Happy Monday

Hi!

How was everyone's weekend?

If you were in Charlotte I know you enjoyed our beautiful weather.  I think it was close to 70 degrees on Sunday.  So wonderful!

I did not much of import this weekend but I will share two things -

I had dinner at Aquavina on Saturday night.  The food was wonderful (I cleaned my plate.  I felt like a glutton but the steak was so good I could not put my fork down until it was gone.)  The decor was - interesting - or what passes for interesting in Charlotte.

I kind of felt like we were supposed to be in Hell - a suggestion that our waiter found sort of odd.  My friend thought we were supposed to be underwater but that did not explain why everything was red and orange and there were stalagmites around the top and some sort of floating fish hanging from the ceiling that looked more like fish skeletons.

So I'm not sure what it was supposed to be, but Hell would have been more fun.

They could just say:

'Hey!  Come to Hell for dinner on Saturday night!  Our food is sinful!'

Of course the Bible beaters and those with no sense of humor would be appalled.

Then on Sunday we were led on a long walk,  Bataan death march, spring expedition by the Lola Bean.

We headed out for our 'long walk' route.  Finn can handle the 'long walk' if he's properly encouraged.  At one point on the 'long walk' route, we turn right (as opposed to left).  Occasionally, when we are feeling energetic we turn left and take a 'really long walk'.  Finn has almost always been left at home when we feel energetic. 

Lola really doesn't care how Finn feels.  She always wants to turn left. 

She always gets to the intersection and just nonchalantly turns left (like Finn and I don't notice what's going on).  When she gets about 5 feet up that way, she sort of turns and looks at me hopefully.   When I say 'yes' she runs and is excited.  If I say 'no' she begrudgingly goes the other way.

On Sunday she turned left and just kept on going.  I said "Exactly where do you think you're going, Miss Bean?'

Nuthin but butt.

Never even turned around.

Didn't even ask.

Poor little Finn and I just got dragged along on the really long walk.  Finn died, passed out from exhaustion, got woozy 3 times and was revived at the last minute only by the sudden appearance of a member of his public who had not yet had the opportunity to meet him.

He was able to pull it together because when he sees someone who he's never met, he feels an obligation to greet them, regardless of his personal misery. 

But went he got home he went to bed.  But not before he had his supper.

So there's the weekend highlights.  Steak and Bean walks.  So exciting.

And, in case you were watching (or weren't) our pretend friend, Charlotte's very own Mary Helen Bowers, got a shout out from Ms. Natalie Portman on last night's Screen Actor's Guild Awards. Woot!  She's gonna be really, really famous before this is over and we can say that we know people who know people who are related to her!  We can name drop all over town.

Looking forward -

I have no Court this week - Yay!

Thanks for stopping by.  Let's hope for a great week.

xoxo

Tonya
Image:  Cherry Blossom Lane by Racetay.

On Living

"

"Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image:  White with Red by The Photogarden.

The Bee Charmer Loves Paris

Image:  Paris Graffiti Kiss by Little Brown Pen.

Happy Friday!

Hey!

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a good week, although I think my darling friends in the Northeast have been snowed in - again....  I'm sorry!

We were forecasted for another snowmageddon here in Charlotte and we ended up getting a little rain on Wednesday.  A total non-event.  And this weekend it's supposed to be rather warm.

I think it's a little early to start seriously looking for spring but maybe we're on the downhill slope?  Maybe?  You just wait, I'll be bitching about the ungodly heat before you know it!

I'm kind of running around and hanging out this weekend.  I may or may not take the Beans to the spa.  I can't decide.  They need to go but not terribly - I'm gonna have to wait a couple of hours and see how I feel.  Maybe I'll drop them off and then run up and check out the Talbots outlet.  I'm kind of looking for a spring coat.  I like spring coats.  And maybe a new black cardigan. 

Saturday night, we're trying out a new (to us) restaurant uptown called Aquavina - I'll have to let you know how it goes.  We're taking advantage of Restaurant Week because far be it for us not to eat out in support of the economy and our fair city!  We're civic people - we do our part. 

And I'm gonna do as much of my taxes as possible.  There's no reason to hurry since I can't file them until February 14 - but it weighs on me so I'll get them started at least. 

