http://thesuperficial.com/image.php?path=/2007/09/0927_pamela_anderson_premiere_04.jpg Is this photoshopped?

Jealous!! So, New Yorkers can just come home from work, flip on the TV and see reviews of the runway shows while I pay to have a "Style" channel that only shows makeovers done by insipid self proclaimed stylists and wedding shows 24/7. Oh well, my condo is big! Multiple rooms! Costs 1/5th of a NY studio! Now I feel better, a little. Wonder what's on TV? My psychic powers tell me "Who's Wedding is it Anyway?" is on with the equally exciting "Design on a Dime" competing with it. That is why everyone is wearing capris people!

Here is what I want, two big 36" down/feather mix pillows for my couch, in different rich shades of brown, preferably Ultrasuede covers that can be removed by the zippers and cleaned then replaced. Do they exist in stores or only in my head? Will I have to buy a sewing machine and learn to sew in order to get what I want?? Only the future knows for sure. I need a nap before starting a quest like this.

Corbett Canyon Chardonnay was talked up a bit by the fine folks at the Box Wine blog- which would have a link inserted here if my computer or brain was co-operating- so I bought myself a box of it earlier today. It is actually good! No weird perfume in the mouth flavor and not watery kool-aid wine that the cheap kind sometimes is, and devoid of skunkiness. So yay, a find, thanks guys! And, how lovely to have a glass of wine in general after the Plague of September 2007 that I barely made it through alive. So, big plans should be on course for tomorrow but as it is 3:55am here and the wine is lovely there is a good chance I will sleep through much of the day. What? I will work out next week...

Wish of the Month- that the Style network would show lots of footage of Fashion Week, the runway shows, behind the scenes and the real reviews of the shows instead of insipid dull makeover shows and the dreaded Wedding Series. I wish this on every falling star there is this month. Also if some designers accepted the existence of breasts on women, that would be icing on the chocolate cake. Cheers!

Thank-you all for the sympathy! Well, it was pretty horrible for a while- tried every home remedy I could think of, gave in and took some liquid medicine which made my symptoms Worse and finally, desperately decided to hit a store and buy some chicken soup. After unsucessfully searching for soup that is both organic and has a lot less then 70% of the recommended amount of sodium (like I want to be sick and bloated!) I gave up and just bought the raw ingrediants to make it myself.

The soup worked! The raw sore throat that was the most painful symptom was immediately eased to a slight discomfort in the background. Go figure. So, I am looking forward to chatting with my phone friends, if I should have a coughing fit I promise to send you a couple of free minutes to make up for it next time- the coughing is still unpredictable but at least the frog voice is better.

Soup stuff list I used: all organic or no hormone/antibiotic skinless chicken thighs (on the bone is best), celery, onion, garlic, carrots, butter, sea salt, water of course. I used the butter to brown the chicken in the bottom of the dutch oven while I cleaned and chopped up the veggies, first time trying that and it made a nice richness of flavor. So happy it worked!

Sick! A sore throat doesn't sound like any big deal, well I have the mother of sore throats right now. My voice, such that it is, sounds like a frog, it feels like the back of my throat is completely closed and POO! Hate this! So, I'm not out of town or anything fun like that, and do hope to be able to take calls soon.

Lack of ice! My 'yuck' of the week was going to be Georges Debeouf Chardonnay (table wine) but, when it gets warm it is not too bad- oaky as hell but much better then it was while nicely (to my American palete) cooled. So go figure, a country that makes lack of ice a good thing, who knew?? What else, well Publix's green something brand meat is quite good, it contributed to the most awesome spaghetti EVER! Seriously, if Gordon Ramsay tasted my dish earlier tonight he would have proposed right then! I would of course have directed him to my post re marriage- after a bit of practice hehe. Where the heck is my Tarot friend??? I was worried about you until I saw that you were reading cards left and right :)

While chatting on the phone the other day, I found myself in a humorous argument over which of us sounded more like an attorney that ended up with my admission of previously considering a career in law. I chose literature for my B.A. because I love it, and knew that the grades obtained would get me into law school.

Earning that degree was wonderful, the courses were interesting, my professors were eccentric and fellow students were diverse. I was kind of depressed when I actually graduated. There I was, with the gpa and lsat scores, signed up with lsac, paid lots of fees, should have been ready to go. But I wasn't. The applications piled up, colorful with pictures of beautiful campuses and happy students. Sometimes I'd start to fill one out but mostly the pile just loomed at me from the corner of my desk. I had cold feet, so the shake myself out of it I found the "best" paralegal degree in my area and signed up for that.

At first it was ok, the classes were pretty basic, memorize stuff and take tests no biggie. The instructors were all attorneys and we asked lots of those legal questions one wonders about but never really knows the answers to (bad sentence, I know). Then came the course in Legal Research. Suddenly the only students in class were the people specifically earning a paralegal degree- that means 90% women, and the crusty old circuit judge the taught it.

If literature is a wild jungle of ideas, emotions and experiences, a groaning buffet table from Medieval Times with food piled high on everyone's plate and glasses overflowing with wine and a handsome man next to you slyly groping your thigh, then Legal Research is sitting on the floor in the corner of a cold empty jail cell with a piece of stale melba toast in your mouth. I was sliding into an intellectual coma that deepened with every hour in the law library.

Thinking I might already be dead and in Hell for all of the bad things I'd done, I figured I might as well jump of out a plane and find out. It was amazing. I never went back to class.

Product review time! A couple of weeks ago I received an insert from Clinique offering a sample of their new mascara in exchange for one of my old mascaras. Sounded good, so I went through my makeup to find one that disappointed and headed to the department store to swap it out. Well, this was my first experience with a make-up consultant that didn't want anything to do with me. As soon as she saw the insert in my hand she looked at me with thinly disguised disgust and handed me a small sample mascara and headed in the other direction. If you are unfamiliar with the world of department store make-up, I assure you this behavior is unheard of. I literally had to stop her to ask the name of the product she had handed to me and some of its features.

The most important part of mascara for me is that it coats, lengthens and does not need another brush to remove clumps. She assured me that this mascara has two tips, brush and comb, so there would be no need for another brush. Wrong. The brush side doesn't do much of anything, while the comb side gave me 4 really thick lashes which were only fixed with, wait for it, a different brush. So, Clinique high definition lashed mascara was not an upgrade. I'm considering tossing the sample.