Baby Daddy

This little blondie is none other than m'dear ole Da. I love the captions that my grandmother included at the top of each one.

 

I'll See You In My Dreams

What an exceedingly sweet, charming, and wonderfully made film. Nana Irma informed me that I simply must see it and I'm so glad I did. What a phenomenal cast and all around brilliant performances.
 

(photo kidnapped from indiewire)

Stairs

Diana and Her Boys

Diana was nothing if not utterly classy in every way. I love this photo mostly because William looks so unbelievably adorable. And Harry with those dorky lil' white socks?? Too cute for words. Then there's Diana, looking effortlessly beautiful as always.

The Ladies Who Lunch

Finally, after what felt like ages since our last gathering, I met up with Melanie, Kat, and Lauryn at a lil' restaurant a few towns away on Sunday afternoon. There's never enough time to cover everything that's new, but we touched on Kat's terrifying birth of Abigail and the frantic last twenty minutes, Melanie's wee one and her new-found love of back talk, Lauryn's adorable niece and all that's happening in her life and my upcoming trip back to Ireland in December. Unlike last time, we remembered to snap some pix in the parky lot and looking over them, I'm feeling like we definitely need to make this happen more than three times a year. These gals are a god damn hoot!

 

Moms

After seeing the documentary Moms Mabley I can't stop thinking of that hysterically funny line that Dick Cavett quoted: "Bein' married to that old man was like tryin' to push a car up a hill. With a rope." I'll be sitting in traffic or waiting in an elevator and it'll pop into my overactive brain and the LOLs come a-screeching out, uncontrollably. Too dang funny... Always liked Moms, ever since I saw her on Ed Sullivan when I was a kid. Her style of humour was so fresh and new, and her look was so unlike any other comics that she instantly stood out.

(photo kidnapped from tvgoodness)

Aunt Cass - Bathing Beauty

I always thought that my Aunt Cass was one of the most stunning women I'd ever seen. She wasn't terribly warm, at least not to me, but she reminded me of Jackie Kennedy. Distant and strikingly attractive.

Obvious Child

Admittedly I picked up this film because Richard Kind was in it. Even though he only had a small part (and shined as only Richard Kind can do), the film was really, really good. Like cool air coming in to a stuffy room.

(photo kidnapped from filmfeeder)

Oh Dear Holy Lord...

I'm having a rotten week and this picture kinda made it a little better.

Unbeatable

My lil' brother is still the reigning champ of movie lines, as recently proven once again.

 

Cacti Coasters!!

I saw these on Clive Roddy's etsy page and holy cannoli, they are so cute!! What a clever idea. I just love it.

 

B.'in Good with Jaeden

Sunday afternoon I picked up Jaeden in Philly, ready to hit Blackbird Pizzeria in Center City and then walk around and explore. Then it started to spit. Not rain so much, but the sky over the city as we crept down I-95 was foreboding and ominous. "God damn it!" I said with considerable irritability. "I really want pizza today and I brought the wrong effing bag and left my umbrella at home. We can't walk around in the rain. This sucks."

Jaeden is, like so many of the kids in my life, utterly unflappable and totally adaptable to any situation. So, we decided to hit the Main Line and go to Blackbird in November. I knew there was a place on Lancaster Ave that I wanted to check out, but damned if I could remember after wracking my pea-sized brain for twenty minutes. With much ennui, I turned to Jaeden and asked, "Can we just go to Panera and get you a grilled cheese with bacon? Is that okay?" I was totally playing him. I knew all I had to say was "bacon" and Jaeden would be 100% on board. He was.

(Please note that while Jaeden looks miserable, in actuality he is not. It's all a front in an effort to look super cool. Thing is, he already is the coolest of the cool, no matter what.)
 
We pulled into the parky lot and walked to the Panera entrance and what was right next door. Like, right next door? B. Good. "Oh my GOD!! That's the place! That's the place I was trying to remember!!" We looked at the menu on the glass beside the door and I told him they had burgers that were not vegan. "I could go for a burger..." Jaeden said, suppressing excitement at having a juicy cow rather than a grilled cheese. 

