This may be my 100th post on this blog!
There's nothing I'd rather say, than to wish you a very merry Christmas!

Deceived: A Star Wars Post

Hey friends, catch me over at Fangirl:

http://fangirlblog.com/2011/12/review-star-wars-the-old-republic-deceived/

Where I do my second review of an Star Wars Old Republic book.

Darth Lindus

Darth Lindus was so popular with you, dear readers, that she's getting her own blog:

Tales of A Suburban Sith Lord

http://suburbansithlord.blogspot.com/2011/12/welcome-to-my-world.html

Don't Be Misled

Dear Friends,
It with regret that I inform you my blog has been hacked.
In my last post, Darth Lindus - an evil, powerful, Revan reading Sith Lord, wrote a post. She claimed to have ridden Darth Laddin and rode him well, with pure enjoyment. She claimed Her heels even slipped into the proper position!
Remember, friends, the Sith saying...the best lies are built on layers of truth.
It is the truth that I rode on Friday. It is the truth that maybe my smile muscles were getting sore.... But two days later, where is Darth Lindus? Well, the Sith are cowards! Because I am sitting here with sore hamstrings, glutes and lats...and Darth Lindus is back on Korriban ( you'd know where that is if you watched the Old Republic video) laughing her evil head off...
I'm going to kill her, as soon as I can hobble to my lightsaber.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Back In the Saddle

Today, I rode. It's been months since I've ridden, and even longer since I had an actual lesson with the Cowboy trainer. I was supposed to hack, but joined in on a lesson. Trotted, cantered and jumped. It felt totally right and natural to be in the saddle, my heels slipping into a downward position. All the time I've been at the gym translated into having stamina. The trainer reminded me not to do too much. That's why the man gets paid the big bucks.
When I left the barn today, my jaw was aching from grinning so much and it was hard not to roll all the windows down, blasting Aerosmith.
Back in the saddle, baby. And boy does it feel good!

And Here's My Revan Review

I hope my last post explained this a bit.  I actually did like Revan enough to continue reading Star Wars Old Republic books and hope to review a few of the better ones in the future!

And I'd like to thank Tricia, the host of Fangirl. She's an interesting blogger, an engineer, an equestrian and sci-fi writer. My kinda gal!

Here's the link: /http://fangirlblog.com/2011/12/review-star-wars-the-old-republic-revan/

Next: I'm going on a big adventure in San Francisco tonight. I'll tell you all about it next post.

A Little Explanation

 So to explain my giddy last post: I am a guest blogger on a super cool Star Wars fan site, Fangirlblog.com. I'm reviewing a book called Revan.

The Star Wars franchise is much much more than the movies we grew up watching, and the three newer movies. It's the Expanded Universe:
There are, of course, the Clone Wars cartoon. Which are really engaging, btw; we're watching them on Netflix. They really explain Anakin's descent into the Dark Side and who knew Obi Wan Kenobi was once in love?
Then there are the books: several series  set before, after and during the destruction of the Death Star the first time (the Battle of Yavin). Many chronicle the lives of Han, Luke and Leia and what happens to them and their children...my favorite author of the series is Timothy Zahn. His writing is cogent, mature, thought provoking. His characters are multi-layered. They grow and change. The type of characters who become imaginary friends. (See what happens when I don't have coffee with you? I'm talking to you Roca Coca and Rainbow Brite.) The books are often comic books and the comic books often have their own series, but as I am still working, and seeing to Papoose and Hubs, I haven't gotten into those. A girl has to set some boundaries.

Then there are the video games. So many video games. You may be familiar with Lego Star Wars. But there are also lots of role playing, online games (like Sims, for Star Wars) and that leads to a whole new part of the Expanded Universe ( the EU, and I don't mean France). The Old Republic. It's a period that's 5,000 years before Luke Skywalker. Talk about a galaxy far, far away...though the biggest leap you have to take is that the technology is essentially the same as Luke's- do you remember your first cell phone? And your current one?- I guess that's why it's fiction and you have to be willing to take a leap of faith.
Anyway, 5,000 years before Luke (and Yavin) there were lots of super bad ass Sith Lords, and lots of equally super bad ass and often emotionally conflicted Jedis.There were soldiers, smugglers and mercenaries. The video games allow you to become one of them.
The original role playing video game was Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), by a company called Bioware.

