Tell me...

I follow a fair number of blogs, I sometimes unfollow and then feel slightly wretched afterwards. I find new ones and they become my latest fave. Sometimes my best bloggers don't post often and I miss them. Other times, they post a lot and it feels like having my favourite magazine delivered when I just happen to have a free few minutes to just absorb.

I wonder what it is that makes the perfect blog to follow? I want to know about the person; to see their world from their eyes, but there has to be resonance with what they see; it has to be somehow relevant to me, even if our lives are poles apart. I like Mummy bloggers but I am not all about being a Mummy. I like fashion bloggers but I am no fashionista. I like 'this is my life' bloggers but that life has to make sense to me. I like photography blogs but I need to know what someone can say in words as well as in pictures. I like visiting my friends and when they visit me.

When I find a blog I like I almost feel a need to ask some questions to establish the match; it's like how I imagine internet dating to be. Will you be my friend?

Earl Grey or latte?

Daisies or roses?

Dresses or jeans?

'Breakfast Club' or 'Breakfast at Tiffanys'?


Eggs Benedict or muesli?

Crisp, chilled, dry Sancerre or full-bodied Rioja, warmed by the fire?

Diamonds or pearls?

Bed by 10pm or up after midnight?


Natural childbirth or drugs all the way?

Tidy house, clear surfaces or cluttered, bohemian mess?

Fancy dress or black tie?

Pushing yourself hard or taking the easier road?

City break or country cottage?

via The Sartorialist
Shoes or handbags?

New best friend: Kate Hudson or Kate Winslet?

Make do and mend or buy new?

'It's a Wonderful Life' or 'Home Alone'?

Open-minded, live and let live or 'my way' rules?

Elvis Presley or Neil Diamond?


Cover the grey or let it shine through?

Literary criticism or algebra?

Keep calm and carry on or panic and freak out?

'Country Living' or 'Vogue'?

Going for a run or the sofa and biscuits?

Best character in TV classic 'The Good Life': Margo Leadbetter or Barbara Good?



Tell me your answers and I will tell you mine!

P.S. This lovely blogger did something similar: Lola B's

Happy Halloween!

Some of my costume choices throughout the years...

This picture is so amazing. It sums my sister Katie and I up perfectly. She was always the cute little tomboy while I was always a girly girl. :) I love my sister so much!

If you ask me how I knew Ben was the one I may show you this photo. We took this after dating only 3 months or so. We look so much like the real deal that people often ask if this was us in high school. HA!

Pee Wee and Miss Yvonne ♥

80's Jazzersizers!

Last year we dressed as Wayne and Garth. I think we did a pretty good job.
I dressed as Lady Gaga the next night and danced in my kitchen with my best friend Christie who was maybe dressed like a robber...?



Oh and let's not forget the good old days of being young and single. Yes... even I did the slutty ____ costumes.

A slutty witch for example.

Or how about a slutty bee?

Or if you have an excuse like going to the Playboy Mansion, you can just be a girl in lingerie. Why not??
Ron Jeremy liked it

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!!

Easy Walk Down the Math Path

Third grade was the undoing of my math career. I had a horrible teacher. I know she was bad as my mother was a school teacher. My third grade teacher did nothing except sit at her desk and read novels. She did not teach us math at all that year, so when I got to fourth grade I was at a great disadvantage.

I changed schools and ended up having to learn basic things like the multiplication tables that I should have learned in the third grade. I ended up having another student who was really good in math sit with me and she acted as my math tutor. I thank god for her. She helped me make it and as you can guess, math was never my best subject. It was always a struggle. I believe that
if you do not have access to what you need then the next best thing would be a tutor. There are now tutors for every subject out there. My own child needed help in middle school and I sent her to the after school tutors at her school.

With our wave of technology there is even help on line now. Take Algebra 2 for example. There
is free online help with TutorVista. If your child is stuck doing that homework they can get help with algebra 2 in such a way that they will understand it and not just be given the answers. Understanding how the answer is derived is the whole thing. Understanding is power. The tutors will provide one on one help and are experts who will work at your child's level and speed to be sure they comprehend the math they are having difficulty with.

There is even help with 4th grade math as well as 5th grade math. Math topics pertenant to each grade level will be addressed. In 4th grade math a few of the subjects that can be accessed are fractions, decimals and geometry. In 5th grade math some of the subjects include fractions and mixed numbers, word problems and graphs. In 4th grade math learning begins with a subject area, then doing simple then more complex problems and ends with a math test to see where you stand. With the 5th grade tutoring, study is customized to the student with thousands of study questions to practice on. Those along with math worksheets will surely improve comprehension. Regardless of the time this help is available 24 hours a day! So late night study is not a problem.

