It’s A Wonderful House

Posted in Uncategorized by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

I know it is almost Easter, but I have been thinking a lot about a Christmas movie lately: “It’s A Wonderful Life“***. The one scene in particular I replay over and over in my head is the one where George and Mary are walking home from the dance and they throw rocks in the window of the old house that Mary wishes will become her home to share with George one day in the future.

On my recent travels, I drove passed a house that I dream of owning. It’s old, not in the best of shape, and I am not even sure if it has been occupied recently as there are never any people or cars around it. The house sits on about an acre of land with a beautiful lake behind it.

This is the front street view of the house. Please forgive the quality of the pictures as I was using my iPhone. My SLR camera is not working at all.

And this is the side view.

I am in love with this house. I love the wrap around porch, the charm it exudes and all the beautiful trees on the property. I have yet to see the inside, but I imagine there are fireplaces in every room, more than one bathroom featuring a claw foot tub and a kitchen right out of the 1940’s or 1950’s. Sa-woon.

Of course, none of that may be true, but since the outside still retains its charm, I am hopeful that the inside loveliness has been preserved as well. I will be crushed it it turns out the kitchen contains 1970’s Formica or that the living room has bright orange shag carpeting, but for now I will hold onto my dreams.

When I picture my life in the future, I see myself living in a home like this, one that my future husband & I have lovingly restored and now live in with our two pugs, Starsky & Hutch. We plant a vegetable garden, some lilac and hydrangeas bushes and perhaps get a few chickens so we can have fresh eggs every day. We host lavish clam bakes in the summer & cozy Christmas Eve dinners every December with our guests helping us trim our 10 foot tree while we drink eggnog and watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas“*** over and over until it is time to eat. I have had this dream forever.

This is the view as I drove down the drive way towards the side entrance.

But now that dream is not so easy to have. Ever since I sold my small house (which was only 811 square feet) and downsized to a studio half that size, I have come to really appreciate living smaller rather than larger. I know I am not alone, as the tiny house movement has become a real cause and purpose for many people looking to live a more minimalistic life. I made the choice to live smaller simply because I realized I was basically living in only one room of my house-the bedroom-so I did not see the sense in spending money on a multiple room apartment or paying to furnish those rooms when I was very content having everything I needed in one room.

I want a simple life. Someone to love, a couple of dogs to rescue, several road trips throughout the year and a freedom from not having any house maintenance work to worry about. But then I picture life in that big old house, and as idyllic as it seems, I get bogged down in the guilt of the amount of energy a house that size uses, or the carbon footprint it has on the environment, or the fact that two people and two dogs really do not need a house that big. And I love road trips and spending the weekends going to estate sales, antiques stores and flea markets. Houses of any size require regular maintenance, and an old big house requires that much more. We may need a place to live, but it does not have to be such a big place. Sometimes I hate having a conscience!!!

The views from the back of the property. How great would it be to look out on a lake every day???

Do any of you get bogged down in that kind of thinking? Or do you just push forward to make your dreams come true? I would really love to know.

***The starred links are my affiliate links. I only share what I truly love & I am grateful for the support 🙂

I hope all of you who celebrate the holiday have a very happy Easter!!!

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

15Mar2016

The Ides Of Michele

Posted in Uncategorized by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hi, Vixens!!! Doesn’t this whole “lose an hour to spring forward” thing kind of make you feel like you lost more than just 60 minutes??? I cannot wait another 7 months to get it back. I want it NOW 😦

We are six days away from the first official day of Spring but it already feels like the season has arrived thanks to last week’s mid-50’s temperatures here on the east coast-and this week promises more of the same. I know the majority of people prefer the spring and summer months so much that they actually suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) waiting for the warmer weather to arrive. But this is my time of year to be sad.

Source: Boatingtimesli.com

I get that some people have had it worse than me this time of year-Julius Caesar, for one, comes to mind. But I prefer the fall to winter months, and let’s face it, we really did not have much of a winter this year. It was not just the lack of snow, but except for a handful of days, it was a very mild season.

