Monthly Archives: June 2010

Yoga, Byron and Simon on Kona

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Slim Paley Photo

Sun sets over the beach last night at Hualalai

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King Pigeon Pose that I hope to be mastering soon :)

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So… I’ve been to yoga class, in some form or other, every day since we arrived in Hawaii and a few things have occurred to me while my mind was meant to be clear.  To tell the truth, I never think more than when I’m supposed to be thought-free, but that’s another  post isn’t it?  At home, I practice yoga in a room devoid of mirrors. That’s a good thing, I’ve decided.  It helps to keep my mind free instead of worrying about my form and how much my chest wrinkles when I’m upside down. Lord. Let’s just say it’s also a good thing I didn’t pursue that career in Cirque du Soleil.  Which brings me to the entrepreneurial idea I hatched in class today…  Turtleneck yoga outfits.  What do you think- am I on to something??

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Slim Paley photo                     Hawaiian flowers (photo not enhanced )

This is What I’d like to have been thinking about in yoga class

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I’m also not used to doing yoga with strangers.  It’s amazing how much one person in a class can utterly put you off.  This morning there was a man that bore a striking resemblance to Simon, the Brooklyn husband on Housewives of NY.  Perversely, I couldn’t shrug off the notion that he actually was Simon, right beside me here in Hawaii… achieving far better Warrior poses than mine and ruminating over which mini Speedo he’d sport apres class.  It ruined my whole Chakra, Man.

Simon from Brooklyn

Sadly, What I was thinking about in Yoga class

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Meanwhile, back at the beach, I finished Byron in Love completely horrified.  And I didn’t come without my bags packed- I read  Benita Eisler’s Byron; Child of Passion, Fool of Fame several years ago.  But unless my memory fails me- which is more than entirely possible,  Eisler either soft pedaled the whole “sister-wife-incest- triangle- thing” or I was simply another of the endless legions of both sexes that preferred not to see past the legendary beauty of Byron, both in face and word, to the truly cruel and damaged person that he was. How did I not remember that he was born with a severely deformed club foot?  Such an ironic twist of fate for an otherwise perfect physical specimen. One can’t help but wonder if he wouldn’t have been a far more decent person if he could have traded a little genius and beauty for a normal foot.  But ah…The Fates…few poets ever wrote about them as beautifully as Byron:

This poem, in which he laments the loss of his physical powers to draw those he loves to him,  was written on his 36th birthday. He died less than a year later.

(Apologies for the whiplash of including photos of Simon and Byron on the same post :) )

‘Tis time this heart should be unmoved,

Since others it has ceased to move;

Yet, though I cannot be beloved,

Still let me love!

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The fire that on my bosom preys

Is lone as some volcanic isle;

No torch is kindled at its blaze-

A funeral pile.

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Slim Paley photo

Hualalai Beach

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One last thought I had during Shivasana-  I could live in a tropical place in a New York minute…

Couldn’t you??

Tomorrow- a 7:00am hike down to a waterfall!

Aloha!

xx

KONA

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Sunrise on the beach at Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii

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Aloha from The Big Island!!  I’m here for one hopefully glorious week with my menfolk.  They are golfing and doing manly things, including getting up early to watch World Cup this morning, hence the photo above.  I hope to do a whole lot of reading, yoga, imbibing of shamefully creamy, delicious drinks whose names I will slyly attempt to use in Scrabble, and not too much else.   Our travel day yesterday was hellish in the extreme. Battling Friday morning traffic from S.B. to LAX spelled a very early departure from home. After sitting at the gate until 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave we learned it was delayed due to maintenance issues. Then, they changed the plane entirely.  A new plane meant completely re-shuffling and rechecking in every single passenger on the full flight. The substitute aircraft had fewer seats, so people were asked to accept $500 coupons and take the next scheduled flight. Had we known we were going to be surrounded by a cast of tiny humans auditioning for ” The Exorcist In Air” we might have considered taking the vouchers.  All I can say is I’m thankful I taught my boys manners enough to not say anything to other people who aren’t doing the same.  OK, I have to say this too; WHAT THE @#*&(%$ ARE PEOPLE THINKING??!!

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But all that’s behind us now (other than the pathetically useless email I’ll be sending to Amercian Airlines, booo hiss)

OOHHMMMM…I’ve already done a PiYo class (for the uninitiated including me, up until today, that’s Pilates and Yoga combined)  But more on that later.

