(image:http://workingclassheroes.tumblr.com/)

By now, I hope that you’re dressing a little better than you have to. But have you considered your laptop, or your iPhone? Standard sleeves and bags (mine’s neoprene and fits in my J. Peterman’s Mail Bag) are just that… standard issue. Why not consider something more sartorially advanced for your most important tools?

Take the asphalt collection from Working Class Heroes. I stumbled upon these beauties through Refinery 29’s suggestion. And I now covet one of the sleeves (shown above.) Wool felt, buttery leather, what’s not to love?

God help us, the always social Mrs. E. and I have been invited to a “club” this evening. Well it ought to be interesting. And it does sound like it has that James Bond “Die Another Day” vibe thanks to the ice room. I will have to wear jeans, I suppose. I do own a pair.

Thankfully the young’un’s who so thoughtfully invited us have promised to end the evening at Bogart’s, one of the last true speakeasys, for some jazz from a fellow faculty member.

It promises to be an eclectic evening. Which brings up the subject of this post.

The ever-charming Mrs. E. and I have moved around quite a bit, at least until we hit Richmond and stuck. And even here we’ve lived in three places (not counting the dreaded Mogadishu apartment.) Each time we move I’ve been too wiped out from the experience to do much cooking. So we order out — pizza usually — and have the food delivered to the new address. We eat on the floor, by candlelight (I never remember to have the electric turned on), listen to a battery operated radio and pop open a very good bottle of champagne to celebrate our good fortune (or ease the pain….) I call this meal “The Sacred and the Profane.”

It works with many combinations: great reds and Five Guys Hamburgers. Champagne and Mary Angela’s pizza, Stirfried Green Beans with Chicken and .. you get the idea. So, tonight, if you’re not feeling up to it, light the candles, buy a great bottle of wine and order in.

This is something that very few men seem willing to do: buy flowers. And I don’t get it. So I’ll come clean, I love flowers. I like giving them, I like getting them (a Spanish poet friend used to bring me a bunch of sunflowers for my birthday) and I really like having them in the home.

I don’t buy them often enough.

Flowers brighten a room, a dinner table and they certainly brighten a breakfast tray, which is what these carnations were destined for after I took the picture. They cost all of USD$1.99.

Try this for the weekend. Your significant other will appreciate it (along with fresh squeezed orange juice.)

Find a little silver cup (this is one of my children’s baby gifts, repurpose your own or find one at an antique store, which are full of similarly sized silver cups.) Polish it. Take the flowers and cut off the stems until the flowers are the right height to just touch the rim of the cup. Hold the stems together with a rubber band. Add water. Enjoy.

The best part? You have a boutonnière for your lapel that evening.