April Food Day.

Please watch:




Now pony up, baby.

If you feel lucky that you don't need what this organization provides, think about donating $5 or $10 or more. Click on the Feeding America icon above to donate. And add April Food Day to the Joint Donor line.

One in 6 children in America goes hungry. Click here to take the pledge to Dine In to Fight Childhood Hunger and Stouffers will donate $5 to Feeding America on your behalf.

You can also click on Feeding America icon to get information on your local food banks as well as information on volunteering and other ways you can help.

Here are some EXCELLENT examples of fabulous human beings who are participating in this today (if you join, leave a comment and I'll add you to the list):

Scented Glossy Magazines
Carla Loves Photography
tzd
Townhouse Lady
Inspiration for Everyday Living

Okay kids, make me proud!!

Use Your Blog for Good.

Meg from Pigtown*Design and Easy and Elegant Life have joined creative and fundraising forces to create April Food Day, a one-day* fundraiser to raise money and donations for food banks across America through Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), a national food bank with 200 member banks across the country. Click here for Feeding America. Click here for April Food Day.

How to Get Involved:

1. Write a post on March 31 or April 1 for this project (or just cut and paste this post if you're short on time).

2. Ask readers to donate and add a link to Feeding America.

3. Link to April Food Day and they will link back to your blog and your post.


Please also consider donating $1 or more. One dollar will buy 10 pounds of food!! I have got to find out where these people shop.

I'm in and the Huffington Post is in. Are you? I know you are, because you're awesome! If you participate, tell me and I'll link to you that day as well.


*Of course, donations will be accepted anytime. And, of course, you can take a bag to your local food bank.

The Notorious MIA.

I've been so missing in action since my Design Crisis post, living through what my husband has called an actual design crisis.

His parents both passed away in the past couple of years and he is preparing their house for sale. For anyone to be mildly interested in it, it was imperative to change its colors: mauve and blue and gold!! (but not in a good way, Karly) with wine-colored toilets and pink and slate blue bathroom vanity tops and blue and mauve flowered wallpaper everywhere. Yowsa.

So, we hightailed it down to God's Country, aka Salisbury, Maryland, and after one plumber, one electrician, one landscaping crew, one painting crew, one rather lengthy visit to the appliance store, one cleaning service and several days at the Home Depot, things are looking good. But not quite as good as this beautiful room created by the wildly talented Cecil Beaton, featured in a 195o's House & Garden (the real HG). It's really amazing how modern it looks today.

I also won these 1960s and 1940s House & Gardens on eBay last week, so I'm excited to see if there will be any good photos to post.


For a little Monday funny relative to my title, here is a Chinese rap group whose name cracks me up: Notorious MSG. They perform rap music about girls and Chinese food. Click here for the video Dim Sum Girl.

Now, I have some catching up to do. . .

Meet Me at Design Crisis.

Hey, everyone: I'm guest posting today at Design Crisis! Come see me HERE. I have a thing or two to say on behalf of silver...

Sunday Night Confession.

I once had a guinea pig that lived to be 9 years old. Her name was Fluffy. I changed her cage every day. She would sit up and beg for food. She also ate lettuce on the kitchen floor with my dog.

My other one only lived to be three. Her name was Sniffles.

Spring. She Has Sprung.

How do you know it's the first day of spring in Delaware?

Free Rita's water ice!!

I'll have a mango gelati, please.

AIG Execs Give Pigs a Bad Name.

Edward Liddy, AIG, compliments of Design Crisis

Erin of Design Crisis has written an excellent post today on this very topic (with a design twist!). Read it here.

In Defense of Ivy.

From Ivies by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

flickr

The Paris Apartment

Professors at University of Oxford have undertaken a study, Ivy on Walls, to discover whether ivy acts bioprotectively or biodeterioratively with stone walls. Read about the study here.

I look forward to the results of this study because I am of the belief that ivy doesn't cause deterioration, it merely takes advantage of a deteriorating wall or sick tree. Its rootlets are not actual roots in the sense that they do not penetrate a surface in search of moisture or nutrients.

According to the above referenced book, Ivies, published in 1992, ivy is and always has been unfairly maligned. An experiment was conducted by Winchester College in the U.K., beginning in 1890, where half of the trees in an oak woodland were stripped of ivy every ten years and half were left covered with ivy growth. When the trees were felled in 1942, there was no difference in height, girth or average cubic content.

