Chitty-Chitty Big Bang.

Of course you've read about the new super-mega-collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), lurking under the border of France and Switzerland that's going to smash atoms and quarks and other subatomic particles in an effort to try to recreate the Big Bang. If it doesn't work, it could create black holes big enough to suck up the Earth.

In fact, Stephen Hawking has a $100 bet that it won't work (that they won't find God's particle, that is). He thinks it will be more fun if it doesn't work because then they'll have to figure out what went wrong.

I want to party with Stephen Hawking.

And the guy who came up with this:

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Dueling Price Tags.

I've noticed the same merchandise in different stores or catalogs for vastly different prices. For instance, this table appears in the Source Perrier catalog for $675 ;


and in the Room Service Home catalog for $349.


Now, these appear to be the exact same table, but if one was a copy, would you care?

For instance, Poul Henningsen's artichoke lamp, with a pricetag of $16,900 is available at Design Within Reach.


Here is a replica from Matt Blatt in Australia for $995 (made of aluminum rather than stainless steel):


Here is a light fixture from Federico Martinez for $650.


A replica can be found at Shades of Light for $295 (also available in rustic rust finish).


And then there is the Saarinen tulip table - at Design Within Reach for $1,400 - $3,450.


Ikea has the Docksta for $269.


Finally, Jonathon Adler's Chinese Chippendale chair (armless) for $550.


Here, Ballard Designs version (with arms) for $279.


Can you tell the difference? Or is it like cubic zirconium - you would just know?

Jealous?

Maybe your next car will be a Prius.

Actually, we have gone all green over here (where green equals saving mucho gas). I have a Prius and my husband has a Subaru Outback (because he tows a boat on occasion) but we also have Vespas which get 72 mpg (and look really cool):


His is black and he drives it to work in the city. Mine is baby blue and I drive it at the beach (and I don't pay for parking). He has an electric scooter that he uses at the beach which can go 25 miles on a charge and which costs about 1 cent per mile to run (considering electric recharge).


It cracks me up because it looks all hot-roddy and he is old. Ha. He will read this and be offended so what I meant to say was that he looks like Steve McQueen on that thing (and he does, actually). Meanwhile, he will laugh all the way to the bank on a vehicle that cost less than $1,000, getting infinite miles per gallon...

Do Not Forget to Entertain Strangers.

Newport Beach, CA - 2006

"This is the Angel Gabriel. I met him on the Newport Beach pier as he was eating French Fries out of a trash can. He was homeless and hungry. I asked him if he would help me with a photograph and in return, I would buy him lunch.

The pier was very crowded and I wanted to take a 30-second exposure so that everyone would disappear except Gabriel. We tried a few shots and then Gabriel wanted to mess up his hair and hold his bible. The image worked and the only people you can see besides Gabriel are those 'ghosts' who lingered long enough for the camera.

Gabriel and I then went into a restaurant to share a meal; he ordered steak with mushrooms and onions. When it came, he ate it with his hands. I discovered he was Romanian and so am I, so we talked about Romania. He was simple, kind and a pleasure to talk with.

I asked Gabriel how I might contact him, in case I sold some of the photographs and wanted to share the money with him. He said I should give the money to someone who could really use it; that he had everything that he needed.

Then the Angel Gabriel walked away, content and carrying his only two possessions: a Bible and a bed roll."

Visit the author and photographer at colethompsonphotography.com.

There are 72?

Buy it from Amazon.

Enlighten me.

I have lived in my current house for three years. Late last fall, I removed several recessed lights from the dining room and added a box for a chandelier. I have been looking for a chandelier ever since.

I have plenty of photos of chandeliers I think are perfect:

from dining by design

Mary MacDonald's house

estate in Wilmington, DE; still for sale here, reduced to $6 million

So, at least I'm consistent; but I couldn't find anything like them. So I turned to eBay and in a drunken enthusiastic bidding frenzy ended up with this:

It turns out that my measurements weren't exactly accurate and it's too small. Also, the wiring is such that it hangs about 6 feet too high from the table. Instead of getting it rewired (because it would still be too small and it is much too old-fashioned and dreary), I decided to replace it. So...

