Stella's Roar. Hedonism: A devotion to the pleasures of the senses.

The Location...

Me, Chef Bobby, Mari Angeles, The Hostess

Trademark Clogs...

Prep...

My friend Mari Angeles was wearing a Brazilian necklace called a Balanganda. This type of silver charm necklace was worn by female slaves. Colonial masters often presented their favorite women slaves with balangandas, a means of displaying their wealth. Balangandas were a collection of gold or silver ornaments strung on a thick metal ring which was attached to a chain and worn around the neck or tied at the waist. The ornaments included animals, parts of the human body, religious amulets, bells, suns or moons, each having a special significance. The figa (an image of a closed fist where the thumb is inserted between the index and middle fingers) was one of the more popular amulets and was believed to protect the user from the mau olhado (evil eye), human malice and jealousy. Eventually the women could use the necklaces with all of the valuable silver charms to purchase their freedom.


The Main Man...


Bobby and Marcos, the wine guy, discussing the food and wines...


Bobby's staff and my chica Hilda whose on the committee with me. Her husband Johnny is the excellent photographer of most of the pics.




Leticia and her man The Ringer...

Bobby and his chica and mi amiga Danielle..

After all the wine last night, my head feels like its about to explode...menu here

You just never know what your gonna find when your trolling the blogosphere. Did you know Designer Diva Extraordinaire and Top Design Mannequin Kelly Wearstler posed nude for Playboy many moons ago? I had no idea! This news is so old, I'm embarrassed to have just found out...why did no one think to tell me!? Decorno and Visual Vamp discussed it more thoroughly back in the day when this was still news.
Wearstler was asked in an interview here, "What would people be most surprised to learn about you?"...Kelly replies..."I worked as a waitress for years!" What???!!! That's not what I'm most surprised by Chica! It's the T and A shot in Playboy. You can tell she was photographed back in 1994...lots of foliage!

Having posed nude and then going on to become such a huge success in the design world...you would think she would be a bit more carefree...i.e. FUN. I love a bawdy chick, but Kelly? She's got a bit of a "holier than thou" look on her face most times. Maybe that's why the Playboy spread comes as such a surprise for me.

This news got me thinking about Playboy magazine and my history with it. I grew up with Playboy. My grandfather had a subscription to it. Playboy was intermingled with Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping at my grandmother's house. It was not hidden or made to feel like something taboo. You could find it stored in the magazine rack right between the two La Z Boys in the living room. Many a day you could find my 8 year old self laughing at the jokes, reading the articles (yea, right!) and of course, minutely examining the photos. In my twenties, I received a frantic phone call from my aunt..."Does your Mother know you posed for Playboy?!"...No, it wasn't me...although this girl looked JUST like me! I got a little thrill thinking that friends/family thought I actually had the cojones to pose nude AND get paid for it! I still have the picture that my aunt furtively ripped out of the magazine. My doppelganger wasn't a featured centerfold...just some girl trying to pay tuition for college. Her photo was all of 4" tall.

So...Kelly Wearstler + 4" tall doppelganger = Femlin...at least that's how my brain works!

Femlins were created by LeRoy Neiman in 1955 when publisher/editor Hugh Hefner decided the Party Jokes page needed a visual element...I lifted that sentence from wikipedia. Isn't she cute?! Doesn't' she look like she's having the time of her life? Kelly...if you read this...pull on the black thigh highs, slide on the black opera gloves, grab a bottle of champagne and go romping thru a meadow filled with flowers. It will do you good!

I bought this book for The Main Man here. I really think I bought it for me...nostalgia purposes.