Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Chanello, gorgeous

The Paris couture shows are going on right now - it's a little hard to believe, with the ecomony in the stinker and President Obama trying to get the stimulus package through and all that - but, for just one moment, stop and notice what magicalness Karl Lagerfeld has created at Chanel. I would wear almost any of these confections (minus the headdresses!). It's so exciting to see so many options with sleeves. Not enough designers and clothing companies understand that us ladies need sleeves! Click here for the full show.


Jessica - it's my answer to your amazing sequined dress! We'll wear them to Britney. Can't wait!

So sad!


I am so sad - I just read that one of my favorite magazines and websites, Domino, is folding. This was the perfect place for inspiration and ideas and pretty pictures and yummy recipes. Two thumbs down for this recession.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Last night

Jessica and I worked out together, and then made a wonderful feast of Indian food - red lentils on basmati rice with nan bread, finished off with homemade mango sorbet. It was amazing. That, plus manicures and watching Fashion Police from the SAG awards pretty much made it a totally marvelous day.

I love this.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year!


It's the Year of the Ox - a time to work hard, discipline ourselves, and next year we will be thanking ourselves as we reap the fruit of our labors.

Drill Baby Drill

I started this Monday morning in the dentist's chair, staring up into the big light, trying to ignore the water squirting, teeth munching, drill action that was happening in my mouth. I imagined I was in Italy, walking along the lake. I mentally redecorated our apartment. I remembered how much I liked my dentist in New York, except for the fact that the filling he put in a year and half ago wasn't very good and now I was having to have it replaced. I think I like my new dentist better. Plus, he's really cute. Now I'm back at work, feeling like a numkin because the entire right side of my face feels pouffy and funny. I'll be slurping soup for lunch and hopefully soon I'll be feeling good as new!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Feats of culinary prowess

Last night (before the creeper Grey's incident) Jessica and I made dinners. Two dinners, to be precise. She made hers and I made mine. It was very exciting for two girls who generally subsist on pots of chili or protein shakes. I made barbeque chicken (with my magical barbeque sauce from Texas) and cheddar jalapeno cornbread with farm fresh sweet butter (which I washed down with organic chocolate milk). Jessica made orzo with feta, tomatos and green onions, topped by honey/red wine vinaigrette. Both were scrumptious. We also had the pleasure of wandering Whole Foods prior to cooking, which is always fun. I had a chunk of the cornbread for breakfast and it's still completely delicious. Everyone is invited tonight for a feast of leftovers!

Creepy!!

I'm totally, totally creeper creeped out by last night's episode of Grey's. Jessica and I were totalled creeped out last week, and she wouldn't even watch with me last night. Sigh. It was sad, scary, creepy and sad. Thank goodness today is Friday. I need a weekend to recover from it.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thank you

Karl Rove has written a lovely tribute to former President George W. Bush. I know some people felt let down and angered by his administration, but let me tell you this: as someone who lived through September 11, being kept safe for the last 7 and half years means the world to me. He outlined and executed seven and half years of policy that protected America from further terrorist attack. I am grateful for that. I am so glad Mr. Rove has the opportunity to say that President Bush was right when it mattered the most.

Also read this interesting post by On Life and Lybberty.

The most wonderful time of the year


Yes, I know, it's really Christmas, but a veryclose second place is Oscar season, which got kicked off today with the announcement of the nominations. Here is a complete list of the nods, but the one that I am most excited about is for Best Documentary. Trouble the Water is a Hurricane Katrina documentary, made by Kimberly Roberts, a Lower Ninth Ward resident who lived through the storm, and filmed the storm and its aftermath on a small, handheld video recorder. It is such a remarkable story. Read about it here and here.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Lately

I've been up to this and that...Jessica and I spoke in church on Sunday, which is always exciting. Made tripley exciting by the fact that here in our branch, they only have two speakers, not three, which lengthens the amount of time said speakers get to speak. I've never been that 20 minute, anchor speaker before. Now I can say I've done it! We were very lucky in that 1) someone got confirmed, taking a nice amount of time and 2) a whole cruise ship of people was visiting which meant that passing the sacrament took really long. Jessica's talk was wonderful and she said mine was wonderful too so we feel good about that. Went to a few movies over the long weekend, talked about doing yoga (and talking about it is nearly the same as actually doing it) and practically froze to death because of the cold snap down here. I know, I know, in New York and DC and Ohio it's actually very cold, but it's really cold down here too. I think Jess told me it was 34 degrees here this morning. Which, when you left your winter parka at home because "it never really gets that cold in NOLA" is cold. Thank you to A and E who are lending us some winter warmth - we really appreciate it!

