1963

Are you tired of me turning 50 today?   I kind of am and am glad that it is finally here. 

At some point in your life, you realize you are the older person people are looking up to. It is a weird feeling, because you feel like you are still 14 years old, albeit a 14 year old that understands mortgage payments, how to make a good all-purpose sauce, that the recommendations to drink water during an evening of drinking champagne is what separates you from your mates who have to stay in bed with a bucket beside them, and who understands that family and friends are everything.

And you look at pictures of yourself at 18 and the person in the picture looks like your daughter and you just want to say "enjoy yourself and stop trying to be perfect!"

Anyone else have one of those frilly blouses in 1980?

One of my best friends gave me an amazing gift - a hardcover book, in which she had compiled all of the significant milestones of my life from birth in pictures and stories, with quotes by my closest friends.  It is quite amazing!  When you get a gift like that, you count yourself amongst the blessed and you wonder how you got so lucky.


what a great idea for a gift!


I read with interest, thanks to a card given to me by another friend, all of the folks who are turning 50 this year:

Brad Pitt
Johnny Depp
JulieStyles (Julie - wouldn't it have been funny if that had been on the card - you are a celebrity to me!)
Quentin Tarantino
Phoebe Cates (we were obsessed with her as a model when she was in Seventeen magazine in the 70s!)
Lisa Kudrow
Vanessa Williams
Jeanne Tripplehorn
and the list goes on.  Director Stephen Soderbergh and I actually share the exact same birthday and year.  Now doesn't that make you wonder how quirky he is too?

So I recommend turning 50.  You all have become very dear to me and I just love the conversation.  You have become the Helene Hanffs to my Frank P. Doel (look that one up for obscurity, though I bet some of you knew that right off!).  I consider myself blessed when I find friends and acquaintances wherever and however they pop up.  As I have said before, this is like a piece of fluff in the internet universe, but it is a piece of fluff where you all are and therefore, and therefore means everything.

Have a great day!  I will be eating a piece of cake for you all today.  I think if you share a piece of cake with dozens of people there are no calories, right???

Happy Monday and Stay Safe Out There!

Oh and PS - We need to talk about the very end of Jody Foster's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes Last Night!  I was with her till the end, then started to wonder what the heck she meant?  Thoughts??????

The Morning After the Night Before at Studio 54

In the beginning, they say that the VIP lounge at studio 54 only had some white plastic lawn chairs.  Later it appears they threw a scarf or blanket over an old couch! 

Is that Betty Ford on the right?  Could she have been at Studio 54?  Help me!

Our VIP lounge was slightly more upscale (but only marginally so!)



The entrance to the VIP Lounge, where weary celebrities were able to relax and get away from the "little people".  It may look like you are in my library ready to go into my back room, but that would simply be a lack of imagination!

Leave it up to you to imagine what would have been on that mirror in the heyday of Studio 54!  and yes, we recreated that with icing sugar!

Before the party, disco balls hanging from the ceiling.  You can see all that white snow outside our french doors in the woods.. sigh..

A closeup of the makeup - so MUCH makeup!  Who did I go as?  Given I am such a patriotic Canadian, and given my hair, that really left only one option: Margaret Trudeau!!!

Oh I was the original golden diva, given that the 14th is my golden anniversary!

My date for the night.  We couldn't figure out who he was, but settled on Elton John in the end...

Thanks to the Merry Wife, who reminded me to add "It's Raining Men" to the playlist.  I did, and that got all the men on the dance floor early, including my husband and one of his pals!

Actually, for some odd reason, last night the men dominated the dance floor.  This is not typically the case at a party Chez WMM, but at one point, it was only men dancing.  Which, if you think of it, was pretty typical for the original Studio 54.  The other funny thing is that the men would gather outside the french doors in the snow, smoking cigars and showing each other every aspect of their polyester ensembles!  If you had lit a match, we would have all gone up in flames!

More pictures to come of the guests this week, as I am now waiting for photos, having given up taking pictures after I opened my first gift which was the box set of Fifty Shades of Grey.  Wrapped in a tie.  Those of you who have read the books will know what this means.  I do not know, but I am guessing!

Suffice to say, it was a grand time.  The last guest left around 12:30 am (this is provincial life after all and we are mid-century creatures!), I crawled into bed full of champagne and hickory sticks (we had pigs in blankets too!) and stayed in bed this a.m. until I was sure Barry had it all cleaned up :-)  I am not proud of that fact, but it is the truth!  My hair is still stiff as a board this morning!

It turns out that a disco dance party helps lessen the sting of turning the big 5-0!

