Fabulous Me?
What’s Jack up to? Jack’s been enjoying being a wild dog. Having the twins at home this week has been exciting for him. He was full of energy as the wind whipped through his now too long hair on our afternoon walk yesterday.
I want to give a big thanks to Product Junkie Diva for ever so kindly honoring me with a Your Blog is Fabulous Award. Isn’t this lady with her dog so chic? Please go and check her fab blog out here where she discusses her wonderful beauty product obsession. Thanks so much PJD! I’m quite humbled and so grateful to all my blog friends who stop by daily.
I now have the pleasure of passing the award on to 5 other bloggers that I think are fab. This is tough as I admire so many of you, but here goes in no particular order:High-Heeled Foot In the Door– For her fab style and outlook on home decor.Babbling about Books-Katie knows books and loves to talk about them.Harlem Loves– Miss Stylishly cool. She helps to keep me hip from London or at least make me think I am sort of hip.I Pick Pretty– Because she’s pretty and snarky and I like that.Ina J. Offret– Who knew Alaska could be so hot or have such cool peeps? Did you know they drink champagne there every Thursday just because it’s Thursday? Loves that!
Ladies please follow the rules and pass on the love to 5 blogs that you think are fab too.
Please be sure to check these fab blogs out. You won’t be disappointed.
Best,KwanaTop Big Easy- Spoilers Ahead!
Top Chef in the Big Easy- Warning please don’t read if you don’t want to know…
Ok I warned you. Small admission first. I still have to watch my DVR’s Not So Real Housewives. What did Bravo think putting the premiere on at 11:oo? Crazy. I needed a disco power nap to get ready for that thing. Now to Top Chefery…Chefs arrive in New Orleans and Carla is all blown out and ready to rumble. Stefan is pumped up. Fabio has a Mohawk. And Hosea is… Hosea.Emeril Lagasse is the guest judge in New Orleans. Surprise. Not. The quick fire is confusing. They bring back Jamie, Jeff and Leah for a chance to get back into the competition. What?! Nobody is happy. The three of them compete against each other in a crawfish challenge for a place back in the competition.
Leah talks about being bitter about being kicked out. I think some will be bitter if she’s kicked back in.
Jamie’s messing with poached an egg which worries me. But I like her haircut.
Jeff is seasoning like crazy. He must have come with the Bam sauce.
Emeril picks the winner and it’s Jeff. I’m actually happy for him. But his victory is snatched as Padma tells him he has to win the elimination challenge to stay in the game. Oh snap.The Chefs go to Mardi Gras World (bit of trivia: the DH and I had dinner there when in the Big Easy it was quite fun) and are given instruction and shown a new car like on The Price Is Right. The winner of this challenge gets the car. Nice.
Chefs must do 2 dishes and one must be Creole plus a drink.
Best comment of the night I think came from Hosea who said it would have been the first Top Chef without a Mohawk to Fabio who showed up with it in New Orleans! That was funny.
Stefan goes for a smoke and doesn’t make sausage from scratch? Way to sweat Stefan.
Carla said she’s going to have to MacGyver it. I hear ya.
Carla doesn’t drink and she’s going for it with Non-Alcoholic in New Orleans. Risky but cool.We find out that Gail is back and Carla cheers. I want to cheer too. Toby the sour puss won’t be missed by the chefs or Tom I suspect.
The masqueraders come into the ball and Carla thinks it beautiful and Fabio is reminded of an old porno movie. He just kills me.
Jeff- Gets good reviews.
Stefan-ok, but rue is not dark enough.
Fabio-a parade in the mouth. Nuff said.
Carla-Hootie Hoo!
Hosea-did good on the gumbo.
I have no clue who is going home.Judges table too funny. Why was Fabio giving Hosea that funny stare? What?! I laughed so hard. Tom’s face at Stefan’s comment also priceless.
Decision time. Judges say there was a clear winner and it was…Carla!!! Thanks for telling me judges.
