The dress makes the day

It's been 60 degrees all weekend and I'm sure in the scheme of things that's bad news for Spring and Summer weather forecasts. But it's great news for my wardrobe. I found this darling vintage dress at the thrift store a few weeks ago and figured I'd have to settle for admiring it in my closet until Spring sprung. Mother Nature must have been just as eager for me to wear it, though, and today's mild weather proved the perfect opportunity. This picture doesn't do it justice - the whole dress is a gauzy viscose, sheer black with pearly buttons on top and flowy off-white printed with delicate black flowers on the skirt. Dresses in this style make me so happy - especially when they cost $5.99 at the second-hand store!

One, two, cha-cha-cha

I had a nightmare last night about learning to dance from Louis Van Amstel – one of the professional stars on Dancing with the Stars.

Don’t get me wrong: I like Dancing with the Stars as much as the next fan of “there’s nothing else on so we may as well watch has-been Hollywood types make fools of themselves” TV shows. But I am not a fan of exercise classes that expect me to work up a sweat through dancing. I can never get the steps right fast enough – or remember the sequences long enough – to do more than get frustrated. It’s a brain workout, not a body workout. And when I’m at the gym, I want to turn my brain off and just let the legs pump.

So yesterday I saw a notice that this Dancing with the Stars expert Louis has a new workout program that incorporates dance steps and that he’s coming to Charlotte to debut it.

I shuddered at the thought - and then rather inexplicably had a nightmare about going to the class. All I can figure is that sometimes my subconscious fixates on stressful scenarios that play out in my dreams. Trying to keep up with a ballroom dance workout class certainly qualifies for the girl who misguidedly enrolled in Social Dance her first semester of college because she heard it was an "easy A" and ended up flunking.

Nurse, we're gonna need the paddles for this one.

Hello there.

I'm ready to try and resuscitate this blog. No promises, but I'll do my best to post regularly. I just spent a week hanging out with family in Utah and it's hard to imagine I could have anything even remotely interesting to post all the way out here in Charlotte - away from all the niece and nephew action. Here are some pics.

Party time

I love it when adults break out the party hats and streamers to celebrate their birthdays. Me and my dear friend Jenny were the first to don hats at a party on Saturday night. The goggly eyes were an unfortunate side-effect and only lasted as long as the camera was pointed our direction. Thank goodness!

Fancy cooking

Had to whip up a cake worthy of a wedding reception dessert table on Saturday afternoon and only had a few hours to do it. I settled on a brownie berry torte recipe that uses a brownie mix layered with fresh berries and pudding/sweetened condensed milk/whipping cream.

I didn't get to stick around and try some, but I hear it was pretty tasty. It sure was pretty to look at!

catching up

I spent last week at a writing retreat in the NC mountains. Here's the waterfall on one of the many hikes I took:

And here's the view from the porch of the mountain house where we stayed.

And here's the view from my bedroom, where I did some excellent writing which I plan to share eventually. It's not ready yet!

I was a little skeptical about spending an entire week in the mountains without web or cell service just writing and hiking, but boy did time fly. It didn't hurt that the kitchen staff made some killer cookies (among other more healthy offerings). I came home feeling creatively recharged and ready to tackle the world.

Tweet tweet

Since my hair has the perpetual look of a bird's nest, I decided just to embrace it. Went to a benefit last night and wore a canary in my hair. I thought it went well with my 50's dress. And with the gigantic flowers women are wearing these days (not to mention those audacious hats at the Royal Wedding!) I figured no one would fault me for pinning a feathered friend to my crazy curls.