When I was in middle and high school the one thing I recall that I could do well was adding fractions. I loved to do them. In addition to the help with manually adding fractions you can even add fractions on line and get an answer on the spot! That was not around when I was in school! Formula for volume and figuring that out for different shapes was something I had a hard time with. I will never forget that. I had help and once I understood I had no problem after that . Looking at it now it looks like greek and I am so glad I do not have to deal with that anymore! (Volume of a shape is given by computing area of a cross section and spinning it over 360 degrees--did I say greek!)My child is working with that now and she must be smarter that me because she is having no problem with it! If she did I would refer her to the online tutoring that is available!

My child is in high school now and is doing work with graph of lineal equations. She came to me with this about 3 weeks ago and I told her I could not help her. I knew I had had it before but remembered nothing! I guess my mind was a blank slate-a tabula rasa! At that time I referred her to school tutors and she has no problem now. I did not know about this website and the wonderful assistant it can provide. We know now. Both of us for the remainder of this school year will be referring to it if she has any math issues.

Having use of chat and a whiteboard to work out problems with a live tutor is just like working face to face. Students and parents are happy with this service. Check out the testimonials!


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe! ~~Aileen Mehle~~

Vans!


This school year was a little different in that the only pair of shoes my child wanted was a pair of Vans. I had no clue what they were. I had not heard of that brand....as it turned out she wanted to go to Journeys in the mall and get a pair. She took me there and I learned all I ever needed to know about Vans. I was thinking they are more for the grunge look/type and as it turns out it is a skate shoe. I guess roller and skateboard skating. She wanted the purple plaid/checkerboard.


I was thinking that a more modest style or color would go with many more things. Then I began to think with Vans I guess it is not about matching but with just having a pair. So the purple checkboard pair was bought for her and she was happy as a clam! These are them and believe me when I say she loves them. Once I pretended that I was going to try them on and my feet are bigger than hers. Well...I was in fear that I would loose a toe! Hands off her VANS! She loves them and the more I look they are very interesting shoes. Good to wear with jeans. I may even get a pair and I will not be getting a solid color either! Vans! If they are good enought for my child, they are good enough for me!
The price was not too bad. I paid about $45 dollars for them. There seems to be a whole lifestyle of skating surrounding the Van name. I mean really...they gave bmx riders a camera and sent them on a trip. Okay. I can do that! Send me on a trip with a camera. It would be Vans from an older generation perspective!

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!

~~Aileen Mehle~~

Sorting Shoes


My shoes feel confused today. They are out of sorts and feel just like two left feet. I think they will be staying in the closet until they can get turned around and even buffed and polished! I guess every shoe needs a day of rest. Today I will get mine! Shoes going the bed in about 30 minutes. Silence and seclusion can be golden!

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe! ~~Aileen Mehle~~

Pretty Please?

I'm sitting here at the lounge in LAX passing the time before I need to board my 20 HOUR LONG flight to Asia (mixed emotions here, ladies - super-excited about my trip, not hot on all the time I'll be logging in a big metal tube at 40,000ft).

But with some time to kill, I've got to catch up on some blog reading - and found out I'm in the running to run some beautiful jewelry from Tara's last giveaway! If you have a sec, please take a look at the candidates - and pretty please vote for me? You can check out the great line-up of fall garb and put in your vote HERE.

And if you haven't found Tara's fantastic Anthro-centric blog yet, please check out Little Girl Big Closet! Her outfits are gorgeous and I always always get jealous pangs staying at her thick glossy locks - le sigh!

Dress Up Dolls

When I was in New York I went to Barneys and was really excited when I saw this. Hand made rag dolls dressed in couture inspired outfits!
The dolls were so beautiful and the dresses were really like miniature versions of the real deal. Hand made with beautiful fabrics and all with unique hand painted faces.




 The McQueen ones were some of my favorites. I love the floral gown... so pretty.


 This one reminds me of Gaga




The original Nina Ricci dress that inspired the doll

So cool. Check out the artist's website for more info if you want. He even makes custom dolls if you've got the casholla!

I'm a big fan of dolls. I think I played with my Barbies until I was 13 or 14, secretly of course. I collect and customize Blythe dolls which I don't think I've ever blogged about, but if you check out my Flickr, you'll see my girls on there. :)

Here is one of my favorites. I cut her hair and changed her eyelashes and re-shaped her lips by carving them. I also painted her makeup and her eyes and changed her clothes.

