Peggy Sue Got Married

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

That's the premise of Peggy Sue Got Married, a film I have to admit I did not enjoy the first time around but have grown to love since. I just happened to catch it today and I was charmed at the innocence of 1960. Can you imagine, pantyhose hadn't been invented yet - remember when L'eggs actually came in a plastic egg - that was 1971!

What would it be like to re-visit yourself in High School? In my case would I re-visit my time spent at a Catholic girl's school or the public school that I graduated from?

Check out the tassels on the majorette's boots!

Bet you don't remember who else was in the movie besides Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage. How about Helen Hunt and Jim Carrey?

If you didn't much care for the movie like I orginally did, give it another chance. It is sweet and funny and I have to admit I teared up at the end. I think I'll have to get the DVD to add to my Chicklit DVD Library. If you'd like to nominate any other films for the libary let me know!

Bettina, Model and Muse

Bettina, a fashion memoir by Guy Schoeller. I happened upon this book and was immediately taken by the picture on the dust jacket. It was striking in its stark simplicity and I had to have it.

At age 18 Simone Micheline Bodin (Bettina) left her home in Normandy to arrive in Paris were she lived with a family and looked after their children. She managed to secure an interview with Jacques Costet a young couturier who had recently opened his showrooms. That interview was to change her life. The young Simone was interested in a career in fashion design but Costet surprised her by saying, Come back this afternoon. You will start as a model! That as they say was only the beginning.

Paris was the ideal backdrop for fashion photographs!

Hats "top off" any ensemble!

Portraits by Irving Penn, Paris 1950

In her little rented studio on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Life Magazine interviews and photographs Bettina for a feature article. She is shown with her cat Agathe.

The Red Shoes dress by Jacques Fath (1950). After this photo session by Irving Penn, large theatrical stoles were often used. Published in American Vogue.

Photo by Jean Chevalier as seen by Elle readers shows Bettina wearing a shirt from Hubert de Givenchy's first collection in 1952. The blouse was known as the Bettina Blouse and she and it became a phenom. Bettina was shown wearing it in every magazine by all the leading photographers.

Jacques Fath, Spring 1951

Photo taken at a shoot organized by German Vogue 1996

Perhaps it was her fresh freckled face, her round cheeks and red hair, her natural poise, unaffected manner and refreshing inexperience that combined to make Bettina (so nicknamed by Jacques Fath) a household name and the most famous French model of the 1950s.

Thanks again Fifi for a fun Fifi’s Fashionable Friday .

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and of course be sure to make it tres fashionable!

Shameless Plug Sunday - Part 5

It's Fresh and Exciting! Isn't that the name of a song by Kool and the Gang? Oooops, I may be showing my age. That song is from the deep dark 80s home to big hair and even bigger shoulder pads!

Anyway, it also describes this week's Shameless Plug Sunday! I was at Costco recently and they were passing out Del Monte's Fruit Naturals. I don't mean one or two slices of the cut up grapefruit, I mean the whole container full, all 8ozs of it and you know what, it was refreshing! I liked it so much I went back to pick up another one this time wearing a fake moustache! Well, I ended up putting a case full in my basket so I didn't have to embarass myself anymore! Besides I was running out of disguises.

A plus for me is that since I can't find my grapefruit spoons, don't know what happened to 'em, this product works out pretty well since it's already sectioned for you. As the saying goes, try it, you'll like it!

A Fashionable Tour Downtown

Ooooops, I am so sorry I accidently linked to Fahionable Friday and wasn't even ready so I am listed twice. So much for being tech savvy, NOT! Here is my fashionable post.

I spent a few days downtown recently and found this beautiful treasure of a shop.

Most everything in it is from Japan. The shopkeeper, Taka, was so much fun to talk with and I am sure you will find a few fashionable items to take home with you. Thanks Fifi for a Fashionable Friday !

Ohayou gozaimasu from San Diego! Ogenki desuka?

Good morning from San Diego! How are you? Here are a few lovely items for you to gaze at.

I thought these little flowers on the branch were a lovely idea!

A view looking out to the street

Are these daffodils? Not sure but they were beautiful.


Here's a friend who dazzled the shopkeeper Taka with his Japanese language skills! We both spent some time in Roppongi a district in Tokyo though not at the same time; we met much later in Hawaii. My Japanese unfortunately is dismal but what a great city! I didn't have any trouble finding my way around Tokyo.

sweet little birds

Hope you enjoyed your little visit. Enjoy your Fashionable Friday.

Sayonara!

Shameless Plug Sunday - Part 4

Michael Angelo's makes only the BEST frozen Italian meals ever and this is my favorite....Eggplant Parmesan. I've tried a few of their other meals but keep going back to this one. Really, the best description I can give you is that it tastes authentic. This particular dish rivals my Godmother's Italian cooking, God rest her soul! I once tried to get her recipes and she said what recipe??? It's a little of this and a pinch of that! Sadly, I never did get her Sunday gravy recipe or any of the other specialities she made. One of my favorite never forget moments is visiting with her in Brooklyn at about 13 years old. Queenie, my Godmother's nickname, and all the other Italian families would open their doors every Sunday and the most amazing smells would waft through the building...heaven on earth! Please be my guest and try this meal, you won't regret it! Mangia, mangia I can still hear my uncle calling for us to come to the dinner table!

Ciao Bella

The Time Thief

Call the police, call the national guard, bring in the marines!!! Someone stole one hour from me!

