“I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure Of The Dying Detective

Any week includes the following in a conversation with your best friend, “Wait, you’re having a torrid, clandestine co-worker affair with a nice Jewish boy?” must have been a good one.  And it has been, busy but good.  This is the same friend who once had a man ask her to be his mistress, for the record.  Apart from being an extraordinary friend and wonderful all around person, she is an excellent dinner guest – her stories are amazing.  Anyway, I’m fiercely glad it’s a long weekend, because good as it’s been, I’m ready for a break.  What are you doing next Monday?  Sound off in the comments.

Check this out, and then respond with your best skewers!  I expect some great zingers in the comments, minions.

What’s that, she-minions?  You’re having a bit of a blah day, and you need something scrumptious to look at.  We live to serve: behold!

Of course.

We had the musical Camelot on VHS when I was a kid (remember VHS?  Did I just out my age?), and though I recall being extremely irritated with several of the characters for their life choices, I loved the look of Vanessa Redgrave’s Guinevere.  I remember being extremely taken by her first knuckle ring and thinking how unusual and elegant I found it.  Alas that my fingers never grew into long aristocratic tapers, so I could never pull them off, but more lengthy she-minions are encouraged to try.

This mouthwatering recipe is brought to you courtesy of the ever lovely Janssen.

New TV seasons are starting up soon and frankly I could leave most of them.  But my guilty pleasure of Downton Abbey will be back before we know it.  Here’s a cheeky cheat sheet just in case you’ve gotten confused as to what’s going on.

Message in a bottle! (Sung to the tune of the Sting and the Police song of the same name)

Impossibly pretty people with impossible access to impossibly high end products lead us lesser life forms in search for the perfect red lipstick.  I only post this because I love red lipstick.  What?  It’s my blog, I’ll link what I want!

This is a horrible product  that would give me heart attacks galore.

The President responds to Clint Eastwood’s (bizarre, odd, discordant, rambling…) bit with the chair at the Republican National Convention.   Politics aside, Twitter burn!

Transporting livestock – get creative.

And speaking of, the weekly sheep.  You know, just being adorable.

“If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.”
– Noel Coward

I’m so close to dead, kittens, it’s not even funny.  The week before the new term starts is always dreadful, and this year has been no different.

Here’s your links.  We’ll talk later.

Tumblr of the week.

Confession, I have a seldom indulged love of rosewater.  I had a sweet milk drink at an Indian restaurant that had rosewater as a main ingredient the other day, and it was odd by delicious.  My favorite quirky perfume is Tokyo Milk’s Gin and Rosewater.  I used to have a rosewater face tonic that did magical things to complexion but was far too expensive to keep up.  I’m not nearly crafty enough to try this, but minions who are should report back after making this.

The only thing worse than badly intentioned clever people are well intentioned idiots.  See politics.  And also this dear little old lady…

I’ve been on a stationary kick lately, something about them seems unbelievably adult and finished.  A couple of friends of mine have personalized stationary and whenever I receive anything from them in the mail I’m impressed.  There is a look that comes with well chosen stationary that proclaims to the world, “Here is a person who has his/her act together.  Do not mess.”  Here are a few of the paper goods that have recently caught my eye.

I want this cat, purely for decorative purposes.

Trends might no longer be as all important as they once were in fashion.  Which is good news for me, because as much as I enjoy fashion, I’ve accepted that I will never wear a peplum, and the dark 90’s style lip is great but not for me, but I do love the equestrian style that’s cropping up.  Oh, but I’m poor.  Classics it is!

Sheep of the week.

“Fridays are absolutely without a doubt the best day of the week, five grueling days of the same routine seem to melt at three o’clock on Friday afternoon. There’s a sense of magic there, everything smells better, tastes better, and the colors are brighter. As opposed to Sunday evenings when everything begins to get dim all over again.”
― Stefanie Ellis, Ashes

This week has been rough, ducklings.  I got off the plane at 10am Monday morning and was at work by 1pm.  I’ve got the obligatory air travel induced cold and sore throat, and I’d much rather be in London.  Who wouldn’t?  Luckily it’s Friday and we’re back to our regularly scheduled blogging routine.  I’ve got plenty more London posts for you, but we must, by all means, observe tradition!