And Sunday I've got another massage appointment.  I haven't been in several months and they've been piling up at Massage Envy - so I'm getting rubbed every weekend. 

Yeah - sometimes my life is hard. 

So have a great weekend.  Smooch your puppies and eat out in your city. 

And I'll see you on Monday.
Image:  Forsythia by The Eye.

And Now, A Word From the Lost and Confused

"...that sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate.... he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist U.S.S.R. and their victory in the race to space ... yeah, they won but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union."

Sarah Palin

Did y'all know this?

Yeah - nobody else did, either.

The scary thing is that I really think she believes the things that come out of her mouth.

This is what happens when the stupid and voluntarily ignorant are rewarded for being stupid and voluntarily ignorant.

Dancin With Myself

The 80's videos were the best, weren't they?

Have a dancingly happy weekend!!

The Weekly Bean

Bean butts!

Keepin' an eye out on the neighbors....

You never know what they might be up to.

Long, Last, Happy

I have just procured this book, after having read numerous favorable reviews toward the end of last year.  Interestingly, it was published on my birthday.  I took it as a sign.

And you know I always love a good short story and if it's a Southern writer, how bad can it be?

Here's what Publisher's Weekly has to say about it:

Starred Review. This posthumous collection includes four new stories and shows why Hannah's regarded as one of the best. Hannah's wit is caustic, shot through with social commentary and gleefully interspersed with bursts of slapstick comedy. One of his best-known early stories, "Mother Rooney Unscrolls the Hurt," still holds up more than 30 years later, with the landlady in her dilapidated house, lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. Hannah easily links themes, characters, and places--particularly his longtime home of Oxford, Miss., and its flagship school, Ole Miss--without drawing unnecessary attention to connections. The new stories--"Fire Water," "Sick Soldier at Your Door," "Lastward, Deputy James," and "Out-tell the Teller"--can be read as a set of interlocking narratives, each presenting a different angle on a series of arson attacks on small churches. The subject matter may be serious, but Hannah never abandons his sly grin--just as he was able to shift, mid-story, between boyhood hijinks and the looming threat of Vietnam in "Testimony of Pilot." This collection reminds that Hannah, even in death, will always be "on the black and chrome Triumph, riding right into your face."

Has anyone read this yet?  Do tell!

This Charming Closet

I know it's a little early, but.....

My winter weary heart is longing for warmer temperature and I have turned my longing attention to espadrilles.  I just loved typing that word....

Espadrilles.....

These are cute, from Michael Kors.  Normally, I think the suede would have bothered me, but right now, not so much.  I have some black espadrilles which I've had for a couple of years and I love them.  This year I think I need some beige or tan ones. 

Wednesday - Run Away Without Leaving Home

Image:  Love Is In the Air Paris by Retrospect Photo.

One Thing I Know

You know how Oprah has a list of things she knows "for sure"?

I really like to read them.  I think they're really incisive and her opinion has really helped me have - what I believe - is a better, happier life.

But I don't know if I 'know' all the things that she 'knows'.  

You know what I mean?

But over the years I have had some rough spots.  And I'm enormously grateful for them because they have provided me the learning opportunities and moved me forward to a better place.

And from my failures and struggles I have come up with one thing that I know for sure - and here it is in all it's profound glory -

You will never find happiness comparing yourself to other people. 

Somebody's always going to be thinner, be prettier, have a more fabulous looking life. 

And if you are competing with them - especially in your own head - where, let's face it, you can't win anyway - you are going to be miserable. 

Focus on yourself.  What you want.  Own the decisions that you make.  And move on with yourself.

That's just all there is.
Image:  No. 1 Paris Doors by Retrospect Photo.

Random Pretty Man

Ladies, let's take another moment to remember the kind of hotness that used to be associated with Mr. Alec Baldwin.....

Now - I think this man represents a challenge, if you will.  A unique fixer-upper opportunity. 

He's smart, he's witty, he's got fantastic bone structure.....  A couple of months on the treadmill and the right eye cream....  And I'll bet you could get him for a steal in this market. 

He's a diamond in the rough. 

Charming Words

Jour-ney [jur-nee]

- noun

a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time
Image from here.

