I love Christmas. LOVE Christmas. And now it's over. Booooo! But as long as I can share my presents with you, I'll be fine. This year was particularly exciting, as I had made a mini-Christmas list around Thanksgiving, and then completely forgot about it. So when I was opening presents, namely, very specific things I had asked for; I was ridiculously excited.

 "OH MY GOD - I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS BOOK!"

(From Booklist: For their wit, intelligence, good looks, and politics, the aristocratic Mitford sisters were the toast of the mid-twentieth century. They were prodigious correspondents, particularly between each other. Mosley, daughter-in-law of Diana Mitford, has selected and excerpted from some 12,000 letters between the sisters over a period of almost 80 years, to shed light on women described as Famous Notorious Talented Glamourous Turbulent Unpredicable Celebrated Infamous Rebellious Colourful & Idiosyncratic, as quoted from Jessica's obituaries.

Ed. note: They totally would have been Golightly Girls.)

And

"OH, THAT'S RIGHT! FROM THE WEDDING!"

(A great shot of my sisters and me, on my adorable sister, Ellie's, wedding day. Ellie framed the photo and gave it as a gift. Very challenging to get a shot where everyone looks good AND relaxed. Sister Jessie's first comment was 'Why am I standing off to the side?')

 And

"OOOOH! SHOE SHOPPING, COMING RIGHT UP!"

 (Sister Jessie knows I'd rather shop for my own shoes.)

 And

"AWESOME! I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS TOO!"

 (My mom rocks. My dad also rocks, as he just wrote a nice, fat check, which will most likely magically turn into shoes.)

So I think my brief brush with Alzheimer's made for the most exciting Christmas yet. Both for me, and my entire family. Did you get anything good for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwaanza/Tet/Festivus? Share it with us! (Just vicarious sharing. You don't have to let us HAVE it. Unless you really want to.)

Okay, so who got a gift card?

Me too!!! 

How long do you typically wait to use it?

Over the holidays I overheard my sister say "Mom, I still have that gift card you got me for my birthday".

Her birthday is in April.

That is either:

1) Incredible evidence of patience and willpower

or

2) She just forgot she had it, until we started talking about gift cards at Christmas

(my money is on #2 - this is the same sister who occasionally forgets to eat - FORGETS??? TO EAT???) 

I received (coincidentally enough) a gift card to DSW, from this same sister, for Christmas.

I just used it, last night (January 5).

And for ME, THAT was waiting.  I had been proudly swaggering around since December 26, smugly pointing out - to anyone who would listen - that I still had a Christmas gift card.  That I hadn't even used yet!

Okay, patience is not one of my strong suits.  

Is the photo of the shoes too big?

I didn't think so either. 

...and other things your closet might be saying right now.

It has nothing, really, to do with New Year's Resolutions, but I feel like January is a great time to purge the closet.  You know the drill:

Anything you haven't worn in the last year should go.  Or something like that.

I seem to get stuck on things that "are great to sleep in", or "would be great for an 80s theme party!" or "but what if I have to go to a hoe-down?"

You should certainly keep a bag/container for costumes, but the wigs, Mardi Gras beads, cutoff overalls, and rubber bracelets should not be sharing space with your day-to-day ensembles.  It makes your normal clothes uneasy.

In my daydreamy fantasies, my closet looks like this:

In reality, my closet is the size of one of Mary Kate Olsen's purses, and is positively bursting with hangers and improperly folded shirts, that dutifully roll out onto my head the moment I open the closet door.

The closet purge should not be attempted solo.  Recruit a friend.  Or my mom.  Any slight hesitation, or pause, when she's holding an item out for the vote, and it is thrown in the "not yours anymore" pile.

What to do with the "not yours anymore" pile?  Several options:

1) Consignment shop

2) Goodwill

3) Dress for Success (if your "not yours anymore" pile includes successful clothing)

4) Other various charities, many of whom will stop by your place and pick up the "not yours anymore" pile, so that you may feel lazy and charitable all at the same time.

Your closet will thank you. 

