Jewelry Part 2

 Younger Daughter is one of those people who has an eye for color and texture and she puts together the most gorgeous earring creations. Every time I wear her designs, people ask me where I’ve been shopping. She just made

Pair No. 8 -- icy lavender and green drops

some new ones and I told her I’d be honored to put them up in the blogosphere for worldwide admiration. So here you go. Each pair is $15 including postage — I’ll just wrap them up and mail them to you in a first-class envelope if that’s OK. E-mail me at cathylwood@gmail.com and I’ll send you payment info. All earrings are sterling-silver findings and most of the beads are glass. She can do special orders, too. And because I can’t figure out how to do all these pics in one post, be sure to check out Jewelry Part 1. Click on any pic to enlarge it.

Pair No. 5 -- my favorites -- love the green patterned glass bead at the bottom

Pair No. 6 -- beautiful shadings of lavender and green

Pair No. 7 -- classic navy and white -- the blue color practically glows

Jewelry Part 1

I don’t mean to brag here or anything, but I pretty much have the most creative and talented daughters ever. Ever.

Pair No.4 -- classic brown and black for fall

Older Daughter is a wonderful dancer and can construct the most incredible costume  you ever saw out of the most mundane fabric and a random pile of assorted beads. Younger Daughter is equally skilled at making earrings. She is one of those people who has an eye for color and texture and she puts together the most gorgeous creations. Every time I wear her designs, people ask me where I’ve been shopping. She just made some new ones and I told her I’d be honored to put them up in the blogosphere for worldwide admiration. So here you go. Each pair is $15 including postage — I’ll just wrap them up and mail them to you in a first-class envelope if that’s OK. E-mail me at cathylwood@gmail.com and I’ll send you payment info. All earrings are sterling-silver findings and most of the beads are glass. She can do special orders, too. And because I can’t figure out how to do all these pics in one post, be sure to check out Jewelry Part 2. Click on any pic to enlarge it.

Pair No. 1 -- classic black and white

Pair No. 2 -- Beautiful blues and greens

Pair No. 3 -- a fun mix of color, shape and size

Fall Decor

It’s fall, y’all! Here in northwest Alabama, it was in the 40s overnight and we’re pulling out our jackets and scarves and planning for the much-anticipated annual Boot Day — the first official day it’s cool enough (temperature-wise, that is) to wear boots. I know, I know — it’s only temporary and we’ve got many more 85+-degree days to come. But it is encouraging. Another thing I adore about fall is the decor. I mean, who doesn’t love cornstalks and gourds and cheerful orange pumpkins? There’s something about fall that inspires creativity, like the door of Swirlz, a delightful party-invitation store in Tupelo, Mississippi. I love the combination of the sheer orange ribbon and bare branches with the perky and sunny flowers. And then, adorning the gracious doorway of a magnificent Southern home in Decatur, Alabama, I found these lovely arrangements of gourds, mums and greenery. This is the home of Betty Sims, a cookbook author and former restaurant owner who teaches sold-out cooking classes every fall. She is Southern hospitality personified — warm, generous, funny and sweet — and I think her decor reflects that. Check out the Scrumptious Culinary School schedule at http://scrumptiousinc.com.

Shopping

This past Saturday, I did what every self-respecting Alabama woman did: I hit the Belk’s sale in the morning and was done in time for football in the afternoon. And there was plenty of “scoring” in both efforts (sorry, couldn’t resist). Usually, I’m leery of so-called department-store “sales.” I scorn the 15-, 25- and 30-percent off claims and don’t really pay attention until the discount approaches the half-way mark. But Belk’s season clearances are famous for good buys in the 70-90 percent-off range. Cashing in on the bounty — literally — depends on your luck in locating cute items in your size. And yesterday I hit the jackpot: Six adorable finds that would have cost me close to $550 but I brought them home for less than $100. Touchdown!!! Here’s what I got: A 3/4-sleeve pullover Madison dress I can wear now for early fall, a linen leaf-print Rafaella shirtdress, a cool and comfy pullover Calvin Klein sundress plus two Kenneth Cole and one Rafaella summer tops. Whoo-hoo! And the best thing is that I would have wanted these things even without the sale prices. Earlier this week I couldn’t wait for fall and now I want 90-degree July days again so I can try out my new summer clothes. This just capped off a great week of bargain-hunting — earlier I snagged a lightweight blue floral scarf at Gap for $7 and a trio of intriguing black-patterned clear-glass vases at T.J. Maxx for less than $10 total.  I think that this trifecta of good shopping is karma for when I walked out of Anthropologie the other day without buying a thing. Thank you, shopping goddesses!

