Wow. This is embarrassing.

It's ALREADY November! Didn't I post on here, like, yesterday(ish)?

Today, I'm returning temporarily or perhaps permanently to my original blogging format, where I focus individually on the five words in this blog's title. I wanted to tell you in advance so you could go get your husband out of bed, call your mom, and text all of your texting friends who are not your mom. They will NOT want to miss this exciting change.

So...

Live. A lot has happened since my last post about boots and movie props. In October I traveled to my former country of residence, Bermuda, with my family. During our two-week stay, we mostly went to the pink beach and drove a golf cart around to look for escaped golf balls who figured out that they really weren't part of a REAL sport, but rather, were merely the victim of a more sophisticated version of "Kick the Can." Our newly-found 11 golf balls are currently trying to reconnect with their past in Orlando, where their Mothership landed many years ago. Unfortunately, some golf balls are separated from Mom early in life and are dropped quickly from the confines of their comfy, spherical molds only to get whacked in the head by their new, adoptive parents who think that paying $250 to walk on grass and hit their new children in the head is not only sporty but also bound to impress the boss. Where have our values gone? No wonder Russia won't let us adopt any more golf balls.

Laugh. My daughter is four. She is a "Knock-Knock" joke whiz. Seriously, we're pretty sure she's a genius. Allow me to brag and share her latest work with you:

Her: Knock Knock! 
Me: Who's there?
Her: Chicken!
Me: Chicken who?
Her: Chicken fingers!

Learn. I don't know WHY on earth THIS just popped into my head, but have any of you ever stopped to wonder what EPCOT means? "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." Did you know that "prototype" means "an original model on which something later is patterned"? Did you know that I lived in London for four years, which explains why sometimes I put the punctuation inside the quotation marks and sometimes I place the punctuation outside the quotation marks? There is a reasonable explanation, even if you never wondered or noticed why I do this. It is simply an homage to the Queen. It has nothing to do with my *ahem, directly correlated*  California vacation on which my family took my sister and me for two weeks during the 11th grade where I missed (translation: completely abandoned with glee) my English class's in-depth analysis of To Kill A Mockingbird via book, movie, discussion, and punctuation review. While I was out galavanting for 14 glorious days, throwing caution to the wind, I was underestimating the 50% value of that semester's grade for which old Mockingbird accounted. I didn't give my English class one thought while at the beach, amusement parks, the Hoover Dam, Red Rocks, the Spruce Goose, Catalina Island, or Vegas. (Note: some of the aforementioned sights are not in California. I may be from Kentucky where I missed two weeks of English class while on vacation, but I did not miss ANY geography classes.) The part of that glorious trip that I still recall with such fondness is the exposure to new customs and ways of life. For example: I will never forget the breakfast I had in Encinitas: scrambled eggs with salsa, fried potatoes with salsa, orange juice with salsa... We brought these western ideas back to our homeland, where no one had ever heard of salsa before. Or Mexico, which is now California.

Like. I put the "Like" category in here so I would force myself to realize that it's okay to really appreciate something without saying that I loved it. I use the word "love" a lot. I can't help it. I'm a lover. I'm a hugger. I'm a midnight...nevermind.

Love. I love NYC. This place is like a lottery ticket in the sense that the impossible is actually possible here. Confirmation of that blasts you in the face every time you step onto the sidewalk from your apartment door. In the past few weeks I have: been in the presence of legendary songwriter, Bob Dorough from School House Rock and Blue Christmas fame; met the author, illustrator, and star of a new children's book, Christmas Feet, featuring a gorgeous French Bulldog, Carlos; screened a new short film written by a good friend, David Tianga; become friends with an HBO documentarian and a guy who is a producer of a Broadway musical (warning: turn down your monitor volume). Everyone here is doing their thing. And everyone is doing it well. I love the challenge of living among these folks. The atmosphere and network keep you moving, keep you creating, keep you thinking. Maybe this city is actually more like buying a lottery ticket. You might lose. You might get lucky. Anything is possible here...even the impossible. But the point is: you have to work at it to find out. No one ever won the lottery without scratching off the silver box.

