This is the third and final episode of Prada Candy L’Eau, with Candy played by new Coppola muse Léa Seydoux, who is just so fantastic. (I love the way she says “Pahdah.”) In this episode, she’s sick of the two guys. Very funny!
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Up for grabs this week: Angel Adoree’s “The Vintage Tea Party Book,” from Anthropology!
“A complete Guide to Hosting Your Perfect Tea Party.”
Leave a comment here to enter to win!
Winner will be chosen next week!
xo
Tina
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Can’t wait to see Great Gatsby!
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Léa Seydoux is just so great!
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Artist Windy MacNaughton creates the most interesting illustrations, and this travel one — per Nellie Bly — is especially good. Gotta love a woman who travels with a flask, (3) veils and an ink stand.
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Bruno Mars put on such a great show tonight at the Entertainment Industry’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. And afterward they handed out Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes at the door. Bliss.
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Love this! I can’t wait to see Episode 2.
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Paterson spends her weekends “fossicking” for treasures at flea markets and antique stores.
She tells Vogue Living: “I always want my home to be better on Monday than it is on Friday because of something new I’ve found.”
“I always want to pare things back so that each object has its own space
– to decorate with the lightest touch.”
Paterson says: “I love the ghosts of past owners.”
When she renovated her house, she kept a saying on a wall:
“White is not the mere absence of colour.”
…LOVE her cameo collection…
The magazine is available on Zinio.
Categories: Blog, Decor, Featured | 4 Comments »
This is how our house looks at the moment….
(Previous places where we’ve lived. Also with cats.)
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The file belongs to “stylist, creative consultant, visual storyteller” Sarah Prall. She bookmarks interiors…and the requisite deer photos…
Peeling fences and tattered quilts….
Old-fashioned dilapidates…
Still Lifes…
Colorful knits from faraway lands…
Bloomsbury-esque spaces…
Perfectly named, Down the Lane, if you’re on a country road….Where I’d really like to be…
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Jesse Kornbluth, of HeadButler.com, serving you excellent tea.
Alice Waters drinks Pu-erh tea. And swears by it. “My cholesterol went down 100 points since I started drinking this,” she says. ”It was extreme.
That’s not a small endorsement. I ordered some. And opened it while we were having dinner with a friend from Texas.
It is rude to ask Texans how many acres they own or how many head of cattle are grazing there. Anyway, they don’t own acres. They own “sections.” My friend shared that her family owned … many.
My wife also has a rural childhood. She grew up on a game farm in Minnesota. Raised pigs. Prize pigs. Has a row of 4-H Club purple ribbons to prove it.
Both women took one look at the brick of tea and said the same thing.
“Cow pie.”
Just so. This tea has been fermented, aged, then pressed into an inch-thick circle. It has an earthy aroma. But not unpleasantly so.
It turns out that lower cholesterol isn’t everything – it might be the smallest health claim for this tea. Pu-erh is said to promote weight loss (the health claim is that it dissolves fat cells) lower blood pressure, and calm the nerves.
“A Chinese study performed on rats and published in 2009 showed lowering of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglyceride levels after the animals were fed a pu-erh tea extract, along with an increase in HDL (“good” cholesterol),” writes Andrew Weil. “We know that tea, in general, is protective against heart disease and cancer. It’s likely that pu-erh tea has similar effects.”
An Amazon reviewer finds another benefit: “I needed it for is the Theanine that is in this tea, I have an autoimmune disease that causes inner tremors and I take L-theanine to calm me down but this tea is doing that in a more natural way.
Pu-erh is one of the higher grades of tea grown in Yunnan province. A round pound costs $16.95 at Amazon, which may sound dear but is actually a terrific bargain. You break off the leaves you need, crumble them into a pot, douse them in very hot water for 30 seconds, pour off that first steep, and then brew your tea. Not for long. Three minutes will more than suffice; I prefer a minute. Bonus: you can use the leaves for as many as eight steeps. [In a Zojirushi Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug, you have a day’s supply.]
