Just in time for the New Year

  I have no momentous feats to my name, no relations to any person famous, no mad "skillz", and am expert at nothing. I am just an everyday being getting by one day at a time. 

     GoogleNews is my homepage.  Every time I turn on my computer it pops up.  I like to read over the headlines to keep myself posted on important topics in the rare case of intelligent conversation. The headlines are so bad as of late that more and more I feel like to survive past my thirtieth birthday, and to be a  member of a society that I think is worthy of bringing children in to, I need to create of my own Utopia, or, in an even better scenario, stumble upon one in a plane wreck i.e. Dagny Taggart.  (If you know of the person that I am referring to, I like you).  In an effort to not get caught up in the exhausting amount of bad news, people, decisions, etc, that are affecting us ALL, I have recently been turned on to the idea of the pursuit of beauty, whether it be a divine meal, a baby sleeping, a work of art, a shared sense of humor, a dress that takes your breath away, unconditional love, or a hot bath after a long night's work.  I believe that it is through these unexpected gifts my sanity remains intact.  This idea will not be a new one to those of you that have read Muriel Burberry's The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  I am seeing if my outlook changes on life at all after 365 days of being thankful and appreciative for what I can find.  Thrown in there will be random thoughts, encounters and experiences of mine.

So, to leave you with, on the eve of the New Year, behold a few recent encounters with beauty I have experienced.

First, the dress worn by Lake Bell on the cover of the January 2011 issue of Town and Country...from Oscar de la Renta:

Ahhh, I want one in my size to wear whenever I have a ball to go to which is...well, never.

Finally, in my pursuit of beauty, the meal I had with a good friend on a chilly Charleston, night at High Cotton. To warm up I ordered an Old Fashioned; for my meal I began with a classic Caesar salad with sourdough croutons followed by the Wild American Shrimp and Grits. To quote from the menu this dish consists of "smoked chicken andouille sausage, charred tomatoes, fennel, leeks, sweet shrimp broth".  Both were divine.  I finished it all off with a Grand Marnier creme brulee.  I can only afford to eat like this once in a blue moon, but that just adds to its perfection, right?