Happy Hour With My Friends

Hound Dog by Andrew Garcia - Dancing to Paris #43

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 4
mood after - 6.5
(See mood scale in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song - Hound Dog  by Andrew Garcia - I can't find a link to upload from itunes but if you go here and "click here to get started" it will take you to the American Idol page on itunes. Then scroll down until you see Andrew Garcia's song.

Failing Forward - My Life When I Don't Dance Around My Kitchen

I haven't danced around my kitchen for 12 days. How did that happen? Now I need to dance two times a day some days in order to hit 365 days by my next birthday and award myself with a trip to Paris. 

This is what I know for sure about not dancing in my kitchen every day.

1.    I feel pretty lousy physically - more aches and pains

2.    I feel worse emotionally

3.    I have a harder time focusing

4.    I increase my risk of heart disease by 30% to 40%

5.    I am less creative

6.    I have less energy

7.    I eat fewer healthy meals and more junk

8.    I gain weight

9.    I feel old

10. I am less enthusiastic

11. My skin looks older (because of worse circulation)

12. I increase my chances of diabetes

13. Everything feels harder

I seem to do better when I know others are dancing with me. So starting May first I am going to run another Keep On Dancing Contest.

I am now going to go dance around my kitchen! Back soon.

Elizabeth Gamble Gardens Spring Tour

I had the most fun day yesterday with my friend Judy. We went to the Elizabeth Gamble Gardens Spring Tour in Palo Alto. We had lunch in the gardens and then toured the gardens of six private homes. So beautiful. I am now inspired big time to get to work on my little cottage garden. It is in serious need of some TLC.

One of the private gardens had a wooden gazebo area with eight vintage rocking chairs in a circle around a table. Each rocking chair was different. I thought it was such a cool idea. I could just imagine a summer day with a group of friends all laughing and talking and drinking wine while relaxing in those chairs.

Here is a view of the Elizabeth Gamble Gardens...loved the bunny in the bottom right. The tour is today as well...so if you are in the Palo Alto area it's a great way to spend the day. We lucked out with beautiful weather too.

This Month's Top Ten Tips From My Favorite Magazines

From Real Simple

1.  Love this clock screensaver. Click here to download.
2.  It's Real Simple's 10th anniversary and readers listed their favorite tips. A great one is to store each sheet set in a pillowcase to make linen closets neater and easier to find what you need.
3.  Avoid looking like a tourist. Snap photos of your map. You can scroll through them on the back of your camera.
4.  Use a lifesaver as a birthday candle holder on a cupcake.


From Sunset Magazine

5.  Five Great Paint Colors - Skylight, March Wind, Naples Cream, Shade of Grape and Bleeker Beige

From O Magazine

6.  Love these 24K gold-vermeil and green quartz hoops from Sissy Yates Designs.

7.  The music of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings was featured in April's O. I love the song she does with Michael Buble - Baby You've Got What It Takes  

From Elle Decoration - UK Edition - I can't seem to locate a website for them...bummer because it is a beautiful magazine.

8.  Love this clock from Biegert and Funk. It spells out the time in a LED display covered with an acrylic glass.

9.  I have a thing for retro kitchen appliances...especially if they are red. This one is from SMEG.

From More Magazine

10.  Remember these pillows? I want to fill my hammock with these from every place I travel. Paris pillow?

Dr. Dorothy Height - March 24, 1912 - April 20, 2010

Civil rights leader Dorothy Height died yesterday at age 98. She was an inspiration. Watch this terrific last interview done by icarevillage.com

Joseph's Coat Roses - Yesterday's iPhoneography

It was an incredibly beautiful day yesterday and my Joseph's Coat roses are blooming like crazy!

Hey Soul Sister - by Train - Dancing To Paris #42

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 6
mood after - 7.5
(See mood scale in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song Hey Soul Sister by Train

Hound Dog by Andrew Garcia - Dancing To Paris #41

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 6.5
mood after - 8
(See mood scale in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song - Hound Dog - by American Idol's Andrew Garcia
I love dancing to this song. I was so sad to see Andrew Garcia leave American Idol. He has a terrific voice. I like this song even more than Elvis' version. (No link to iTunes available)

The Best of Everything After 50

The Best of Everything After 50: The Experts' Guide to Style, Sex, Health, Money, and More

Update #1

I love how consise this book is - quick - easy to ready. The one thing I would have preferred was starting the book with some fun stuff like makeup and fashion and easing us into heart health and cancer. The health stuff isn't depressing...just the most important things to know to take care of ourselves. The fun stuff comes later in the book.

Favorite quote so far...."We can't control getting older. We can control how we do it." That's baby boomer women's attitude about aging in a nutshell.

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I just got this book from Amazon and it looks terrific. Will post a review once I have finished it. It's rated 5 stars at Amazon and is loaded with tips and suggestions.

TypeDrawing iPhone App

Update 
Just got an email from TypeDrawing creator Hansol Huh. The set picture size is going to be in the next app update. How cool is that - he emailed me back right away to let me know. Thanks Hansol.
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Playing with a new app I downloaded. I've been wanting to put quotes and comments on some of my pictures.

TypeDrawing.

It even lets you draw a picture with type. Only thing I don't like is it works in a rectangular format and stretches my square photos. Hopefully that will change at next update.

Why Don't We Just Dance - Josh Turner - Dancing To Paris #40

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 5.5
mood after - 7
(See mood chart in left column under the clock)

Feeling like a little country music today...
Today's Go To Song - Why Don't We Just Dance - Josh Turner

And The Winner Is...

Megan at Life As We Know It

Megan did a great job dancing around her house with her little girls. What did she win? $200 and the award button above! Congratulations Megan. Here is one of my favorite comments from Megan.

Oh, my.... Cyndi Lauper rocked our world tonight!
20 minutes...dancing with my girls. Taking a picture would have wrecked the moment..but I'll remember this night for a long time...thanks for making my heart smile tonight. (I sooo needed it)

Mood before: 6
Mood after: 9

Random Acts Of Kindness and Paying It Forward

Susan over at the blog Blackberry Jam Cafe has a terrific post up about random acts of kindness. It inspired me to look for a way each day to pay kindness forward. Click here to read her post.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Andrew Garcia Dancing To Paris Day #39

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 6
mood after - 8
(See mood chart in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Andrew Garcia

I can't seem to link to the American Idol iTunes store. But, I love Garcia's version of the Marvin Gaye Song.

After The Rain - Yesterday's iPhoneography

Mauve Tulip - Yesterday's iPhoneography

Mauve Tulip

Hold On by K.T. Tunstall - Dancing To Paris Day #38

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 6
mood after - 7.5
(See mood chart in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song - Hold On by K.T. Tunstall

iPad iWants

Oh oh. I just found out that my favorite iPhone app - Camerabag is already available for the iPad!

Craving an iPad

I am seriously wanting an iPad. Why did I not order one in advance? Now I will have to wait until mid April or will need to stand in line at an Apple Store tomorrow morning. Is it worth the chaos to get one right away? It might make a pretty good blog post tho.

Baby You Got What It Takes - Dancing To Paris Day #37

Dancing In My Kitchen
time of day - morning
how long - 30 minutes
mood before - 6
mood after - 7.5
(See mood chart in left column under the clock)

Today's Go To Song - Baby You Got What It Takes - Michae Bublé

Looks Like Sunshine - Today's iphoneography

Looks like the sun is coming out today in the wine country!