Fiver Du Jour

Hilbil's custom PVE header for her on the cusp on launching blog chronicling her education and jouRNey raising $5000 towards a cure in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, October 27-28. Since this such a noble cause, and her Nursing Honors College thesis, Pilgie and Lolly did their part and anted up here...

Ricky Lauren's new book The Hamptons Food, Family, and Fun. Includes the recipe for her signature, dark chocolate brownies that are supposedly so yummy Ralph wanted to put them in his stores til her mother laid down the for family only law...

Duck Head?! Talk about a blast from the past. Oh, fer sure there are some Duck Head khakis in Babe's foreseeable future...

How darling are these Tipsy Skipper Captain Morgan clutches? Already planning on imbibing a couple rounds myself starting with Shellacked in conch. Or, Fiji Fizz in bicoastal. Oh what the hay, A ROUND FOR THE HOUSE!

My fav flower, and Lolly's fav Scooby snack, is in bloom and my Whole Foods Peony habit is dangerously close to setting off a Mint.com alarm. Thank god we're not far off from hydrangea robbing season...

Kindness of PVE for making her pretty blog headers a family affair. Also, anyone who happens to spy me, come June, scooting around the beach on my bike at dusk with scissors in my Nantucket basket, for just looking the other way...XXOO

Shower Shavasana

Some of us don't have the luxury of quiet time during the day...

Nope. Some of us aren't afforded a buncha lounging around looking pretty time for stilling the mind and working on self...

But, since I'm such a firm believer in the power and importance of doing so through prayer, mediation, motivation, goal setting, breathing, wish list making...I bought myself a Lilly Pulitzer dry erase board and stuck it in the shower where I knew I'd be a captive audience...

It's the perf idea for setting your frame of mind for the rest of the day...

Ingraining wisdom...

Pondering scripture...

 Giving gratitude...

Or, just getting your butt in gear...

Of course, it's alwaaays helpful if your dry erase board is pretty to boot...

Kindness of Babe for teaching me the power of written words. Also, Pilgie and Lolly who drop their toy mice outside the shower doors then stare at me, with the sole intent of disrupting my reverie, for it's always my cue to switch gears and give thanks for our li'l family...XXOO

Kiki Slaughter

A few months ago I stumbled upon C'ville artist Kiki Slaughter in the The Scout Guide and within minutes had a couple of her pieces cooling their heels on a wishlistdisguisedasa Pinterest board...

Azure

42x42 inches.acrylic and oil on canvas

"The many shades and layers of blue in this painting give it depth. A glossy finish makes the colors glow. This piece reminds me of the horizon between ocean and sky."

Coral Beach

42x42 inches. acrylic and oil on canvas

"This painting is inspired by Coral Beach in Bermuda. It reminds me of the signature pink sand, turquoise ocean and cliff lined beach. Makes me want to take a trip!"

Aquamarine

42x42 inches. acrylic and oli on canvas

"A glossy finish makes the various shades of blue and green in this painting even more vibrant. It reminds me of the colors of the ocean."

Smooth Sailing

42x42 inches. acrylic and oil on canvas

"I love the soft, muted shades of color in this painting surrounding the slightly bolder strip of blue." 

Fancy
42x60 inches. acrylic and oil on canvas
"I titled this painting 'fancy" because the shiny finish makes the surface glow. The specks of gold are reminiscent of glitter. In this case, shiny equals fancy!"

"Ocean"..."beach"..."pink sand"..."gold"...that is music to our sea loving, lamé bikini wearin' ears Kiki. And, Lolly and I have just thee spot for such a sure to encourage sweet dreams of summer piece...

So, when Babe and I found ourselves with an extra day in C'ville recently and, an email led to an invitation to Kiki's home for a private viewing, we jumped in our Papa Smurf rental car and hustled right on over...

An online vantage point is one thing but, seeing art up close and personal annnd getting to know the artist is quite another...

We were totally smitten. With both...

"She pours, scrapes, layers and otherwise manipulates the paint on the canvas to produce works that are rich in both color and texture" is the kind of intel Dr. Fancypants likes to cull from such a meet, while my notes read, she incorporates beach sand into some of her works, sahhh-weet! One of those s'il vous plait...

