Cows

Glorious words. Nothing more. Just beautiful.

She Dreamed of Cows, Norah Pollard

Ghostly and snowy and white white white

How much do we love the white pumpkin?

Words cannot say. Their own words speak of frosty, foggy, grey blue light and possibility.

Or so they say to me.

I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love...

...with a wonderful shoe.

My heart beats. My sole sighs. My self balks. Even when on sale for $482. Damn you, Gaultier!

And yet...

Money can buy a certain kind of happiness

Staying sweetly sun-free

Chapeaux. Boaters. Fascinators. Pillboxes. Veiled or sans. Who does not love a hat? Sadly in sunnier climes hats feel more a self-conscious nod to capital-F fashion than finishing touch.

Imagine then an oh-so-chic silhouette, sun-safe 4-inch brim, colors galore, and a price point that says "buy four!"

Fair-skinned princesses shall look 35 forever.

Your FACE, Mr. Sunshine!

Staying sweetly sane

What with all the meetings and phone calls and emails and texts and Facebooks and people people people, sometimes it's all a girl can do to keep her hair combed and teeth brushed. Need a way to keep the head on straight and the gun in the closet? Pull out an apron and start sifting some flour.

Baking is the new yoga, the new zen activity. It doesn't hurt that it serves up immediate gratification. (You can power walk the calories tomorrow.)

The cult of cake

Sticky

Tell me one thing from which you cannot be distracted, he asked, hands in my hair.

I made a coquettish response, not a truthful one. 

The truth

When words fail, there's always pictures. Glyphs, pictograms, icons, symbols -- I'd speak only in metaphor if I thought I'd be understood. In the meantime, nothing says your jewelry can't do the talking.

Crafted from old world wax seals yet speaking in an oh so current tongue.

Represent your paix

Chilllllllllllllll

I love everything in its place. Unfortunately, living in two pricey urban centers for most of my adult life has left me long on theater tickets and short on storage space. Cupcake carrier in with the overcoats, oversized cookie sheets under the bed.

What's a baker-ice cream maker-sweets taster to do? Love the small stuff. Make a pint and take it with you. To the movies or a picnic.

Port-o-pint

Glittery glitzy yum yum

OK, so maybe we're like fish in that way. Or crows. Or some other discerning scavenger of the natural world.  Whatever.

If it's shiny and sparkly and ices the cake that is you, do it.  Pile on the bijoux and call it a neutral.

Coco would approve

Slip slidin' away...

Good-bye eyeshadow, who looked so pretty this morning. Farewell liner, so sparkly on initial application.

Touching up is so 1950. We want to put it on and keep it on. And now we can, with an eye primer that does what it says it will do. And does it all day long. Hello, lover.  

1,000 stories in the naked city

Even more on the radio. NPR + Ira Glass = genius storytelling and relevant commentary.

Learn, laugh, get in early on the next David Sedaris. On the radio, in your car, or online.

Podcast or archived. Listen.

10,000 sheeps

Even the Queen of Just Say No has trouble sleeping. OTC is for the birds, most Rx is too much wake-up. This Goldilocks finds Restoril just right: Pure sleep, no kick. Not every night, but sometimes.

Or sleep it old school

Joy, part 2

Happiness is so easy to come by -- why is it so easy to forget that?

Raise your voice

Joy, baby

It's not new, 

but it makes me feel fantastic.

I defy you not to cry

He knows he can

I think I can, I think I can rings a little hollow after 40. No longer inspired by such simple wisdom, I think I can is replaced by who gives a k-rap?

And then there's Maru, a hero for the modern middle age. Unselfconscious about his weight and undeterred by the occasional misstep, he gets the job done with an elan and vivre expressed by few others.

Maru the magnificat

Saddlin' up

Astride at 10, thrown at 12, clinging to Old Paint in the Mendocino sea. Horses can be a dicey prop, no question. But when your feet haven't touched the earth in ages and you can't quite get your head from out your arse, a horsey will zen you right back to present. You've got no choice but to connect.

Yippie-ai-o Los Angeles

Sisterhood

My Rwandan sister writes, We thank God for you, sister. Every night my children say your name. You are too old to live alone. My Congolese sister writes, Good news, sister! I bought a goat!

I write, Much love sisters! I had a mani/pedi and loathed my job just a little bit. 

Level setting, you feel me?

Get yourself a sistah

Chemistry.

You know it when you feel it

even when it's borrowed.

Relish, revel, embrace

because it's true even when

it's nothing else.

A private tour

Always wanted to know that swell guy with great art who'd let you hang at his place in Bel Air?

Meet Frederick

Portrait by Arnold Mesches

At first sight

Shoe? Who? Choo? You? 

Why the hell not?

Because no one should

Men in the midst of a table d'hote

Now and forever. Iconic, toe-tapping, enchanting. I know you've dreamt of running around Salzburg in nothing but some old drapes.  Cynical, burnt, done to a crisp? Slip this one in and you'll remember to re-start at the very beginning. (There's a reason the sing-a-long sells out, people!)

More fun than you'd ever think

Hippity hoppity arf arf arf

Oh why not?  Cute is cute!

A new beginning

Few among us have not wished for a do-over. Usually it's because we want to change them or how they feel about us. Today, make it about you forgiving you. Accept the atonement for yourself. Change the way you feel about what you did or who you were. If there's nothing more to Easter than that, let it be your do-over day.

Blessed are the peacemakers

Love enough for two

Oh my! Because she's beautiful, because they're all beautiful, because they love us so so so much. You haven't lived until you've been loved by a dog. (It's true.) Own one? Give her a hug. Can't own one? Sponsor one through your local shelter or rescue group. Want to know more? bestfriends.org

Stella-palooza

Good Friday

You don't have to believe it or any part of it. You can think symbolically or scientifically or independently. Or you can think like me: Someone, somewhere, sometime did something I would never do. Son of God or son of man, the act itself has meaning.

A beautiful noise

Ommmmmmm

Sometimes the things you love just get away from you. Your friends, your art, your body, yourself. It's OK. Eyes up, young person. There's more. Wait for it.

Light like you wouldn't believe

Stainless and cast iron and copper, oh my

For some people, it's Staples. For others, Home Depot.  For me -- it's Surfas.  Pots, pans, spices, cheese, porcini, chocolate, sugar, and sea salt caramels.  On foot in Culver City.  Online, too.

Foodie-patootie 

In the moment...always

OMG, LOL I can't believe this is happening!  I want to remember this 4ever. 

Flip a Flip and you can.  15 minutes from you-do to YouTube.  Live it, love it, capture it.  

Flip the now

Spiritual quickies

Sometimes you just want a little support without adopting a lifestyle.  Get to the heart without getting the robes: Point-click-read-ahhhhh.

Sister in the middle

Zen Steps

PizzaGodSex

Just because

Tiptoeing through

Spring-a-ding-ding, babies! Everything's coming up straw hats and bowlers!  Or is that just in New York?

April showers/Gotham flowers

Love yourself

Luscious beyond luscious beyond. Your face will feel like it did before you even knew you had a face. All organic, indescribable.

Luscious face

The promise of gorgeous

Not ours, but out there.  Not him, but the promise of him.  If we don't got gorgeous, we got the promise of gorgeous.

Gorgeous TV

Monday

It's not new, but it works.

Sometimes food is love