"To sleep, perchance to dream- ay, there's the rub."*

Is there nothing worse than feeling so very tired, yet being unable to sleep?

Tthe title of this post comes from Hamlet's "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy and has more to do about suicide rather than physical rest, but I like this quote nonetheless for its wistfulness.  For right now, I feel wistful for my bed.

We have had a busy weekend of preparing for family visits and trawling the city with a group of 10 people. Being 5 and a half months pregnant with a toddler in tow certainly makes it more tiring, but it was heartening to see my daughter so warmly received by her cousins (4 boys, ranging from age 13 to 7!)

So tonight as I try to finish stripping the beds and gathering the used towels while desperately wanting to head to bed and dream, I will think about the warm feelings brought on by seeing my husband's family, the adventures we had while visiting the Empire State Building, Ground Zero and South Street SeaPort.  And not to be forgotten, the great fried chicken we ate.  (Kyo-chon... this chain of korean friend chicken is a revelation!)









*Hamlet (III, i, 65-68)

"Furious Love"

Why are movie stars and their love lives so intriguing?  Why, more specifically, was Elizabeth Taylor's life with Richard Burton so compelling?  What made the public follow them with such rapt attention? Was it their drinking, their extreme spending, their chemistry, their make ups and break ups? Yes, it was all of those elements and more.  It was their dedication to one another and need to be themselves, which I think was ultimately their undoing.

After Elizabeth's death this March, I read "Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century" by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger.   I am not sure I loved it, but I am not sure if you can love a story that is marked by excess of nearly every kind.  I am sure, however, that they loved one another till the day they died; Richard in 1984 and Elizabeth in 2011.   

Look at how gorgeous they were. 

The 'Queen of Cool

Forgive the title... it's so silly in light of someone so creative, so daring, so larger than life.


Last week, I went to one of my most favorite places in the world - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  On exhibition, through the Met's Costume Institute, is "Alexander McQueen" - a showcase of just a few of the many, many brilliant articles of clothing, jewelry and shoes that were conceived by Alexander McQueen.


As many of you know, Alexander McQueen committed suicide last February just days after his beloved mother died.  Lee (as he was known in private) was shaken by his mother's death - she was one of his greatest, earliest and staunchest supporters.  Such a loss already contributed to a private life that was marked by periods of drug abuse and intense pressure to deliver collection after collection of couture clothing that not only dazzled his fans, but brought money to the companies that owned his label.


There is little to say except that he was driven by genius and madness.  Let these images tell you anything different.

"It's Only a Game" collection S/S 2005
Please also look at this headpiece - an Asian scape, hand carved.  It is not to be believed.

" It's Only A Game" S/S 2005. Lilac leather and horsehair......

In fact, as I started pulling up images from the exhibition, I realized there are too many to showcase.  Go here and be dazzled that people possess creativity, be delighted that forums exist for that creativity to be expressed, be saddened that Alexander McQueen is no longer around to enchant.