But this season’s holidays-Easter, Mother’s Day & Father’s Day, not to mention the birthdays of my grandmother and father plus my parent’s anniversary-and I need a morphine drip to get through the whole season. Then come the hazy, hot & humid days of summer and I spend almost every waking hour in air conditioning. I wish I was a bear so I could hibernate for these two seasons. There is nothing to decorate for and even my magazines do not help as they are all chock full of “how to enjoy every second of the summer” articles. Ugh.

Of course, there are some things I look forward to: deliciously fragrant lilacs, paid days off (Memorial Day & Fourth of July), fireworks, outdoor concerts and, of course, garage sales. But other than that I would rather sleep through the next six months.

Source: flowerpatchfarmhouse.com

So this weekend as I nursed a fever and felt sorry for myself for being sick, I thought about ways I could make the next six months easier to tolerate.

Despite the fact that I have a black thumb, I am going to try to grow something if it kills me. I will try a tomato plant, a basil plant & a cilantro plant in containers outside my apartment. Maybe I will be successful since the plants will be outside in the sun as opposed to inside my dark 60 degree apartment.

I also want to up my baking game. Every year I promise myself I will make Christmas cookies but I never do. I also want to learn to make my own pie crust. What better time to experiment than in the summer when the house will be nice & cool thanks to the A/C? I will start honing my baking skills with this beautiful Speckled Malted Coconut Cake courtesy of Country Living that I want to bring to my book club’s luncheon coming up next month. You can find the recipe here.

Source: Country Living Magazine.

So that is my plan so far. I hope it works. If not, it will be a long six months.

On a completely random note, I stumbled upon these adorable Lady Bug golf ball crafts online. Too cute for words, don’t you think???

Source: EverythingOrganized.Org

Hope you all have a great week.

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

7Mar2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello my dear Vixens!!! How are all of you today?

The first full weekend of March was mild in weather but cruel in its omission of any estate sales for me to attend yet again. So with St. Patrick’s Day now just 10 days away & Easter a mere three weeks away, I decided it was time to peruse Pinterest for some fun ideas & recipes for the upcoming holidays.

I love this St. Patrick’s Day wreath. It is a great way to use green Christmas ornaments for another holiday, plus it adds so much sparkle to the current one!!! The simplicity of adding split peas to to white candles makes for some great ambiance during a traditional corned beef & cabbage meal. The plant pot turned Leprechaun hat is a great craft for adults to do with the kids in their lives. And when the holiday is over, just flip the pot over and start growing something you can later transplant into your spring garden.

Source (L to R): Etsy/Memphis Moms Wreaths and Two Twenty One and Life As Mama.

As for snacks, the green pretzel pops are just too cute for words!!! Not far behind, Rice Krispies treats can be made specifically for any holiday simply by adding some food coloring and additional ingredients. In this case see how extra-adorable the Lucky Charms cereal marshmallows look in the squares? And a lime sherbet float looks especially refreshing in a mason jar.

Source (L to R): Mommy’s Bundle, My Honey’s Place/Classy Clutter and Home Cooking Memories.

For Easter, any one of these displays will work to not only celebrate the holiday but to welcome spring as well. All three displays can stay up through April & most of May with just a little tweaking. You can swap the eggs out of the first display for anything around your house, the second display works without the bunnies and the letters while the third display is fine just the way it is.

Source (L to R): The Casual Craftlete, Decoholic/Pottery Barn and The Everyday Home/Vibeke Design.

As for food on Easter, let the bunny have center stage if there are kids you are trying to entertain while they eat healthfully. The crudites platter or the breakfast pancake bunny should do the trick. I do not know if the asparagus wrapped in pancetta and puff pastry will fool them, buy hey, the adults have to eat too, right??? And since I love asparagus, I am always looking for new ways to enjoy it.

Source (L to R): Buzzfeed, She Knows/This Little Pig Stayed Home and Whole and Heavenly Oven.

