Anne of Carversville

Roving Bands of Partying Ladies Cozy Up to “Girls Night: The Musical”

July 3, 2009

Today’s Wall Street Journal writes that “Girls Night: The Musical” has sold out since it opened, and its producer is looking for a permanent home in Manhattan. The Off Broadway show is marketed to women and could care less if there’s not a man in the house.

“Girls Night: The Musical” celebrates female friendships as a “source of resilience and strength”.

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Diana Krall: The Quiet Storm

July 3, 2009

“I was an emotional wreck,” the world’s premier jazz singer Diana Krall told the London Times, reflecting on her White House gig singing Stevie Wonder songs for the Obamas. “It gives me goosebumps even thinking about it.”

Smart Sensuality woman Diana Krall was in New York last week, playing at Carnegie Hall with songs from her new CD Quiet Nights. Krall schmoozed with the NYTimes, surprised that President Obama was unaware that she’s married to Elvis Costello, who is very much the house husband these days, to their twins boys Dexter and Frank.

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More Sandra Day O’Connor

July 2, 2009

We posted Aspen video and some commentary about former Supreme Court Justice O’Connor in yesterday’s Redtracker Feature. This Daily Beast Walter Isaacson interview with the ‘unemployed cowgirl’, as she referred to herself in the opening reception to the Aspen Ideas Festival, came out of Colorado.

The always frank O’Connor tells Isaacson that she was very unhappy that she wasn’t replaced on the Supreme Court by a woman. We miss you, former Justice O’Connor, and we’re very happy that you beat colon cancer. Anne

I just found this recent video of Sandra Day O’Connor on David Letterman:

“Letterman - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor”

Information If Not Answers on Natural Menopause Remedies

New York July 2, 2009

Yesterday’s NYTimes article on natural remedies for the symptoms of menopause added little to the dialogue. But it did reference a new book on the subject, Winifred Cutler’s “Hormones and Your Health: The Smart Woman’s Guide to Hormonal and Alternative Therapies for Menopause” (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).

We’ve read Cutler’s other books and found them to represent solid research and progressive thinking.

Two Oldies but Goodies Rock On With Riches

New York July 1, 2009

Anne here, having a personal reflection. In all honesty, the terrific Twiggy never reminded me of anything but the need to go on a diet. That’s my challenge, not hers.Twiggy was great.

Looking at Twiggy today, she reminds me of what’s right with my own over-50-face, so there’s no running away from her now.

Fresh faced: Photo of sixties icon Twiggy released as she is announced as the new face of Olay just months before her 60th birthday Still lean but never mean, Twiggy has a new job. Three months before turning 60, the former supermodel has returned to Olay, as the 12-month face of Olay’s Definity anti-ageing brand.

I have no idea whether Twiggy and Dame Shirley Bassey even know each other. Perhaps they just intersect in my private mind.

The Daily Mail writes that 72-year-old Dame Shirley has just signed a deal for £500,000 to record just one album. I’ve used Shirley Bassey’s music in my presentations, and I can confirm that my young audience loves her message.

Eat your heart out £250 Hunter wellies: Dame Shirley was the original boot queen at Glastonbury in 2007; via UK Daily MailAs for myself, Shirley Bassey’s Get the Party Started is Number 1 on my i-Pod for self-motivation, exercise, getting myself out of a bad mood. Shirley’s my girl. Did I mention that Shirley Bassey’s a quintessential Smart Sensuality woman. Well she is!

Rock On, ladies! Anne

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Cigar-Smoking Democratic Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy Attempts to Break California Government Impasse

New York July 1, 2009

The Wall Street Journal paints a vivid picture of Susan Kennedy, the nonpartisan, no-nonsense chief of staff to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Kennedy smokes stogies with the gov in California’s capitol grounds smoking tent, and she plays paintball. In a gesture unthinkable to most American businesswomen, Kennedy has a picture in her office of her sitting in the governor’s lap after lawmakers passed last February’s budget.Schwarzenegger calls her ‘his partner’, although Kennedy already has one with whom she lives in Marin County.

Kennedy’s job now is to keep California from sinking into the Pacific Ocean in a gridlocked partisan impasse, more serious than the one in New York state.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon Will Visit Burma Seeking Release of Aung San Suu Kyi

London June 30, 2009

Moon will arrive in Burma as Ms Suu Kyi’s trial resumes in the charge that he received a clandestine visit from an eccentric American.

The UN Secretary General is seeking the release of all political prisoners and an improvement to drastic humanitarian conditions on the ground. Story via London Times

See our former Redtracker post: Secretary of State Clinton Calls for Suu Kyi Release

Politico Shares the Inside Story of Nancy Pelosi’s Big Climate Bill Win

Washington D.C. June 30, 2009

Politico tells the inside story of Nancy Pelosi’s climate bill victory, holding a fragile Democratic coalition together in the US Congress. Relating the vision of Pelosi drifting in and out of tense discussions, impossible to miss in an arctic-white linen pantsuit, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gambled big and pulled off one of the most important legislative victories of her career, a win she views as a personal vindication, according to those close to the San Francisco Democrat.

“There’s no question about it,” (Majority Whip) Clyburn said after the vote. “She went back to her whipping days of old. She is an incredibly good whip. I’m trying to learn from her every day.”

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Arab Influences Make Strong Statements in Designer Menswear Collections

Arab inflected men’s fashion, from left: Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Versace, Givenchy, John Galliano and Dior Homme.

New York, June 30, 2009

In our ongoing look at Arab influences on global dressing, the NYT moment blog takes a look at Arab influences in the current menswear collections. The perspective is more than clothes. Writer Stefano Tonchi marries politics, society and style in his comments about the relevancy of Arab influences in modern style.

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Madonna’s Daughter Lourdes Practices Stellar Shuttle Diplomacy in Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s Thawing Personal Relations

Clinging on: Madonna and Mercy leave the Kabbalah centre yesterday

London, June 29, 2009

Mercy is in London with Madonna and the two appear to be getting along famously. The real story though is about Madonna’s biological daughter Lourdes, written about more than once as a young woman wise beyond her years and a bonafide Smart Sensuality woman in the making.

It helps, too, that Madonna and Lourdes are genuine gal pals. The Daily Mail reports that Lourdes is responsible for the thaw in Madonna’s relationship with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. The word is that Ritchie spent Friday night bonding with Mercy and mending fences with Madonna.

Happy: Lourdes is said to have persuaded her mother and former step-father to try and get along

Let me not attribute “who did what” talk here. I’m writing about the topic because it’s no secret that I’m a Madonna fan and their divorce upset me. If they can mend some dissonant fences between them, I’m all for it.

The Daily Mail says that Lourdes really misses Guy and is working hard to bring him back into the Madonna family. Madge apparently agrees, and Guy’s friends say that he’s crazy about Mercy. It was his objection to the adoption that served as the official reason for their divorce.

Kudos to you, Lourdes. Keep up the good work. Anne

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Turning Used Bras Into Planters Is the Ultimate Idea for Smart Sensuality Gardeners

The crazy Brits are at it again. I trust that after you read my post about female voices successfully inspiring tomato plants, you will take seriously the intention of England’s Ramsey Horticultural Society members to turn unwanted bras, boxer shorts and jockey pants into a display at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show next month.

‘Due to their conical shape bras are ideal containers for turning into hanging baskets, and if you sew two together you have what is best described as a “hanging bra-sket”,’ she said.

‘Once filled with compost you can grow salad leaves, herbs, alpine strawberries and even tumbling cherry tomatoes in them.

‘The bigger the bra the more you can grow.