A mouse in the kitchen

Time for something silly!

My husband is being so sweet and generous with the Mini that I thought I would feature him on my blog today.

It's not often that he gets the opportunity to be creative. But when he puts his mind to it, he's a star. Look at this: a work of art, wouldn't you agree?

A round of applause for him, please!

Pedro and The Belgians

Belgian Shoes get a lot of play these days in the trad blogosphere. Laguna Beach Trad weighs in and clearly, if you do a keyword search of my bratty cousin AllieVonBelgiqueen’s blog you’ll get tons of Belgian posits.

There’s really no middle ground on these prissy little cult shoddings. You either like ‘em or you don’t. It’s no secret that they are faves of mine. One of my first posts ever was an admonishment to guys to either wear them with confidence or don’t waste your money. Who spends north of three hundred bucks for house slippers? Here’s my closing Belgians sermon from that early post ….

“Belgian Shoes…like a bowl of biscuit batter in the South or a hanky about to be inserted into a breast pocket …can smell fear a mile away. They all have strong characteristics that must be dealt with confidently. You’ve gotta step up to all three with the same approach…treat ‘em like you own the hell out of ‘em…let ‘em know who’s boss…handle them with strength and aggression or the outcome will be embarrassing. They’ll walk all over you.”

Reggie-Lord of Darlington Hall did a Belgians post recently and asked readers to share where they had worn their Belgians. “Tell me, where do you wear your Belgians?" Here is my comment…

“Mine have traipsed with me down South Audley...'round Grosvenor Square...back to Mount Street...just prior to then slipping over to Claridges for a drink. But honestly, the dissonance, the dichotomy manifest in wearing Belgians up to the top of the Sombrero tower at South of the Border on I-95 is palpable.”

So in honor of high and low brow dissonance, LFG and I stopped last week at South of the Border…the proverbial campy-kitschy white trash Mecca just south of the North Carolina line. You already know that I’m a sucker for tourist traps and junk shops and South of the Border, in all of its decline (God forbid its heyday) never disappoints.  

If ever there was a locale where Belgians might provoke more than a tisk-tisk it’s South of the Border. This is gun rack and camouflage land and an ass-whipping wouldn’t be totally out of the question here. I like pushing the proverbial envelope a bit and have now campaigned a tradition of traipsing around Pedro Land in Belgians.

We bought the usual kitsch while there…new salt and pepper shakers and plastic South of the Border placemats but the sartorial coup …why hadn’t I seen these before….was my Pedro Ascot. Dressing the neck is always problematic when one departs from a traditional necktie. I’ve provided you my two cents worth on this issue before. I don’t care what you put around your neck-ascot wise-you are still gonna project some element of Thurston Howell, III. There’s just no escaping it. Wait till the weather cools a bit and surely, my Pedro clad neck will be post worthy.

Onward, now from Boston on biz, Belgians in tow.

ADG

It's going to be a Mini Cooper S!

I can hardly contain my excitement! We ordered my Mini a few weeks ago and I just find out that it will be arriving in about two weeks! I wasn't expecting it until the end of July / beginning of August so I am happy that the torturous wait will soon be over.

Here is what I am getting.

The Mini Cooper S - 184 hp is a lot for a small car!

As an automatic because it is simply easier in the city. (Forgive me, boys! But I will still be able to shift gears with paddles on the steering wheel - like F1 drivers, sort of! And for the record, I can drive a manual.)

With black leather sport seats! (instead of the white leather/black cloth combination offered with this model. In my first assessment it was either the S or leather seats, hence the big deal.)

It will have a fantastic Harman Kardon hi-fi system.

The colour is an elegant white silver metallic, which is only available for the Camden (a limited edition 50th birthday model). I love the pinstripes on the mirror caps.

For those interested, I have included a list of features for the Camden. Other extras we have ordered include sun protection glass, park distance control, heated seats, adapters for the iPhone / iPod and I'm not sure what else... 

