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white suit

Decided to redeem my gift cards the other day, you know, to keep them from going to waste. 

Would have loved to find a well tailored white pant suit. 

I do love suits and wear them once in a while, but in a way I am beginning to wonder if the days of suits being associated with professionalism are over for good. None of the folks who commissioned my services lately have ever seen me in anything even remotely resembling a suit... none of them have even asked to see my portfolio, and it's not that I am the cheapest choice either... So what is it that seals a deal these days if not the suit? Luck? I don't know. Whatever it is, I know it's not the suit. 

But anyway, no white suit for me, as none of the candidates succeeded in taking my breath away. Even though I have freakishly few clothes and am likely the owner of the most inadequate wardrobe I've even seen, I am still reluctant to add items to it that I don't absolutely love. But why am I talking about clothes? I don't know, but anyway, there really isn't much left to this rather uneventful shopping story, I ended up redeeming all my gift cards at the beauty counter. The End.

 

 

Busy days

Today was one of those days when I had time to do foundation in the morning. 

Barring the cakey kind, foundation really is a woman's best friend and I can't for the life of me understand why I ever skip it in the morning. My standard excuse is that there's never enough time to apply it properly (which is with a brush) and less-than perfect applications are so unsightly they pretty much defy the very point of wearing any.  

My preferred brands blend in so perfectly with just a sweep of the pad though, they render my time/brush excuse completely void... so I guess laziness is really my only valid excuse. 

In other news, life's been busy as hell. Busy makes me focused and fulfilled so that's good. I also think I might have lost the travel bug...  did that ever happen to you? That you just wanted to stay put in one place without any desire to go anywhere? I doubt it's permanent though?

 

 

 

Lucky Day

It's my standard weekly get-together with my good friend Lucky that makes Friday my favorite day of the week. 

We usually spend a few hours at Panera -- love their broccoli cheddar soup served in a bread-bowl, but I love the company even more. 

(Do they have Panera in every state or is it a Florida thing?) 

I am sure I have more to be thankful for in this life than I realize, but few things do I appreciate more than my friends. I truly have the best friends anyone could ever ask for and I can't even begin to put in words what Lucky's friendship means to me.

Well, thank god it's Friday, the weather is awesome today and I hope everyone has a great weekend. 

 

Until next time,

Agnes

 

Deadline met, taking the day off

Well, the insane amount of workload I've taken on this month has rendered me completely MIA from not just the blog but most other areas of my life. But quite honestly, few things make a well deserved and long overdue beauty day feel as guilt free and relaxing as the satisfaction of having beaten a deadline, coinciding with an amassing pile of unused gift certificates waiting to be consumed.

Loving the silver nails!

Until next time,

Agnes

 

Mornings in cafes

By the way, and for the record: as much as I sometimes wish it was the case, drinking coffee is not the only thing I do all day. 

It's just that due to my good friend and steady coffee companion, Ernie, 

(a former photographer whose recent camera purchase engendered an unforeseen extent of photographic industriousness), 

my morning coffee runs have become the single most over-photographed segments of my current existence. 

Other people's pictures fascinate me... the way they see the world and all that. 

{photos by my friend Ernie}

Ironically, I happen to be Ernie's default photographer for when he needs stuff done, but I am pretty sure one of these days he'll wake up and realize that enlisting my services was a total waste of his money -- there really isn't a thing I can do that he can't do better.

Until next time.

Agnes

 

Work work work

God I've been so busy with freelance work I completely forgot about the blog. The company for whom I have been doing design work is so awesome and as I love doing what I do so much, I tend to forget everything else. 

Well, January is half gone -- how is 2012 treating you?

Are you keeping up with your New Year's resolutions? One of my resolutions is to pay more attention to detail and invest more of my attention in the "small things". You know in a 'take time to smell the roses' kind of way, spend more quality time with my friends and people who inspire me, wear my fancier clothes more often, slow down at dinner time (candle + music + fancy plates), you know, things like that. 

Was experimenting with red lipstick the other day. Not exactly headline worthy news, I know.

No particular reason (other than my resolutions), just didn't want my body mis-representing me all day. Woke up feeling so fresh and energized yet looking so tired -- hence the industrial strength primer, under eye concealer and blush. I don't think red lipstick is for me but primer+concealer+blush (and anything else that takes ten years off) are my new best friends. 

Have a great week everyone -- I am off to perform my standard morning routine (Starbucks with my friend Ernie) then disappear into the week and hopefully finish up some work by Friday.

 

Until next time.

 

Agnes

 

three dog night

90% of all conversations seem to revolve around the weather today. 

I am off to Walgreens for an electric blanket, fire wood and maybe a flu shot.

Until next time,

Agnes

 

 

Datz on South MacDill

One of the more common emails this blog receives is questions about decent places to dine at in Tampa Bay. (Most common requests are probably clothes/fashion related posts but frankly I am not sure how to entertain those suggestions? I'm not big on consumerism but one of my new year resolutions is putting more effort into my make-up/hair/style to improve my long neglected appearance so I guess I can try to whip up some posts on the subject.) 

So here is one of my favorite places in South Tampa: "datz". 

It's sort of an English pub - European deli - bar - gourmet grocery store hybrid. 

2616 South MacDill, corner of MacDill and Barcelona. It has this hard-to-miss big red sign.

I don't really have a befitting way to describe Datz' distinguished atmosphere so here is an iPhone photo to give you a rough idea:

It's got this semi-industrial, somewhat warehouse like interior with upstairs and downstairs sections, complete with low lighting and perfect acoustics. 

(By perfect acoustics I mean it's noisy in a lively and happening sort of way yet conducting private conversations doesn't require the possession of sign language or lip reading skills. Next-table-conversations seamlessly blend into the background noise to the point of complete indistinctness. I don't know about you, but to me, good ambiance is pretty much all in the lighting and the acoustics.) 

Their menu is online, I usually have the cheese platter. They sell high quality European cheeses, cold cuts, chocolate, pastries, beer and a whole lot of other things in the deli. 

Check it out if you're in town. There are quite a few great eateries in Ybor and Channelside too, maybe I'll take some photos next time I am there. 

Meanwhile, here's to a prosperous 2012 -- be happy, be lucky. 

 

All the best, 

 

Agnes