Monthly Archives: February 2011

The Oscars…128 Hours??

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Did you watch?? Still awake?!

Oh Dear, The Oscars got some, shall we say, mixed reviews this evening…

Michelle Williams arriving

looking very Jean Seberg in Chanel couture.

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There were definite highs…

“The King’s Speech” unsurprisingly won the Oscar for BEST FILM

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And… a couple of lows…

Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosting the 83rd annual Academy Awards

Much like a badly judged first date that spends the night scanning the room to see if he can do any better, Mr. Franco, at least for the first half of the show, adopted an “I’d rather be anywhere than here” sort of attitude. Why the slumming James??  We’ve all been nice to you!

Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, I thought was quite adorable.  She looked divine in everything she wore including; Valentino, Givenchy, Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood, Oscar De la Renta, Versace and I believe she closed in Tom Ford. Phew!

Not to mention the girl can really sing!

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Mila Kunis wore possibly my favourite dress (Elie Saab) of the evening

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A radiant Natalie Portman took home Best Actress Award for “The Black Swan”


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Scarlett Johannsen’s dress was such gorgeous shades of berries-

I just wish she had worn a nude coloured slip underneath, instead of black, but that’s just me :)

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Even though I’m on “Team Gabriel” I thought Halle Berry’s Marchesa dress was spectacular

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Colin Firth and his beautiful wife Livia

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Don’t we all just love Colin Firth?!  His tux was perfection, loved his buttons

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Nicole Kidman doing a “White Swan” in Dior

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I like Cate Blanchett but this Givenchy couture was definitely not my favourite- Not liking that big circle effect on the chest at all.

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Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for his incredible performance in “The Fighter”

Who knew he was Australian?! I thought for a second he was staying in character for a part and I thought ; Wow, the press is going to have a field day with this. Silly me.

Bale in “The Fighter”

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Gwyneth Paltrow…her dress was nice.  That’s all I’m going to say.

You can say stuff though:)

OK, wait…I can’t stand it.

I just have to say one thing. When asked on the red carpet if she could chose one person in the entire world to sing a duet with, the lead singer of Cold Play’s wife said “Jay-Z”.

I nominate Gwyneth for the “Always Be Closing on The Career” Award.

 

Mandy Moore’s Monique lhuillier dress was perfection!

 

Sweet, age appropriate dress and attitude for Hailee Steinfeld, star of “True Grit”

(sorry, don’t know who designed her dress. Anyone??)

 

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

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Dame Helen Mirren, glam as always.

 

Sharon Stone

Not sure about all that over-posing on the red carpet…a little too “Ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille”

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Annette Bening & Warren.  She was AMAZING in “The Kids are All Right”

one of my very favourite movies from last year.

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RED was definitely the most popular colour for the 2011 Oscars…

Sandra Bullock having the last word on Biker Tattoo Loser Guy

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Jennifer Hudson received some mixed reviews on her Versace dress but I think it’s just incredible how she has turned her look and body around. Cheers to you Jennifer!

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Anne Hathaway & Valentino

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Jennifer Lawrence from “Winter’s Bone”

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Javier Bardem & Penelope Cruz looking fab

Love this tone of red

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The Family Jewel tones…

me thinks the Bridges family have this year’s Christmas card ready to go! What a sweet photo!

 

and lastly,

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Helena Bonham Carter representing :)


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What did YOU make of the show this year?!

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Position Desired; Spa Maven

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“Spa cuisine” Room Service at The One & Only Palmilla, Cabo San Lucas


I remember flipping through a magazine some time ago and reading an article in which several different contributors weighed in on their favourite get-away spots.  What caught my attention was actually not any of the destinations (I wanted to go to everyone of them- no surprise there) but rather, one contributor was credited as being a “Spa Maven“-  An expert, if you will, in the art of critiquing spas.

