(click for the full picture Royal effect)

Paul Suszynski did a lovely job with these photos!  2 down and 28 to go:)

Now if I can just figure out how to post them in a bigger size.  Rats. Where is my I.T. guy?

So I have figured out how to post Iphone photos if I save them on my PC and then I post them.  While Paul took Photo for the MINT JULEP QUEEN Calebndar Project and Membership Directory I stood off to the side and tried to get a few nice images. Queen Kim is looking royal.

Good-ness.  I need an IT guy.  I want to post the wonderful images Paul took on August 4 of Kim and Lee Ann.  But I am so challenged in my technology abilities that converting a bitmap to a jpeg is beyond me.  Oh well. 

Our dear Paul Suszynski, who is doing the photos for the Calendar Project and Membership Directory will send me jpeg file very soon.  In the mean time, I am just curious, since I have this abby-normal interest in word origins.  I am searching what BIT-Map really means.  And J=Peg??  What in the world?  I am guessing here: A bit of a map to a digital image??? Who the hell knows?  Certainly not This Queen.  (Remember, I still qualify as a member of the Boomer generation and we were on the cusp of tons of technological advances.  So it is not my fault.)

I have embraced Facebook (for I can be social), I just can not be geeky.  I am smart just not geeky. I don’t like the glasses that come with the geeky look. I like the shoes, though. Anthropologie (that store for 20 and 30 somethings that I like to try and be) has the most geeky shoes for fall.  Maybe that is the look. 

I am so proud that I do know what “IT” in IT guy means.  Information Technology.  What does IT girl mean?  I think that label is from the 50’s….has something to do with having big breasts, being young and being photogenic.  Oh WOW!!!! So maybe BIT map has something to do that! “Be IT!”  A map to Being IT.  I need that!

So when I finish this, google bitmap…jpeg and IT Girl.  I wonder who the first It Girl was. Uhmmmm.  And Why in the hell do people say they need a I.T. GUY.  Does I.T. even come in “girl”?  

OK.  ENOUGH!. You need to get back to work.

The voiceinmyhead is ready to make some money and this is NOT paying the bills, sadly enough.  So a JPEG of Kim and Lee Ann is to come later today or tomorrow. So there you have it.  I gotta be my own IT girl.  Wait.  IT QUEEN!!!

Reign ON!

mjqfirstinvitation2004003.pdf

Dear Royal Highnesses, the MJQs,

I am starting a project. I ask each of the MJQ to be photographed near a Savannah Landmark, or historic building or square that means something to them.  It has to be in Historic Downtown. Except for Stacy who has asked for Tybee Island.  

I have an idea of a few locations already and a few MJQs have already requested certain locations!  With a tad bit of simple biographical information, our group membership rooster alongside your picture will be complete. This project will take about a year or so to complete and once it is done, it may be a good calendar, or even a fun book. No matter what,  in the end, we will have a nice collection of MJQs portraits for a membership directory.

August 4^th we will meet to have drink (Dutch Treat) and appetizers (Treasury) at Cha-bella.  The treasury will pay for the appetizers and tip for the waitress. I am paying for the photographer. We may go to Leopold’s and/or to a nearby square.

Please wear whatever you want!  I am wearing a green and white polka dotted sun dress, with silver shoes and white gloves.  Or at least that is what I think I will wear. 

Sometime during the next 12 months, tell me where you would like your portrait to be.  Wear something that exudes Queenly-ness and we will plan drinks around your photo shoot. I hope to get 2 MJQs photographed at this event!  Maybe Kim and One other?????

Locations –Areas that I suggest (or that have been requested by an MJQ):

 Holly: Telfair Square and/or Telfair Academy

Mary : Andrew Low House- Lafayette Square-September or October

Annie - Forsyth Park- March or April

Emma- Wormsloe 

Carolyn – Ellis Square? And the fountain

Sue- ?Monterey Square  (Mickve Israel)

Becky C- Johnson Square- September or October

Patty G- Johnson September or October

Stacy- Tybee

Kim- the swing at cha bella – August 4

LeeAnn – Cha bella and action shot…running  or sitting having a drink August 4

Tricia –City Market Belfords. Month to be determined

Lois -Owens Thomas house

Barbara G –Forsyth (March or April)

Linda – The Museum November

Dottie-Telfair arts and science (jan or feb)

Glenda- Telfair (jan or feb)   

Please let me know if you are available to do this. I truly hope so!  I look forward to hearing from you and hearing what location you have selected! 

