Dinner for a Summer Night

In the middle of a hot summer evening, the last thing I want to do is fire up my oven or hover over my stove.  Often when the temperatures soar, I opt for a dinner of chilled salads and other nibbly bites.

Pink and Green All Over

I am feeling super preppy McPrepster these days.

I'm talking collar-popping, Lilly Pulitzer-lovin, Polo-wearing preppy.  

Words to Live by

I have enjoyed two fun weeks with my four nieces and nephew who came out from Texas for a little SoCal vacation.  As you may have noticed by my absence in blogland, instead of blogging, I've been roasting marshmallows by the beach and splashing in the pool and reading lots and lots of kiddo books.  

Suffice it to say, I have Seuss on the brain.   

Take a Little Trip: Baja

This weekend, rather than lounging by the pool or celebrating the fourth with fireworks, we spent the holiday in Mexico.  Yes, this was not exactly a patriotic spot, but our visit proved to be a fun-filled getaway nonetheless. 

Destinations like Cozumel or Mexico City or Oaxaca probably top the list of Mexico's tourist sites.  So, when I discovered that our weekend cruise stopped in Ensenada, I wasn't expecting a transformative travel experience---I was wrong. 

America the Beautiful

Hope y'all (my American readers anyway) have a lovely holiday weekend full of bbq and fireworks!  

Cocktail du jour

The Pink Lemon Drop

How to Survive a Case of the Mondays

Mondays. Bleck. Few words in the English language elicit as much disdain as "Monday." 

So, when you have a big-time case of Office Space-style Mondays, here are some of my go-to survival tips:

Fix your hair.  Mondays + bad hair day = inevitable crankiness.  Take a little extra time to blow-dry and curl and fluff your locks.  I assure you, if your hair looks like a Pantene ad, you'll feel much more eager to greet the day. 

Words to Live by

These words by Omar Khayyam, the twelfth-century Persian mathematician and philosopher, always resonate with me.  Each time I read them or hear their poetry, I am inspired anew.

Taste Testing: Giada's Sauce

I'm sure you've been seeing Giada's smiling face all over Target commercials lately.  Honestly, when I noticed her new line of products on store shelves, I thought she was a bit of a sell-out.  How many celebrity chefs do we really need to pimp their own products?  How good can this stuff really be?

Love and Marriage...

...sometimes it doesn't go together like a horse and carriage.

Most mornings at approximately 10am, my neighbors wage a war of words against one another. Lovely--this is NOT a petit plaisir. They scream and yell at such a volume that I can hear them across the parking lot, as I sit in my office.

Round and round we go

Lately I feel like I'm spinning.  Forgive me if my posts are infrequent over the next few weeks-- I am taking on some extra work this summer.

In the meantime, let's all just dream of sweet treats and chocolate-covered goodness:

The Taste of Summer

I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of summer. Fall is my season.  From an early age, my mother inculcated in me an obsession with pumpkins and changing leaves and Halloween, for candy corns and cinnamon scents and cool crisp evenings in turtlenecks.  When September rolls around, you will likely need to remind me to contain my autumnal exuberance. 

But, aside from time at the beach and the smell of Hawaiian Tropic, there is one thing that LOVE about this time of year and that is the taste of summer.

Feeling Blue?

Homemade blueberry muffins are a true taste of summer.  Who needs a boxed mix when recipes are this simple?  

Pour mon père

Happy day to my dad! 

Daddio, you've given me a strong moral code like Atticus Finch: 

A Summery Weekend Wish

Cocktail du jour

After a fabulous idea from one of my readers, I would like to debut... my very own cocktail:

The Pink Frenchie!

A Tribute to the Tall Girls

For those of you who know me only through that little bitty profile photo, I am in fact not lilliputian.   Quite the contrary, I consider myself a tall girl.  Technically, I measure in at 5'11 and 1/2 inches.  I embrace that last half inch away from six feet, as I have since I was about age thirteen which I reached that height. 

So, what's the big deal?  I am not WNBA tall or circus tall or Guinness Book of World Records tall.  I am just a bit above average.  But, for my entire adolescent and adult life, on an almost daily basis, someone feels compelled to remark about my verticality.  That tends to seep into a girl's psyche after a while.

Table for Two: Tropical Fish Tacos

The hubby has been having a rough week at work.  So, this evening, I tried, best I could, to whisk him away to the Riviera Maya for dinner.  I played some relaxing tunes, poured him a cold cerveza, and for dinner, I pulled together some tropical tilipia tacos. 

Words to Live by

 

Traveling Tuesday

This evening I'm giving my Art Appreciation students a lecture on the Italian Renaissance.  For most of them who hadn't set foot in a museum prior to my course, the only familiarity they have with the Renaissance is because of the Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo and Raphael.  

The Art of Design: The Peacock Room

In 1876, a shipping magnate from Liverpool, England consulted James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American expat painter living in London, in redesigning his Far East-inspired dining room. At first, Frederick Leyland, the patron, asked Whistler for simple suggestions on paint colors for the space, as one of Whistler's portraits was to hang over the mantle.

When the patron was away on business, Whistler impulsively seized creative control and redesigned the entire room, without financial support or consent from his client.

The September Issue

Yes, gals, that's Anna Wintour's signature smirk on my tele.

Have you seen the 2008 documentary The September Issue? If you have ever read Vogue, or secretly wanted to be Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, or coveted a Chanel suit, you MUST watch this film.

Crudites 101

My go-to easy summer appetizer is a lovely assembly of raw or poached veggies with an assortment of dips. But, rather than haphazardly arranging your carrots and cucumbers on a plate, or dashing off to CostCo for a ready-made version that's been sitting in the refrigerator for ten days, take a bit of care, and you'll produce a visual display that might make even the kiddies want to gnaw on some crudites.

Flowers for Friday

Rather than dashing out to buy peonies or tulips this Friday, I am simply staring at one of my potted plants. Two birthdays ago, one of my dearest friends from high school/soul sister sent me this orchid. It bloomed a glorious fuchsia shade for about a month and then, as they do, the blooms all fell off.

Wall of White

After four years of living in our apartment sans draperies, I finally purchased curtains for our living room. Because we live in easy breezy CA, I selected very soft, white, sheer panels that are uncharacteristic of my usual exuberant color choices.

As I told my perplexed hubby, "I want to feel like I live on a sailboat." And now, with those curtains aloft, I do.