Could there possibly be, on the planet, a cushier occupation? Is there a school where one learns such discerning skills and if so, what’s the cut off age because, next to being a world renowned “nose” in the perfume industry, this is definitely what I want to be when I grow up.  Not to sound big headed, but I’m pretty confident I possess all the skills required;

First and foremost, precious little makes me roll my eyes more than when people say “I can’t just sit around on holiday.  It drives me batty. I have to be doing something”

WTF?!  What part of HOLIDAY did you not understand?!

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Our little infinity pool for two on the terrace of The Palmilla, Cabo San Lucas

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There are books to be read!

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Unusual floral arrangements to be studied

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Restaurant reservations to be made…

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and very heavy cocktails to be lifted.

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There are age old questions to be answered, such as “What came first, the salt or the lime?”

(as well as “why am I ‘doing’ tequila shooters like it’s 1989 , 1979 well, like it’s not going to hurt in the morning?”)

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There are vistas to be appreciated

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And even a little chapel to repent for your tequila- fueled transgressions

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Just strolling through the grounds of The Palmilla can be a visually exhausting experience

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Thankfully, more spa cuisine awaits, along with freshly squeezed orange and pineapple juice.

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The beach is gorgeous and the sea beckons, but no swimming right here… the signs say the tides could be dangerous.

Quick- get back to the pool!

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The original property dates back to 1956, when it was conceived as a 15 room luxury hide-away by the President of Mexico’s son, so there are many spectacular specimen trees and lush vegetation for finding shelter from the sun.

That being said… a little vitamin D never hurt anyone :)

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Studying my toes while cracking the books for my “Spa Maven” applications

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A bed and a cup of tea to unwind after your full body scrub and hot stone therapy

OK, So just me? Or do any of these thoughts cross your mind while getting  a massage;

-I’m going to get a massage more often. Seriously. Life is short, this is good.

-I wonder if she can see my cellulite in this light?

-This is the longest I’ve gone in the presence of someone else without talking.  Very much.

- Shit, those stones are hot.

- Would it be such a crime to walk back to the suite in the spa robe? I’m too tired to put my clothes back on.

- I wonder where she got those cute shoes?

-I should play this music in traffic.

-What should I have for dinner?

-I wonder how long before the creases from this face doughnut will be gone from my forehead?

My forehead never used to get doughnut hole creases….

I can’t breathe in this position much longer…hey- being a Spa Maven is hard after all…

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Spa Maven at work

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Nos vemos, Palmilla friends …

The One & Only Palmilla

was voted #1 out of the top 35 Resorts in Mexico 2010 by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine

Turn down service comes with little plant descriptions each night, along with incense and aromatherapy request cards.

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Friday Favourites (16)

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Hard to imagine I took this photo of my potato vine just two days ago.  Tonight the wind and rain are positively pelting at my window as the lights flicker on and off, suggesting a rounding up of the flashlights might be in order soon.

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via Contentinacottage

 

I’m just taking a little time off packing for a short trip to Mexico to share a few Friday Favourites (verging on Saturday) with you.  I haven’t been to Mexico in probably 17 years… so although it’s a very short trip, I’m pretty excited. Salty margueritas, spicy guacamole and warm white sand sound like a good plan right about now :)

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In the meantime,

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Seriously, I do not work for Trader Joe’s, nor do I have any family members or shares in the company.  I just love a lot of their stuff, what can I say?!  This is my new fav.  It’s a tad on the sweet side, but that’s no crime in my book. A quick and easy steaming mug of this late in the afternoon hits just the right spot, especially in this cooler weather.

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And while we’re on the subject of getting cozy…

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These are my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE new Flannel sheets- and believe you me, I am a flannel sheet afficianado affichionado expert.

 

But don’t just take my word for it- everyone in our house that has slept in these sheets has commented on how soft they are.

 

Get them here if you want to be enveloped in white marshmallowy soft goodness;

Garnet Hill Supima Flannel Sheets

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On the flip side, If you haven’t been lucky enough to catch a good night’s sleep, I have two other Friday Favourites to share with you;

KLORANE SOOTHING & RELAXING EYE PATCHES

Klorane has always been my favourite eye-make up remover. I’ve literally been using it since I was a teenager. Love it.