Today's plans - rest, get ready for the Golden Globes (must get more Hickory Sticks!) and some yoga!  Good lord, I was so stiff this morning!

Have a fabulous Sunday and Stay Safe Out There!

Saturday Fashion: Colour Palate Cleanser

Happy Saturday - or as I like to call it, the Day when I will have as big a head of hair as I last had in the 80s.... In looking at pictures from the era, I have come to realize that they didn't care if there was colour everywhere on the face - dark eyes, darl lips and dark cheeks!  Should be fun!

Today is indeed party day, but it is early morning, so no decorations or costumes yet!  Playlist is ready, and just hope my legs hold out.  And since I hope to post a lot of photos tomorrow (don't look for them early!), I thought we could use something calmer, something more neutral today.

This morning I did an online visit to one of my favourite Canadian Design Houses, Judith and Charles. I have several of their pieces and they are of impeccable quality and impeccably cut.  I thought I would see whether they had their spring 2013 lookbook up yet, they did, and it did not disappoint!  And for my non-Canadian Friends, or Canadian folks like me that live in the middle of nowhere, you are able to call them to place an order online.  You can get all of the information you need, as well as see the full Lookbook, by visiting their website here.

But here is why it caught my eye: very simple silhouettes and a simple colour palette for Spring:  My personal favourites:

The Celeste Dress in navy.  I am not sure of the length, but based on other Judith and Charles dresses they would hit me mid-knee.  And while i am short, I have long legs, so if you are interested you would have to ask.  I just find this simple, but with a bit of pattern to liven it up.

A red suit.  Now, I don't need a red suit, but I might be interested in a red jacket.  The quality of their suiting material rivals Theory.  I find this so sleek looking.  There is a matching sheath dress that would look divine as well - very Nancy Reagan, for those of you who want to redo the 80s!

 The Dizzy Dress.  I think this would look exquisite with a white or black jacket and a coloured shoe!

How about pairing it with the Viera jacket below?  I can't wear that style, but I know others who do so very well!

I am not personally so keen on these trousers, but the blouse is gorgeous!

When I saw this outfit below, I immediately thought of you Ema:

And finally I really love this top and skirt.  If I bought it I might look like I have hips!

And I don't know where these shoes are from, but I am starting to look for them immediatelty!  How cool are they?

What struck me about these looks is that they look very current but also timeless all at the same time.  I don't think you would get sick of these items anytime soon,. 

As you know, I love colour as much or more than the next girl (okay I bow down to Rynetta for sure on the colour love - she could whoop my butt on that one!) but I would like to be somewhat more judicicous in its use for myself this year.  Or at least have a few more neutral fashion days. 

Now the website does not list fabric or prices, you have to call the 1-800# for that, but based on my previous experience, you can assume wools, cotton, silk, and maybe the odd rayon, but I don't think so.  I really do attest to the quality.  There are shops in  the major cities in Canada as well as NYC.  I am going to call this week and see if my local shop is getting any of these pieces in this Spring and save my pennies for a dress!

So what do you think?  Do you like these clothes?  Are you, like me, happy to see some simpler palettes?

Have a great day - I will be busy, since as you know, I love the Nightlife, I've got to Boogie...

And still, no one will lend me a white horse....

Stay Safe Out There!!

Miller Time Friday: Hello World, Here's The Song We're Singing...

.....come on get happy!

I know - I am stuck in the 1970s this week, in anticipation of this weekend's Studio 54 Party.

But apparently, I am not the only one....

Kate Spade is too!

I finally visited the website this am to see the January arrivals, after seeing the lovely scarf that Dani blogged about here.

So while I was looking around at all the lovelies, these little numbers caught my eye:

Well you KNOW what I thought of immediately:



I am pretty sure I still have that album!

I loved the Patridge Family.  And I really loved David Cassidy.  We thought that bus was the coolest thing ever and I remember so many kids with lunch boxes in this graphic print.  I couldn't understand why everyone's families didn't have their own group!  Then I remembered why: no one in my family could sing!

So Kate has resurrected one of my favourite prints.  I think this is now on the list for a visit in March when I am NYC!  I think I love them, isn't that what life is made of?  If you can't tell, I am swaying back and forth.  Of course, I am not holding a bic lighter like we would have in the day.  Just my ipod.

 

This killed me when I watched it!  Thank God times have changed!  But isn't he cute??????

Dani - you will need to make some more room at Miller Time.  Along with the rest of us here, I think I am going to bring David Cassidy with me...  I am not sure what he drinks, but I am sure you will be able to accommodate him!

