Rebecca A. Foster

(EDIT: My coworker J. told me my photo was racy. I didn't think so because it's what you'd see with a bathing suit on and I thought it was funny how different the cover-up looks actually on rather than in the photo, but anyway I took it down; I guess my judgment is off on this one. The link to the dress still works if you want to see the original version.) I'm going on vacation to see one of my best friends in a warm, bathing suit-culture city and wanted a bathing suit cover up I could wear if we stop for lunch/drinks on the way back from the pool/beach. I found this one-size dress online. The catalog pic is on the left. How it actually looks is on the right. That is quite the difference! Makes me look more busty than I actually am. (It was still loose and flowy everywhere else like the online photo, very comfy.) If you're looking for a cute dress to um, boost your assets, you might want to give this one a shot. I'm also getting my first ever airbrush tan ...

If I could install a magic mirror in my house? This is what I would see in that mirror. Her beauty and fashion style in this picture is my idea of perfection: I know it's really important to love and accept yourself, everyone is beautiful in their own way, blah blah blah, but I would so totally buy that mirror.

I'm taking advantage of the MacBook Pro I use for work and putting together some movies of my pictures and videos from China. Between that and the book, it's one reason I haven't been around here much. I keep finding treasures in the crevices of my picture files, like this picture of a 'ma la' skirt. In Mandarin, 'ma' 麻 means 'numbing' and 'la' 辣 means 'spicy', and 'ma la' is a phrase commonly used as slang to describe Chongqing girls; the weather and the food are numbingly hot and spicy, and so therefore are the women. This is an adult woman's skirt. As you can see, it's about half my size. I can't imagine getting even my butt in this thing, let alone my legs. Chongqing style is very ma la: short, tiny, tight, bright, covered in sequins and embellishments. Chongqing is sort of the Rio of China, I guess. I had a girl once tell me, while dressed in tiny panty shorts and a see-through shirt: "I am a tradit...

Confession: I love having someone else to help zip up my dresses. And zip down. It feels very decadent, no? And did you know this dress exists? I had no idea, until I was googling 'zipper.' All I can think is, it must be very uncomfortable in hot weather. Ouch! I also love my black & beige zebra print napkins I bought at Pier 1 Imports years ago. Tried to find them online to show you a photo, but looks like they don't carry them right now. I'm too lazy to go take a picture so: picture zebra print napkins. I love them. Just for M: Zoolander's best scene .

I decided to have a traditional, formal qipao made for me before I left China. It's black with gold dragons, and ankle length. I picked out the fabric and the style and a local tailor made it: And here it is from behind. See what I told you about my butt?? Oh well, I'll soon be leaving you behind, Chinese stairs: The teacher at my school assigned to help me the last two years also became my friend. His father and grandfather survived the Cultural Revolution and have a collection of Chairman Mao pins from that era. It was important to show your allegiance to Chairman Mao, and one way to do that was to wear these pins. He gave me a pin from his family's collection as a going away gift; I was incredibly humbled by his generosity at giving me part of his family's history. I will treasure it always. I went to a Unesco World Heritage Buddhist mountain site near my city. It was a very Chinese adventure! It took me 3 buses to get to the mountain top, and I was 'ado...

Hope you all had a nice Christmas; I ate lots of foods I am not used to anymore (read: dairy and processed meats and sugary treats sent by our various fams) and got a tummy ache, which made it seem like kid Christmas all over again, so that was kind of awesome. I got together with friends and bought myself some lavender/silvery eye shadow, so it was a great Christmas! And yes, I now get excited about eye shadow, it's a luxury purchase for me here. China: helping you find joy in the little things all over again. Andrew and I hosted the Christmas pageant on Wednesday night. Here is my report: -I didn't get to wear the dress! And the reason is very Chinese: they told me the shop had made a mistake and didn't reserve the dress after all, and someone else had rented it out. But I was not asked to go pick out another one instead. So I think they went over budget and no longer had the money to pay for it, but they couldn't admit that to me, it would be 'losing face...

That Christmas Pageant Andrew and I are hosting? Turns out it's a much bigger production than I anticipated. We'll be doing the introduction and closing, as well as making commentary between each act. Watch out, Dick Clark?? Pageant hosting in China is a really big deal, so yesterday my school took me to a dress rental shop to find a ballgown length pageant dress to wear. We found a beautiful cranberry gown that actually fit me (I am a giant here), I was shocked. And happy. I love wearing beautiful dresses! It's being held outdoors and I can't wear a coat while I'm onstage, brrr, but even so, I'm pretty excited to get to wear the dress. (And because my gown is floor-length, I'm totally going to be rocking some legwarmers. Shhh...) Definitely a new experience in my Rebecca Life Handbook. Btw, a cultural note: variety shows are extremely popular here, and the girls who host the shows on tv are known for being charming and beautiful. If you are a variety show...

