Festival

I think if I won the lottery (difficult since I've never played) one of the first things I'd do is head for the Festival Flea Market with wads of cash to buy "stuff".  No place has better "stuff" than this Jewish Princess wonderland of unique and trendy clothes, jewelry, shoes, tchatshke, Judaica, as-seen-on-TV, beauty supplies, pickles, specialty foods and other necessities of life.

Strolling the Festival is great fun even without wads of gelt and the best time you could have on a rainy South Florida day!

The Circle of Life

Laura and Jason and the grand-god-children - Cameron, Preston and Leila - are here on vacation.  Nothing makes one feel quite as old as trying to keep up with frenetic 32 year olds and their wacky, energetic family! 

It is weird to see people that you knew as screaming little kids chasing after their own screaming little kids.  It is weird to see the friends you knew in school grow older, become grandparents, slow down.  My late BFF called it the Circle of Life, from the Lion King song, and it helped her face her own mortality with grace and acceptance.

It is easy to see the Circle of Life being played out from the perspective of one's 60's.  So amazing, this cycle of growth and renewal in all living things. 

100 Places

There is a fun app going around on Facebook called  "100 Places to see before you die".  I must say there are a goodly number of places on this list that I have no desire to ever see!  

How is it that Jerusalem, the ancient cradle of the world's three major religions is not on this list??

Here's the list in no particular order with my own places visited shown in red:
1. Los Angeles  2. Lake District  3. Ngorongoro Crater  4. Loch Ness  5. Republic of Seychelles  6. Ibiza  7. Patagonia  8. Great Barrier Reef Whitsunday Islands  9. Nine Hells  10. Ring of fire volcanoes  11. Stockholm  12. Bermuda  13. Atacama Desert   14. Ayers Rock  15. Bali  16. Kazakhstan | Asia  17. Douglas  18. Madeira  19. Kerala Waterfalls  20. Greek Islands  21. La Paz  22. Leaning Tower of Pisa  23. Seattle  24. Puerto Rico | Caribbean  25. Space | Virgin Galactic  26. Singapore  27. Easter Island 28. Darwin  29. Havana  30. Key West Florida  31. New Orleans  32. Democratic Republic of Congo  33. Melbourne  34. Whistler  35. Prague  36. Iguazu Falls  37. Goa  38. Angel Falls  39. Perth  40. Grand Canyon  41. Spitsbergen  42. Walt Disney World | Florida  43. Bora Bora  44. Edinburgh  45. Maldives Islands  46. Dublin  47. Victoria Falls  48. Krakow  49. New York  50. Dead Sea  51. Washington DC  52. Seoul  53. Rome  54. Niagara Falls 55. Martinique Island  56. Bhutan  57. Paris  58. Hong Kong  59. Amsterdam  60. Taj Mahal | India | Asia  61. Panama City   62. Auckland  63. Colombo  64. Republic of the Fiji Islands  65. Petra  66. Republic of Cape Verde  67. Barcelona  68. Tibet  69. Buenos Aires  70. Madagascar  71. Chichen Itza  72. Machu Pichu  73. Las Vegas  74. St Tropez  75. Venice | Italy | Europe  76. Giza  77. Ulan Bator  78. Galápagos Islands  79. San Francisco  80. Nairobi  81. Toronto  82. Reykjavik  83. Athens  84. Jakarta  85. Waikiki | Honolulu  86. Mumbai (Bombay)  87. Bangkok  88. Marrakesh  89. Nuuka  90. Beijing (Peking)  91. Juneau  92. Dubai  93. Mexico City   94. Moscow  95. Tokyo Metropolis  96. Cape Town  97. London  98. Sydney  99. Rio de Janeiro  100. Angkor Wat Temple Cambodia

Cafepress

Cafepress is a cool site where you can design your  own t-shirts and other stuff or pick from thousands of designs created by some really creative people.  They get a royalty for everything they've designed that gets sold. 

I've wanted a t-shirt that says "MEMBER OF THE TRIBE" for awhile, ever since I saw one at Traditions, the big Judaica store at the Festival Market.  But alas, they didn't have any size I could reasonably wear.  So today I decided to browse the offerings on Cafepress.

Big mistake!  So many great choices!  How could I possibly resist this cute SCHLEP bag??  Or a t-shirt saying KISS MY TUCHAS, SCHMUTZ HAPPENS, JESUS SAVES BUT JEWS INVEST WISELY, YOU LOOKED BETTER ON J-DATE or CHAI MAINTENANCE??