Happy Friday everyone!  Stay Safe Out There!


 

A Preview of the J Crew Colours of Spring

I am interrupting my party planning to have a quick conversation with you all about spring colours!

You may ask yourself: why the heck is she discussing spring colours on January 10th?  Why?  Because it is snowing a bit again, I am home with a lot of time on my hands (learning to slow down is going to take some time it appears!) and when I stalked the J Crew website this a.m. looking for that darn pink herringbone blazer (that is a sign right, when I start describing it as that "darn" blazer?) I saw there were some new arrivals (no worries - I am being good as gold!) and those new arrivals gave me a great indication of where J Crew is going with its spring colours...

For me, there are two bellweathers as to the kinds of colours we can expect from JCrew - their no. 2 pencil skirts in cotton and their featherweight cashmere cardigans.  In my experience, over the last few years J Crew has had their signature colours in these items in nice solid colours that can then be matched with any of their prints.  I revisited last fall's Fasion Week Spring 2013 here, and it is clear that these are our JCrew colours.  Mind you - I have not included every colour....

So what did I notice?

Actually what I noticed was that the colours are only changing subtley this spring:

neon lime, the kissing cousin of last year's neon kiwi:

Vivi Aqua - the summer version of retro jade, which never was jade...

Morning Sky, which appears to me to be last year's orchid blue with a teensy bit more blue:

And neon Rose is hanging around:

Soft peach,

 

which will be a lovely match with a melon skirt (anyone else getting hungry?)

 

 Spearmint:

 Fresh Pear - I can't recall the name of last year's version of this colour, but I have this skirt!:

 and a lovely Indigo Blue, which looks markedly like Byzantine Blue:

 It is clear to me:

1) that if you lke colour, you are still in luck this spring
2) that everything you bought from J Crew last spring and summer will still be okay, because they have only tweaked the colour palette ever so slightly.  So slightly, in fact, that I am thinking they may have a bit of trouble selling some of this at full price unless there was a colour someone wanted and missed last summer (i.e. me and Byzantine Blue)
3) that J Crew thinks we don't remember what things were called last summer or what we bought (well the latter is often true for me, so I am not going to belabour THAT point!)

No cotton cafe capris in these colours yet, but you know they are coming.  What I am hopeful for is more prints in these colours, so will cross my fingers for one or two special pieces that would go with what I bought last year.

What do you think?  Anything inspiring you?  Are you getting tired of winter yet?  Thank Goodness that I have a party to look forward to!  More on that in the next day!

Have a happy Thursday and stay safe out there!

The Perfect Disco Party Playlist

Wow!  It is a lot of work to plan a party.  I haven't done it for 8 months and there is usually a reason for that, since at Chez WMM when we decide to do one of these, we go for it!



I am imagining this will be the scene outside my house Saturday night!



 

THE PLAYLIST

This is a critical factor for a good party.  In this case, I was very restricted: the party takes place in January of 1978 - I could go backwards into 1977 for my music and I could go forwards by a couple of months (assuming that some dance music was likely released or tested at Studio 54 first).  Of course, I have no reason to believe that, but I wanted the Stones' Miss You, so that is my story and I am sticking to it!  If you find this very anal retentive on my part - you are correct!

There will be a 2nd playlist of newer hits.  My husband insists that someone (read: him) is going to want to dance to "Gangnem Style " at some point late in the evening.  But I will not mix those new songs into my Studio 54 playlist.  As well, the playlist below is 50 songs long, so I think this will take almost all of my party!  I have tried to put in some kitsch/irony, some funk, and some slow dances (very useful for breaks, refreshing drinks, eating something, going out for a cigar, etc).  The party can't be all dance music all the time; there needs to be big builds at various points in the evening.

I am quite pleased with the list.  If you can think of anything I have missed, please let me know ASAP as I will be getting it all set this evening on my ipod (luckily, I already own a lot of these songs, so it won't be too expensive!)

