sustainable practices one would dream of in a garment.

Look at this …

And if you know me, you know that what happened is a big middle finger to the Rule of Five, because impulsive me needed them rn.

If you DM them, Jesus will answer, he is lovely and patient.

Love

• Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent. He keeps nailing it.

• I love the whole “Sunday’s roast” mood but I need someone to cook it for me.

• The word for the year, one word or verb that will guide you, pick you up in the low moments, and inspire you to do more in high times. It’s a yearly ritual for me, but this time around, I find it hard. I am tired of people; I am scared of the times, I am worried and spooked by what’s to come with a convicted POTUS and his administration of cronies.

• A Martini batch, pre-mixed with your favorite gin and dry Vermouth, chilled in the freezer for when you have last-minute friends over. Or for your last-minute craving.

I don’t care

• Designer fragrances for a sleuth of reasons. Designers designed clothing is incredible and rightfully $$$, to appeal the lesser budget customer demographic, they created lipsticks and fragrances for a masstige effect of aspirational luxury. They, themselves, don’t wear those fragrances, they gatekeep and wear sophisticated and unforgettable fine fragrances created by the very few noses of the world. And yes you should be picky, annoyingly selective with the fragrance you wear.

• That Pantone color of the year that gives whipped poop vibes. Let’s ignore for a sec that brown is one of my favorite colors, I hate milk chocolate, espresso Martinis. It seems like an ominous prescription of the amount of shit we are bound to get in 2025, but make it branded. Bad, bad taste.

• After almost 30 years in the US, I still have to explain the role of health insurances in our daily lives and survival to my Italian friends and fam. Let’s put it blatantly: in 2022 I was scheduled for an outpatient procedure, that is you are in and out in 2 hours top. Complications ensued and I woke up the following day in ICU, I was intubated and kept under anesthesia for 16 hours. Had the insurance capped the coverage for the time of the anesthesiologist, I would A) have died or B) be paying for that anesthesia for the rest of my life.

• I still haven’t found marron glacès in Miami.

How do you say it in Italian?

Zizzola, Si bubbola, E’ diaccio the Urban Dictionary says it’s cold as tits. For full disclosure these are expressions from Tuscany, someone from Milano or Cagliari would probably say it different, but get that’s from Tuscany.