Why we can't have nice things

Espresso with a twist is definitely a nice thing and I have 78888 espresso cups that I could be using to make my own. Taken in January 2012 - New Orleans. 

I'm not talking about the usual response to things going wrong or getting broken that seems to elicit this response from the sarcastic me. I'm trying to turn it around and think of it this way - "Why do we  have nice things and why don't we use them" or better yet - "Is it possible to be gracious and accept a nice thing as a gift without getting all defensive and embarrassed and then dismissive because you can't just okay, thanks, bye."

Yup. That kind of nice thing.

I look around at the things I have left to shrivel and die in corners because they are too nice and I'm afraid that our lifestyle is too casual or I'm not pretty or special enough to carry something off. I let a beautiful silk nightdress sit for twenty years before I wore it. Today,  I looked longingly at a soup tureen TH gave me a million years ago that sits in a cabinet neglected instead of serving a lovely soup  to my friends and family because I'm afraid to use it because something may happen to it.

Who uses a soup tureen? I'm going to starting now.

Who wears beautiful silk to bed? Other than Rita Hayworth, I suppose I could/should.

Who should stop coveting and start using? All of us.  Things other than some wines don't really get better with time. I'm not getting all Kon-Mari on you and tell you to release your stuff, but maybe we should all release some of the fear and self-doubt that makes often makes it hard for us to enjoy what we have.

If you see me walking around in a beautiful silk robe carrying around a soup tureen, just smile and nod.

Wednesday wrap up

The woman who started the organic revolution way back when and the mind behind one of my favorite Restos in the ewe esss aye / @norapouillon of @restaurantnoras in Dee Cee. Since she opened in the late 70s all the presidents except for the republicans have eaten at Nora. I remember eating there during the 1993 (?) march on Washington and seeing Martina Navratilova. We've enjoyed many meals since then.

A photo posted by Nazila (@nazilam) on May 13, 2015 at 9:31pm PDT

Pretty good day around here if you discout the fact it rained (poor Ernest).

I managed to get some paperwork sorted,  made it to  Dress For Success to drop off donations including some lovely dresses that no longer fit me but will make some petite woman very happy. I struggled with letting them go. I realized that other than a few occasions where photos are used to document events, I could wear a paper yard waste sack with a nice Hermes belt and no one would remember what I wore to x event.

The same thing goes for shoes. I really wanted to buy a new pair of sneakers for an upcoming trip and went to Nordstrom to try them on for size (really, for size as the do run large).  The shoes were cute, they were not in the color I wanted.  I had to leave to attend a lunch honoring Nora Pouillon and on my way back to the car struggled with going back in the store to look for a substitute shoe.  When I got to the entrance, I turned back.  I took five seconds to think about why I wanted the shoes to match a skirt perfectly.while the ones I had in my closet were not perfect, they would do and no one would remember what I had on my feet.

It is more important to be remarkable and memorable because you are articulate, interesting and attentive. That is what people should and will remember about you no matter if your shoes don't match your skirt.

Patience and the Parking Place

Sometimes all I need to do is stand where I am to be blessed. - WORD. May 2014. 

This time of year is a test of my patience and I'm sure yours.

Lines are long, people are desperate to get things right, expectations can be high because the holidays are supposed to be perfect. Right?

I can do without all that. I am impatient and I like to get things crossed off my list.  Mainly, I just want you to finish your shopping, go to the car, drop it off, take your shopping cart back, get back into your car, start the engine and drive to your next destination. It is that simple - shop, load, return, leave.

It just doesn't happen like that any more.  Now we do our shopping usually while taking a phone call, pay for our groceries without interacting with the clerks or cashiers,  dump our stuff in our car, get in our cars and .... JUST SIT THERE checking our mail, tweets, stocks and snap chats until we're happily caught up with the world that we just interacted with 10 minutes ago.

There are others who need that parking place.

There are other shoppers who would love to move freely around the store without you blocking the aisles talking about what you are having for dinner.

I have now given up any hopes of getting a parking place by stalking a driver with bags going to their cars. I figure I'll just earn a few more fitbit steps by parking further in an already vacant stall and save myself the aggravation of watching your fiddle in the blue glow of your screen.

I'm not immune to this either, but watching others has made me so much more self aware.

You can either let it go or be like me and just go further.