Reign on!  Queen Erica  

 (click for a big image of these cute Converse and pettiskirt)

Last year I had just found a lump.  Yes. It was Stage one cancer and this year I am Flouncing for a Cure.  Lots of folks run it.  I do not run.  Not because I can’t, but because I do not like to run.  I will be wearing the sweet T-shirt that Ousmane and Stephen, my husband designed.  Nellie Confetti, Sage, Selia, our dear friend Annie, and I plan on having a fun ol’ romp.  Chiffon helps me be more happy getting up so early, so I will be in Chiffon. 

The Jr. Mints, our daughters and granddaughters, who have not forgotten (yet) how fun playing dress-up can be will get to Flounce with us at the April 29 Coronation.  Sage and Selia have wonderful green pettiskirts and madras Polo tennis shoes to express their inner Princess.  They don’t know her, except from Project Runway judging, but I think it will be a totally Betsy Johnson look. I am hoping they will go have Fro-Yo’ afterwards with me and greet the common folk. 

Sage, my 13 year old, will guest blog about the experience.  She doesn’t know it, but the assignment is , “Why do some 13 year old girls (and GROWN women) fear wearing a crown in public and is there anything you can do to change that fear?  Discuss.”  (She will get extra bonus points from me if she is willing to write a post…

(click the JPG 2 titles that are here to see Lois and Jeanne)LoisPG  Lois and Jeanne.JPG

When I tried to send this photo to the editor, while trying to update this blog,  it filled up the the whole darn screen.  Not unlike how Lois fills a room with her bubbly personality!! So I gave up and posted the link to a smaller picture so IF by some wild chance you do not know Lois, click that link and Voila`.  I added the Poodle girl from my artwork just for some color.

Lady Lois will join our group on April 29, 2011.  We are having cocktails at the Chatham Club, thanks to Jennifer Abshire.  And then a trolley guided flounce courtesy of the MJQ Treasury. All the Junior Mints will be in attendance, too.

If you do not know what to wear to the event, this must be your first MJQ event.  If it is, please know we do not own the color green.  We wear one hue in different shade because it is pretty in pictures.  So if you want to wear GREEN and you are not a QUEEN it is fine with us, really.  That way you do not stand out too much in a group picture.  And maybe you aspire to join our group?  That is a way to get ahead of the game, so to speak.  You may want to start a collection of flounce-worthy green attire. 

If you are new to the MJQs and NOT a QUEEN, you may selelct whatever you want to wear.  Outlandish is fine.  Elegant is good.  Silly is great.  Classic is just fine.  BUT a Traditional Talbot style green dress is too boring, honeys. Really I am telling you honestly.  Conservative & Boring is not good. So why not add some rhinestone necklaces, or lots of pearls, and maybe a big hat, or white gloves, or a boa?  All the world’s a stage and if you want to be Queen, you must dress the part, if only for a few hours. 

Reign ON! Queen Erica

 (click for the big pic!  Girls who love dressing up)

Predictably, the same MJQs who never want to dress up are unavailable for our Uber Fab club night.  Since our founding in 2004, I have held my tongue and been very P.C. in not calling these folks out.  So in Royal tradition established by ME, I will try my darnedest to not be tooo hateful.  The is a lightly veiled criticism (and the Veil is a lovely Italian silk, by the way.) 

I had a few FUN queens really not be able to attend.  One darling queen with attitude will be Chicago.  My heart goes out to her.  Another is in NYC.  Another still is recovering from a tad bit of restorative  surgery that will only make her more radiant.  I know it is a Holiday weekend, but when I can place odds and make book, or whatever it is gamblers do…to predict who will NOT come, and I am right…well then, YOU may be a “problem Queen”.  Think problem child if you are unsure about this.

One Lady in Waiting has out of town company and even took the time to jot a sweet note of thanks and a request not to be forgotten and included in the next big party.  Well, Honey Queens, anyone who writes a note AND addresses it H.R.H. is just exceptional in every way.

So, onto the pitiful members who never dress in regalia in public.  Fear of looking silly as measured by their disdain for chiffon, rhinestones, feathers or any other Super Queen garb that would call attention to themselves is the culprit.  Raw little girl fear.  The kind of fear we had when we were in 7th grade and worried about what the cool girls said about us when we walked by the popular girls lunchroom table.  Fear that the boys might think we are not date-able because we are a tad silly.  Fear that dancing like no one is watching really sets you apart and makes boys NOT want to ask you to dance. 