Artist	song
John Williams Orchestra	Star Wars Theme
KC and Sunshine Band	I'm your boogie Man
Leo Sayer	You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
The Spinners	Rubberband Man
Thelma Houston	Don't Leave Me This Way
Beegees	How Deep is Your Love
Carly Simon	Nobody Does it Better
Ram Jam	Black Betty
Heatwave	Boogie Nights
Beegees	Night Fever
Commodores	Brick House
Foreigner	Cold As Ice
Jimmy Buffet	Margaritaville
Beegees	More than a Woman
Styx	Come Sail Away
David Soul	Don't Give Up on Us
Dolly Parton	Here you come again
Fleetwood Mac	Don't Stop
Village People	YMCA
Sex Pistols	God Save the Queen
David Bowie	Heroes
Feetwood Mac	Go Your Own Way
KC and the Sunshine Band	Shake your Boogie
Steely Dan	Peg
Supertramp	Give a Little Bit
Abba	Knowing me, Knowing you
Fleetwood Mac	Dream
Boz Scaggs	Lido Shuffle
Eagles	Hotel California
ELO	Livin Thing
Manfred Man	Blinded By the Light
Stevie Wonder	Sir Duke
10CC	The Things We do for Love
Rolling Stones	Miss You
Aerosmith	Walk This Way
Village People	Macho Man
Queen	Bohemian Rhapsody
Peter Gabriel	Solsbury Hill
Donna Summer	McArthur Park
Andy Gibb	I Just want to be your everything
Chic	Le Freak
Chic	Dance, Dance, Dance, Yowza, yowza, yowza
Alicia Bridges	I Love the Nightlife
Abba	Dancing Queen
Gloria Gaynor	I will Survive
Donna Summer	Bad Girls
Beegees	Stayin' Alive
The Trampps	Disco Inferno
Melissa Manchester	Don't Cry Out Loud
Donna Summer	Last Dance

I am getting excited!

*****************

I am still feeling really tired.  I guess it takes quite a while to get over being so tired and worn out!  I am slowly getting there!  I actually got one room completely cleaned out today, but now all I want to do is go and take a nap!  The other thing about being off work is deciding what to wear every day. I am so used to dressing up that it is taking me a while to dress more casual for around the house.  Yesterday, I took my new pink pants for a run around the house!

My daughter and I were having real issues with the camera so this is not a great shot at all!  And can you tell my bedroom is next for a good de-clutter????

Have a great day and stay safe out there!

Some things I am wondering about this morning and planning my birthday party

Happy Tuesday!

I am well and properly in the reorganization mode, which is a nice complement to the rest/recreate regime that I have also commenced.  But this morning, I am filled up with questions and concerns, some of which are more musings than requiring answers, but am wondering if you have anything like these in your head these days!

1) Why is J Crew so inconsistent?

The pink romance schoolboy popped back this a.m.  Since I have a small amount in my paypal account that would cover it, I was happy.  Except that the sale price for the petite and tall versions, $171, is almost $60 more than the sale price for the regular version, which is $114.  I figured it was a mistake.  I called two different JCAs , just to confirm that a) yes the pricing is idiotic and b) no one knew why this was the case and c) no one could change it.  On principle I will not pay $40 more for something that is also on sale and actually has less material than the regular size item.  Call me cantankerous, but there you go!  My money remains safe!

2) Why is it that when we are into a really good book we put it down for a day or two because we just don't want it to end?  Am I the only one who does this? 

3) Why is it that clothese that seem so exciting in September/October seem so boring and bleh in January?

At one point a couple of months back I thought that this sweater was the cat's meow, despite it being a dream yarn.  Now it makes me yawn, despite the fact that it is an awesome price?  If this the January blahs or more symptomatic of doing too much online surfing and simply getting sick of seeing the same things over and over again?

4) Anyone else getting the urge to move all of their furniture around?  Change the paint colours? I have left my husband alone this week as he is working so hard on finishing the laundry reno.  But I am itchy to move heavy furniture around.  And you know what that means - my 6'4" son is about to learn the joy of "trying" furniture in different places?

source

 5) And my last question for today is: Why does organizing take so much time????  Yesterday, it took me 3 hours to do one desk!  At this rate, I will not be done till next Christmas!  what this tells me is that while my house has been cleaned (I have cleaning ladies) it has not been cleared out for way too long! 

 

No, I don't have the book but I have others like it!

*********************

On a happier note, I am in full swing planning for my 50th birthday party, which will be this coming Saturday night.  My friends love a theme (these are the same people who came dressed appropriately for our recreation of the last dinner on the Titanic last April!) and they love to dance (or maybe it's me that loves to dance!). 

The invite read:

You are invited to celebrate Wendy's 50th birthday.  While you will arrive chez Wendy and Barry circa 2013, once you enter you will be magically transported back in time to January 1978 and the infamous Studio 54 nightclub.  You can come as a celebrity guest of the time or simply a hanger-on, but remember: only celebrities make it into the VIP lounge....

 Today I am working on my music playlist, which I am happy to share with you all tomorrow!

 
I hope you have a grand day!  Stay Safe out there!