Good to the last drop? Astonishingly good. Pu-erh is never bitter. Milk and sweetener are superfluous — this is a rich brew that delivers an unusually modest caffeine hit along with a welcome hint of natural sweetness. Some Pu-erh fans say the last drop is actually the best, that the last infusions taste richer and sweeter than the first. [To order Pu-erh tea from Amazon, click here.]
Pu-erh has been around forever — in China. Here it’s just starting to be the new cool thing. Six months from now I expect Jimmy Fallon to be making cowpie jokes. Millions will laugh. Thousands will start to drink it. The last laugh? Yours.
BONUS VIDEO
Categories: Blog, Jesse's Book Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Alice Waters, Andrew Weil, China, cholesterol, Ou-erh, tea, Yunnan provence | Leave A Comment »
Hello, English Musers!
It’s Hannah B. again from Secrets of a Belle. This past weekend, while the rain pitter-pattered on the window, I spent some time curled up on the couch lost in a new favorite book. This got me to thinking. Where do you other people read? Do you curl up on the couch too? Do you read in bed before you drift off to sleep? Personally, my dream is to eventually have a room devoted just to reading… you know, like the Duke!
The Duke of Devonshire Taking a Nap in the Library at Chatsworth, Shot by Christopher Sykes
But it doesn’t have to be that fancy! After all, in the words of Billy Baldwin…
Here are some other reading spaces I really dig.
More excellent reading nooks can be found on Pinterest.
What about you? Where do you do your best reading?
Hannah B. lives in East Tennessee where she writes Secrets of a Belle, a blog about the art of living a more beautiful life. You can follow Hannah B. on twitter at @HB_Belle and on Facebook.
Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Books, Hannah B., Interior design | 2 Comments »
How did I not know about these amazing Jane Austen postcards?! Found these photos tonight on The Daydream Princess tumblr blog. Found them for sale for $13.60 a box on Amazon!
Categories: Blog, Books | Tags: jane austen | 3 Comments »
Hello English Muse readers! Karen from A Simple Cup of Tea once again. I don’t know how the weather is doing around your part of the world but here in Cardiff it’s pretty rainy. My hometown in Belgium isn’t much better: snow.
Now I nearly talked about how depressing the rain is. Nearly. And then I stopped myself.
It’s so easy to be bogged down by life’s little annoyances, little things that become massive in our eyes. To let someone else’s negativity overwhelm our own positivity.
So I decided that I’m going to enjoy the weather, put on some wellies and jump in a few puddles. Then next week when I’m home in Belgium for a couple of days I will grab my mittens and – if the weather permits it – have a huge snowball fight with my brother. Just because.
Silver linings. Lemonade. Whatever you want to call it. It’s always there.
Have a lovely week!
Photo credit: 1
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Jesse Kornbluth, of HeadButler.com, this week in awe of a woman in pajamas.
“Slow love” is a good description of the way I’ve come to know Dominique Browning. After decades of a nodding acquaintance when we worked at glossy magazines, we started reading the other’s web sites. There was a chance meeting at a dinner, and, recently, cultural expeditions peppered with questions, stories, ideas. Now I grasp what others figured out long ago: Dominique Browning is that rare talent who’s both intellectually and emotionally fearless.
“Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness” begins in 2007, with Condé Nast’s sudden decision to close House & Garden, the magazine Browning has edited for 13 years. The news flattened her: “I’ve lost the very thing that defined my days, paced and regulated my life…. Suddenly I’m floundering. I’m terrified.”
This memoir is not just the book you expect: “a story of psychological collapse, of struggling to start over again.” There’s also a parallel struggle: “not to make the same mistakes again.” She’s looking backward and forward, struggling to be wide awake, so in 267 pages, you get two books in one. [To buy the paperback from Amazon for the bargain price of $6, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
Looking back: Her magazine had burned through five publishers in ten years. Every few months, rumors had Browning following them out the door. The editor of Architectural Digest, also owned by Condé Nast, announced, “I killed that magazine once and I’ll kill it again.” Overlords called Browning in to note her failure to buy designer clothes in sufficient quantity.