As for Easter eggs, I prefer the typical soft pastel hues over elaborately decorated eggs. But if I was to attempt a design, this would be the one I would try. Just too cute!!!

Source: apumpkinandaprincess.com

So, how did you spend your weekend?

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

4Mar2016

So long, February!!!

Posted in Month End Reviews by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! How crazy is it that we arrived at the end of February so quickly? What did you take away from the second month of the year?

As much as I am settling into my new life here in CT, I am itching to get to some estate sales as I am beginning to have severe & painful withdrawal symptoms. I cannot wait to go into an old Victorian and dig, dig, DIG!!!

Source: Historicbuildingsct.com

While I bide my time, I am enjoying other activities like my book club meetings. Last month’s selection was a fabulous read (“Everything I Never Told You“*** by Celeste Ng). This month we are reading “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante. Have any of you read this one yet?

I am thinking of joining a second club through the library. They read old books by classic authors. This month’s selection is William Faulkner’s “Light In August”. I am really looking forward to it because I still remember how mesmerized I was the first time I read “A Rose For Emily”. Wow.

I reluctantly started watching “Grey’s Anatomy” again, which I swore I would not do after Shonda Rhimes killed off Patrick Dempsey’s Derek McDreamy character. But the music on that show has always been top notch & mostly from new or lesser known artists, and I love hearing new talent. A recent song I have fallen head over heals in love with is “Touch” by Sleeping At Last. Just gorgeous. Whatever type of music you enjoy, I dare you not to adore this song!!! Can you believe that “Grey’s” has been on the air since 2005!!! Where have the last 11 years gone? But I will always love the first three seasons with the original cast the best. And I still miss the hottest patient ever, Denny Duquette. He almost made me enroll in medical school!!! Sa-woon!!!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Original source unknown)

As much as I love TV, I have been stuck in a happy rut of old shows (“Everybody Loves Raymond***”, “The Facts of Life***”, “Reba***, “Roseanne***” and of course my “Golden Girls***”. But another one of the few prime time shows I watch is “Modern Family” which I am happy to report is still as funny as ever in its seventh season. It was so great to see new episodes after the holiday hiatus.

Did you hear there is a new biopic about Hank Williams coming out this month? “I Saw The Light” opens March 25. I am so there. I love bios on the legends of music, whether past or present.

Let’s review what else happened in February: Leonardo DiCaprio finally won a Best Actor Oscar (for “The Revenant“), Ed Sheeran finally won a Grammy Award & it was a big one (Song of the Year for “Thinking Out Loud“), I turned another year older and I am still wondering if there will be a sequel to “The Blind Side” since Michel Oher’s team, the Carolina Panthers, lost this year’s big game to Peyton Manning & the Denver Broncos. But I think it is worth a second movie given Oher has now been to the Superbowl twice, winning a ring in 2013 with his first pro team, the Baltimore Ravens. That in and of itself makes for a great plot, right?.

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 15: Recording artist Ed Sheeran, winner of Best Pop Solo Performance for 'Thinking Out Loud', accepts award onstage during the GRAMMY Pre-Telecast at The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Microsoft Theater on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage)

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage)

A new movie could also explore the family’s rise to fame due to the success of the movie, how they felt seeing their lives played out on the big screen, meeting the actors who portrayed them and the experience of attending the Academy Awards in 2010. Plus I would love to see Tim McGraw on the big screen again. Swoon. Who is with me 🙂 ???

So what made the second month of the year memorable for you?

Please note that I do not own the rights to anything, but the starred links*** are my affiliate links. I only share what I love and am grateful for the support 🙂 .

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

29Feb2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, dear Vixens!!! How are all of you? Happy Leap Day!!!

So now that we are practically in March, I am buckling down to get my apartment in order. Despite the fact that it is a studio, I am still a little overwhelmed by how much I have to do between unpacking, painting some recycled furniture and deciding what to display, pack away or purge.

