Moving

I’m moving again.

Say it ain’t so!

No, not houses. I’m quite happy where I am, thank-you-very-much. I’m moving blogging platforms. This is my 3rd move in 10 years, and I’m finally going to be joining the world of Blogger. I know that my current platform is more flexible, but I’m after pretty and simple. Plus, I am able to get an awesome new look from the Fabulous K in early summer. LOVE her style.

In the interim, you can join me at my new digs. My place is still under renovation, so keep your shoes on while you visit and don’t expect much more than a glass of wine and some fridge temperature brie. You’ll receive your invite to the banquet soon enough!

Take me to Dwell on These Things (Blogger Style)

Reversal of Fortune Survival Guide and Wish List Wednesday

Feeling very grateful this week. I’ve finally gone through the painful process of going through my finances with my accountant and financial advisor, which is something I’ve been dreading. I knew I took a huge hit to extricate myself from the mess that was 2012. Lawyers, real estate agents, taxes, therapists, and movers are expensive. It’s made me realize why so many women do not leave bad situations. But I’m back on track. Thank God (sometimes He provides simply by dulling one’s craving for exotic travel and the Chanel 2.55 and increasing one’s desire to be financially independent.)

Here’s how I got through this particular Job season (aka The Reversal-of-Fortune Survival Guide for Divorcees, Widows, and Other Distressed Gentle Women.)

1) Take a clear look at your financial and legal picture. Even if it’s really bad, it’s probably not as bad as you fear.

2) Surround yourself with good people. The folks who say helpful things like, “I always knew he was trouble” or “You seem to have terrible luck” are not useful at this time. No apologies are needed, simply tell them you are busy (no need to admit that you are busy with more supportive people!) I have come to know a lovely woman who regularly tells me I remind her of Nicole Kidman or Claudia Schiffer. Cultivate these relationships!

3) Nurture your faith. Whether you believe in God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Karma, the Great Mother, or Rock and Roll, this is the time to deepen your faith. I’ve always been a Christian but there were seasons in my life when it was really in name and tradition only. There is nothing like a Job season to make you figure out what you believe and lean hard on your faith. In my case, I leaned hard on God and Jesus and my prayers were answered (albeit not always in the way I might have liked!!) Asking for help is not a weakness, it’s a sign that you are smart enough to know that we were not meant to do everything on our own.

4) The bad news is things have changed. But wait, the good news is things have changed. See the change as an opportunity to reinvent yourself. Don’t be so eager to hang onto or recreate your old life. I don’t think we’d be exposed to trial simply to end up where we were. Who do you want to be? Become her.

5) Surround yourself with beauty. I believe that our souls are hard-wired to crave beautiful surroundings. They do not have to be expensive (and after a reversal of fortune shouldn’t be – this is a time to draw in, not spend out!) Take a walk outside, wear the most colourful thing in your wardrobe, organize an accessories swap with others (It’s a Steal is holding one in Oakville this Sunday, April 14.) This is the time to focus on all of the amazing things on God’s green earth:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ~Philippians 4:8

I’m glad I can live vicariously through my wish list Wednesday, however, since I do derive great pleasure from being surrounded by pretty. Plus I need to think of summer and sun since apparently we are getting SNOW tomorrow. Of course it is, because I just had all the winter coats dry cleaned and put away.

First up, look at the pretty picnic basket from Kate Spade. Now, I’m not a huge fan out eating outside on the grass unless I have a butler to brush away the bugs (I wish!), but I think I could get used to it with this baby in tow.

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Then, look at this little bit of awesome from Fornasetti and Cole & Son wallpaper:

The birds!

The balconies!

(You’d always feel like a Diva)

The writing tools borderFabulous!

Love Aerin Lauder‘s new home collection. That lady has amazing style!

Also loving the Kiel James Patrick Swift Slyfield bracelet. Perhaps I should include one with each copy of Engage the Fox (the book on thinking I’ve co-authored) when it’s out.

Seriously, how fabulous is that!

Well, that’s all for today. I hope that you are in a happy season, but if not, hopefully this blog can be a place to be assured that if I survived, you will too.

xo Jen

Peace and Plenty and a Craving for Cake

Sorry for the late post. My assistant and I had to run errands this morning.

 

Hurry up and load the truck. I don’t want to miss The Chew.