Ivy not only thrives where nothing else will, it provides shelter for birds and butterflies and food with some of the last nectar and berries going into winter. Ivy was the inspiration for poets and artists; it has a history of use as a medicinal herb and is the symbol of everlasting life.

In Delaware, it has been defined as an invasive, nuisance species so now people are ripping it out and putting in mulch which is so much better. Garden stores are advised against selling it and instead are requested to sell indigenous plants. I cannot argue that it is not indigenous to the U.S. but I'd much rather look at ivy in a dark corner of a shaded yard than a pile of mud or mulch.

While I was looking through the book for information, I found a four-leaf clover tucked in its pages. :-) I'll keep you posted on the study.

I am Obsessed with Polygamy.

Do you watch The Big Love?

I had never watched it until the whole polygamy compound raid last spring and I was curious about it. Over that late spring and summer I watched the previous episodes to get caught up and I have so say that it's quite a compelling watch.

The Big Love is about a modern sort of polygamist family, if that's not an oxymoron. The women look like just anyone - well, except for Nicki, played to selfish, manipulative perfection by Chloe Sevigny. Nicki is the daughter of Roman Grant, the "prophet," who is not fond of her husband. There are 3 wives and one husband - can you imagine? - 3 houses, 3 mortgages, 3 sets of bills, 3 sets of jealousy, many children... The wives are constantly vying for their husband's attention and "First Wife" position, even though "First Wife" is clearly defined, there are constant power struggles, as you can imagine.

The story is complicated by the fact that they live in a regular neighborhood and work regular jobs and have to blend. Bill, the lead character and main polygamist character, owns a chain of home improvement stores and also must blend into the business world. And then there are the ancillary characters, some of whom are insane, making this one fascinating night of TV. You can go here to get quickly caught up on the storyline.

You may also have seen The Big Love in the news this week. Seems the Mormon Church isn't taking too kindly to its intention to show a sacred endowment ceremony (I think it airs tonight). For the story, click here.

I don't watch much TV these days, but this is on my list, as well as those fabulous Kiwi boys from Flight of the Conchords (thanks, Raina!). Tune in tonight.

Free! Kitchen Stuff.

Paul from Residential Kitchen Design is having a contest. I am doing my part for the economic stimulus of our country by helping to promote it. (Click on images to enlarge.)

The deal is this: Paul is co-sponsoring a Tell Me About Your Fantasy Kitchen contest along with Metallo Arts, the creators of these fab range hoods (available in a world of colors and designs) and hand-wrought counters whereby you go to his blog and enter by telling a wildly creative story about what your fantasy kitchen looks like. Contest details are on his blog here.

The winner receives a $3200 gift cert. toward the range hood or zinc or pewter
countertop of his choice (plus 10 hours of Paul's design time for a total value of $4500). Aren't they gorgeous? So, if you're into it, you have until April 2 to enter. Good luck!

(Apologies to people who subscribe on a reader: I can't get this to post properly for some reason!)

A Little Help.

(click to enlarge)

I need some opinions. Be honest because I really need some truthiness.

First, what color should I paint this bathroom and the tub (the tub is off-white)? I am painting over the blue today with primer. Should I paint the feet white? black?

Also, would you replace the stained glass? It needs to be repaired in a couple of places, so would you repair or replace? (I'm not sure my husband will let me replace it and I liked it when we first moved here but now it seems so dated.)

Last, the mirror is polished chrome (P. Barn tilted oval) and the fixtures don't match. All other metal is brass. What would you do about mirror/light situation?

Thanks for commenting.

Take That, Kate Winslet.

Ahem.

What I mean to say is that I am beyond humbled at the multitude of award riches I have received compliments of the beautiful and talented Vicki Archer of the coveted blog French Essence. Merci, mon petit chou! Because, seriously, I blush.

Before I get to the awards, I would like to spend a moment on Vicki. When I first discovered her blog, I immediately loved it (along with everybody else in blogland). It wasn't until I had been reading it for some time that she mentioned her book and I realized that she was the author of the book I had sitting on my coffee table. This book:


If you are the only person who doesn't read her blog (here), you owe it to yourself to do so and become as infatuated as I was and am with her photos and words and her life!! There will be a new book published in the fall, also with photography by the beyond-talented Carla Coulson. Visit her blog, Carla Loves Photography, here.

