Pleasure Notes

Paired Up

It seems to me that everywhere I turn, my friends have paired up – not with each other, but with someone. Everyone is in couplehood. Many are in parenthood. I, however, remain the steadfast single gal. Whether this is by choice or circumstance is a befuddling enough question to support my therapist’s compulsive shopping habit for years, I’m sure. All I know is, I haven’t found the guy for whom I want to sacrifice the joys of singlehood.

I realize I’ve just broken the rules by which our society flourishes with the above statement. After all, marketers have spent millions brainwashing teaching us that happiness is only achievable after a platinum-set, non-conflict diamond and thousands of dollars worth of napkins, flower arrangements and paper products have been ordered (except if you’re gay, of course, in which case you have no right to happiness unless you live in some Hell-baiting place like Massachusetts or Ohio).

Here’s the little secret I’ll share with you, though. Regardless of your gender, sexual preference or age, there are some fantastic perks to being single.

• No one else’s dirty dishes get left in the sink.
• No one steals your pillow or confronts you first thing in the morning with 5-alarm breath.
• The toilet seat is always exactly as you leave it.
• You can spontaneously visit a friend, see a movie or travel to another country without consultation.
• You can experience the titillating pleasure of starting to fall in love all over again.

Lotus Flower Chandelier

Smile. Sigh. Grin. Impulsively clap my hands in glee. Yep. I fell in love with this Lotus Flower Chandelier the moment I saw it. Made of capiz shell edged in metal, and available in two different sizes, I think it transforms any room – well, maybe not a closet – into an elegant pleasure dome.

A bit of education here. Capiz shell is the outer layer shell of a marine mollusk found in the Philippines. It’s translucent properties are perfect for light fixtures. See, you do learn something new every single day.

Do you think it’s too much to pair it with the Bouquet Chair? I think not.

I am beginning to wonder, however, about the significance of my love for fluffy-looking, round, white things with floral motifs. Was I perhaps a cotton ball used to dust off rose petals in a former life? That might have been weird. This lamp certainly is not.

Available at grahamandgreen.co.uk or vivaterra.com

The only drawback to owning a beautiful light source like this, that I can envision, is the inevitable neck pain from staring up at the ceiling all day long. What do you think?

Price Category (based on my budget): Luxury. Found at Graham & Green or Viva Terra.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know I’m obsessed, but for those who are just discovering my secret, let me admit to my itty-bitty shoe fetish. Gents, you may not get this but just go with the flow here, will ya? And Ladies, I know you feel me, right? Little bits of leather and rubber, form-fitted to embrace my 10 little nicely manicured toes, my ridiculously high arches and my perpetually dry heels, bring me unending pleasure. They come in so many different colors and shapes. They provide a spring to my step. They make me purr. They enable my naughty side, lend credence to my sweet nature and fit no matter what. I am particularly partial to heels. So, what was I to do when confronted with these beautiful babies?

The Mighty Shoe

They simply called to me. Loudly. Insistently. In fact, they refused to be ignored. I couldn’t help but immediately worship them.

Yes, I am humbled.

It fits!

These patent leather, peep-toed beauties were hand-made in southern Brazil by Sergio Zelcer – who, I like to imagine, is a very endearing old man near the sea but who may very well be some 22-year-old surfer-boy genius.

They feel like silken slippers. They are sensual and dangerous and fun – exactly how I’m feeling at the moment. Which is why they are now mine.

Ooh-La-La

There’s just one thing that’s missing – an outfit to go with such fabulousness. A very serious dilemma indeed. For another day. Today, I’m too busy prostrating to my new shoes.

What is your fetish? Come on, you know you have one…

Rebirth

The sun is out. The sky is blue. The city’s roar has quieted to a hum. You savor a fresh strawberry. You engage in morning sex. You dust off the flip-flops. The neighbors are friendly. The traffic is light. Everything is green. It is the weekend. It is a holiday. It is spring.

Tell me, what does this season bring to you?

I once owned a large French Lop named Sunshine. This was before digital cameras so I can’t show you a picture of it, but just imagine a golden wheat-colored rabbit the size of a Pit Bull. That was my bunny. It lived in a cage in the back yard and, when let out, would do grand, leaping, triple-loop, double-axle pirouette acrobatics in the air that could make Kobe weep. I finally took pity on it and gave it away to a loving family who had more land through which it could frolic. It then got eaten by a coyote.

This memory is fresh in my mind right now as, everywhere I look, I’m surrounded by rabbits. I go for hikes, and they jump out at me from strangers’ bushes. I go to the grocery story, and their graphic equivalents peer at me from seemingly every aisle. I search for new t-shirts to augment my weekend wardrobe, and there they are again! Only, this time, I think I’ve fallen in love. I blame those LA-based mad scientists, Kozy and Dan.

Bunny Headphones T-Shirt by kozyndan

The artistic pair, known collectively as kozyndan, not only designs cute-ass t-shirts, but also creates beautiful and fanciful paintings and posters. The subjects are not always bunnies, but I’ll forgive them that.

Bunny Blossom by kozyndan

They inject a invigorating dash of humor and irreverence into every image.

Toasted Unchi by kozyndan

Who else would draw and digitize a shout out to cooked rabbit poop?

Pacific Drift by kozyndan

They’ve invented a real Bunnyfish!

Bunnyfish by kozyndan

You can even follow it’s adventures out in the world.

The Bunnyfish is not quite as cute nor nearly as big as my dear departed Sunshine, but it does make me feel like a kid again. And it makes this world we inhabit a little more delicious, don’t you think?