Julie Anne Rhodes has posted my Restaurant Spy review of Bloomingdale’s 40 Carrots.
Please note that I did not eat at PJ O’Rourke’s house. I ate at PJ Clarke’s restaurant. I must have had political satire on the brain when I wrote the review.
Author: the outside lane
Happy. That about covers it.
June, Non Seulement un Bijou…
…mais aussi un trésor.*
I had lunch with my friend June, of June Bijou jewelry, today. Aside from how lovely it was to catch up after all these years, I am really looking forward to getting to know her again. I had no idea she had learned metal-smithing, or that was selling her original designs to the likes of Fred Segal and Barney’s New York, and doing private label work for BCBG! I should keep better track of people.
She was so kind as to bring me a pair of her handmade earrings, and I know exactly where to wear them for the first time!
If you are coming to the Women Worth Knowing event, June is donating the prize for our giveaway. I can’t wait to see it!
*Nancy, feel free to correct my French. I learned it at Sears. 😉
Wagging Tongues
I love the concept of fasting for clarity, and am reminded of it every time Lent rolls around. Again, though I am not Catholic, I did go to Catholic school and plenty of it rubbed off on me. I have said before that I have a feeling of relief and release with confession, and I should add to that, I have a sense of purification through penance and works. Fasting fits that bill.
Now, I don’t fast foods. Giving up food isn’t a big deal to me. I can just as easily find something else I like to eat, and I sure am not going to miss a whole meal unless there is a medical reason for it. I need to eat for energy. I fast things that tickle my soul, and I select them as things I want to burn out of my life anyway.
I haven’t done a fast in several years. I’ve been too lazy. But a discussion I had last night has made me think, and I realize I may have been projecting some of my own self-criticism as criticism from others. I also realized that I couldn’t think of a good reason for doing what had started the discussion, as it was just mean-spirited.
So, what I am giving up for Lent-and-beyond is mean-spirited conversation. It isn’t flattering. It isn’t edifying in any way. It has nothing to do with the graciousness I’d like to project. It isn’t how I want you, or anyone else to think of me.
I know you’re supposed to give up something you like for Lent. I am. Isn’t that awful? I have enjoyed every one of those mean-spirited conversations! Alice Roosevelt would have loved sitting next to me–up until this morning.
With that in mind, I give you James 3:1-12, which I will be using as anchor for my lenten soulish hunger-strike. Paraphrased, if we control our tongues, we can control our worlds. And if we can control our tongues, we can save ourselves (and others) a world of hurt. But straight from Saint Jimmy in the NIV:
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Wish me luck.
Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me
Listen, I had a rough night. It happens. I got up this morning feeling it in my bones. Gloom. Despair. Agony. Woe! Woe! I needed music.
When All You Need is Now wouldn’t load, and Molly’s Yes wasn’t doing the trick, I turned to YouTube with something very specific in mind. Hee Haw. Yes. Hee Haw.
I was at least half-smiling after watching it three times.
My father was deployed overseas for most of my small childhood. I think he only lived with us for two out of my first six years. Family time was a non-concept to me, so imagine what a revelatory delight it was for me to realize that my mother, father and I could sit down and watch a TV show together. We did that with Hee Haw.
I can remember sitting on the arm of my father’s chair, smiling. I liked the show. It had pretty ladies with shiny hair, and a donkey. And Minnie Pearl. I loved Minnie Pearl. She had hats. I looked at my father, who was laughing. I looked at my mother, who was laughing. I was laughing, too. We were all three laughing at the same thing, at the same time, maybe even for the same reason!
Yeah, we went to Disney World when I was 9, but the best times I remember with both my parents were spent laughing at television shows. Hee Haw and Designing Women being the two that we could all enjoy.
The Outside Lane 