Ugh. What’s a girl to do with a second day of jet lag? When you are wide-awake at 3 am? You can only scroll your phone for so long. So I snuck downstairs, gobbled the last brownie in the pan, then went upstairs to my office to do some scribbling. Daylight now, but at least I got 500 words written. #writersofinstagram #jetlag #firstworldproblems #authorissues
Got home from our cruise yesterday, jet-lagged outta my gourd after a nearly 11 hour flight. Sadly, my event with Bonnie Garmus got postponed, but prolly for the best cuz #jetlag. Of course I woke up at 3 am & couldn’t get back to sleep, so I was forced to scroll Facebook Marketplace. My excuse is that Boomerang Boy and his bride are buying their first house together! And they need stuff. And y’all know finding old stuff is my thing. My DIL @megtrocheck was specifically looking for a king-size four poster bed. And yep, I found one, only about five miles from home. And I talked Mr. MKA into going with me to check it out. Friends, we hit the jackpot. The seller was cleaning out a house for a family friend. We scored the mahogany, rice-carved bed, a mahogany chest, rattan bookcase, a small oak table for the grandson’s room, a pair of amazing antique framed sporting dog prints, and finally, as I was leaving, I spotted this epic Imari punch bowl. All that, for $350. I popped a Trader Joe’s orchid and some random shells in the bowl. Sorry, Meg, this one’s all mine. #fbmpscore #imari #lootshoot
Last day of vacay! We docked in Venice this morning and took a boat tour to Murano, where we watched a glass-blowing demo and checked out the cathedral, which has a blown glass crucifix. Then it was off to another island, Burano, which is famous for its lace-making, and also its leaning church tower. We walked, shopped, ate a fast delish lunch at a sidewalk cafe, then headed to our airport hotel. Flying home tomorrow with a heart full of memories and a suitcase full of olive oil. #anniversarytrip #windsurf #windstarcruises
Our last port o’call was beautiful. We took a bus to Pula, a nearby town for an olive oil tasting, then a walking tour of old town Trogir, which is on the Istrian peninsula. We watched the ship’s sails unfurl, then had a final special anniversary dinner. The crew of Wind Surf was the best, most caring and efficient I’ve ever experienced. We loved our entertainment czar Matty O and had such fun meeting new friends playing trivia. Would 💯 book another trip with @windstarcruises. Next time? Maybe Portugal and Spain? #windsurf #windstarcruises
Today’s port was Trogir and Split, in Croatia. We had a sunny but chilly start. Toured Trogir and Split, saw the church of St. Lawrence, ran into an a capella group singing traditional Croat music, spied something like a pirate ship, and then some random costumed Roman types…back to the ship to witness an amazing sunset. After an amazing dinner we loved watching the crew talent show. Nineteen different nationalities represented with this talented crew, not the least of which was the wacky “synchronized swim team” made up of members of the housekeeping crew. Tomorrow is our last day at sea before we sail to departure point in Venice. In the meantime soaking up all the fun & brotherly love. #windsurf #windstarcruises #croatia #talentshow
Sailed into beautiful Dubrovnik this morning. We did a walking tour of the old walled town. It’s a city of churches, including this one behind the statue. Then we took a bus ride to a small family-owned winery, where we enjoyed the wines & excellent locally produced prosciutto, cheese, olives & bread. Cats know when you don’t like them & this little bugger would NOT leave me alone. But on the other hand, Mr. MKA’s grandfather was from Dalmatia, and right before we got on the tender to return to the ship, I spotted a friendly Dalmatian and had to give her a head scratch. The sun came out late afternoon so I lounged on the deck & immersed myself in @bonnie_garmus_author new novel Peck & Peck. I’ll be in conversation with her in Atlanta this Sunday! Also, our team won ‘80s music trivia tonight (second trivia win in a row!) Although we weren’t much help since I was busy having babies in the’80s. Thank Gawd our team members knew their Bananarama and their Wham! . #windsurf #windstarcruises #croatia
Rainy and chilly when we sailed into the beautiful harbor at Montenegro yesterday morning, but the rain stilled long enough for us to do a walking tour of Kotor. I’ve now officially been in more churches in just this week than I have been in the last five years. We toured the museum where I spotted a new potential faux relative. I’m calling her Sofia Trajicnik. She poisoned her husband Stefan after she caught him frolicking with the milkmaid, and then before the local magistrate could send her to the gaol, the nuns at Our Lady of the Rock spirited her away to their convent high on the mountaintop. Anyway…there are thousands of cats in Kotor, and the local red wine is powerful stuff. Today we anchor at Dubrovnik, where Mr. MKA’s people were from. Roughly. #windsurf #windstarcruises #seacruise
What the actual fuck is happening back home? We’re at sea, literally today. So I’m filming this on a stack of towels, and yeah, reading off my hastily scrawled script. Just when you thought MAGA’s batshittery couldn’t get worse, it does. If this insane live-streamed public execution by firing squad isn’t stopped, Trump will have opened the door for international terrorists to do the same. This is the man who has publicly campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize? #wtaf #8647 #voteblue
Perfect weather to explore beautiful Sardinia. Views of Mt. Etna, witnessing a wedding at a church on the square in Taormina, (we saw the train station where the scene from The Godfather was filmed when Al Pacino meets up with the radiant bride-to-be Diane Keaton) random alley cat, more gelato (because why not?) late lunch at a cafe featuring burrata so good all other burrata should be ashamed of themselves, watching the official sail-away as the #windsurf sails are unfurled and we get underway for Montenegro, Mr. MKA enjoying his afternoon bourbon, fabulous dinner ending with an amazeballs dark chocolate domed mousse situation. We might currently be in a food/wine coma. Buona notta! #windstarcruises #windsurf #anofferwecouldntrefuse
The day dawned bright and promising as we dropped anchor in Sorrento. Shopping and cafe sitting and church peeping in Positano. This church, Our Lady of the Assumption was gorgeous & featured a Byzantine icon from the 10th Century. And then…lighting & thunder and a torrential rain. #pouredoninpoitano #soakedinsorrento. The sea was so choppy the tender taking us back to our ship was delayed. Happily though, we made it safely back to ship. Delightful dinner & wine and then a little old folks musical trivia, because let’s face it, most of us are, ourselves Byzantine relics. Tomorrow we sail to Sardinia where one of us will NOT be eating sardines. #sailaway #windstarcruises #wondstarsurf
If you’re ever in Rome (Italy, not Georgia) I highly recommend taking a tour which involves eating pizza for breakfast, visiting a market where a jolly stranger offers an impromptu opera in exchange for a spare slice. I insist you have gelato for lunch before high-tailing it to the port to board your @windstarcruises ship, Windstar Surf. A cocktail before sailing? Don’t mind if I do! #seacruise #thatsitalian #windstarcruises
Day two. Toured the Vatican, saw the Pieta—did you know Michelangelo was only 23 when he completed it? Toured the Coliseum and the Forum. Drank some wine, ate some focaccia, walked 12k steps. Dogs are barking!
