Boston Family Weekend Part 3

My favorite time of the day in the condo was at hand, as the afternoon sun was slanting through the bedroom bay window just as we returned from our museum visit (and a bit of shopping). We planned on meeting my Mom and Emi for a pre-dinner snack and cocktail/mocktail at the condo. Suzie and I tried on a few new purchases, then got down to slicing some French bread and stirring up a Shirley Temple just as they arrived.

It was a perfect cocktail hour with three of my favorite ladies in the world, and then it was time to head to dinner at the Beehive, where I hoped Emi would enjoy some live music. 

It was a lovely dinner, mostly because of the company we kept. 

The night was nice enough for us all to walk back to their hotel, where we got some chocolate and then took a quick look at their view. The unexpected adventure is always the best kind. 

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Boston Family Weekend Part 2

This time of the year sees the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum unleashing her long hanging drapes of orange nasturtiums – an annual tradition that marks the arrival of spring in happy floral fashion. I love the idea of that. My own spring traditions have been pushed back due to weather and health issues, but they’ll arrive, just a little later than usual. The Gardner Museum is right on track, and all the more beautiful because of it. 

The wonder that Ms. Gardner conjured in her home, and the vast, sumptuous, gorgeous collection of artwork that she amassed, always inspires me to do better. Not merely artistically, but in everyday life – the way I arrange our home, the design of our garden, or the simple set-up of a sitting corner. 

We paused where she may have paused, stood in the same sunlight she may have stood in, and basked in the beauty all around us. 

Giving good face…

We exited the museum and made our way back to the condo, where we awaiting the arrival of Mom and Emi for pre-dinner snacks and cocktails…

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Boston Family Weekend Part 1

The same weekend that Suzie and I were in Boston for the ‘Cigarettes After Sex’ show, my Mom and my niece were opening a girls weekend in the same city, which meant it was a family weekend in every sense of the world. Susie and I walked from the Paradie Rock Club all the way back to the condo because the night wasn’t to brutally cold. The legendary Citgo sign was illuminated, and I’ll return to the vaunted intersection when Skip and I make our Red Sox sojourn in August. For now, it was the cap on a magnificent evening of music. 

The next day dawned in semi-sunny fashion, and since we weren’t scheduled to meet up with Mom and Emi until dinner time, Suzie and I found spring at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. We both needed a fix of green. And beauty. And art.

It reignited my ongoing quest for a tree fern, and upped my antsy for pink daffodils.

The magnificent center courtyard was the balm for the crappy spring weather we’ve had of late. We soaked it in upon entrance, then returned to it at the end of our tour because that’s where the heart is made whole. 

{More to come…}

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Musing Over #KimptonLove

Like many of us, in my younger years I didn’t care as much about where I’d be staying in a certain city compared to what I’d be doing. The hotel, or occasional friend’s pad, was of less concern to a twentysomething person than who I might be hooking up with later that night. To that end, I’ve stayed in some highly questionable establishments over the years. A dodgy room in Miami with Chris made me realize that not all gay hotels came with taste. A mosquito-infested summer room in Chelsea found me placing an industrial-strength fan on my face for the night in the hopes of eluding the flying needles. Another room in the famed Chelsea Hotel was already occupied by an enormous roach which prompted me to insists one something better. (I was not exactly accommodated.) This doesn’t even touch on the apartments of friends –  let’s just say that I woke up with a contact high in one particular pot-growing compound in San Francisco.

These days, priorities have rightfully shifted, and it’s now the hotel that makes or breaks a stay away from home. I’m too old and comfort-concerned to put up with nonsense that once barely bothered me. Now I demand a little more, and Andy certainly enjoys a proper bed now that his back is so messed up. To that end, we are both Kimpton Rewards members, as it is one company that consistently provides personal service and unique boutique hotels in every city we’ve ever frequented. Coming up is a stay at the Muse in New York. I’ve been there before and it was wonderful, but this will mark Andy’s first time – and one never forgets their first time at a Kimpton property.

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Recovery Recap

At the tail end (God-willing) of a wretched bout with Flu B (cause it knocks you on your booty), I’m in no mood to do a big intro to this recap of a rather lackluster week of posts. Not to worry, good things are brewing here, so come back later this week for the usual excitement and scintillation. On with the last week of sick shit:

The Adam Lambert treat.

Losing hope

Fizzy wizzy makes me dizzy.

Super staunch news!

Hints of nudity, if you follow the links.

Flu B, baby!

Hunks of the Day included: Lewis TanThomas Wade Nicholls, Blake Mitchell & Jwan Yosef

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Sick Delirium

When you’ve been cooped up in your house stricken with the flu for seven days straight, we’ll see what sort of antics you get up to in the name of staving off boredom. For me, it was photographing the bulk of my Tom Ford Private Blend Collection backed by color-coordinated scarves as the background. Beginning with the California charm of ‘Lavender Palm’ through his most recent ‘Fucking Fabulous‘, it was an Instagram 16-part extravaganza, and I didn’t even get to feature all of them. (Give me a break, I got tuckered out before I could find appropriate scarves for ‘Oud Wood‘, ‘Tuscan Leather‘ and ‘Vert D’Encens‘.)

This is one killer flu, and if you’re sick of hearing me talk about it, you can imagine how sick of being sick I am. At the moment I’m in a stretch of hot sweats, fanning myself with a Sephora envelope while balancing this lap-top on my knees. It’s glamorous as fuck. 

