The Cute List

This follows on from the Hot List I posted last week.

As you will see, my taste in females is more eclectic, though it seems I'm consistent with the almond-shaped eyes. There would have been more, only I can't remember enough to find them.



Clockwise from top left: Kristin Kreuk, Katherine Heigl, Aishwarya Rai, Thandie Newton

Kristin Kreuk hails from Vancouver, BC. She is half Dutch, half Chinese and Jamaican. She is ever so cute in Smallville. I wish her character had fallen in love with with Clark instead of Lex. Despite not watching the show, two cast members have made it to my list. (See Hot List for Tom Welling.)

Katherine Heigl is German and Irish from Washington, DC. Not usually the look I go for, but she usually comes across as a transplant from the 1940s silver screen. Unfortunately it was difficult saving those pics. And she does a great job being Izzy in Grey's Anatomy.

Aishwarya Rai, the Bollywood princess from Mumbai. Her eyes are legendary; it's too bad I hear she's not a very nice person. I would have liked to stick to principles and leave her out for that reason, but then you wouldn't have had a list of four.

Thandie Newton is a Londoner with a Zimbabwean mother and English father, and has been on my list since I saw her in MI:2. She is such a chameleon that she looks different in every photo. Her style is impeccable and she is a real doll, perfect for dressup. So obviously, I love all her outfits!

Sorry I couldn't put up more images but it was almost past my bedtime when I started this post!
Memo - *awaiting the verdict*
Matt - adding any to your list?

This is not the end of my lists. Coming soon are the oldie classic guys and gals for Planethalder.

Plan A

TO DO:

Next week I plan to do a list of actresses to match my Hot List of actors. My problem is when I see an attractive girl on screen I say so, but can't look her up on IMDB because I don't know her name. I'm working on it, though.

For Planethalder, I will also do a hot list of vintage Hollywood hunks, and that's much easier since their names are legendary.

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UPDATE:

But for now, here's the situation. After a very dark emotional crisis over the long Easter weekend, I have decided to accelerate my move back to the US to the end of May. It's when I was originally planning to go, before I agreed to stay in this temp role until August. I thought I could make it but I can't. The next few months I liken to an aircraft stuck in a holding pattern before landing. Why hang around wasting fuel?

It's every little thing that has happened and piled up since last year. Added to that the fact that I've felt deep down for a couple of years that the time for departure was approaching. I need to change things now, before the major part of yet another year passes in stagnation.

Since making my decision, my mood has improved so much, my spirit feels lighter, and I feel less angry and stressed inside. Things about life here that would normally have me snapping or grumbling, I can now let go with little more than a shake of the head, because I can see the end of it. You should have seen me chatting, smiling and joking around at work yesterday. It was approaching my old self. It makes me sad that although my colleagues there like me, they have no idea. Except for one of the directors, who is always fun on the phone when he calls and gets redirected to me. Yesterday I returned as good as I got and he commented with delight that this must be the real Olivia, not the usual cool and professional one.

I want to recapture the strong, outgoing, resourceful, independent person I used to be before what I am now becomes permanent. I probably need a period of "rehabilitation".

I know that it won't be a bed of roses, or paradise. It might not even be the solution to my situation, but the odds are greater that things will be better. Because the bottom line is, the things I want, the life I aspire to lead, the lifestyle I need for my general well-being, are not here.

So that's that. I am going home.

The Hot List

OK. For the girls (and one or two boys (as far as I know)):

My current four faves:



Josh Lucas (1971, Little Rock, Arkansas) - has been on my list the longest. Check out those piercing blue eyes. Looking great in uniform - I first noticed him in this movie (Stealth - very cool jet fighter).




Chris Evans (1981, Boston, Massachusetts) - the one with the most official body shots, for a very good reason. Polishes up well for GQ, though. Lovely long eyelashes and soft eyes. The newest addition to my list and the baby of the bunch.



Tom Welling (1977, New York City) - the cutie boy next door with gorgeous eyes and an air of mischievous innocence. Despite being a former model, has the least body shots. I'm 16 days older than he is.



Jensen Ackles (1978, Dallas) - had to get a Texas boy in there. Hm, he does look a bit like the one in the baseball team who asked me to the high school Prom. I refused to give him my number. *kicks self*

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Do you see a theme here?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter...
Joyeux Paques...
Christos Anesti...

...and all that...am not really observing it this year, unfortunately.

Have you noticed how freezing it is in the UK this weekend? We pretty much had a sleet blizzard on and off all day. Brrrrrrr. It's the kind of damp and pervasive English cold that attacks any part of you that's not under the hot shower and gives you cold shoulders, nose and toes in the house.

Good thing Monday is a holiday (as was Friday).

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What you see below is my light ball being reflected on the underside of the one-piece lamp. Occasionally I like to gawk at the light ball for a few minutes before falling asleep. This particular effect, though, captivated me the other night as soon as I switched the lamp off.

It kind of looks like pop art doesn't it? Who knew, me doing pop art? I know! Oof...

Typecast yourself

I took it twice and got the same result, so here it is:





Now it's YOUR turn.

Another spree

Okayyyy, so I went shopping AGAIN, this time with my mother. (She doesn't know about the first one though, so shhhh.) But I replenished her supply of White Musk!


1) So my hands smell of violets when I wash them...mmmmmmm...Italian toiletries are ace.

2) You know I like buttons. Well, here are some square ones on a sweet top by Nougat. The lacework yoke isn't bad either.

