By: Chrysa Smith Oprah Winfrey has said it. Loosely translated, it is something like this: 'If you're a woman born in the United States, you are lucky.' Visually circumnavigating the globe, I would have to agree with her. But I would add that even if born in the US, depending upon the era and your culture, your luck might still run out. Judy Dench wonderfully portrays such drama in Philomena--the story of an [...]
by Chrysa Smith Every Monday afternoon at 2pm, I gather with eight ladies to play tennis. It's a somewhat friendly round of doubles (some friendlier than others), but I digress. The interesting part is that most of these ladies have at least 15 or more years on me and have been playing together for maybe as long. I'm the newbie---literally. At first, I wasn't sure about this whole venture. I'm just not sure [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Have you gone out with hack saw in hand and cut down an Evergreen tree? Have you hauled it into your home, scratching up the walls, dropping needles that you'll not find until spring? Have you untangled the strings of lights, hooked all the balls and hung them perfectly on the dry branches? Ah, Merry Christmas. It's kinda weird that we bring a tree into our homes to celebrate a [...]
By: Chrysa Smith What do you do with a life-size human raised as an elf? Not really sure. Actually nobody is. And this conundrum is exactly the jumping off point that begins the Broadway musical Elf. Buddy the Elf just doesn't fit in---literally. Not only is he large in scale, he just doesn't have the elf gene that allows for record toy production. So when the big guy in the red suit lets [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Every so often you have one of those days. Not only does everything go smoothly, but it feels right. The atmosphere. The mood. The entire karma, fung shei, aura and all that jazz. I don't know about you, but this is only a once in awhile occurrence in my life (like last year, when MaryFran and I hit the streets of NYC and scored cheapo tickets to the Radio City [...]
by Chrysa Smith Nothing says giving thanks or demonstrates the conservative pilgrim lifestyle like a trip to Las Vegas. Yes, it's counter-intuitive. But maybe you've had enough of the turkey drippings and coffee grinds, and taking a virtual trip, even to the local movie theater, sounds like music to your ears. If so, head on down to see Last Vegas--a pseudo spoof on The Hangover films, only with a slightly more mature all-star [...]
by Chrysa Smith So much to do. So little time. So let me be the first to wish you a very happy, healthy and tasty Thanksgiving. There. Now you can get on with your holiday activities. There's the planning for the table landscape, selecting a menu, inviting the guests (well, hopefully you've done that part already), shopping for food and of course, all of the decisions about your gobbler. This is one of [...]