To make it easier, I decided to use this month to focus on the sleeping area only. I figure if I get one spot done, it will give me a sense of accomplishment and inspire me to continue decorating & organizing the rest of my place.

I spent a lot of time on Pinterest this weekend (no estate sales AGAIN 😦 ) and found some great inspiration, along with some pictures of my bed frame (below). I have had it about 15 years now and still love it. But, I no longer love the color.

Sources (l to r): Pinterest/Humbleabode.com & Pinterest/Hookedonhouses.net

Now I am more into the neutral, shabby chic look so I am going to attempt to paint it white. Below is a different frame, but see how the white color gives the room a whole different feel? That is the look I am going for. Wish me luck that my paint job is successful!!!

Source: Pinterest/Shabbyinlove.blogspot.com

Did you watch the Oscars last night? You know I did. I loved that the opening montage included a clip of “The Peanuts Movie” 🙂 . Were you surprised by any of the winners? And how about the dresses? Below are some of my favorites. I thought Jennifer Garner’s shoes were gorgeous and Sylvester Stallone is still as handsome as ever (swoon). I was sorry he did not win for Best Supporting Actor, but it was great to see him in a tux!!!

L-R: Tina Fey, Kerry Washington & Jennifer Garner (All three pictures courtesy of Getty Images).

L-R: Julianne Moore, Sylvester Stallone & wife Jennifer Flavin and Sofia Vergara (All three pictures courtesy of Getty Images).

L-R: Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher & Reese Witherspoon (All three pictures courtesy of Getty Images).

I did not see any of the nominees for Best Picture yet, but I definitely want to watch three of them: “Spotlight“, “Room” and “Brooklyn“.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

22Feb2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!!

Were you as sad as I was at the passing of Harper Lee? Her beautiful novel and the movie based on it are two of my favorite things EVER, and arguably two of our country’s greatest treasures. The scene where Scout takes Boo Radley’s hand as he is “petting” Jem brings me to tears every time I see it. What a world it would be if all lawyers were as fair and as rational as Atticus Finch. Rest in peace, Ms. Lee, & thank you for sharing your childhood with us.

Harper Lee in 1961 (Source: Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection, via Getty Images) & Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in a still from the film “To Kill A Mockingbird” (Universal Studios 1962).

Friday I had to drive an hour into the country for a work related meeting, so I had the chance to see some open farm land up close, complete with some very beautiful brown cows. Some days I feel like life on a farm would be heavenly. Friday was one of those days 🙂

So last weekend, we had subzero temperatures. This weekend? Over 50 degrees both Saturday and Sunday (see below for proof). Crazy!!! I know a lot of people and many bloggers have spring fever, but I am not ready for the change of seasons yet. I am one of those square pegs who enjoys winter, and with the first day of spring still a month away, I am not looking ahead just yet. But I must admit a deep breath of that spring like air felt heavenly. And I do need to dig at a really packed estate sale soon so that is the one part of spring I cannot wait for!!! I was shut out AGAIN this weekend 😦 !!!

Saturday’s and Sunday’s temperatures readings!!!

Saturday marked the anniversary of Ansel Adams birth. He is one of my favorite artists and one of the reasons why I am so enamored with black & white photography. When I grow up, I hope I am lucky enough to be a photographer and an environmentalist, too. Here is one of my most loved pictures by him:

Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain, Yosemite Valley c. 1948 (Source: The Trustees of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust).

As much as I love his landscapes of nature, I am equally in love with his lessor known works of buildings and city pictures. I discovered them over a decade ago when a local museum had a show featuring the work Adams did for Kodak when they first released the Polaroid camera and asked him for his opinion on it. The exhibit lead me to look more into Adams life, where I discovered pictures he took of some Los Angeles streets when he was on assignment for Fortune Magazine in 1940. Talk about vintage beauty!!! Swoon!!!

Ocean Front Promenade, Santa Monica Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library and drkrm Gallery.

