goodbye Buster

The Lion

Always majestic.

 

Sometimes funny,

or scary (sorry, Barb),

or lazy,

or tolerant,

and irresistible,

and loved.

We will miss you.

Vacation in my own backyard or Ode to Atlanta

With all my dreams of discovering far off places, I realize that some of the best places are in my own backyard.

 Doug, Liv, Trudy and I ventured to Piedmont Park.

It was just that kind of day.

A perfect moment in time.

I love Atlanta.

But if the park were REALLY in my backyard, this is where I would live. And it looks like it is available.

Rose the movie star

Liz B. recently commented on the post Elegance, stating that Rose needed her own movie.  What would be the title?

Funny, there have been movies and Rose mentioned in several conversations recently.  These photos of her in NYC, with her hip group of friends, spawned a debate as to whether the movie would be a romantic comedy...(the movie poster)

or a horror flick (note "the claw").

 Maybe a funny horror flick like "Scream."

(I know, Barb B., you did not think that movie was funny.  But Liz and Jim B. and I laughed ourselves silly.  Maybe it was that crazy about to cry kind of laughter, but laughter nonetheless.)

I have been conversing with Rose (and Elle M.) as to whether she is Jane or Elizabeth in "Pride and Prejudice."

Which do you think?

Since Rose is spending a lot of time with those fun hipster friends, and since some of them are film makers, maybe we will see her on celluloid in the future.  Does it still get called celluloid?  Are albums still called albums?

What century was I born?

(really.  answer my questions.  is anyone out there?)

What one girlfriend will do for another

(photo by Scott Schuman)

I just had to swipe another of the Sartorialist's (http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) pictures today.  This one speaks to my sociologist and design self.  As well as my girlfriend self.  Barb, I'm so glad we wear the same shoe size.  Sorry my sneaks caused you blisters.

Blue Suede Shoes

Lorinda, look what I found in the Urban Outfitters holiday catalog:

Not the oxfords of your youth, Rin.  But fetching, don't you think?

Just in case you can't resist:   UO Suede Oxford

We are not animals. Most of us, anyway.

"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."

—from the film Steel Magnolias

I don't actually remember this quote.  I am re-quoting.  That's better than re-gifting.

I do remember one that goes something like this,

Dolly Parton regarding her shoe size:

"In a good shoe I wear a 6, but a seven feels so good I buy an 8!"

And Dolly on girdles:

"These thighs haven't left the house without latex since I was 13!"

She had the best lines.  But I can never remember them correctly.  As my friends and family remember what was really said, please comment so others can accurately re-quote.  Jen?  Carol?  Doug? Mhop?

Well, at last my ability to accessorize is in tact. And I have opposing digits.

(Doug's accessory is the telephone)

Eddie can also accessorize.  But sometimes I think he may be an animal. 

What kind of animal is Eddie?

side note: Dolly Parton's niece was a flight student of Doug's.  He says she always had some good lines.  Though several cannot be repeated.

and a post script:  You may not be able to see how cute these earrings are.  But since I look pretty cute, I chose these photos.

My Brush with Fashion Fame

 (photo by Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist)

 

Barbara and I went to NYC this year for a trade show.  The show didn't go as well as we had hoped, but the vacation was a smashing success.

I take that back.  It was not a complete success.  One of my dreams for the trip did not happen.  I dreamed that I would run into Scott Schuman (http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/), and that he, seeing how fashionable I was, would take my photo to post on his street fashion blog.  It didn't happen. I missed my opportunity for fame and fashion approval.

Not all is lost, however.  While in NYC, I scored a pair of really, really cute Steven by Steve Madden oxford shoes.  Recently Scott photographed a woman in the NYC streets wearing the very same shoes.  Maybe that is as close as I'll get to being on the Sartorialist myself.  But I will count it as having fashion approval.

My new shoes

Yes, I am actually using this broom.  Not as rare as me with a vacuum (thank you, Becky C.).  My family often believes this is my method of transportation.

How Much Is Enough?

My friend, Corinne, once taught a lesson called "How Much Is Enough?"  She used Hershey's bars as a visual example.  She passed around "fun size" Hershey's bars and we all were glad to have a treat.  Then she asked us, as she held up a regular size Hershey's Bar, "wouldn't you rather have this?"  And then a Ginormous Hershey's Bar--you see where this is going.  Personally, I'd rather have this:

But I get it.

A few years ago I came to the realization that I didn't need to upsize my house just because we were at that phase in our lives.  I looked around me and realized that we were happy and comfortable and could raise our family in this house.  We don't need bigger and better.  We have enough.

Now, when I run through beautiful neighborhoods (especially the piano teacher's neighborhood that has tree-lined streets and wrap around porches), it is enough to enjoy the beauty of the houses around me.  I no longer feel I need to own them.  I have enough.  I am enough.  I am happy.

(most of the time)

coco

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Coco Chanel

Elegance

Last Night Doug and I saw Coco avant Chanel.  We are both still in awe.  Visually pleasing.  Sublime.  Inspiring.

 I couldn't decide whether I should look at the captions or stare at the images.  I will have to see it again.  And again.  But only on the big screen.  This optical feast will not translate well to video (films rarely do).

I don't know who I love more, Audrey Tautou or Coco Chanel.  I certainly love them intertwined.

And I love a striped sailor shirt

(I have been obsessed since I saw Meg Ryan in French Kiss).

As well as the perfect cropped black pant to wear with boots.    

Her eyes and cheekbones remind me of my Aunt Anne.  Anne was always elegant.

Here she reminds me of my Rose.  Rose is always elegant.

I swiped these pictures from Google (except the ones of Anne and Rose).  I could not find Doug's favorite image:  Coco lying in the leaves looking lost because she has just heard heartbreaking news about her love, Arthur Capel.  You will have to see the movie to find that one.  You will just have to see the movie anyway.  On the big screen.  Then tell me about your favorite image.

In the Garden

Liv created a vignette.

It inspired me today.

 

Nora, are you there?

Rose and I were wandering the cobbled streets of Competa, Spain while waiting for Mass to start.  We saw beautiful things.  This was one of them (well, two of them):

A young mother leaning out of an upper window was speaking to her children playing below.  The children then ran to the corner bakery (what is it in Spanish?) and called up to the women in the "window of heavenly smells."  Moments later, the children galloped home with armloads of fresh baguettes.  Really.

This was not a scene from a movie.  This was just everyday life for them.  The kind of life that makes us dream.  And make movies.

I totally expected Nora Ephron to be shouting "cut" from just around the corner.  She was not there.  It was just us.  Smiling.  Grateful for that moment.

(If you should be so lucky to visit Competa, stay at Villa Andalucia with our lovely hosts, Phil and Helen.

It truly is paradise at their Bed and Breakfast type hostel.

You can float in the pool surrounded by beautiful gardens and overlook the whole whitewashed village.)