If you haven’t heard about her designs yet, it’s a matter of days! Violette van Parys is my latest crush! Her pieces are made of ceramic and feel just as sensual as sea-polished rocks and I want them all because her universe allows me to play with my different moods from Bat Girl to Tim Burton, fierce and sweet, romantic and girly. She sells her design in a store called Catbird in Williamsburg, her website is understated and discreet… catch her if you can before every one does!
I have decided that the following three quotes from Coco Chanel would become my New Year’s resolutions for 2010:
‘How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone”
“Nobody is young after 40 but one can be irresistible at any age.”
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
In this footage, Coco Chanel when asked about elegance, says that she finds that women are often too dressed up and not elegant enough… I will let you meditate on that one over the few days left in 2009!
“There goes a woman who knows all the things that can be taught and none of the things that cannot be taught” – I hope to be of the latter kind!
Live video of Coco Chanel
Thanks Olivier!
Apologies for slowing down the posts to every other day but that is the side effect of vacations in France… at breakfast, while gobbling a pain au chocolat, I think of lunch and of course at lunch time, I am planning dinner!
So yesterday, while getting the daily newspaper -just after having posted about the Love Calendars- my appetite was awaken by another calendar displayed at the local newstand.
The calendar showed nude and semi-nude photograps of members of the Stade Français, a Paris-based national French rugby team.
These calendars started in 2001 with a partial amount of the profits going each year to various charities and have become extremely popular among the French.
One woman said that she bought it at first as a response to the number of Bimbo Calendars that her male colleagues were displaying in the office -sexual harrasment has room for growth compared to the US- but then she admits that she has been very appreciative of these eye catching pictures. So now she buys them on Amazon every year as a daily dose of eye candy!
Vive le Rugby!
Here is a video of the making of the Calendar to give you a taste of it all and their website: french-rugby-players.com.
I hope Santa brings you lots of gifts specially if you have been good all year… if not well you’ll give Santa a good reason to misbehave in 2010!
Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby is my favorite Christmas song – below are the lyrics and an original 1953 version- it is available onAmazon with lots of other great classics from Elvis to Dean Martin, Kenny G and Aaron Neville!
Santa Baby, slip a sable under the tree, For me.
been an awful good girl, Santa baby,
so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa baby, a 54 convertible too,
Light blue.
I’ll wait up for you dear,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Think of all the fun I’ve missed,
Think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed,
Next year I could be just as good,
If you’ll check off my Christmas list,
Santa baby, I wanna yacht,
And really that’s not a lot,
Been an angel all year,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa honey, there’s one thing I really do need,
The deed
To a platinum mine,
Santa honey, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with a duplex,
And checks.
Sign your ‘X’ on the line,
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight.
Come and trim my Christmas tree,
With some decorations bought at Tiffany’s,
I really do believe in you,
Let’s see if you believe in me,
Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing,
A ring.
I don’t mean on the phone,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry, tonight.
So here I am spending the holidays in France for some well deserved R&R and family time. Like everyone, I am browsing a few stores for some last minute shopping… so you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled yesterday upon the French version of comfort food: sexy pasta in all sorts of shapes and colors… obviously these would make a statement for a sunday night “let’s just have a bowl of pasta” kinda of dinner!
It could be the perfect touch to spice up an evening without changing the routine and avoiding all this “setting up” stuff. Isn’t that just what we really want.
The website that sells these special kind of pasta is Cote Maison – it actually quite a few nice things for home- so if you order from them, remember to add a few of the double lollipops as dessert -just make sure kids don’t stumble upon them…
The secret is now in the open and has been revealed to the world for all to see and enjoy. I first spotted it in the report: “A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” from California first lady Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress.
This report -which is fascinating for everyone who wants to understand the changes we live in- highlights the fact that for the first time in history, women are half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of American families.
So after the first few pages, I stumble upon it, well hidden as all good secrets should be. Here it is, extracted for you:
“Some researchers report a wife feels more sexually attracted to a husband who pitches in around the house, and one of the biggest predictors of a husband’s marital satisfaction is how often he has sex.”
And we all know that secrets tend to spread fast and wide. So I wasn’t surprised to find it the next day,on the counter of my local bookstore with the explicit and enticing title: Porn for Women.
For those of you who are more visual or in need of a clearer depiction of this secret’s essence, this book is filled with pictures of men doing all sorts of chores – laundry, vacuum and my personal favorite: cooking!
Please leave the book in a place where all men can get a chance to notice it – the kitchen for one…
The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington is showing an exhibit of Aboriginal artists from the Australian central desert regions. Aboriginal art is fascinating with paintings that have the magical ability to propel you in a dream like state.
Lands of Enchantment also explores how contemporary Australian Aboriginal paintings are expressive representations of Dreamings—ancient Aboriginal stories about creation and ancestral spirits who inhabited an undatable past called Dreamtime. Contrary to the prevalent Western view that draws clear distinctions between nature and civilization, Aboriginal culture holds that all living beings and elements of geography have been inextricably related through time.
Also a beautiful exhibit about Telling Secrets: Codes, Caption and Conondrums in Contemporary Art.
Artists today often create literal layers (as in collage), apply varying levels of abstraction, or add text in order to enrich or deepen meaning in their works. Other artists layer metaphorically, incorporating evocative symbols such as tattoos, masks, and veils. This exhibition of 39 paintings, photographs, drawings, and prints from NMWA’s collection invites viewers to consider multiple interpretations and inscribe their own ideas and experiences onto each image.
Shown in a thought-provoking thematic installation, the works in Telling Secrets will juxtapose art from a variety of cultures. This approach will reflect contemporary art’s global scope as well as encourage visitors to see both the shared and distinctive traits among art works from many cultures. Leonora Carrington, Jane Hammond, Robin Kahn, Hung Liu, Shirin Neshat, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Adriana Varejão are among the 23 featured artists.