There will be an exhibit of his work in Cooperstown, NY later this year which I plan to attend. To find out if any of Ansel Adams exhibits are coming to your area, check the schedule here.

Sunday I was looking forward to a nice day of being lazy and relaxing and maybe some unpacking. None of those things happened. I worked, did some food shopping (my least favorite chore EVER) and then some more work at home via paperwork. Maybe next weekend I can relax at some local sales!!! And perhaps get my groceries delivered 🙂 ??? But as usual my travels took me along some scenic routes, which always makes me happy. I think even bare trees are pretty. Nature is nature.

I do have two music related thoughts to share: So happy for Ed Sheeran on his “Song of the Year” Grammy Award for my favorite song of 2015, “Thinking Out Loud” (kudos also to Amy Wadge who co-wrote the tune with him, as the award is for the composers). And one of my favorite singers of all time, Steve Winwood, has a daughter named Lilly who is also a singer and she inherited her father’s talent for blue eyed soul. They harmonize beautifully together for a new version of “Higher Love” which they recorded for the latest Hershey’s ad. The only thing missing from the heartfelt and touching commercial is a puppy!!!

So, how did you spend your weekend?

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

15Feb2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! Have my fellow East Coasters thawed yet from the sub-zero temperatures we had this weekend??? Brrrrrrrrrr!!! But I must admit I do find the frigid air a little exhilarating (in very small doses), plus it is great cuddling weather so it is not all bad, right?!?!

Despite how cold it was, I went out and about. Unfortunately, not to any estate sales as there still are not any in my area, so I checked out a few thrift stores and Goodwill. Nothing really spoke to me, but I did enjoy looking. I miss that.

Then I did my usual exploring around the back roads of CT. During my travels, I came across what looked like an old airplane in a make shift hangar, sitting at the end of a farm. I thought it was a pretty neat discovery.

I also went down a country road that has become one of my favorite routes. In the fall, I came across this beautiful tree, and thought I would take a picture of it in winter to document the whole different seasons, different views thing.

Kind of cool, right? Got to love nature and the seasons 🙂

Saturday night I was introduced to a great place to eat, the White Horse Pub & Restaurant. What a fantastic place with delicious food!!! I had the Pear and Blue Cheese Salad and a heaping bowl of French Onion Soup with Gruyere Cheese. Sensational. I took pictures but they barely came out do to the low lighting in the place (it was the night before Valentine’s Day, after all). This is just my humble opinion and not a sponsored post. I am just sharing a great find with you, since you may be new to the area like me so referrals are quite helpful!!!

Sunday was all about some chores, a few errands and a quick trip to the library. A friend recommended a book to me: “The Forgetting Time” by Sharon Guskin. I picked that up and will begin reading that and my book club selection this week. I love to snuggle under the covers and immerse myself in good reads when it is this cold. And in great movies, too. TCM showed “Adam’s Rib“*** and “Now, Voyager“*** yesterday-two of my all time favorites. Tracy and Hepburn are my most beloved on screen pair EVER, and Bette Davis was so beautiful and glamorous in “Voyager” it is almost hard to believe she was the same actress who played Jane in another one of my most adored flicks, “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?“***

Davis in a still from “Now, Voyager” (1942)

Davis in a still from “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?” (1962)

I also discovered two things that made me extremely happy, and I want to share them with you. The first is I just heard (I know, where have I been??? LOL) that “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” is coming out next month with the original cast. I watched the trailer and it looks as funny, if not more, than the original. Yay!!!

The second is that Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is being released in September. I do not know how the fact that he was writing a book got by me, but now that I know I have no idea how I will make it until the fall to read it!!! Do you think he will finally reveal that his greatest sadness in life was not marrying me??? One can hope and be delusional, can’t one 🙂 ???

