Hello hello…

Good riddance 2017!

If you take away the “o” in “Hello” that’s what kind of year it’s been.

That may sound harsh, but realistically it was the worst year of my life. It was not only a year full of world catastrophes and lives lost to the cruel irrational behaviour of degenerates on the news every other day, but for me it was a year chock full of deep seated challenge and great personal loss. But I did have three good things happen. I purchased a little piece of paradise in Palm Springs and one more dog to enjoy it with. I also reconnected with my childhood bestie all the way back to grade school in Montreal. Other than that….

I couldn’t wait for 2017 to end and didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions. Only reflections on the year left behind and what lies ahead. So after a quick toast to a new year and an off to bed early evening, it didn’t exactly start off as planned. I found my place in the sun but I’m writing this from bed where I’ve been for the third day in a row. I don’t remember being this sick. Coughing, listless and a bit dizzy when I get up although I managed to do a little better today. Nothing seems to be working. Feeling a little sorry for myself. There’s an epidemic going around California so I hear. Thank you very much. California welcomed me with open arms and a virus.

I’m hopeful things will get better because it’s only the second week of a new year. A fresh new start. And nothing can be worse than what I went through last year up until the very end I might add. I’m not looking for miracles or expecting that a new year will make all the sadness and madness erased from my memory (which as I’m writing this reminds me of the movie (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) but I plan to make positive changes, handle some things differently, learn from bad experiences (which is the only positive thing I can come up with from having had a bad experience), remove people from my life who have not been there for me when I most needed them (you know who you are) and find some peace of mind. And live stress free as long as I can.

I came out here with media credential to cover the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival (which is one of the largest film festivals in North America with an incredible film lineup and movie stars in attendance for the celebratory annual Film Awards Gala, and a host of other exciting parties ). I saw the opening night movie but missed a bunch more I wanted to see but it doesn’t end until the 14^th so we’ll see how I make out. I missed a screening of “Wonder Woman” with Gal Gadot in attendance, “The Polka King” with Jack Black in attendance and also Annette Benning was here for “Movie Stars don’t die in Liverpool”. Darn!

After the opening there was a reception at the Palm Springs Art Museum (I love that building) but I went straight home after the movie ended. I wasn’t planning to schmooze with the stars, it was enough seeing Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks give a half hour talk about their very first collaborated film together. It was informal and very interesting. And let’s face it, they are the crème de la crème.

When I got to the theatre looking for the red carpet a man visiting from Boston went to his car, grabbed his sweatshirt and made me put it on after he heard me cough and decided I wasn’t covered up enough. That’s what gentlemen are like! I know because I was married to one. And you’ve got to love people from Boston.

Getting back to last year, I lost a total of six people. My husband, one of my best friends, a friend I only met last summer but who was awesome, and three other good people I knew. When people say “well you know we’re at that age when we start to lose people in our lives” I cannot accept that. If only because one of those people was a 38 year old woman, a man in his fifties who was senselessly murdered (wrong place, wrong time) and two others in their fifties. So you would never say to the friend of the 38 year old “well you know you’re at that age….” It just doesn’t make sense to me. Because as it so happens some people die young. It’s the god awful truth.

So if last year taught me anything at all it’s that you cannot control in many circumstances the way things turn out. This year I’ll try to calm down, listen to my intuition, make the most of the life I’ve been given and accept change the best I can. We need to still believe in love, have a sense of humour and family is the most important. And true friendship. Believe me you get to see who your real friends are when lightening strikes. It’s good to know.

So if you were given a chance to erase from your mind all the bad things that happened would you do it? You know what…as tempting as that sounds I don’t think I would play around with mother nature. These are life lessons and hard school knocks and apparently they are character building. I’m quite the character I’m told. And I know that this year no matter what, it has to be better than last!

Here’s to an upswing of a Bright New Year!

Film Reviews

Art/Culture/History: “The Post”

OPENING NIGHT – Palm Springs International Film Festival 2018 (PSIFF)

There is a saying about relationships in Washington: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. – Katharine Graham

The feature film began with a panel discussion with the key players on the stage of Palm Springs High School.

Katharine Graham for those of you unfamiliar, was America’s first female Fortune 500 CEO. As the renowned publisher of ‘The Washington Post,’ she guided the newspaper to national prominence, most notably when it published The Pentagon Papers and reported on the Watergate scandal.