Revan in KOTOR- he's on the right; note the different color in lightsaber than the book cover above

And the a second video game, KOTOR II: The Sith Lords.
Now,  after EA bought Bioware, there is a new video game coming out, Star Wars, The Old Republic (SWTOR).
Because LucasArts is such a juggernaut, there's been a slew of media tie ins to everything, including books. The books explain the back stories to the video games and set up readers to the video games.

Of course I didn't know all this at first. i had burned through all of Tim Zahn's books and a few others and was looking for a good read. Thanks to Amazon, I stumbled onto Revan.

The story engaged me enough to want to talk about it and Fangirl was gracious enough to let me review the book. When it's published on her site, I promise I'll send the links.

In the mean time, enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lrk2BE4Tqc&feature=fvsr

Check This Out!

http://fangirlblog.com/

Check out the above blog....guess what Star Wars obsessed person you know is the guest blogger!
Woohoo!

Wishing You A Merry Sithmas

Some of you may know that I have a little collection of Nutcrackers:

This year two more joined the fun:

Merry Sithmas Season!

Happy Gratitude Day

This year I have so many things to be grateful for: but the top three are health, family and friends, which includes you, dear readers!
have a wonderful holiday!

Do I Dare Post Something SW related again?

Somedays, it would really be nice to have powers of a Sith Lord like Darth Vader, so you could conveniently replace annoying and incompetent people by terrified inferiors, who then will do anything to appease you.
I'm talking about anything to do with mortgages, refinancing and legal documents.
If you've done it, you know what I mean.
Then I'd nicely add, "Good thing it's me you're dealing with. The Emporer is far less forgiving."
Oh, oops, I use that with Papoose all the time.
But I'm afraid Hubs is not quite this dad:

 http://deathstarpr.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-dads.html

What I Learned In October

October was supposed to be my month of chic and being French.
Which it was, for the most part. I really enjoyed eating whatever I wanted- it made me realize that I really can't eat junky sugary HFCS laden food all the time- but I really do enjoy small increments of it.
I enjoyed the days I dressed properly and put five minutes of effort into make-up- I felt more polished and somehow better control of the day.
I really enjoyed our family decision "to look only at the good" for the month- the irritating things were far less irritating. I don't know if that kind of thinking is too Pollyanna, but it did make those daily little annoyances less, plus I had the pleasure of taking the sanctified high road. It's a habit I'd like to continue. Another French idea is to use your good stuff, so I used a lot of my "good items"- accessory and jewelry-wise, I wore dresses and heels- which gave me a lot of joy too- in using it instead of letting it just sit, getting compliments, and again, with that minimal extra effort of feeling polished. It also made me realize that I really don't need more, just enjoy what I have more...
Which led me into being more organized, so I can see what I do have...and needing to get more organized helped me get a nagging home project (the closet shelving) done.
In terms of being effortless- I decided to be less stressed and perfectionistic at our annual Halloween party. Instead of the stress of catering from Whole Foods (the food is great, but they always mess up orders), I got a few things from here, a few things from there, friends brought treats (RocoCoco makes the best baked goods), and it was as lavish as ever. In fact, the biggest hit was Papoose's idea: mini corn dogs. Both kids and grown ups liked them. Less effort=more fun.
And in the more fun category is my new found love of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Crazy? Weird? Yeah, absolutely. But as the French would say,"suivez votre passion!" (Which despite my pinky promise means more SW posts in the future...maybe I'll even make Hubs take me to ComiCon...

Last Star Wars Post (for awhile) Pinky Promise

http://deathstarpr.blogspot.com/2011/10/is-luke-skywalker-really-99.html

Luke Skywalker - the 1%?
Read it and make up your own mind...

Should You Be Worried?

Ever since last year's mild obsession with DH and the Eagles, you've known I'm a bit obsessive. Fortunately, so far it's been limited to limited subjects. I mean, at the end of the day, there are only so many songs by the Eagles and so many books about them for other moderately curious people. But now...maybe it's time to start worrying about me.

Actually, worry first about George Lucas. The man is cra-cra. Sure he's a genius, bringing us Star Wars, Empire, Indiana Jones, even ILM. But hello? Other Indy movies? Temple of the Skull? Jar Jar Binks? Indians eating monkey brains?

And worst offender of all, Captain Eo. Hubs somehow managed to doze off to this atrocity: Lucas and Coppola and Disney make a movie featuring Michael Jackson in major 80s sparkle and epaulets, singing a catchy Beat It-ish tune, while you sit in chairs that move and weird furry animated creatures flew off the screen in 3-D; the stuff of nightmares, I tell you.