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole- Some nice Hawaiian Over the Rainbow…

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Apparently the Geiko Gecko is quite the lothario  over here on the Big Island…

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The Beach at Hualalai, Four Seasons, Kona

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I brought several books with me;  ”Byron In Love” by Edna O’Brien, “Growing Pains, The Autobiography of Emily Carr“, “Colombo Heat” a novel about Ceylon in the dying days of the Empire by the author of The Killing Fields, Christopher Hudson, and “Nature & Nurture; The Art & Science of Living The Good Life” by Brad Woodson. I have no idea where this book came from but it was small and in the bookcase outside my bedroom so I grabbed it.  I also figured out how to download all the books from my Kindle onto my iPad – Look at me, all growed up and technical!

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Have you ever actually read Michener’s “Hawaii”?  I have.  Really, I did! and I loved it.  As Michener novels go, this one is relatively light on the geographical, dinasoury stuff at the beginning and although it’s a beast (over 960 pages) once you get past the early chapters (no cheating- the book police are over your shoulder) I remember it being hard to put down.  People, I’m embarrassed to admit it but I read “The Help” last year (see November posts) and didn’t love.  I feel like I’m the only one and no doubt we’ll hear they’re making the movie any day now but there you have it.

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I believe these are Plumeria Trees, but I’m not sure.  I can’t get over how they thrive so profusely here, jutting out of all the black volcanic rock. I wish for the 100th time I could add scent to my posts!

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I love wooden screen doors, don’t you?!

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More gorgeousness growing out of rock!.

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Time You Enjoyed Wasting, Is Not Wasted Time

T.S. Eliot

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Oh- better go- I think I hear a large frothy concoction calling my name…

I’ll check back in in a couple of days :)

Have a wonderful Weekend Everyone!

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Emerald Leaves…

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Perchance I miss posting ‘Favourites’ this week, as I will be traveling on Friday, I wanted to share this little gem with you.  British designer Jasper Conran’s first book  ’Country‘ has recently been published and it’s a gorgeous tome!  Jasper was a young ‘Enfant Terrible’ ‘ just making his debut in the fashion world when I lived in London.  Despite the formidable shadow cast by his famous father Sir Terence Conran, Jasper has managed to stand the test of time and then some, to become a well respected and talented designer in his own right. Making his mark not only in fashion but interior design, fragrance and tableware (Conran designs for Wedgewood and Designer’s Guild, amongst others) he has a beautiful new feather to put in his cap. ‘Country‘ is a rich and quirky feast of mucky wellies, village fetes, roaring pub fires and heart-stopping vistas.  This is not an interior design book by any means, but rather a loving and personal tribute to everything that makes English Country Life so unique and appealing to the rest of the world.

Available on Amazon

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Please Watch this Video for more lovely images from ‘Country’

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Slim Paley photo, Ninfa Italy

Nothing moves me more than a sun dappled allee of mature trees

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Ralph Lauren Fall 2010

Leaves of a different sort

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WallpaperSpace.co.uk

(I featured this green leaf large scale wall mural on my Chartreuse post, but I simply couldn’t resist it for this :) )

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Artist unknown

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My favourite ivy leaf  bracelet

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Monique lhuillier

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Leaf Ties

How cute are these? I can think of a million ways to use them, can’t you?

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Woops, lost the credit again

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Walt Whitman’s First Edition “Leaves of Grass”

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My Lover Gave Me Green Leaves

BY JOSEPHINE DICKINSON

My lover gave me green leaves
with the mud of the garden on them,
radishes sharp and red,
nasturtium flames.

He gave me the tender heart
of a cabbage, its glossy coat,
a loaf of bread studded deep
with seeds.

He gave me the note
the blackbird
I’d cried at the blackness of
by the river sang.

He gave me the struck fire
of the thoughts
in his mind—
flint on flint.

He gave me the taste,
direct on his tongue,
of the syllables their embers
did not destroy.

He gave me his word,
the word of an Adam—
a promise,
should he set eyes on the sun.

He gave me a drop of the dew
to hold.
To see my face in it.
To look through.

He gave me,
in the chrisomed palm
of his empty hand—
a gasp of joy.

