Lipstick Queen

My picks right now are Lipstick Queen's Saint Pink.  

Shu Umera Has a line of reds which are suppose to be flattering to all skin types. I have to try it!

Seeing Red...

This morning while I was perusing the NY Times website this article caught my eye,"Hard Times but Your Lips Look Great". Being a lipstick collector and obsessive balmer this looked like something I must investigate.  The gist of the article is that when the economy is hitting the skids, historically, lipstick sales have gone up. It seems when we can't splurge on those spendy new jeans or gorgeous pair of Lanvin flats we can treat ourselves to a great lipstick. So wether it's Chanel or Yves, Petal Pink or Flame Red lipstick is the eternal pick-me-up. Hmm, what will my new summer color be?

Ladies and Gentlemen....

Anita O' Day. A feast for the eyes and ears. The 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Anita had a reputation for liking a recreational drug every now and again and had been picked up and jailed a couple times by this point in her career. This part of the concert was done on a Sunday morning. She thought people might come and expect to see a disheveled bum so she donned her best hat and her sassiest dress and she knocked 'em dead.

It's a Doris Day day!

Today the snow is almost all melted ,it's sunny and nearly sixty degrees. Happiness in the air. Doris Day is 84 years old today. I heard that on the radio this morning and I smiled. I thought of how many great films she's made. What  great music she's made. She was one of the girl singers with the big bands in the forties. That is forever impressive to me. Growing up I always watched "Pillow Talk" and "That Touch of Mink". My sisters and I would swoon at her wardrobe. She always looked so...fresh.  I found out as an adult, what a survivor she was. How much she had lost  and never seemed to falter in her optimism. She's passed on her good heart to the care of animals. She's a pretty cool lady.  So, Happy Birthday Doris!

calgon take me away....

Happy friday!

I'm It...

Tagged by Miss Cavendish(thanks ever so), I will now drone on about the wonders of my world. Personally, I love reading others answers to these questions. I find it as interesting if not more than say....Victoria Beckham ? And I find an absolute thrill in doing the answering. It does take a bit of pondering. I hope I'm not going to answer these too swiftly and betray my authentic self. Right. Carry on Musette. Oh, the images are:(left) the lovely Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver and (right) Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. I added Carole Lombard because she's pretty and funny. A long time ago...my mother said to me, if  I were an actress I would be like Carole Lombard. Dear mother. Ever since that day I've loved her! She had the mouth of a sailor but she was still a lady. That's our connection.

Books I've Read Recently:

1. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

2 .Lee Miller~A Life  by Carolyn Burke

3. The Letters of Noel Coward by Noel Coward & Barry Day

4 .Beauty:The Invisible Embrace by John O'Donohue

5 .Garden People:The Photographs of Valerie Finnis by Ursula Buchanan

6. A Rose for Mrs.Miniver:The Life of Greer Garson by Michael Trojan

7. The Perfect Summer:England 1911,Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson

8 .Lartigue's Riviera by Mary Blume (Unbelievable images)

Things I Frequently Say:

1. "Shut up!" (a la Elaine on Seinfeld)

2." Up, up  Goof " (Goof a.k.a. Alice my dog)

3. "Oh dear"

4."Could you rub my back?"

5."If you could be anywhere today?..."

6. "What do you feel like eating?"

7. "Ben?" yes "I love you".

8. "Nice".

Music I Like:

1. Fisherman's Woman Emiliana Torrini 

2. August Day Song Bebel Gilberto

3. After Midnight  Nat King Cole

4. Mushaboom Feist

5. Sweet Georgia Brown Anita O'Day (the live version from the Newport Jazz Festival 1958)

6. Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grapelli

7. Skylark, Rockin' Chair, Baltimore Oriole Hoagy Carmichael

8. The Way That Young Lovers Do Van Morrison

What I Couldn't Live Without: (no special order)

1. Lip Balm

2. Ben

3. Alice my doggie

4. Hand Lotion 

5. Books

6. Imagination

7. Space/Nature

8. Humor

What I'd Love to do Before I Expire:

1.Visit Papa Stour's Bolt Hole

2. Paint a beautiful portrait

3. Speak fluent French

4. Go to Paris with Ben

5. Have a couture gown made for me

6. Own a cabin by a lake/or a stone cottage by the sea

7. Have a flat stomach

8. Write one great sentence (see e.e. cummings )

Style...

Look at these beautiful smiles. On the bottom left is Rossana Orlandi.( This article was in the Elle Decor UK Jan. 2008).  First the face caught my eye and then her words. I love this quote about "style is to be free". She owns a cool shop in Milan. She was a knitwear designer for 30 years and became "tired" of it so she opened her own place of specially chosen pieces(see link at side bar) . The fact that she is beautiful without being traditionally...beautiful. It seems cliche but I wish we were shown more people like her in our media. Real. Unique. Inspiring us to be ourselves as we really are.

The other beauty at the upper right is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. A beautiful singer. She seems to have an inner peace that makes her luminous. (Read about her life here @ www.bach-cantatas.com/bio/hunt-lorraine.htm.)