Lucky Lindsay

** Caution -- Mad Men Spoiler Alert *

I know I shouldn't applaud adultery, but damn, Lindsay Weir. You go girl.

Combinatorial pizza

Think about it:

Four topping edition

Don't forget the cheese:

ALL OVER

Excalibur gray

Another design element I take pride in is my painted bedroom wall. Three years I've lived with Benjamin Moore's excalibur gray in my dreamspace, and my love for it is still going strong.

Daydreaming

It's been awhile since we've gawked at wallpaper, no?

My favorite daydreaming wallpaper is now for sale in tiles, in a variety of colors:

And more colors/prints

The cost of four tiles ($132) is more than the cost of one roll ($125). I'd buy the blue if I owned a wall. But for now, I could see getting a duo or trio of different color tiles and then somehow framing them.

I'll think about it...

Grapefruit spoons

I learned a major life lesson recently.

Here it is:

With a grapefruit spoon, you don't need to loosen the wedges out of the grapefruit with a sharp knife. You don't need both. You just need the grapefruit spoon.

Mind, blown.

How good are pink grapefruit colors. Come on, now. Spectacular.

In earlier years I've learned that you don't need to sprinkle sugar on grapefruit halves before eating, and that you can peel and eat a grapefruit like an orange (although the segment skins are rather bitter).

Amazing revelations, I know.

Take some time to absorb.

Reset button

Lately I've been ruminating about Reset buttons.

Will there be a thing that happens, a time clear as day that separates right now from your new improved future?

How do you find the means to reset your life barring life-threatening-event or near-death-activity? No head injury. No move. No marriage No baby. No new dog or workout plan. No weight loss. No vacation. No drug. No big decision. No particular shift in anything... just your habits. A reset of all your habits.

I suspect the desire for change is a shift. A shift in mindset.

Where is the reset button?

How does change happen?

.............

At times like these, I do a mini bow to Nike for Just Do It - the truest of all slogans.

Polka feet

one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.

The arrival of new seasons always makes me yearn for new shoes (how utterly cliché of me, I know). Miz Mooz has been my drug of choice since 2011, although I tend to buy and return them, like a sick joke. Those teeny blue polka dots peeking out from that brown pair above... I may need those.

Kitty Corner

If I ever have a lot of extra money, would I hire an interior decorator? My mother asked me this recently, to which I replied, "No, I can do it myself! I know what I like." She then said something along the lines of, "Well, honey, it doesn't really appear that way now."

Guilty as charged.

The fact is I do know what I like. I am capable of carrying out the mission. But doing it? That doesn't... happen. For years I've blamed my heavy rotation of less-than-inspiring rentals. Why bother? Excuses, excuses. Getting ideas from the brain to my body - prioritizing, doing - that's my challenge.

However there is one area in my home which garners an occasional compliment - my kitty corner. I thought my cats might like to eat in an art gallery. I'm not sure they notice or care, but it sure makes me happy. 

Would an experienced interior designer think of this? If so, I hope to find her if an when I have buckets of "extra money".

Best green chair ever, Edward Hopper, arches in Scotland, random old calendar picture, and my Cuteness

Learning to cook

I learned to cook by watching the Food Network during my junior year of college. Sure I had mastered Bisquick, grilled cheese, and tuna salad, but that was about it at the time. I had a 13 inch television, two twin mattresses pressed together on the floor of my room, and an absolute addiction to 30 Minute Meals.

Did I have so much as a hotplate? No. But I watched...

Rachael Ray drove me nuts will all her catch phrases and the way she said the same things all the time, every time she did that thing. I KNOW YOU ALWAYS ADD A PINCH OF NUTMEG TO YOUR DARK GREENS OH MY GOOOOOOOOD!!! Gotta make people say, "Hmmmm, what is that?" I KNOW IT'S GOD DAMN NUTMEG YOU'VE TOLD ME A MILLION TIMES!!!!!

Once I realized that she, like me, is a dork I began to love and appreciate Rachael. All that repetition taught me how to cook. I'm forever in her debt.

My favorite was always Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. She still presents me with my dream kitchen, dream garden, dream ingredients, dream ease and dream blissfulness. I watched every episode of Food 911 starring Tyler Florence - how these "helpless" women would get him into their kitchens and flit and flutter and flirt with him was highly entertaining. "So that's how you open a can. I had no idea! You're so smart!" I still crave his Mediterranean pasta. Over on PBS (I think) I watched everything with Nigella Lawson I could find. I still want to make carbonara with her, then drink spicy hot chocolate and test drive new lipstick shades. Michael Chiarello always made things look easy and divine. I actually bought gray salt.

And recently my pasts collided in front of my On Demand face:

On her CA trip Ina spends time with Michael Chiarello and Tyler Florence.
How she flatters them when I know she already knows what they preach is so sweet.
Be still my heart, fairy godmother.

Nowadays I loathe so much of the non-educational programming on the Food Network. Restaurant Stakeout - are you fucking kidding me? Worst Chefs in America - get the hell out of here. Restaurant Impossible - kill me now.

Give me more Pioneer Woman and Giada and Ina. Give me back Michael and Nigella. Where's Ellie? Give me great cooks and chefs teaching me sexy sauces in the prime time. Go global. Steal Nadia from the Cooking Channel. Educate me. Inspire me.

And for fuck's sake FIRE GUY FIERI!!!!