I was working in an art gallery/tea house on Sundays and I’m going to say this was taken at the end of a really long day.
(btw, why were all our photos so badly cropped in the 70′s? just wondering…)
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Today I’m taking a stroll, or rather a drive, back to the 70′s
to celebrate the release of my dear friend Rita Wilson’s brand new CD
” Rita Wilson AM/FM“
The album is a fab collection of Rita covering some of her favourite songs from the 60′s & 70′s.
You must get it- it’s fantastic!
and I’m SO not saying that because she’s my friend!
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Now we all know Rita as a super talented actor and producer, but I bet it might surprise you to learn she is also a really great singer.
I know, right? (but I’ll let you in on a little secret- she bites her thumbnails. Quite a lot.)
Don’t we all feel a little better now?!
Just check her version of “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” out here;
Link:
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Photo Steven Sebring
..Rita’s song choices will resonate with anyone who grew up, or shall we say ‘passed through’ this era and I can guarantee you’ll be singing along with every song.
This is a definite ‘Embarrass Yourself in the Car’ CD.
Bring it on. Hell, hang some Pukka shells from your dashboard.
Will you ever see those people driving beside you again? Chances are slim.
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I love the premise of the album;
The 60′s “AM” songs are the ones you listened to from the back of the car while your parents were driving;
songs filled with an innocence about what the future held in store for you.
As the 70′s arrived, you’ve shifted to the front seat. You’re driving and controlling the FM station now-and did we work those dials, ladies, or what??!
The songs become more poignant, the message that love doesn’t always work out begins to resonate because, damn it, HE still hasn’t called…
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Me and my friends in the 70′s. Names will be omitted to spare the not-so-innocent
I’m on the far left. I always stuck my tongue out to cover my big bottom lip & overbite.
Man, I loved that long denim jeans skirt.
While we’re on the subject of the 70′s and driving …
I”ll share the story of my mom picking my friends and I up from school and us begging, as usual, to be driven past the house where several of the Cute Older Boys we swooned over all lived together. The regular drill of course, for any of the ‘Normal’ parents was to drive slowly BY the house, usually throbbing with the bass of Led Zepplin or Pink Floyd, in hopes we might catch a glimpse of a truck being worked on in the drive, perhaps some corkscrew curls haloed in the blue glow of a TV through a open window…
No ‘Normal’ for my mom.
She pulled INTO the driveway and started honking the horn.
Honestly, we were so traumatised that to this day I don’t remember exactly what happened after that.
Did you steal splashes from your Mom’s “Jean Nate’”?
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Did you cry because you were too puny to wear “Big Boy Lees” with the leather patch & have to suffer the humiliation of VINYL patch “Little Boy Lees” like me?
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Did you imagine you would look just like Christie Brinkley after a summer weekend of using
“Lemon Go Lightly”
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only to go back to school on Monday with hair the actual COLOUR of a lemon??
Snap.
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Did you swoon over your first pot of Yardley’s “Pot O’ Gloss” and can’t you recall that delicious scent even now?
How many pots did you leave in your cut-offs and find melted to the pockets
and how in the hell did we forget so many incriminating things in our cut-offs when the actual pockets hung down longer than the shorts?!)
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Remember what appears now (at least to me) the wildly inappropriate ”Love’s Baby Soft” ad.
Was that girl 9 or 19?? But we LOVED our “Love’s Baby Soft”!
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And may we have just a moment
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or two,
or three, for our Robert Plant posters??
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Gosh..
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My favourite models were Lena Kansbod
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And Lisa Taylor
How iconic this photo became. She just looked so…wonderfully American.
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Just like Rita!
Photo Steven Sebring
I think this song might be my favourite.
Seriously, how can lyrics about a telephone repair man be this romantic and beautiful??!
“And I need you more than want you…and I want you for all time…” sigh.
Jimmy Webb, the composer of the song is playing the piano on this track-just gorgeous.
Link:
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Well, I certainly had fun putting this post together. I could have gone on and on.
Do you remember the 70′s as fondly as I do?
I might have to go for a ‘Part II’ in the near future…I mean we didn’t even touch on Disco!
Find “Rita Wilson AM/FM” on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and lots of other places.
It would make a great little Mother’s Day gift- have I ever steered you wrong?
and please, don’t forget I’m still in the damn contest so VOTE people! It’s ONE click HERE
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, Spuhrrinng in Santa Barbara!
After the rains, we’re blessed with longer days, buds bursting forth into delicate tissue paper blossoms, birdsong and the frog’s chorus float through the open windows all day long.
Yay!!
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.Slim Paley photo
Our resident songstress
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Slim Paley photo
I even found these orchids, long discarded from an indoor pot, earnestly re-blooming way back in the cheap seats of the garden.
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Meanwhile…I wonder if I’ll ever get everything I need to do, done.
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Slim Paley photo
Probably not.
Dior ring
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china plates from Bodo Sperlein. Bespoke hand painted canvas by Annie Millar. via British House & Garden.
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Detail from a cherry blossom sconce light at Anthropology
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But I’m not going to sacrifice ‘Stop, Look & Listen’ (OK, I know that’s for crossing the road, but it works for the garden too) when there’s so much to take in.
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Jo Malone Cherry Blossom cologne
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Slim Paley photo
It’s like Grand Central around here
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and look what I found outside a bedroom window on Easter Sunday
Oh my, look at the clock-it’s almost the next day… I’m posting as fast as I can!