Carla won the challenge and a new car!! I’m so happy.
Sorry to Jeff. Buh-buy.
Hosea is in.
It’s down to the dynamic duo. Stefan and Fabio.
And Fabio has to pack his knives and go. I’m not happy about it. Of course it’s all based on attitude since I can’t taste the food but Stefan’s attitude should have sent him home.
I’m for Carla all the way. Hootie Hoo!!
Best,KwanaSophomoric Reading
Thankfully Mr. Electric came by with his silent partner and saved the day. Fixing the faulty plug and quickly pointing out that we had a potential fire hazard in the ancient wiring. Whew. Just call me grateful.
To celebrate I took the kids to the not so free movie night to see Coraline. Yep, they were the oldest kids in the movie and the DS made a good show of protesting, saying he wanted to see Friday the 13th, but admitted to enjoying it all the same. The DD liked it plenty since Coraline was one of her favorite books a few years back and she was actually looking forward to seeing the movie. Especially since she has a creepy painted over crawl space in the back of her closet that we have never been able to open. It’s all very Coraline. Before the movie the Dear Twins and I went to Barnes and Nobel they both had to pick up books for literary circles they are in for their English classes.Check out what counts for 10 grade reading these days:
This is what the DS is reading. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Synopsis
Each morning, Bhima, a domestic servant in contemporary Bombay, leaves her own small shanty in the slums to tend to another woman’s house. In Sera Dubash’s home, Bhima scrubs the floors of a house in which she remains an outsider. She cleans furniture she is not permitted to sit on. She washes glasses from which she is not allowed to drink. Yet despite being separated from each other by blood and class, she and Sera find themselves bound by gender and shared life experiences.
Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage. A widow, she devotes herself to her family, spending much of her time caring for her pregnant daughter, Dinaz, a kindhearted, educated professional, and her charming and successful son-in-law, Viraf.
Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. Cursed by fate, she sacrifices all for her beautiful, headstrong granddaughter, Maya, a university student whose education — paid for by Sera — will enable them to escape the slums. But when an unwed Maya becomes pregnant by a man whose identity she refuses to reveal, Bhima’s dreams of a better life for her granddaughter, as well as for herself, may be shattered forever.
Poignant and compelling, evocative and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.And here is t
he DD’s is Prisoner of Tehran by Marina NematSynopsis
What would you give up to protect your loved ones? Your life?
In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini’s brutal Islamic Revolution.
In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, “If you don’t like it, leave.” She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed.
Soon she was arrested with hundreds of other youths who had dared to speak out, and they were taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Two guards interrogated her. One beat her into unconsciousness; the other, Ali, fell in love with her.
Sentenced to death for refusing to give up the names of her friends, she was minutes from being executed when Ali, using his family connections to Ayatollah Khomeini, plucked her from the firing squad and had her sentence reduced to life in prison. But he exacted a shocking price for saving her life — with a dizzying combination of terror and tenderness, he asked her to marry him and abandon her Christian faith for Islam. If she didn’t, he would see to it that her family was harmed. She spent the next two years as a prisoner of the state, and of the man who held her life, and her family’s lives, in his hands.
Lyrical, passionate, and suffused throughout with grace and sensitivity, Marina Nemat’s memoir is like no other. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth — each of whom she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness.
Both look delicious and I want dive into them too. I think I will.Best,
KwanaLet There Be Light…. please.
Hello Tuesday. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments on Jack’s Obamicon yesterday. I hope you all had a nice President’s Day holiday.I got to spend a few hours alone with the DH while the Dear Teen Twins went their own ways. Sadly, it was not bliss, as on Saturday night, in the “now what else can go wrong?” category, our electricity went out in the kitchen and dining room. No, I don’t know why there is an ancient plug upstairs in the DD’s room that controls my kitchen’s power. Ask them.