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Born in London in 1957, poet Josephine Dickinson has been deaf since the age of six as a result of a childhood illness. She studied classics at Oxford University and went on to establish a career as a musician, composer, and poet. In her late 30s she relocated to Alston, a remote English Cumbrian town, where she met and married an elderly sheep farmer, Douglas Dickinson, who died in 2004.

Her poems, rich in natural imagery, are sometimes metered or rhymed, but always attentive to sound in their tender evocations of rural life. In a 2007 interview with the Times (London), Dickinson stated, “I do know that I found speech more difficult than music to cope with after the deafness. I came to see the written word as a liberation, which was wonderful. Very exotic and exciting.”

Dickinson continues to tend her late husband’s sheep farm.

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Appree leaf shaped post it notes

Adorable!

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Bamboo in Kyoto

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Fulvio Bonavia

 

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It’s that time again… letting my Cecille Brunner climbing roses curl into my second story office – I LOVE summer!!

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I leave you (no pun intended) with this pretty song by Crowded House; English Trees

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Slim Paley photo


Friday Favourites (11)

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All my Hydrangeas are going gangbusters at the moment, which is great because my roses are at intermission. I took this photo yesterday. They were cut from the garden on Wednesday morning and were still quite perky. I find that the only time to cut hydrangea so they last is at night or first thing in the morning.  I re-cut the stems and splice them but does anyone have any secrets to making them last longer?  My new Favourites are the lacy Macrophyllas.

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Photo Fluvio Bonavia

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It’s time for Friday Favourites…on Saturday!  Friday’s not the Boss of me.  I took Friday off to wash the cars, volunteer at the library, rotate my compost. Oh, who am I kidding? I had a wonderful breakfast with a friend, did some floral arranging, took a design meeting, and then went to see “Get Him to The Greek” with my husband, my son and his friend.  Basically, I’m going to Parenting Hell this time for sure.  My face hurts from trying not to laugh at all the disgusting parts in front of the boys. Thank God there was a woman right beside me, sitting next to her teen-age son and I heard her laughing. What a terrible mother. Although we did inadvertently lock our son in the car and were almost to the ticket line before he rang my cell to say he was still IN THE CAR (he’d been texting in the back seat while we were getting out- his friend didn’t say anything. Teenagers :) )  Still, I think the woman beside me was a worse parent because she was really enjoying the movie  entirely too much.

IMDB Parent’s Warning

PS. Proud to say the funniest scene in the film uses a T Rex song Slim Paley featured in Sept. 2009 :)

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But I digress… back to Saturday’s Friday Favourites;

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Favourite Cappuccino “Souffle” This Week;  D’Angelo’s, Santa Barbara

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Slim Paley photos………………….Or as my friend said; “May I have a bite of your cappuccino?!”

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Fulvio Bonavio photo

I am sooo praying that here in Santa Barbara we are kissing the incessant June Gloom GUH-bye and will be able to enjoy a little quality time at the beach for Father’s day tomorrow.  Of course sand and surf conjure up two of the most dreaded words in the English language; bathing suit, but I won’t be boring and go into the fresh hell that poses for most of us. Everyone knows the secret to looking good in your ‘kini, or Speedo -  (other than exercising regularly, eating a well balanced, nutritional diet blah blah blah) is fake tan.  And what’s my Favourite Fake tan of all time?

St. Tropez Self Tanner It’s the absolute best and most realistic tanner I’ve tried, and that’s saying something.  I’m sure most of you are probably familiar with St. Tropez already, it’s been around a long time,  but the newest blend smells better than ever, or rather, smells less than ever.  Now I’m certainly not saying this product is chemical free by any means…but if you do find yourself in a tanning emergency, and like me, you’re horrified by the idea of  standing butt naked save for a paper g-string, while a complete stranger spray guns every nook and cranny of your being like a second-hand car, you might want to give ‘St. Tropez’ a go.  It’s available at many beauty supply stores, as well as Sephora and Amazon.

Self Tanning Tip: Exfoliating  before self tanning is a must  but I find it difficult to use plastic gloves as suggested. I prefer to heavily moisturize my hands first and then scrape a crescent of soap beneath my nails, quickly apply the tanner and then wash off the soap and moisterizer- voila- no yucky brown stains under your nails.

Note of caution on the “Everyday Perfect Legs” Duo bottle-  The gradual creme is fantastic but the ‘Instant Bronzer’ is SUPER dark. As in ‘Refinish Your Furniture’ dark.

