Good advice

Photo shoot

Yesterday I stood on a shoe the size of a ... really, really big shoe a person can stand on. And I sat on an old satin bed next to the room where a pirate burned a man in a fireplace (allegedly). And stood on little pathways and at windows and lounged all art-deco like on luxurious couches. To conclude, I sat in my wedding dress on a couch in the middle of a field of straw or hay or something. A spider got in my veil.

I wasn't sure I was going to do the bridal shoot thing mostly because I'm cheap, but when I was at dinner with some chick friends months ago an acquaintance started talking about her new photography business and I asked about bridal shoots and it went from there.

I tell you what though. I now understand those poor girls on "America's Next Top Model." It's really weird having people stare at you and take your picture (especially if you're outside amidst dirt and pollen and spiders in your fancy dress you want to stay clean and fancy until you actually get hitched).

But I'm glad I did it. And I'm DESPERATE to see how the pictures turned out. I'm really lucky we got to use the location we did (historic house in Lincolnton, which has hidden passageways, magic furniture and ghosts galore). I interview the man who owns it on a pretty regular basis so the week before the shoot I was just like "So... I'm getting married... and that giant old shoe in your yard is really awesome... It'd look really amazing in, perhaps, a bridal shoot..."

It's nice when things work out.

Yum

When we met, Robert couldn't cook anything except for macaroni and cheese with kielbasa (which is super good). Now, he's king of the kitchen. My favorite dish he makes is sesame-seed-crusted seared tuna served with rice noodles, snow peas and bean sprouts in a ginger sauce. Eeegads is it good.

Thrift Store Thursday

Why do I own a tiny, 3-D, rusted chair sitting inside a picture frame? I don't know, but I'm happy that I do.

Books

I love books. Above all else, I love to read them, but I also like to look at them, touch them, smell them (new book smell and old book smell: very different, both enjoyable). I understand electronic Kindle type books are terribly convenient, but they lack romanticism. I still have my favorite books from childhood. I even have a book of fairy tales from my mother's childhood that she read to me. Some of them are falling apart, but they're still beautiful. Call me old fashioned, but I like the printed word in, you know, print.

Niki de Saint Phalle

"Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology is a kaleidoscopic journey where things don’t always appear as they seem" (http://www.bechtler.org/Collection/Niki-de-saint-phalle) Go to The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte to check her crazy work out. I looked at it (and touched it and went inside of it) before going to see "Avenue Q" last night. It was a good evening!

Want.

I used to wear my Whale Bag of Wonders, a tote full of terribly unusual things, all the time. Sadly, I worked it so hard, its straps are now tattered and sad and so... I have been checking out some other totes to meet my toting needs and this dapper fox has caught my eye. I'm pretty sure he's going to be mine.

Found here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69192638/fox-tote

a question

I've had this a year (bought soon after Robert and I moved in together and I went on a decorating frenzy), and I love it, but I don't know what to put in its tiny little drawers. Suggestions?