What Family Values?

Ok, so Sarah Palin had her baby with Down's syndrome which is admirable when many were telling her not to. She is staunchly opposed to abortions. Who isn't really? The difference is us reasonable people believe in access to birth control so there ARE fewer abortions. But I digress....

But IMO returning to work only 3 days after the baby is born is definitely NOT a family value. Suppose the tables were turned and she was, say, a senator from Delaware who had lost her spouse in a car accident. I somehow could not see her going through the hassles of commuting to and from home each night after work to be with her kids if she had someone else to look after them. Not if she's willing to walk away from a 3 day old newborn and to top that, one with Down's syndrome.

The mind boggles. The mind remembers Barney Frank's quip about life beginning at conception and ending at birth.

Do we REALLY want someone like this a heartbeat away? I don't. I'll take the guy who can and has changed diapers but who's also stood up to Slobodan Milosevic.

I'm a reasonable person.

Lavender Moon Soap Company

I dithered on whether to blog about this find - was fragrance and bath really relevant to a preppy, political blog?

I decided that yes, it was. Because every preppy I've met, whether they're a sporty prep wearing a polo shirt and chinos or a more upper east side kind of prep in an LBD or business suit, cares about the total package. His or her hair is nicely styled, maybe simply, maybe in a way that needs more maintenance but on him or her it looks just right. And he or she usually prefers some sort of fragrance. It's usually a just showered kind of scent, could be citrusy, on women maybe a light floral. Sometimes it's a more intense spicy fragrance but never applied in a heavy handed way. Most of us modern preppies need to work so we can live in the (nearly always) ONE house we own and don't want our coworkers or fellow commuters to be overpowered by fragrance.

Various places I've discovered in the past year have had little attention but are either right in the suburbs, or not far away. Lavender Moon is such a place. Located in the Creekside Shopping Center in Winchester, it offers a variety of soaps, bath gels, lotions, bath teas, even gifts for the little ones. I bought the Hydrangea and Fabulous scents. Fabulous is indeed worthy of its name, citrusy but with a floral hint. Hydrangea is a shower fresh floral, very grown up and not sweet but not heavy either, a nice compliment to a preppy look or to wear in the office.

It's a huge plus that the packaging has a preppy but sophisticated sensibility too, featuring various sizes of polka dots and trimmed with polka dot ribbon...in lavender and black. It's also a huge plus that yes, for those of you who can't make it to Winchester, there's an online store.

I can't wait to go back for the soaps. Lovely and indeed fabulous.

Let Warner Be Warner

There's worry that Mark Warner's keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention won't sound quite the right note, that it will be too bipartisan, not meaty, not angry.

I say count to 10 folks, be patient, the Democrats are warming up and Mark Warner being from Virginia, a decidedly purple place, is going to sound just the right notes for tonight. This is strange territory, it's not quite the North or the South, and not quite Red or Blue anymore (though I'm hoping like mad it will be a BLUE violet after November). And he is trying to get a job, that of US Senator from a decidedly purple place.

What's more we are a big tent. Unlike the Dark Side, we can and should have diversity not just in terms of race and gender, but in how we get things done and get our message across. Everyone has a purpose in this.

After this warm up, the zingers will come. Tomorrow night in prime time.

Biden Now More Than Ever

This is many things; alarming, depressing, interesting and I truly hope the spokesperson quoted in the article isn't playing down tensions when he says the freeze on Russia's NATO activities is a regional issue that needs to be sorted, and not a global issue.

As that old song "Anticipation" is going through my head and I'm checking email way too often for that promised first heads up from the Obama campaign, I'm going through all of his possibilities in my mind and thinking of all the crap that's going on in the world. I like them all, they have great credentials and all seem to work well with other people but THE one person who has the right combination of qualities keeps being Biden. He's fiesty, he knows everyone in DC and many leaders overseas, he's smart and knowledgeable, and Barack's said it himself, he needs someone with experience who could if - God forbid - need be, take over as President himself.

Hillary despite her gaffe about sniper fire, is knowledgeable as well. But Biden is more so, he's been working in foreign policy since 1972.

Him sitting down with the Russians and Georgians would not only be interesting theater, it might be just what they need to resolve their differences sanely, and safely. The world needs this.