Source: BruceSpringsteen.net

Oh, and speaking of the Boss, I was supposed to see him in concert this week in Hartford, but I swapped tickets with one of my friends who lives in MD and had tickets for his show there in April. She completely forgot she will be away on a cruise the night of the concert, so being the good friend I am I thought I would add MD to one of the states I travel to for my Boss obsession. However, I must admit when she told me he sang “Because The Night”, “Cover Me”, “Loose Ends”, “Bobby Jean” AND “Rosalita”, all of which are in my top 10 favorite songs by him, my heart went into an arrhythmia it has yet to recover from.

I mean, I was glad to help her out and I will still get to see Bruce on “The River” tour, but if he does not perform those five songs the night I go I am afraid I might end up throwing myself on the stage kicking and screaming. Maybe then he will rethink the set list??? LOL But he will be singing “Fade Away” since that is from the album, and that may make up for everything since I ADORE that song, too!!! I always thought it would make a great duet, especially if he sang it with me!!! SAAAAAA-WOOOOON!!! Here is Bruce meeting with some Veterans before his show in DC last month. I love that he is such a staunch supporter of the men & women who served (and continue to serve) our country!!!

Source: BruceSpringsteen.net/Pete Souza/The River Tour in DC-Jan 2016

Please note that the starred links*** are my affiliate links. I only share what I love and am grateful for the support 🙂

So, how did you spend your weekend? And if you are lucky enough to be off tomorrow (unlike me 😦 ), enjoy it!!! Happy President’s Day!!!

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

8Feb2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! How are all of you at the start of this new week?

How was your weekend? Did you host, attend or avoid a Superbowl party yesterday? If you missed the game, let me summarize: Party. Chips. Salsa. Snack foods. Expensive new commercials. Congratulations, Broncos 🙂 Better luck next year, Panthers 😦

Or maybe you acknowledged the 52nd anniversary of the Beatles arrival in America, specifically New York. And tomorrow, February 9, marks the same number of years since they first made their historic debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show“. The link contains the entire show, commercials included (I especially loved seeing the now vintage packaging for Pillsbury Flour & All Detergent!!!). What a treat for those of us not around then to have seen history in the making that night!!! To say it changed music, let alone the world FOREVER, is almost an understatement. All hail John, Paul, George & Ringo!!! We are eternally in love and indebted 🙂

Trivia: The Beatles performed five songs that night. What was the first one they sang? No cheating!!! LOL

Source: Topics.nytimes.com

Source: Cbsnews.com

Speaking of the Beatles, and with Valentine’s Day a week away, I have been listening a lot to my favorite love song ever: Something***. Second place: Can’t Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley***.

Saturday I was again lost with no estate sales in my area, so I did the next best thing: looked for treasures on Etsy, Ebay and Craigslist. Saw many things I loved, but most were out of my budget range. Sigh.

But I did see this really cute idea on Country Living’s website. I cannot wait to try this. What a great way to use vintage or even newer tins by just adding magnets:

Source: CountryLiving.com/A Pretty Cool Life

Thought about Valentine’s Day. Forget flowers or jewelry-this is what I want:

Source: Pinterest (Original source unknown).

Or maybe just this:

Source: Englishbulldog.name

Or this:

Source: Rotifresh.com

Watched “The Time Traveler’s Wife“*** for the 9,237th time. The scene where he sees his mother on the train makes me sob. Each. And. Every. Single. Time. Sigh.

So, how was your weekend?

I do not own the rights to any of the music or videos I am sharing with you, but the starred links*** are my affiliate links. I only share what I love and am grateful for the support 🙂

Have a lovely week!!!

Oh, and “All My Loving” was the first song the Beatles performed on “Ed Sullivan” 🙂

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

1Feb2016

Weekend Wanderings

Posted in Weekend Wanderings by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! Happy February!!!

It’s awards season!!! Did I ever tell you how much I love awards shows??? I do. I love watching the stars arrive on the red carpet, seeing the gorgeous dresses and shoes, the different hairstyles and accessories-all of it (although I must admit it is very different without Joan Rivers…sigh). I like to see who presents with who, and if their jokes will be funny or fall flat. I even like listening to the speeches, especially when they are off the cuff and heartfelt, and sometimes I get teary eyed during the “In Memoriam” segment.