Meryl Streep stars as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee in Steven Spielberg’s gripping true life drama behind the publication of the Pentagon Papers in Nixon’s White House. This history making movie at the time of an incensed, vindictive president meant risking careers and the future of the newspaper.

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government.

Decades of government lies which led the U.S. into the mire of the Vietnam War were lifted from top secret files. The risk of publishing them was greater than great.

Words to live by:

It’s hard to remake decisions and even harder to rethink nondecisions. Sometimes you don’t really decide, you just move forward, and that is what I did—moved forward blindly and mindlessly into a new and unknown life.

A long time ago I had to decide whether to be a lady who lunched or a women who worked. – Katharine Graham, Personal History

The festival runs until January 15th. Check out the film and events lineup here:

https://www.psfilmfest.org/2018-ps-film-festival

Art, Architecture, Culture, Girl Who Would be King

Art/Culture/Film – Palm Springs International Film Festival 2018

Movie Magic 2018

Can you keep a secret?

The Palm Springs International Film Festival tradition of the Secret Screening continues, sharing a brand-new, yet-to-premiere film with only the most discreet of discerning filmgoers. You won’t know the title of the film until you see it on the screen, and once you’re in on the secret you can’t spill the beans. No talking, texting or tweeting before, during or after. While we can’t disclose specifics, we can tell you that this classified title features one of this year’s Film Awards honorees alongside one from 2017. It’s a story that may be familiar, but we promise you’ve never seen it like this before. Ohhhh….

Alongside Films and Documentaries from…

The heartwarming journey of a man and his elephant – Thailand

To

**Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood**

A fascinating, dishy documentary about the life and times of Scotty Bowers, who, after serving in the Marines in WWII stumbled into a career satisfying the sexual desires of some of the most famous people in Hollywood, both male and female.

And Everything in BetweenAs a member of the PSIFF media to cover screenings and events, I look forward to sharing some stimulating stories with you.

Perhaps with a touch of stimulating Pinot

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FUN, Girl Who Would be King

Feel-good Friday: little differences

To err is human—to forgive, canine.

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.

Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

Natasha (Tasha for short) is the new addition to my friend Rosa’s life. And you can bet she’s a princess. So is the cat.

Jia Jia models a gift from uncle Michael

Not to be outdone by Layla who definitely has attitude.

Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun. – Groucho Marx

Wishing you a warm and cuddly holiday season

beauty, Girl Who Would be King

Beauty: Erno Laszlo – the original skin maestro

The Hungarian-born dermatologist and skin care guru who founded the Ernő László Institute may be living no longer, but his skincare line is alive and thriving at high end department stores such as Holt Renfrew (Canada) and Saks Fifth Avenue (USA). Now celebrating 90 years of glamour.

Ava, Audrey, Greta, Marilyn, Jackie O – they were all devotees.

With numerous choices at the beauty counter and abundance of new lines cropping up it’s nice to look back to an influential original. Some of the product line was gifted at a recent women’s fundraising luncheon so I’m testing them out. So far, no complaints.

I OWE 50% OF MY BEAUTY TO MY MOTHER AND THE OTHER 50% TO ERNO LASZLO, – AUDREY HEPBURN

The philosophy is that there’s more to skincare than meets the eye. Skincare isn’t just about taking care of your skin at the surface: it’s about total body wellness. Taking care of your skin begins from the inside out. Good diet, nutrition, and dedication to a skincare ritual will keep your skin healthy, clear, and glowing.

The Laszlo bespoke double cleansing duos let you customize your routine to meet your skin’s unique needs.

why cleansing oils?

Nourishing Cleansing Oils soothe and soften skin by gently breaking up dirt, makeup and other impurities without stripping your complexion of precious moisture. Yes, I knew that! I thought I was the one who invented that idea.

why cleansing bars?

Indulgent Cleansing Bars boast game-changing antioxidants and botanicals, plus soap inherently combats oil on contact. Translation? Bye-bye bacteria, hello fresh glow. Okay, I didn’t know that. My mom always told me to stay away from using soap on my face but maybe this is a whole different bar of soap.

why together?