Oh brother, relax and step away from the phone, I go through this every year. It's the time thief's annual trip to my house. Did anyone have a hard time getting up? I did and so did Sadie the doggie.

As a result, we went for our morning walk about one hour later than usual....one hour...

imagine that!

I get a little crabby in the days following the time change. I can usually be found grumbling out loud about how it's really 5:30 and not 6:30 in the morning and should be in bed instead of getting the day started. Do I hear an Amen!

Did you know clocks have been around in various forms for a very long time, but even well-versed historians have difficulty in agreeing just how long. The word “clock” stems from the Latin “clocca,” for bell. One of the earliest types of clock was the sundial, the use of which began around 5,500 years ago. Of course one MAJOR disadvantge to this was that on cloudy days time literally stood still.

The far more efficient pendulum clock was invented by Dutch physicist Christian Huygens in the mid-1600s. Its accuracy has been much improved over the centuries. The advent of the quartz crystal movement, invented in the early 1900s, surpassed the mechanical clock for precision and is now the most widely used technology. However, to horology buffs, mechanical clocks and wristwatches are the ultimate timepiece.

Excuse me, horology???? Ah yes, the science of time keeping. Whatever you want to call it, I'm still missing one hour!

Ciao Bella

shots of downtown

Hello! I had to make a quick trip downtown and thought you might enjoy these images.

View of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres with the Gaslamp District in the background.


A backside view of the San Diego Convention Center


A sweet little park to sun yourself with palm tree sculptures and San Diego Bay in the background


The boardwalk with the San Diego Convention Center on the right.


Hope you enjoyed your visit!

Ciao!

Mission Bay

Good morning/afternoon/evening, wherever it is you are tuning in from! Thought you might enjoy a recent stroll I took along Mission Bay Park here in San Diego. Awhile back I used to work at a hotel along the bay but did not know the bay is the largest man-made aquatic park in the country....

Lilies and ferns

The Park consists of 4,235 acres, approximately 46% land and 54% water, and as you can see, offers a wide range of recreational activities including paths for walking and jogging, and playgrounds for the kiddoes.

A view through the Bird of Paradise and the city of Clairmont in the distance

I can't begin to tell you how beautiful the park is when the kite clubs get together and fill the skies with their exotic kites or when families are out on a picnic or sail. Fire rings make it possible to cook out and stay warm.. Annual attendance in the park hovers around 15 million. But this morning it's just me and my sister!

The dock

I'd LOVE to hear from you, let me know how you enjoyed the tour.

Come back again!

A few kitchen tips from moi!

Yes, I actually do enjoy spending time in my little galley kitchen cooking or baking up a storm. On of my favorite things to make and enjoy is chicken soup. Even Sadie the doggie loves it. I do chicken soup many different ways but the easiest no frills way involves a box of wild rice. Here comes the tip #1 - the seasoning packet from the box of wild rice (Uncle Ben's, etc.) makes for the tastiest chicken soup ever. You don't need any additional seasoning that little packet will do it all for you! Just follow the directions on the box and add to your pot of soup. I guess you could say this discovery was a happy accident!

Tip #2 - when making pancakes or waffles I always add flavored coffee creamer to the batter instead of plain milk. It makes for a tastier pancake and my fave flavor is hazelnut biscotti but any flavor will make for a delightful enhancement to your recipe.

And here's a really BIG Tip #3 which I discovered while surfing online. I was so shocked that I had to make sure for myself and darn it, why is it after 30 or so years in the kitchen I never knew this! Here's the scenerio....you're wrapping up leftovers and you get out your aluminum foil and as you pull at the foil it jumps out of the box! Right??? Well do yourself a favor the next time and look at both ends of the box. Notice anything? Right in front of your eyes, is a locking device! Just press the tabs inward and your roll of foil will behave itself the next time you need to use it. Yes! So what I'd like to know is just how long has that little device been there?

That's all for now my lovelies.

Ciao Bella

Junkin' and Jivin' Part Deux

Alright, take a good look at this picture and tell me if I didn't get a good deal for $17.50? I don't know how but I have been coming across some really good deals and steals lately! Let's break it down shall we??? (Pls click to enlarge photo). First of all the bench was only $2, sacre bleu! I'm still dizzy from that one! The large painting was $4 bought by an American student in France, next to it is a mousepad of Butte Montmartre for .50. Then a set of 4 handblown...never used...martini glasses for $5 - yes, somebody please pick me up! A small framed picture for $3 and a larger framed 60's original painting by a Korean artist also for $3. I do have a lovely frame that I'll be switching out with the flower painting. Yes, well I think this should do me for awhile!

Ciao Bella

Shameless Plug Sunday-3

I would love to present Tasty Bite's Madras Lentils. I accepted a sample while shopping at Costco and found it to be quite tasty as canned chili goes (actually it comes in a pouch). I didn't realize what kind of product it was because it tasted like chili , looked like it too so it had to be chili even tho it's not called chili! What I didn't realize was that it was vegetarian. I only noticed that tidbit after the fact because what I had really wanted was a chili dog but I didn't feel like making a pot of chili. Well, I guess the whole vegetarian thing got negated because I did have a hot dog. I suppose it doesn't even matter that the hot dog was kosher because well it's still meat. The lentils certainly don't replace a steaming pot of chili but if you find yourself strapped for time or are just plain lazy like I was then this item will certainly do the trick.

Ciao and hope you had a great Sunday.