Now, onto the awards. I am to pass along these fine prizes to 10 people I deem worthy. They, in turn, are to pass them along to 10 people or blogs they enjoy to spread the love.

First, the Your Blog is Fabulous Award:

You know, I happen to be dressed exactly like that today, channeling Audrey Hepburn.


The aim of the Excessively Diverting Blog Award is to acknowledge writing excellence in the spirit of Jane Austen's genius in amusing and delighting readers with her irony, humor, wit and talent for keen observation. Recipients will uphold the highest standards in the art of sparkling banter, witty repartee and gentle reprove. That's me: the highest standards (please ignore Cougar Barbie) and gentle reprove. *smile*


The Superior Scribbler Award is pretty self-explanatory. U can has pen?

Those 3 awards go to the following 10 bloggers whom I luf (some of whom just received an award from me and now too will be beside themselves with award riches):

(Click on blog names to visit)

Raina: The pith and hilarity of If the Lampshade Fits
Gracie: The mucho funny and kooky sweetness of Woolgathering & Miscellany
Erin & Karly: The doozie bosom of Design Crisis
Persian Tea: If you haven't visited this blog, you need to, it's gorgeous
Greta: Noodle-ing Adventures of a single momma in My Kind of Town
Jamie: Small Expectations - cat artist extraordinaire
Pam: Garden Designs & More - a wealth of info on plants and garden design
Brandy at It's like I'm...mmmagic! She's awesome. And brainy.
Miss S.K. at A Little More Than a Thousand Words. Awesome and brainy as well. And I think she needed some awards today.
Molly at Designers' Brew: Even though I want her old Nerdy blog name back, she is kicking ass and taking (new) names.


Last, the Share the Love Award goes to the following 5 (who each will pass it along to 5):

Chris and John at Shore Haus: my beach boys!
Megan at Shop at Moxie: DeKalbalicious!
Decorina at Decorina and Skylar: fighting the good fight
David - Midwestern Malaise: Kansas City's finest
Jill at Stella's Roar: shoe lover's paradise and hedonist's heaven

You know the rules, you gorgeous people. Take the love, decorate your blog with it, post it, link it and pass it along. You know what they say: love isn't love 'til you give it away. Or it's like a box of chocolates. Something like that.

Cougar Barbie.

*Pool boy sold separately.

Sunday Night Confession.

I was a latchkey kid.

In third grade, I would walk my little brother home and watch him until my mom got home from work.

Somehow, I started watching Dark Shadows. It scared the bejesus out of me but I was too fascinated by the vampires and ghosts not to watch. What with Barnabas Collins and the ghost who would appear after the scent of lilacs filled the room? I would wake up in the middle of the night convinced that I smelled lilacs and wait, terrified, for the ghost to appear in my bedroom.

So I used to watch the show while standing by the front door with one hand on the screen door handle (the front door was already open) so I could run out of the house in case anything paranormal appeared in my living room.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Dark Shadows was a gothic soap opera with ghosts and all manner of supernatural goings on and a cast of ultra-creepy characters. It aired from the mid-60s to the early 70s. I just read that Johnny Depp was so obsessed with Barnabas Collins that he wanted to be Barnabas Collins. It looks like he's getting his wish: the show is being made into a movie starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton.

Yikes. I'll be the one under the covers.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sorry, darlings*, all that being adored is exhausting! I need a little R & R. Be back soon.

*said in lilting Holly Golightly manner

It's My Anniversary.

So, I'm going to be busy being adored.

Happy Anniversary, J. xoxo

Sunday Night Confession.

When I was a young girl, around 6 or 7, I had a crush on Ray Rayner.

If you are from Chicago or possibly the Midwest, you will know who he was. He was like your crazy, hairy, old uncle. He had a duck named Chelveston and a stuffed dog named Cuddly Dudley. I remember the day he showed up in coveralls with notes tacked all over them (he could never remember what came next and he could then just pluck a note off his pants and follow the instructions on the note).

When I was somewhat older, I had a crush on Monty Hall from Let's Make a Deal.


What was wrong with me?