So, this is how I’m feeling these days:

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Indeed! And lunch and dinner. Apparently, I’m in a fashion show next week as part of a ladies who lunch thingy and have a fitting this Friday. Of course, I can think of nothing but cake for breakfast, even though I never eat cake for breakfast and am not really that fond of cake at all. It’s simply the prospect of the catwalk that is causing my cake lust.

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Well, today it’s Type Tuesday. I finished reading Peace and Plenty: Finding Your Path to Financial Serenity by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I read Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance when it was hitting the New York Times’ best sellers list and was interested to see that she’s written something on financial peace. I assumed she was still the wealthy woman she was when hanging around the Oprah set, but it turns out that her most recent husband was a bit of a cad and left her in vastly diminished circumstances. She went from owning homes around the globe, including Newton’s Chapel in the UK, to couch-surfing with family. She knows of which she writes.

For any woman who is getting back on her feet after a setback – divorce, death of a spouse, job loss, illness –  this is essential reading. Ban Breathnach has read dozens of books on financial management and stacks of magazines from the great depression, geared towards helping the homemaker make ends meet on a very austere budget. This book not only offers practical advice but also helps to heal the hurt that both stems from and contributes to women’s financial setbacks. She deals with the emotional and spiritual side of money and asks us to think less about spending and saving and more to consider financial stewardship.

As a designer with a personal interest in reversal-of-fortune chic, I love how Ban Breathnach focuses on how you can live a life of abundance on very little. I also love how she quotes smart women who’ve walked the same path like Rumer Godden and Dorothy Parker. If you feel alone in your reversal-of-fortune struggle, she assures you that you are in fabulous company.

I always dog-ear pages that speak to me and half the book has folded corners. Here are some snippets of the wisdom she offers:

There is really only one way to deal with Misery. Accept her presence. Like most experiences in life, we must acknowledge the passage gracefully and let her move through our lives because she brings with her a hidden gift. But we must be patient enough for her to reveal it.

and

When the slight, strange ligaments of fate strip us bare of everything we thought we held dear, when we are cornered to defend what we cherish, when we are forced to say to the world, “Thus far and no farther,” this is how we finally create a life based on contentment, sanity, and serenity, even if it comes without a committed relationship, Barbie’s dream kitchen or prodigious funding.

and

If you can accept the priceless spiritual gift hidden in this season of relinquishment, you will know peace and plenty that the world and all its stock markets cannot take away.

Brilliant advice. And advice I’m taking. Reading this book helped give me the courage to finish my business book, sign up for school and launch my own decorating business.

I’m continuing to read the terrific Mended, and will do a wrap up post in the next week or so since time is tight today.

Take care of yourselves.

Until tomorrow,

xo Jen

 

 

 

 

Mad for Rattan, Queen Street Road Trip and Vintage Victoria

I hope y’all had a fabulous weekend. Mine was action packed.

Friday evening I planned to just chill after a week of running around and editing and supervising playdates and taking Serena for her first post-op walk in her Sock Monkey sweater.

But instead, my entourage and I ran around picking up some awesome vintage rattan for the summer house project that I sourced on kijiji. It took two trips to pick up the dining set, loveseat, chair, and coffee table. Fab finds and very inexpensive. I’m going to dedicate the space to Lilly Pulitzer, who passed away this weekend. (Heaven is going to be looking mighty chic.)

Saturday, I was up with the birds to bike to the club for an early morning workout. I have a new wicker basket and my super fab Yakkay helmet. Sadly, I was in workout clothes instead of a sundress, so it totally killed the look.

I must say I love the view at the gym:

To me it always looks like there is a cross on the other side of the creek and it reminds me to be thankful for my health, for the view, and for the other blessings in my life.

I met The Supermodel for breakfast. I forgot to wear my 4 inch heels so we looked like Mutt and Jeff. After breakfast, I did some editing and then decided to head downtown to pick up a peekaboo coffee table at CB2. Now, I’m not sure who names stores, because as far as I’m concerned, CB2 and EQ3 are the some place. So I thought I was heading to Liberty Village (EQ3), when in fact I was heading to Queen Street West (CB2). Thank heaven for navi systems. (Apparently, I’m not the first person to get the stores confused.)

I found a great parking space and was not about to let that go to waste so Serena and I did a little shop on Queen since I never get down there anymore. I hit Châtelet for a couple of accessories for the summer house. Love that store!