Tuesday's Girl

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne."

Bette Davis

How Easy is That? Maybe A Little Too Easy.

I'm not sure if I've told y'all that I love the Barefoot Contessa.  I think she's got a great attitude about entertaining and her dishes are approachable and easily prepared.

Normally, I wouldn't question her choices but I saw a new episode this weekend and I just cannot get over it.

She was asked by her friend, Mariska Hargitay (of Law and Order:SVU) to donate a lunch for 6 to a charity auction for one of Mariska's charities.

Ina said "Sure!".

They had the auction and these 6 people paid $100,000.00 for this lunch.

One Hundred Thousand Dollars......

Cool, right?

And Ina makes them.......... Macaroni Salad.

Huh?

I mean when she says "How easy is that?"  I kind of think maybe for that price it should have been a little bit harder.

She made them cucumber soup, macaroni salad and a desert that she called "Eton Mess" which was store bought macaroons, whipped cream and raspberries in parfait glasses.  And they had to put the dessert together themselves because that was more 'fun'. 

Now - I should say that she put a couple of shrimp in the cucumber soup (to make it "luxurious" she said) and lobster (which she bought pre-cooked) in the macaroni salad but still.... it was macaroni salad.

1/2 lb of shrimp and 2 pounds of lobster.  To me, that's just a little skimpy for $100,000.00.

She's made Beef Bourguignon before.  I think maybe she should have made it again.  The West Virginian in me thinks that that kind of money calls for a piece of meat!

And then while they're eating the macaroni salad and going on and on to Ina about how great it is, one of them goes "What did you put in this sauce? It's wonderful!"  And Ina goes "Oh, it's mayonaisse, sour cream and some freshly squeezed lemon juice!"

Well that's what you get in West Virginia at the church picnic....

Y'all!  I'm just flabbergasted!  I cannot get over it.

So tell me - if you paid $100,000.00 for lunch with Ina would you be a little disappointed with macaroni salad?

Or maybe it's just me.

Sweet Mystery of Life

I happen to think that Madeline Khan was the funniest thing - ever.

How anyone could be so lady-like and so raunchy at the same time is beyond me.

This is one of my favorite scenes. From Young Frankenstein.

This Charming Closet

I'm kind of pissed at Talbots because the new catalog came in and I pretty much want everything in it.

Damn it!

Really - it's OK.  I went a little nutsy and then I realized that I already had the makings for several outfits in the look book. 

But I want everything in this picture - the skirt, the shoes, the sweater, the belt, the bag and the bling.....

I know I'm probably pretty boring but at least I know what I like.

Happy Monday

Hi!

I struggled all day Sunday with what I would blog about today.

Because this weekend - well this weekend I did nothing.  No. Thing.  Zip.

I sort of felt like I was getting some sort of crud last week.  But nothing ever came of it except exhaustion.  Since I haven't even had a cold in something like 6 years I really thought the jig was up.  But then I didn't get sick - I think I may have fought it off.  But I just wanted to sleep, sleep, sleep.

So that's what I did this weekend.

The other thing that went with that is that when I feel that way I also become incredibly anti-social.   I just don't even want to think about talking to anybody.  Even returning emails is painful.

So I curled up in the house and slept this weekend.  Fun, huh?

I'm sort of looking forward to the week.  Book club has been pushed back a week due to weather fears so I have some extra time to read The Book Thief.  They tell us now that we're only going to get a bunch of rain, but it sort of changes constantly.  So we may have rain or we may have snow or we may have ice or we may have a mix of all.  The only thing that seems clear is that it will be nasty outside on Tuesday and Wednesday.

So we'll hope for the best and soldier on.

xoxox

Tonya
Image:  But I Am Weary by Chicalookate.

Queen's Feast

Hey - Charlotte Peeps!

The Queen's Feast kicked off this week and there's some good eating in Charlotte this week! 

If you're local you've got a great opportunity to hit some old favorites or try some new places.

Go.  Eat.  Eat some more.....

On Dreaming A Little Dream

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

Oscar Wilde

Image:  Striped Tulip by The Sunflower Gallery.

The Bee Charmer Loves Paris

Image:  Luxembourg in Bleu by Retrospect Photo.

Happy Friday!

