I simply remember my favorite things

Home alone and happy,
Nothing brings me down.

--Emiliana Torrini

Here's what I like:



1. Long lunches, which include naps afterward.

I've often thought that I would like to visit/live in Spain, because I heard they have a mid-day break that is from two in the afternoon to around half-past five. Autumn was in Spain just a couple of weeks ago, and she says it does indeed happen that way!



My ideal mid-day meal would include colorful and flavorful dishes, like from the book of world chef Tessa Kiros. Kiros is Finnish and Greek-Cypriot and has an Italian husband, and she wrote Apples for Jam, which I think is really fun. The sections are divided by color; for instance, the orange chapter has recipes like Turkey Breast with Dried Apricots and Pancetta and Orange Juice and Olive Oil Cake with Pine Nuts. Sprinkled throughout the book are dazzling color photographs, children's playful drawings, and Kiro's thoughtful written memories.

2. Big sun hats.



I have many hat memories.

A sad one would come from when I was seven, and my family visited the Happiest Place on Earth. On the teacups ride, the hat that was on my head and that matched my bunny pantsuit (the name is misleading: it was basically made of a dark-colored cotton with a light collar with printed bunnies) flew away. It was never to be found again.




A happy memory would come from when I went to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books one year, and a lady complimented the large brown sun hat that I was wearing. Later, she caught up with me and said that she had to know where I got it. Before we finally parted, she said to me, like she was telling my fortune: "You will have a good life with that hat!"



No doubt, life is better with a big sun hat, especially if it's as becoming as this pink number that Autumn is wearing. Did you notice the contrasting stripes? Not only does this hat keep the sun out of dear Autumn's eyes, but it also protects her skin from painful sunburn. A pretty girl in a pretty hat--what could be better?

3. Country living.



Lately, I chanced to visit Brentwood Country Mart, technically in Santa Monica, California. This place is for those city folk who aspire to the simpler way of living, with very pleasing results, as you can see in the following pictures. It is a very charming shopping center with the red and white rustic barn-like architecture.



One of my favorite shops there has a name that you can have a lot of fun saying over and over: Roberta Roller Rabbit. There, you can find some very comfortable pajama-looking beachwear in colorful prints. It's all very vibrant. And, you know what: they have sun hats!

4. The United States Postal Service.



Sometimes, I desire to connect with others, and e-mail just won't do--it's too slick and fast and everyday to my mind. That's when I bring out my good stationary and put my thoughts to paper.

"Sweet mail," which I just love, is what I've lately heard paper mail called. It seems just right, too, because it's so nice to get a card or letter from a friend or family person.

This is a sweet shot that we took of the post office at Brentwood Country Mart.

5. Gifties.





The post office at Brentwood Country Mart seems to know what people like! In cubby hole-style shelves, they have things like stuffed bears and lambs and baby's undershirts, and I should mention that Tessa Kiro's cookbook is also there. I know that I would like to receive almost any of these gifts in the mail!

6. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Having recently moved to a cozy one-room apartment (you should see the view that I have of the ocean!) from a much larger space, I've come to have an increased respect for organization, and I feel at peace when all is in order. That said, these French country fabric lined baskets from a shop at Brentwood Country Mart are very appealing.




7. Summer reading.

When I was a teen, as it was for Autumn, my summer days had their own organization: chores in the morning, lunch, the afternoon free, and summer drama workshop in the evening. The afternoons and the lulls that are inevitable during musical rehearsals required that I had a good book, and the longer the better was my thinking.

The summer that I was in "West Side Story," I had trouble deciding whether to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy or Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. They were both over a thousand pages, and I think that I settled on Gone with the Wind because it was some pages shorter--I wanted long but not that long! A heavy book ever on my lap, those were very pleasant days indeed!

Gonna get better

Darlings, please excuse the long absence. I've been busy lately...

I give you my sister as Regina Spektor!


Shook it up



I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground



And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind



All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music



And it breaks my heart...



Suppose I never ever met you
Suppose we never ever loved



Suppose I never ever let you kiss me so sweet and so soft
Suppose I never ever saw you
Suppose we never ever called
Suppose I kept on singing love songs just to break my own fall




Just to break my fall



















Just to break my fall...


