Southern Belles

This photo was too good not to post. I just wanted to make sure all y'all know how deb-u-tantes behave after a few vodka drinks in the afternoon.

The Kudzu Jungle Five

Since Meg so kindly tagged me to reveal five facts about myself, I'm obliging. And they're, as she says, a little left of normal because that's so much more interesting.

1. I have not played a video gaming system since the Atari 2600. We never upgraded to Nintendo or Sega or Playstation. I've played the occasional handheld game, but my skills have never moved beyond the old rubbery black joystick with the single red button.

2. I love hats. Not that awful thing that Camilla Parker Bowles wore in her wedding to Prince Charles. But I wish that we all still wore fantastic hats like they did in the 40s and 50s. I have a hat face. I can wear just about any hat and it looks good on me. It's a sadly underutilized asset of mine.

3. I love Elvis. I love the cheesy movies he made - especially Blue Hawaii, Viva Las Vegas and G.I. Blues - and I love his music. I really love his iconic status and how there's something inherently classic and wonderful and at the same time over-the-top and tacky about it. I have a blue suede coffeetable book about Elvis. And a lunchbox.

4. I rub my feet together when I go to sleep. Usually, I'm laying on my stomach and I rub the left foot over the sole of the right. Until a few years ago, I didn't know that my mother does the same thing. And so did her mother.

5. I have recurring dreams. In one, my parents have a fourth child. His name is Samuel, but we call him Sam. I am four when he is born, and I am always sitting on the couch at my grandparents' house and holding him in my lap while everyone gives me too many instructions about how to hold him properly. In another, I am playing basketball and it's the state tournament (which my high school team went to in real life) and it's either me now that's playing - 10 years out of practice - or it's me then but I've forgotten some essential element of my uniform.

I know most of my fellow bloggers have been tagged, but I invite my non-blogger readers to leave their own weirdness in the comments. Think of it as a weirdness confessional of sorts.

On Hats

I suggested to Mendacious the other day that she attempt to bring hats back. This isn't what I had in mind, New York Fashion Week. Hey, Mendacious, you were worried your hat was too big. Ha.