Shopping

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I could just live in an Anthropologie store. I mean, somebody did it at a Wal-Mart, right? I’m sure I could get away with it. Sure, I’d miss my family and the cats and my espresso machine, but it might be worth it. And here’s the thing: I know that it’s all marketing. I know that there are meetings in boardrooms at Anthropologie HQ when people sit around and say, “If we put the yellow plates here and the blue bowls there and if we hang that cashmere sweater next to the embroidered jacket with the green purse underneath, it will drive them mad crazy with desire.” And they’re right — it does. I fall for it every time. Whenever I walk into an Anthropologie store, I want absolutely every thing I see, regardless of price or age-appropriateness or even if I had any sort of plan to wear/use/read/eat from/drink out of it.

Fall

Is it summer? Is it fall? Here in northwest Alabama, late September is both!

Random Thoughts

Here are some things that have been running through my head the past few days:

First, I now know what it’s like to live in London or Seattle or any of those other places that have constant rain. I believe it has rained practically every day here in northwest Alabama for the past three or four weeks. Everybody and everything smells sort of moldy, and all conversations include phrases such as ” … after I put my umbrella down … ” I don’t even know where my sunglasses are anymore. I think we may get a break next week, if that unfamiliar round yellow symbol on the weather chart is right.  But the rain and flooding has been more than inconvenient in so many places –  in Georgia, several people have died in the rising waters. I never understood how quickly and frighteningly flooding can happen until I was driving home from Corinth, Mississippi, this past Friday afternoon, going east on U.S. 72 through Barton, Alabama. It all of sudden started raining so hard that it was a whiteout — I literally could not see the road. I crept along looking for a place to turn off and started to drive through a convenience store’s parking lot when I noticed that what I thought was the parking lot was in fact brown swirling rushing water. Luckily, it wasn’t deep and after a few heart-pounding moments parked on high ground beside a Dumpster, I realized I could drive out safely and so I did. But Oh. My Goodness. That was scary. I now have a healthy respect for those words, “Flash food warning.”

Second, the reason I was driving back from Mississippi was that I had gone to the Tupelo hospital — our insurance is networked in Mississippi — to get a Reclast injection. Has anyone else done this? I have osteopenia, which is kind of like you-don’t-have-osteoporosis-yet-but-don’t-hold-your-breath, sister. For years I’ve taken Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva (do not get me started on Sally Field) with the only result being heartburn and indigestion, so my doctor recommended Reclast. I would only need it once every two years and it’s supposed to be easy on the tummy, so sign me up. And of course, like when you take most meds, you’re warned that Reclast can cause nausea, upset stomach, etc. And of course, like with most meds, you just nod and say, “All right. Sure. Okay.” But Saturday morning after my Reclast injection on Friday afternoon, I woke up with … wait for it … nausea, upset stomach, etc. Ugh. And I started panicking, thinking that I’d put this stuff in my body for two years and I was going to feel like hell for the whole two years and why-oh-why was I so stupid???  Luckily, it was just a 24-hour thing and I felt better the next day. I’m going to have to see my bone-scan numbers to decide if Reclast is worth it. Anyway, to anybody else considering Reclast: Plan for a full day of recovery. At least.