Obama/Biden 2008

I know, I've changed my mind about this one. At one time, I wanted Barack to pick Hillary as his running mate. However, with the exception of certain extreme trouble makers (who are quite possibly not even Democrats to begin with so who cares what they think anyway) I believe Democrats are uniting behind Obama already regardless of who he chooses as his running mate. And I think there would be poetic justice in Hillary becoming the next Attorney General with all the BS charges levelled at her and her husband in the 1990's.

Then there's the situation in Russia and Georgia. It's interesting to me that Senator Biden and not any of the other potential running mates was the one to travel to Georgia over the weekend. Despite there being an official ceasefire, unofficially it appears that Russian forces remain there.
I love Tim Kaine, being a Virginian myself and want to see him remain as my state's Governor. But of all the picks, it's Biden who hands down has the foreign policy experience and contacts overseas. Plus, he knows EVERYONE in Washington.

Can Biden be blunt (or more) at times? Sure, but let's be honest, the US's rep overseas has gone to hell in a handbasket, and understandably. He has the foreign policy chops to help Barack fix it.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Kermit was right, and probably didn't even know just HOW right on so many levels.

I've always considered myself an environmentalist. Maybe it comes from having parents who were older and grew up in the 30s when nobody threw anything out because you might have to use your food money to replace it. Maybe it's from being a 70s era kid who grew up seeing those green, white and yellow striped ecology stickers and patches everywhere. Maybe it's a reaction to Reagan and both Bushes. Who knows.

My first rude awakening came in the 90s when I was working on Capitol Hill and attended a Congressional Research Service seminar on the environment. My first handout was entitled "Make Your Environment Dirtier: Recycle More"

WTF? This is a seminar put out by a supposedly nonpartisan organization?

I never had a chance to look into why we were getting this tripe, or complain about the swagger and bias of the CRS staffer who gave the seminar. I wanted to but time is time. Fast forward to a few days later when I'm rinsing out the recyclables. And rinsing, and rinsing. Then finally giving up and letting the jar soak. And wondering if this CRS dude had a point.

A few years later in Grad school economics class I was handed an article about how low flush toilets actually generated more water than the "conventional" kind. Again, I figured what innovation comes from economists? They tend to want the status quo. But I started seeing they were right about alot of these so called "low flush" toilets. I now use the "old" bathroom at work and avoid the other where I have to flush the "low flush" toilet several times.

The latest is the proliferation of books on how to live a green lifestyle and many have great ideas on how to do it, like using natural materials to clean around the house and how to find products that have been tested on people, not animals, but that are safe for the whole family.

But you might want to consider buying a used copy, or if you want to buy new and support your local bookstore, how about buying it and circulating it amongst friends? If you have old, not eco friendly cleaners around the house, use them up then get or make new ones. Instead of organic cotton baby clothes, maybe buying some new with tags off of Ebay. If you have old jewelry that's broken and not resellable, donate the bits and pieces to a crafty friend or take on a new hobby and get some fun new accessories nobody else will have.

We don't need to stop buying stuff and enjoying new stuff completely. How fun would life be? How good would that be for our crummy economy? We can reuse more though, or share what we don't need single items of for ourselves. And rethink what we buy for kids, they really don't need all that stuff.

Really. My eldest got a secondhand play kitchen set for Christmas a few years ago and we finally got rid of it because it had become completely worn out. Instead of getting her alot of little things, I have this in mind for her birthday.

Having fun, and buying less but better...priceless.

THANK YOU LA!

Story that is, and to Stevie Wilson specifically. What a wonderful piece you wrote about my lil old blog and about Knits, etc my unsung find in Tyson's Galleria.

Mega awesomeness. Both coasts covered. Yes, DC does have style and though new to the blogging scene I truly hope to uncover it

Michelle Obama + Trufflebeads = Landslide Style

Today's Daily Candy For Washington DC has an article on a great accessory idea; Trufflebeads. These are made by Zulu women in South Africa and come in a number of styles and jewelry types; earrings, bracelets and several necklace styles. Their colorways range from blacks with greys and golds to more multicolored styles like this.

They would be a great addition to Michelle Obama's pearl necklace with shift look, updating the preppieness of the shift with some color and worldstyle. And of course supporting the Masai women at the same time. There's style with substance for you.

Being one of those "cosmopolitan preppy" types who tends to black vs navy, yours truly is eyeing this bracelet. Would add much oomph to a twinset or simple shell with straight black linen skirt.