I. T. Stencil Sneak Preview.

She is looking pretty, non? (Pretend like I tucked in that top sheet.) Yes, I have a candle going during the day because it smells so good and SOMETHING has to keep me in here. And this smells like spring (that's its name).

Aromatique Smells like Spring

I am still painting because see this?

I must now HANDPAINT every little space doohickey. It's out of control. I am also painting the other side of the room today (sitting room) with two coats of BM Linen White (the ceiling will be painted white) then I will be exhausted so maybe tomorrow or Thursday I will begin stencilling that wall. Maybe.

Meanwhile, I am looking at beds and headboards:

Colette, Crate & Barrel

York, Pottery Barn

Target Uptown

And watching this while working:

Kris Kristofferson in this movie is totally on my Free-Pass Five.

And this:
Or maybe I'll just lie here... just kidding.

Call Me Disappointed.

Julianne Moore plays Charley; headboard in Laura Ashley Tilbury in Lapis

After waiting and waiting and waiting to see A Single Man, I finally found it playing at the beach. We happened to get away for a break this weekend to find the only playing time was 9:45 pm which is something nearing my bedtime and way past my husband's snorey pre-bedtime on the couch.

Anyway, I convinced him to go with me so we went to Fins for dinner to bide some time. I had this:

Lovely Bruschetta with mucho garlic and red onion

And this:


And two of these:

Evolution Craft No. 3 IPA

Which may explain why I may or may not have fallen asleep during this:

I love Colin Firth and Julianne Moore and this movie was a beautiful thing to behold but I never really felt the sense of despair I should have and was bored and, frankly, the ending sort of pissed me off because I thought it was predictable. I expected so much more...

Did you see it? Love it? Hate it? Comments?

VH-1 Classic: Flashdance!!

Oh, the memories this conjures... I'm embarrassed to say. (But watch it tonight!)

Sunday Night Confession: Notorious.

Last night my husband and I were watching Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman and during the scene where Cary and Ingrid are on the balcony in Rio de Janiero my husband says to me, "She reminds me of you."

"Who?" says I. "Ingrid Bergman??!!"

"Yes."

That's the best compliment I've ever received.

I Love Meryl Streep Again.

I saw Julie & Julia yesterday and am happy to inform Meryl that she is off my shit-list from the whole Mamma Mia debacle. She was wonderful and really stole the movie (it should have been renamed Julia & Julie).

I was completely charmed by the love story between Paul and Julia Child and fell a little in love with Stanley Tucci, too, as Child's doting husband. Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay and cleaned it up tout de suite (the book and Julie's blog had the f-bomb every other word and offended many delicate readers).

The kitchens Julia Child cooked in were very small and tended to be unfitted because they lived in Europe in the late 40s and early 50s. Which is funny because the larger and fancier the American kitchen has become, the less cooking actually goes on in it. I love a kitchen with tiled walls and a big pine table in the middle of it, separated! (gasp!) from the family room so I can hide the mess I made from actually cooking! I've always been a renegade...

Speaking of kitchens, the new issue of House Beautiful is a must-buy (and not because it's practically THE ONLY SHELTER MAGAZINE LEFT!). Windsor Smith did this Polo Blue kitchen which I am head-over-heels in love with. There are also black rooms galore (so Black is the New Black, after all, or is Blue the New Black? whichever, I solemnly promise not to use that phrase anymore :-).


But I do find myself admiring blue in a way I never did before. So when I saw 500 Days of Summer starring my girl crush, Zooey Deschanel, I fell in love with her little apartment. Simple, blue toile, iron bed, white-tiled kitchen, quirky little touches like origami birds. Sweet. Sweet movie as well, although as it warns: it is not a love story.

Sunday Night Confession.

I was a latchkey kid.

In third grade, I would walk my little brother home and watch him until my mom got home from work.

Somehow, I started watching Dark Shadows. It scared the bejesus out of me but I was too fascinated by the vampires and ghosts not to watch. What with Barnabas Collins and the ghost who would appear after the scent of lilacs filled the room? I would wake up in the middle of the night convinced that I smelled lilacs and wait, terrified, for the ghost to appear in my bedroom.

So I used to watch the show while standing by the front door with one hand on the screen door handle (the front door was already open) so I could run out of the house in case anything paranormal appeared in my living room.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Dark Shadows was a gothic soap opera with ghosts and all manner of supernatural goings on and a cast of ultra-creepy characters. It aired from the mid-60s to the early 70s. I just read that Johnny Depp was so obsessed with Barnabas Collins that he wanted to be Barnabas Collins. It looks like he's getting his wish: the show is being made into a movie starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton.

Yikes. I'll be the one under the covers.

Slumdog Millionaire.

One word: Go.

Oh, and some more words: I say this every year but this year I absolutely am going to see all the Oscar-nominated movies (which I guess will be announced later this week) before the Academy Awards.

I always watch the Golden Globes and the Oscars much to the dismay of the rest of my family. Except the dogs. They are pretty good to do whatever I want and they never make fun of my TV choices. Although Stella will howl through any CSI type of show with sirens. Or any type of series or movie or parade with sirens. Or dogs. She's genius like that.

Have you seen any movies you think are Oscar-worthy? Could you not care less?

Next on my list: Revolutionary Road.

The King and I You.

It's Elvis' birthday today and I know you are all wondering how you can celebrate, so I've put together a few ideas.

If you cannot manage a quick flight over to Graceland in Memphis on such short notice, you can stay home and make fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches in Elvis' likeness.

Elvis-shaped bread via A Welsh View

Rent "Viva Las Vegas" and pretend you are Ann-Margret. Consider hyphenating your first and middle names and just deleting your last name.

Spray paint your Caddy gold.

Elvis Cadillac via Jenny How

You could go all out and get your hunka-hunka-burnin'-love over to the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel for your very own Doo Wop Wedding. Or you can begin your bedroom redo based on the specialness that is the Elvis and Priscilla Suite at the VLV Hotel:

Doesn't it look like a "While You Were Out" project?

Or you could call in sick and watch Elvis movies on TCM. Or click on this YouTube video of the Elvis '68 comeback special:



Nobody rocked the sideburns (and black leather) like the King, baby. Nobody.

Lovely Weekend Distraction.

My friend Carolyn co-produced "The Duchess," a sumptuous look at the fascinating life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. A celebrated beauty and socialite, as well as a political activist and gambler, she was reproached for her extravagant personal and political life.

I recently saw a portion of an interview with Keira Knightley, who lamented the press' comparison between Georgiana and her descendant, Lady Diana Spencer. However, the comparisons are great, both having been celebrated for their beauty, unhappiness in their marriages (which involved more than two people), extramarital affairs and political activism.

However, considering that Georgiana lived a century before women's suffrage, it's interesting to see the boldness with which she lived her life. It's also interesting to see how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Starring the unfairly gorgeous Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. And any way you say it, it's still spelled Ralph.

*UPDATE: The movie was released the weekend of Sept. 19 in limited release; to all theaters Sept. 26*