Closing the Doors on September

I can't believe September is behind us already!!! The Mistress has been very hectic of late with work poto-types and fashion styling last week and then had to ready her own store for a huge visit yesterday which went very well. So today I took the day off to recharge and relax, and it couldn't have been a better day to take a nice end of September walk. It would do me and Buster Bolfig Borghese good to get out for some nice cool air and enjoy the scenery. After a few chores here and lunch I got myself ready. I believe Buster thought I would never get ready and get us out for a walk.



Annnnnnywho, I did manage to get us out of here by noon, right after a cock-a-tail. I grabbed my trustee camera to take out this afternoon with the intent of taking lots of pictures of the fall foliage and scenes around the park, but I got distracted by the stunning architecture in Doylestown. It's funny, but having lived here for almost ten years, I never really noticed the front doors of homes before. When I look at the doors, I believe they can really set the personality for the family that lives there and the doors really give a great focal point of the homes. I love images of doors, gates, porticos and paths. And I am always a sucker for a good-looking doorway, as evidenced by some of the pictures, so while walking I decided to scrap the pics of the park, and I though I'd snap some of the most lovely doors of Doylestown to share with y'all





I absolutely adore the shutter doors on this house. It reminds me of a southern home.








It was amazing just how many different doors could be seen. And they varied from the very simple to the very ornate, different shapes, window panes and every color from the Benjamen Moore paint store! Another reason why I like these little towns opposed to the cookie cutter developments. There is so much more personality, don't you think?












A very nice day all and all. A favorite of mine in all these pictures? I love them all. Next month Ill share some of the houses with y'all on a tour of Doylestown. Tootles!

Grand Dame of the Week

Appearing at a dive near you......the antics of Trauma Flintstone!



Since moving to San Francisco in 1988, Trauma made the conscious decision to commit her time and talent to the larger LGBT community, through her art and through her beliefs. She has been involved with hundreds (literally hundreds) of benefits and fundraisers. Trauma entertained at almost every live venue in San Francisco, and she even won a few contests, appeared in an award-winning calendar, sung with the Freedom Band, and she emceed sing-alongs at the Castro Theatre, galloped at the Dance-along, pedaled in about 25 different Critical Masses, marched in protests against the war, and it goes on and on. In the future Trauma has works with Jimmy Strano, Richard Winchester and herself planning on moving Girl Drink Drunk , a monthly club party for folks 35+ who still like to kick up their heels, dress up silly, throw back a cock-a-tail and watch a crazy drag show. All the fun you had in your 20s ... but at a reasonable hour! In addition she and the ever fabulous Katya Smirnoff-Skyy are starting a cabaret contest at Martuni's. So it doesn't look like she is slowing down anytime soon. So stick with her, kids. Trauma Flintstone predicts a grand and glorious future for all of us.

All is Right with The World Again

That's right bitches! My girl Vanessa Williams returns to the tube tonight on Desperate Housewives!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the Mistress can now take a collective sigh of relief that everything is right with the world again.

Old School Ditty- Dannii Minogue

Dannii Minogue is an Australian singer, songwriter, actress, television personality, and model. Minogue rose to prominence in the early 1980s for her roles in the Australian television talent show Young Talent Time and the soap opera Home and Away, before commencing her career as a pop singer in the early 1990s. She may sound famaliar because her older sister is Kylie. I don't know about you but I enjoy Dannii just as much, even though Dannii is much more deeper house. And I'm here to tell ya, I shook many a leg to this little ditty from 97!

Creatively Speaking...I Missed My Blog Buds!

Ohhhhh my dear darlings, how I have missed you! It was a hectic week for the Mistress as I was away all week to one of our branch stores for a complete over haul, and good gawd, was there work to be done. The visual and merchandising teams ascended the store by huge numbers to poto-type the store for the fourth quarter. The Mistress was on the fashion styling this year again, and had many ideas for the propping and the display ascetic's. And thank God there was some build boys to help with some of the "heavy" work, and the know how to get the Mistress's ideas implemented. Well, I did just get a manicure before the trip. The first day were these grouping of mannequins featuring many of the fall fashion trends, and the Vince shop. I love to have mannequins in large groupings for the impact and drive the trend home.





