MERRY CHRISTMAS

click on title

A Charlie Brown Inspired Christmas

All Images © Simone Rene 2009

Music Video Break Day

click on title

Happy Festivus George

click on title

Tuesday's Mental Musings

I wonder how many Christmas cookies I can indulge in before my jeans won't button any more....

DEAR EDITOR

I am 8 years old.  Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O'HANLON.

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.


Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.


Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.


You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

=

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

Music Video Break Day

click on title

Happy Winter Solstice

click on title

Windows on A Christmas World

Now that all that shopping is out of the way take this week to enjoy some traditional New York City holiday attractions like making your way from department store to department store to gaze at the wonderful window winter wonderlands and holiday displays. Here's the short list -


Macy's Basics
Herald Square, Broadway between 34th and 35th Streets
212-695-4400



Lord & Taylor Basics
39th Street at 5th Avenue
212-391-3344

Saks Fifth Avenue Basics

611 Fifth Avenue (at 49th Street)
212-753-4000


Bergdorf Goodman Basics
754 Fifth Avenue (at 58th Street)
1-800-558-1855



Bloomingdales Basics
1000 Third Avenue at 59th Street
212-705-2000 

Music Video Break Day

click on title

What a wonderful gift

Thanks New York Times

(click on title)

Santa, Don't Forget Stocking Trinkets Like These..

http://www.yurdan.com/yrdn/ProductDetails.aspx?MSCSProfile=DCCDF22EB27065BE873E77100669B211AFEB5645BC33D5ED0E4B5911F361267F594A685B06D5F9719B903B53ECD5BD6A655A0A4F014E9E87D56AE01455C41C063558835792CBE13B3044EEED07B4021307533BB6B75A50A3501EE8B95CECF1E19F58AF7AA93FD9ABB82FAA11F781F7D624557FEC6BEE45A5C8059A9686292F8C&UserPref=&catalogID=YRDN_Jewellery&categoryID=&productID=TEE0114

http://www.yurdan.com/yrdn/ProductDetails.aspx?catalogID=YRDN_Jewellery&categoryID=YRDN_Jewellery&productID=HQSE001&BC=YRDN_Jewellery

http://www.yurdan.com/yrdn/ProductDetails.aspx?catalogID=YRDN_Jewellery&categoryID=Jewellery_Antique_Bracelets&productID=TEB0014&BC=YRDN_Jewellery;Jewellery_Antique_Bracelets

or anything else from yurdan.com

Music Video Day Break

click on title

All Images © Simone Rene 2009

Not A Last Minute Gift

A December fashion magazine featured these fresh water pearl earring by Ted Muehling.

They were priced at $5,700.00

What size are these pearls?

Last Minute Gift Idea for Her

I have always thought bracelets were the perfect gift for a guy to give a girl, especially if the commitment level is still in question. Like a ring it is an endless hoop, which might symbolize connection, but unlike a ring or earrings or a necklace there is less pressure in giving or receiving a bangle.

JCP has a large selection of options that fit almost any relationship or budget.

http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X3.aspx?DeptID=56856&CatID=56863

Music Video Day Break

click on title

Tuesday's Mental Musings

As an artist I work alone. In that alone time I sort out the concept and foundation of the piece I am making. I am not a commission artist. I make art to please myself, but when I do need to work with others to actualize a piece of art work I am always grateful when I find another that can fulfill that need. This doesn't mean that collaborations aren't frustrating and that mistakes, sometimes costly in comparison to my income, aren't made. Shit happens and when it does I find that by being direct, fair and respectful with those who I asked to be part of my project that we tend to come to resolutions that satisfy all parties involved. By doing so I have also developed a working relationship based on respect and fairness and find that it is easier for me to depend on those whose services I need. See everyone can be replaced and there is always someone out there that will promise to do it faster and/or cheaper but that doesn't mean they will invest their best when I need them do. It just means they will get the job done.

Ways to Spread Christmas Cheer

Sometimes we can be blinded by the material fixes and immediate gratification that this time of year seems to stress. Out of guilt and desire to be more in the spirit of "giving" many of us find our selves dropping coins and dollars into the buckets of large charities or writing checks to mail to organizations that have tiers of need for that donation.


There are other ways to give. 
They require more effort and creativity but can affect change-
- donate to coat drives
- donate canned foods to kitchens and food programs
- share time and holiday spirit with seniors or shut ins
- donate toys for tots
- ask if there is anything the local shelter needs for the holiday, i.e. decorations, foods, gifts or cheer
- ask local churchs about donating time to soup kitchens or their programs
- head to the Vet or Senior Centers to see if someone needs a place to have Xmas dinner
- get a group of friends together to adopt a family and fulfill their Xmas wishes - from food, clothing, a down payment on an apartment or cookies
- send PJs and Blankets and cheer to hospices
- donate blood or bone marrow
- make a basket and leave it anonymously on the front door of a neighbor you know is hurting


We teach by example, not just by donation and change begins with small steps..Merry-Merry

Dream Book Collection

The Penguin Clothbound Classics  are the books I want to be housed behind the glass doors in that bathroom libary. Each book in the collection is graced by designer Coralie Bickford-Smith's amazing printed case wrap design. No two are alike in color or motif.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=clothbound+classics

Perhaps I should start collecting them now in case they go out of print before I can realize that bathroom dream?

Personalizing Your Library

I dream of having a bathroom big enough to house my library. There would have floor to ceiling glass doored book shelves that protect all the books and maybe housed a few towels and pretty bars of soap. There would also be a library ladder on rails. It's a dream, a good dream but making it into a reality isn't my priority right now though personalizing the books I do have with beautiful book plates is.  

Cavallini Bookplates are beautifully illustrated and Amazon has the motherload of options http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Cavallini+Bookplates

Check out Cavallini & Co's site for more wonderful stationary options

http://www.cavallini.com/ )

Music Video Break Day

click on title

Music Video Day Break

click on title

El Museo del Barrio

continues to celebrates the October re-opening of it's remodeled building by hosting an exhibition that examines the pioneering Caribbean and Latin American artists that lived and worked in New York City before World War II.

Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis

Saturday, October 17, 2009 - Sunday, February 28, 2010

for full review -

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/arts/design/16nexus.htm?_r=1

For details go to

http://www.elmuseo.org/

Jewelry With Meaning

I love jewelry that has meaning.

I am a sucker for coin charms and lockets and medallions and that's why I love this "Open Pathways" Necklace from Satya Jewelry.

 As per http://www.satyajewelry.com/ "this grouping spells out a wish for clarity and and open heart, and the fruition of all the hard work and energy the wearer has offered to make her (his?) dreams come true".