IMG_3176


IMG_3274

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe! ~~Aileen Mehle~~



The medicine profiles the line.

Bali Holidays

My first exposure to Bali was in the movie Bali Hai and I fell in love! It seemed like such a romantic, beautiful place that I dreamed of going there some day! Now I have done some traveling of the world but I have not made it to that side of the globe yet! I still have an active bucket list and bali holidays are still on it! To help plan that wonderful vacation there is a wonderful link you can go to book that romantic Bali cruise: P & O Cruises! This line has been around since 1837 when European tourists took excursions to the Mediterranean. Today P&O is the premiere cruise line from Australia and New Zealand to the South Pacific. With super liners that offer balcony rooms, wonderful entertainment and diverse eating establishments, you can book a Bali holiday and travel in style!

P & O has a wonderful cruisefinder page on its' website that will easily let you put in your departure and destination cities, dates of travel, ship and let you find out availability and pricing. There is even a button to click to find out about special deals!

What is there to do in Bali, Indonesia? Plenty! It is an old place with ancient temples and palaces. There are active volcanoes to explore and plenty of shopping in markets and art stores.
That is the Bali that I want to see. I want to see the local culture like the Barong dancers and try some of the local food as well as some of the find dining restaurants!

The culture there is very different that our western culture and women must be covered when entering temples. Luckily sashes and wraps are readily available if needed. Booking bali holidays is easy. The cruise website and/or your travel agent is all you need to book that Bali tour! Safety, security and customer satisfaction are a focus and policies are updated as needed to keep everyone safe to that a wonderful cruise experience is had by all.

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe! ~~Aileen Mehle~~

I've Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates

OK, this post has nothing to do with that 70's song by Melanie Safka, but who hasn't seen and instantly fell in love with that new HP printer commercial with the happy baby?! I can't get "Brand New Key" out of my head, and now the BF is in fear of me wanting a real baby bump because I adore the expressions on that commercial baby - no worries, BF, I am perfectly happy with just my food baby.

I did have the song rolling through my head this morning though as I was getting dressed though - this knit top is probably more appropriate for a lazy Sunday lounging but happy baby song inspired me to be super-cas and wear it for TGIF!



Top: UO Truly Madly Deeply Owl pullover
Skirt: Banana Republic herringbone knife pleat (worn here before)
Tights: Anne Klein
Shoes: Aldo Currie (worn here and here before - similar-ish online here)
Necklace: Anthropologie Grandma's Treasure Trove (worn here and here before)

+++

Sorry, folks, no Other People's Blogs post today (and probably for a while - I'm so sorry!) as this week has completely gotten away from me and I am way behind on my blog trolling. I may be in and out of blogee land for the next two weeks as well since I'm heading off to Asia tomorrow for some back-to-back biz trips, argh! I feel so behind on everything! And how is a gal to pack when almost half her suitcase is already spoken for with work-related things?!

Things of beauty...

Today Boo is doing her first ever horse riding competition. It's dressage which means she has to have the outfit. This is so me. It's all about the outfit. With plaited hair and a velvet hat, riding jacket and fresh new jodphurs I will send her off. I am just about to bust with pride and if she comes home with a rosette, all the better.

And so to a general wondering; in the words of Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -  
I took the one less traveled by.
Do you think it's better to take the road less travelled? I refer to career choices, when a 'career' was not meant to be the priority for me, it's hard to tell whether to take a leap or to stay safe and known. I need your counsel...


Palest blue tutus...it's Nutcracker ballet season coming up...





Let the madness begin; every year, my lusting after a very luxe MaxMara Cube coat, complete with collars and cuffs.


This amazingly pretty image was taken by my good friend Natasha from 'She Left on a Monday'...from her first wedding shoot; the lawyer-come-fledgling-photographer...


If only...Valentino studded shoes...YUM.

via The Sartorialist
I have dressage on the brain...I don't ride horses, but how exquisite is this?

by Mario Testino for Vogue

via tinywhitedaisies
Love her posture...and the halloween legs!




These are my 'I got new boots' boots...my friend N said they make her think of Nanny Mcphee and my friend D says they make her think of Mary Poppins...thoughts please?!! I love 'em.




by Belle and Boo

Watching re-runs of SATC, I found an episode I had never seen; where she dances with 'The Russian' in an Oscar de la Renta dress in Macdonalds. Inspired...




Keira in vintage print.



Sumptuousness from Elie Saab...


I think it might be a great weekend...