Doll Techno asked about pics of me in dresses. So, here are pictures of some of my favorites through the ages: Me in kindergarten. I remember loving this dress, I wore it all the time. My 1950's retro cocktail dress. My work dinner with Will, he snapped this on our way out. My Naughty Nurse Halloween dress. I can still fit in this dress, but it's a bit tight now. Must run everyday again! (And stop eating rice and oily Chinese food, of course.) Everyone needs the perfect LBD, right? In this case, B = blue satin. It's my Proenza Schouler for Target dress and I lurrvve it. So comfy. (Sorry for the bad shot, it's a camera phone picture.) This is my favorite everyday outfit. I brought this denim skirt to China and I wear it all the time. This was at the Austin City Limits Music Festival with Will and it was 108 that day, hence the look of pain on my face. Ah, Texas summers! (It was the last weekend of September, but that...

(*Post title comes from the musical  The Flower Drum Song .  You can watch it here.) One thing I love about China: women often wear skirts and dresses, and generally dress more formally than in the U.S.  I love wearing dresses and skirts , so I fit in well here in this respect. Our Peace Corps packing list said to bring lots of pants (which is ridiculous advice for China, it's freaking hot here!), but luckily I packed a lot of skirts as well. (Overall our packing list pretty much sucked, but that is another story.) Women will even wear high heels when exercising, believe it or not. It floors me to see a woman on the track in dress shoes! Ouch! I don't know how they stand it. People here are very humble and don't worry about matching their clothes to each other, or to their shoes. It's very liberating!  You can wear whatever you want and no one blinks an eye. I've put on some pretty awful outfits and I loved that I didn't feel self-conscious in them. I'v...

This song is full of crap, but her corset dress is gorgeous. If you can stand waiting until the song is almost over, there is a great shot of it while she is running through the field. Because if I'm wearing a corset dress, pretty much that's what I'm going to do, too. I mean, how can you do something mundane like drive a car in a corset dress? Running through a field towards your lover, that's what corset dresses are for.  But I digress. This is a great dress*. WANT.  Link to the video *THIS is what I should have been wearing for my D.C. dinner date. No bra needed. 

I bought three of these bras to take to China, one each in pink, black and beige. Very soft and comfy, but good support and fit (I'm a 36C), with no strap sliding.  The height of the cups is great too, not granny-like high, but not weird-t-shirt-edge low, either. It's the middle bear of bras.  And they are convertible, which I didn't realize until about 2 months ago. (I am not, generally, a noticer of things.) But I kicked myself when I realized, because just before I left for China (after I had left home but before I flew out), I had a dinner date I really wanted to look nice for, so I brought a new charcoal silk dress I had splurged on (limited packing space!). Which really needed a strapless bra. And that in all my rush to move to China, I had forgotten to pack.  I had a gray cardigan I could wear to hide the straps, so I did that instead. In June. In Washington, D.C. (If you are not familiar with D.C. June weather: very hot and humid.) I was already nervous, and now als...

It's been a long time since I've seen clothing in a Guess ad I would wear, but these new ads are gorgeous and remind me of the video for Gwen Stefani's Cool . The song, meh, but the hair/makeup/clothes in her flashbacks are beautiful. (And his green eyes, oh man...) I love wearing skirts and high heels and dressing up a bit, I'd take any of her outfits. And the girlfriend's black dress? I covet. Breathtaking. I'll come right out and say it: I've been on too many first dates with sloppily dressed men. I believe in making the effort to look good. In general, I want myself and other people to know they are worth taking time to look my best. For me, that means being true to my own sense of style, which I admit might be more formal than others. But a guy showing up for a first date in a t-shirt that says, "If you flash me, I'll give you a dollar?" Ugh. Surely there has to be a happy medium.

Me: "Do you have it in a medium? I only see a size small." Lena (beautiful Dominican girl working in the shop I have a girl crush on now because she was so beautiful and cool): "Medium? That's funny, everyone always wants a small, they always ask for a small." Me: "I'm big, I need a medium!" Lena: "No, no, you are beautiful. They need medium, but they all want a small!" (At Tribeca in Washington Heights; I went in to make fun of the spangly, skimpy J.Lo dresses and ended up buying a surprisingly demure and very cute yellow plaid empire-waist raincoat to match my new yellow wellies. Lena at Tribeca, she is awesome. And gorgeous!) ---- Me: *silence* *waiting to pay for my morning Diet Coke* *more silence* *more waiting* Cashier at the corner bodega, restocking at the counter, not noticing me: "Oh, why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me you are standing there? Why didn't you tell me you are ready to pay?" ...