And have you read the People article that says “Kardashian wedding to be ‘classy affair’?” http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/22/khloe.kardashian.wedding/index.html I mean, really? Seriously??? Can any Kardashian possibly describe herself as “classy” with any semblance of integrity? The mind boggles.

And I’m fully into Dan Brown’s latest, “The Lost Symbol.” We can all agree it’s not great literature, but it sure is gripping page-turning fun. Plus, I love that this time it’s set someplace I know and can envision. Secrets in Washington, D.C.!!! Who’d have thunk it???!!!

Random Thoughts

... because nothing says "Christmas" like planning your keg party.

Cajun Week

The best part about Cajun Country? The incredible friendliness and hospitality. A week or so ago, two other friends and I were lucky enough to get to go to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for a real Cajun wedding. Driving from our corner of northwest Alabama, we stopped in Jackson, Mississippi, to pick up another friend and we got our first taste of what Cajun generosity is all about. (And I know that Jackson isn’t really Cajun country but when you’re close enough to drive to New Orleans for lunch, that qualifies in my book!) Our Jackson friend, Jana, is always the one we turn to for decorating and entertaining advice since she excels at both of those — and she outdid herself this time. We’re ashamed to admit that even though she’s lived in Jackson now for almost three years, we’d never gone to visit her. So this was our first peek at her new house, and we all just fell in love with it as soon as we walked in the door. Everything was so warm, inviting and luxurious, with handmade Jana touches everywhere. She designed and made all the window treatments, as well as throw pillows and handpainted floor coverings. I wish just a little bit of her creativity would rub off on me.

And maybe it did, a little bit, because the next day Jana took us to a wonderful consignment shop in Jackson — bargain hunting is another Jana speciality — and I found one of those wonderful 1980s’ embellished skirt like you’d make and wear to a friend’s Casino Night party. Instead of thinking, “Wow, I could probably wear that,” I had a Jana-thought: “Wow, that would make an adorable pillow.” Of course, you need a Jana to make those thoughts come true, and she did. You know you’d pay $60-plus for this pillow in a decorating shop, but I got it for the $8 cost of the skirt and Jana’s sewing time, which she luckily didn’t charge me for. Aren’t friends wonderful?

And the Cajun hospitality at Jana’s house didn’t end with Jana. On our way back from the wedding we of course had to stop in Jackson to drop Jana off. We had driven through nail-bitingly scary heavy rain for hours and were suffering the after-effects of too much fun, but Jana’s husband, Don, met us at the door with restorative glasses of wine and a wonderful Cajun lunch of real authentic New Orleans mufulletas (the secret’s in the Central Grocery olive salad) chips and salsa and a fresh fruit salad that Don showed us how to liven up with chili powder — something I’d never tasted before but I really enjoyed. I know I’m embarrassing Jana and Don here by gushing all over them, but, really, when you have friends who go to so much trouble to make you feel special, then you just have to brag about them. I mean, folks pay good money to be treated like this, and Jana and Don did it just because they love us. Awwww…

So this wraps up my Cajun Week, with reports from my few days exploring Cajun Country. I had a blast and I hope you did, too. Can’t wait to go back. And check out my weekly TimesDaily column on the Cajun wedding, at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090918/ARTICLES/909185004

Cajun Week

On our way to Louisiana’s Cajun Country for a wedding this past weekend, my friends and I spent a day in Mississippi doing some of things we do best: Eating and shopping. And stumbling on Wacky Ideas That Might Come In Handy Sometime Because You Never Know. Like these two examples that solve the problem of what do you do with all those 45s/albums/CDs that you will never ever listen to again? At the 101 Cafe in Brookhaven, Mississippi — a funky sandwich spot with a very cool 1960s-hippie vibe — one of the walls was decorated with a huge peace sign made out of old 45s. I love this idea — how great would it be for a rec or media room? And then at Upscale Resale — a fun consignment shop in Jackson, Mississippi — we found this gleaming and holographic mobile made out of CDs. Now, this is true recycling! Check back tomorrow for one more Cajun Week post — I saved the best for last!