I braved the Southern California elements today and hit the shops for some last minute Christmas shopping. Although that’s all relative isn’t it? To some, 6 days before is still early. I know it’s all so convenient to shop online and God knows I’m no stranger to the concept, but I’m making the effort to shop locally as much as I can this year. We need to keep our local shops going in this sluggish economy!
Next year I’m starting my shopping much earlier. In fact, I’m going to have it all done by Thanksgiving. (Readers from last year and the year before don’t say anything. If you’re my friends, just go along with this because I really mean it this time.)
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Slim Paley photo
I might go with a predominately white theme next year too, just to change it up and simplify things.
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Well, maybe just in the dining room…
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Arts & Decoration magazine
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This is so simple and so pretty, I’d really like to try it.
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Salvatore Feragamo
Now this is my idea of good tinsel!
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And I know you’re saying “Really Slim?? Fluffed Marshmallow and Whipped Cream flavoured vodka??” and I say “Hello ‘Bevmo’s'?? What time do you open tomorrow?”
Sure, I might not finish both bottles this year.
That’s the goodone of the good things about Vodka-it freezes beautifully.
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These are SO not my nails, but I wish they were and if they were, I would wear this polish. Like little marshmallows. PS. Apparently you can find the GIANT marshmallows I talked about this summer at Ralph’s.
Who’s your Marshmallow Mama??
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My newest obsession?
These DIVINE white scented wax ovals encased in porcelain from Diptique. Hang them in your cupboards, or stash in drawers and suitcases. $45
Hi Kids. Today’s post is going to pay tribute to the Honeybee.
But first, we’re going to begin class with a cocktail!
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The Bee’s Knees
2 oz. gin
1/2 ounce honey syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 round slice honeycomb (optional, but mandatory for Slim Paley readers )
Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake well; strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon and honeycomb.
*To turn viscous honey into a syrup add a small amount of boiling water until just pourable.
Recipe via Bastille, Seattle.
Chopard black & yellow diamond brooch
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I’ve always found something perversely fascinating about the art of beekeeping…kind of cool, but I’d never want to do it… am I alone? I’d venture not, and yet it seems to be very much in vogue, particularly with freshly focused restaurants dedicated to bringing nature to the table as directly as possible, in some cases even keeping bees on the roof of their establishments. I’m not really a huge honey fan, but I certainly appreciate the infinite ways in which the bees and their product have enriched our lives and our tables for thousands of years.
Stubbs & Wootton slippers
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Honey has been used in Ayurveda medicine in India for over 4,000 years. Both the Egyptians and the Chinese as far back as 2,000 BC used honey in their medical compounds and the Ancient Greeks believed it promoted virility and longevity.
Due to it’s powerful anti-bacterial properties, it’s been used for everything from ulcers and cataracts to salve for amputations and acne..
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Honey supposedly makes a great moisturizing facial & hair mask;
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As a moisturizing pack: Things you need:
Honey – 2 teaspoons
Whole milk – 2 teaspoons
Procedure: Combine milk and honey into a smooth consistency. Now apply this on the neck and face. Allow it to sit for nearly 15 – 20 minutes and then rinse with cold water.
As a facial: Things you need:
Procedure: Mix avocado, oatmeal, olive oil and honey in a bowl. Now apply this mixture on the neck and face by making circularmotions. Let it stay for 15 – 20 minutes and then wash off with warm water.
Honey is an enormously-complex food with a chemical composition that includes amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes – about 180 substances in all.
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Tokyo Milk ”Honey & The Moon” collection
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Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad.
It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs that still tasted delicious!
The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH environment that makes it very unfavourable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow.
It would be like, say, trying to become friends with The Housewives of NYC…not gonna happen
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The historic foyer of La Gaite Lyrique, Paris
Stubbs & Wootton
(BTW, ever since Tom Ford did those insanely gorgeous black evening slippers for his men’s collection, I’ve been loving my old Stubbs & Woottons again)
Delicate honey tones in this calm interior space by Thomas OBrien
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L’Abeille de Guerlain or “bees of Guerlain”
was launched in late 2010 by Guerlain, who’ve claimed the bee as their symbol since founder Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain created perfumes for Empress Eugenie Montijo, wife of Napoleon III.
The composition is based on notes of mimosa with the green hues of grape, orange blossom, jasmine, lilac, orris root and honey.
The crystal bottle designed by Baccarat is shaped like a huge bee, with diamond faceted wings.
Each of the 47 vials made contain 245 ml of the perfume and cost $19,230
As most of you probably already know, the Honeybee is in sharp decline but there are some native species out there just waiting for you to give them a good, happy home.
The Squash bee, Orchard mason bee, Mariola bee (one of the few native American bees that produces honey), and the Bumblebee are all great for lending a hand (or is it a paw?) in the cultivating of your garden
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Slim Paley Photo
.Brood nests can be purchased online.
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You first.
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If I do adopt some baby bees, this is definitely my choice for a bee-keeper’s hat
Tim Walker
I’m loving the skull pipe
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.Love these too;
Mind you, this little vintage chapeau makes a statement …
Oh- which would Daphne Guinness choose???
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Bee hives
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lost credit
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.Mabo Kids leggings & hat
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.Have you heard about the new documentary “Queen of The Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?”
It’s an in-depth investigation into the causes and solutions behind Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon where honeybees vanish from their hives, never to return.
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Stubbs & Wootton
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Slim Paley Photo
Tim Walker
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