Nothing says "I love you" like a vintage tiara!

Today I have been married for 3 years. Tradition dictates that the 3rd anniversary theme is leather. I think it's tiaras.

My name is Tanya and I'm addicted to aprons and fabric

Aprons are my addiction that I never wish to kick. I wear them to cook and clean like everyone else, but I’ll wear them to run errands and grocery shop too. They dress up my t-shirt and jeans and make me feel a bit sassy. It’s like flaunting my domesticity and my fashion sense (Cute aprons only please) My wedding shower was a kitchy “Aprons and Pearls” theme and it was fantastic to see so many people get into the June Cleaver spirit of things.

Today’s shopping apron was the first one I made a few years ago. I pieced together scraps of fabric left over from other projects and voila! Sassy apron! Mother’s Day afforded me the excuse to splurge on fabric for more aprons.  My husband kindly refrained from asking how much everything cost, but there is no limit to the rewards he’ll get having his wife look and feel retro-tastic while making banana apricot muffins for the morning.

Walking for Anthropologie

And so it begins. I will be waking up early to go walking before the baby wakes up and I have to get ready for work. Am I doing this for better health? Sure. That goes without saying. If I’m going to be honest, however, my motivation also includes a deep desire to fit into whatever I want from Anthropologie.  The occasional top or cardigan just isn’t going to cut it anymore! I’ve had a baby. I’ve nursed him. It’s time for that cute skirt hanging in my closet to actually fit over my hips again. This also affords me time with my tunes, which leads me to the introduction of a regular feature here at My Little Thought Bubbles… “My Personal Soundtrack.” Today’s entry is “A Perfect Day Elise” by PJ Harvey. Miss Polly Jean will likely find her way into this feature on a regular basis because she’s fabulous, though I admit that today her cute outfit and haircut played through my head and kept me going at a brisk pace. “I too will have this look if I just keep going.” We shall see…

Wild Things

I went to kindergarten in a town just outside of San Francisco. I loved Grease, the Electric Company and my roller skates, which were black with silver wheels and were likely an early indicator of my future yearnings to roller derby (I’ve not yet taken the leap…perhaps for my mid-life crisis) But nothing quite captured my imagination like the well worn book in my classroom library that was filled with “wild things” and a naughty boy named Max. I knew these wild things. I saw them in my room at night too. The thrill of these imaginary monsters was more fun than anything I could buy in a store. I have a son of my own now and my only gifts to him for his first Christmas were his own copy of Where the Wild Things Are and the little dolls to go with the book. He looks at them as he goes to bed at night and he talks to them when he wakes up in the morning. We can’t yet understand what exactly he’s saying but whatever his idea of the story might be, I want to say thank you, Maurice Sendak, for filling our lives with dreams and wild things.

As a former bookseller and librarian, I don’t feel compelled to hide behind elitist proclamations like “The cover doesn’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts.” Pish, posh! Yes, the content matters, but isn’t it more fun to have the pretty copy of Pride and Prejudice or the gothy cover of Jane Eyre? The whole experience is just better. Don’t get me started on e-books. I can embrace a good audio because it goes back to our inner childhood feelings of the joy of hearing a good story. But proper bibliophiles need libraries with books which are reflections of our minds, our tastes, and our incomprehensible coolness. We enjoy showing them off to our guests and secretly discerning your character by the covers of your books as well. If you’ve been reading from a kindle or a nook, I implore you to reach back into the days of yore and rediscover the pleasure of judging a book by its cover.

Today is the beginning of an era for me, one which includes a blog. Today is the end of an era for France, one in which French president Nicolas Sarkozy is voted out of office. While I promise to never write about politics here, I am including this bit because it's French and it was fun being able to look at the French president as a man who was so French that he married the fabulous Carla Bruni, whom he met at an exclusive party. (Nevermind that she's Italian. She spent enough of her childhood in Paris to be honorary) In honor of your era Monsieur Sarkozy, here is my favorite song from Carla. My apologies for the fact that it's about the father of her other child. What can you do...