One of the Mistress's forte is the fashion accessory department. I just LOVE a good accessory! The first picture is the merchandising I did in the Marc by Marc shop, with some wooden contemporary forms for animation. Love the wall oversize lattice we added. The second picture is a wall for Michael Kors handbags. It was a extra wall space that I thought would be a neat for a interesting display option. I used candlesticks and sprayed them gold, but kept some glass, and then hung them on the wall with the handbags hanging on them. And the last picture is a mannequin in the Louis Vuitton shop that just got finished from construction.





Next up was the men's department. The first picture is a mannequin moment featuring the rocker look for men. I add a female mannequin to crack the whip at them. You know the Mistress can be quite a minx!!!! The whip was later removed as it was seen just a tad racy. The John Varvatos Shop I'm very proud of. The shop was painted black. Art work we had on hand was added to the back wall. Intimation plastic speakers were add to the other wall. We then added 21 glass chandeliers, sprayed black and hung them proudly center. It really ended up looking urban and contemporary I thought.




And on the last day were some feature walls with some very eye catching colors and fun use of the mannequin positioning. These walls feature some of the fall fashion trends for women, like the femme fatale suiting, the all important silk blouse, and the sculptural dress.





Even though it is alot of work I really enjoy what I do for a living. Just knowing your making a appealling and fun visual for people to see. Plus I get to used both my visual styling background and my interior design, hand in hand. It's like the best of both worlds. Now... to get caught up blog reading and on to a relaxing weekend with some cock-a-tails! Tootles!

Caribou Cafe

I swear these weekends just fly by!!! Before you know it it's Monday again. And I'm happy to report the Mistress survived both. This weekend was all about playing guide again for some out-of-towners, so the Mistress and Boy-Toy were busy frolicking about in the city and also the quaint town of New Hope. But the highlight for me had to be our dinner Saturday night at one of my favorite establishments, the Caribou Cafe.




Olivier Desaintmartin, native from Champagne, has studied with the great chefs from France such as Guerard, Chibois, Lenôtre and Lecoze… but here he is focused on more hearty comfort food. The kind that he grew up with; that the French eat every day. His dishes come from Provence, Gasconny, Loire, Burgundy, Brittany, Paris, Lyon and more… simple but elegant and tasty. At anytime of the day you might want to sit at the bar and enjoy one of their “gourmet sliders ” and sip a draft Krönenbourg which I finally was in the mood to try. A very tasty and smooth pale ale. Their wine selection by the glass is extensive and so is their French aperitifs list. As much as I am disappointed to see summer go, I have to admit to really enjoy the comfort foods of the fall and winter. And this weekend we were in luck as the fall menu just started. The dinner started off with the Rillettes de Saumon, which was smoked and fresh salmon with goat cheese and a side of lemon dressing. For my dinner I went with the 12oz filet au poivre severed with a brandy sauce, potatoes and greens.



The Boy-Toy went with the Steak Tartare


And our company enjoyed their selections as well. We all were tempted to lick the plates clean, but that would have just been unlady like. I'm already looking the menu over to see what I want next time I go already. I just love this place. So a very nice weekend all in all. I'll just leave all the cock-a-tails we had out of this post!!!!! Tootles!!!

Old School Ditty- Livin' Joy

Livin' Joy is a house music group from Italy who released two successful dance hits in the 1990s, "Dreamer" and "Don't Stop Movin'". The group consisted of Italian brothers Paolo and Gianni Visnadi (previously and singer Tameka Starr, performing the vocals. I remember seeing them in Harrisburg, live at the now closed Rage Nightclub, dancing my ass off to their live performance. Music these days is still enjoyable and danceable, but it doesn't work me into a frenzy like back in the day.

From the Candy Shop

The South American Adonis who gets my kitty purrrrrrrrrin! The smouldering Carlos Melia. I'm feeling moist here.





Carlos Melia is an independent gay travel agent, considered a pioneer in gay travel to South America. With over 20 years of experience working in mainstream travel, among the top travel corporations, and 8 working for his own project - Pride Travel - gay inbound travel to Argentina and Uruguay. Pride Travel is successfully developed and managed by Carlos, as a leading gay travel agency in South America. Carlos has been featured and quoted by the main gay and mainstream media worldwide promoting Buenos Aires as the “... Gay MECA of South America...,”. Carlos is also a former Mr Gay International 2008 and current Director for South/Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean for Mr Gay World. Easy to see why. Look at him in that tux...im feeling faint.....have a good weekend all....tootles!