We saw dogs everywhere in London and our puppy lust is raging strong.  When we finally get one, I’m totally going to slap one of these on it’s collar.

There’s something about public transportation that makes people read, here’s a blog dedicated to it.  Everyone on the London tube was reading – yes there were iPhones and iPods aplenty, but honestly I saw far more books than electronics.  Traditional publishing lives!

The oddest thing about fashion is how far in advance it plans.  Here we are in the blazing heat of July and the major houses recently trotted out their wares for the Autumn/Winter lines.  I stocked up on my well-beloved British mags and they are stuffed to the gills with gorgeous stuff for cold weather to set my cravings alight.  Here’s the ever fabulous Tom and Lorenzo‘s post on one of my personal favorite haute couture designers, Elie Saab.

Wow.

I have a feeling that the gentleman called the young lady, “Shorty,” immediately prior to this now gif-ed clip.

Which came first, the cat video or the egg?  Apparently, this.

This…was a thing?  Seriously?

I saw a girl whip one of these out on the tube and couldn’t rest until I knew where she got it.

Fascinating article from the NYT to make your wheels turn a bit.  I realized a while back that I haven’t made any new friends in a long time.  Growing up moving every few years I got to be pretty good at it, but I found that it was impossible/unnecessary to keep up with all of them.  The true soulmates of friends are rare, but neither time nor distance weakens the bond, and the ones who are more transient pass out of your life easily.  I’m always open to meeting new people, but honestly if all I had for the rest of my life was my four best friends, I think I’d be happy.  Friendship, kittens: a strange animal.

Well, at least MTV isn’t hiding it anymore.

“There is no such cozy combination as man and wife.”
~ Menander

A bit tardy minions, but you’ll forgive me as it was for a good cause.  I had our annual secretaries retreat today and then had to hightail it to Margot’s wedding.  The girl gone and done it – she’s hitched!  It’s been a lovely but long day, so here are your links and let Aunty C.  just take a quick nap, k?

Shake hands and make up, war can only last so long (I’m looking at you, Rome).

Speaking of wars, here’s a professor explaining how he lectures on the Trojan War – watch the whole thing if you want.  I myself could barely make it past the first couple of minutes wherein he declares that every year fewer and fewer students even know what the Trojan War is.  I’m wringing my hands, and Mum is probably gnashing her teeth in frustration!

The end point of the Big Bang has an equally negative sounding name and some unpleasant effects.  Luckily we’re a few billion years out from it.

The fun history of photoshop.  Some people in the 19th century were pretty darn good at it.

A great article (written by a friend!) about herself, Mitt Romney, the Mormon Moment, and how they intersect in personal and unexpected ways.  It’s a fantastic piece, and not just because I adore this woman.  Check it out.

Here’s yet another place I’ve found for you to spend your money, I’m having a kitsch craving moment with these, and even the more toned down versions are pretty cute.

This story is amazing.  A (sort of) God’s creation doesn’t quite act the way he intended.  There may be a philosophical lesson here, but even if not, have a listen.

This blog‘s been making the rounds, but still quite fun.  A British school girl documents her lunches every day, and the phenomenon has spread so people can send in snap shots of their lunches from all over the world.

A while back I went through and weeded everyone from my social networks that I didn’t actually know personally and hadn’t spoken with in the past six months, but I never really thought of the role that exclusivity plays in social networking.

Grocery shopping habits across the decades, and the role of food industries.

If I could do one thing for incoming freshman to our humble university, it would be to sit them down and make them watch this.  Freshman, and most seniors to be honest, you haven’t earned the right to be treated specially yet.  You’ve got a long road ahead, get to work.

The weekly sheep, just try to be in a bad mood now!