wishbone clover

Nun Fashion in Michigan - A Photo Essay of God's Wives' Closet

During our 40 Whatever/Ford-y Whatever trip through the glorious Great Lakes Region, my BFF CityMama & I were compelled to make an unplanned stop at the Cross in the Woods Catholic Shrine. Even though it was God's Will that we found it, we didn't feel like walking through the woods to see the actual "Cross" (because ew, woods + walking = no thanks, dirty!) but the stop was totally worth it just to experience the most wonderful and terrifying collection of dolls, possibly in the world.

It was a very special doll museum, containing over 300 dolls, in varying sizes, wearing horror movie expressions and dressed in the habits of nuns -- and priests -- from around the globe.

To my dismay, none of them were for sale, not the dolls or the costumes! And they were frustratingly well protected against crazy chicks who would have risked God's Wrath by shoplifting them, or even just experiencing the magic by running our their curious fingers over the embroidered "Jesus" whipples.

Spoilsports. But we took pictures. A lot of pictures.

Hey, We're in God's Wives' Closet!

Yes, that's the Mother Theresa habit on the far right. Take a good look, because that's as close as you're going to get to a Nun of Color in this collection. Apparently most nuns are white.

It would have been nice if Sally Field could have signed the Flying Nun costume below, but no such luck.

We learned that the best nuns are fully accessorized, with special embroidery and chunky beads.

Loving that light blue suit! And the modern, low-maintenance hair do! Also, who decided which sightless mannequins needed to wear glasses?

Yeah, I'm Turning 40. Whatever.

In May I turn 40. My BFF Stefania hits the delightful mammogram milestone in October.

We've been talking about how to celebrate -- visit to Paris, do yoga in New Mexico where we can engineer an accidental meeting with Val Kilmer, or see Barry Manilow twice in one month.

Oh, wait, we did the Barry thing last year, so maybe this year we can meet Cher. Or Stevie Nicks. Whatever antics we come up with, of course we'll write about it, because that's what we do.

Obviously that means we need another blog. Say hello to 40 Whatever.

Confirmation

One year ago today I celebrated my last day of corporate slavery.

So far, so good.

I adore the freedom of working freelance, and the satisfaction of a creative career. No surprise, it's much better than what I was doing before!

In the past twelve months, there have been one or two freak out moments -- "The economy sucks! I'm a FOOL to leave a safe corporate job!" -- but I always remembered immediately that I hated my "safe corporate job". End of freak out.

Sure, I'm enough of a pragmatist that I always keep my eyes open for some amazing job, but in a year of (admittedly desultorily) perusing job postings, I haven't been tempted to send in a single resume.

I finally have the best job in the world, the one I've wanted my entire life. Why would I give that up?

Mayor McHottie, Your Batman Secret Is Safe With Us

I finally saw Batman, The Dark Knight and now I know: Mayor McHottie is Batman.

All those people asking why Batman's voice is so deep and ragged? Wicked obvious to anyone who's ever heard Gavin Newsom speak. Plus the signature slicked back hair is a dead giveaway. It's plain as day that Christian Bale totally based the Dark Knight on our own Gay Marriage Mayor.

Just look at these two. Same hair, same tie, and that steely glare. They're practically the same person!

 

That's Christian on the left and Gavin on the right, just in case you were having a (totally understandable) hard time figuring out which one is the real Batman and which one is just acting.

I wonder if Gavin gets his Bat Tights in the Castro, or at Piedmont, that drag queen store in the Haight? Either way, I bet they look fine with his cape.

Purse Meme

Thank you BFF Stefania for tagging me with the Purse Meme. Just what wishbone clover needs: yet another post where I provide specific examples of how crazy I am. Yay! A million pictures and more detail than necessary after the jump.

Art Makes Us Happy

Tonight I was sorting through some pictures and found this. It's from last summer when Chief and I went to Honolulu. We hung out with BFF Stefania and her family, getting the local, insider tour.

Just around the corner from Dog (Yes, Now We Know He's Racist, But Back Then He Was Just Tacky And Married to Big Boobs Beth) The Bounty Hunter's office is the Hawaii State Art Museum.

The museum has a kid's activity area, and this is the creation of one of their youthful visitors, not from the permanent collection. My favorite part is the caption above it: Sometimes art just makes us feel happy.

This one goes out to cheapgirl, official wishboneclover artist. Her art always makes us happy.

I'm Still Barry's Bitch

(Photo credit: me, using my iPhone from our fantastic freaking seats!)

That's Barry, right there! Can you believe how close we were? Yes, our tickets really were tenth -- that's right, 10-TH -- row, front and center. We were close enough to see Barry's colored contact lenses (dreamy cerulean blue) and count the individual spikes of his immaculately highlighted coiffure.

So how was he? In a word, Magic. In another word? Um, tipsy?

Looking Forward, Looking Up

Take heed! Amidst all this January gloom and melancholia, do you spy a bright, gleaming beacon in the future?

Yes you do, and that's no beacon! It's BARRY MANILOW and a snazzy blazer from his bedazzled collection. Which with any luck will nearly blind my BFF Stefania and me in our practically front row seats on February 15th.

Count down to smiles, '08. Only three short Fridays away. I just found a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Oh Barry! The Miracle Is You!

Last Wednesday night, my BFF Stefania and I finally saw Barry Manilow LIVE for the first time. There were also a bunch of skaters there, including Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill and two Russian dudes who did the skating version of Cirque du Soleil stuff, which was odd and entertaining.

You could tell that the big draw for almost everyone there was Barry. And let me tell you: Barry delivered.

It Could Be Magic

Tonight is FANILOW '07!

Sorry to yell, I'm just very excited.

My BFF, Stefania, and I are going to the Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular, Starring BARRY MANILOW!  We are HUGE Fanilows, from even before his gracious and riveting turn on American Idol. And this is our first in-person Manilow experience.

That's right. Tonight we pop our Fanilow Live cherries.

With ice skating. Sweet!

Side story: Years ago, in a grocery store in the Marina, Brian Boitano gave Chief the goo-goo eyes! Yes! My husband was cruised by Olympic Gold Medalist Brian Boitano. How cool is that? Unsurprisingly, Chief ignored him, blowing only his chance for an autograph.

I've seen some good shows with Stefania, including:

• American Idols on Tour (Twice. And we almost got kicked out of the first one, by someone's mom, for yelling profanity at Taylor Hicks.)
• Ricky Martin
• Justin Timberlake

We are uniquely qualified to enjoy the shit out of this concerformance. It's the culmination of our pop culture expertise. Especially when you add the very special Pac Bell Park Irish Coffees that will play a large role in our enjoyment of the evening.

The only thing that could make it better? Let's just say we have pretty good seats and we'll be watching for Mayor McHottie...