I'm alive. And I have the boots to prove it.

Fall. It is life to me. I am finally free of the steamy days of summer 2010. Hot NYC days kill people. Hot NYC days kill people's dreams. Mainly mine. I can't be creative in the summer. I don't want to leave the house if it's above 80 degrees. This body was built for cold weather, fireplaces, hot cocoa, and creativity. Summer is death to me. Taking trips in the summer is a great escape, but on a day-to-day basis, I need mini-trips...mini-trips where I can get out and see things, listen to the world, hear conversations, and enjoy the creations of other people's souls. Today is the first day I have felt inspired in a long time. It's as if something is awakening inside and telling me to "get on with it" or "get back to it cause you've been gone too long." I feel like I can breathe again without the help of an oxygen mask. I've been taken off the breathing machine. I'm out of the coma. 

It started with a pop-in at one of my local coffee shops today. I had just dropped off my dear daughter at school. I cruised into Think Coffee, ordered a bowl of minestrone soup and sat down at a table near a window, which, if you know me even a little bit, is always the spot I'll choose if given a choice. There were two girls next to me talking about auditions for Bath & Body Works commercials and voiceovers. One was wearing flip flops, the other wearing black suede boots which she purchased at DSW for $85. (I was by myself, pretending to read something. I didn't mean to hear every word.) The girl was cute, young, and knew what she was doing. That's all I needed for confirmation that my boots from last year will work for this year. Strike that worry off my list. 

Just sitting there, in the window, alone with my soup, listening and looking around, I felt lighter. Maybe it's NYC. Maybe it's a few moments to myself that completely recharge me. I do know that I need to be outside to feel alive, which is why staying inside this summer made me want to take lots of pills. Think Coffee today wasn't terribly interesting, but I wrote down what I saw anyway:


students, models, actresses. alone or with friends. reading, drinking, thinking, talking, computing, writing, texting. 50/50 caucasian and asian. mostly girls. the caucasian gals were fair-haired and freckled with animated gestures talking to friends. the asian-esque gals were reading or working on their computers. alone. (I'm really screwing this up from a pc viewpoint). a 65 year old lady wearing a replica of an outfit i have at home. 


That's when I left. 


So I've got a great pair of boots I can wear AGAIN this fall and winter, but I need to get rid of that old lady outfit. See what you can learn while drinking coffee?


After I left the cafe, I strolled over to Union Square. It's a Wednesday so the Greenmarket was in full swing. Today there was a special eco-friendly exhibit, which I checked out. Park rangers, light bulb folks, eco road pavers, solar panel vendors, sustainable goods, everything you'd expect to see was represented today. But then I spotted it. The gem. It looked like a table of old stuff, but when I saw the sign I realized there was more to it than that. Film Biz Recycling. Yes! I looked at the price tags. $4 here, $9 there. Good, cheap finds from film sets. Liz, in the photo, used to work in the film business and she said that when films wrap, they have all these props that they don't know what to do with so they panic and throw things away. She and her boss decided to create this wonderful little eco-friendly, repurposing, charity where they collect the goodies from film and tv sets and then redistribute them back to those of us who watch films and look at tv sets. 

I brought cash to buy vegetables at the market, but I couldn't resist two items. One was functional and the other was a little fanciful. Below is my "functional" and therefore, totally justifiable, tambourine. It has a nice sound, retro look and was used in the film, Taking Woodstock. This tambo has grit. And for $5 it was a steal!

The other treasure is from the film, Eat, Pray, Love. I will admit it. I loved the book. And I enjoyed the movie. Regardless of what people want to say about Elizabeth Gilbert, I have tried to ignore the negativity of critics and any of those pesky, unfortunate facts surrounding Ms. Gilbert and just enjoy the book. And then the film. I found both of them to be a welcome escape. To the right is a photograph of my little treat from the film set. It is a decorative bottle, presumably used to capture angel dust or fine, French perfume. It is about 5 inches tall and is adorned with gold wire. I like it. It was $6. 