Looking forward: The absence of work was even more painful. Browning slept all day, then developed insomnia. She wasted hours reading just about anything on the Internet. And had a predictable response to panic:
Within hours of leaving my office for the last time, I could hardly bring myself to care about my reputation. I just wanted to eat. I began calling every employed person I knew to take me to lunch. I wanted to fill my calendar with the promise of meals, even if they were only penciled in — this, after all, being Manhattan. Only food could ward off the rage, despair and raw fear that overcame me.
Categories: Blog, Books, Jesse's Book Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Conde Nast, Dominique Browning, House & Garden | 6 Comments »
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Jesse Kornbluth, of HeadButler.com, this week cheering for the singer-songwriter adored by English majors and the men and women who adore them.
I love silent days crafting sentences alone, but if you put a gun to my head and told me I’d have to trade my maid’s room for the stages of music clubs and universal critical praise and the adulation of America’s smartest audiences.….yeah, I guess I could stand being Josh Ritter.
From his first release, a decade ago, to “The Beast in Its Tracks,” this guy hasn’t made a foolish move. As a writer, he produces lyrics that, if they were prose, you’d underline them. As a singer, he’s like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Paul Simon; there’s one person he’s trying to reach, and that’s you. And in performance, backed by a crackerjack band, he’s mesmerizing: exuberant, goofy, unfiltered and absolutely delighted to be onstage. No one has ever had more fun at a Josh Ritter concert than Josh Ritter.
This time, newcomers may suspect an exploration of darker themes. “The Beast in Its Tracks” is being presented as a “breakup” record because he wrote these songs in response to his wife’s out-of-the-blue announcement that, after just a year, their marriage was over. I understand this shorthand, but I don’t think it will last long. As Josh takes these songs across America — he’s about to start a 37-city tour — I think they’ll connect with audiences more immediately than any music he’s made. And then “Beast” will become his “breakthrough” record.
For a writer who can toss off long, convoluted lyrics, he’s served up 13 fairly simple songs here. And they’re surprisingly jolly — he’s not cranking up the band for take-that-bitch revenge songs. He’s got a new lover; he hopes his ex-wife does too. (He hasn’t totally forsaken clever; in that song’s final line, he notes that if she’s still alone, “well, that would make me happy too.”) His new lover is “hopeful” for him. He’s thrilled to be “in your arms again.”
Categories: Blog, Books, Jesse's Book Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Josh Ritter, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Paul Simon, singer-songwriter | 2 Comments »
Hello, English Musers!
It’s Hannah B. once again from Secrets of a Belle. Tina was nice enough to invite me back to share with y’all on Monday afternoons! (Isn’t she the sweetest?) So today, I thought I’d take a little survey. When I was little, I adored magazines. I hoarded Mary Englebreit’s Home Companion, Domino, and Blueprint issues like they were found treasures. And in the world of iPads, I find magazines–actual paper-magazines–even more comforting than I used to. So I’m wondering what mags can be found on your “must subscribe” list? Here are a few of my current favorites & a new found delight…
Southern Living | The Local Palate | Garden & Gun
I may also have a bit of a regional fidelity. Which is why I’d really love to hear what you subscribe to. Help me break out of my box!
Hannah B. lives in East Tennessee where she writes Secrets of a Belle, a blog about the art of living a more beautiful life. You can follow Hannah B. on twitter at @HB_Belle and on Facebook.
Categories: Blog | Tags: Hannah B., magazines, reading | 3 Comments »
Hello English Muse readers! Karen from A Simple Cup of Tea once again. This week I want to talk about mindset and how it can influence anything and everything.
I have a preliminary audition for a competition tomorrow. I’m nervous and not really sure whether it is a good idea. I feel like my voice is in this in-between stage and it’s made me a bit self-conscious.
Today however I had a skype chat with my best friend and she told me that I needed to remind myself that yes, I can do this. I can sing a song in front of a jury and convince them with my interpretation. ‘It’s all in your head, darling,’ she said.
