Just Stay at Home

Kelli and I in the Tea Salon

Inside the boutique

Mmmm...mmmm! These look irresistible! The macarons are delish and made by a local French woman with imported ingredients & made exclusively for the tea salon. I just acquired her phone number and I wonder if she will make some for a party!

While I was strolling around the picturesque streets lined with antique stores and old buildings, I realized that after spending the afternoon with Kelli she made me realize a lot of things. After hearing Kelli speak French and talk about old haunts, I realized that I had forgotten so much of that beautiful language. I was totally insecure about even attempting to speak a language I had used exclusively for 3 years (although a very long time ago). I need to start practicing and re-learning my French!

I also realized that the Paris that I know is most likely not the Paris I will visit again. So much has probably changed over the years and I am such a different person now. The things that interested me then are not at all the same as what would interest me now. How did I never think of this before? I would have a much deeper appreciation for the beautiful city now. Well, that's just more motivation to get me to really push hard and try and go to Paris with Claudia in August/September! Now I'm extra determined! It did make me a little bit sad to miss Paris so much and come to the realization that I had forgotten so much. Maybe a trip down memory lane with my old photos will help.

This dress form covered in bows was in front of a shop owned by two fun sisters! I had to post this because it reminded me of Sande from A Gift Wrapped Life! So pretty!

Shopping was great and I found tons of things I wanted to bring home. I was very good and only purchased a pair of....you guessed it...light fixtures! I'll save that pic for last though! :)

I was walking along and saw this plaque on the ground. ??? It made me smile :)

Such pretty buildings and homes where everywhere I turned.

This store had TONS of old windows, doors, and hardware. Dreamy to say the least.

I instantly fell in love with her! She was some sort of mini broom, her skirt was made of the bristles!

This trophy was so pretty in person. It had to be at least four feet tall.

I'm a sucker for feathers

This hat was too cute and in it's original box, never worn! The original receipt was tucked into the tissue paper as well. Darn if I didn't look to see how much it cost back in the day!

This kiosk had tons of sheet music but I just about fell over when I saw this beautiful cover.

She was tucked away in the downstairs portion of a store behind ridiculous amounts of furniture and random stuff. She is so pretty she should be out showing off! :)

It was love at first site for me! I love the Orange sherbet tattered velvet on this settee. I wrestled with the idea of giving a good and loving home for quite some time.

Finally!!! My Chandelier illness made me do it! I got in trouble when I got home from the hubby but I don't care! Feathers, crystal, lighting, and a great memory of a wonderful day and meeting a new friend! How could I resist? I don't know if it was the feathers, an overdose of imported tea, the euphoria of spending a child free day antiquing, or having just met Kelli, but I had to take these home with me! I forgot to pick up some macarons on my to the car so this is a small consolation!

I would love to get together again with Kelli and if anybody else who wants to join us! We can meet here (it's right next to the tea salon). It's called PJ's abbey and it is a wonderful restaurant that used to be a church! They say eating there is "heavenly"! It is so cute inside and it's quite an experience.

Until next time!

xoxo

Judith~

It's Thursday. You know what that means. It means: Thursday Night Thinking!

Yes, it did go well, didn't it? That entire issue went well. It's good to see that some writers understand that even in this modern age fine thoughts cannot be confined to multi-hued caption boxes...

What gods did I please this week? It was an excellent week for comics. And that's not even counting the three books by Geoff Johns that came out this week.

It was all so good that Justice Society of America was my least favorite Geoff Johns book for the week. And that was the book that gave us this scene:

God, I love that crazy, unwieldy, overly large team. I hope the new writers/artist team does it justice...

... in my comic books this week.

• Always good to see Wonder Woman versus a nuclear missile.
• A visit from Cabal. Okay, that's actually something that happened in my comic book store, but that's close enough.
• 57 cents.
• Ah, so THAT's why Thom got a job as a gravedigger. Wasn't expecting that. But, as always, Brainy forced it to make sense.
• Superman was fascinating this week, without a Superman at all. Robinson, doing what he does best, has made Metropolis and its characters come alive.
• Whoa. Magical Siamese elephants.
• The Riddler starts Gotham Sirens, I see... .
• The nameless tombstone.
• "Another room full of ice. I'm starting to sense a pattern." I always loved that little guy!
• A dog in a dentist's office is one thing; but an owl...?
• Orange versus Blue and Green. With Violet and Red and Yellow lurking in the wings. Oh, this is going to be one sweet and pretty war... .
• "I followed it step-by-step with little success." Not only one of my favorite character's but one of comics' greatest comedians.
• Eating the candles.
• The power of Lex Luthor's hair.
• T.O. Morrow might destroy you, but he doesn't want to see you cry.
• Al makes Grant sing.
• "Leviathan, is that you?" Yeah, I cried.
• Okay, that return/reveal was definitely worth a two-page spread.
• "Everyone like ice cream."
• Tellus.
• While Two-Face was poorly characterized in Gotham Underground, everyone else was just great, and I enjoy their interaction.
  