Hope the video works, I've never embedded before.
It did manage to make me forget the horrors of Eo, though, I was laughing so hard.

Back to Lucas. He also has spawned this massive subculture of Star Wars called "The Expanded Universe" which is explained in detail, on something called Wookiepedia, I kid you not. Star Wars time is based around the Battle of Yavin- you know, when Luke blows up the first Death Star.  Star Wars time is measured in years before and years after Yavin. And there are hundreds of EU books!
So it turns out that my favorite Star Wars character isn't even mentioned in the movies.

Now even I'm worrying about me.  And here's the thing, seven books into it (Start with Heir To the Empire, which I actually haven't read, as I'm working my way backwards to it- by Timothy Zahn. I'm talking to you, Bro) I've realized it's all because of adolescent me, again. You see, my favorite Star Wars is  Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Empire, a blue skinned bad guy, is almost exactly like the blue bad I used to watch in eighth grade, Leader Desslock of Gamlin in StarBlazers.
You be the judge:

Shudder.
What madness lies next?

Toujours Chic, Win One For The French

So if America won in the last round, I think the French win in the diet round. I don't know if the French are truly healthier- they do seem to be slimmer. We are comparing, though a whole country the size of Texas, who live in a much cooler Northern latitude (I believe closer to Maine) to an extremely diverse population who lives in a much hotter (hello, Kansas in the summer) area. It's hard to be chic if you are totally wilted, after all. Anne Barrone also points out that American culture also has a religious and pioneer type handicap- lots of America was on the frontier, where you routinely had to do without, and a lot of American attitudes towards appearance and food are driven by the Puritans: if it's fun, it's probably a sin.
French are driven by enjoying the moment, and even if it may not be totally good for you, enjoy it in moderation, and without guilt. I certainly enjoyed Disneyland much more that way.
Americans overall seem to be driven to exercise hard, diet hard...hard, hard, hard. We end up with weekend warrior injuries and insane diets we can't keep up with.

I like the moderate path- enjoy in a fair amount. In food, clothing, exercise. Way more chic.

More on the Toujours Chic...

So yesterday I mentioned the French have smaller wardrobes than Americans and how that makes them chicer. I agree with that- like our diets, our closets, in general have a lot of filler junk. But here, I am going to fall squarely on the side of America, because:
              we smell better.
Being stinky is a major American faux pas, right there with ring around the collar- both which can only be avoided by frequent washing not just of the clothes but of ourselves. And who wants to wear stinky clothes with a clean body? Hence more clothes.
Nuff Said.

Disney, The French Way

So one of the books I've been following this month of chicness is Anne Barone's "Toujours Chic, How French Women Stay Slim and Chic". She basicially talks about portion control and walking, and saying no. She also recommends we have fewer clothes and talks about how the French have fewer, but higher quality clothes.
Well Disney is a perfect place to walk a lot. The average person walks 10-12 miles a day at Disneyland. I'm sure we walked at least that much, especially since the (damn) monorail was broken. We walked, a lot, and during the inevitable waits in line, I did stretches. I also drank water, people watched and ate cotton candy. Cotton candy made lines bearable. And the walking made eating cotton candy justifiable. The food in Disneyland is actually too fried to be be totally consumed (portion control!) by one person, so was well shared among three. And California Adventure actually has decent food- flatbread pizza! Hummus! Kebabs! Fruits!

My favorite ride (this a totally non French tangent I'm about to launch into, btw) is the new Star Tours. Of course, we had recently watched the new re-released series 6 in a row- worthwhile, btw cause Lucas has made some subtle and not so subtle changes to tie it all together- Compared to the old "oops I left Endor and got caught in a Rebel/Empire skirmish with an annoying robot" Star Tours ride, this new one has 54 variations! You can either be stopped by a robot drone or Darth Vader- trying to get the rebel spy who is sitting in your vehicle with you-  and yeah, I got picked as a rebel spy, but you knew that I was extra cool, already, right?- Sometimes you follow the Millenium Falcon! Then R2D2 and C3PO take you either to Hoth (snow planet, for a dizzying slalom ride) or Kashykk (Wookie planet where you race through redwoods) or Tattoine (desert planet with two suns for a pod race) then you get a holographic transmission form Yoda or General Akbar or Princess Leia,  then jump to either Coruscant, Naboo or the Death Star (where Jango Fett tries to blast you through a meteor shower) and then land either on a pad in Coruscant or on the Admiral's Ship. Papoose and I managed to see all the variations, though obviously not all the combinations. You probably have to be a major Star Wars geek to fully enjoy this, but even the waiting in line is entertaining on this one. And Papoose had gotten picked for the Jedi training Academy and was an official Padawan now, so I think she really liked this. Or was brainwashed int liking it.