I looked at this fixture from Currey & Co.:


I considered this beauty from Waterford:

But they seemed a little froofy. And since our house is 100 years old, thinking it needed a little modern glam, I finally decided on this light from Williams-Sonoma Home:

I ordered it with brown silk and also ivory silk shades (the walls are brown so I'm not sure which color will work) and it is gorge. Well, in theory it is gorge. It came yesterday and was all scratched up. It seems to have been previously installed and the glass tubes were not only scratched up but had some kind of moisture on the inside, so I am having another delivered and hopefully that one will work out.

I also ordered a matching sconce for the wall going up the stairs to the second floor (also with brown shades). It arrived and is beauteous:

Now I just need to replace the bare bulb hanging in the entryway (an eBay delivery disaster left me without a light as I had already removed the old lantern) and two lights for the upstairs hallway (one currently fake-Tiffany and one bare, newly installed bulb).

I find lighting the most difficult thing about decorating. And I have scoured every lighting source I can find on the internet. Because Delaware isn't exactly a home design mecca, but more on that later...

Spinachy goodness.

My stepdaughter is coming over tonight (from college) for her birthday dinner. She asked me to make spanakopita because she is veggie and it's her favorite. So, this is what I'll be making:

It is also one of my favorite things. You can freeze the leftovers and reheat in the oven and it tastes freshly made. Yum.

The recipe is from the Joy of Cooking All About Vegetarian cookbook. Find the recipe here.

Time for some pretty.

I love the Williams-Sonoma Home store. The new September 2008 catalog cover doesn't really appeal to me, but the images inside do.


It is no surprise to me that I love this catalog so much. The March 2008 House Beautiful had an article on two of the men responsible: Patrick Wade, Sr. VP of Creative for West Elm and W-S Home and Dave DeMattei, Group Pres. for Williams-Sonoma. If you didn't see it, here is their fab place in San Fran:



I was so excited to see this because I had just finished painting my living room brown and it sort of confirmed my fabulous taste for me. :-) Here's my room immediately after painting, with furniture still moved around:

The furniture has been moved since then and the dead flowers are long since buried. Here's the before photo (you can see that I was going to try to make that yellow work with KWID's ubiquitous Imperial Trellis pattern - keep in mind this was 2 years ago, before said fabric was overdone):

It's a dark, north-facing room, so I (and apparently those before me) spent many, many hours searching for a color to lighten it up but I finally gave into its coziness and sort of recreated one of our favorite cocktail lounges which is what this room is used for practically every day in the cold months. I still haven't recovered or replaced those white chairs (which used to have leopard slipcovers).

Are you kidding me?

Cheney slams Russia for war against Georgia

By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 4, 10:56 AM ET

TBILISI, Georgia - Demonstrating Washington's support for war-ravaged Georgia, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney condemned Russia for what he called an "illegitimate, unilateral attempt" to redraw this U.S. ally's borders by force. For the complete story, click here.

Can you believe a country would illegimately and unilaterally invade a nation to usurp its oil supply? I've rarely heard of such behavior and I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

I long for the days when Cheney was only shooting his friends in the face. Want to play? Click here to see what it's like to be a card-carrying member of the NRA.

Traitor Joe.

If you're a Republican, do you even want him?

Beauty.

I have a hair appointment today. As usual, I will take in a photo like this:
And I will tell my adorable, gorgeous, young hairdresser/stylist/designer that this is what I want my hair to look like. Uh huh. And I will be serious. Then she will say something real like, "Well, are you sure you want to make that kind of a time commitment toward daily hairstyling? Because you realize it took 5 stylists and 4 makeup artists 12 hours to create that, not to mention 5 years of pilates 3 times a day?" Yeah.

Then I say, "Well, how about this one?"
And because my stylist is looking forward to a very large tip, she doesn't smirk. She just says, "Well, this is brown and the other is blonde. Which do you prefer?"

And I say, "This?"
She will just smile. And I will say, "Oh, I'm just kidding. Let's do it like last time."

And I will leave with highlighted hair and a suburban mom blowout, cursing Angelina Jolie and her perfectly coiffed, glamorous ilk.

Welcome to my dreamworld.