Flapper's Folly

This is just too good not to share.

Dallas socialite, Brooke Stollenwerck Aldridge, 48, of Hyland Park, who earned a "best dressed" distinction from Vogue magazine has been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting about $2,000 worth of designer goods from the Nieman Marcus department store in Dallas.

Security monitors observed Aldridge trying to sneak items out of the store in her purse and a shopping bag. Among the items that she is suspected of shoplifting were a pair of black pants valued at $485, a Hermes wallet valued at $1,250 and a Kate Spade wallet valued at $120, according to police documents.

Oh my, the cost of keeping up appearances.

Posted by Rockelle at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What a great weekend. I would have preferred to be at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but we didn't plan ahead on that one. If you attended, please feel free to let me know how great it was and feed my green monster.

As we were totally childless all weekend, we wanted to do something besides yardwork and chores. The nice part of living in the Metroplex is that there is always something interesting going on. We considered attending the Greek Food Festival in Dallas. I nixed that for the simple reason that when dieting one should not go where the main attraction is delicious food.

Friday night, after eating at Ocean Rock on Bluebonnet Circle, (Seafood in honor of TLPD) driving through the cutural district, we happened upon Jazz By the Boulevard . As it was late and the event was outdoors and seating on the grass, we decided to return on Saturday.

Saturday, after sleeping shamelessly late and spending a couple of hours at the Fort Worth Library downtown, we headed over to the Jazz Festival. The event was a fundraiser to preserve and beautify the Camp Bowie district. There were arts and crafts booths, the usual radio stations and business were represented, and lots of fair-like food concessions. I must say that the Argentina wine, costing almost five bucks for a tiny medicine cup, was appropriately dispensed. It was _not_ great. But the music was.

We took in Bertha Coolidge, Dewey Redman, and Spyro Gyra before folding up our chairs and heading home. It was a beautiful night, no mosquitos, but sadly, no stars. I'll never get used to the orange glow that is the night sky here. I miss the stars so much.

Even though on Sunday, the Puter Ho found that the Dandy Warhols had been at the Gypsy Tearoom on Saturday, we still considered the weekend a huge success.

Posted by Rockelle at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I absolutely cannot let this day go by without sharing this. I stumbled across a link to it on geekychick.net. Check out The Ricky Martin Arrgh Adventure Site. Keep clicking and you too will say WTF?

I love the internet!

Posted by Rockelle at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Avast Maties! My real mate just sent me this message, "Arrr, ye be the stars I set sail by." Isn't that sweet? He's really good at this pirate talking thing. There was something he said about a timber this morning, but I don't think I should repeat it here. As for me, I always come out sounding Irish when I try. We're thinking of having a "Talk Like a Pirate Day" party next year. Doesn't that sound like fun?

I thought I'd share a few shopping links today. RetroDepot, which I've mentioned before, is back up and running. They had stopped filling orders over the summer while they physically moved across the country. I've raved about them before and they seem to have even more to offer now.

Ballard Designs is one of my favorites. My decorating tends toward French country and they have the most wonderful stuff. They offer almost everything for the home. Prices are a bit steep, but everything I've bought from them has been of excellent quality and good value. Check out the estate sale which is their term for clearance.

Another great place, Rue de France, features more French country goodies. Visit their clearance area at Le Warehouse.

Featuring more authentic items, all crafted by hand in Provence, is eMosaique. I've never ordered from them, but they offer cool authentic French items at what seems to me outrageous prices. It's a nice place to get ideas, though.

I'll share more links another day, but with fall coming and Christmas ahead it seems a good time to start looking. I suggest you order their catalogs. They often offer items not online or at better prices. They show their products used in rooms and vignettes that will give you great ideas for your home. Then if you can't or don't want to pay their sometimes steep prices, shop locally or visit the old standby, eBay. You can almost always duplicate the look for less.

And for all the wannabe pirates out there, go here for some slightly racy Pirate talk and pickup lines. Now don't you wish you had thought to buy that domain. Arrrrrrrrrr.........

Posted by Rockelle at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay ladies, get out your most rippable bodices. You guys find an eyepatch quick. Tomorrow, September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For the official site, click here.

You cannot imagine my glee. Must have been all those silly gothic novels I read as a girl, but I love pirates. How I long to be tied to a mast. My husband will absolutely not be allowed in the house unless in full pirate persona. Shed a tear for me that I didn't make it to see Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean. Best I see it at home to revel in it. I mean, Johnny Depp and a pirate to boot, whooo hooo.

Don't forget. Yarrrrrrrr.

Posted by Rockelle at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I noticed today that I began this blog in April. The Puter Ho sat me up with MovableType and a basic template. All along I've planned to change it and never have gotten around to it. I'm so ashamed.

You see, I have big plans. I already have the way it should look worked out, but I want more. I want it to be interactive. Puter Ho says I want it to be dynamic, which by the way, has nothing to do with how cool will look, but how it will work. He'll help me with that once I get it all put together. So what is the hold up?

Well, you see, I read a number of personal blogs, and over time I've seen them change. I've watched pink frou frou go to industrial grey. Urban change to Victorian. I find I form a picture in my head of the author as much from the look of the blog as from the text, so it bothers me when it changes. People with plain templates like me suddenly come up with some cutesy design and I think to myself, "Oh my God, this person is a dork!" It totally changes the image of that person in my mind.

Maybe plain is best. Maybe I should add the features I want and forget the rest. After all, and this is a pet peeve of mine, some of the things people call comments are just plain stupid. It all gets to be a bit much. Of course, I flatter myself thinking it matters. If I want hits, I should just write about 24 and nicotine cocktails. I go way up the list on Google when I do that. But that's not what I really want.

