25 December 2010

Merry Christmas!

Ah the majesty of Christmas...



"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white @ss down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of @ssholes this side of the nuthouse". - Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase)

23 December 2010

Back on Track

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life,
because you get out of it what you put into it."

                                                           -Oprah Winfrey

henri cartier-bresson, 1968


Here's my inspiration to get back to running...and to stop eating all of the cookies, pastries, chocolates and whatever else in the gift baskets sent to the office.

22 December 2010

Hooray for Winter Solstice

Perhaps it's the Celtic pagan left in my blood that makes me a firm believer in the astrological wonders. In any case, thank goodness the winter solstice arrived on December 21st. The shortest day and longest night of the year is over. Bring on the sun!

10 December 2010

Let's Eat!

We're off to the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park this weekend. The Sailor will be learning how to cook all sorts of Parisienne bistro specialties. Moi- I'm checking out the Christmas decorations at the FDR mansion. It's better that way.


Excited for American Bounty! Review to follow.

07 December 2010

"A Philosophical Fable"


A cozy spot to curl up on a snowy day and read...


It's been awhile since I read a book that really captured my imagination and moved me. But as soon as I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I wanted to read it again. I read it for the story the first time, but it's chock full of symbolism and philosophical musings worth consideration. Highly recommended!

From Litlovers.com:

"We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us."

04 December 2010

All I want for Christmas...

All I want for Christmas...is just the green dress.

I just really want the green dress. I'd wear it everywhere.



Pu-leeeza. I've been good.

Vacation!

Vacation!
Vacation! Well, not really vacation yet. Ms.-Behind-the-Times just learned how Polyvore works.
 
SITE DESIGN BY DESIGNER BLOGS