Hey, everybody!!

I hope you all have a happy, happy weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.....

And I'll see you next week!
Image:  Knit a Rainbow by Photos by Rosie.

A Little Extra Pretty for the Weekend

I came home from work yesterday and NCIS was on and I sat down and started watching and then there was this scene.....

The beard....

The blue, blue eyes.....

And my heart just skipped a beat and I said "Oh, he's so, so pretty."

Groove Is In the Heart

Have a groovy weekend, everyone!

The Weekly Bean

There are Beans who ignore the vacuum cleaner and leave the toy bucket vulnerable to attack....

And then there is this boy - who stares down the face of evil without blinking or the expectation of heroic reward. 

And when the threat of evil has passed and the Dyson has been vanquished back into the hall closet - he snuggles up with his favorite designer pillow and takes a well deserved nap on the couch...

The Book Thief

This is what I'm doing this weekend! 

I'm reading 'The Book Thief' because book club is next week and I am remiss! 

Because Sometimes I'm Not So Charming

Ladies and Gentlemen, let's take a moment to discuss Ms. Paris Hilton.

Rich.

Privileged.

Born with EVERY opportunity available to anyone in the world.

What does she do with herself?

Flit around in pursuit of baseless celebrity while snorting cocaine, interrupted by only the occasional tear filled jail sentence - basically, she's a vapid slut.

So now ya know what I really think.

This Charming Closet

Talbots' new spring stuff is out and I'm lusting for a couple of new jackets -

I love the ruffle on this one.  It's cool for work and for play.  In my professional experience, spring and summer jackets are difficult.  You want them to be crisp and professional but not so heavy that you are melting during our incredibly hot summers.  I like this one a lot.  Not sure what color I want yet, though.

And then I love this one, too.  I understand that Dolman sleeves are very in this spring.  I think this might be good to take to Paris - oui?

Wednesday - Run Away Without Leaving Home

I'm still craving a beach, the sun, a palm tree - and a cute little gumdrop who'll come by every twenty minutes with a lovely frozen adult beverage.....

Is that so wrong?
Image:  Palm Tree by Redtail Woods.

To Be or Not to Be...

When I started this blog, one of the things I was supposed to talk about was my 'search for love'. 

Yeah, well I don't so much search for it.  It's more like something I look for in flea markets from time to time.  Not seriously, just sort of poking around until I lose interest. 

You all know that for the past couple of months I've been trying to date.  And I say 'trying' because that's what it is for me.... tiresome and trying.

It's not that I don't want to get involved.  Really, it's not. 

It's just that I don't want to get involved.

*heavy sigh*

It's bad when you find your own self annoying, isn't it?

The problem (and this is probably only a problem if you're an American) is that I'm happy.  I'm single and I'm happy. 

I'm not happy because I'm single, but I'm certainly not unhappy because I'm single.

I'm perfectly happy.  Perfectly content.  And perfectly single. 

And I have to ask myself why I want to upset my apple cart. Why do I put myself through this?

I have friends who kind of look at me when I say things like that and it's sort of like they think  'I know she thinks she's happy now, but if she had a man she'd be so much more happy'. 

There are too many divorces out there for that to necessarily be true. 

Don't get me wrong, I know many people who are happily involved in relationships.  But for every happy couple I know, I know 10 unhappy couples. And I've been in an unhappy 'marriage'.  I don't want another. 

I went to church on Christmas Eve and I was probably the only person there who was alone.  No kids.  No parents.  No husband.  Just me - singin' the carols.

And I felt a little sad.  I thought:  Is this what my future will be?  Me.  Alone.  No public proof that anybody loves me.  

Cause that's what I think I'm missing - public proof. 

When you're somebody's wife - you get the ring.  And if he's handsome and successful and your ring is of acceptable size, other people judge you based on that.  Other people judge your worth based on the man you 'catch'.  I know a lot of unhappy women who put on that show in public.  They've got a ring and a successful husband and a beautiful home and 2 beautiful children.  Their happiness is assumed - even if it's a big lie. 

And then there's me.   I ain't got no man or no ring.  I'm a sad, sad girl.  What's wrong with me? 