So, after forgetting all about the Golden Globe Awards a few weeks back (I know, right??? I am sooo off my game!!! But don’t worry, I caught the highlights on their site & YouTube LOL), I made sure I was front and center on Saturday night for the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards. My favorite part hands down was when the perfect pair of Tina Fey & Amy Poehler presented Carol Burnett with the Lifetime Achievement Award, followed very closely by when the adorable Steve Carrell escorted her to the stage. Look how classically beautiful the ladies looked:

Sources (l to r): Tina Fey & Amy Poehler: Getty. Carol Burnett: The Huffington Post.

Prints were very big on the red carpet this year, worn by Naomi Watts, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Rachel McAdams and Nicole Kidman, to name a few. But I am usually old school when it comes to gowns and prefer more of a monochromatic look. The women from “Mad Men“*** were three of my absolute favorites:

Sources (l to r): Christina Hendricks & January Jones: Getty. Jessica Pare: AP.

I really wanted “Mad Men” to win for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Drama Series for its unbelievably phenomenal final season but that honor went to Downton Abbey. But seeing Jon Hamm again with that post “Mad Men” beard had me sa-wooning!!!

Source: Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images

The awards are also how I keep up with the movies and shows most worth watching since I have been out of the loop on both lately. It does not have anything to do with who wins but rather what I find interesting. As for films. I really want to see “Spotlight” with another “Mad Men alumni, John Slattery, “Room” and “The Danish Girl“. For series, I am dying to see “Transparent” with Best Actor In A Comedy winner Jeffrey Tambor whom I have LOVED since I saw him decades ago with Al Pacino in “And Justice For All“*** and in “Hill Street Blues“*** as a dress wearing judge. Wow, I guess his career has come full circle!!! But I want to binge watch it, along with “Orange Is The New Black“, “Downton Abbey” and “How to Get Away With Murder“.

Here are some other dresses I loved from the awards show. I adored the color of Viola Davis’ dress!!!

Source (l to r): Helen Mirren, Sofia Vergara & Viola Davis: Getty.

Source (l to r): Amanda Peet, Uzo Aduba and Sophie Turner: Getty.

I also think it is time for me to put this out there: I am a pioneer in binge watching. That’s right, before it was a thing, I was doing it. And I am pretty proud of it!!! It started a long time ago when I was a kid and was bored one Saturday morning watching cartoons (I loved the Peanuts and Fred Rogers. No cartoons could stand up to those two powerhouses for me). I turned the channel to PBS and three episodes of “Sesame Street” were on, followed by three episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”. I was amazed!!! I thought I was controlling it too, because when the first episode was coming to an end, I wished another one would come on even though that had never happened before. But poof, my wish came true!!! It was fantastic!!!

Original source: PBS

Many years later, I started recording my soap opera (I still miss my friends from Bay City) to watch after school and/or work and when I could not watch a Monday episode one week, I decided to wait until Sunday to watch the whole week of them in a row. All that serial goodness in one sitting AND I was able to fast forward through the commercials!!! It was life altering!!! After that, unless it was a sweeps month and I could not bear to wait an entire week for an update, I binged them all the time. Same thing with my nightly shows if time and tape allowed. And the rest, as they say, is history. So all the newbies jumping on the binge-watching band wagon are just a tad late to the party as far as I am concerned!!! LOL

Original source: NBC

But the joke’s on me because I should have been the one to invent Hulu and the likes which helped introduce “binge watching” into the vernacular. Ugh, I’m a blockhead!!!

So, that was the highlight of my weekend. How was yours? Did any of you watch the SAG Awards? Are there any movies or series you want to see or would recommend?

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

Note: The starred links*** are my affiliate links. I only share what I love and am grateful for the support. Thanks!!!

31Jan2016

So Long, January!!!