This time, I wanted to highlight Regina Spektor's "Fidelity," because it's the kind of music that mixtapes are made of. It's a song of new-found and hopeful love, and the singer's performance is very sweet, indeed.

Autumn's been a fan of "Fidelity" ever since she first watched the music video on a screen at her school's cafeteria. I don't intend to spoil anyone's summer fun, but the song often reminds me of school days. The line "I hear in my mind all these words" is like when I used to compose my essays in my head while walking on campus, consequently missing friends' frantic "hellos!"

Perhaps you'd like to know that Regina Spektor has a new album out lately, "Far," and that she'll be performing some of her new songs on the radio tomorrow morning. Please tune into KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" at 11:15 a.m. (You can also listen to the show on the website anytime afterwards.)

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope you're having some good old American fun this weekend!

(A little ambiance music, if you please.)



See ya'll soon!

Pageant

Hello there!




When I first thought to write this post, I was planning to tell you about Bernard. It's really Brave-as-a-Bear Bernard, because that's what the name means, from the German. This little bunny has been dubbed as such because of his intrepid personality. He's also a fearless world traveler.



Here's the scoop: Whenever we girls go on vacation, we take Mr. B. with us. He's the bunny with whom to pose for a picture in front of la Tour Eiffel, if you please.



I was so charmed when I saw the June 2009 Vogue show real-life newlywed Russian model Sasha Pivovarova and her husband Igor Vishnyakov. The pictures by Arthur Elgort are a re-enactment of their wedding. And, that's not all--Sasha poses in a pink dress with a "Bernard" of her own! And why not?

As fascinating as Bernard is (his origin and stories are legendary), I decided to tell you about Tony Spumoni, instead. For your information, Tony Spumoni is a baby doll.

Tony's origin is not spectacular: he was a kind of holiday stocking stuffer special at a toy store--he's only about four inches tall. Pure plastic, he also came with a blue (to match his eyes) plastic bathtub for all the bathing that he's meant to do.

So, it happened that we used to play pageant with Tony, putting him against the babies from a vintage paper doll set that also belonged to us. As cunning as the other babies always were, Tony always came out on top. "Why?" you ask. Well, it's because he has the advantage of being three-dimensional!

I can't help it, for some reason, the Russian beauty and her entourage remind me of paper dolls (you could just cut them out!) in their fashions, and of babies--the wedding party do have a certain sweetness, don't they? Still, if we were to play pageant again, I believe that Autumn would be the undisputed champ!





Autumn's ensemble has a fun dress-up quality. I love the exciting pink dress with the sleek black patent purse. Autumn shows a playfulness with her flowery hair adornments (think Lovely Lady Locks) and in-love pink heart glasses. Fun fun fun!

Pistachio

sit down and fire away,
i know it's tricky when you're feeling low,
when you feel like your flavour
has gone the way of a pre-shelled pistachio...
--Pistachio by Lisa Hannigan

It wasn’t the best of days for my sister—oh, let me count the ways!

1. UCLA library books due, Autumn crouched to pick them up from her bedroom floor, only to find that a particular impossible pooch had also been there! The corners of the books showed signs being chewed! Autumn would have some explaining to do in front of the college librarian.
2. Autumn’s sprained ankle from skim boarding at the beach some weeks before makes so that she whizzes from class to class on a motorized Razor scooter. It’s a good solution, unless she’s traveling near one of the groups of middle schoolers that constantly seem to be visiting the campus, which she did that day. “The kids were laughing, and I would think that it was at me,” Autumn later confided.
3. Then, in the halls of UCLA, Autumn called out to a professor that she needed to talk with and soon realized that the man that she was addressing was not in fact her professor! Thinking fast, Autumn turned around and busied herself with her cell phone just as this man turned to see what all the commotion was about.  


What to do when you feel like a “pre-shelled pistachio?”

Take care of yourself—of course!