Not only did our visit reveal multiple mutual friends, ships passing at the same wedding and, the fact that we once attended a brunch at her parent's house but, Babe and her husband Hunter also bonded over his recently launched app SynkMonkey. So while, they traded biz talk Kiki and I traded C'ville scoop..

...Schedule plan by combining calendar + mapping + group messaging functionality in one step...have y'all been to the Local Restaurant in Belmont yet? Omg, it's right up there with Duners...syncs across users calendars, has a map for directions, and allows group message exchange...Cullen's new black lab puppy is sooo cute...   

All that SynkMonkey talk also afforded me extra time to expand my Kiki Slaughter wish list and Lolls and I just this morn staked our claim on some wall real estate for one of her Rotundas. That oughta teach Babe to talk shop...

Kindness of Hunter and Kiki Slaughter Murchison for inviting us into their home and studio on such short notice. With all our path crossing it was only a matter of time before we star crossed beach and, yaaawn, biz lovers formally met...XXOO

Hot This Week

Time to catch up on my current digs before they get too backlogged...

Lemme tell ya, 'tis salad city 'round here in an attempt to make up for all the Cadbury Crime Egg damage I inflicted on my sooo NOT bikini ready bod and I was thrilled to stumble upon Jeanne Kelley's Salad for Dinner cookbook during a recent swing through Tomboy Style. Toootal bible potential here...

For all y'all who went gaga for GiGi several post's ago, here's a chance to win an All-in-One Bag of your own with the PIN IT 2 WIN IT sweepstakes. Click here for easy as pie contest scoop and here for a peek at my entry...

Not ready to let this thrill go quite yet so, for anyone who missed my mention on page 90 0f Matchbook Magazine's most recent issue, please allow me. That Devon is a peach...

Read about the Coobie Bras in Fitness Mag and immediately ordered 2 strapless and 3 scoopnecks. Supposedly comfy beyond belief and, since everything else seems to be engineered for either itty bitty's or those in need of Kevlar, I'm pinning all my regular gal hopes on the package en route...

K, now Pilgie and Lolly asked me to tug on all those local tri-state heartstrings for a très important cause. Marmalade, a one year old Maine Coon mix, and Shadow, a 10 year old long haired Tabby, lost their Mama to suicide in Fairfield County, CT and are desperate for a new home and heart. So, if you have room in either, or know someone who does, please contact Robin Olson info@coveredincathair.com asap. In return, Pilge and Leels vow to keep you in their hearts forever...

*Almost forgot, use the code fitBOGO now through June 15 to buy one, get one free when ordering Coobie Bras...

Kindness of Ellen Garrity, aka I Love Lime Green, for the Marmalade and Shadow alert. Pilgie and Lolly say to think positive, hopeful thoughts Ellen. They've got the kitty prayer chain rolling and are using all their best Tony Robbins strategies to summon forth a happy ending...XXOO

Hits O' The Week

Top honors for lust items of the week go to...

Lizzie Garrett's much anticipated tomboy style finally hitting the shelves...

When Amy and I were loitering 'round Richards' Hermès case discussing the merits of the red clic-clack, Babe leaned over my shoulder, pointed to that orange beaut second from the left and said, I really like that one. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Missi...is the time it took for the mice to cross reference my entire wardrobe for compatibility, picture my bronzed, cuffed wrist gallivanting around like hot stuff, weigh the pros and cons of placing all my Hermès chips on this number before responding, meee tooo batbatbat...

Melissa Odabash's Trinidad already sitting pretty in my bikini basket in both the yellow and black while the unpurchased white and blue whisper to me from cyberspace...

Iomoi's leather tote in hamptons blue with gold initials looking to bench my already in the bullpen white Longchamp for the upcoming season...

The Ti-Babes caught holding paws. Cuff shmuff, nothin' trumps a scene like this...

Kindness of Babe for realizing that, you saaaay innocuous statement pahtaaaytoe, I say commitment pohtaaahtoe...XXOO

Goodie Queue

Here are five goodies that are currently on the SIAV radar...