There are Two Types of People.  Yes, only two.  Stop trying to be all diverse and whatnot. 

There are 1)  Shoe People and there are 2) Handbag People. 

Don't try to argue with me.  It doesn't matter if you have both shoes, and handbags. 

If there arose a "Deal or No Deal" choice, and you absolutely had to pick EITHER shoes OR handbags, there would be a clear division of the Two Types of People.

I am a Shoe People.  This may come as a surprise to, well, probably no one.  I love me some shoes.  I love looking at shoes, buying shoes, talking about shoes, photographing shoes - shall I go on?  No?  You get it, okay. 

What you may not know, is that my shoes can totally beat up your handbag. 

Handbag?  Pfft.  I don' need no stinkin' handbag.  I have pockets.  And hands.  And friends with handbags, for my very bulky items, like that ridiculous case for my Ralph Lauren sunglasses, that could be mistaken for an armored truck.

And the handbag can be so cumbersome!  You arrive at the restaurant/bar for a snack & drink, and then what?  Where does that behemoth go?  On the back of the chair, where the waiter continually jostles it/spills drinks on it/knocks it to the ground?  Under the table?  Not near my shoes, it doesn't.

The shoes are absolutely necessary for protecting your feet from concrete, bad weather, broken glass, and just general evil.

My shoes?  Some are heavy, some are clompy, some are spiky, but all are 100% fierce.

If it ever came down to a cagematch, a la Mad Max & Thunderdome, you'd better watch your back.

Unless you are Katie Holmes' new Birkin bag: 

Nevermind that it was a "What Not To Wear" marathon, on TLC this weekend.  That's neither here nor there. 

After watching over 6 hours of the show, I am pleased to report that Clinton and Stacy have really toned down the snark, and were more about the fashion-love for the participants. 

And some of the guests?  Not so easy to work with.

I found myself yelling at the television, when one humor-free waif kept harping on a non-existent "top-heavy" issue.  She must have weighed 85 pounds, so any amount of breastage would have seemed ungainly to her.

Clinton and Stacy are faced, not only with badly-dressed participants, but women with some fairly serious body issues.  That can't be easy.

I do go slightly bananas when hairstylist, Nick Arrojo, refuses to allow anyone to keep their hair-length below their collarbone.  I have suffered through shorter cuts, and know they are less-flattering on me, so I completely identified with the woman who argued with him, to the point where he was visibly annoyed, and agreed to keep the length. He did not give her the signature hug at the end of the cut.

With the makeover portions of these shows, I have flashbacks to episodes of "America's Next Top Model", where a number of the girls looked positively hideous after the makeover.  The "experts" don't always know best. 

Like when Tyra made Jade go blonde:

The Golightly Girls adore the W Hotel, and guess who is offering a Catwalk Package? 

That was a rhetorical question, which we're sure you answered correctly.  We know you're smart.

The W Hotel had a rhetorical of it's own, when it asked "Where will you be Fashion Week?" 

I'm sure they meant for us to shout, in unison "AT THE W IN NYC!", which would be fantastic...

Next year.  Next year. 

Now, if YOU are not up to your dangly earrings in work/family/handwashing delicates/other stuff, and are able to fly off on a whim (we LOVE whims!): 

"Please contact Maya Stanic at the W Hotels of New York, 1.212.726.9534, Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5PM Eastern Standard Time. If you call outside these hours, please leave a message and your telephone call will be promptly returned the next business day."

Aren't they sweet?

If you DO go, please report back!  And please also drool over the Carolina Herrera collection on our behalf. 

We have designated Wednesdays "Wear-It-To-Travel Wednesday", where we select a celebrity airport photo, and discuss whether or not we could (or should) actually travel in the outfit.  Subject will be graded.  Probably not on the curve.

Today's subject:  Victoria "Posh" Beckham, and her little nugget, Cruz.

Cruz has the right idea - comfortable jeans and polo shirt, with casual sweater tied around the waist (if you're apple-shaped, try it thrown over the shoulders), just in case the plane gets chilly, along with sensible shoes for running to catch a ridiculously tight connection at JFK.  Or for kicking the seat in front of him throughout the flight.