I love a place that accommodates various diets and B. Good had meat for the lad and yummy vegan grub for lil' ole me! I was so beyond full after I cleared my plate and totally had a case of the itis. I looked across at Jaeden and said slowly, "Oh my god...I am so freakin' full right now...I feel like I'm about to give birth...to a veggie burger and fries...Ughhhhh....." Then Jaeden smirks and says, "Aw...it has your eyes." It was so cute and so Rosemary's Baby that I couldn't help but laugh. Such a great guy and I am really looking forward to our Center City adventure at the beginning of November - rain or shine!


Morris Arboretum

Last weekend Anne and I went to Morris Arboretum. Neither of us had ever been there before and it was just gorgeous. A perfect day with a blue, blue sky and a bold, bright sun to accompany the cool, early Autumn winds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Booked & Ready to Go!

So next year's adventure is planned and booked and I can't wait!! Twenty-two days total from the middle of March until early April. First I head to Italy, one week in Positano then three days in Rome. After Italy, I hit Antwerp for three days and then to Ireland for a week. There's a slight possibility that Natalia will be flying to Dublin and we can meet up. (More on that when I visit her in NYC next month.) As much as I'd love to see Scotland (oh the Highlands....) I know that traveling alone to a new place comes with oodles of stress and that is NOT what this adventure is about. It's about relaxing and trying to wrap my head around turning forty in May. I just want to be somewhere else, somewhere wonderful and somewhere that I can think about the remainder of my life and what I intend to accomplish. Oh, and indulge in marinara pizza, wine, Belgian waffles, chocolate, crisps, chips, and Guinness. It is a vacation after all...

(photo kidnapped from freepik)

Society Hill

Random Art Sighting in Queen Village

Guard Dog

Farley basically won't let anyone mess with a sleeping Bailey.

Halloween's a-Comin'!!

I've got a stack of Halloween cards ready to roll out to my nieces and nephews - stamped, stickered, and sealed with love. These two are my favourites:

 

The Best Shite

Cerpts made this fabulous mix for me of vintage and side-splittingly hilarious Billy Connolly stand-up. For me, the funniest tracks that have me doubled over no matter how many times I've listened to them are A Dangerous Place, Ibiza, Toblerone, and Cats & Liam Neeson. I mean, I am clutching my sides and wiping tears away. It is that god damn funny. This man is a genius and a tip of the hat to Cerpts for making the mix for me. It's a treasure.

Outfest with Kay

Yesterday I picked up Kayla and we were off to Center City for an afternoon together. It so happened that Outfest was going on, so we parked at the Ritz East, hoofed it up Walnut and wandered the Gayborhood, all the while shaking our fabulous arses to the phat beats. There were religious protesters there and it kinda ruined it all for me. It's a day of happiness and community and coming together and they shat all over it. Why couldn't they just be nice and shout "Jesus loves you!! No matter what!!!" on their bullhorn, rather than say we would all pay for our sins in the afterlife. So I linked arms with my niece and tried our best to ignore them.

Then we went to Govinda's where we stuffed our gobs with the best vegan chicken cheesesteaks EVER. Next up was a pit stop at Sweet Freedom Bakery for some fabulous vegan desserts. We walked down South Street and headed to Philly Thrift for AIDS, where Kayla now volunteers on Saturday afternoons! Finally we went to a completely vacant Dunkin' Donuts, so Ms. Star could peepod, and wound up sitting on the second floor, looking out the window and talking for hours. Honestly, it was the best part of my day with her. Can't wait til our next outing!

 

Last Fall...

Visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater with Ashlee last year was extraordinary. The weather was ideal, the trees were gorgeous and it was my last time away with Ashlee before motherhood. A month and a half following our day trip, she was pregnant with Bailey and things changed for us, permanently. Not in a bad way, mind you. Just different. She's an official grown up, with a home, a husband, a child, and responsibilities, so our relationship will never be as it was when we were at Fallingwater. What a wonderful way to leave the known for the new by having the memory of our last great adventure by visiting one of the most unique and awe inspiring homes ever designed. We even brought Tucker!