Elvis Redux

I was only peripherally aware of the neon yellow tshirts that said "Vote For Lee."  When conversing with a true Idol fan I could only say "I don't watch American Idol".  Even when The Girl's soccer team was invited to the "Lee Comes Home" event, and got to sit in the VIP section, I was non-plussed and more concerned about how 2-3 moms were going to chaperone 20 girls in a crowd of 40,000.

I can tell you that I am now plussed.  I am very, very plussed. 

Yes, there was massive pandemonium as we made our way through the crush of people holding their tickets above their heads, trying to get the coveted VIP area wristbands.  The crowd consisted of cougars, cubs and cub-ettes....and chaperones.

The Girl is a cub-ette.  

She did things like this:

The cubs held signs up that said "Lee, make a baby with me!"*

American Idol was filming the crowd with a swinging boom camera, and, of course, they focused on the VIP areas which means some cougars, cubs and cub-ettes  will be on TV tonight.  This chaperone will not....she has bad knees and spent the 3 hour wait mostly sitting down and keeping track of the cub-ettes, who were decorating poster boards, dancing around, writing "heart Lee" on their hands with Sharpies and screaming anytime a) the boom camera swooped down and b) they thought Lee was coming out.

He made his way through the Very VIP section, protected by 6 policemen who made a cocoon for him to walk in.
He was crying as he walked up to the stage.
He tried to compose himself while the Idol producer whispered into his ear and told him where the cameras were.

He was humble.

He was overwhelmed.

40,000 people screaming for him.

The newspaper talked about his troubled past.  How the paint store didn't have a job open when he went there to get one, but they hired him anyway and he was the best at getting stain colors just right and how hard it is to mix 'n match stain.
MTV was filming at the paint store when I went there to get The Girl a VOTE FOR LEE tshirt.

And then he sang.

From the heart.

In between crying and composing.  He sang .

Give him a listen.

Buy his music.

VOTE FOR LEE tonight.

On American Idol.

*FSA  (Future Skanks of America)

Fino

I watched Broken Embraces yesterday and it, like almost all of Pedro Almodovar's movies, was beautifully acted, art directed and written.  Following up on my "city giddiness" a few weeks ago, I smiled when I got that I-wish-I-was-in-Europe feeling during a scene where a scooter zooms by the characters.

One of my dear friends taught me the phrase "fino" when we were in college.  It means fine, but she and her family used it to mean fine as in cashmere, not mohair.  Sterling, not stainless.

She is Cuban and for those of you who know me and Him, you know of His theory as to his origins etc.  Pretty much everything about our friend is fino and I thought fino when the gravely ill father in the movie shuffles out of the hospital entrance and his suit is topstiched.  That's fino.  The worried mother, outside, waiting for the taxi had on a smart shirt/skirt combo that looked like a dress, with sensible heels, PEARLS (for you, CR).  She is so fino!

Penelope Cruz's character, the daughter, races over to the hospital in a fitted Balanciaga-ish grey suit and sleeps in a Hanro tanktop.  So, so, so, so fino!

The film's palette was the beige, red, black and orange of Joan Miro. 

I want to go back to Spain...and this movie is in my all-time top 25.

And this movie, The Baader Meinhof Complex, was stunning and it's in my all-time top 10!

OK, now it's time for "church", which, in my family, means CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.

Happy Mother's Day.

Public Service For My "Lurkers"

I have no idea how many people read this blog....so, since I am a 'lurker' myself, I thought I'd share two articles that I recently emailed to all the women that I have email addresses for.

1 - Latisse
Please read this if you are using or have considered using the lash lengthener Latisse


2 - Estrogen Replacement Therapy

OK ladies....this is a very LONG article, but it is of utmost importance to the women (of a certain age/close to a certain age....like me) that I know.

Estrogen replacement has its pro's and con's (the latter being a concern that it contributes/causes breast/uterine/ovarian cancer)


2 main points:  the article cites that studies are showing that estrogen replacement may be most beneficial to us when were are pre-menopausal/in menopause, but not necessarily beneficial long-term.  Ie. take it for about 10 yrs and then stop.  The greatest benefit to taking it at this time is in maintaining critical tissue connectivity in our brains to stave-off Alzheimer's.

Secondly, lack of estrogen seems to exacerbate depression/cause depression (if you are not already diagnosed).  Even if you are taking anti-depressants, you may need some estrogen replacement as well.

It's worth a conversation with your ob/gyn at your next visit.

(KP:  ob/gyn - not your dentist, podiatrist or other doc that you like to discuss your lady-parts with...an OB/GYN)   ;)


Dear Lurkers:
Please spread the word amongst your girlfriends.

Sincerely,

The Eye

Of This and Of That

I think my first post touched on the fact that my grandfather was a newspaper man and that he wrote a column for the Decatur (IL) Herald, entitled Of This and Of That.  He was an editor and columnist and when I was the editor of my college newspaper he would send issues back to me marked-up in red pencil. 

I am horrified to find type-o's in my Twitter feeds and I haven't figured out how to delete my tweets (yes, I just typed that god-awful word) when I send them from TweetDeck.  (I can delete the offending tweet and resend a corrected one when I am signed into Twitter, but I'll be covering the topic of signing in shortly.)  And, not only was my grandfather an English major and newspaper editor, my mom is an English major and grammarian on steroids.

I am the weakest link in that chain...


I have ideas for blog posts that roll around in my head and some may not be interesting as an individual post...so I think I'll throw them in an occasional "Of This and Of That" post to get them out of my head.

Topic #1.  Password Rage.

I have it.

It's the anger that I feel when my browser or an application (like Blogger) has saved my login ID and password for me so I never have to type them in.  That's lovely.....most of the time.  It's not so lovely when I'm at another computer and I want to log in.  It's not so great when the application (like Blogger) stops saving it and makes my type it in.

I spent 20+ years working in bank technology.

My password is not my kids' names, my maiden name, my phone number, my house number, His birthday etc.

My passwords kick ass.  They are combinations that Stephen Hawking wouldn't have dreamed up.

BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER THEM WHEN THE 'SAVIORS' FORGET THEM!!!!!!

yeah, yeah, yeah....they are written down.

They are in written form, in a place so secret that I CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE THE HELL IT IS!
And, no, I don't want you to reset my password so I can, yet again, come up with another kick-ass password.

I have Password Rage.

Topic #2  I am a City Girl at heart.

I get giddy when I'm in the city.  I swear that little ditty just flowed out-ta me!!!

I was staying overnight (yippee, overnight in the city!) in the city a few weeks ago and I love staring out of my hotel window and surveying who's doing what or what's what in the buildings across from me.  During this stay I could see lots and lots of sewing rooms, a la Project Runway, with no students but lots of lights on (all night) and machines and dress forms.

I even scoped out where He and I can move or stay when we move away (no retire...) to FL after the kids are gone.  It's going to be the south side of the city.  The new, gentrified south side.  That's the City Girl in me. 

I'm a south side girl at heart.