The fact that I don't really want a man or a ring is met with a certain amount of disbelief and/or disdain. What kind of a good Southern girl doesn't want a ring? 

I know I'm not the only one - but sometimes I feel like it.

So I sat in church on Christmas Eve, looking at all the couples and feeling 'less' and sort of thinking that a significant other would be nice sometimes.....

And then church was over and I got in my car and I was driving home and I was so, so, so, so happy that there was nobody in the car with me.  Nobody at my house.  Nobody to share the bed with.  I was truly happy that I'm single.   

When I was younger I very much wanted to marry and have children - at least in an abstract way.  But it was always something that I'd do 'later'.  And I spent a lot of time - years probably - being violently unhappy when I was single.  Probably because I was waiting for a guy so my life would start. 

After the breakup - I finally understood that that wasn't going to happen.  So I built my own life. 

And now, instead of viewing that guy as the beginning of my life I view him as possibly the thing that will destroy the life that I have.  And I just can't have that. 

So here I am. 

Trying. 

Trying to hold on to what I have while trying to take a chance to make it better.

I am aware of the distinct possibility that I think too much.  And I'm aware of the distinct possibility that maybe there is some guy out there who will make my life better.  So I try.

But I'm not sad.  And I ain't skeerd. 

Just so ya know.
Image from here.

Random Pretty Man

This week's Random Pretty Man is Mr. David Straithairn, featured (most charmingly) in the January issue of Vogue.  

*heavy sigh*

He's so hot, one picture just won't do - so here's another -

And one more:

Images: Peter Lindbergh for Vogue, January 2011.

Charming Words

Friv-o-lous [friv-uh-luhs]

- adjective

1.  Characterized by lack of seriousness or sense

2.  Self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose

3.  Given to trifling or undue levity

Image from here.  (This is a stunt corgi.  None of the corgis who live at my house would be this magnanimous or cooperative about this outfit).

Tuesday's Girl

"You're considered superficial and silly if you are interested in fashion, but I think you can be substantial and still be interested in frivolity."

Sofia Coppola

Rolling In the Deep

Adele is back with something new.

Looks like it will be a good CD!

Lipstick For Lazy Girls

I'm super lazy about lipstick, y'all. 

I want to put it on in the morning and basically want it to stick around all day. 

The upshot of this is that I have lipstick on for approximately 15 minutes.  I mean, I really don't even make it into work before it's gone. 

I don't like the 'long wearing' lipsticks because they always look scary and dry my lips out.  I don't want dry lips.  I am addicted to carmax because I cannot abide dry lips.  I think I've blogged about this before.....

Anywho, I've read about the fabulosity of NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in a couple of different places.  So on Saturday, I was off to Nordstrom (the happiest place in the world) to check it out.  The NARS girl at Nordstrom was wonderful (Nordstrom is SO happy to help you spend your money- it's fabulous).   With her help, I selected 2 colors of the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil - Bahamas (sort of a brownish red) and Belle Du Jour (love, love, love the name) which is absolutely neutral and is for a nude lip - because sometimes I'm just running around town and I want a nude lip....  whatever - I wanted it. 

I also got 2 lip glosses to go with -

Ophelia (sort of pink-y) and Greek Holiday (neutral for the nude lip).   These are in addition to my go to NARS lip gloss - the ever popular Risky Business. 

I left the makeup counter with a nude lip and went on with my day.  An hour later I was leaving Target and looked in the mirror and realized that my lips were still .... perfect.  Just perfect. 

And that's money well spent.

This Charming Closet

Coach is having a shoe sale and I'm sorta kinda lusting for these booties. 

But I'm on the fence. 

What do we think?  Or do we just hold out for spring and wait for the espadrilles?

Happy Monday

Here's what happened here this weekend:

Shopping - wherein lipstick and new sunglasses (the old ones gave up the ghost) were procured.

Cupcakes - an undisclosed number of which were purchased from the Polka Dot Bake Shop and an equally undisclosed number of which may or may not have been eaten.  It was much easier than actually making them.

Naps.

Closets - cleaned out, resulting in an air of self-satisfied smugness and a bone deep exhaustion that lead to -

Another nap.

A lovely massage - after which my masseuse commented that the muscle between my shoulder blades was a 'little brick'.