Recently however I discovered Klorane also makes these soothing eye pads that seriously work. They’re especially great for travel- you can stick them on, slap a sleep mask over top and off to the Land of Nod you go. Put them under or directly on puffy eye lids like I do whenever necessary (well, actually, not whenever necessary or I’d be using them every morning and would be buying shares in Klorane)  A couple of packages will definitely be going in my Mexico bag this weekend!

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One more Favourite and this one’s a doozy.

I almost can’t believe I’m even sharing it


By Terry Face Powder

I’ve mentioned By Terry products once or twice before, but this powder?

Three words- Oh   My   God.

Like Buttah.

PS. This little compact will set you back more than the flannel sheets so you make the call. It’s also considerably smaller than this photo- in fact it fits in the smallest evening bag.

Still- you’re worth it…get both. In fact, don’t even take the powder off when you lay your head on that flannel pillowcase- now we’re talking :)

Available at Barney’s

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Alright, I better get back to my packing.

I have no idea what I’m wearing for traveling yet, but I know what I’d like to wear…


Somehow I don’t think it would go over well with my husband  (although what I wouldn’t pay just to see the look on his face?! )

 

Oh- one more thing


Have you met Dusty The Klepto Cat yet?!

 

Happy Weekend to you!

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PS.  Just putting it out there…Anyone watching “Survivor!” this season??  I’m just wondering… :)

 

OK, this is really really the last thing and then I’m seriously packing…  How about “The Good Wife”?  I just watched it for the first time this week- what a great show!

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Six Husbands & One Very Green Thumb

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Inspired by the beauty of “Rose Story Farm” in my previous post,  I’m going to share yet another  Santa Barbara Garden Treasure with you;

Nestled in the foothills of Montecito,  embraced within high plaster walls the colour of rare salmon, sits Lotusland, home to one of the most famous exotic gardens in the world.

This 37 acre property, although originally dating back to 1882, really found it’s most ardent custodian in 1941 when, at the urging of her last husband, it was purchased by the rather infamous Madame Ganna Walska.

Lotusland proved to be THE True Love of Madame Walska’s life. She would remain there for the next 43 years, passionately obsessed with creating the beautiful gardens we still enjoy there today.


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Large shards of bottle glass set the winding paths through the tropical gardens aglow

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Madame basking in the glory of her gardens

Born in Poland in 1887, Ganna Walska’s early years were spent as an aspiring actress and opera singer.  Ironically, despite the scandalously lavish efforts of her fourth husband to fan the flames of her musical career, Madame Walska’s reputation on the stage never scaled the heights she would achieve in the gardening world.  Whatever poor notices she may have received on stage though, she certainly made up for romantically. Ganna would eventually chalk up 6 husbands, divorcing #6 in 1946 after less than 4 years.

The Cast of Husbands;

Russian baron Arcadie d’Eingorn, a Russian officer (divorced him for drunkenness 1915)
Dr Joseph Fraenkel, a famed New York endocrinologist, died 1920,
multimillionaire sportsman and carpet tycoon Alexander Smith Cochran, married 1920, divorced 1922
industrialist Harold Fowler McCormick, married in 1922, divorced 1931
English inventor of a death ray, Harry Grindell Matthews, died 1941
Theos Bernard, her 6th and last husband, a scholar of yoga & Tibetan Buddhism, married 1942, divorced 1946

(list via Wikipedia)

Personally, I think you have to appreciate her range…going from “Death Ray Inventor” husband to Buddhist-yogi husband within a year!

I’d say those are pre-gardening hands


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A very Young Ganna

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There was much talk back in the day that Madame Walska’s relationship with her husband  Harold McCormick  was in fact the inspiration behind the screenplay for “Citizen Kane”

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But whether or not Madame Walska possessed any true talents as a singer, her gift for creating spectacular gardens remains indisputable.

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The Cactus Gardens of Lotusland are particularly impressive

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Cactus flowers resembling something from under the sea

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Madame Walska’s difficult to locate memoirs were entitled “Always Room At The Top”

No Shrinking Violet was our Ganna :)

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A Jurassic moment in the Cactus Gardens

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Lotusland overflows with delightfully creative details

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Chanel resort 2010

A look I like to think the eccentric Madame would have worn in the gardens.

