April 27th, 2010

get me to the church on time

[photo by robin proctor]
WEDDING SEASON is fast approaching! I’ve asked Queen Bee for her thoughts on bridal registries. 
CRATE & BARREL: Varying price points. Fun kitchen gadgets that will fill your junk drawers. 
WILLIAM SONOMA: Stepford wifey-ish. Projects to in-laws that your college tuition was well spent on an MRS degree. 
BARNEY’S: save for second marriage, but highly recommended for first marriage if parents have kiss-ass business associates that will spend. 
POTTERY BARN: the milk toast of registries. That is not to say that Queen Bee doesn’t get a boner at the Pottery Barn outlet. 
BED, BATH, & BEYOND: honey, it’s not like your stocking up for your dorm room. Save the Bubble Spa Foot Bath for your Christmas list.
BLOOMINGDALES/MACY’S: Yes! You can return gifts for shoes and makeup. 
Hope this helps. 
xoxo, Q. B.
Queen Bee’s Bridal Registry:
1. neoclassical french bed with ostrich feathers. 
2. This preppy pink/green tea cup and saucer have managed not to get chipped in over 250 years. 
3. The gilded beech and walnut Turkish bed belongs in Queen Bee’s screening room. 
4. Parisian wall clock from 1747. 
[All are available for theft at The J. Paul Getty Museum.]

history wedding queen bee
April 22nd, 2010

Sylvia Beach: One Bad Ass Bibliophile

Paris. Welcome to 12 Rue de L’Odeon: The Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop. Good day, Sylvia. Who are you looking at over there? Oh, is that your lover Adrienne waving to you from her french bookshop across the street? Is it alright if I bring my friends in to show them around? Wonderful. Hello, Mr. Joyce. How’s your eyesight? Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I like your bow tie. Now, everybody watch your step. Isn’t it cozy in here? Along with the classics, Sylvia has collected all of the current literary journals and novels fresh off the press. If you don’t have the money to buy them, don’t worry, she’ll let you borrow. And if you ever find yourself without a bed, there’s a cot in back. Think of Sylvia as the patron saint of expat writers. Shakespeare & Co. is a home away from home. 
Between the time Shakespeare & Co. opened in 1919 and closed during the German occupation, Sylvia’s little bookshop had become the American literary hotspot of the world. Ernest Hemingway: check. F. Scott Fitzgerald: check. Thornton Wilder: yep. Ezra Pound: duh. I paid homage to 12 Rue de L’Odeon many summers ago. Despite all the stories these walls could tell, the only thing signifying the bookshop ever existed is a little plaque: En 1922, dans cette maison, Mlle. Sylvia Beach publia ULYSSES de James Joyce. Sylvia, you were the only one with the brains and balls to publish the so-called smut (or most important novel of the 20th century), even though it nearly bankrupted you. Civilization thanks you. 
The Letters of Sylvia Beach are now on bookshelves. NYT Review. April 18, 2010.
Also, of note: Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation, by Noel Riley Fitch

Boho book nomadic nephew publish Travel history cultured cousin Paris Noel R. Fitch
April 22nd, 2010

Romancing in the 1930’s

Firecracker. Hellion. Nomad. The ultimate independent woman. The originator of bohemian chic. In honor of her 99th birthday this May, I’d like to present you no.2 in a series of vignettes.click here for Ida’s first video in series.

Boho nomadic nephew love history family relationships romance documentary
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