Golden Globes - Sandra Bullock's bangs frightened me, as did Scarlett Johansson's hair.

And dogs were walked and bills were paid and laundry was folded. 

However, no vacuuming was accomplished.  It's gonna be a great week!

xoxo

Tonya
Image:  Pink Cabinet with Glass Knob by Eljayrae.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Charming Handbag Addict

Yeah -

This is gonna be the next one.....

From Kate Spade.

The Bee Charmer Loves Paris

I happen to know that I prefer freezing my butt off in Paris - as opposed to freezing my butt off in Charlotte.

Just sayin.
Image from here.

Happy Friday!

Do you know what my best friend and I call young guys?  Gumdrops.  We call them gumdrops.  FYI.

Anywhooo its another weekend and we have survived both the holidays and the post holiday snowpocalype. 

Just so ya know, my front yard and sidewalk is still sort of a - well - it's like walking around in a big ice cube tray.  We're hoping it warms up enough this weekend to melt it all away.  All three of us are completely and totally over it.  Just.... DONE. 

I am stuck in CLE (continuing legal education - for all you non-lawyers) most of the day and when y'all are reading this I will most likely be sitting in hell.  Think of me.... bored and pitiful. 

I was going to go up this weekend and see the new nephew but the weather is frightful and I cannot take driving in more snow and ice.  I'm hoping next weekend will be better.  My sister insists on having all of her babies in January so this has been an ongoing problem. 

So I'm going to deal with some personal maintenance this weekend, which includes my monthly facial (postponed from Monday night) and a massage for my stressed out self.  That little muscle in the middle of my back is buggin, y'all.  It must be kneaded into submission. 

And I'm going to clean out the closet (I know I said that last weekend, but this weekend I really, really mean it).  This does not include my handbags so just get that out of your heads.  

And I feel chocolate cake coming on.  I've never successfully made one but I think I'm going to try again on Sunday morning.  Or maybe just chocolate cupcakes.  We'll see how it goes. 

So have a great weekend and stay warm. 

And I'll see you on Monday. 
Image from here.

Politics and the Single Southern Girl

I'm taking a little break from the shallowness and the feel good frivolity that normally goes on around here.

Sarah Palin has been back in the news this week - and I can't help it - this woman drives me crazy.

I need to say that I do not believe that she was deserving of the allegations that she bears some direct responsibility for the actions of the young man in Arizona.  Clearly, he is disturbed and crazy people are going to do what they're going to do and he and only he is responsible for what he did.  Despite whatever mental illness he suffers from, his actions showed both premeditation and efforts to conceal his behavior - which indicate to me that he knew what he was doing was wrong.  And he deserves to bear the full responsibility for all of his actions last Saturday.

BUT -

There has been a lot of nasty talk flying around (from both parties) and Sarah Palin's rhetoric has been particularly vitriolic and full of imagery that should be cause for concern - especially since she seems to be at her party's forefront.  While she did not 'cause' what happened in Arizona - she certainly didn't help, either. 

We all have responsibility for the words that come out of our mouths.  And so does she.   And that responsibility is magnified when you have a national platform from which to speak.  Say what you will, her published ads placed a gun sight over Congresswoman Giffords' district.  It was ugly and irresponsible. And she shouldn't be surprised that people are calling her on it now.   And she isn't without some moral responsibility if someone listens to her and takes her words as some sort of encouragement or justification for their own ugly or violent actions.  

What drives me crazy about her is that I believe she is really symbolic of what is wrong with American politics.  She is poorly educated, poorly informed and poorly spoken, yet she looks pretty and panders to the lowest common denominator.  Style over substance.  Stupid cleaned up nice. 

This country has problems, folks.  Big problems.  And the solutions to these problems aren't going to be simple or easily condensed into one paragraph sound bites.   Big minds and big ideas and yes, big solutions that won't be easy to grasp are required.  And while I absolutely believe that well intentioned people can often disagree - and disagree vehemently - I think we should all remember that we're patriots and Americans and we all love this country.  And we should behave with a lot more civility and a little less verbal irresponsibility.

We will now return to purses and shoes and nephews and corgi dogs.

A Little Extra Pretty for the Weekend

My pretty new nephew!  With his little bird mouth open. 