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Sicko

Greetings! Welcome to Day 6 of my Flu B Extravaganza! Today’s exercise in delirium is brought to you by Congestion & Snot Shots! After a few days of the bone-rattling chills quickly followed by hot-flashes to rival the worst that have ever shaken my office of female co-workers, my flu is hopefully shaking off the fever and moving into the snot-fest of sneezing, coughing and mounting sinus pressure. I’m not sure which is worse or when this bullshit will end. I do know that I don’t think I can stand much more soup and fluid and DayQuil and NyQuil and ibuprofen and Saltines. 

I have been very good about staying hydrated – regular stops in the kitchen to grab a glass of water or decaf green tea, followed by all the required stops in the bathroom to piss it all out. My joints hurt too much to juice an orange, so Andy has been good enough to do that and provide me with fresh OJ using the oranges that Mom delivered. I did manage to carve up a grapefruit, so I’m fully fortified with Vitamin C. 

And still I wait for the flu to limp away…

 

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This Would Be Me

Thus far, I’ve only had one memorable run-in with the police while working on ‘The Circus Project’ (I was naked and standing on a busted-up excavator, which you should totally find on this project page). And then there was the time I got locked in a cemetery while I was in drag (and without a change of clothes). Those are far worse than this story, but I enjoyed it anyway

These things happen. 

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Return to the Gardens

This is the most exciting news Andy and I have heard in a long time: a new ‘Grey Gardens‘ movie is on the horizon! As most fans know, the original seed that brought us those beautiful gardens was planted when another movie was in the planning stages. Peter Beard, Andy Warhol and Lee Radziwill were working on that one, and the footage for ‘That Summer’ looks to be culled from that film-that-never-was. It includes the first glimpses of Big and Little Edie Beale. Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olson has turned all of it into a new movie, and we can’t wait to see it. 

The trailer begins in promising form: “Everything was perfect in those days…”

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Fizz Me

I’m not going to post the recipe for this Ramos Gin Fizz (check out this post for that) but I do want to put up the photo of this Easter treat because I like the way the scarf adds to its presentation. It’s also the perfect morning post (even if it’s better for a Sunday brunch) because it contains an egg white and some heavy cream, both of which personify a good morning. 

It’s been a while since we’ve hosted a brunch. Must rectify that soon…

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Hard to Find Hope

At the time of this writing, I am fighting off some sort of flu thing that has me simultaneously going through frigid bone-rattling chills and sweat-dripping hot flashes within five minutes of each other. There’s also the body aches and pains that accompany it all, which is super fun. All the NyQuil and DayQuil has me feeling a bit trippy too, so bear with this brunt of a post. See, I don’t even think that’s correct but I can’t be bothered to check. That’s not the point of this post anyway. 

We’ve had a rough start to spring, if it can even be called that, and it’s hard to find hope in all this brown and gray and frozen earth. But the other day I found the smallest little balls of promise on the weeping larch, and if a crying shrub can produce a happy bit of hope, then maybe we can all find the same. In these photos, tightly coiled and ready to pop open, is the start of the season. It’s taken too long.

 

 

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Early Afternoon Adam Lambert Treat

The world could use a little more Adam Lambert, especially in the middle of a lackluster day. Mr. Lambert has been here before in memorable form, and is set to be featured again now that were doing Dazzlers. 

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A Donut-Dipped Recap

Fresh off a fun-filled weekend in Boston, this recap will have to hold you over until the tales of that adventure get written and posted by Thursday. In the meantime, check out everything that has happened int he last week, and pray for warmth because no one can take any more winter weather. 

Cristiano Ronaldo stripped to his skivvies. 

A sensation: the Aviation

Todrick Hall was the lone Hunk of the Day for the week. 

Just put tulips together and blow. 

Spring on Broadway with two of my favorite people. 

Easter peek-a-boo.

Hope & Debris. 

Family Easter fun.

Little Easter extras

Date night with Andy in Saratoga.

Scarlet flashes.

This post recounted some very crappy service at the Albany Melting Pot restaurant

If you have a chance, check out a live ‘Cigarettes After Sex’ show because it’s just too dreamy. 

The Donut Dip

 

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Doing The Donut Dip

Ever since I mooned a man in the parking lot of Dan-Dee Donuts in Amsterdam when I was eight or nine years old, doughnuts have held a special place in my heart. That said, I don’t often (or ever) go out of my way to get one of the fried rings of golden goodness. However, Suzie asked if we could make a stop at one of her husband’s favorite doughnut places – The Donut Dip – in Springfield while on our way back from Boston. 

Happily, it was well worth the little detour. We arrived to a small parking section packed with cars, and the small storefront was filled with people, but they were quick and efficient and there wasn’t much of a wait. Established in 1957 and owned by the same family ever since, this was a pleasant throwback to a more innocent time. The perfect way to accentuate a Sunday morning. 

I opted for a toasted coconut doughnut, and a small decaf. The doughnut was delightful; the coffee left something to be desired. I suppose that’s the way it should be. All in all, this was a nice little unexpected excursion to close out a fun weekend in Boston. That whole tale is yet to come… 

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Brave First Delicate Soldiers

Suzie and I were in Boston this weekend for the ‘Cigarettes After Sex’ concert, but spring, alas, was not. We drove through a snowstorm in the Berkshires (always a fun place to be when it’s snowing) and dealt with a snowy/rainy entrance into a city that found its daffodils valiantly trying to stick their heads upward to the sky. Everything is behind this year because it’s been so cold, but Boston’s making a beginning in spite of it all. 

More exciting were the first glimpse of cherry blossoms – those iconic harbingers of spring and hope, here set off against a sky that wanted so badly to be blue. Will we ever have warm weather again? I’m beginning to wonder… Monday morning demands something better. 

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