Shoes

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red-shoes-2I’m a woman who’s a freelance writer. I write a lot about shoes. My husband’s a man who’s a newspaper sports editor. He writes a lot about … sports. You wouldn’t think that those two worlds would collide, would you? But he pulled it off in his column today for his paper, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, in Tupelo, Mississippi. And he even got me in there! (Thanks, sweetie.) Read it at http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=285705.

And speaking of shoes, these $300 Cole Haan red patent pumps caught my eye at zappos. com. “This posh peep-toe pump is a perfect marriage of comfort and style,” the description says. Yes, indeedy. Is that me all over or what? (With, I’ll admit, an emphasis on the “comfort” part. Gone are the days when I teetered around for 10 hours on 3-inch heels. Sigh.) Anyway, I think these are the perfect Valentine’s Day shoes, paired with a slinky black dress and some great jewelry. Don’t y’all?

Valentine’s Day

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valentines-day-0161It was Valentine’s elegance when my friend Susan hosted valentines-day-018cooking club. She and her daughter-in-law are the most creative people I know. They excel in using simple everyday items in innovative ways. Like these table decorations. Mixed in with the shiny heart garlands are vintage costume jewelry and clear goblets filled with water and topped with upside-down silver Christmas-tree balls for some metallic reflection.They then tied everything together with valentines-day-020red and white linens. And see those white cards on the table? Those were our place cards. Susan had written “What I love about you …” descriptions for each of us. We had to read them all and guess which one went to which person. Fun, fun, fun! Valentine’s touches were valentines-day-025everywhere, like the red ribbon Susan tied around the cake stand to highlight the heart-topped petit fours. Now, I know that up North petit fours are what y’all call those little torte-like cakes, but here in the South (well, at least my part of it), petit fours are tiny two-bite-sized cupcakes with melt-in-your-mouth icing decorated with colors and themes of your choice. The best come from Victorian Tea Room in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. No occasion around here is complete unless there are Victorian Tea Room petit fours. Visit http://www.victoriantearoomcatering.com, tell them Cathy sent you and you valentines-day-030valentines-day-0191might talk them into shipping you some. Susan even gave us extras in the Valentine’s candy boxes she gave us that also has miniature fudgy brownies and heart-shaped mini pink chocolate-chip cookies. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. She got the boxes at our local big-box arts and crafts store, but almost everything else was what she had on hand. We were all impressed and felt special and pampered. We also immediately assured our newest member most of our cooking-club meetings are not like this. In fact, when it’s at my house everyone’s just happy I remember to vacuum up the cat hair. But we’re glad we’ve got people like Susan to show us how it should be done.

Babies

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baby-day1I love this pic, on the left, of my daughter, her husband and their baby — my baby-day-0031grandson, Capt. Adorable. I took it this past Sunday at their church’s Baby Day, which is a Sunday once a year when the church honors all its babies born in the past 12 months.  That’s not a giant baby head behind my daughter — each baby had its own photo on display, and of course Capt. Adorable’s was the best. In my opinion. This photo clearly shows why everybody says Capt. Adorable and his daddy look so much alike. And I loved my daughter’s outfit. You’d never guess that she’s wearing a maternity sweater — she wisely bought some clothes when she was pregnant she could wear later, too. I’ve seen very unpregnant women wear this same style. During church the honorees sat in the front with family members behind them. Even though I amused myself by trying to catch Capt. Adorable’s eye during the service, but he wisely paid no attention to me. He’ll change his mind, though, when I’m the one who’ll let him eat candy and french fries.

Sandals

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sandals-005It’s almost 70 degrees here in Alabama this afternoon. Sun shining. Blue sky. Even though it’s deceptive and temporary, you do sort of feel that spring may be coming after all. Good thing I grabbed these sandals at TJ Maxx this past week, ’cause once the weather starts to warm up the cute sandals go fast. Summer ’08 was rough on my sandal collection — my most treasured black and my favorite brown pairs had to go. And it was time, I admit, but still sad. And scary, too, as in, “I wonder if I’ll be able to replace them?” Since I’m picky about sandals —  no flip-flopping sounds (I like only my flip-flops to flip-flop), no sounds of any kind and comfort, comfort, comfort (cuteness goes without saying) — it’s hard to find what I want. Luckily, TJ’s was there for me yet again, solving a fashion problem at a super price. Of course, sometimes shoes do turn on you and what you thought would be the perfect pair turn out not to be after all, but I have high hopes for these. We’ll see.

Bonnaroo

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bruce_springsteenOh my gosh, y’all. Bruce Springsteen is going to be in my backyard this June. Well, my bonnaroodayparents’ backyard, really. And actually not their backyard at all, but at least in my hometown of Manchester, Tennessee. That’s where the four-day music festival Bonnaroo is on a 700-acre farm every second weekend in June. Bonnaroo started in 2002 as a jam-band gathering and now tens of thousands of fans jam the festival grounds to hear some of music’s best. The first couple years, my dad’s Rotary club helped out with parking. Now, my parents usually head out of town when it’s Bonnaroo time, although the crowds generally don’t overflow to Manchester proper. And I am sort of kind of somewhat seriously thinking of trying maybe to go this year, although tickets are at least $250 (am I the only one who remembers when concert tickets were less than $25???) and it’s hot and that’s my fifth wedding anniversary weekend and I could probably talk my husband into a really nice evening out instead. Hmm …

Newspapers

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sidelines-0011When I worked at my college newspaper some 30 years ago, we sidelines-002were in an office above one of the school cafeterias. We had rickety typewriters and iffy lighting and most days had to steal chairs from other rooms down the hall. Today, my university has a whole new building dedicated to the communication arts. I think I’m jealous. In a good way. Because if the next generation of  journalists is getting support, encouragement and quality training, then I feel better about the future of newspapers. Read more at my column today in the TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090206/ARTICLES/902060302

