Category: stuff I love

I can’t remember now how I stumbled upon Advanced Style, but, I’m telling you, pippa: I am so glad I did and you simply must check it out. It’s a blog devoted to the sartorial splendor of the senior citizen. (How’s that for alliteration?? Yamahama. I scare myself.) It’s not poking fun at the elderly. It’s a blog that genuinely celebrates stylish and chic old folks.

For example, this gentleman, who makes me swoon:

I love old people, honestly, I do, so this site is a new favorite of mine. I want to go to lunch with every single man and woman on that blog. I want to listen to all their stories because they all look like they must surely have them. Basically, I want to be best friends with every last one of them. The photos are fabulous. The way some of them preen and pose for the camera is priceless.

I am in LOVE with this blog. The elderly aren’t marginalized — they’re celebrated!

LOVE it.

Having the tattooed clerk at the supermarket checkout sing “I Just Wanna Celebrate” to you as he rings up your stuff.

You know, this song:

And then having him say, “Hey, I don’t get a bunch of days tacked on at the end to make up for the bad ones. I make ’em good now.”

Guess you never really know where wisdom’s going to come from, do you?

Thank you, Tattooed Dude. Thank you.

I’m kind of in love with this little kid. His name is Ethan and he has a blog all about animals. Good for you, kid.

(Although, honestly, I’m a little dismayed to learn that there are ma-a-any more, ah, “meat eaters” out there than I ever suspected, but, somehow, I will try to cope with my newfound fear that I can basically be eaten at any moment by almost anything. You know, things like salamanders and whatnot. Again, I will try to maintain my composure, although I have to say the threat of imminent death changes the entire way I view that old favorite of mine, creek-walking. Skeery.)

Nevertheless ….. the blog is pretty cool.

And I’m not ashamed to admit that while I giggled at the sweet self-description from his “About” page, I had a little lump in my throat, too:

I am in second grade, I wear glasses and love animals.

I enjoy playing sports and playing with my friends.

I am Ethan.

GO, Ethan!

I’m scared of newts now, Ethan!

Seeing a little boy sitting in a restaurant wearing a propeller beanie.

Nothing is Lost

Deep in our sub-conscious, we are told
Lie all our memories, lie all the notes
Of all the music we have ever heard
And all the phrases those we loved have spoken,
Sorrows and losses time has since consoled,
Family jokes, out-moded anecdotes
Each sentimental souvenir and token
Everything seen, experienced, each word
Addressed to us in infancy, before
Before we could even know or understand
The implications of our wonderland.
There they all are, the legendary lies
The birthday treats, the sights, the sounds, the tears
Forgotten debris of forgotten years
Waiting to be recalled, waiting to rise
Before our world dissolves before our eyes
Waiting for some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when, innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.

~ Noel Coward

Okay. I like weird stuff sometimes, but this is cool weird stuff.

Patrick Dougherty is a sculptor who uses tree saplings as construction material for his pieces. Here’s “Toad Hall,” a Dougherty installation at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden:

Uhm, I know I could get rained on and that there’s no indoor plumbing or running water or electricity or, well, anything, but I kind of want to live there. Or just sleep there overnight. Yes! A sleepover in Toad Hall would be awesome, don’t you think? Although we’d have to be careful not to burn down his sculpture when we make the S’mores. Some artists don’t like that.

Go here to click around on more of his work.

I love paper!

And I love sticks!

Go see!

Ooh, look at this! It’s the Utter Inn — located in Sweden on Lake Malaren. This is just the charming little top half of your accommodations:

Totally makes me think of Grandpa Potts’ hut in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:

Oh the posh posh traveling life!
the traveling life for me
first cabin and captain’s table
regal company!

But — there’s more to this tiny floating cabin. Oh, yes, sirree-bob! Because …. you can sleep with the fishes. (And not be dead.)

Click on that link above and check out the pictures to see what I mean! So awesome.

Port out!
starboard home!
posh with a capital P-O-S-H
P-O-S-H, P-O-S-H …
Posh