• That's... not what I expected from the Time Trapper.
• Ares' gift looks... unpleasant.
• Zatara vs. Jimmy Olsen; advantage, Olsen.
• Hal's attitude toward "stealth" as a "superpower".
• And, of course, it's good to see Central City still looking as ridiculous as ever, just as it should...

Apologies in advance as this is another post about Blackest Night. And somewhat convoluted, to boot.

I was wondering exactly how the whole "evil ring zombification" works. Are the Black Lanterns zombies in the classic sense? By that I mean are they mindless brain-eating shamblers? I think that unlikely. If they are intelligent then how does it work? Do they retain their intelligence from life, only with a darker bent that leads them to commit acts of evil? Or are they forced by some insidious power (Nekron?) to act as they do?

This is somewhat important. Especially when we see all the graves on covers that feature "Bruce Wayne." It's pretty obvious that we're going to be getting a Batman Black Lantern. And if the Black Lanterns are animated by the "spirits" of the dead then who's in the driver's seat of zombie Batman?

After all, we know that the real Bruce Wayne got zapped somewhere through time. He's not dead. But then, you could say that Martian Manhunter and Earth-2 Superman are also alive in the past. Is there a "dead" Batman in the present to drive the Black Lantern? Or do I have the whole methodology out of whack?

The whole concept makes my head hurt. I really hope Geoff Johns reveals all for those like me who need the minutiae...

I've been thinking about Green Lanterns a lot lately. I suppose that's to be expected considering Blackest Night is on the horizon. Mostly I've been going over Green Lantern villains in my head. Specifically Hal's villains. And I've found that -- with one notable exception -- they're all a bunch of shifty, creepy weirdos.

Sinestro's got that mustache, first of all. You know you can't trust a man with a 'stache like that. Hector Hammond has... The exact same mustache. Plus he's always trying to have sex with people using his brain. That's just disturbing.

The Shark, of course, wants to eat your brain.

Still, even among a menagerie of misfits, creepos, and pervs I think we can agree that Black Hand is the skeeviest of the skeevy:

Why exactly do you attract all the freaks, Hal? Kyle's villains weren't this creepy...

I seldom discuss anything not directly related to comics on this blog, but I can't help myself:

I really liked the new Star Trek movie!

Now, I'm not going to say, "IT ROCKED: IT WAS GREAT!" Because then this will devolve into a definition of "good", and some Trek-geek will tell me that it was crap because the directors clearly forgot that Scotty was left-handed or some such nonsense. The film did rock and it was great, but I'm not going to go there. Suffice it to say, I loved it.

The Star Trek mythos is one that, like those of the great comic book heroes (see? you knew I'd find a comic book connection...), is one that developed over several decades. But for all the expansiveness of its storytelling, it remained rooted in one spot for one reason: the original characters were completely linked to the actors who originated the roles. As long as that was the case, Star Trek, while an astonishing franchise, hadn't really become myth. "Jim Kirk" was William Shatner. Now that character (and each of the others) stands apart as an indepedent entity it a way it never has.

And how thick IS Chris Pine's neck? Yeesh, that's hot! Forget, Dorothy; let me surrender.

Kudos to the casting director and the actors; they do excellent work in embodying the characters rather than imitating or parodying them. I would have preferred a much more, hm, "womanly" version of Uhura, but balancing that out, Chekov is simply adorable. I defy you not to love him.

I thought the movie expertly balanced the need to have familiar touchstones for the traditionalist fans as well as appropriate updates for a new audience. In fact, I can imagine that someone who had zero knowledge of any of the Star Trek series would still enjoy this rollicking space opera.

Anyway, I shan't indulge in any spoilers, for there are more than a few surprises the Star Trek film. It certainly has refreshed the franchise for me. Not only will I see this film again, I can't wait to see where the next one leads.

From Pep Comics solicits...

"Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! In this issue, while visiting an excessively castellated Ren Fair, the Shield becomes frickin' enormous-- through sheer force of will! Will his increased size be enough to save Dusty from that evil dry-cleaner, 'the Starcher', who's attacked his cape?

"Plus, we introduce the Hangman, the Caped Crusader of Capital Punishment! Coming soon for kids on the Cartoon Network: Hangman, The Grave & The Cold!"