And I headed to Fashionably Yours consignment. They had a fab Balenciaga gown that I was contemplating for the formal I’m attending in May, but it did not quite fit and I could not justify the price and alterations. Pity.

Serena was her ever popular self on Queen. I’m amazed she has any fur left at all after all the petting. We headed back home to meet the ladies for drinks, which turned into dinner at the club. I never thought joining a sports club would make me gain so much weight.

Sunday was church and brunch. The lesson I was leading in Sunday School required a crocus and a few of them peeked out this week in my garden. What a blessing! The kids and I talked about how faith can be like planting a bulb and having to wait all winter before you see the flower. I love that metaphor.

I picked up the most fabulous peacock rattan chair in mint condition for $75. Seriously fabulous. The owner was sooo nice and even gave me some inspirational reading since she knew I had to pick up the chair before or after church. There really are little angel moments everywhere if you look for them.

Serena is constantly eyeing the chair. I suspect it’s the throne-like vibe that appeals to my diva assistant.

Why does she keep looking at my chair?

My biggest score this weekend was finding two back issues of Victoria magazine that I don’t own from The Singing Lady (and just in time for Magazine Monday!) I picked up February and April 1989 which means that I have pretty much the entire collection now. I was in my final year of high school when these were published, so it’s a trip down memory lane. These were the images had such a huge influence on my decorating aesthetic:

Even the ads are great, like this one for Laura Ashley:

And behold, Janice Dickinson in her pre-ANTM days:

I get an amazing amount of happiness out of magazines. Not sure if that’s a good thing but it works for me.

Until tomorrow,

xo Jen

Frugal Friday

Today, I’m taking my assistant to the vet to get her stitches out. Hopefully she’ll start being more productive after this. Right now, all she wants to do is lie in the sun and chill. I suspect she’s taking advantage.

If I do my bearskin rug impression, maybe she’ll leave me alone until May.

I’ve started some preliminary work on my little garden house. It had been closed up for the winter when I bought the house so I was not sure what I was working with. We have power and cable so that opens up a few more possibilities for using this as a summer entertaining space.

Here is what things look like now (I’ve just used the outdoor furniture I had on an interim basis plus those awesome rattan bar stools I found on the curb.)

Below is the vision. (And yes, I do want to turn what is basically a screened-in garden shed into the Lyford Cay Club.)

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I’m going to paint the interior of the garden house white and attempt to spray the outdoor funiture white too (if this fails, the set owes me nothing since I’ve had it sooo long.) I’ve picked up some bargoon indoor/outdoor Trina Turk for Schumacher fabric from The Designer’s Attic (one of the school moms told me about this amazing source!) for cushions.

I have picked up some cheap finds from Target’s Threshold Modern Cottage collection that give a Palm Beach Chic / Chinoiserie vibe:

I promised my kids I’d let them help so it should really be an adventure pulling this one together.

I’ll post as plans unfold.

Have a safe and happy weekend, kids.

xo Jen

Theatrical Thursday: Lorie Hartshorn and What to Wear on Camera

So, my SUV is rid of mice. Yup, that’s right. When I had my vehicle at the dealership to change over to summer tires, they found evidence that a mouse had shredded my hood liner. So all my Louis Vuitton money has gone on a new bonnet liner. Gah! I had no idea mice could live in a car that is in a garage and is driven every day. It’s more common than you might think. There was no evidence of mice in the garage at my new house but there was evidence of mice under the gas range top at the old place, so I’m hoping I left them all behind. Presumably my design assistant would chase them away from my new place, no?

Are you talking about me? Because that’s not in my job description.

On this Theatrical Thursday, I can report on my own on camera experience. Yesterday, I was at Crossroads to see Lorie Hartshorn speak. Lorie has just released Finding Freedom, a Bible Study DVD and Teaching Guide focusing on spiritual warfare. As an old-school Anglican, I used to roll my eyes at the notion of spiritual warfare but it’s simply the battle of good and evil – an age old concept that should be familiar from everyone from English lit majors to fans of Harry Potter to Star Wars devotees. And I’ve seen it played out first hand (one day I will share my slightly supernatural experience involving, of all things, a Dayspring greeting card.)

