Today

Today has been a girly girl day for me. I met some friends at Le Pain Quotidien in Claremont. I'd never been before but I really liked it. I hear there's one in Pasadena that I plan to visit some time soon.

After an early lunch we wandered over to one of my all time favorite shops in Claremont's village. It's called Barbara Cheatley's. It's a girly store with all kinds of lovely little things for ladies. They sell lots of little antique knick knacks, jewelry, aprons, cookbooks, books, cards, quilts, postcards... all kinds of things that you don't really need but really really want. Compared with other antiqe-y stores in the area all of Barbara's goods are reasonably priced.

A visit to Barbara's is always like a treasure hunt. Today, while buying a little book for Mom I saw a small stack of booklets about the history of the American flag. I picked one up behind the counter, flipped through it and loved it. I saw that it was only $1 and had to have it but was saddened to hear another customer had just purchased all 10 that they had in stock. Drats! The little books were ironically made in England, I thought that was the best part. I loved everything about them but sadly have no idea where to find another. It's a typical Barbara Cheatley story. You have to pick up what you like and buy it promptly or somebody will beat you to it. You could spend hours roaming through it all and still feel you haven't seen it all. The displays are gorgeous and they always play the best music. Once, while wandering around the shop years ago I heard some music so good I had to ask what it was. They told me it was the soundtrack for Gosford Park the sang was called Walking to Shoot. It has since become my favorite soundtrack from a film thanks to Barbara Cheatley's.

I was so happy to see that Barbara seemed to be good and busy today. The small independent shops are the ones I love most but worry about these days. It was good to see they were doing so well.

The rest of my day has been a good and relaxing one. Tomorrow is Father's Day and we are planning a dinner of carne asada, rice, beans (well not for me), tortillas, guacamole and salsa. It should be a good one. I just got back from picking up the fixins for my salsa. I'm doing laundry now and will make the salsa soon but mostly I plan to settle in to watch Random Harvest. It's one of Mom's favorites and I've come to love it too. It's a terribly sentimental film but one you can't help but like. I tend to like movies that feature good houses. Random Harvest has a wonderful English cottage that I've always loved. It will be good to visit it again. Also, the film stars Greer Garson and Ronald Colman for God's sake! What's not to love? I also have the latest Vanity Fair. I plan to read it while watching my movie.

Oh! And TCM has done their own version of an opposites double feature tonight. Immediately following Random Harvest is The Bad Seed. It seems Mervyn LeRoy directed both films and TCM was thoughtful enough to air them back-to-back. They've been showing his films all day. I caught the end of Madame Curie this morning and liked it enough to add it to my Netflix queue. LeRoy also directed Gypsy and The Wizard of Oz (but not credited, what's the story there?) but TCM didn't air those today. Bummer. Still, thank you TCM! Thank you Mr. LeRoy for directing such an eclectic bunch of movies. You're the best!!! I just found out you're buried at Forrest Lawn. Maybe I'll drop by and see you some time.