Meanderings: September 5, 1999

Sunday,
September 5, 1999

Today was an adventure. One of the friends whom we had dinner with on Thursday is a model, and we arranged to meet her for lunch before she flies out for a shoot later this week. Well, it turns out that she was also going to Stormy Leather, a local shop that specializes in leather corsets, fetishwear, that sort of thing, on a hunt for a specific type of corset. No way we're missing out on this opportunity, I think, so Lyndon, Lisa and I had lunch with Paige, then trooped over to the store.

Oooooh, yeah. I wouldn't really have a use for a lot of the stuff that they have on display there, but I love the smell of leather, so I wandered around in olfactory ecstasy while Paige shopped, Lyndon stood around looking bemused at the more esoteric items, and Lisa waxed lyrical over some of the PVC tops. I must admit, if I could 1) find a shop that did leather corsets for big broads, or 2) a good pattern for a large-size corset, I think I'd be in heaven. As it is, I'll have to see if I can find a good source for cowhides when I get back to Stockholm -- my electric sewing machine couldn't handle it, but my treadle machine would be perfect for sewing leather.

And I can just see the beetling brows out there, as you try to picture this good-natured, cookie-baking redhead in a leather corset. Believe me, kids, I'm a lot more adventurous than I seem.

After Stormy Leather, Paige asked if we wanted to go to a mall with her, since she needed to find a Nordstrom's for some specific makeup. We piled into her new Volkswagon Beetle (oh, God, I love those cars, and I WANT a red one!), when Lisa mentions that there's a Nordstrom's downtown in the San Francisco Shopping Center. This causes much rejoicing for Paige, as the next nearest Nordstrom's is somewhere down the peninsula and a 40 minute drive away -- not bad under normal conditions, but not ideal when you have four adults in a VW Beetle. So we headed over to the shopping center, made a brief pilgrimage to the Bath and Body Works, Paige picked up her makeup and we stopped off yet again for snacks in the basement. I was telling Eva that I was going to start going to the TBS gym when I got back -- unless I really start climbing up hills in earnest, I'm going to be in desperate need of that gym ASAP. Part of it is that American restaurants serve these humongous portions of food -- I can't remember a single time so far that I've been able to finish off an entire plate's worth of food. Even keeping that in mind, I've been consuming a huge amount of food lately. Time to get serious about the aerobics, I guess.

But enough about my exercise plans -- after Paige dropped us off, we lounged around the apartment for awhile, just chatting and playing with the kitties. See, Lisa and I are members of the Starfleet Ladies' Auxiliary and Embroidery/Baking Society, a very tongue-in-cheek online women's group, and whenever two Ladies get together, they immediately start gabbing about everything and anything under the sun. Add a hilarious Englishman to the mix (Lyndon started doing his Jacques Cousteau routine, and we almost wet ourselves), and we'll spend hours talking and laughing.

Which is fine -- yes, San Francisco is a beautiful city, and we've enjoyed wandering around and exploring it. But a vacation is also for kicking back and unwinding, and that's exactly what we've been doing with Lisa. I think we're both going to be in a much better state of mind when we get back to Sweden -- I've already been writing like a speed demon, and Lyndon's got a slew of photographic projects lined up in his head.

Holidays -- gotta love 'em.

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