I woke up with the power out, not really somethin to shout about.

Still no power-- walked out of the apartment this morning with my shirt inside out. It's not easy getting dressed by candlelight. I don't mind the non-electricity JUST yet. The only thing I'm missing is TV and cooking(ahem....or someone cooking for me). But really, I'm surviving just fine without TV.

The picture, is my room with the candles. I think once winter starts rollin' in I'll be turning off the AC/Heater and lights--given that I have power--and start using candles at night. It's kind of nice. I don't have any babies or pets so it's relatively safe. I started thinking about how everyone used to live by candles and how necessary it was for a town or village to have a few candle makers.

There's a small town near the ol' alma mater, Texas State University, called Wimberly and there's tons of candle makers. My statistics teacher lives there and said "You can't swing a dead cat in Wimberly without hitting a candle maker or massage therapist." Well said, Dr. Caldwell, well said.

YIKES! Hurricane Ike.

Wow.. sorry it's been so long since an update. We've got a little situation down here in Houston called Hurricane Ike. Fortunately, there's been no structural damage to myself or my family, just power outages.

For many others, they've lost their homes. The past few days have been stressful and chaotic, but things are starting to come back together. It doesn't hurt that the weather has been cooling down, allowing those without power to open their windows and let their houses breathe. (For anyone who doesn't know Houston weather, there's rare opportunity to open your windows before the end of October).

It's been awesome to see the humanity that comes out of people in situations like this. Some are just itching to run around and help. I've spent some of my time in Jon's parents' neighborhood where one man was going house to house repairing strangers' fences. Others are going around to the houses without electricity, gathering the perishable food and dirty laundry so they can give back a hot meal and clean towels.

Galveston County has seen the worst of it and still needs lots of help. Please donate to the Red Cross- Houston Chapter!

Paris Interiors

Sigh.. back in Texas for less than a week and we're being "evacuated" due to hurricane Ike. We still haven't completely unpacked from Paris and we're already getting a change of venue. These pictures are from our "homes" in France.

The first four pictures are from the house in Paris. Arthur's mom lives in a suburb in Paris. It's a former orphanage from built in 1880. Arthur's Mom reupholsters furniture and collects art so there was fabulousness everywhere.

The last four pictures are some interiors of the castle-like country home in Champagne. This place was amazingly huge, old and enchanting. Arthur's Dad bought it a few years ago in poor condition and began renovating with the efforts of their entire family. Parts of the house date back to the 12th century. I loved all the little collections all over the house. His step-mother had dozens of espresso and tea sets stacked up in the kitchen (sorry the picture is dark). My favorite was the Christian Lacroix pastel ones we had the morning we left.

We are so grateful to have stayed in both of these homes. Much thanks to Arthur for both of these accommodations.

Okay.. I'm avoiding packing for Ike. Adios.er--- Aur revoir!

Black Swan

This gown from Rodarte, shown at New York Fashion Week reminds me of a black swan, they way the orange opens up across the chest like a beak. I heart it of course. Give me a party to wear this to... Tonight is the night IKE comes. We're hunkering down, as everyone says. Hunker. Black swans don't hunker, they sail!

Handwriting

How the typographers write....

I've always wondered about this-- whether or not typographers had good handwriting. Cameron Adams of themaninblue.com was wondering the same thing, took it a step further and actually got some handwriting of some prominent typographers. Some are normal, sloppy (yay) and others are too perfect, I call sham! Check it out for yourself.

Le Sigh.

Back in Houston. Paris was absolutely fabulous in every way. I have so many pictures and I will post a couple relevant ones on my blog. The full enchilada will be on Facebook.

Our gracious host, Arthur spent the entire week showing us Paris starting with it's earliest foundations (300 bc?). We were fortunate enough to stay in both Paris and Champagne in amazingly old buildings. We had many traditional home-cooked meals, loads of cheese, loads of desserts balanced out with miles of walking. I couldn't have pictured a better trip. Much more to come...stay with me.

Pictures of above are taken from our landing in Houston. The plane's scalloped wings reminded me of a feathered bird wing.

Adios, Tejas.

I should be on the plane headed towrd Paris right now...
Here's some pictures from my recent stint in San Antonio. If this doesn't say Texas, I don't know what does.







1. baby armadillo
2. vulture
3. opossum
4. hotel view at La Cantera