Now I know it takes all kinds make the world a wonderful place.  There is room for shy, reserved types.  There are social groups for introverted, contemplative ladies.  There are clubs and organizations who meet to talk about everything from roses to the latest NY Times best-seller.  This group is NOT one of them. So if in your life you find being silly is a freeing experience, like putting on a role, an accent, or merely a feather boa, then this is the group for you and you belong to US!  If not, please gracefully bow-out.  I beg you.  Do not drag us down.  Oh!!! AND speaking of drag!  We are going the the THE Lady at Club One tomorrow!!!!….and  THAT my dear Honey Queens is another story:)

Reign ON!

My 50th is around the corner.  It makes me want to throw-up it is so old sounding.  I Have moments of feeling ancient and then a fleeting feeling of dizzy youngness.  The Voice in my head thinks it is probably just menopause messing with my chemistry.  I think it is facing my mortality.  I had breast cancer in May and a lumpectomy followed by 34 days of radiation.  Good, goodness ,there is nothing in the world like the “C” word to make you literally look at cemeteries in a whole new light.  I am lucky.  I found the lima bean size lump myself and had no lymph node involvement, so chemo was not order.  Either way, I feel like I am dealing with the post traumatic stress of the health issue.  I want to yell and scream and Dance my flat, skinny, saggy butt off in celebration.  Then I want to sit quietly and just stare at the tree in my backyard and try to connect with the beautiful creation and creator all around. 

So what do you do on our 5oth?  I plan to get a tattoo.  I got one when I turned 30 and when I turned 40.  There really is no such thing as a tasteful tattoo, but I never claimed to be tasteful is every aspect of my life. So.  There is it.  It is about me and about my making a big decade.  The ten years I just lived and the ten years ahead of me.  I will have another at 60.  Maybe a pink ribbon at 60?… 

I just sent an email to Anonymous Tattoo on Bay Street.  I have no idea how to plan a tattoo appointment.  For the other ones, I was just as a walk-in.  Frankly, I think with my age and my attitude, I deserve a little hand holding so I am going to try and set up a consult and design for my new ink.  My dear friend Emma, who turns 40 the day after I turn 50 is coming with me.  I will draw something and start meditating on it.

Happy Halloween and Reign On! Queen Erica

Boeuf a la Bourguignonne    ”Serves 2 generously with leftovers, or 4 people”    

“6 strips bacon, cut into 1/2″” pieces “        
“3 lbs (or more) beef chuck or rump, cut into 1/2″” cubes”        
“6 carrots, peeled and sliced (I like to use Publix’s bagged “”Microwavable carrots”" as a time saver)”        
“1 medium onion, diced”        
1.5 t salt        
1/8 t pepper        
3 T flour        
10 oz can of condensed beef broth or beef consomme        
1 T tomato paste        
“2 cloves garlic, minced”        
1/2 t thyme        
1 bay leaf        

The following gets added later in the recipe:        
“1/2 pkg of Birds Eye Frozen Pearl Onions, defrosted”        
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms (or one can button mushrooms)        
2 C (or more) Burgundy wine (Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy is an inexpensive choice that works well)        
1/4 c flour  

2 T butter        
“Small Shell noodles, cooked”    

“Crisp bacon in a 6 qt pot. Remove and drain on paper towels, saving grease. Add beef cubes , carrots and onions to brown in bacon grease. Once browned, add flour and cook 3-4 minutes while stirring. Add crisp bacon pieces, salt, pepper, broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme & bay leaf. Add wine (2 C, at least, enough to cover meat). Bring to a boil on top of the stove and then cook slowly over low heat (can be done on stove top or in 350 degree oven) for 3 hours or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally. In a separate pan, fry fresh mushrooms until barely cooked (this step is not necessary if you use canned) and add these along with Pearl Onions to stew and cook for an additional 1/2 hour. In a small bowl, combine flour with butter (cutting it in much like you would if you were making a pie crust, adding more flour if necessary - you want it to be drier rather than too buttery. Add this mixture 2 T at a time while mixing in order to thicken the sauce. (Mixing the flour with the butter eliminates lumps.) You want the juice to be slightly thick but not as thick as regular gravy. Serve stew over shell noodles (they catch the good sauce!). This can be made ahead and I believe it actually tastes better the next day, as the flavors meld. “