3) One of the Nine West sport luxe collection. I was not looking for boots but they were an unbeatable 71% off (£115 down to £34). You can never have too many boots in a climate like this.

4) Black soap made to an ancient Moroccan recipe of extra virgin olive oil with extracts of cinnamon, eucalyptus and cedar. I cannot stop sniffing at it, the aroma is divine. Cedar gives the pungency of cinnamon a pleasant roundness - cinnamon gives the flatness of cedar a pleasant spiciness - and eucalyptus balances both with its refreshing cleanness.

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And look, it's not dark anymore when I leave the office after 6pm!

Spree Lantern Fruit

Suitably random title for an unthemed post.

I have been working hard the last couple of weeks, and we are now mostly caught up, so the other day when I got to leave at 5pm, I treated myself :)




1. Shelli Segal, bless her for making jackets in size 2. Ready for summer in linen and cotton. (My classic LBD is also "off the Laundry line".)
2. A pleasant reunion with Etienne Aigner, and in sky blue. (One of my fave pairs of shoes were by him.)
3. Some random tiny leather belt that sits discreetly on the waist. (For when I don't want a noticeable buckle.)
4. A cream t-shirt with gorgeous crocheting and lace on the yoke. (Took it home, read the label and laughed. Once again I display my penchant for Danish clothing...)

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I completely forgot to share pictures from Chinese New Year.


Paper lanterns on Gerrard Street, Soho, Chinatown's main thoroughfare



Later on, lantern light displays at Oxford Circus


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Also, a couple of weeks ago I bought a dragon fruit because Vanessa had one in Thailand and said it didn't taste of anything. The perfect reason to try it when I saw one on sale. I would try it again, just in case that particular shop wasn't carrying the best specimens.


The crimson fruit of a Mexican cactus



Tiny, crispy black seeds scattered in non-juicy flesh. It tasted almost of nothing, though I could detect a slight rooty earthiness to it.

Tag tag double tag

Minstrel tagged me, but how am I ever going to do this? Six years in London and not that much to show for it, despite living in Paul McCartney's neighbourhood for three of them...In fact, I should also have bumped into Kate Moss, Noel Gallagher, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, et al. as well.

But here goes:

The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself. Or with Sandra's change and list your 7 favorite writing websites. Lots of choices!
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.
• Include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven (In)famous people I have met or seen face-to-face:

1. Liza Minelli - during intermission at a showing of Curtains in New York. However, she was on TV here in London last week and I totally forgot I'd seen her in NYC!

2. The 11th Duke of Marlborough - at a gala banquet at Christie's. He looks like a slim version of Churchill. (The Spencer-Churchill family resemblance is strong. Compare Diana's father Earl Spencer too.) I also saw his grandson Alexander S-C, who made a speech.

3. At school I used to be friends with the niece of the man who invented the Bic pen.

4. My mother's childhood friend Nalini became Miss Guyana 1974. Later the two of them moved to London, where Nalini met my uncle, an artist who only dated titled ladies or models. This is how my parents met.

5. A former classmate is exiled royalty. There's also a friend who knows Prince Harry. And another friend of mine introduced me to his school chum who is a lord.

6. Charles Dance - British actor, in the deli meats aisle a few weeks ago at Waitrose on Finchley Road. He really couldn't decide between the Prosciutto di Parma and the San Daniele.

7. Princesses Beatrice & Eugenie, and their mother Sarah, Duchess of York - in the Harley Street area (lots of private consulting doctors). The girls got out of a chauffered dark car after Fergie pulled up in another one, and hugged her before she went on to enter one of the buildings with a bodyguard, and then the girls were whisked away once more.

However, my dad did much more hobnobbing in the glamour days, jet-setting with a Lady and dating a Rothschild. I bet his list would be really cool.

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I tag any of you who know enough people to populate a list!

Ad astra per aspera

Internet is currently down at the house and unfixable. Wi fi from next door is intermittent and weak. So I am relying on my good old phone as modem again. Yay Orange. I just really wanted to blog! Let me know if you prefer the larger text...

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I read this book a couple of weeks ago:



It is powerfully and tightly written, impossible to put down, and haunting once you've finished. The detailed descriptions of dog fights between MiGs and Sabres in the skies above Korea are totally thrilling. More than that, though, Ascent is about the men who dedicated their lives to the Soviet space programme, never destined to become heroes like Yuri Gagarin. The ultimate sacrifice necessitated total anonymity, expurgation from the files, even. But no one can erase a man from his comrades' minds, can they?

Mostly, it is about flying ace Yefgenii Yeremin and his devastating struggle to break the bonds of earth to fly amongst the stars. He would walk on the Dark Side of the moon, but no one would ever know, not even his colleagues....

You have to read it to find out why.

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I rarely remember my dreams anymore, but last night I finally captured one. I was part of a large team of astronauts gathered in a large facility. Some of us were coming, some of us were going. We were on non-stop relay missions in one-man capsules, to do what I do not know. I had just returned, put on my pyjamas and was off to join the others (also in PJs) in a lounge area to keep an eye on the status of those still on missions. As I went, I passed one of my friends (who in real life did used to work at Space Center Houston, next door to his father at NASA's Johnson Space Center!).

One dream I will never forget I had in my teens. I was in the space shuttle on the perilous re-entry into earth's atmosphere. I can still remember the vivid orange glow outside the cockpit windows...




Sadly, this image was captured during re-entry seconds before Columbia broke up over Texas in 2003. Crew likened the glow to a "blast furnace".
(Courtesy of NASA/Spaceflightnow.com)