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A tranquil scene in the Japanese gardens

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Who needs jewelry when you can go into the garden and fetch a beautiful fresh lotus?!

Madame Walska made very few changes to the main residence during her lengthy reign at Lotusland, however she continued to indulge her passion for the gardens til the very end of her life, resorting to auctioning off her jewels to fund her beloved Cycad Garden as late as the 1970′s.

She remained the hands-on “Head Gardener” at Lotusland until her death at the age of 97.

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Oh Dear…

So many husbands,

So many captions…

:)

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For more information on visiting Lotusland please click here

PS. Due to both the fascinating history  of Lotusland and value of many of the specimens, guided tours and appointments are mandatory

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Romance & Roses

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“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but looking outward together in the same direction” Antoine De Saint-Expery

 

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It’s Smoochie Smoochie Time again…no, Silly, not The Grammys-I’m talking about kissing on the LIPS!

Valentine’s Day Tomorrow!!


What Lips My Lips Have Kissed

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply;
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands a lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet know its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone;
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

 

Sigh.


Let’s stroll down a romantic path together, shall we?


What’s your favourite romantic restaurant ? What foods spell ‘Sensuous’ to you?


Your most treasured romantic novel?


Mine is;

“To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else’s heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.”  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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What about a film, flower or song?


Where’s the most romantic place you’ve ever been, or dream of going?!

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Herewith, a few images and some of my picks;

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Oak Alley, Louisiana- that’s Romance for me.





One of my favourite songs about LOVE (And played at our wedding :) )

Let’s Stay Together  

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Romantic Roses in my garden

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“Sofia” is a nice, light, inexpensive Rose’ in a very pretty bottle

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“LOVE” by Kilian.

A seductive blend of neroli, orange blossom, jasmine, rose & vanilla

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My friends Dani & Bill Hahn’s magical rose farm in Carpinteria, CA; ROSE STORY FARM

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Rose Story Farm

(spot the kitty- distant kin of our cat :) )

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Fun reference book by Diane Ackerman- I love her books

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Beautiful little arrangements for a Father & Daughter event created by TOAST, Santa Barbara

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i love you cards- check out their cute site here

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“The Lover”  A steamy, sensuous feast of a film

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And for sensuous food…pretty much anything that involves white truffles gets a big pungent thumbs up from moi.  Quite honestly- just bury me with a good bottle of fresh white truffle salt (but make sure it’s pure, no “Essence of” stuff- Could there be anything worse than heading off into The Afterlife with an aftertaste? You have to think of these things…)


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Ultra long stemmed red roses from Toast, Santa Barbara

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One of The most Romantic Gardens I’ve ever been to, NINFA, outside of Rome

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Robert Longo Rose Print

 

 

Unison Heart ornaments on sale now here

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A single votive illuminates a friend’s fahboolus rose photo printed coffee table

 

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Dior Couture 2011

How do I count the ways I love  thee, John Galliano??

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photo via Lola’s

 

A Rose is a Rose (by any other name) Martini

In a shaker filled with ice ..
2 parts Capt Morgan Spiced Rum
2 splashes Rose Le Sirop de Monin
1 part of fresh pear juice
Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled champagne glass. Fill the glass to the top with rose petals .. which are completely edible and quite simply .. gorgeous. enjoy

(Recipe courtesy of Lola’s)

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‘Le Sirop Monin’ mixed with champagne, yesterday afternoon…  For the sake of THE BLOG, People

 

 

 

PS. So I cheated and used a camellia petal because I didn’t have pear juice or roses in bloom right now-  not poisonous, right?

It’s been almost 24 hours now…

So far, I’m feeling OK.

 

 

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This Cherry Bomb cupcake from Whodidly Cupcakes, Montecito, CA. made me feel even better :)

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Wishing you a LOVEly Valentine’s Day and if you’re up for a Grammy Good Luck !!


xoxox

 

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