c'est chic

On Vacation from Blogging

2008-08-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

As if you couldn't tell.

A Special Post for Doug

2008-08-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

I Dream of Truro

2008-08-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

photo of Truro, Cape Cod by Robert Spencer for NYT

Traffic Circle Still Life

2008-08-02T10:34:00.001-07:00

all photos courtesy of Jim, who found the "art" on a walk with Bucky in our neighborhood

Rabbit, Rabbit!

2008-08-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Green Fairy

2008-07-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

Absinthe.

With that mythic quality, I want to taste it.

And now there's a Pacific Northwest vintage: Pacifique.

We're so cool.

All I Know I Learn From Google

2008-07-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today is Beatrix Potter's birthday.

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life ..

2008-07-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle

And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.
And...always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath
Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.

You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...Always look on the right side of life... (Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)

Always look on the bright side of life...

from the Monty Python musical, Not the Messiah (He's A Naughty Boy)
Today's fragrance? Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan ... a lemon iced tea scent for summer.

Can You Color Inside The Lines?

2008-07-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Bastille Day

2008-07-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here's to the overthrow of all tyrannical despots ... peacefully, of course, and with due process.

Independence Day 2008

2008-07-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness..."

Rabbit, Rabbit

2008-07-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

Top Five Motivators

2008-06-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

1. Fear
2. Guilt
3. Anger
4. Resentment
5. Love

Today's fragrance: Tom Ford Azurée Soleil eau fraiche

Peonies and Heritage Roses

2008-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Falling Out of Love

2008-05-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

You start to notice the little things.
Like how you don't post as much.
Like how you never learned to use your digital camera to post your own visuals.
Like how you now hate the color scheme that you tried to superimpose over the kind but Levittown-esque Blogger template.
Like how even your faithful three (maybe up to six) readers agree with you that your Blog is boring.
At least you still like the name.
So ... what do you do when you have to break up with your blog?
You knock the whole damn thing down (after taking time to sift through the 799 previous posts {YES, THIS IS ACTUALLY THE 800TH POST} to see what's worth saving)
And start over.
Look for a New and Different C'est Chic coming soon.

Rabbit, Rabbit

2008-05-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, just imagine you see a rabbit in this space. Like a Cheshire cat, only different. Thank you.

Shaal Nur

2008-04-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

It's about time for my semi-annual fragrance review, isn't it? Ok. Today I wore Etro Shaal Nur. It smelled good.

Here's more vital information from the mini-review of September 1, 2006 (jeez, I've been blogging a long time): Shaal Nur with citrus, spices, karo karoundé, narcissus, jonquil ... what I get is a transparent incense-y rose, akin to the sheer beauty of Sonoma Scent Studio's Tranquility. That same wisp-of-holy-smokeness quality, plus a subtle florality.

Earth Day 2008

2008-04-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

I Got Something Anyway

2008-04-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

I got a flu shot. I wash my hands religiously. I aim my patented glare at people who cough on the bus (I don't care if they can't help it). I boil pens and paper after my ill coworkers touched them and avoided them completely if I could help it. And yet, I'm in bed sick. I've been blowing my nose for two days. My head aches. I sneeze.

I'm only on this blog right now to tell you how sorry I feel for myself.

If I die, remember me as the sweet, good-tempered, never-sarcastic dear person I never was.

God, I feel awful.

A Memory of Pesach

2008-04-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight marks the first night of Passover ... and pulls out a memory of seder with my now ex-laws. Waiting, waiting, waiting through the reading of the Haggadah for the reward of my mother-in-law's salty chicken soup and a "matzoh sandwich," the wonderful mix of charoset and a touch of horseradish on the cardboard-like matzoh. I'll never forget it or them.

Once Upon A Dream

2008-04-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

Maleficent: It's INCREDIBLE! *Sixteen years* and not a *trace* of her! She couldn't have vanished into thin air. [to her goons] Maleficent: Are you sure you searched everywhere? Maleficent's goon: Yes, yes, everywhere. We *all* did. [the rest of the goons agree chatteringly] Maleficent: But what about the towns? The forests? The *mountains*? Maleficent's goon: Uh-huh, we've searched mountains and forests and, uh, houses and... uh, lemme see here... and in all the cradles. Maleficent: Cradles? Maleficent's goon: Yes, yes, every cradle. Maleficent: *Cradles*? [to her pet raven, talking sarcastically about the goons]

Maleficent: Did you hear that, my pet? All these years, they've been looking for a baby [She bursts out laughing, as do her goons]

painting: Arthur Rackham's Sleeping Beauty; quote: Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Do Not Wound If You Cannot Kill

2008-04-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

Machiavelli

AND featuring completely unrelated photo of chocolate cherries, because I want one.

Old Clothes

2008-04-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

The plaintive theme of Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends...

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories;
They're all that's left you

... uses photographs to preserve memories. I use my old clothes.

Try as I might to stuff history into a bag for our neighborhood's version of Goodwill, I can't let go of a certain pink robe, certain blue flowered underwear, two oversize black sweaters (threadbare and dating from 1988) and a beautiful but dated gray knit dress.

I don't know what I'm going to do with them, except let them rot in my closet and bureau. Maybe they'll serve as a shroud: bury me in them.

But I can't let them go. They comfort me.

An Ordinary Man Who Did Extraordinary Things

2008-04-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

1/15/29 - 4/4/68

Tibet

2008-04-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

The Soviet Govern-ment of China recognizes the right of self-deter-mination of the national minorities in China, their right to complete separation from China and to the formation of an independent state for each national minority.

Mao Zedong, Resolution of the First All-China Congress of Soviets, November 1931

photo by Elizabeth Huff