peonies (?) and bad dreams

my computer is on the fritz, so i haven't been blogging much and mayn't be much until who knows when.

the good of it is that i haven't been reading my daily blogs either, so today i had several days of posts to catch up and not one blog that hadn't updated yet, which is a problem when you check them multiples a day.

i woke up to nightmares and rain, rain, rain, and it think it will be a long and lonely weekend. but i do have this beautiful perfectly-pink flower (peony? i don't know what it is... but i now have a favorite flower for getting flowers.) that actually cheered me up to see today.

it rightfully belongs to the pregnant girl upstairs (the baby boy's coming on monday), but that doesn't matter. her husband was bringing up a whole fancy bouquet of all these pretty, pretty flowers and since i was sitting outside reading, he pulled one out to give to me. it smells just gorgeous.

it was a small bud, and look how giantly it opened:



i always think it's odd how one little flower can brighten up the world, in fact, i think it was the subject of my very first second post.

more randomness...

after a lifetime of hating heart on anything, period, i find that i now not only can i tolerate them, i sometimes really like them. especially these wax paper and crayon hearts that my boyfriend's kids made for v-day:



i am going to learn how to draw, or try at least. i think, like most things, the trick is to just start trying, so today i did:



and lastly, don't order cds after more than three drinks:

rockstar poetry

broken vessel is finally finished and it rocks. you can buy it here.

up at 7 a.m.?

how did that happen?

some randomness: the weekend's here again, been loving youtube--since we have no tv--mostly watch family guy, american idol and colbert report clips. but when i rented the whole family guy it really sucked. jack had good news at work, maybe very good. snow is so pretty today, not dirty like last weekend. i like the scrape of the snow plows in the streets. ever seen snow bigger than an suv?




you have now. from last weekend. when i found out that the earth will be destroyed by an asteroid in 30 years unless the u.n. stops it, ?. we might be psychic. my sister is about to publish her very first book. for once in my life i'm not tired. the princess bride, how i love that movie. i think i need to get out today. there are no guarantees.

so pretty

i watched sophia coppolo's marie antoinette last night. it was a gorgeous movie, real eye-candy. it was like turning this room into a feature-length film.

glad i didn't make the boy watch it with me, it's really something girls can appreciate much more. i mean, he's not so into shoes and hair and pretty dresses...

the movie's web site's very darling also.

deception

there are no guarantees in life, are there? i ask.

there are no guarantees, he says.

but he doesn't know it is a trick and his answer is the wrong one.

alice + things i love

it's dark and dreary here. it's raining, when it should be snowing. i've been here all winter, and i can count the number of times it snowed on one hand. i feel really jipped, i have to say.

to cheer myself up i am eating m&m cookies (my favorite) and watching my favorite version of alice an wonderland. i love this one so much. it first came out when i was in grade school, and my teacher sent home a newspaper with the movie script in it, so i was able to read along to the movie.

when i was little, i loved reading more than anything else, especially tv. maybe that's what made it so enchanting for me? and my mom taped it, so my sister and i watched it many, many times throughout our childhoods. Natalie Gregory will always be the real alice to me. sigh.

anyway, after almost buying the old vhs's on ebay many, many times, my mom surprised me with the dvd. it's released everywhere i think, and through the looking glass is included:



good a time as any to recount some of my other favorite alice in wonderland things of all time:

i love:
this very comprehensive alice in wonderland site, but i especially love the film and tv productions across the years section.

i love:
this picture of drew barrymore being sort of a bad alice with her cigarette. i used to have a signed copy of this when i was younger. i used to have a huge crush on drew. (i love all of the pictures of her by mark seliger, actually all of his pictures are worth looking at. the one below is in his book, physiognomy, which i love and want...)



i love:
the alice in wonderland vouge photo spread by annie leibovitz witch shows natalia vodianova in all of these fabulous alice gowns by famous designers reenacting the scenes. and i'm sure you've seen this, but if not, you have to look. now. right now. (i did want annie's new book also, but after browsing it in borders, totally changed my mind.) my favorites are below, but it's really hard to pick.







i love:
the statue in central park, which took my a long time and several trips to find it's sort of hidden out in the open, if you will:


(this picture is from the central park website, i've actually never seen this statue not covered with children...)

i love:
this photography book by anna gaskell. although her wonder photographs are much more influenced by alice than of alice.