Jedi Training

How can a little green guy weigh so much?

Umm, Darth Vader's kinda tall and breathes like he has bad breath.

 Wait, you're not supposed to strike a pose with the storm troopers!

Yeah, you show that Darth Maul some karate sword training!


Okay, there, Star Wars tangent over for now. Anyway the French probably *love* Star Wars.


 Is it any surprise EuroDisney is near Paris?

Feeling Grateful

Today is my birthday, and a wonderful day it's been. Starbucks sent me a free drink, and when I went there, they were playing Zipedeedodah. The synchronicity of that was funny because when we were in Disneyland over the weekend (a whole'nother post) we were discussing the whole Brer Rabbit philospophy while waiting- in the Fast Pass lane- on the Splash Mountain ride. Brer Rabbit talks about (well, there are quotes throughout the line) of finding your laughing place (just don't Brer Fox's mushrooms to get there) and how some mornings you wake up all zipededdoohdah! Anyway, how often do you go to Starbucks and here that song?

Then on my way to my weekly Stanford meeting, I saw this license plate:



Just one of my favorite books. (Don't worry, we were at a stoplight).

Then I opened all my gifts and cards and heard lots of messages from family and friends, ate chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and drank Coke with HFCS. It was great!  I realized that I already lead the chicest life: the one that is loved!
Thank you dearest friends and family.
Love you all, and I'm grateful to experience this amazing life with you.

This Month, October

October is my birthday month, and inspired by a blog I read last month, I'm going to try posting about: 31 Days For A Chic October.
And here are some blogs that are inspiring me now.
There is a distinct French flare to them.

1. This is the one that got me to start the 31 days thing. She's taking a break this month, but worth a read for September, as the comments are.

http://howtobechic.blogspot.com/ too.

2.  Fascinating, try to start from her earliest posts, for a full appreciation:

http://theviviennefiles.blogspot.com/

3. I'm not sure what she does for a living, but she has an astounding collection of Hermes scarves. She even skis with a scarf on. I devoured this blog from the beginning. I am struck by the simplicity of her clothes and how she "Hs (Hermes) them up".

http://www.maitaispicturebook.com/

4. I'm not super fond of this website, but I'm reading two of her books, and I find the insights into French life and culture (and why French women do seem to be thinner than us) fascinating.

http://www.annebarone.com/toujours-anne.html


For my chic first day of October, I :

1. Drank water with a lemon from the garden. Supposedly lemon water is very detoxifiying. French women often start the day with a cup of hot, lemon infused water. I am ending my day with cool lemon infused water.
2. Cleaned out under the bathroom counter, got rid of excess, unused supplies and re-arranged it so there is less clutter. Even cleared out one of the drawers in the bathroom so it is cleaner in the AM. It may not be exactly chic, but being unflustered is chic, and for me to be unflustered, I need to be organized.
3. Convinced the familia that  we would have a goal for the month to try to focus on pleasant things, and gently remind each other of the positive. We also agreed to sing more car-i-oke, but I'm not convinced that is chic, unless you live in, umm, moveable permanent housing.

A Demain!

Oscar Wilde, A Night In Bangkok and A Letter To My Younger Self

I was Banana Republic a few weeks ago. I was bored, looking at the sale stuff. The sale stuff was boring. As I was about to leave, a song I loved in late high school came on. I actually said, out loud, "You have got to be kidding me." I 'm sure the woman browsing next to me assumed I meant the "sale" prices. Now one thing BR does consistently well, is their music mix (do they sell it on iTunes? I need to check). The song was "One Night In Bangkok" from the play Chess. The music is by the guys from Abba. It's sung/rapped by a British actor, Murray Head,  pretending to be an American grandmaster. It's catchy. It's about as cheesy as Velveeta. But along with Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran Duran) it was right up there with my favorites. So of course I downloaded it. I even found the video on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqj31VPNoE
The song got some heavy rotation on my iPod. And the more I listened to it, I had to wonder-what, exactly was the appeal of it? Why did I like this song so much?  These are the things I think of while on the Precor (along with will this ever pay off? can I have a rice crispy treat at Starbucks? why don't French women get fat? but I digress, as I often do) Murray Head looks like 80s Don Henley, true, but I never actually cared too much for solo Don Henley.