According to H&M Magazine for spring 2009, the look this season is sporty chic. As you will read in the “how-to,” the look's all about the brows:

1. Trim your eyebrows. Try to create a gently rounded oval shape. Trim the outside of the brows in particular. Be sure not to overdo it. Keep them looking natural.
2. Use matte powder eye shadow in a color close to your eyebrow color. Use a slightly blunted pencil to fill in the color where needed—in holes underneath and to extend the brow. Don’t actually draw with the pencil—you’re just making little corrections.
3. If you want to darken your eyebrows, use brown mascara. If your brows don’t want to behave, clear mascara will keep them in place. Brush upwards for a bushy effect.
4. Apply black mascara to the top lashes. Putting mascara only on the top lashes is a good way of emphasizing the almond shape of your eyes.
5. Finish the look with a beige-pink lipstick.

My sister does this simple look perfectly, don’t you think?



When I was a student at UCLA, there were nights when I didn’t get a wink of sleep for staying up to finish a final paper or to study for an exam. Despite the exhaustion that I probably felt, I chose to dress in my favorite clothes—for the purpose of helping to lift my spirits. It wasn’t uncommon on these days for me to wear my click-clicking high-heeled shoes because they made me happy!

Autumn dresses for style and comfort in her pastel-colored jeans that are fashionable now. Isn’t it appropriate that they are in pistachio?

Don't worry, Autumn, everybody has days like this...

Blessed are the debonair

On that same trip to the Americana at Brand in the city of Glendale, these two stylish people, my sister Autumn and our brother James, took pause from their efforts for refreshment.

“How about a milk?” said Autumn. (Scratch that--Autumn, who is slightly allergic to milk, would never say that.)

“I’m thirsty,” Autumn said, “let’s get something to drink.”

“I would like something,” James paused to think for a moment before saying, “something bubbly.”



And it happened that the pair came upon a soda pop seller in the very peopled courtyard of the Americana. She was very cheerful and wearing an all-white outfit. In fact, her whole ensemble was white, her shirt and pants, the cart that was really a cooler to keep the different flavored sodas cold, and the large umbrella that shaded them, lending an appeal that was altogether pristine and old-fashioned. Autumn and James decided together that this young lady was delightful, because with the smiles that she generously gave her customers who lined up to tell her which flavor they would like, she made it seem as if she wanted nothing other or else in the world than to be "the soda pop girl."



Autumn indeed looks elegant in her black silhouette, and with her lovely hair and wrist accessories! But, it's James' hat that I want to talk about--doesn't my brother look debonair in his cloth band straw hat? It was a fine find from an old-time-y men's hat shop on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, which my brother got first for a singing performance. (No, he didn't sing "Give Me a Straw Hat and a Cane;" the song was more along the lines of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' on the Ritz.")

James likes his hat--so much that he exclaimed, "Please watch my hat!" when he wasn't wearing it for pictures. Such a unique thing would be difficult to replace if lost. I once heard someone say, "You can be anything that you would like to be, but you cannot be everything." It's true--and I think that this saying also applies to clothes. Besides, there is a certain pleasure in having just the right accent item.

Back to debonair: that word always reminds me of a charming and funny anecdotal read, Life with Father by Clarence Day, Jr. A favorite part of the book is when the author talks about the French language Bible that he chooses to read:

The French were notoriously godless, however. It made me laugh, though it frightened me, too, to see the liberties they had taken. In my English Bible, David was a fine Anglo-Saxon-type, 'a youth ruddy and of fair countenance.' In the French, he was a revolting little snip from the boulevards, 'un enfant blond, et d'une belle figure.' Where my Bible spoke of 'leviathan,' the French said 'le crocodile,' which ruined the grandeur and mystery of that famous beast. And where mine said, 'Behold now behemoth,' they said, 'Voici l'hippopotame!'

As hilarious as that part is, I enjoy this part even better:

But before putting the books back on my shelf, I hunted up the one place in the French Bible that I really liked. 'Blessed are the meek,' my English Bible said, 'for they shall inherit the earth.' I had always hated that verse. It made all religion so difficult.... But poring over the French Bible one evening, I had found to my delight that some daring Frenchman had altered this passage and had changed the Sermon on the Mount into something that a fellow could stand. 'Heureux les debonnaires,' he had represented Jesus as saying, 'car ils heriteront de la terre.'

The debonair! That was more like it! I cheerfully jumped into bed.

The rest of the story