So what do I want? And this is an important question. Why blog? For attention? Noooo. To change the world? HA! To share? Well yeah, but honestly not very many people are reading this. I think it is more to simply express myself. And hopefully not in a whiney way. Maybe it's not so much to cause the reader to think as to make myself think.

So when I put up the sepia smoking nude flappers, will I be more interesting? Or just a dork?

Posted by Rockelle at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I saw this on Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird.

Julio Cesar Cu, 42, and his three diving partners work exclusively by touch because their full-time job is in water so dark that flashlights are useless: to unclog and repair the antiquated Mexico City sewers ("a sea of human waste and industrial chemicals," according to an April Los Angeles Times dispatch). The city itself is in a valley surrounded by mountains, with frequent flooding and poor drainage in its combined storm water-sewage system. Said one environmentalist, "You walk the streets, smell the stench of raw sewage, and can only imagine what's happening underground." [San Francisco Chronicle-Los Angeles Times, 4-25-03]

Now don't you feel better?

Posted by Rockelle at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just have to share this. Monday I cooked ribs. Potato salad seemed the logical accompaniment. Easy enough, right? Well, in this family what potato salad consists of is the subject of debate. The Puter Ho hates eggs, doesn't like the mustard type and is generally hard to please. Potato salad-wise, that is. Many times I have tried to duplicate some German potato salad fantasy of his. It never works out.

A potato salad we have both liked is a baked potato salad purchased at Albertson's deli. The dressing is sour cream based and it contains cheese. It's creamy and tasty. I began searching for a recipe. Dumb me, I was amazed to find that the potatoes in baked potato salad are actually baked. I probably came up with 20 versions of BPS. (To heck with typing that again)

I settled on the recipe of Chef Kent Rathbun of Abacus Restaurant in Dallas. It is absolutely scrumptious! I cheated by baking the potatoes in the microwave and I added sliced ripe olives. It makes a lot and the next day we heated it and it was even better! I rarely rave, but this deserves a rave. Try it, you'll love it.

Note: Ever since Dan Quayle mispelled potato, for some reason I get confused on the plural form. I looked it up and for the record, the plural is potatoes. Damned Republicans!

Posted by Rockelle at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Want to be one of the beautiful people? Want to feel tall, thin, smooth, savvy, and sweet smelling? It's easier than you think. Just head out on Sunday afternoon to your local Sam's Club.

You'll feel better as soon as you enter the parking lot. You don't really need that 350Z to be cool. You'll suddenly realize your old 2000 Pontiac, rustless and without bondo, is the ultimate in sexy wheels.

Your transformation continues as you join the exodus to the entrance. Yes indeed, you'll hold your head high and strut your hot stuff across the oily, chewing gum covered crosswalk amid those dragging oddly mishapen limbs, others with drug or alcohol induced jitters and characters strangely reminiscent of Jabba the Hutt, rolling slowly along, their copious rolls of greasy flesh swaying as they shuffle toward the doors.

You will feel eighteen again as you show your card to the rusty relic at the door. And as you gaze out across the store, you'll KNOW that you are the ultimate in chic in your clean, holeless attire. Why, here, even having your fly zipped is a fashion coup! The bar of Dial you showered with this morning? A costly and sweet perfume amidst the bouquet of the great unwashed.

As you dare to venture up and down the aisles, snippets of conversations will drift to your ears. You'll smile to yourself, marveling at your superior intelligence and language skills. And you will love your smile, no longer covetous of those bright white chiclets on the big screen, as you gaze upon those with darkened stumps and yellowed jumbled spikes emerging between dry cracked lips.

If you should dare to take your children, I don't suggest it, you will find they are the most adorable and well groomed creatures on earth. Not to mention, extremely intelligent and advanced for their ages. Other children, reeking of excrement and wearing yesterday's lunch on their faces and clothing will stare in awe as your handsome offspring pass.

As you stand in line with your wobbly cart of Bounty and Quilted Northern, multi packs of batteries, twenty pound box of Sweet n' Low and winsome bouquet of daisies, you kindly allow a family of six with eight cases of beer and a fifty pound bag of beans to go in front of you. Smiling beatifically at the less fortunate around you, you'll feel a faint halo forming over your head.

After loading your items into your trunk while watching a man toss his four youngsters into the bed of his pickup for the ride home, you buckle your seatbelt, glowing in the knowledge that you are the crème de la crème.

So if you have a job interview coming up, or a really big date, take my advice. Your confidence will soar. You will truly be one of the Beautiful People. All it takes is a Sunday afternoon visit to Sam's.

Posted by Rockelle at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What a great weekend! We traveled to Oklahoma for my uncle's 75th birthday. As familys go, mine is small. Both my parents have only two siblings, all but one having two children. The other one only has one. As I have no brothers or sisters and my grandparents are all gone, my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are the only family I have. This was a rare opportunity to see them under happy circumstances.

It's strange to see your parents, aunts and uncles getting so old. Finding yourself with grown children and some of your cousins already grandparents themselves. It seems it wasn't that long ago we were eating on the card table, listening to the grownups, our parents, sitting at the big table, talking and laughing.

My uncle was divorced from the mother of my cousins years ago. He then married a woman with four young children. It was wonderful that they were all there, even helped plan it, and proof that families are more about love than blood. I see it in my own little family, as my stepson benefits from having a big brother and sister and my children are blessed with a stepdad that loves them. We all benefit.

Coming from such a small family myself, it's gladdening to see how love seems to grow. Hearts open and encompass others so readily. Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, but I think mine is very special.

Posted by Rockelle at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)