Lorie was recording four teachings to be aired on Crossroads later in the month and I was in the studio audience. Lorie is an amazing speaker. She has a background in leadership work with John C. Maxwell and is highly engaging. If you have a chance to see her speak, I’d urge you to do so. Her teachings will air on 100 Huntley Street later in the year.

After the show wrapped, host Melinda Estabrooks asked the audience if anyone wanted to give a testimonial about their experience with Crossroads. Crossroads was an amazing Christian family for me when I first came in Oakville and was enduring a very dark season in my life and so I was happy to say something.  But I was not prepared at all, and I had to run to pick up the kids from school so I did not volunteer. Well, when God wants you to do something, He wants you to do something. Next thing you know, Melinda is pointing at me and I’m standing on a mark holding a microphone and the red light on the camera is on. I don’t know what I said but both Mel and Ann Mainse came up to hug me after so I figure it was either pretty good or astonishingly bad.

Thankfully I had dressed to be on camera. I straightened my hair (Shoppers Drug Mart is selling off the terrific Oscar Blandi serum for $5. So I’m using it generously!) and I had a lipgloss in my purse (Bourjois Rose Exclusif. I carry one in my car too. It’s awesome.) I wore a pink Vero Moda peasant blouse with a white swan design (my daughter calls it my Swarovski swan shirt) with Citizens of Humanity jeans, my Taryn Rose boots and my Smythe for eLuxe Tuxedo jacket. I was pretty happy with the results. I had not, however, makeup-ed to be on camera. I hope they were not shooting in hi def.

I also met a really delightful woman at lunch and we had a lovely conversation. I hope that we stay in touch. This is my year of saying yes to opportunities and allowing God to lead me. So far, he’s leading me to some very interesting people and experiences.

Well, I must run. I have a million errands and I have to learn the rules of Bunco before ladies’ night tonight. Tomorrow, it’s back to a design post with Frugal Friday.

Later, kitty cats.

xo Jen

Wish List Wednesday

My favourite shelter magazine of all time was Domino. I was so sad when it stopped being published and I’m happy to see them on the newsstand once again, if only in those gold-plated $12.99 “special edition” publications.

I was excited to see that there is a Small Spaces issue out for spring because, hey, I have a small space! And Domino never fails to disappoint, adding about 800 items to my wish list. I always think it’s interesting how small spaces are perceived to be a challenge. Personally I find them easier to style. Nice things are not cheap and unless you are richer than Croesus, it’s hard to decorate a large place and make it look good.

On my wish list (and this one is super affordable at C$299) is CB2′s acrylic waterfall table.

I also love this trunk as another coffee table option.

I’m a huge fan of lucite and acrylic and glass in small footprints since they do not take up visual space. If I had anything other than ghost chairs in my miniature dining room (packed with a bar, china cabinet, piano, and table for 6-8), it would look absurd.

I’ve been thinking of cool screens for my living room. I refuse to work in a basement, so although I have a decent space down there for a home office / design studio, I prefer to squish my office into my living room, which is nice and sunny and gives me a view of lost of old trees. My office is in a 4 X 4 corner and although I work on a pretty antique drop leaf desk, I usually have it open and messy. And while my glass and steel laptop cart, cherrywood printer stand and Herman Miller Aeron desk chair are all pretty pieces on their own, they are a bit of an eyesore squished into a corner. I’d also like to put up a mood board and it just would not work with the old paintings in the rest of the space. So I’m looking at the idea of screens. I figure I could put a moodboard on the back.

Domino shows show great screen options. The Fornasetti Libreria is my favourite (of course it is, ringing in at C$17,900. Sigh.)

I think I’ll have to look into some of the less expensive options online. Domino gives lots of links I have yet to explore.

My final wishlist item comes from Anthopologie. The fox hunt plate collection would look fab in my dining room and bring in the whole horse and hound English Style look I love. At $1800, it’s going to remain on the wish list for a while, though.

I’m off to work out and go to a lunch event with Lorie Hartshorn.

Later, poodles,

xo Jen

Type Tuesday: Mended and Wings of Glass

So I just got notice that my MBA 15 year reunion is this summer. How did that happen? Boy, time flies. And not just when you are having fun.

