Haven’t made plans yet to usher in 2012? Here are a few suggestions:
SF Symphony Masquerade Ball
The party kicks off with the Martini Brothers playing swinging tunes at cocktail hour, followed by the orchestra’s performance featuring period dancers. To close, revelers may dance onstage to the Peter Mintun Orchestra or get down ’80s style with Tainted Love. [8 p.m. $85-$195. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., S.F., (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org]
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Rest and relaxation go hand in hand, but often not during the holidays. Now that you’ve shopped for everyone else, treat yourself to presents on your wish list that didn’t get purchased, and set aside pampering time before New Year’s festivities arrive.Glam designer Tom Ford has just launched his new cosmetic and skin care line, available exclusively in San Francisco at Neiman Marcus. A complete skin care treatment, colors for eyes, lips, cheeks and nails, and unique fragrances are offered. $30 and up
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Here are some easy-to-purchase gift ideas for procrastinators’ holiday shopping lists.
Playmobil toys
$7.50 and up
Playmobil makes great toys for stimulating children’s imaginations. Sets such as Ghost Pirates, Dragon Land, Pony Ranch, African Wild Life, Construction and Knights are fun, but so are individual figurines, including a Roman and his horse for $7.50. [Ambassador Toys, 186 West Portal Ave., S.F., www.playmobil.com]
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Luxury hosiery may seem like an indulgent splurge, but the pleasure of wearing it is priceless. Whether exquisitely sturdy or intricate and detailed, its high quality is worth paying more for. At the height of the dressiest season of the year, here are selections of various costs that offer that extra “je ne sais quoi.”Click the picture for some great leg wear.
SHOPS
Bloomingdale’s
845 Market St., San Francisco
(415) 856-5300
www.bloomingdales.com
Forever 21
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Masks scare people. Their stony visages — frozen fixtures in place of living, breathing, twitching human faces — are intimidating and unnerving.But they are also iconic. From Ancient Greek choruses to today’s international hacking collective Anonymous, masks have been used to reveal as much as they intend to hide. Photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard revels in this paradox in a show of more than 50 images, “Dolls and Masks,” on view at the de Young Museum through February.
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The holiday season has begun, and it’s time to pull out all the stops for those glittering cocktail parties. With satin, silk, sequins, ruffles and bows in abundance, it’s a great time to indulge in every frosted frill. These beauties are classic enough to wear well beyond New Year’s Eve.
Click the picture for more dresses.
SHOPS
Anthropologie
880 Market St., San Francisco
(415) 434-2210
www.anthropologie.com
ASOS
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Photobooth, the world’s only tintype and Polaroid portrait studio and gallery, is fast becoming one of San Francisco’s hot spots. The brainchild of Polaroid photographer Vince Donovan and tintype portraitist Michael Shindler, Photobooth is a portrait studio, camera workshop and retail store all rolled into one. With gift certificates available for everything, Photobooth offers some of the most unique gift-giving options this holiday season.
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Jenny Sagstrom is on the organizing committee for the 28th annual Swedish Christmas Fair, which will be a festive gathering with entertainment, gifts, handicrafts and Scandinavian delicacies to stuff any stocking. The fair will be held at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111 Gough St., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 to $4. Call (415) 823-6957 for more information.
How many people come every year? We get around 2,000 to 3,000 people.
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Believe it or not, Hello Kitty is 37, but the spry kitten doesn’t show her age. A global phenomenon, the cool cat is one of the most successful branding exercises of all time, with her visage on everything from ‘Monopoly’ to karaoke machines to toasters. Here are some current selections of the thousands on offer. Most are available from her creator’s company, Sanrio, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Click on the photo to see a Hello Kitty cornucopia.
Shops:
Sanrio
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Click the picture for a gallery of all of these items, listed in numerical order.1 A Day at the Pond Placemat and Marker Set $28This hand silk-screened FDA-approved silicone placemat comes with six dry-erase markers, inviting illustration or note-taking. The surface is easy to clean and multipurpose, with a whimsical illustration from Los Angeles artist Carrie Gifford. [SFMOMA store, 151 Third St., S.F., (415) 357-4035, www.sfmoma.org]2 Helvetica tote $14
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Burn is the director of Cupertino’s Homestead High School band, which will perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The parade will be broadcast on KNTV (Ch. 3) on Thanksgiving Day.How long have you been teaching band? Twenty-two years at Homestead. I was a student and drum major here in the ’80s.What was your introduction to music? In the fourth grade, my dad encouraged me to be in band. He asked me to pick between the trumpet and the cello. I chose the trumpet, but he was steering me in that direction; he was a jazz lover.
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The author of “Our Man in the Dark” — a novel about a civil rights worker who becomes an informant for the FBI, betraying the cause and the figure, Martin Luther King Jr., he set out to fight for — is having a book-release party today from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.
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When KT Nelson first conceived of a dance adaptation of “The Velveteen Rabbit,” she had never read the book — she had only heard it.
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Dance audiences pay to watch dancers move. But Liss Fain Dance, not a typical troupe, asks its patrons to move, too. With installations such as “The False and True Are One” which opens Friday at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Liss Fain Dance encourages the audience to move around, as if in an art gallery, eliminating the traditional abyss between spectator and performer.
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Stationery is having a renaissance, with a new generation of paper fetishists fixated on creating hip, high-quality contemporary correspondence. Many independent card-makers are analog-friendly, using printing methods such as letterpress, a 15th-century invention, with such beautiful results that the e-card seems criminal. Not your typical Hallmark offerings, these selections are available in San Francisco. Buy before the holiday rush to forestall disappointment — many may sell out.
Click the picture for some wild cards.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/lauren-gallagher?page=8
