Thursday Thoughts

Today is the last Thursday of February, the shortest month of the year, or as I like to call it, “spwinter.” Here in middle Tennessee, especially during transitional times of the seasons, we just never really know what to expect. Tennessee has long been heralded for its mild climate and four-season weather, however what visitors and transplants aren’t told is that during transition times, when one season is ending and another beginning, we often experience all of the seasons at once. Yesterday, it was almost 70 degrees and sunny. People were walking their dogs and their kids, enjoying being outside in short sleeves and throwing frisbees at both. Today? We’re back in UGGs and parkas with a high of 43. ’Tis the season for layers and a punchy “roll with it” attitude. 

I think of my geographic ancestors, namely the Cherokee who inhabited my little corner of the southeast United States and called this area “Tanasi” 500 or so years ago, and I wonder if they, too, dealt with such climate conundrums. Did they take off to gather food or spar with another tribe and pack extra animal skins in case the weather fluctuated wildly from one day to the next? Was the chief saying to his wife, “come on, we’ve got to go, everyone is waiting!” and she replied “I’m looking for my fur-lined moccasins. I want to have them just in case?”

Well, enough waxing poetic on weather. Here are my highlights for you.

Essie Nail Polish & Speed Setter

I used to be an OPI girl. Then I spent way too much time and money getting gel manicures. Then I went au naturel to get them back healthy again, but that was kind of boring so I discovered Essie and it's been a game changer. I do it myself, it's cheap and easy and anyone can do it. I recommend pairing an Essie polish with their signature "Speed Setter" top coat. This stuff is amazing. No base coat required. Just swipe on two coats of your favorite Essie color, waiting 2-5 minutes in between. Then one coat of Speed Setter and you're good to go in five minutes. I know. I don't just toss about a phrase like "game changer." I mean, in 15 minutes or less, you can go from drab and boring to polished and going potty or digging in your purse. It doesn't get easier than that, girls.

My favorite colors?

My go to is "Without a Stitch." It's a purply gray and works year 'round.

For a bit deeper color, "Chinchilly" is still a purply gray but just a little darker than "Without a Stitch."

"Ballet Slippers" is your classic, neutral pink.

And "Bordeaux" is a lovely burgundy that will serve you well from the first chilly night in fall all the way through winter.

To complete your at-home salon experience, I recommend a nail brush to clean under and around nails, invest in a good emory board for shaping, a buffer block for smoothing the nail surface and preparing it for polish, and I only use 100% acetone polish remover - no time for anything else. A little dab'll do ya.

Audrey Hepburn

Well, Daddy and I enjoyed another Mobituary, Mo Rocca's lovely podcast, today, and it was on Audrey Hepburn. I learned some things about her that I'll share that you might not have known either:

• She was 5'7" and wore a size 10-10.5 shoe. But that waist remained a steady 20."
• She survived WWII and the Nazis. Barely. Her parents were fascist, Nazi sympathizers though she was always part of the Resistance. She almost didn't survive Nazi-occupied Holland.
• She died on the same day as Bill Clinton's inauguration and her passing went mostly unnoticed in the shadow of this other event.
• She and Katherine Hepburn are not related. Not even a little bit.
• She's a member of the elite EGOT club, having won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an Oscar and a Tony.
• She wasn't Truman Capote's first choice to play Holly Golightly. Like all the Kennedys, he had his sights on Marilyn Monroe but her acting coach advised her not to take the roll of a "lady of the evening."
• She and Anne Frank (yes, that Anne Frank) led extremely similar lives and were born the same year. Anne's father, Otto, once traveled to Audrey to ask her to play Anne in a movie and she politely refused saying simply that she had lived through the horror once and that was one time too many as it was.

Otto Frank, Audrey Hepburn and Otto's second wife, Elfriede Geiringer 

"It's that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so don't fuss dear; get on with it." 

--Audrey Hepburn 

Voxer

Voxer is an app and if you talk on the phone or text with a friend daily (or wish you could), then you need this app. It's hard to describe but I'm going to try. It's like a verbal text. They describe it as a "walkie-talkie" app and that might work, too. My bestie, Man, and I use it almost daily in place of texting. It's nice because you can say more than you might over text but the recipient still has the ability to control when and where they listen, unlike a traditional phone call or voice mail.

Here's an example of a Vox between us:

Person #1:  "Oh my goodness. I just tried to go to Fresh Market to get the Meal of the Week and couldn't find a parking spot!"

Person #2: "That stinks. Publix has their organic chicken breasts on sale for $2.99/pound."

Hey, it's not prolific. Just a really neat way of communicating with another human without having to actually talk to them. And it's free.

Milk Bone Treat Ball

Picked up one of these for each of our pups. One loved it and figured it out in a couple of minutes. The other decided it was just too much work.

Eye Pillow

I bought this little eye pillow at a local day spa several years ago, but it's available on the Nordstrom website. It has the softest, removable cover and houses an insert filled with flaxseed and lavender. It smells heavenly and I like the weight of it as compared to a traditional eye mask. I fall asleep with it most nights covering my face and wake up with it under me or over by the pup. She would prefer the beef flavored one, but it didn't sell well at the salon.

Finally, February is Heart Health Month. Here are some ways you can spread the love:

Donate to the American Heart Association  

Take a CPR course. Did you know that mouth-to-mouth is no longer recommended as part of basic CPR? That sound you hear is all of us germaphobes sighing in relief. Find a class near you.

Know the signs of heart disease. 

Quit smoking. Like, seriously, today.

Follow the Heart Association’s guidelines for healthy eating.