When we were done with our lunch, and leaving the restaurant to resume our school shopping ordeal, I caught sight of a blonde woman in the store window. She was wearing this cute little black and white dress, black cotton sweater around her waist and she had a bra strap hanging out. Turquoise no less! You know how I feel about this! Go get a Strap Perfect Lady! And I looked in the store window again and saw... that... the person in the cute dress with turquiose bra strap was... me!!!!!!
Below was the dress I wore... I suppose I should have had the sweater around my shoulers... but it was too hot out... and I was doing my best to cover my Muffin Top!
And now to answer your questions... your requests as to what I shall write about...
Dearest Mme. Pinot After Playdates,
Firstly I have a question for you. Why do you save your Pinot for after the Playdates? Ok, now to answer yours... How do I prepare my weekly meal plans?
Honestly, I do try to plan a meal where we can all sit down together at least 4 nights a week. It's important to me to keep the family together because during the year everyone is off in a different direction, doing his or her own different thing. And while we all live eat, and sleep under the same roof, at times it seems as though a bunch of strangers are milling about. I know I have been moaning about wanting the kids to go back to school, but that is not necessarily easier. The schedules and rushing around are tough and their schedules are demanding on me. I'm not a planner by nature as I am very impulsive. During the summer months I may plan something for dinner and then, at the eleventh hour change my mind completely. Kids are used to this. Drives them bonkers! For family meals I prepare healthy and good meals that do not require a lot of prep time. While the weather is warm we still eat a lot of salads. The croc pot comes out when the weather cools. And yet, we do grill year round. Not really an answer is it? As I said I am impulsive so I cook what the mood strikes me with the ingredients I have in the house. I try to keep a well stocked pantry and fridge for just this reason!
My Darling Liz,
You need healthy snacks for Connor's preschool and you mention my addiction for Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Well there ya go. Pumpkin Spice Lattes! Pumpkin is loaded with Vitamin A and milk is loaded with Calcium and protein. So there's your answer! You will be the talk of the town and Mommies across the state will be wanting their own play dates with you!
In answer to your kabob question. I do not cover the tips. It has never been an issue. But now that you mention it, I am truly amazed that my children have not ever tried to turn their skewers into swords!
Dearest Funny Karlan,
I cannot begin to even think about the ice and the snow as we are melting here in Connecticut. All summer long I have wanted summer to come. And now it is here. I bite my tongue and will be careful for what I wish for. I dream of cardigans and quilted coats and downy vests for the kids. If I blast the air really high I can pretend that fall is approaching. So now I have what I wanted and I don't want it. Grass is always greener on the other side. Unless you are in Connecticut in the middle of an August heatwave. Then, the grass might well be browner on the other side!
I do not resort to the same measure we did to keep warm in college... many of those measures taking place in your room!
Darling Beth,
A few of my favorites things... Christmas and Thanksgiving... the first snow... my old neighborhood on Halloween... champagne (and yes I adore caviar too!)... m&ms... a nice long soak in the Jacuzzi with a glass of wine and a good book... playing in the ocean with the kids... Alexander's laugh... shopping when I can find a great bargain... my bed... cooking for and entertaining with my friends... photography... writing... my TB black sandals... my white JR sandals... my silver Reva flats... the smell of rain... the smell of freshly mowed grass... afternoon cocktails in the warm sunshine... curling up in bed during a great snow/rainstorm... curling up on the couch with the kiddos for a good movie...
Sweetest Mandy.... Oh Mandy!
My favorite Milli Vanilli song would be Blame it on The Rain! I love Milli Vanilli still! I don't care whether they were imposters or not! Their tunes were upbeat and fun and so very 80s... or was it 90s?
Anyhow I had a post last summer about Milli Vanilli and Mandy came out of the Bad Song Closet too, professing her love of MV as well!
In college I had a VW Jetta. It was red and cool and I loved it. What I did not love was the fact that it was broken into constantly. At least 7 times. Once the thieves had the audacity to take the stereo system but left my Milli Vanilli CD behind. You cannot imagine how terribly insulted I was by this! Oh to have a car in Boston in the 1990s...
Dearest BennettAnne...
I have no clue as to how to raise a 10 year old girl! I sure could use some pointers though!
And for your question as to how I met my husband... He crashed my Christmas party!
Seriously! I was living in tony Greenwich, Connecticut with my roommates Shaun and Kristen. Kristen was kinda sorta dating this guy (who is still very good friends with us all!) and told him that we were going to have a big Christmas party. Jason then showed up with a dozen single men. I was furious. I hadn't planned on their arrival. I had neither enough food nor alcohol. I was also dating someone at the time. Though he was more interested in his career than he was in me! All my friends were trying to set me up with him, a nice Catholic boy from a large family. (I'm a nice Jewish girl from a small family!) All my friends were talking with him. I was not interested. Not in the least. He was polite enough and came with a bottle of wine. Kendall Jackson. It was what we knew and drank at the time, nearly 14 years ago. He left the party because he had another to go to. But he came back. With another bottle of wine. He had me at Chardonnay! It still took a while. Eventually we went on a date. We went to a fabulous sea food restaurant called the Elm Street Oyster House on Elm Street in Greenwich. I wonder if it's still there... our friend Timmy was a bartender there... eventually this chic city girl saw something in the country bumpkin... and the rest is history... for better or worse!
Now I must remove myself from the computer... I have been working on this for about 2 hours (with about 267 interruptions) as I have loads of clothes to put away... 4 overflowing laundry baskets and all those back to school purchases... I managed to pick out a couple of things myself... such as this adorable pink seersucker skirt from Ralph Lauren. It was originally priced close to $200 (YIKES!) and I snagged it for $19.99!
and this really cute J.Crew jacket I snagged from the outlet on sale too... (though not nearly as good a deal as the above!)
and these pants... I know, I know, they're awfully loud, you're thinking to yourselves. But I'm loud. So perfect!
But actually, when paired with chunky pearls, a little black sweater and little black sling-backs, are quite adorable! I'm thinking that's why these pants didn't sell either. You have to have vision. And when you have a vision no one else has, you can pick up potentially really cute pants for $19.99 too!
Ok, that's it... I'm done... need to pay some attention to the kids today... seeing as it's already almost Noon... which means we are that much closer to Five O'clock... at least for us East Coast Girls (better yet to be in Europe right now) and when it is That Time I will be pouring myself another one of these...
It's the best thing, in my opinion, to come out of the UK... It's a Pimm's Cup and it is fabulush!