La Dolce Vita

My life is really great because . . . .

• I've been working out 6 days a week for the past few weeks and it's becoming a lifestyle change.
• I start most of my days with a blueberry, strawberry, banana shake.  yum.
• Every day that I don't meet a friend for lunch, I spend my whole hour reading a really great book.  I recently finished Murder After a Fashion by Grace Carroll and Murder of a Royal Pain by Denise Swanson.
• Every day I talk, g chat, text, email and facebook with people who love me, even if they live in other countries.
• I've discovered podcasts like This American Life where I can hear the most fascinating stories and learn about the world in such an interesting way.
• Lately, I've been holding a lot of babies.  I've reached that age where lots of friends have babies and I am finally getting to hold them for lengthy periods of time.  Holding a baby is the absolute best feeling in the world imho.
• I will be traveling to three different beaches in the next year, possibly on three different continents.
• I'm not comparing my life to the lives of my friends and acquaintances anymore. I've always gone to fancy schools and lived in zip codes like 10065, so I know a lot of people who take their comfortable lifestyles for granted.  I hope I never do reach that point.  All I have to do is compare my life now to what it's been in the past, and it feels like I'm floating on air.

Oh Shift! 2013

Apparently, the people at the pink palace are every bit as miserly and penny pinching as I am.  I thought for sure they would have dealt with their tech issues after the problems with last year's Lilly Pulitzer sale, but they won't fool me with their tall tales of getting their shift together after today's debacle.  I did manage to score some awesome pieces for which I am very grateful.  I finally found white dress number six.  Hopefully this will arrive in time for my bridal shower.

Kailene dress

Baby Britta dress in Resort White Daisy Lane Lace for my next friend to have a baby girl

Sami-Ryan dress for an up coming rehearsal dinner and a wedding in Palm Springs if I can get away with it.

Sarasota tunic in Turquoise to use as a bathing suit cover-up on the honeymoon.

Deep Blue Something

There's a certain excitement I feel when I watch a movie that takes place long ago in New York City.  Well I can get the same feeling from a book.  I live for those moments in The Great Gatsby and House of Mirth when the author describes some aspect of the city that is strikingly similar to the present.  The familiarity of streets and neighborhoods gives me a small thrill.  I just finished reading Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.  Holly Golightly is not a likable or sympathetic protagonist as far as I am concerned. Nevertheless, I enjoy imagining her apartment in the east seventies around the corner from Lexington, not far from where I live now in the east sixties.  It was easy to picture her riding a horse through Central Park and down Fifth Avenue.  I found Capote's description of my old neighborhood, Spanish Harlem, as "[a] savage, a garish, a moody neighborhood garlanded with poster-portraits of movie stars and Madonnas.  Sidewalk litterings of fruit-rind and rotted newspaper were hurled about by the wind" apropos. 

I enjoyed the book so much more than the movie.  Not one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies, I was always confused about how beloved this character was for women.  I think I get it now.  They are just enamored with the style and glamour of Audrey Hepburn in the movie.  From what I can remember Holly Golightly is far less crude in the movie and they almost skim over her back story quickly from what I can recall.  As much as I can't relate to its heroin, Breakfast at Tiffany's setting made it worth my time.

C is for Cookie

This is what I want for my birthday.

Heaven on a plate

Good Reads

Shadows of Lancaster County is an amazing book with multiple mysteries, lacking even a smidgen of superfluous filler.  Incredibly dense and exciting, I hung on Clark's every word. Within the first couple chapters the protagonist was held at gunpoint and chased around her house for heirloom rubies she knew nothing about.  Meanwhile her brother disappears and she has to return home and stay with Amish friends she grew up with so she can find him. This is my new gold standard for Christian mysteries.

I've also been reading a lot of wedding books to get in the mood for my impending nuptials.

 

I just started Revenge Wears Prada, but I thoroughly enjoyed Murder of a Wedding Belle and Buried in Buttercream.  In the latter, Savannah suffers through two ruined weddings and still finds her wedding planner's murderer.  One of the cutest things was that all her visiting siblings were named after various towns in Georgia, such as Alma, Atlanta, Jesup, Marietta, Macon, Vidalia and Waycross.  I wonder if you'd have to be from Georgia to have recognized this.

 

And I finished another Haley Randolf mystery last week which was a particularly fun read.  I can also recommend the Carter House Girls series, but it's way more appropriate for the teenage/early twenties crowd.  I just started reading the Fountainhead.  My mom is trying to read 100 books this year.  I'm giving her a run for her money.  

The Vineyard

There is nothing on during the summer so I'm forced to watch things like "The Vineyard."  I was looking forward to a fix since I've missed my opportunity to visit two summers in a row.  The show is pretty boring, but I guess it's better than nothing.  With such a beautiful and interesting backdrop I would think this would be an easy show to make.  Every book and movie I've watched that takes place there has been so good, so imagine my disappointment that reality tv missed every possible opportunity to capture what is so fun and enticing about this place.

PLATC A to Z

I have never done one of these, but I saw this one on another blog and thought it was cute so here goes . . .

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? CW, my fiance
C. Cake or pie? Funny Cake, a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dessert and technically a pie, so I guess both. 
D. Day of choice? Sundays, but only those when I'm not working.
E. Essential item? engagement ring
F. Favorite color? grass green 
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms, preferably sour
H. Home town? Augusta, Georgia
I. Favorite indulgence? cookies
J. January or July? July. I'll take warm or even scorching hot any day over cold.  I loath layers.
K. Kids? Hope to have one or two in the next five years.  Praying for them.
L. Life isn't complete without? family and friends that are like family
M. Marriage date? October 20, 2013
N. Number of brothers/sisters? one older sister aka my other best friend
O. Oranges or apples? apples, but ask me another day and you might get a different answer
P. Phobias? public restrooms, large spaces, guns, knives, nyc rats
Q. Quotes? Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that ever known.  - The Great Gatsby
R. Reasons to smile? warm weather, love, good food, a loyal friend
S. Season of choice? summer
T. Tag 5 people. Pass
U. Unknown fact about me? I was awarded the title of most dramatic after a lead role in our second grade play, the Traveler's Lantern.  Not much has changed.
V. Vegetable? potato, mashed or fried
W. Worst habit? Always saying yes.  I would live a much happier life if I told people no more often.  I spent so much of my youth and young adult life volunteering and helping others, that I neglected myself.
X. X-Ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound?  I'm not great with technology.
Y. Your favorite food? french fries, McDonald's style or Indian if we're talking cuisine
Z. Zodiac sign? I'm on the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces.  According to my tenth grade Spanish teacher, this means that I'm highly intelligent.