Miss Lady Beckham, has gone in a different direction here.  The Christian Louboutin platforms, while stunning, are not well-suited to airport sprinting, although they are easy to kick off for the airport security line.  We suppose that is a fair trade-off. 

And unless that dress has a fair amount of lycra-ish material, it is not going to be comfortable to scootch around in, while seated on the plane.  Sunglasses are always useful inside an airport terminal, and helpful for inconspicuously dozing off during the flight attendant's pre-flight lecture. 

The handbag is the perfect size; it will fit under the seat in front of her, and appears large enough to hold Pu-er Chinese fat-burning tea, 3 oz. containers of Body Bling tinted cream and Brazil nut body butter, and any magazine that includes her husband's Armani underwear ad .  Extra points for bringing her own flotation devices, in case of a water landing.  Was that too easy? 

GRADE: 

B+ for Cruz - points deducted for upturned collar, and kicking the seat.

C- for Posh - this is a sharp ensemble for a tea, notsomuch for a trip.

After a weekend in Austin, TX, I have yet another reason to indulge my girl-crush on Sandra Bullock.  She makes fantastic relationship choices (Ryan Gosling, and now, happy marriage to Jesse James), entertaining movies (Love Potion #9, Two Weeks Notice), giant donations to charity ($1 million to Red Cross/Hurricane Katrina), and now, she also makes environmentally-safe candles.

Bullock owns Bess Bistro in downtown Austin, and a recent addition to the restaurant is the teensy-tiny case of organic candles, behind the host desk, which are designed to complement the smells of food.

This is one of those ideas I hear about, and then say "oh for crying out loud - how did I not think of that?"  Because when you're cooking, and also want to have the ambience of candles...oh, who are we kidding, I don't cook.  But I do have food delivered, and the food smells typically do not really mesh with many of the candles I have strewn throughout the home.

Miss Sandy,

as I'm sure she'd let me call her, after we went shoe shopping together, is also known for being conscientious, and she actually put money into researching a way to create an eco-friendly candle - rather than just use the standard methods that often produce carginogens.

Carcinogens = bad

Candle scents = good

It's some challenging math, I know.

If you're in the Austin area, pick up a Bessence Candle at 500 W. Sixth St. 

And tell Miss Sandy that Saturday afternoon shoe shopping works best for me.

If you're not in the Austin area, but would like to be, stay tuned to HolidayGolightly.com...we're adding the trips soon! 

We have designated Wednesdays "Wear-It-To-Travel Wednesdays", where we select a celebrity airport photo, and discuss whether or not we could (or should) actually travel in the outfit.  Subject will be graded.  Probably not on the curve.

Today's subject:  Beyonce Knowles. 

Ms Knowles is traveling light.  Very light, with just the animal-print purse.  Which seems far too dark and wintery for her breezy summer frock.  And I am fairly certain that she can afford a purse that doesn't completely clash with an outfit. 

Fairly certain, but not entirely.  I mean, sure, she's made millions in album sales, and has co-starred in a number of major motion pictures...and then there are the endorsements...okay, no.  There really is no excuse for carrying a handbag that says "meow", when your outfit is saying "modern cubism piques my interest".

I know the Louboutins are the shoe-du-jour for celebrities, but for airport schlepping?  Really?  And I'm afraid the shiny glow of the shoe's fabric might reflect crazily off a bright window, and temporarily blind the captain.

Airplane cabin temperatures tend to fluctuate frequently.  I am concerned for Ms. Knowles health, and would like her to have some sort of cardigan sweater or jacket, if not a pair of lightweight pants (although not under the dress).  If worse comes to worst, she can always cuddle up to her wig, as it appears to be of a solid weight, and nice long length. 

Grade:

D

This outfit is not well-suited to the temperamental airport/airplane fluctuating climate, the shoes are a distractional hazard, and I am really bothered by the handbag/dress clashing situation.

Extra credit - she is wearing a lovely smile.

Final grade - D+