Cook 'em if You Got 'em

These kitchens are gorgeous. They make me want to be a better cook.

Blast from the Past - Rubber Bracelets

Saturday morning, time for cartoons. Only all the cartoons worth waking up during our youth are gone. This realization led me to this post. You know that you are a child of the 80s if you remember the following items:

Saturday morning spent with Red and the gang of Fraggle Rock. The hard-working Doozers were my fav. I'm pretty sure that the Fraggles had them working for less than minimum wage and were not given proper breaks but that was their world, not mine. They never complained either.

Slap bracelets. Did you ever beg and plead for just one more bracelet to complete your collection? I did. And it was glorious...until they were banned from school for being "to distracting and violent."

Oh, the stirrup pant. Let us not repeat that fashion faux pas, shall we? Yikes. I am loving the Cosby sweater and feathered mullet. Maybe I will bring those back.

Yet another 80s fashion disaster would have to be parachute pants or fondly remembered as "Hammer Pants." This is one atrocity that celebrities had the audacity to attempt at reviving. Thank goodness it failed and landed them on the "Worst Dressed" list of InStyle.

Long gone are the days of Hypercolor T-shirts, trading Garbage Pail Kids, Popples and the Snorks. The kids that our generation will produce will sadly have no idea what good Saturday morning cartoons used to be made of; it's all Anime and Bratz now. But at least we can rest assured in the fact that one near and dear to my heart 80s trend is back with a vengeance. Rubber bracelets are on like Donkey Kong, kids.

The new generation of rubber bracelet enthusiasts only confirm my fear for this new league of consumers. Obsession, bombardment advertising, unending disposable income (10 year olds with credit cards? Really?!) and the need to conform that has always plagued human pre-teen kind has made this new craze 10 times crazier than anything that we saw in my day as an elementary school student. Kids of my time were clearly not as clever as the kids (or marketing firms) of today. What we called, "rubber bracelets" kids today call everything from Silly Bandz to Zandybandz. What on earth does Zandybandz even mean? It is all jibberish and ball bearings these days. BF showed me an article about the insanity of this remade craze by Lindsey Bever from www.neighborsgo.com.

"Sorry we are all out of animal rubber bands until Monday or Tuesday." They are also out of all the cool technologically stunted trends that plagued the 80s. I do love seeing a nine year old texting away on her iPhone while listening to music and wearing cheap rubber bands that she could have found in her mama's treasure chest back in 1988.

What about you, what was your favorite trend from your childhood? Any decade can apply.

Photos courtesy of www.ilovethe80s.com, www.ilovefragglerock.com, www.capestreasures.com

Brains and Bronze

We all know that too much sun is no good for our skin but most of us like a little tan. Some more than others: George Hamilton and Brooke Hogan, the Umpa Lumpa look is so 30 years ago.

Living in the Caribbean I'm very conscious of my sun exposure. When my parents visited they were surprised that I wasn't more tan. As a child I turned brown every summer, but I'm no longer a child (though I may act like one at times) and it is now the age of high SPF. Down here you can almost always find me in a hat with SPF 70 underneath.

The big reason that I don't mind if my face doesn't match my slightly tanner body is because of this great bronzing powder from Bare Escentuals. The color is Faux Tan and it is the perfect bronzer. No orange hue here, just subtle natural color. It is very natural looking and even has SPF in it.

For the bod I like Jergens line of buildable bronzing lotions. Just watch your feet, things can get to looking weird around your toes. Also, don't forget to wash your hands or face the consequences of orange palms. Jergens Glow Bronze Express is the best by far.

Happy safe sunless-tanning!

Romper Room

I am loving the romper look for summer. They look comfy and stylish and they make a perfect beach cover-up or easy go to ensemble any day of the week. Maybe not Sunday, don't wear this to church, ladies.

After seeing Seinna and Jessica wearing them in People I searched the Internet for some options and found the following at Urban Outfitters:

Staring at Stars Cutout Romper - $58

Grey Antics by Grey Ant Perfect Romper - $58
Pins and Needles Eyelet Romper - $58

Pins and Needles Silky Ruffle Jumper - $58

Tobago, A-go-go

This past weekend BF and I had the pleasure of hosting his brother and sister-in-law in Trinidad. We played around Port of Spain for a day and then decided it was time to grab the ferry over to Tobago.

The TT Spirit is an amazing high-speed hydrofoil ferry that gets you from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Scarborough, Tobago in 2.5 hours. It is super comfortable and they play movies on the way. There is only one downfall to the Saturday morning ferry: it departs at 6:30 AM and you must be there 2 hours early to load your car!!! Getting up at 3:45 AM is a new one for this puppy.

Here is our view from the ferry leaving Port of Spain at the crack of dawn. I would show you the pictures of us on the ferry but it was so early. So scary.

When we arrived in Tobago we drove off of the ferry and made our way to the jaw dropping Plantation Beach Villa we rented. 3 bed, 3.5 bath, Caribbean views, and huge covered porches off of every room. Did I mention that we had a maid/cook that made us yummy fruit salads and cooked up some drool worthy bacon? Thank you, Nadine.

The style of this cottage is called "Gingerbread." You will find it all over both islands.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this view every morning? Have I ever told ya'll that the sun starts to rise at 5:45 AM here? It does, and it's bold. And beautiful.

Sweet J & K. We miss them already!

While in Tobago we relaxed on the beach, played games late into the night on the porch, had some fabulous drinks (Brown Cows and Pina Coladas...) and snorkeled in the crystal blue water.

The last activity was a big deal because I'm deathly afraid of fish. Not in an aquarium setting though. I love the Baltimore Aquarium. For me, I just don't like to be swimming in the same area as sea critters. Remember my "Leatherback Turtle Incident" from a couple of weeks ago?

I'm so glad that we went. Tobago has one of the largest coral reefs in the world with some of the best snorkeling and diving. We chose to snorkel at Arnos Vale, known as the best diving on the island. It was like visiting another world.

If you're looking for fun and an unbelievable underwater world you better head to Tobago, West Indies. Don't worry the tiny island has an airport.

From the Heart

Laura Bush is an amazing woman. She is sharing her story in her first interview with Oprah right now as I'm typing this post. She is the epitome of class, charm, elegance and a true daughter of Texas. The former First Lady's new book is out I'm ordering it now. It is sure to be an inspirational read. You can find it here.

I Got the Blues...

No, I'm not depressed. On the contrary in fact, I'm extra happy. Played a rousing couple games of tennis this morning, followed by one-on-one help from my coach and then hit the fresh fruit/veggie market. But the whipped cream on this pie sits below.

A Life's Design posted this picture today and I fell in love. I'm a sucker for a navy sofa. Anything with piping can crawl right into bed with me. The sweet patterned ottoman is perfection. I'm pretty sure that I inherited my love for navy from my mama. There is just something classic and chic about navy. A Life's Design's photo gave me the urge to pull out some of my favorite navy living rooms.

Forgive me but I can't remember where these three other photos originated from. What color makes you happy?