.Normally I don’t like to use photos of myself on Slim Paley, but for this post I’ve made an exception…

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Ok, technically this doesn’t fall in the “Favourites” category, as I haven’t read it yet (It was just released June 8th)  but I’m certainly as fascinated as the other 350 million plus people that are using Facebook as a means to reach out and communicate across the planet.  Should be an interesting read.   “FAN” oops, I mean “LIKE” this???  :)

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Now that we have our glow on, it’s time to slip into something comfortable…  These ridiculously soft “Soft” T-shirts by Joie, feel SO luxurious,  you’ll be tempted to wear them from morning to night, and then to bed.  Available at most major department stores.

Soft Joie T-shirts


And speaking of comfort, these inexpensive white linen pants from The Gap are great.  Bonus; they are lined, although  I didn’t even realize they were at first. I looked at the comments on the Gap website and a couple of people said they are see-thru… they’re NOT.  Obviously those were nuns commenting.  They have faux pockets at the front,  a nice relaxed wrinkled look and are a pretty decent length- I don’t know what the inseam is but I’m 5 8″ and I can wear a low heel with them. They come in a nice natural linen colour too (the natural is not lined) and here’s the best part- they are on sale right now for $44.00 (of course, because I bought them just last week for $59)

Note; they run super big, so get at least  two sizes smaller than you would normally wear.  I  bought them in both sizes – the smaller size is nice for heels and the bigger ones are great for a more casual, slouchy look.  Check them out!

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So, I might not have left you dressed in the sexiest outfit for Father’s Day, but rest assured you’ll be comfortable whilst slaving away in the kitchen, or over the barbeque, not to mention that great tan underneath!

Have a beautiful Sunday and Happy Father’s Day to all…


ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

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Cheers Friends!   Guess what? I’ve officially been writing my blog for exactly ONE YEAR this week!!  Even though my first several posts were baby steps, few and far between (albeit a baby with a little potty mouth-but hey, no one was reading it yet) I’ve learned that sometimes, in the infamous words of Nike, you have to dive in and  “JUST DO IT!”   I’ve also realized it’s never too late to try something new, it’s OK to learn as you go, and you can teach an old dog new tricks.

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I began this endeavor- I’ll refrain from using “JOURNEY” out of respect to ‘American Idol’ and ‘The Bachelor”  (although I’m not above performing a little Rose Ceremony with myself later :) )  with no expectations  or knowledge of the blogging world, and no plan, other than to be eclectic.  I find myself without words (almost) for just how much I appreciate all the fantastic support I’ve received.  Though I haven’t posted as often as I’d originally intended, I must admit I’m quite chuffed with myself to be celebrating one entire year. I might even have a glass of champagne tonight and I truly wish that you could all join me!  It’s been such great fun getting to “know” SO many lovely people.

Not to turn this into my Oscar speech, but I especially want to thank all my fellow bloggers that have linked to Slim Paley since I began. I don’t think I would have continued without so many gracious, talented people supporting me ( any chance of helping me out with exercising??)  The kind and inclusive nature of this community has been a humbling and unexpected surprise.   At the risk of revealing the Wizard behind the curtain, as soon as Older Son returns from college I’m hoping he will help me to configure a new two column format so that I may finally and joyfully create …drum roll…. A BLOG LIST OF MY OWN!   I chose this current WordPress template as it accepted my high resolution photos. I didn’t know from Blogrolls, buttons and links.

I would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to the generous and prolific Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic for the wonderful post she wrote about S.P. way back on January 2nd- it was really instrumental in sending so many new readers my way. What a great way to start off the New Year- receiving a gift from someone you have never met… and I love all my Habitually Chic friends!

But wait…don’t start playing me off with music  just yet…

Lastly, but never leastly (I say it’s a word) Thank you SOOOOO MUCH to my family, especially my amazing husband who has truly been my biggest champion (not to mention the countless late nights of click, click clicking beside him in bed.  Sure, there was some stink-eye shot in my direction once and awhile- the man is not a Saint )  Older Son helped me to get started, his brother eventually came around to not being mortified, even leaving a comment or two, and the loving and constructive encouragement of my friends has been …well, let’s just say, my blog runneth over!!

Thanks so much,  each and every one of you-  It’s been more than my pleasure to have made your acquaintance :)

Lots of Love

Slim

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Slim Paley Photo……………………………………………………………..Garden Delights

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