Started our BIG anniversary cruise trip tonight in Rome. Dinner at a sweet sidewalk cafe, then the best gelato at Casa de Latte. Tomorrow, we tour the Vatican, then Wednesday we ship out with @windstarcruises for the Amalfi Coast and Croatia. #seacruise #romanholiday
Twenty-four hours of fun in Birmingham! Met up with @pattichenry at the @antiquesgardensbham, then off to a wedding where we danced our feet off and got caught up with old friends. Stayed at the @thetutwiler and this morning I realized our room looked out on the classic library frieze across the street. Stay tuned for news of our next big trip—starting tonight.
I think of our foyer (foy-yay!) as a sort of department store window. I change it up according to my mood or season. The foam pumpkins I’ve collected over the years at estate sales. But also displayed here are some past year’s half-assed crafts. I decoupaged the chinoiserie pumpkin with paper napkins three or four years ago. Last year I took mini foam pumpkins and marbleized them by dipping in a bucket of water coated with spray paint. Also last year I channeled my inner grade school kid by applying paper machè to a Walmart plastic pumpkin bucket. Also last year I scored the great seed box at a neighbor’s yard sale. This year’s half-ass craft was super simple. I gathered the mini white pumpkins that sprouted in the yard from previous year cast-offs, dipped them in a bleach solution and then sprayed with clear acrylic paint to preserve them. I did this six weeks ago, and no sign of rot! As for those rustic candle sticks, they’re the ends of the porch coffee table legs my husband cut down years ago. BTW—I figured out all the crafty stuff by watching YouTube videos! #halloweendecor #vintagehalloween #squirrelhollow #halfasscrafts
Here’s another peek. I bought a pair of broke-ass candle sconces at a Tybee yard sale last month. Popped in some bleeding beeswax candles and a couple stick-on spiders. The dining room secretary displays some recent estate sale finds. More later! #vintagehalloween #squirrelhollow #estatesalefinds
Whooooo wants to see more of my Halloween hijinks? Check back here tomorrow and “owl” show you more. ! #halloweendecor #vintagehalloween #squirrelhollow
Happy first day of October from Boomerang Boy, his girlfriend Roux (she’s an English cocker spaniel) and his outrageous mop of curls. #rabbitrabbitrabbit #rabbitsforluck
September was a great bookish month for me. Tonight for @friendsandfiction we interviewed @lucyfoleyauthor about her deliciously diabolical new Agatha Christie novel Murder At The Grand Alpine Hotel. We’ve also got a fun interview with @annie_hartnett next week to chat about her dark comedy The Road To Tender Heart. I listened to the audio & read the print version and loved both. As for @elizabethwellingtonrollins and her The Three Graces of Pearl Street? Just wow! What a knockout debut novel, three generations of Italian-American women, told from alternating POV. Next up: @writercolleenoakley forthcoming novel In Concert—which I’ve just blurbed (writer talk for spewed advance praise.) If you’re old enough maybe you remember that iconic black and white photo of a soggy (possibly stoned) couple at Woodstock, their arms flung around each other. Colleen, who manages something fresh and unexpected with every new book, introduces us to Ham and Bee—an unlikely couple who meet at a Grateful Dead concert in 1977. And then…life happens. Pre-order now, preferably from an indie bookstore or our @friendsandfiction bookshop.org. To round out the month and for a lil’ palate cleanser, I’m reading an intriguing new true crime novel by my friend (and UGA alum) @jtommorgan whose book A Rainy Night in Georgia recounts the 2000 murder of a newly elected Georgia sheriff at the behest of the sheriff he defeated. JTom was the DeKalb County District Attorney who prosecuted disgraced sheriff Sidney Dorsey, putting himself and his family squarely in the gunsights of the bad guys. Going on a big anniversary cruise next week—what books should I pack in my carry-on? #buytheirbooksdammit #recentreads #booklove