Amazing


Inauguration fun

While I am still disappointed that CNN didn't show more of the Neighborhood Ball's first dance, serenaded by Beyonce, I loved every minute of yesterday. I am happy that everyone yesterday was caught up in the feelings of hope and change. It was truly infectious and inspiring. I believe that President Obama will not only work very hard to make our country healthier and safer, but that he will do so in an honest, fair, and cooperative way. What more could you want from the leader of our nation? I love Malia and Sasha too, and wasn't it so nice that someone thought to get an apple box for Sasha to stand on?





What a wonderful day (and night).

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The 44th President of the United States


I just spent the last 45 minutes in the conference room watching the Inauguration. I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of this occasion. I am grateful to have witnessed it and am proud of the spirit of the American people. I am proud of the graciousness of everyone present today. I am in love with Aretha Franklin's hat. God bless America.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Just to chat

Last night I got three lovely phone calls from friends. I just love talking and catching up and hearing everything that's new! Thanks for the calls and sharing the good news and the sad news and letting me be a tiny part of your lives. I think you're all wonderful.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Yippee!


I just got the best news ever. Hip hip hooray!!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I offer a smile to the new year.

I have always been a Christmas devotee. I love Christmas, can take or leave (usually leave) New Years. Change, historically, is neither my forte nor my favorite. Resolutions that inevitably get broken simply seem depressing to me. And January always seemed to me like a horrible white expanse of time that existed boringly until the blossoms of Spring.

Except...this year...things were a little different. Something about the holidays seemed off. I couldn't get my Christmas magic to click. No matter how hard I tried, the Christmas spirit seemed to elude me. And so Christmas passed me by. (I loved being home, wrapped up in love with my family and friends - in no way am I suggesting otherwise. Everything about my time at home was delicous and magical.)

It's just that...I never really felt holly and ivy about the whole thing.

I have always known that I have issues with change. I've never liked it - even going as far as crying on my birthday and dreading New Year's. I clung to the past, rather than looked on to the future. Somewhat ironically to me, my last 8 years have been riddled with change. I've never lived in any apartment longer than a year, last year even inhabiting 3 different apartments. Friendships have come and gone, as have relationships. People I love have left this life. The more these things happened, the tighter my grip became on keeping things just as they were. And sometimes I felt like someone was playing a trick on me.

I once heard the following about life:

When we pray for patience, God gives us experiences through which we will develop patience. When we pray for courage, God gives us experiences to develop courage. When we pray for kindness, God gives us experiences where we can develop our kindness.

Etc.

Can you see where this one is headed?

I have never, ever prayed for change. Or the ability to deal with change. Or anything like that. But to my eye and my head and my heart, I have consistently been given experiences to develop the ability to cope with change with reason, compassion, patience, adaptability, balance and kindness.

Well.

This past year was witness to the most magnificently wonderful and gut-wrenchingly awful changes I've experienced in my 27 years.

I believe that I finally have it through my head that change is hard but change is good.

As the days following Christmas faded away, and the days leading up to New Year's rushed towards me, I felt some of the boulderous weight I've been carrying around in my heart start to fall away. I felt my vision start to clear a little bit. And I rang in the New Year with love around me and hope for the future. Never has my cry of "Happy New Year!" been more heartfelt.

(Full disclosure: this has not been an effortless process. My sad girl face made so many cameos in the last few months she nearly got upgraded to co-star. And lest any of my darling readers thinks otherwise, this has not been easy for me. At all.)

The thick, muddy, murky glasses of confusion have been knocked ever so slightly askew, and now I find lovely rose-colored spectacles beginning to take over.

Today is January 6. Today is the real 12th day of Christmas. Today is known as Epiphany. Very, very fitting.

I have never been so relieved for a big white expanse of the January calendar. I've never been so happy to finish vacation and get back to real life. To go back to work, and to keep going on the path of figuring out how to make my dreams come true.

And so, I tip my hat to the new year. Grateful to be at peace. Here's to 2009.