Depending on your skin care need they help to exfoliate, brighten, firm, hydrate or soothe. When combined, the cleansing oil and cleansing bar create a rich cleansing mask that gently washes away oil and debris from pores. They impart active ingredients to your skin that work to target your skin concern long after cleansing is done.

And of course there’s everything else in the line such as serums, creams and such.

Have you tried anything in this line?

STYLE

Style: a parody for non conformists

Genderless, androgynous, intersexual..whatever you want to call it,

designers have been creating collections that both men and women can wear for a while now. Infact my last style post was about the dual jumpsuit which I personally prefer on women but still. And we know girls like to borrow their boyfriends jeans .

We also know real style is personal but when it comes to wearing jeans everything goes. Depending on our mood and our body type we can choose from skinny to slightly sloppy boyfriend style, cropped, high waisted, wide-legged and everything in-between. And for purists Levi’s are still #1.

So when SNL recently did a skit on Woke jeans, made for a generation that defies labels, I had a good laugh. Because sometimes we need to take fashion with a grain of humor.

https://vimeo.com/236776084

What do you think?

Food + Drink

Food: One-Pan Salmon with potatoes and romaine

Dinner Simplified

This easy salmon recipe gives you the main course and sides all at once, so fewer pots and pans to clean later. Plus I happened to have tiny potatoes and romaine to use up in my fridge. And sometimes all you need are just three ingredients.

Makes 4 servings

1 pound baby Yukon Gold potatoes (or other bite-sized)

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Four 6-ounce salmon fillets

1 tablespoon melted butter

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 hearts romaine lettuce

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil; arrange in a single layer on a greased baking sheet.

3. Roast the potatoes in the oven until slightly golden and fork tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. While the potatoes roast, cut 2 romaine hearts in half and rub with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. Brush the salmon fillets with the melted butter. Season each fillet with paprika and salt and pepper to taste.

6. Arrange the romaine and salmon on the baking sheet with the potatoes. Continue roasting for 5 to 7 minutes more, until the lettuce is tender and the fish is cooked through.

7. To serve, divide the potatoes, romaine and salmon among four plates.

For when you fancy nothing fancy; just good!

Girl Who Would be King

Monday Mood Board #14

Christmas is coming….just sayin

View this post on Instagram

We are told holiday shopping has started today (or, in some cases, in the wee hours of the morning). At Burton House when we think of gifts, our thoughts invariably turn to Sharon Stone and Bulgari. #Daddygavemeallthisjewelrybecausehelovesmesomuch

A post shared by Burton House (@burtonhousepalmsprings) on Nov 24, 2017 at 1:06pm PST

Gotta love Ginger! She did self-care the old fashioned way.

Girl Who Would be King, Health + LifeStyle

Self-care: take this!

I always thought of self care as more than mud masks and bubble baths.

It really is a total package encompassing mind/body/spirit + other life essentials. So when I saw this article from another website it was only fitting to share it with you. Because life is simple and complicated at the same time. We need to focus on what needs to be fixed on the outside in order to feel good on the inside. I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing – by Brianna Wiest: thoughtcatalog.com

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

The act of self-care has become yet another thing women are expected to be good at. Did you use the right filter for that ‘gram of your impeccably prepared acai bowl? Are the candles you just lit in your Snap story made from organic hand-poured soy or are they that mass-produced factory shit? And how can we stem the inevitable capitalist tide from turning something as simple as self-care into yet another thing to be bought and sold? These are all things I wrestle with as I order Dominos in sweatpants under the guise of ‘being good to myself.’ – Amil Niazi

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.

Well said! Who else agrees?

Art & Culture

ART Facts

Words to the Wise

Art is not a pleasure, or an amusement, art is a great matter. Art is an organ of human life transmitting man’s reasonable perception into feeling. Leo Tolstoy – 1898

His (Tolstoy’s) definition of art is in the inverse of the truth; the task of art is to transform not perception into feeling, but feeling into perception. Sir Herbert Read – 1960.

I found the above phrases transcribed by perfect penmanship into a beautifully gifted art book from a gallery in Washingon, D.C. I hadn’t opened up the hard cover book in a long while and re discovered it again recently as it was tucked away amongst other belongings.

The nice thing about art is that it never gets old.

ART is an appreciated respite from all the craziness in the universe right now.

How do you feel about that? Yup; me too!