Moving on to my last find of the day. My favorite: the fruit of our soil.

I love going to the Union Square Greenmarket. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, you will find farmers, florists, bakers, and other vendors selling their wares. I particularly adore tomatoes. When my dad was alive and tending to his garden, he grew the best tomatoes. I didn't care much for them as a young girl, but his enthusiastic attempts to get me to like them over the years eventually won me over. Now, I especially love Heirlooms. Side note: When you get a sweet, juicy Heirloom tomato, put a slice on top of a warm "everything" bagel with a little cream cheese and you will be in love (thanks, Kate P. for that delicious tip). 

Back to my point. Today I bought a variety of pesticide-free cherry tomatoes. In my bag I placed four types, which were named (according to the vendor): Sun Gold, Chocolate, Brown, and Red Cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure about the validity of a few of those names, but they sure taste good. A pint for $3 was a pretty good deal.

My little jaunt brought me a lot of joy today and a few items that have inspired me: 

1) for dinner it looks like homemade Chicken Parmesan with pasta and cherry tomatoes; 

2) in honor of my new tambourine, I think I'll write a new song about coffee shop observations;

3) my gold-adorned jar will catch the dust of angels as they fly by and keep me cool and sane when the temperature threatens to rise above 80; and 

4) for fun, I'm going to put on last year's boots and walk around the apartment in my underwear just to keep it interesting for the office-bound stiffs across the street. They need inspiration too, you know.

Get out and enjoy life. Grab that special something hanging in the air just waiting for you to take it. Then go and make something even greater from it. 


xo
Paulette

"The point, gentlemen...is that they lived"

Is it wrong to love fairy tales? I can get completely lost in a story, especially fairy tales. One of my favorite films is The Count of Monte Cristo. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out. I only mention this movie because it gives me cover for another favorite movie, which is the whole point of this blog post. It is called Ever After starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott (crush) and is the Cinderella story with a bit of creative license. It's by far my favorite contemporary version of the classic tale, which has, of course Greek origins. (Greece sure makes a lot of claims.) 


It is the last line of the story, which refers to the newly-married Prince and Danielle (Cinderella), that offers a high note which makes you think. The Prince and Danielle are commenting on their own fairy tale while looking into each other's eyes. It goes something like this, with thanks to script-o-rama:

And we, Princess, are supposed to live happily ever after.
    
                   
Says who?

                       
Do you know...I don't know.

    
(woman) My great-great-grandmother's
portrait hung in the university...

                  
... up until the revolution.

                     
By then, the truth of the romance...

                    
... had been reduced to a simple fairy tale.

                     
And while Cinderella and her Prince
did live happily ever after...
    
                   
... the point, gentlemen...

                  
... is that they lived.

And this is where I start boo hooing every time. I look around at everything I have...think about all the places I've been...consider all the friends and family who are so near and dear to me... gasp at this city of wonder in which I live, and yet I still feel it necessary to ask myself, "Am I really living?" I want to do more than just observe the beauty that surrounds me. I want to actively dig in, suck, chew, wrestle, discover, toil, absorb, and adore every moment of my life so deeply that I will have no regrets about how I used my time on this planet.


I don't need a fairy tale. But I do want someone to say about me, once my time has come and gone...


"She really lived."

A few of my favorite things...mostly things to eat apparently

Noma Bliss Art. I want to introduce you to a talented artist and wonderful lady in the form of Noma Bliss. Buy something she's painted. Seriously. You won't regret it. I have two of her pieces and we are planning a commission of the third as I write this. Her illustrations and art have appeared in the London Times, Harvard Business Journal, and other publications. She is a gem whose craft is grounded in her heart and not the marketplace. Whimsical, folksy, and deep all at the same time, I am really enjoying getting to know Noma. 