Baby Love

You all know I am full of baby love this week, don't you?  And this is just the cutest thing - ever. 

Go here and look at the rest of them....

Flip Fantasia

Have a ball this weekend, everybody!

The Weekly Bean

Hi!

I just dropped by to be gorgeous!

I Love Paris In the Spring Time

Paris tickets were booked yesterday!!! 

Of course you all know, they'll be no living with me now......
Image:  Pink Paris by Honeytree Photography.

Random Pretty Man

The Quick and the Dead was on AMC while I was snowbound.  And it's a terrible, terrible movie.  Just awful.

But I got sucked into it because Russell Crowe is so damn hot in it. 

Now I've got Russell Crowe lust. 

I'll take it. 

Atonement

So far, I'm batting a thousand on my New Year's resolutions - I finished Atonement last weekend! 

Y'all it was very, very good.  I suppose there is a reason it's on Time's list of the 100 greatest books, huh? 

Here's what Publisher's Weekly has to say about it:

This haunting novel, which just failed to win the Booker this year, is at once McEwan at his most closely observed and psychologically penetrating, and his most sweeping and expansive. It is in effect two, or even three, books in one, all masterfully crafted. The first part ushers us into a domestic crisis that becomes a crime story centered around an event that changes the lives of half a dozen people in an upper-middle-class country home on a hot English summer's day in 1935. Young Briony Tallis, a hyperimaginative 13-year-old who sees her older sister, Cecilia, mysteriously involved with their neighbor Robbie Turner, a fellow Cambridge student subsidized by the Tallis family, points a finger at Robbie when her young cousin is assaulted in the grounds that night; on her testimony alone, Robbie is jailed. The second part of the book moves forward five years to focus on Robbie, now freed and part of the British Army that was cornered and eventually evacuated by a fleet of small boats at Dunkirk during the early days of WWII. This is an astonishingly imagined fresco that bares the full anguish of what Britain in later years came to see as a kind of victory. In the third part, Briony becomes a nurse amid wonderfully observed scenes of London as the nation mobilizes. No, she doesn't have Robbie as a patient, but she begins to come to terms with what she has done and offers to make amends to him and Cecilia, now together as lovers. In an ironic epilogue that is yet another coup de the tre, McEwan offers Briony as an elderly novelist today, revisiting her past in fact and fancy and contributing a moving windup to the sustained flight of a deeply novelistic imagination. With each book McEwan ranges wider, and his powers have never been more fully in evidence than here. 

I am really not equipped to offer up much of a book review.  I tend to 'like' or 'dislike' books and I can't talk about them without completely spoiling them. 

Suffice it to say that I was drawn deeply into this book and sort of haunted by it.  I saw the movie before I read the book and I'm sorry that I did.  I wish I had gone into this book completely blind because knowing what was to happen took something away from it.  But it was a wonderful book and a rewarding way to spend my time.

This Charming House

I have this theory - I call it the 'theory of home'.

I came up with this when I was recovering from losing my mind.  The thing about coming through a major illness - and in my opinion clinical depression is a major illness - is that if you are blessed enough to make it through to the other side life will always look a little different to you.  I mean, I used to wake up early just so I could lay in the bed and breath for a while.  Breathing - long, deep breaths - was just so good I couldn't hardly stand it. 

Anyway - my theory of home is that you should care (and care deeply) about every single solitary thing that is in your home.  I'm talking everything from the kind of light bulbs you use to the brand of cream that you buy for your coffee.  If you don't LOVE it - then get rid of it.  NO DETAIL should be too small for you.  Just think about that.  How different our homes would be if we wanted every little thing to be special.

My darling friend, Sarah, gave me one of these bookmarks for Christmas.  And I was reminded that my theory was correct.  I have used it and it has brought me so much joy.  Every time I have picked up my book I have received a triple blessing - the blessing of the book, the blessing of this beautiful gift and the blessing of remembering my friendship with Sarah and how grateful I am for it. Isn't that so much better than a Vogue subscription card or an old scrap of paper used to mark your place? 

If you need any bookmarks or if you just need some fun paper products, scoot on over to Pam's shop and check out Pixel Impress!

You'll be happy you did.