A Legend

This Sunday {August 5, 2012} marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Marilyn Monroe. I was a few months shy of my fourth birthday when she died, I think about that now and I'm amazed how much her image has influenced me over the years. Truthfully, Marilyn's image is larger than her life itself and it continues to influence to this day.

This is my favourite picture of Marilyn.            source unknown

These two images are my favourite pictures of Marilyn. I am unaware of the source, if anyone can provide photo credit I will update the post.
I like these pictures because she seems so relaxed, especially the first image where she is sitting up. It gives off a vibe that says you could just sit down and start chatting with her as you would with a close girlfriend.

source unknown

Marilyn's estate continues to this day to generate millions of dollars per year. She was ranked third on the Forbes annual list of deceased celebrities for 2011 {behind the earnings of the Michael Jackson estate, and Elvis Presley estate}, with the estate generating 27 million dollars for the year.

The estate was sold to Authentic Brands Group in 2010 who are working on lending her likeness and name to more defined {and hopefully elegant} projects. Jamie Salter, CEO for Authentic Brands notes that "it's women who have kept Marilyn alive", and so the interest in the Hollywood icon is best generated to products that women embrace. The upcoming projects include high end perfumes and cosmetic brands.

So what is it for us as women that draws us in?

She was a sex symbol of her time and there were other women who had just as much sexual overtone to their persona as Marilyn. Elizabeth Taylor, Brigette Bardot, Jayne Mansfield, Ursula Andress and Racquel Welch. But Marilyn stood out.

Marilyn oozed sexiness with her curvy figure. For me it is how she displayed a soft feminine sultriness as well, combined with her mega watt smile. It all equates to feminine charm.

There is a 26 foot high sculpture of Marilyn in the 'dress breeze' pose that has been moved from Chicago to Palm Springs. This weekend an Elton impersonator will sit at the foot of the sculpture and sing 'Candle in the Wind' as part of a tribute to the late star. There will always be impersonators and wanna-be's, ugh!
With that note, I hope that Authentic Brands moves quickly on the re-branding of Marilyn's image to help portray the sultry actress as the soft and feminine woman she was.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin's famous song Candle in the Wind became a classic because it depicts the truth.

"Your candle burned out long before, your legend ever did".

Remembering a beautiful legend.

Always On My Mind

When your partner says 'I'm going on business trip for a few days', do you think of all the things you'll do while they are away? Somehow in my mind I line up a months worth of things to do while Richard goes off to a conference.............. for four days. This is one of those weeks that I'm carrying around in my head my own honey-do list.

One of our airlines went into a strike situation last night, and of course it's the airline Richard is booked on for today. They recommend that travellers expect delays and take carry-on luggage instead of checked baggage. Last night began the task of packing for the trip, something I really like doing for him.
OK, I'm crazy. But it is all about my own self satisfaction and makes me feel more assured that he is being taken care of while away from home.

Despite taking two suitcases for a three week journey to Greece, I really am an efficient packer. And when space is at a premium, I can make it work. I explained to Richard last night that rolling the clothes makes more room and helps keep the wrinkles out, same with packing his shirts in the plastic from the dry cleaners. So all the while I'm making sure that the socks are stuffed into little spaces and the clothes are snuggled around each other; he says the same thing to me that he tells me every time I pack for him, "no one ever did this for me before".
And my heart explodes .............. and it's another reason why I want to do this little thing for him.


As he walked out the door this morning with the carry-on luggage wheeling behind him like an efficient flight attendant, Richard turned back and said, 'I'd never be able to get everything in this small luggage'.

Ha! Well, your going to have to for the return flight home my love. I envision him getting off the plane at the end of the week wearing layers of clothing because he couldn't get everything back into the small luggage.

As I sit and write this posting, his cologne lingers around me more than it does most mornings after we've shared our have a great day hug. The place is all mine for a few days. Visions of painting until the wee hours of the morning and refinishing a piece of furniture dance around in my head.
And for Richard, housekeeping won't care if the towels are not hung with perfection after he dries his hands. He will appreciate the room to himself for a few days.

Time away from one another is good for the soul and makes you appreciate the time together.


Gosh! I hope he likes the bedroom painted fuschia ................. just kidding.