OY! How can I choose? WHAT WOULD MAIMONIDES DO?

;-)

Nose Job

I sometimes kid around that I need a nose job.  Trust me, this is just me kidding around and I have never ever seriously (or even fleetingly) considered going under the knife for a rhinoplasty. 

I read an article that Barbra Streisand also never considered changing her (substantially larger than mine) nose either.  The reasons stated were pain and that she actually likes the bump on her nose.  

My mom once told me she was glad I did not inherit my father's ample shnoz but rather got a slightly larger version of her own cute nose. 

I never felt the need to alter my appearance so drastically.  But if I had produced a child that wanted a nose job, I would not have hesitated a moment to provide it  ;-)

John Edwards

John Edwards is in the news again and not in a good way.  I personally never had good vibes about the guy.  He was awfully good looking and gave off a slippery, used-car-salesman, not-quite-a-real-person vibe.  And anyone who got $400. haircuts to give speeches about "two Americas" and folks living in poverty (his big issue) just HAD to be a two-faced goniff.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I figured if Elizabeth Edwards loved the guy, he must be OK.

And of course, my suspicions proved true. 

Super good looking people scare me a little.  Decades ago, when I was dating boys, I suspected the really gorgeous ones would break my heart and dump me for a skinny cheerleader with a tiny little nose.  An unfounded bias and a bit of "profiling" on my part.

My bad...

Today's Horoscope

Today's harmonious alignment between the willful Sun and action-hero Mars in your sign is a harbinger of good news. No matter what kind of complications are making your life difficult, the resistance is finally fading and you are at the edge of making significant progress. However, if everything has been going well, your life should only continue to improve. Don't worry about the past; it's time to turn the power of now into a strategy for a successful future.

Sometimes when I'm feeling kind of directionless I start the day by consulting my horoscope.

Today was such a day and I'm encouraged by the fabulous news above.  "Everything" has indeed been going well so I am happy it's only going to get better!

 

;-)

Born Again

Charles Colson, Nixon henchman and Watergate bad guy, died yesterday at age 80.

He was the poster child for being Born Again, having seen the evil of his ways and devoting himself for the rest of his life to preaching a Christian ministry.

Are you a tad bit skeptical?  So was the rest of the country who saw Mr. Colson's repentance as a ploy to get his prison sentence reduced and provide some kind of gainful employment after his release. 

The famous line at the time was "If Mr. Colson can repent his sins, there has to be hope for everyone." 

Let's hope that is indeed true...

The Beginner's Goodbye

I'm listening to The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler, the story of a man who loses his wife in a freak accident (an ancient tree falls on her as she sits pouting in their sun room). The new widower is an editor for "The Beginner's" series of informational self-help books so if it helps, you can think of the book's title as "Goodbye for Dummies".

I think I can relate to Aaron's subsequent desire to be left alone and his lack of concern about his own health or anything else and his confusion and mind games and his just-going-through-the-motions. What is so interesting (to me at least) is that his wife, the object of his love and devotion, is gradually revealed to be an unattractive, unsympathetic and generally un-likable person. Not a bad person, not an unstable or dumb person, just not the person you would think would inspire Great Love.   Yet there it is, 100% believable.

Why did he love her? To him, the traits that others might find nerve racking were her most endearing. Her physical imperfections were his "turn ons".  Even her cold bedside manner with her patients (she was a doctor), he saw as an asset.

Lucky for us mere mortals, we don't need to be "perfect" to be loved.

:-)

Cabi Canary

Woo Hoo!  Next door neighbor Marilyn has invited me to a ladies-only "ultimate shopping experience" party on Sunday where I can "experience affordable LUXURY straight from the DESIGNER in the comfort of my (her) HOME".  I am actually looking forward to meeting the other neighbors she has invited and of course seeing girl-stuff is always fun. 

I checked out the website of the DESIGNER and see it offers tips for "age appropriate" dressing and accessorizing - in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, all the way up to one's 70s!  Instead of looking at the collections under each decade (Engage your age and you’ll see maximum potential in all aspects of your life…especially your wardrobe!) I have decided to pick the collection of stuff I like the most and declare myself in that age group.  Guess what?  I'm in my 30s  ;-)