No, the electrician does not work on Sunday or a holiday. And no, I do not want to pay extra for an emergency worker that I don’t know and who does not know my old 1940’s house.And Yes, all I thought when I first saw it was “aww pretty,” smart huh?
illustration by pve design
Cut to me on Sunday throwing out bags and bags of now spoiled food. Sigh. And No, I didn’t remember there was a carton of Chocolate ice cream back there in the freezer. Eww.
Today, I hope Mr. Electric comes by and doesn’t break the bank or a wall. All this in time for vacation week with the kids. Grrrr… way to keep it stress free.In another funny but really not so funny moment, cut to me again, in the neurologist office as she tells me how I’ll feel so much better and less stressed if I got in more exercise. It works for her getting it done at 5am before her children are up. Yeah, like turning over works for me at that hour. Where do these pod people come from?
In the “keeping it light” category. Remember way back when how I was going to try and stay positive? Snort. The new Vogue comes out today with First Lady Michelle Obama. I can’t wait to get a look see! I know she will at least look calmer and way more put together than I feel today. Love her style.
Best,
Kwana
Happy President’s Day!
What’s Jack up to? Jack’s wishing you all a Happy President’s Day.
Sure there is plenty to be down about with this economy, but so many more reasons to hope. So what do you all think? Jack for Commerce Secretary?
Best,KwanaP.S.
Anybody checking out reality tv? Survivor is back with the early crazy along with The Amazing Race. And I’m so excited to say The Not So Real Housewives of the NYC premiers tomorrow. I really wasn’t into the OC, but you know I’m all about New York. I’ll be watching. If only for Alex and Simon on the beach.P.P.S. make your own Obamicon here
Lover on the Run
I was not going to post today. But after all my swooning over my lover last week I happened to be over at The Satorialist and what do I see, but this beauty.
Birkin in motionI just had to share.
Happy Sunday! Enjoy.best,
KwanaHappy Valentine’s Day
Smooches to all of you. We hope your weekend is filled with lots of love.
Love,Kwana & JackKeep it Simple- Share the Love
What’s Jack up to? Jack had fun barking his head off at the utility workers outside our house trimming trees for quite a while yesterday. It was a big treat for the Alpha Dog.
So Valentine’s Day is falling on Saturday this year. It’s been a long time since that happened. I’m sure it will be impossible to step a toe into just about any restaurant in town without a month old reservation. And really do I want to deal with the crowds? I don’t know.The idea of a Saturday Valentine’s day seems like a little more pressure than the usual weekday Valentine of flowers delivered and a quiet evening meal. Although I may say I want the dining and dancing of a fab evening, in the end I’m a simple girl that enjoys a quiet tucked away dinner and a movie. That’s me, always the cheap date.
Now if I was being whisked off to some exotic locale for the weekend, believe me I would not complain about that either…
I guess it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as there is genuine love shared there somewhere (and good food doesn’t hurt).So what are your weekend Valentine’s plans?Best,
KwanaKindle Anyone?
Do you Kindle? Would you Kindle?
I never thought I would really be a Kindle girl, I mean you can’t very well take it in the bath, but on Saturday at my RWA meeting I got to touch feel and read on one up close and I fell in love. It’s so sleek, light weight and cool and it kind of feels very bookish. Also the thought that I can have so many books with me all the time right at my fingertips kinda makes me giddy.
Amazon is putting the new Kindle 2 on sale February 24th. (should have been available for V-day). It’s even slimmer and can hold so many more books and even has a read aloud feature. Very dangerous. I’m putting the Kindle 2 on my extended wish list. Of course I still need to get through my Nationals books. A girl has to have tub reading!
Best,KwanaP.S. Scroll down for Top CheferyTop Last Supper
What a fun show it was last night. Full of eggs (not my favorite) and tons of biblical references. In order to keep the big spoilers only in the comments (have at it there)Let’s discuss:How much we love her!
How funny he is…
How whatever she is…
How in need of a just little smack he is…
And how much we can’t stand him…Ugh!
Hootie hoo!Kwana