The great thing about YouTube? Not having to actually purchase old-school guilty pleasure songs like this one. (Except, I do that too.) So fun to dance to. And I'll never forget my friend Spanky coming to pick me up in a big gold caddy, MTV Yo Raps in the CD player. In case you didn't know, a lot of room to dance in the front seat of a caddy. What else could I do? YO MTV RAPS, kids. Who does that? Spanky, that's who. And here's one I feel NO guilt about. Love LL Cool J. And one more. Okay, I'm done. You get the idea. And speaking of old school, this issue is in my permanent collection. Love the clean, simple lines of this dress. I couldn't pull it off, but she looks amazing in it. Still one of my all-time favorites.

If there is any snow/rain/slush in Central Park for Susan's wedding pictures, I'm going to be sad I didn't buy these cherry red wellies and carry my dress shoes until needed. Plus how great would they look with jeans or a cute spring dress and raincoat? Very practical girl I'm turning into; no toes in sight. They make them in all kinds of great colors , too. UPDATE: I bought blue ones.  And FYI a size smaller than I normally wear, they run big. www.wellie-boots.com, $98.00

I got invited to a 'Cocktail Dress' Christmas party, my favorite kind.* But my cute cocktail dresses are all matched with cute strappy, non-snow-suitable sandals. I've broken down and purchased a coat, gloves, hats, and scarves for winter in the Rockies, but the majority of my shoe collection? Still chanclas and strappy sandals. And 3-inch heeled boots. Not exactly walker-y in snow and ice. So I went shopping for suitable "snow" shoes I could wear with a cocktail dress. Guess what? There are no cute shoes that are snow-suitable. This is why snow sucks. But I did purchase these shoes, close as I could get. If I must wear bulky winter shoes, I love peep-toes. Visible toes means winter hasn't broken me. Yet. Caparros 'Scottie' pumps, about $68 *I didn't go, this is how much my dentist hurt me . I kinda hate him after all.

I love corsets. They just feel good to wear. I had a black satin one custom-made when I was in Thailand and I bought this blue one from seamstress extraordinaire angrylittledeadgirl on eBay (although she has a separate online store as well now). (A little story about this corset: W. took me to a concert at Emo's in Austin for my birthday and this little blonde girl walked by and said, "Wow, great corset!" then started running her hands over it. After she moved on I turned to W., laughing, and told him, "That girl just felt me up!" W.: "Um, yeah. It wasn't bad to see.") angrygirl has some new designs up and I covet this pirate-style one. How great would this be for a night out with some simple, well-cut jeans? And this zipper one. Very fun. And just a wee bit naughty. Which is kinda what a corset should be. But I do prefer them with jeans and boots. I like the casual/formal/wee naughty dichotomy. SugarKitty is another amazing seamstress and a great ...

I won't lie to you: sometimes I dream I'm shoe shopping and find the perfect shoes and wake up disappointed it was only a dream. I don't know if the shoes are symbolic of my hopes and dreams, or symbolic of my inner shallow depths, meaning, not symbolic at all and I just really like shoes. When I saw this pair by Christian Louboutin, they brought to mind the cliche "You don't flirt when a guy looks good, you flirt when YOU look good. " I'm sure I'd allow all sorts of liberties while wearing these shoes because I'd feel like the most beautiful girl in the room. I'd be thinking, how could this guy NOT want to flirt with me? Look at my shoes! (Yeah, I know most guys aren't really into women's shoes. But it might get you someplace flirty so just play along.) Obviously, should be worn with a subtle dress. Just like cleavage or legs but not both, well made-up eyes or lips but not both, these shoes take center stage. Good thing, too, I'...

How cute is this wool shift dress? So cute. I love the simple A-line cut, the cap sleeves, the just-low-enough scoop neckline and button sash that gives the dress figure-definition and visual contrast. If I wore this dress, I'd probably pair it with something like this coat and some chunky high-heeled Mary Janes. (And wow, her legs are thin. But I don't think I could run on those legs, so I'm okay with my chubbier ones.) dress: Juicy Couture at nordstrom.com, $298 coat: Juicy Couture at nordstrom.com, $398