Posted in Month End Reviews, Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hello, Vixens!!! How crazy is it that we arrived at the end of January so quickly? What did you take away from the first month of the year?

I took in my new place surroundings and pondered my decorating scheme, which I have yet to act on LOL!!! But I did get some great inspiration (thank you Kathleen at Faded Charm), explored some more local sights, got back into my groove of “estate saling” (although I have not had a chance to really dig for a treasure yet but I am hopeful it will happen soon!!!), figured out some shortcuts to a few of my regular places (work, grocery store, antiques stores) and decided I have to get out more despite all that I have to do at home. So I got my library card, joined a church and a book club. For our meeting next month, we are reading “Everything I Never Told You” by Celeste Ng. Have any of you read this yet?

January also brought the first snowstorm of my CT residency. To mark the occasion with more than just snow boots, I made home made chicken soup, which turned out pretty well for my first attempt at it. I do not use salt at all due to its negative health benefits, so once I got the seasonings to a correct balance (pepper, oregano & basil), it was not bad if I do say so myself. It was so hearty I did not even add noodles!!!

But most of all for me, January was an unbelievably sad month for the music industry. Losing an icon like David Bowie was an incredible blow, and we will not see a visionary artist like him again in our lifetime. For a career to span as many decades as his and encompass as many musical genres as his did only underscores that point. He left us with a parting gift, “Black Star“*** which is as classic and bold as we remember Bowie to be.

But in the end he was also a beloved man who was taken from his wife and family way too soon, and that is the worst part of the story. Hopefully 2016 will be the year we finally see cancer obliterated from our world.

Source: YouTube (original source unknown)

Bowie’s loss was followed by those of Glenn Frey of the Eagles; R&B singers Otis Clay and Nicholas Caldwell, who was a member of the group, “The Whispers“; Rene Angelil, who brought us the voice of Celine Dion; Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane/Starship fame and one of his co-founders of Airplane, Signe Toly Anderson, who died on the same day. What she and Kantner did in their band changed the landscape of music forever. In the mid 1960’s, rock and roll bands were a boy’s only game: The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Moody Blues, the list goes on and on. But when Airplane was being formed, another co-founder Marty Balin along with Kantner, knew how important a female voice & presence was. Anderson provided that until she left the band in 1966 to have a baby. But the precedent was set and it was a vital turning point in rock and roll and music overall. Think about who soon followed: Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Carole King, Deborah Harry, et al. Thank God for Balin’s & Kantner’s vision.

Paul Kantner & Signe Toly Anderson, second and third from the left. Source: Tumbler (original source unknown).

And today marks what would have been the 70th birthday of Terry Kath, a founding member, guitarist, songwriter and vocalist for the band Chicago. Kath was the unbelievably gorgeous voice behind classics such as “Colour My World” and “Make Me Smile“. He was compared to Jimi Hendrix for his musical ability and to Ray Charles for his vocal style. He died from an accidental gunshot infliction a week before his 32nd birthday in 1978. He will be inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of Chicago at the induction ceremony in April.

Source: premierguitar.com

But things are starting to turn around. Reports are circulating that Paul Rodgers, who’s latest solo release*** includes fabulous covers of classic songs like “Walk On By” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, and Bad Company are working on a new record together, which I PRAY is true!!! What a band!!! Swoon!!! But best of all Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” tour is in full swing to promote “The Ties That Bind: The River Collection“***. All is right in my world when the Boss is on the road and headed my way (next month in Hartford!!!) Double swoon!!!

I do not own the rights to any of the music I am sharing with you, but the starred links*** are my affiliate links. I only share what I love and am grateful for the support 🙂

So, how was your first month of the year?

Until next time, fellow Vixens, happy digging!!!

	Music Monday: March… on Music Monday: August 19, …
	Music Monday: Februa… on Music Monday: November 18,…
	Music Monday: Januar… on Lets Take A Moment Day 30
	Music Monday: Januar… on Music Monday: January 24,…
	Michele at Lilacs… on Music Monday: February 12,…