Anyone who devoured Isabel Gillies Happens Every Day in "a day" as I did will be just as thrilled to hear she has a new book out, A Year and Six Seconds...

The Four Majors belt just in time for the holy weekend and the bff's hub's Easter basket. Babe's gonna have to hold out for my custom needlepoint edition...

Literally, the day my scout Ali sent the link to Jack Foxley and the Times article on his custom suede elbow patches, I end up standing next to a prepster at the Shell station wearing the softest grey cashmere sweater with gaping holes in both elbows. So, I paid it forward. Much to the relief of his two VV decked pre-teens who are apparently remiss to be seen in public with said sweater...

K, well I was supposed to meet Jessica of the entertaining house last week for the naptime chef book signing several towns over but, kinda got waylaid. Guess I'll have to settle for a pedestrian unsigned copy with the rest of the hoi polloi...

so sorry i was a no show last pm jess. was trying to quickly and efficiently cook and serve dinz so that i could head to westport just as 95 traffic would be ebbing when all hell broke loose. i put the garlic bread slices under the broiler to lightly toast and turned my back for juuuuust a wee sec and before i knew it smoke was billowing out, the fire alarm bit** started screaming FIRE, EVACUATE, FIRE, EVACUATE...and, unfortunately, are alarm system is integrated throughout the entire house which means the family living on the first 2 floors were getting the same message soooo, now we've got smoke filling the house, the bit** still yelling at us to EVACUATE and the columbian nanny downstairs running screaming into the street w/5 pajama clad boys all under 9 whose parents are out of town. but, she did manage to grab the phone on her way out so she could call 911. oy. so, after babe calmed her down, convinced the fire dept his wife had just burnt some bread and they could could pull the trucks back into the firehouse, i beat the crap outta the alarm bit**, started airing out the house, then sent babe back to the store for another loaf of italian bread, i kinda lost what little wind i had left in my sails. plus, i'm pretty sure i smelled like kramer when he cooked his clothes in the calzone oven :(

Personally, I can not conjure up a legacy I would possibly be prouder of. How cool is she?!

*Please click on the above link to watch the video in full screen with Katherine's entire face. Stinkin' blogger...

Kindness of my friend and old post dawn runner partner, Joanie DiNardo, for sending me the above clip, Jessica Ryan for understanding why I was a book signing no-show as long as I promised to blog about it, Ali Culver for the Jack Foxley intel, Masters baby, QBS,  for the Four Majors belt find annnd (BIG iiiiiinhale) Whitney for the Isabel Gillies new book alert. Lest, I forget Babe, for running back to the store for another loaf of Italian bread...XXOO

Bandito Haul

I made out like a bandito in Mexico!

I hauled back a pale pink freshwater pearl necklace that can be worn as a single, double or triple strand...

A couple of fun summer bracelets...

Long, beaded tassel necklaces, with a muchos gracias nod to Gwynnie and her ruby version oh so many Oscars ago...

A hand embroidered, long dress which I had them shorten to above the knee for me...

A hand embroidered blouse...

Annnd, a custom painted, just por mi, tortilla warmer and condiments serving dish, neither of which Leels could squeeze herself into like last time and the time before. Although, sheee triiieeed...

After that bitter disappointment, we reassessed the situation...

 Maybe it was meant for her to eat out of?

 Maybe it was for her to play the shell game with her treat?

Or, maybe she should let Mummy know she was hurt with her obvious oversight in the travel gift department and make her promise to bring back a platter big enough for a growing li'l girl next year...

*Btw, all that fabulous loot...somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 pesos. Which, converts to less than 300 buckeroos. Which, converts to dirt cheap. Which, converts to Babe breathing a sigh of relief. La Cucarachaaa...la cucurachaaa...ya no puede caminarrr...porque le falta, porque no tieneee...marihuana pa' fumarrrr...


Kindness of everyone for not pointing out the tan/no tan stripes on my neck. Shameful amateur mistake having my head buried in books and needlework the majority of pth's. Alsooo...for understanding my need to go down to 3 posts/week seeing that Babe is now home weeknights. And, NOT so I can spend more time on Pinterest AT ALL. No way José...XXOO