And the thing is, I know she’s right. I just need to remind myself regularly that I can do the things I want to do. It is so easy to get caught up in the little things that you ‘can’t’. We search for things sometimes that indicate that we’re not ready. Sometimes the point is to just start, not to wait for perfect circumstances. Circumstances have very little to do you with your own ability. I really needed that reminder.
What about you? What do you need to remind yourself you are able to do?
PS: The lovely digital print in the picture is by Echoes of Mercy. You can buy it here (or by clicking on the image) and Mandie will email you the image in high quality. Instant result!
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Jesse Kornbluth, of HeadButler.com, thinking he really ought to meditate more often.
“Peace can be found within, no matter the external circumstances,” Allan Lokos writes in “Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living.”
“Forgive me, Allan,” I thought, when I read his book for the first time. ”You may be the founder and guiding teacher of the Community Meditation Center in New York City, and you may be tight with the most celebrated Buddhists on the planet, but I have read this many times in many books. And the words roll off me. I prefer deeds: how people react under stress. As in the Zen saying is blunt about this: ‘Watch how the master puts on his sandals and peels his orange.’”
Well, now we know about Allan Lokos.
On Christmas Day, Allan and his wife, Susanna Weiss, were in a plane crash in Burma. They had to fight their way to get to the wing exit, which was on fire. Allan pushed his wife through burning jet fuel. But it was easier to save his wife than save himself: When Allan jumped, he was badly burned.
Susanna wrote friends:
We were in dire circumstances in hilly, rural Burma. After a rough ride on winding rutted roads on the metal floor of the “ambulance”, we spent the day in a type of rural hospital with virtually no care–there is no medical care for the local Burmese people. They are very kind people, and though there was no medical treatment, some of them gave their time and resources freely. Two US Embassy consuls were vacationing there and came to help us get out. At first it was impossible, all government red tape, but through some miracle, the president of the airline sent his private jet from Yangon to take us that night to Bangkok Thailand, the nearest city with any real hospital.
That whole awful day and then the flight to Bangkok was very hard on Allan, who needed immediate acute treatment. We spent four days in Bangkok in a good hospital trying to get him stabilized to travel, as he desperately needed to get to a Burn Unit. Two days ago we were medivac-flown to Singapore, where Allan had a major surgery of over 5 hours.
[Interesting that only at the end of her letter does Susanna write, almost as an aside: “I have some burns on my face and hand, not major, and I had a broken vertebra as the plane crashed.”]
Allan made it through surgery, a 30-hour flight in an air ambulance and eight weeks in a Manhattan burn unit. Slowly, slowly, he is recovering. His spirit, from all accounts, is more resilient than his body.
This gives his book unusual credibility. Like a ton. [To buy the paperback of “Patience” from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle download, click here.]
Suffering, writes every Buddhist, begins when you want things to be different from the way they are. And on this point, Allan is a world expert: “Wisdom evolves from seeing things as they are and patience comes from accepting things as they are…. Patience is born when we create a pause between our experience of a feeling and our response to that feeling.”
Reading “Patience” a second time, with Allan’s acceptance of his situation in mind, I am much more impressed by his thoughts. Clearly, his practice — especially the part about developing patience — helped him survive. It’s worth considering that it can do the same for us.
Categories: Blog, Books, Jesse's Book Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Allan Lokos, Buddhism, Community Meditation Center, Zen | Leave A Comment »
Hello English Muse readers! Karen from A Simple Cup of Tea once again. Where did those two first months of 2013 fly away to? I can barely believe it’s nearly March already.
I’ve been studying at Royal Welsh College for nearly two months now and even though it keeps me ridiculously busy I’m mostly just grateful to be here and be taught by some of the world’s best tutors.
I have found that even though I’m swamped with work and can barely think what task to tackle first just taking a moment to be grateful helps. It helps my mind still itself and helps me focus. (And just because we’re real here, yes I do go back into panic mode after that…)
What are you grateful for these days?
Picture: Pinterest
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