In general, my unsolicited advice is to get to know people whose work you love. It will make their work more special. Let's just say, if people were cakes, most of us barely get past the icing: what does the person do, where are they from, how many kids do they have, etc. Now, don't get me wrong. Icing rocks my socks. But after a while, you will find that you need a bit of cake to balance out all the one-sidedness of the icing. The cake itself will give you the texture of someone's personality...are they funny? Do they have a special talent? Easy to be around? Sometimes we get our fill of the cake and tend to push it away too soon. But I recommend that you always take one last bite to see what's in the middle. Sometimes you will come up dry and other times you will discover a custardy filling that oozes with goodness. That's the heart of a person. That's what they're made of. Keep eating people cake until you get to the part where you are smiling from your own heart when you think of them.


PUBLIC Restaurant. Went here with hubs last night even though I was sick, sick, sick with cold. The sitter had been booked in advance so we went with it. The last date we had was to Home Depot from where we returned with a mop. As thrilling as that was, I wanted to see if a real date could top it. And our meal at Public absolutely did just that. We happened upon this treasure while walking the streets of the city in search of a meal. I like to feel the neighborhood, see how many people are eating in a place, and get the vibe of things so walking around, I have found, is a much better option than just booking online. We were lucky enough to get the best table in the place--a table on the edge of the terrace. Just inside enough for the atmosphere. Just outside enough for the night air. Loved the Sunday Supper. Changes weekly. And be sure to visit the bathroom to pick up a cool little bar of soap they have on offer in a vintage, cover-less vending machine. (I love free stuff.)


The Greenmarket in Union Square. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Check out the Sheep's cheese from the vendor who calls his cheeses things like "derriere and hooligan". Can't remember his name...but will post it in comments next time I see him. Also buy an ounce of Wheatgrass juice at one f the stands for good measure. It's $3 an ounce but it makes you feel sooo good inside.


New fruits. If you've never had a champagne mango, dump the regular old mango and get yourself a new friend. It's rich and creamy...like ice cream. Or chocolate. But it's fruit and you can eat all you want and no one will look at you like you're the glutton with spaghetti wrapped around his ankles in that movie SEVEN. Also try the Mangosteen. It looks like a clove of garlic once you cut through the perimeter of the hard outer shell, but it tastes like bananas with a smooth, lychee like texture. Just try it even if you think it looks like fish or eyeballs. Everything you ever wanted to know about a mangosteen, including something about being erect. Look, I didn't write it. 

Corn on the cob. I already love corn on the cob. Especially in summer. But you haven't tried corn until you've eaten it from Cafe Habana on Prince & Elizabeth in NYC. Grilled, with some kind of cheese and hot pepper on the outside, there's a reason an order of corn comes with two pieces. Truly, all the food here is amazing. Cuban decor all the way down to the seating, ceiling fans and beaded doorways. Great vibe. And there's takeaway if you can't get a seat. 


I just realized that most of today's post was about food. Maybe I will one day write about the joys of working out. But not today. 


Until next month...or so it seems. xo

Opening for Greta's Bakery in Ardmore, PA!

Come see us open for Greta's Bakery 

THIS THURSDAY AT 8 PM at MilkBoy Coffee in Ardmore, PA!

Greta's Bakery is a national act so we are honored to be asked to open for them. Come out for a great night of music, wine, and food at THE BEST MUSIC VENUE in the Philly area: MilkBoy.

MilkBoy Coffee

2 East Lancaster Ave

Ardmore, PA 

Tickets are only $8 pre-sale or $10 at the door. $5 BYO.

Buy tickets here!

Paulette Dixon (left), Lynn Lovette (center) & Laurie Pfeiffer (right) 

will play Thursday's show!

Life's Five: NYC Learnin'

Living in NYC opens up all kinds of opportunities. Opportunities to meet people. Opportunities to eat anytime, anywhere. Opportunities to learn stuff. This post is dedicated to some of the "learnin'":

Learn. In NYC you will randomly run into folks you know because there are a million people walking around in the streets. So the odds are in your favor for chance meetings. The moral of this story is that one should shower more than one used to when one lived in the suburbs and was able to simply wave at friends from the comfort (and distance) of his or her car.