This is so amazing for me because I still remember my first car. I was a university student and happy to have a car at all but it only had a cassette player with crap speakers, ugly cloth seats, no power steering and how could I forget what a struggle it was to drive uphill! 

What was your first car like?

1,2(my own),3,4,5,6,7,8

Blowing bubbles

When was the last time you blew bubbles like these?! We got two new bubble wands this weekend. The blue one made funny-shaped bubbles.

The yellow wand made huge bubbles with cleaner shapes. Our son made these amazing bubbles!

Did you know (I didn't) that there are bubble specialists at Bubble Inc who can do even more amazing things... like freeze bubbles!

And blow bubbles within bubbles!

And here's a cute baby tiger fascinated with the bubbles! 

Nothing...Is What We Have

So read this Guest Post over at Blushing Hostess....from a zillion years ago.

And I wrote a little ditty over here for my fellow South Carolinian, Belle over at Life of a Southern Belle

Shut Up

A free Essie on 8 July

If you are in the UK on 8 July, you might want to pick up a copy (or several) of Tatler: there will be a free Essie nail polish with every Tatler magazine!

There will be six colours to choose from:
Yes we can pink, Mint candy apple, Lollipop, Flower girl, Rock the croc, Rock candy

I saw this in the current issue of Tatler, which also came with another freebie: sunglasses!

Which colour nail polish will you get?

Braslet of Gold

sheerwani styles

Sheesha Styles

Earring Styles

Jeans Styles

Nails fashion

Shocking! Puberty and lavender?

Do you remember when you got your first bra? Certainly not when you were five, right?

Well, read this:
"Hayley... started developing breasts when she was five. A year later... she had her first period. She was dealing with monthly mood swings, stomach cramp, migraines and spots at the same time as learning to read and write. Every month she missed three or four days of school..." 

And what is more, "evidence suggests that Hayley's experience could soon be commonplace."

Before you dismiss all this as nonsense, know that these are quotes from an article I read in Intelligent Life, a magazine from The Economist - which, in case you don't know it, is a very reputable source of information and analyses on world affairs.

Hayley still seems to be an extreme case but they have been conducting studies and "the results... showed that over 15 years the age of breast development in Denmark had dropped a year, from 10.8 years in 1991 to 9.8 years in 2006." Also in China, a study reported the lowest-ever average age for breast development (9.2 years). And boys' voices are breaking earlier - studies in Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy have all come to similar results. 

What are the implications?
- "Children who go into early puberty are prematurely sexualised and too immature to deal with the implications. They are more vulnerable to sexual abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy."
- "Adolescents who go through puberty earlier are involved in more risk-taking behaviour, such as taking drugs, binge drinking and breaking the law."
- For women, there could be health problems: an increased "risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and of developing cardiovascular problems."

Why is this happening? Nobody knows for sure. They've looked into obesity, chemicals, absentee fathers ("a girl who lives apart from her father tends to get her period earlier") and now also hormones: "Children are extremely sensitive to hormones before puberty because they are producing so little that small amounts can make a difference." 

What has lavender got to do this any of this? Well, here is another shocking revelation:

"In 2007 a study in the New England Journal of Medicine described how three young boys began growing breasts after using products containing lavender and tea-tree oils. In one case a mother used a healing balm containing lavender oil on her four-year-old son; in another a ten-year-old boy used hair gel containing lavender and tea-tree oil; in the final example a seven-year-old was using lavender soap. Lavender and tea-tree were found to cause hormonal disruptions by mimicking oestrogen."

This article freaked me out. What are your thoughts on this?

1, 2 (Intelligent Life print), 3 

Homes with a view

When we were in Oslo about three weeks ago, we took a ferry to the Viking museum. On the way, I spotted a couple of lovely houses - all with a spectacular view.

The first one is my favourite (but no playing football in that garden..!).

I wouldn't mind this one, either.

I wonder if this house has a lift? Either way, the tower is quite cool. (And I love the colour of the sky!)

Would you like to live in one of these houses? Or have a beautiful apartment in the city?

When we were looking for a place to buy, we decided on the latter. We didn't want to climb stairs!