Silent? Who, me??

Sorry for the flat-line lately! I promise I'll be catching you up on all the craziness of the last week...

Posts to come:
-our first anniversary!!
-my upcoming birthday and lake weekend
-misheard lyrics (for yeeeears!)
-a Carolina girl goes to Broadway as Elle Woods!
-the unbearable whiteness of being (that's right - I'm excessively pale)
-dog friendly vacations
-I think I killed a squirrel!
-the blogs we visit daily

I promise to fill everyone in shortly...I've missed y'all!

In the meantime, go look at adorable Maggie. I dare you not to smile!

This woman will be 63 next weekend...

Holy gym membership, Helen Mirren!!

I can't even talk about it. I'm so flabbergasted that I'm turning off dinner and going to do a few thousand crunches.

In the meantime, enjoy some wise and witty commentary from the Fug girls as well as a British piece about Helen's bikini starting a revolution. Or at least changing the way we look at aging.

Two thumbs up for confidence... And big high fives to whomever gave the Oscar-winning Ms. Mirren her fantabulous genes.

Choreographer Mia Michaels would say this is banoodles - and she'd be right.

Brangelina's Brood Expands

Welcome to the world, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline!

That brings the Jolie-Pitt brood to six children, split right down the middle by gender. According to CNN, the two most attractive actors on Earth, as voted recently in a People survey, have children of the following ages:

Maddox, 6
Pax, 4
Zahara, 3
Shiloh, 2
Knox and Vivienne - newborns

Wow. That's a lot of diapers, tiny socks, toys with itty-bitty parts and picky eaters. And I thought one laundry-hungry lab was a lot to handle!

Anyone want to estimate how much the golden twins' photos will garner? If memory serves, People got the rights to baby Shiloh's photos for a few million - all of which went to charity.

P.S. I got one out of four names right - wahoo for Marcheline! Sorry, Jennifer, but nary a GrapeNut in the bunch.

Thank you, Mr. Postman

I thought yesterday was a great mail day - and we all know how much I love mail. Seriously, it makes my life. Started in college, has grown into an obsession. I have to believe that's where my stationery and correspondence addiction is rooted: I send everyone cards for any conceivable number of reasons, all because I know how fabulous it feels to have something tumble out of the mailbox besides a bill.

Opening today's mailbox was like hitting the jackpot - and doing it all while on the phone with my adorable Erin after many missed calls was even better!

Contents of Anne's mailbox:
-Oprah magazine
-Charleston magazine
-Town and Country magazine
-Themis (What publication operates under such a trendy title? That would be Zeta's national magazine. ZLAM it up!)
-Nordstrom's sale catalog
-eBay package

Yesterday's adorable party invitation and love note from a friend pale in comparison to the fifteen pounds of pure love I carted up the driveway. Sigh. You know it's been a long week when it's only Wednesday and this is what thrills you!

Enough chatting - I'm off to write a thank you note.

Sunday, lovely Sunday...

Okay, that's not how the song goes - but for the sake of the latest celebrity baby, I am changing the lyrics for a moment. Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban have just welcomed a baby girl who will be taunted enough on the playground without my virtual help.

Welcome to the world, little Sunday Rose Kidman Urban! My cube neighbor Jennifer believes you will undoubtedly be joined by a sister in the coming years to share your crazy name pattern. Tuesday Lily Kidman Urban has a lovely ring to it.

On that note, with Brangelina's babies on deck next, let's make some predictions.

Jennifer predicts Jacques Cousteau and Guadalajara Domingo. (Domingo is Sunday in Spanish.) She has reserved Panda GrapeNut for her own future offspring.

With siblings named Maddox Chivan, Pax Thien, Shiloh Nouvel and Zahara Marley, I predict the newest additions to the Jolie-Pitt brood will be Scheherazade Solstice and Marcheline Aurora. Marcheline was Angelina's mother, who passed away in recent years, though apparently she had changed her own name from Marcia Lynne to Marcheline. Way more cosmopolitan.

They should mix in another last name for these two as well - perhaps to reflect Angelina's birth name. (As the daughter of Jon Voight, she was born Angelina Jolie Voight.) So I'm putting my invisible money on Scheherazade Solstice Voight-Jolie-Pitt and Marcheline Aurora Voight-Jolie-Pitt.

If they're bright children and well-tutored, they should be able to spell their full names by sophomore year of college, for sure. Thank goodness they'll be gorgeous!

What are your predictions for the Brangelina babies?
(Ashlee Simpson Wentz is bound to make a timeless name choice as well. If only Paris Hilton would have a baby...wouldn't that be some tabloid name fodder?)

Fireworks and flags

Happy 4th of July, beautiful ladies!! (You too, Dad and Bradley.)

Please have a safe and fabulous holiday weekend and wave a sparkler for me. (I'm terrified of sparklers - fear of frying my fingers, I suppose. That's another story for another day...)

While we're on the subject, an expression I read once has stuck with me because it's so true: You're all sparkles in my life. No cheese - just fact. I appreciate the friendships you've given me this year and always. What would I without you?

I'll be thinking of everyone from the lake this weekend, where Bradley, Blue and I will be enjoying some family time and long-awaited R&R. The SPF is about all we've packed...and the most essential item besides my summer reading and my two guys.

Call me, text me, or leave a comment and tell me what you're up to for the 4th. Let's go celebrate our independence, y'all!

"It is for freedom that we have been set free."
-Galatians 5:1

xoxo,
A.

Netflix for Magazines?

Magazine lovers of the world rejoice? (Question mark?)

Maghound set to open in September

MagHound: Another interesting media business model