Street Tango! Videos from Buenos Aires

The Mansion Dandi Royal ~ Boutique Tango Hotel in Buenos Aires

This has to be be the ultimate. This is where I would prefer to stay ~ in this Art Nouveau palace. Described as a boutique tango hotel, it is an actual mansion. A residential academy where enthusiasts fly in from all over the world to absorb the culture of tango dancing! It is in San Telmo, in the heart of Buenos Aires near Caminito and La Boca, where tango was born. You'll love the photos, videos and the history.

You Might Be An Heiress If...(take the fun quiz!)

THE ESSENTIAL HEIRESS QUIZ

You might be an Heiress if:

1. You know exactly what you would do with $100,000.

2. You know at least some words in 5 or more languages.

3. You drive a car with no "pimping."

4. You know the difference and between Chai Latte and Macchiato and how to make them.

5. You listen to PBS radio.

6. You have a brand new interest every single week.

7. You have researched a trip in great detail that you will take in ten years.

8. You still have some clothing or jewelry from your teens.

9. You saved your childhood books.

10. You always read more than one book at a time.

11. You prefer non-fiction and biography.

12. You dabble in art, or have shown your own work.

13. You collect fragrances by season.

14. You wear matching lingerie every day.

15. You keep an updated passport.

16. You know where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

17. You never "crash" to bed, but retire with a book, warm milk and your journal.

18. You have at least 6 doctors on speed dial.

19. You have posed with 2 or more celebrities in your life.

20. You ARE a celebrity...to someone.

21. You have used at least 10 financial institutions in your life.

22. Your last "second childhood" was last week.

23. You enjoy watching foreign films with subtitles.

24. You know what will be in style before it happens from experience.

25. You have at least three close friends from other cultures.

26. You know exactly how much is in your savings account or wallet.

27. Your wallet matches your purse or eyeglass holder.

28. You unconsiously match things...nails, lipstick, jewelry, cups, cars.

29. You artistically unmatch things. china, suit pieces, furnishings.

30. You know a good attorney firm.

31. You know the exact nutritional value of everything you put in your mouth.

33. You make your own at home spa treatments.

34. You own a yoga or pilates DVD.

35. You can name 3 world leaders and have written to one.

36. You have tried to read an encyclopedia.

37. You own classical music CDs.

38. You change purses for evening.

39. You have attended religious services in at least 6 houses of worship.

40. You realize that some of your friends are people you pay.

41. You know the tenants of your own faith and creed.

44. You have written a will.

45. You own a book by Emily Post or Julia Child.

Advanced Questions:

46. You know the difference between the S & P 500 and the Fortune 500.

47. You can name 7 American companies which are at least 100 years old.

48. You know the difference between Stephen Allen and Robert Kiyosaki.

49. You know what the Euro is worth and whether it is more than the British pound.

50. You know the capital of Australia (hint- it's not Sydney).

51. You know the approximate price of a barrel of oil.

55. You know who the Prime Minister of Israel is and whether France has a king.

56. You can quote from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

57. You know where cinnomin comes from.

58. You know the year the Vietnam War began and ended.

59. You voted in the last election.

60. You know what year Hong Kong reverts back to Mainland China.

61. You can explain the "Cuban Missile Crisis" and who presided over it.

62. You know the city where the Medici's of Italy are entombed.

63. You know in which country St. Moritz is located.

64. You know the name of the sculptor of "David" and who painted the ceiling of the
Sisteen Chapel.

65. You know the name of the doctor who invented the polio vaccine.

66. You know who the Hapsburgs were.

67. You could pinpoint Monaco on a world map.

68. You have seen "The Swan" with Grace Kelly.

69. You know the rudimentary basics of fencing, golf and archery.

70. You've checked to see if you have royal blood.

Other signs you might be an heiress

71. You are compulsively neat.

77. You don't leave the house sloppily dressed.

78. You smile when walking past strangers.

79. You always lock your car.

80. You always empty your coin purse at the Salvation Army bellringer urn. Or write a check.

81. You own a pair of white gloves.

82. You are kind to animals and perfect strangers.

83. You own a pair of large sunglasses.

84. You apply foundable with brushes and carry a compact.

85. You believe in Angels.

86. You have hand sanitizer and lotion in your handbag.

87. People who don't know you refer to you as a lady and not a woman.

88. You wear hats in the summer.

89. Your towels are all folded the same way.

90. You read everything you sign.

91. You've given a child a monetary gift for his or her birthday.

92. You've every walked out of an offensive movie.

93. You've gone back to pay for something a cashier overlooked.

94. You have taken private lessons.

95. You enjoy flying.

96. You save memorabilia.

97. You make close friends personal gifts.

98. You have a secret family recipe.

99. You still call your father Daddy.

100. You will look up information in this quiz!

Score:

0- 10 pts. (You found this quiz silly)
11- 30 pts. (You're confused by this quiz)
31- 50 pts. (You didn't have time to take this quiz)
51 - 70 pts. (You're still working on it.)
71- 80 pts. (You know someone who would like this quiz)
81 - 90 pts. (You already know you're an heiress)
91 - 100 pts. (You'd like extra credit, please)

Are you an Essential Heiress, too? Stay involved. Subscribe to http://essentialheiress.blogspot.com/

TANGO! Is what is inside you...

http://www.fredastairepanamacity.com/

Buenos Aires is where the dance Tango was born. Internationally, Buenos Aires is on the Atlantic Ocean and sparkles as the "Paris" of South America. It's home to some of the most beautiful shoes, and dancers, in the world! I confess I am hooked on this dance form. One day I hope Keith and I will visit Buenos Aires and go to the cafe which made tango famous around the world. The Argentine Tango is different from regular Tango. It is a dance between one man and one woman. It has it's own vocabulary, it's own language. Love, hate, indifference, romance, playfulness...the gamut of emotions may be expressed in it. Though some of the steps are simple, one could take a lifetime to master them, and enjoy every moment. There is no choreography that once mastered, which cannot be improvised and personalized on the dance floor. There are several styles on Tango...Salon tango is informal, and danced with one person, one dance, at a time, usually in a "salon" or small living room setting or dance floor. Milongas are parties where dances are danced in sets of three before changing partners. There is "street" tango, or orillero. And yes, it is danced on the streets of Buenos Aires in public performances. (What could be more romantic?) And finally, there is Fantasia, which is a highly stylized, large, dramatic and exaggerated dance done on stage to prepared choreography and orchestra. Fred Astaire offers basic tango classes for couples for $10 on Tuesdays at 5:45 in Panama City, Florida.
For your Tango music listening pleasure, I found this link: http://www.ballroomdancers.com/music/search_style.asp?Dance=Tango

TANGO! It's All About the Shoes

The Timid 2000's

When I wrote my book in 2002, I'd built up the excessive 80's, dreamed through the nostalgic 90's and now I am ending what I say was the Timid 2000's. This was the decade that started with the World Trade Center disaster on 9/11/2001. I'm ten years older now, and wiser. I worry that my book does not strike the same note that it did ten years ago. But, it is filled with wisdom and inspiration from my grandparents day, so it isn't exactly focused on my lifetime. Right now, I no longer want to "be rich." I want to "be secure." The present economy is weak and we are in the second year of a major recession. "The tide floats all boats," and not one person has not been affected by it. However, money does not buy happiness, and as a matter of fact, cannot even buy us security. So let us store your treasure in heaven by helping others. Strangely, that alone brings me happiness. Living within a budget brings me a sense of contentment. Facing lack drives me to my infinite source in God. Having anything at all makes me feel thankful, and well, rich- richly blessed, that is. I wonder what the 2010's will bring.
I've discovered some impressive links I'd like to share.
Simply Savings from Australia. www.simplesavings.com.au/ (Look what you can do with $21!)
ING Direct for savings and banking www.ingdirect.com (If you can't bank in Switzerland, how about Amsterdam? It's an International bank and fully a U. S. one, too, and tailored to we customers.)
And for buying and holding stocks and mutual funds, www.Sharebuilder.com.
Check out my Dad's blog as well. It's called, I Am Not Ashamed of Jesus. http://captben61.blogspot.com/ I'd like you to join me in putting some "treasure" in our heavenly bank account. And in so doing, enrich our life.//
Sometimes an example of what I am trying to say comes to my inbox. Please take few minutes to view this clip of a blind motivator has to say. It will bless your life and I believe possibly change it as well.
http://mymentorsnetwork.com/30DayBootCamp/MMN_Day11_Life_Mastery_30-Day_Boot_Camp20jj7o8hgfdhjyewktyf0y078y98__8_8JJ.html