Well, today is Type Tuesday. I’ve had a few books on the go, as always. I just finished Wings of Glass. I had heard the author, Gina Holmes, interviewed by Melinda Estabrooks and Kimberly MacLaren on The Drew Marshall Show and I immediately bought the book. Holmes’s writing style interested me. She writes Christian self-help in fiction form, which struck me as an interesting idea as I’ve just finished writing a business book in fiction form and believe that fiction is a marvellous training tool. I’ve written about how reading fiction can act as a simulation of the human experience: you can learn how people work, psychologically, by reading a lot of good fiction. So, to me it holds true that reading fiction could act very much like therapy. I wanted to see how Holmes executed her ideas. Plus, the book tackles domestic abuse in Christian relationships and that’s a topic that I’ve come to believe needs far more exploration. I’ve never read “inspirational” fiction – I tend to be more Joyce Carol Oates than Janette Oke – so I was not sure what to expect. (Actually, I thought I knew what to expect – a Harlequin without the good stuff.) The book was a delightful surprise. It’s very readable – a beach read in terms of style – but it takes on some hard theological issues, exploring how domestic violence is treated in scripture, in context. I was impressed that Holmes took some risks in her treatment of some of the characters and nobody was painted as perfect.

I also slow-read the next four chapters of Angle Smith’s  Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole. It’s such an interesting book. It’s not a style I tend to read and so when I’m actually reading it, I don’t feel an immediate connection the way I do with some other authors. But then days later, I’m still thinking about the ideas and talking about them with others. Smith’s idea of Lot’s wife representing the continual temptation to get sucked back into dwelling on the past is such a powerful one for me. I need to glue a salt shaker to my bathroom mirror. And she has lots to say about the disciple Peter: how he is a man of extremes. He might have denied Christ three times, but when he’s in, he’s all in. She can relate to a guy like that and so can I.

What stood out for me in this week’s reading is when she writes about one of her favourite verses, Exodus 14:14, spoken by Moses to the Israelites who were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea.

The Lord will fight for you; and you only have to be silent.

This was easier said that done when Smith heard Moses’s birth story a few months after her baby daughter had died. She wanted to shout out at the unfairness of it all. I’m a big fan of justice. So being silent and allowing the Lord to fight in His own time is not easy. I can barely watch Coronation Street right now because it looks like the evil Karl Munro is going to get away with murder and will be credited with saving Stella, who he very nearly also killed.

But as Smith reminds us,

This life is never going to fill us, is never going to satisfy our need for goodness. And it doesn’t need to.

We want everything to work out our way and to match our timing. Smith reminds us that while God was faithful to his promises to Moses, Moses never saw the promised land himself. Things are not always wrapped up in a nice little bow the way we’d like them to be. We are not promised no suffering or that justice (our notion of justice, of course) will be served right away. What we are promised is that we are not alone, God is faithful, and He can always redeem our pain.

And that can be enough.

Easter Monday

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So, I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Easter has always been my favourite holiday. Great colour palate, low gift expectations, and, of course, the whole story of resurrection and redemption that sustains one through Job seasons.

Friday, we were at church for the services and then we had a mellow day. We ate our own weight in English Bay fish and chips. Wow, is that place good. And popular! I’m glad I pre-ordered our Good Friday fish or we’d have been waiting there for hours. We also had carrot cake.

Saturday, we did errands. On the shopping list were spring shoes for the kids and a garage-mounted basketball net (I don’t like the aesthetics of those big things on wheels with concrete blocks weighting them down.) Holy heck is it ever hard to put up a net. I had help and I’m pretty comfortable around a set of tools myself, owning one of these bad boys:

But still, everything in an old house is kind of wonky and the mounting kit instructions were written in that language they speak at Star Trek conventions. But in the end. Ta da!

To celebrate my mother’s birthday, the family ate our weight in Shrimp and Lobster Curry at the club that evening. I had a brownie a la mode for dessert. Shocking behaviour.

Sunday, the kids were up early. We had a little Easter egg hunt at the house. Instead of giant chocolate Mr. Solids, the children got a bit of chocolate and the traditional Easter french bulldog pillows.

Whoa. Total flashback to my I Am… Serena Fierce tour. I miss my backup dancers.

After cinnamon buns (are you seeing a theme here?) we headed off to church. I was leading Sunday school for the grade-school kids. We talked about love and forgiveness and grace. And then had an Easter egg hunt that resembled an only slightly more civilized version of the Hunger Games. Once we had a little chat about sharing, everyone redistributed their egg piles so things were fair.

