Friday Wish List

It's Friday. And Bluefly.com is having a designer shoe sale. And while I'm not allowed under any circumstances on penalty of a horrible, painful, bloody death and dismemberment to dig into my growing house fund to take advantage of said sale, a girl can dream, right? Because, how can I celebrate walking across the threshold of my (still theoretical) new abode without some wicked fantastic heels? Shoes are my Achilles heel...but my heel would look so good in anyone of these.

Giuseppi Zanotti

Yves Saint Laurent

Christian Dior

Charles David

Gucci

Gratitude: A Letter to the Universe

Dear Universe:
Thank you for the cool water trickling through my veins at last. Thank you for sending me the impulse to buy the Harper's Bazaar Fall Fashion issue so that I could read very nearly the whole four-pound book while waiting for a plane.

Thank you for an old, worn-in and wonderful friendship. For someone who cared enough to track down and drive to the only second-run theater in the St. Louis area still showing Sex & the City so that I could see it on the big screen. Thank you for the release mid-movie where I started to cry - and I so needed to. Thank you for a dream to own the Something Blue Satin Pump.

Thank you for time surrounded by flowers and plants of both the common and exotic variety. For time spent wandering through a woodland garden that transported my spirit to England. For the spontaneity to jump in a fountain and spend the rest of the afternoon slightly damp.

Thank you for chocolate - in martinis and cupcakes and mousse and truffle cake and plain old Hershey's chocolate bars eaten in a dark theater.

Thank you for art. For the burning red intensity of the Rothko. The charred haunting representation of Chernobyl in Burning Rods. For images and lines and color and textures that coalesced into visual emotion.

Thank you for a burst of laughter, for airplaning around a living room singing "That's How You Know" - badly. Thank you for turning laughter into giggles.

Thank you, Universe, for a little break. Thank you for the joy of hugs, the joy of words between friends. The joy of silence between friends. The joy of food shared with friends.

Thank you for friends. And thank you, friend.

Love,
Ashley

A Matter of Life & Rest

Dear Martha,
A few years ago, I bought the Puffball Bed Pillow from your Martha Stewart Everday collection at the illustrious KMart. It may have been that time I was with Kim and Hoang-Anh and I dropped and smashed the Earl Gray candle from your line. Sorry about that. Anyway, that pillow is my absolute favorite and it's starting to get ratty.

Trips to three different KMarts have proven fruitless in finding a replacement. As have KMart's online store and customer service department. What gives, Martha? Somewhere between the broken candle and the ankle bracelet, you stopped making my pillow? I find that unacceptable. Insider trading I can handle, but I really, really need a new Puffball Pillow.

If you could crack the whip (without, of course, disturbing your immaculate hairstyle), and produce a Puffball Pillow for me, it would be a good thing. And I know that I really should be submitting my request in ink made from crushed cranberries and written on handmade stationery scented with lavender from my garden, but without the pillow, it's hard to get enough sleep to have the energy for those things. So this will have to do.

Thanks,
Ash

Chasing Away the Winter Doldrums In Style

I read Meg's blog this week about how February has her down. I agree...it's the shortest month of the year, and yet, somehow the longest. It's the end of winter, and the anticipation of spring is almost tangible. Even the days at work lately have been unbearable...but maybe that isn't so much the weather. Anyhoo. I decided to fight the blahs with a little fake online shopping. Behold the $651 Manolo Blahnik open-toed Orsay sandals. Deelish.

A Girl Can Dream

In light of the inherent negativity of yesterday's post, I'm making a concerted effort to be a bit more hopeful today. After all, Mr. Kudzu is snoring softly on the day bed, I managed to make dinner (1 meat, 1 vegetable, 2 startches - not bad), and we had a fantastic storm this afternoon. It rained and hailed, the parking lot flooded and lightening cut the sky in the most magnificent way.

And so now that the rain has so nicely washed away some of the heat (and the blahs), I decided to indulge in a little wishfulness. Every once in awhile, I like to think about things I would buy if money were no object. Today, it would be these Manolo Blahniks. They're the closest I could find to the ones Carrie loses at the baby shower on Sex & the City. And they're fabulous. And they're $550.