Alas, My Gourmet Magazine is Folding Away, like a World Map

I can't believe it...Gourmet Magazine, now 70 years old, will be no more. How I loved receiving it month after month, and trying the new recipes, honing my culinary skills, and travelling the world vicariously. I started subscribing as a young bride in 1986 and renewed for nine years, and then renewed again only this year, 23 years later. The older issues are the best. The travel pages were as good as the cooking ones. Through them I visited the waterfront Jumbo restaurant of Hong Kong (cover March 92), savored a Spring Apres Ski Weekend with onion and sage stuffed pork chops with kielbasa and sauerkraut, with lemon sweet potato souffle (March 88), Dined alfresco in the snow in big sunglasses at the French Alpine resort cafe at Courchevel, site of the Winter Olympics (cover January 92). I hosted a small Opera Luncheon, tuning in to the Lincoln Center, to hear Pavarotti, and great tenors sing The Pearlfishers duet, on the stereo radio broadcast, while my guests savored crisp Cloud Merengues with their arias, chilled cucumber soup with their crescendoes. My artfully mismatched settings graced a black wrought iron table, brought chicly indoors, with sparkling stemware and clay, and little moss stained angel as a centerpiece. My cooking is always complimented, not because I studied at Cordon Bleu(my dream) but because I memorized certain recipes over time from the pages of Gourmet. I have collected a whole set of gorgeous unmatched china dinner plates to use as platters to highlight certain dishes, as in the pages of Gourmet. In them the food is impossibly beautiful, and it doesn't care and never did give a fig souffle how many calories it has, only that it is made with what is good and real, like real butter, unsalted of course, and the freshest local ingredients, lovingly prepared, with patience and appreciation. I understand Gourmet has published a cookbook (it's last?). I'm sure that it, as well as back issues on Ebay, will be snapped up by a great demand. I for one will be holding on to my memories, and my Gourmet magazine collection, which now seems even more valuable and timeless. You could learn and about the Sphinx and Cairo, Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesen, relive the Fashion, the passion, the jewelry, cruises and cars of the excessive 1980s and nostalgic 1990s. I made my pastors wife who just had a baby, a frozen Zabaglioni, like an icecream roll, tinted and scented with sherry. In a way, I'm glad that Gourmet will cease publishing, so that I can try to catch up, and try recipes that are now classic. In Gourmet, you made not mere meals, but once in a lifetime milesstones. If something should happen that civilization as we know it ends, at least we will have Gourmet to remind us of how glorious it once could be.//

NEVER LEAVE YOUR PARTNER

My husband and I are doing "The Love Dare" from the book that inspired the hit movie "Fireproof" (2008, Sherwood Pictures). Actually, the first time I did the book, we were dating, and he proposed to me on Day 8, because, well, he "just felt so loved!" If you haven't seen the movie, please rent it on Netflix at http://www.netflix.com/. We are also journaling to one another on http://www.40daylovedare.com/. Just the act of writing to each other on opposite ends of the house, and anticipation of receiving a significant love letter, has put passion and fun back into our lives.
I won't say that the assignments are easy, but they are simple. If you're single or divorced, like I was, the book will definitely prepare you for your next relationship. It may even save your marriage!
Watch the movie trailer on Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3049979929/
Marriage is serious business and I don't want mine to go up in flames. As you'll learn in the movie, NEVER LEAVE YOUR PARTNER.

Log Readers Get Free E-book

If any readers of the Destin Log's recent articles on my father, Capt. Ben Marler, would like to download a free copy of this book, please go to http://www.box.net/ImpressiveHome
You will need Adobe Reader, but you may freely download this program at www.adobe.com
Libaries are encouraged to download a free archival copy. Many of the 130 historial and family photos were taken by myself or my family and I will give written permission to use them if you will contact me at www.heiressarts.com
The County libary system has a printed copy. Several local elementary schools are using this book as a fifth grade level "A. R. Reading" book, and at last count, 140 children had checked it out for school credit at my "alma mater" (1966-1972) Destin Elementary School. I regret that I don't have any more printed copies to donate, but I will be producing the book on CDs and hope that eventually Amazon will have printed copies for purchase for $13.85 plus tax. God bless you for reading this book, and please share it with your own children. - Athena//

Growing Up Capt. Ben Marler's Daughter

An excerpt:
"Being Daddy's favorite subject when he was taking photography classes at F. S. U. His dark room, which always seemed more sort of red, to me, and watching a floating leaf of curled paper turn into my glossy stained likeness. Reading Archie comic books under the covers to my sister Beth and knowing that Daddy used to do that when he was little. The annual September hunting trips to Colorado. Daddy prepared for and let us "camp" all over the living room devoid of furniture. The living room slumber parties in his pop tent while anxiously waiting for the "Grizzly Bear" to shake up the tent so we all could scream! Shopping trips to Fort Walton Beach to buy new shoes at Kenney's or Fleet's shoe store, and having to buy more when they became tight. Eating hot apple pies and orange drinks at McDonald's in our car in the winter with our engine running because they was no such thing as indoor dining, while we waited for Beth's ballet lessons to be over across the street. The smells of fruited divinity and peals of bells in Sear's shopping for a shirt for Daddy which came not all new and wrinkled on a hanger, but new and all creased up in a wedge of cardboard, pins and plastic wrap." pp. 99-100.