Learn. There is so much to do here that I have found no desire for shopping. I realize, to many of you, that sounds like heresy or blasphemy or a lie. After all, I'm in NYC and that is what one does in NYC. But honestly, I have no need for anything. The creative energy here overrides any of those pesky retail urges. And that's a good thing. (Just ask hubs.) (Alert: The following sentence is going to appear to contradict the preceding sentence, but there will be an explanation.) While in the art store today (I needed art supplies. This does not count as shopping. It was a planned trip. I spent under $20.), I met lovely people who were willing to teach me how to go about my art project. I dug that! Free advice from NYC art students who are dying to tell you all they know because they want you to know they are artists even though they are working in an art store instead of surviving off of their art. It's complicated, but somehow it's working in my favor, and I'm all about favor.

Learn. This place rocks the exercise gene. Yesterday, I took my girly kid to Central Park Zoo. We walked there. From Union Square. That's like a gazillion blocks. She's not even 4. She did not complain once. In the old days, she couldn't even make it from The Gap to Starbucks at Ye Olde King of Prussia Mall. I call that SERIOUS progress. And while we were walking, we learned all kinds of stuff about the city...like where to shop. IS THAT ALL YOU PEOPLE DO HERE?! Oh, I would like to offer the city of New York a little feedback. Please get rid of the 3 kajillion chestnut roasting stands. I got dizzy from the odor and nearly passed out. What?! Yes, I'm completely sure I got sick from the smell of rancid nuts. And no, it had nothing to do with walking 49 blocks in wedge boots.

Learn. There are loads of restaurants in NYC. Some are not good. We tried a vegetarian spot in Chelsea recently. Like the meat-eating, cow hater that I am, I got the veggie burger because I wanted to see how closely it compared to the real thing. That hideous slab of soy paste didn't taste a thing like the real thing. Sidebar: Apparently, you're not supposed to mention MEAT in those places. I tried shouting "BEET" repeatedly in the direction of the staff, but they were on to me. So, anyway, I learned that some people are awfully serious about their vegetables. While hubs was glad he didn't wear his leather jacket that day, I wildly waved my alligator gloves in the air upon our exit.

Learn. Scaffolding in NYC is a necessary evil, but it is just so ugly. Why don't they wrap twinkle lights around it? Or how about letting David Blaine do some tricks on it? Or put the Solid Gold dancers up there to shake it after hours. I'm on the topic of scaffold because there is some right across from our apartment. There is never anybody on that scaffolding. And with no dancers or magicians or twinkle lights, it's just downright rude to be there at all. I did learn there are permits of expiry on scaffold here and it appears that the permit for our offending structure expires on April 1st. That had better not be a joke 'cause I'm no fool. Although...I'll take scaffolding over burnt nuts any day. Ooh, and let's add some bloody MEAT to 'em while we're at it.

Oops. I meant beets.

Love Is An Action

We tried a new church on Sunday and enjoyed the message from Pastor Brian Moll at Forefront, which meets in a theatre in Gramercy. Brian began his four-part series called "Falling (and Staying) in Love." The bottom line of the sermon was to make "love" a verb....to love one another, just like Jesus said to do....to put the other person before yourself...to make the other person a priority. 

Sounds easy. But is this what we do? I contend that we are we mostly a vain, selfish people. I know I can be. I don't think we mean for it to be this way. I believe it's a natural reaction. An act of self-defense, self-preservation, or self-promotion. Whatever the reason, it's not attractive. Yet, it is very difficult to let go of the ugly little "self." 

I feel disappointed that "me, me, me" is our most comfortable stance when life is about so much more than "me" or "you". It's about "us" as couples, families, teams, nations. If you stop and think about when you feel happiest in life, it's probably when you're doing something for someone else. Isn't it a joy to bring joy to the lives of others? Then why do we suck so bad at love?

If you'd like to view the message by Brian Moll, it's right here. Maybe, like me, you will start to think about how you can change things up in your relationships. Could there be hope for successful marriages, close families, and dare I say it...peace on earth?

Be good. Be blessed.