In the video, Murray Head wears a white suit like Simon Le Bon in "Hungry Like the Wolf" video.

But that wasn't it.

It's the women.

The videos all featured "exotic" women. Hungry Like The Wolf was even filmed in Sri Lanka.

It's hard to imagine now, but being Indian back then was being a total anomoly. Maybe some kind of a Star Trek creature made out of silica. Well maybe not in India. But it was here. (And come to think of it, wasn't my other high school favorite, Captain James T. Kirk, sometimes enamored of green aliens?) I really didn't fit in, and that's bad enough in high school.  And different certainly is *not* a trait that gets too many dances in high school.
But these guys, in these videos, appeared to like different! (And I know you didn't have to be Indian to feel this way in high school...now; it could be Italian (Mystic Pizza) or red-headed (Molly Ringwald)...

You know those exercises where you're supposed to write your younger self a letter? I never got it. I always thought it was kinda stupid- since what would it change? 

Yet,this belated, possibly Precor induced delerium insight makes me think: if I could send high school me a message, it would be this Oscar Wilde quote:

My play was a complete sucess.

The audience, a total failure.

And like Oscar's audiences, mine have caught up too.

;)

September 21, A Red Letter Day

Why, you may ask? Well for one, we went to see Don Henley at Mountain Winery. I won't belabor my feelings for the DH. But more importantly, I had set that date to also get rid of some clothes in the closet if they didn't fit. I was very nervous. I am going to the gym, but the last time I weighed myself, the scale took up permanent residence in the garage (it's still useful for weighing luggage, after all).
And the clothes fit!!!!
It's actually even better than watching DH so close you didn't need a monitor!
DH concert summary: Dude misses the 80s. He even sang Tears For Fears. He talked about hitting on Michelle Pfieffer. He held his left back (L4-5) as he got tired. He didn't play drums.
But he's still DH, and my shires fit!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Missoni For Target: A Near Miss

Target's website crashed earlier this week, when crazed fashionistas all over the United States tried to get their paws on the limited items Missoni made for Target. There were also pushing, shoving, aggressive shoppers in line outside of the stores' opening at 8AM. I missed all that.
But only because I arrived at Target at 8:02. I also missed all the "good stuff" - the adult sweaters, the luggage, etc... I grabbed stuff randomly- a tote, an umbrella, acrylic tumblers, a baby outfit, Post-Its (designer temporary Post-Its!) a nightie... I did scoop up some sweaters for Papoose. As I stood looking at my cart filled with random Missoni leftovers (and overhearing conversations of those smug early aweners or grumpy late arrivals), I started to think. This stuff was nice for Target, but nowhere near Missoni quality. It was cheaper than Missoni, but expensive for Target. I was caught up in the hype, the experience of being cool enough to own Missoni from Target, because that had an extra cachet of just plain old fancy Missoni.  I put a good chunk of it back. I kept the sweaters for Papoose, the baby stuff (for a gift, for someone who is due in October and loves fashion) and the umbrella... because really if I want to own Missoni, I want the real thing. And for that, I can wait. Meanwhile, if it's raining, I'm that woman with that really fashionable umbrella, which will hopefully actually keep out the rain...

Let Me Try Again: Carole Middletton, A Style Crush

Carole and Kate: Horse Show inspiration, though I'm not sure either of them ride.

 

Love the dark skinny jeans and jacket

With her daughters

Maybe Pippa is a clone?

Diana's revenge: Carole just has a better stylist- if Camilla's coat was straight and accents on the waist, not at the hip,if she flat ironed her hair like Carole- she may look...more like Carole. I know Diana is somewhere, laughing in glee.

I Have A New Style Crush

But blogger won't let me share the awesomeness of Carole Middleton- Kate's mom. Yes she's had Botox and a face lift (look at older pictures of her) but look at how sartorially clever she is- if Camilla had a coat that had the detail at her waist (like Carole) and straight instead of flared, and hemmed at just above the knee...she'd look like Carole. Instead of frumpy.
Come to think of it, Carole may be Diana's revenge on Camilla.