ElegantKB

Mark Morris Dance L'allegro at Berkeley Zellerbach, KB is delighted!

What an excellent performance!  Strength, beauty, and color are all present in the 20th anniversary show from Mark Morris Dance Group.  The combination of SF Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Chamber Chorus from UC Berkeley and the MM dancers was incredible.  I'm sure the critics are writing rave reviews again.  Handel's Concerto and the Pastoral ode from the Milton poems are masterpieces already. The collaborative effort is just outstanding.  I completely enjoyed the classic piece of MM choreography with perfectly gorgeous costumes and thoughtful scenery.  These dancers are incredible. Our special friend loaned us a copy of the Celebration book she purchased after the show.  The pages are full of incredible dance images and narrative for each piece. This is an awesome commemorative souvenir.  The cover photo barely does justice for this work.  

Charming Cottage Garden in Petaluma, KB photos

I have a new photo album inspired from a visit to a friend's home and garden. It's called Charming Cottage Garden.  This garden has a wonderful caretaker who let me wander and take pictures.  It attracts all kinds of birds and plenty of bees.  I hope you take a minute to click through the photos.  There is some whimsy mixed in!

Wear a sun hat and be stylish, KB issues a reminder to self!

Ouch!  I felt a sting on top of my head in the shower today.  After only a couple hours at the beach, the top of my head got a burn right where the part is in my hair.  I always wear a hat in the outdoors but this time it was the wrong hat!  It was a visor with a wide brim -- but no head coverage.  So I am writing this reminder to myself and suggest to all my readers -- wear the proper hat for the occasion. Here are some ideas for hats and activities:

• A windy day- wear a tight fitting hat, usually it has some type of elastic or a chin strap to stay put.
• A beach sunny day- wear a big brim hat with coverage all around.
• Morning cafe run, only to be seen in a quick swirl- a beanie cap, I love my Cal Bears beanie.
• Hiking- Western cowgirl hat is light weight, shady, and keeps the bugs off my head.
• Gardening - A washable canvas hat, I like a bucket hat with a wide brim. I like fun floral prints that look good smudged with dirt.
• Street fair - I like my straw hat tied with a scarf to match my outfit.  It keeps me shady, cool, and safe from sun rays that damage my fair skin.  

So here's a picture of me at the Italian Street Painting Festival in one of my favorite hats. 

Start the day looking in the mirror, KB reflects

I might have mentioned this before. That I enjoy looking at faces.  I like them in artwork, in the moon, and on animals. And I like to see peoples faces because they are all so different.  But I don't always look forward to seeing my own face in the mirror each morning.  Some days I would like to avoid the mirror altogether.  But I do follow my own self imposed principles.  Including this:  Put on make-up before going out in public.  This is the way I take care of my own face. And it requires a daily close up with my mirror.  When I was a young girl I was fascinated with my elegant Danish grandmother.  She wore her hair in a French twist and always put on make up before going anywhere.  I would sit on the floor and watch in detail as she went through her ritual in front of her mirror.  It usually ended with the intimidating eyelash curler.   This morning I will drive my daughter to high school and stop for a cup of coffee on the way back to my office.  My mirror is fancy now, it has touch activated light settings in 3 different modes and plenty of magnification. It's almost high def!  So when I smooth make up over my ruddy skin to even out the tone, and line the edges of my eyes.... I will reflect on how I carry on with a woman's daily ritual to put a face forward knowing that the real woman is inside.

Today's inauguration is historic, memorable, and KB feels optimistic about everything!

I am completely optimistic.  Optimism is my usual approach but add some excitement and things will happen!  I picked up my paper first thing this morning.  I missed picking up my souvenir copy after election day so I made sure I was at the newstand before daylight.  I also happened to pick up an Obama post card at the Atlanta airport last week when masses of people were traveling to D.C. to witness today's events.  I was on my way back from a conference in Cancun, Mexico.  Anyway I figure that everyone can clearly see how elegant our new president holds himself.  And his wife is lovely too.  I like the way they interact, it's so natural - even in public.  Happy Inauguration Day people! Here's what the SF Chronicle front page looks like today.  I might have a glass of champagne this morning!

Our new door is stained brilliant crimson- KB likes it that way!

We decided to stain our new front door red.  The day the solid Douglas fir door was delivered we thought the wood grain was so outstanding that we didn't want to paint over it.  My husband did some research on stains because I have always wanted a red door no matter if black is the new red or not.  We figured if the stain didn't work out we could paint over it.  Here is the awesome product we used from the W.D. Lockwood company.  The next photo is the stain in process.  The blue tape went away and now it's red and white exterior and soon to be gray trim.  It looks great!  I'm so glad it was done in time for the holiday open house that we had.  The red poinsettias that I placed in pots on either side didn't survive the puppy.  She pounced on one and killed the other with her tail.  So I gave up on that image! Anyway if you like the stain.  It's user friendly. Just mix with boiling water.

 

Christmas is converging on my Thanksgiving, KB is not ready!

This is not my normal state of mind for the season.  I'm usually relaxed with most shopping done, cards out, halls decked and packages shipped- woop!  Not this year.  I'm still liking my Thanksgiving hutch display.  SO this is what happens when you are in the middle of a remodel and working under deadlines and you are a part time Mom taxi service!  Well I am just going to flow into it.  Deadline is the 19th and everything should hold steady until then.  Here's a fun idea that I used for a candle display- I planted a candle garden on a dish with red kidney beans, acorns and white votive candles. This worked out well for nature effect and easy clean up.  I had it on the shelf above the silver goblets if you are looking at my picture.

Russian Tea Cookies, KB's family recipe never fails!

These cookies are so delicious probably due to all the butter and sugar.  We made them to sell at the fund-raising fair for Marin School of the Arts Dance Boosters.  We generally make these around the holidays and give them out to our special people.  I've been making these since about first grade and they are so easy that my daughters picked that up too.  Click here for a similar recipe I found on the web. We packaged them up in cello baggies we ordered last year from Sally Foster.  The polka dots are cute and I should have ordered more of them.  I think they are discontinued.  You can taste something like these Russian Tea Cookies at Tom's Cookie shop in the cellar of Macy's Union Square in San Francisco, only he makes them bigger and with some chocolates chunk which we do not add since it's really not needed.  Yum!

California Academy of Science Friday Night, KB visiting

I am thrilled to be invited to an after hours party at the new CAS in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.  I hear there is a rainforest inside!... as well as a planetarium and an aquarium.  Of course the alligators are still there just like we remember.  Check out the CAS website with this link.  We have seen the work in progress from atop the De Young Museum and it looks great!   Now, what to wear?  Do I go with the planet theme, and wear something like Jane Jetson?  I'll probably go with a black and white outfit as a tribute to the African penguins and to keep to true with my elegant profile. Check out this picture of a fashionable frog.  You can find great photos on the Steinhart Aquarium Flickr photostream.

Designer Peony Screensaver and Wallpaper from Vivienne Tam, KB likes it!

Here is a really pretty print to use as wallpaper on your computer. It's from fashion designer Vivienne Tam and is included in the"fashion goes tech" marketing campaign for this cool new girlie HP laptop. I downloaded the wall paper and screen saver for one of my computers last week.  I've been enjoying them. Later I tried to come back to the download for the cute little fashion icons. It was hard to find this again! I felt like I was going around in circles- hp, glam, tech-chic... On the article header you have to click the picture of the laptop computer to see the download. So here is a link to the article on glam dot com.  I hope you enjoy it too! The wallpaper looks like this: