Entre Nous.

Blast from the past

Who do I run into at a shop on Broughton St. the other day, none other than a girl I'd gone to High School and Middle School with back in Washington. She married her High School boyfriend and relocated to Savannah 9 years ago for his job. Talk about random occurrences. 

Good boys do fine always

I had my first piano lesson in twenty years last night. My piano teacher is in such high demand that I had been wait listed since the spring. Finally I got the call that a coveted space had opened up. The lesson ran only 45 minutes long, but there was no foreplay. We jumped right into reading music, despite the fact that I had prefaced my lesson by stating that I hadn't taken lessons in TWENTY years. Apparently he uses the "throw your kid in the creek tied to a rope to teach him to swim" method. About 15 minutes before my lesson was to end the next student arrived. I had to haltingly wade my way through "Frère Jacques" in front of an audience, talk about humiliating. Then I get home to face more humiliation when I discover the title of my piano book, "The Older Beginner". That's me.

Lights, camera, Savannah!

I just bought a silver pass to the 2009 Savannah Film Festival. Go silver and you'll gain "admittance to all film screenings, workshops, lectures and opening and closing night receptions." At $300 a pop, it's hard to imagine this being one of the lower tier passes. There's the $500 gold pass, which gets you everything the silver does but also into every "reception" each night of the festival. $200 more for access to 5 more parties, I think not. Then there's the $750 reserved seating pass, which gets you everything the gold pass does, but for $250 more you don't have to arrive early to look for a decent seat like the rest of the plebeians. Oh and here another interesting fact, you buy the pass having NO clue what movies will be premiered. Since this will likely be my last film festival I'll attend while living in Savannah, I thought I'd treat myself. The first taste I had of the much coveted film festival pass was two years ago. A friend of a friend left town early and I was gifted her gold pass for the last two days of the festival. After that I swore I'd get my hands on a pass of my own before leaving town. Last year I attended a smattering of films "pass-less" with the riff raff. This would have been all well in good had not the majority of the films sold out. Hence the pass being my guaranteed route to attending any and every film I desire.  The festivals opening night is October 31st and runs until November 7th. The timing makes for an interesting dilemma, to costume or not to costume?

Up, up and away

Today Tory Burch, Neiman Marcus, Hermes, and Jimmy Choo open their doors to the state of Washington. Not downtown, as I would have assumed their location to be, but Bellevue. And not at Bellevue Square mall (whose claim to fame was being referenced in the John Cusack movie Say Anything), but a new outdoor shopping center, The Bravern. "The Bravern will offer a vibrant urban village in a distinctive outdoor setting at the gateway to downtown Bellevue. Gracious arrival courts and European-style plazas will connect 450 signature residences and two office towers fully leased to Microsoft with approximately 305,000 square feet of fashion retail, distinctive restaurants (Artisanal Brasserie & Winebar, The Artisanal Table Pizzeria Enoteca, John Howie Steak, and Wild Ginger) and personal services (Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa and David Barton gym), anchored by a 125,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus." The whole concept seems reminiscent of Santana Row in San Jose. And if this concept is at home anywhere in Washington, it would be Bellevue. With 2 dozen of the 35 retail spaces filled, I'm waiting with baited breathe to find out who else will move in, Kate Spade and Marc Jacobs would suit me just fine. The whole projects screams Bellevue and is just a little too "California" (that's southern not northern) for my liking. Not like that's going to stop me from perusing the place for myself on my next trip home, because anywhere Trophy Cupcakes goes, I will follow. Plus I hear rumors of outdoor fireplaces.

Terminally Chic

               

I discovered butter LONDON while browsing a recent issue of Vogue. In an article spotlighting stylish airport spas the first to be mentioned was butter LONDON's spa at SeaTac Airport (Concourse C). Being the frequent flyer that I am between Savannah and Seattle I was eager to check out the spa for myself. I was able to do just that last week on my way back to Savannah. Picture this, de Gournay inspired wallpaper, a back crystal chandelier, custom built nail stations, and row upon row of cheekily named (Artful Dodger, Frilly Knickers) bottles of polish or "lacquer". 

                               

"The butter LONDON concept was founded in 2005 when Sasha Muir, CEO found herself frustrated with the available choices of nail services in Seattle. Neighborhood nail salons offered little in the way of hygiene and product selection. Larger day spas required her to make an appointment and often, services took longer than the time she had available (not to mention the expense). When she took a closer look at the industry, Sasha recognized the need for a company to bridge the growing gap between high and low-end nail salons. Once the business concept was mapped out, Creative Director Nonie Creme was brought on board to design the signature services that give butter LONDON customers the best result in less time--every time, further develop butter LONDON brand, and create the non-toxic product line."

                               

The spa offers waterless service for quick and hygienic manicures & pedicures, inexpensive services and no appointment is necessary. The treatments range from 15 minutes ("spun sugar" hand massage, $15) to 40 minutes ("butter me up" full pedicure, $40). The polishes, normally $14 a bottle, were being sold for a song (or as close to it, $10 a bottle if you bought at least two). Think I went a bit overboard purchasing 4 bottles (HRH, Bezzie Mate, Dolly Bird, and The Full Monty)? Yeah, me neither. Each season the creative director for the line, Nonie Creme, creates a palette of on trend colors based on her behind the scenes work at fashion week and on editorial shoots. If the lines fashion forward colors weren't enough, here's the cherry on top, the entire line of polish is “3 Free”. This means that there is no formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP in the polishes. Besides polish, there's also other products in the line ranging from something called silk stockings to stiletto stick. If you'd like to snatch up your own bottle of butter LONDON polish, you're in luck, for two more days you can find a generous selection of colors 50% off at The Fairest. If you're looking for a place in Savannah that carries the line, check out See Jane on Broughton St. The favorite color, or should I say "colour", for fall is British Racing Green, it was the backstage darling at the fall shows.