Elise Sereni Patkotak

… you see a young stud muffin and regret what you should have done in your youth but know you are way too tired to do now.

Young studs of the world, you are safe.

My tiara has been polished and shines (thanks, Em, for giving me such a gorgeous one!), my gown is laid out, my tequila but awaits the addition of Baja Bob’s Sugar Free Margarita mix, and I am ready to sit down and watch the Emmys. Does it get any better than this? Yes it does. Tomorrow I can watch Joan Rivers and her friends on The Fashion Police – Emmy Edition. Better save some of that margarita mix. Fashion Police is better TV than the Emmy Show itself.

Life is good.

In an attempt to draw business into Atlantic City’s casinos, an executive at Bally’s has created a life sized replica of the Monopoly board and placed it, where else, at the intersection of Boardwalk and Park Place.

See, and all these years I thought the intersection of Boardwalk and Park Place was already life size. Maybe it’s because I was a kid growing up there and everything seems big when you’re little.

Given the amount of clicking, creaking and groaning my body does as I go up and down the stairs, my chances of sneaking quietly into anywhere have pretty much flown out the window.

We all have our memories of where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001. I was in Barrow for a trial to terminate parental rights on a family who seemingly had no desire to get sober or less violent in order to have their children returned. As we entered the courtroom, I think we were all shell-shocked. We’d just watched some of the most horrific reality TV it would ever be our misfortune to see.

The judge acknowledged the tragedies that were unfolding even as he called his court to order. Then he looked at us

Mosquitoes gone. Air chill and crisp. Leaves wafting down around me instead of snow flakes. Life is good… really, god, rain? Really? Just when I thought it was all so beautiful?

Watch any good film version of Jane Eyre. Pay attention as nothing more than amazing dialog, tension filled looks, and the slightest touch of a hand is more sexy than anything that’s come out of Hollywood in 100 years. Sometimes less is truly more.

…who wishes Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson would just go away?

Peace.

I’ve not only closed, but also latched, all but one of the windows that stood open all summer. And I turned the heat on for almost 30 minutes today.