Then we headed to a brunch (or linner, as the kids called it, since it was the second seating) and had another Egg Hunt (for those mathemologists in the crowd, that brings us to three.) I ate my weight in fancy cheese and shrimp and waffles and english trifle. We were sharing a table for ten with my new pal, the supermodel (well, not really, but she is a dead ringer for one) and her entourage, so I wore my 4 1/2 inch sparkle shoes to be of similar height.

I wore them with my Anthropologie bunny dress and an older style pink Smythe jacket. The navy grosgrain ribbon on the side of the jacket pulled things together with the navy on the dress, lest you think I’ve come to leave of my senses.

The jacket is feeling a wee bit tight after all of the weekend gluttony. I am going on a diette. I never diet. Too hard core. A diette simply means you are no longer allowed to mainline chocolate covered almonds while you watch reruns of Will and Grace. But you are still allowed Liberte coconut greek yogurt (for any longtime MUBAR readers, I’m so happy this is now in a 2% fat greek yogurt version. I’m still obsessed.)

Someone was not quite as fond of her Easter outfit.

I miss my old life.

But she was so proud that her grand-dog did so well at a dog show. Little Miss Vivienne won best puppy and was even on tv (click for video of Vivienne.)

Well, it’s magazine Monday. The best of the crop this week was Country Living UK. We get them late so we are still on March 2013. But it is bee-youtiful.

The tap into your talent feature focuses on becoming an interior designer (featuring UK designer and former lawyer Sarah Osmond). Makes me happy about my career choice.

You know what else makes me happy?

Lady like nail polish.

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That’s it for now, folks. I’m hosting an Easter Monday playdate soon and I’ll have to facilitate referee.

xo Jen

The one about religion

Today is Theatrical Thursday. But I don’t really want to write about Frugal finds on Good Friday (Torontonians, anyone remember the “Good News for Good Friday” semi-illegal sales in the 1980s? I hardly want to channel that.) So this week is a bit off, blog-wise.

Yesterday was a bit off too. Oh how I hate tax time: every document that should be easily attainable was not, for whatever reason. And then an appointment got switched. And then a jacket I’d bought online was a disaster, which necessitated a trip to the post office. First world problems, to be sure, but when these little inconveniences happen, it’s so easy to, like Lot’s wife, get a bit stuck. To turn back and wallow in past pain for a little while. I’m blaming it on the full moon.

But, thankfully, it’s Holy Week and we have Easter to look forward to. I’ve ordered my fish and chips for Good Friday. I’ve booked brunch for Sunday. The Easter Bunny has it all under control.

I’ve found a place for the family altar (Don’t worry, the candles never get burned. I’m not about to pull a what-looks-like-is-about-to-happen on Coronation Street)

I’m going over the materials for Sunday school as I’ve been promised a crowd. A couple of moms have approached me about Easter services, which I think is so very cool. Perhaps people think that if I can survive what I’ve been through and still be standing in 4-inch heels talking about where to source designer pillows, then there must be a benevolent God. Or perhaps they are simply making polite conversation. Either way, it’s nice.

My kids are filled with Easter questions. I want my kids to be able to choose what they believe, but I can’t help but trying to bias the vote just a little, not unlike Shakira on The Voice (pick me, pick me!) My seven year old is all in and has declared, with authority, that the french bulldog is a Christian. My nine year old, on the other hand,  was surprised to discover that we attend a Christian church: “I thought we were Anglican,” was her response.

They’re gonna love me in the choir.

CTS has an amazing-looking documentary called The Bible and You airing this Saturday, March 30 (it’s livestreaming at 9pm EST on CTStv.com for those who do not get the channel.) 100 Huntley Street was showing a clip from the doc today and I was thrilled to see a discussion about the Bible and the treatment of women (because heaven knows, misogynists love to use it as a weapon.) The always sensible Tony Campolo was featured and I thought he made the most marvellous statement:

I think that anybody who studies the Bible with any degree of conscientious commitment will come away with the sense that the Bible, perhaps, is the major force for establishing the equality of women in the world today.

Oh, how that makes my heart happy.

And of course, the conclusion of The Bible airs on Sunday, which will be must see TV around here. Cause, you know, I have to support my besties:

I hope you have a safe and happy long weekend, whatever it is you celebrate or don’t.