Restaurants in Franklin, Tennessee

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sol-archwayAs Liz Lemon says, don’t you “want to go there?” This is Sol, a funky and fun sol-waitingrestaurant on Main Street off the square in Franklin, Tennessee. My husband and I wandered in on a recent late-night meander and instantly were captivated. Only the bar was open so we plopped ourselves down and enjoyed exploring the whimsical Mexican menu — and decor. Both are sort of  casual-cool with an eclectic twist. It’s Frida Kahlo meets Iron Chef and obviously a popular gathering spot for the young and hip. We felt right at home (!) and happily devoured some deliciously fresh nachos washed down with cold beer — one of our favorite meals — and vowed to come back when we could work our way through the dinner menu: salmon wrapped in a banana-leaf, fish tacos and a poblano-potato cake especially looked good. We remember this same space when it was an upscale Italian sort of restaurant and marveled at the transition. Downtown Franklin is a happening place, worthy of a visit just to walk and eat and shop. Check out Sol at http://www.solonmain.com/ (that’s where these photos came from — it was way too dark, in a good way, for pics the night we were there) and learn more about Franklin at http://www.visitwilliamson.com/

nashville-jan-2009-038On that same trip to Franklin, we also ate at Basil Asian Bistro, on nashville-jan-2009-034Carothers Parkway across I-65 from Cool Springs Galleria. If Sol is vibrantly energetic, then Basil is calmly zen. It’s white tablecloths and quiet conversation but with the same appreciation for fresh ingredients and authentically prepared food. The extensive menu offered sushi, pad thai, curry and other classics. Luckily, we were with our friends Ted and Elayne, who had picked Basil for our lunch and steered us to their favorite dishes — and they were right.  My husband and I especially loved the inventive sushi, the crisply cooked vegetables and the strong and fragrant hot tea. Good food and good company can’t be beat. We’ll be back. Go to http://www.basilasianbistro.com for details.

Baby Shoes

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baby-shoes-001Who knew that baby shoes could be so cute? Before my grandson baby-shoes-010Capt. Adorable was born, I thought the only cute shoes came in women’s size 8.5. Wrong! I already have raved about Robeez but there’s so much more in baby-shoe world. For instance, my friend Susan gave us this pair of red Goody Goody shoes. How precious are they? I can’t wait for him to wear these — maybe with a cute shortall and a little plaid shirt. And my friend Erika Rosenberg, who raises alpacas and angora rabbits and then sells beautiful items made from their fur, gave us this incredibly soft and cozy pair of baby booties. Check out her business, St. Florian Fiber Farm, at http://www.stflorianfiberfarm.com/.  I’m not sure how long Capt. Adorable will let his grandma buy him darling little shoes, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can!

Bottled Water

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dasani_strawberry2Am I the only person who cannot find Dasani flavored water in the non-lemon flavors anywhere lg_dasani_grape1anymore? All I can find anywhere — and I mean anywhere, any place, any time — are the plain and the lemon flavors. Not good. The grape, strawberry and raspberry Dasani flavors are favorites in my house. I know, I know. It’s all really local tap water. And plastic bottles are clogging up the earth. But my husband and I drink more water when we chug the Dasani — plain tap water tastes like blood to me ever since I had oral surgery and I only use the powdered flavor mixes as emergency backup because I’m not wild about them either — and we religiously recycle the bottles. So that makes us feel a little better.

But apparently I’m out of luck. My husband and I occasionally stumble across a rogue single bottle at a stop-and-rob but no local groceries have the six packs I buy four or five at a time. What’s the deal? Am I just constantly showing up behind other Dasani fans who beat me to it? Is there some sort of sinister Dasani shortage going on? Or am I imagining the whole thing? I abhor the taste of Nestle water, I’m suspicious that Propel has more than 25 calories a bottle and I don’t like water that tells me what to do: “Revive” “Energize.” “Focus.” Forget it. I like my water to remain quiet, thank you very much. That leaves me with Aquafina, which is only so-so.

Dasani, what’s up? Can you give us some strawberry love down here in Alabama? That would be very nice.

Photo Gifts

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photo-books-003It’s not Valentine’s Day yet but you know you need to think photo-books-0061about those other gift-giving occasions coming up — weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and family reunions. Want to earn fame as the best gift-giver ever? Two words: Photo books. Our older daughter and her husband gave us two for Christmas, and they top my grab-in-case-of-fire list (daughter and her husband as well as photo books, of course). I had seen these done as wedding albums but honestly never had considered them for anything else. What are photo books? They’re hardback bound photo-books-0041books printed with your own photos — your own personal photo album. My daughter said she got the idea after she photo-books-0052was bemoaning a small budget for gift giving and I told her all we her family wanted was more photos of new baby Capt. Adorable. After that, because she is young and techno-savvy and up on all sorts of cool stuff, she knew exactly what to do. There are several  sites that offer photo books (Kodak, Apple and HP do — search on “photo books” for more) . Liz chose Walgreens (http://photo2.walgreens.com/storepage/storePageId=MemoryBooks) and was pleased with the results. She had great fun, she said, designing layouts and playing with the photos but if that’s not your thing you can make it as simple a process as you’d like. Prices range from $10 to $50 and up, depending on your choices.  She did one on our beach trips — Capt. Adorable’s first tastes of sand and surf — and one on his first six weeks. Everybody who sees these just melts and says, “These are wonderful! I want to do this.” And you can.