Vacation Reading

Yes, next month I will be out of the country, away from my computer and my billable hours tracker, away from the courts, Westlaw, and the unpredicable New England weather (60 degrees yesterday, 90 today!). I've billed a gazillion hours this month...with several late nighters, one complete all nighter and another one or two on the way, so I will be ready for the R&R.

For 9 days, the husband and I will lounge on the beaches of Aruba...and I've already warned him that first three or four are going to be filled with almost nothing but sunning, sleeping, and reading. And I love nothing more than reading in a chair on the beach, with the sun on my face, sand in my toes, and the surf as my background soundtrack. I'm banning law-related books from this vaca (politics, though, is okay), so I had to search for a few of the past several years' bestselling fiction.

My friend Yummy Mummy was kind enough to lend me some books, so I will be reading, in this order:

The Mister is bringing, among other books, this one, which I am hoping to read when he's done. It's about 600 pages so I hope he gets through it quickly enough for me to read as well.

Celeb Wedding of the Week

Note:  The broken link to the Daily Mail has been fixed. Enjoy!

Venice, Italy was clearly THE place to be this weekend. If you happened to be in the tiny, tiny canal city, you might have bumped into some of these peeps on the AH-MAY-ZING guest list for Salma Hayek's second wedding to billionaire François-Henri Pinault:

Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Woody Harrelson, Olivier Martinez, Luis Miguel, Ashley Judd, Stella McCartney, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Bono, Gael García Bernal, Enrique Murciano, David Blaine, Ziyi Zhang, Anna Wintour and former French President Jacques Chirac.

Imagine running into the Vogue editor-in-chief/goddess herself in St. Mark's Square, or passing by any one of the A-list celebs in one of Venice's many small lanes and cafes, sailing by in one of the many gondoliers, or even on the vaporetto! 

The fashion worn to the wedding was incredible...you can see pictures of many of the guests in this article by the Daly Mail. Salma wore a Balenciaga wedding gown by Nicholas Ghesquiere. And the locale was the stunning La Fenice opera house (owned by Mr. Pinault...who also runs the Gucci Group, including Balenciaga!).
















Sigh...they are quite the lucky couple. First they had an intimate Valentine's day wedding in Pinault's hometown of Paris, and then a swanky affair in my favorite Italian city (Rome is a veryvery close second!). Congratulations to the couple and their daughter, and best wishes for many many happy years together!


And finally, on the topic of celebrity weddings that no one actually cares about, Barbie and Ken ...um, I mean Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (who seems to be made of more plastic than the beloved little doll)...officially tied the knot this weekend.











Apparently, due to the sour economy they couldn't get an exclusive picture deal with any of the celebrity rags. Does this mean Spedi's interminable 15 minutes of fame are mostly up? Dear lord, let's hope so!

Have you thanked your lawyer today?

Not content to let secretaries, er, I mean, Administrative Professionals have all the fun, an organization of non-lawyers has seemingly created a "National Be Kind to Lawyers Day" and supporting website. Please visit today for tips on how to participate. I'm not a public official, so I can freely accept offers of free dinners, tickets, spa services, and even flowers. Hurry soon, I'm feeling a little underappreciated!

Wild Turkeys Are Loose!

Yes, it was a very strange sight. The first one I encountered on Saturday was just clucking along over in Newton Centre on the BC Law campus...the second was not content to just walk along, and stopped traffic all down Kenrick Street at the Brighton/Newton line. The feisty one approached each car, including mine, as if the car was a rival approaching. As each car tried to pass by sloooowly, the bird splayed its plume and rushed the car head on - if the car attempted to drive to the left or the right of it, the turkey followed. When I got to the head of the line, it actually PECKED my car...no damage, thankfully!

Pictures of the Week: Revere Beach

On Friday I had an 8:30 a.m. meeting on the North Shore that ended more quickly than expected and, as I drove back to Boston on Route 1A, I had an overwhelming desire to see the ocean. When I passed by Revere, I took a left and drove the one block to the beach and parked. It was striking to see the emptiness and quietness of Revere Beach in the off-season. The yellow sand was clean and smooth from the winter of waves, and the water was bluer than I remembered. I couldn’t resist dipping my toes in the ocean (cold, but completely refreshing. really, not that bad!) and lounging in the sun on the sea wall for a few moments. My head cold, which I had been battling since Sunday, seemed to disappear as my lungs filled with the salty air, and I was re-energized enough to work until nearly 10 pm that evening.

Can I tell you how grateful I am to live a twenty minute drive from the beach?

Lounging on the seawall after the walk back from the surf.

It was a picture perfect mid-morning break.

Vacation Playlist

I'm currently listening to Bob Marley to get in the "Caribbean state of mind." It occurred to me that I need to start putting together a vacation playlist very soon for our vacation to Aruba next month.













Photo of the beach near our hotel, with one of the famous divi trees. Yes, it is heavenly and yes, I know how lucky I am to be going.

Here's what I've come up with for our playlist to get us on Island Time:

1. One Love - Bob Marley
2. Sail Away - David Gray
3. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
4. Sitting Waiting Wishing - Jack Johnson
5. Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'
6. Stir it Up - Bob Marley
7. Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

I'll also include anything by Shaggy, and a whole bunch more of Bob Marley and Jack Johnson - it's quintessential island music. I'll need to flesh it out with some more reggae, steel drum, and jazz. What's on your island playlist?

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this gorgeous post-sunset photo from our hotel pool! CANNOT wait!

He can fight cancer AND tame my curls?

Now that's something I'm willing to try.

I know I'm blessed to have hair that I can do different things with - go natural and very curly, go wavy, or go straight.

But the fact that it is curly means that it takes much time to do whatever style I choose - I can't just jump out of the shower and go or it will be a frizzy mess. Plus, I'm constantly having to choose a hairstyle based on the weather. Is it going to rain, in which case straight hair is out, be too windy and cause the curls to flatten out, or be too humid and leave me with no good options?

My time in the morning is limited. I'm a younger attorney with a lot of responsibility for someone my level so I need my appearance to be presentable and polished. And all of that takes time. I can spend 20 minutes straightening my hair with a silicone-based product, very large round boar's head brush and my ceramic/tourmaline hair dryer, go out into very humid weather and have it all curl up in 10 minutes flat.

Now an MIT professor who also researches cures for cancer is promising a miracle no frizz product that's NOT silicone-based (which can sometimes be heavy and sticky) but based on an entirely new molecule (presumably not the same one they're using to try and cure cancer!).

The result is No Frizz from Living Proof. I am headed to Sephora after work (and after drinks with Frogger.) to pick up a bottle.















It's time to try something new and I was particularly worried about taming the hair in Aruba. Did you ever see the episode of Friends where Monica's hair frizzes out of control in the Caribbean? That is my fear exactly. We will be close to the equator and it will be HOT!

Look for my review soon!