A Few Glimpses of Baku

I'm so excited to share the following documentary trailer with you! It's called Azerbaijan Open. The trailer shows you just a few glimpses of Baku but it's enough to see what a beautiful and interesting city it is.

I'd love to visit one day. Not only because one of my good friends is from Azerbaijan (thanks Nikki for sharing this video with me) but also because my father's family is from that region of the world and I've always wanted to see and experience the Azeri culture.



I'm not sure when the movie comes out but keep an eye out for it!

Beautiful Butterfly Cupcakes!

I saw these a few days ago on one of my favorite blogs, Sweet Tea and Sunshine, and haven't been able to get them out of my mind since!  Wow, how beautiful and lovely are these?

Then I went to the food blog, Annie's Eats, that originally posted about how to make them.  Wow, this woman is amazing.  She's a doctor and cooks and bakes for a hobby and you should see the stuff she makes!  I'm all for making my kids cookies or cupcakes once in a while but this might be a little beyond my cupcake making skills!  Who knows maybe in a few years.

Hats off to Annie for making these delectable treats.  :)

A Little Soap Box

I think the show The Bachelor is so awful.  It's completely demeaning to women and sets a terrible example for young girls.  I cringe at the way they pit women against each other for the affections of a man. And don't get me started on how the women use any means possible to get the attention of this one alpha man that finds himself worthy to judge and test each of them.  Arghhhh, it's just awful.

OK, now I will get off my soap box.   :)

I'll be back in a few hours with something yummy to share with you!

Homage To My Hips

I was looking up the word "homage" when I found this poem.  It made me laugh and think about how fun it would be to write a poem to your body.  I've always been one of those women that has fought the stereotype of having to fit into a certain mold to feel beautiful and sexy.  God knows it's not easy to have a positive and healthy self image all the time, especially in this society but it's worth a try.

Looking back at all the sizes and shapes I've been, I'm always amazed by the times I've felt the most beautiful and how these times correlate to totally different body weights and shapes.  It's a cliche but it is really a state of mind.  Now if only I could remember that when I'm trying on something that I love but that clearly doesn't love me!


Homage to My Hips

these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top

Lucille Clifton

Not Bad At 88!

This is my homage to Betty White!

As many of you know, I'm a huge Golden Girls fan and have loved seeing Betty on that show for years.  I had no idea what an amazing career she has had.  She's been acting for 65 years, she started with television itself!  I found out about her long career the other night as I watched her receive the lifetime achievement awards on the Screen Actor's Guild awards.

If you like Betty White or the Golden Girls, you'll enjoy seeing the history of Betty's career.

Skip to about the 3:00 minute mark to see Sandra Bullock's introduction of Betty or you can skip right to the montage of Betty's career which starts at around the 5:18 mark. (They took the video off so I've included a Golden Girls clip montage instead!)

Pinki's Beautiful Smile

I just stumbled on an amazing documentary called Smile Pinki by Megan Mylan.  It was heartbreaking in parts but so moving and uplifting.

Have you heard of it?

The documentary follows a young Indian girl and boy, Pinki Sonkar and Ghutaru Chauhan, as Pinki's cleft lip and Ghutaru's cleft palate are repaired. The film was commissioned and funded by the American charity Smile Train, a group that pays local doctors in 75 developing countries to perform the simple surgery that parents of such children rarely know is possible.

The documentary won an Academy Award and as a result of the accolades that the movie received, not only did the charity benefit but the two beautiful kids in the movie benefited also.  Pinki's family got a new house, and her village was given a new well for potable water.  Both have also received scholarships to better schools.


With so much hardship in the world, it's great to see the work of these amazing groups helping children around the world.  

Here's the trailer:

Complicated Is So Funny!

I went out with a few of my girl friends last night and saw It's Complicated.

OMG....it was so funny! We laughed our butts off. I would see it again just to see the gorgeous scenery (Santa Barbara...wow, that's a beautiful place...who gets to live there and what do I need to do to end up there one day?). And Alec Baldwin, he was hilarious...suprisingly fat and hairy but hilarious and kinda sexy. And Meryl Streep, wow, perfect for that role. The only thing I found a little strange was Steve Martin's face. If you've seen it, tell me what you think...wasn't his face a little weird? It just didn't seem...right.

I just loved the movie and would totally recommend it.