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Written by Pamela Redmond Satran in 1997 and often mis-attributed to Maya Angelou, Hilary Clinton, and other famous women. A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. a youth she's content to leave behind.... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age.... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...... a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE . one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a feeling of control over her destiny. EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to fall in love without losing herself. EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without; ruining the friendship... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents.. EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she would and wouldn't do for love or more... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table... or a charming inn in the woods... when her soul needs soothing... EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she can and can't accomplish in a day... a month...and a year...
20 responses total.
A lot of those would be good advice for men as well. Except maybe the lacy bra . . . .
My coffee spews as my mind boggles. Do come to the next HH wearing one!
Definitely good words of wisdom; most of which I still need to work on...
They make a lot of assumptions. I have no use for wine glasses, bras, or eight matching plates (or space to feed eight people).
Her assumptions are valid for most people I know.
I've decided that stemware is bullshit although I do have some left over from before I reached that conclusion. I manage to make my guests feel welcome anyways and there has still been plenty of wine consumed around these parts. But generally, I think that list offers pretty good advice.
My list would look quite a bit different. I don't have an employer, nobody usually cares what I wear including me, etc.
I *rarely* drink wine but have stem ware. Just pretty basic glasses from Crate and Barrel.
Nice stemware is a cool way to serve other drinks, too. Even ice water looks so 'dressed up' in a wine glass or goblet. Try it some day: have your pb&j sandwich and potato chips on a nice china plate, use sterling silver for any food that requires it [like your rocky road ice cream [preferably from Baskin Robbins, served from an iced piece of stemware for dessert], serve the tea using a nice teapot and a bone china tea cup and saucer, cloth napkins, ice water or chocolate milk in a good sized wine glass, use cloth napkin, a placemat, and a tablecloth, set out a vase of fresh flowers, background music of your choice, and a good book or magazine to read while dining [assuming your dining alone like I do most of the time]. We don't need to have special occasions for fine dining, any meal [alone or with others] can certainly be dressed up. Even for breakfast or a happy meal from Micky D's. Give it a try from time to time and let us know how it goes! Yep, gotta love those wine glasses [though I don't have any at the moment; some of my dishes and a few other things didn't make it with my last move. Someone must've put it in the Salvation Army pile of boxes. I had quite a few things to replace but haven't gotten to nice glasses or dishes; only a couple cheap mugs for tea. The two sats of small lunch plates, 2 cereal bowls, a few regular cups and glasses, and the cheap mismatched set of 'silver'ware and a few small appliances are the kitchen supplies that did make it. I'm making due...]
Amazing. I just read your comment this morning but last night I was at a gathering of good music, food and wine. Now, I didn't have any wine but there was this excellent fresh fruit cocktail being served. So I put the fruit in the wine glass mostly so I didn't have it swimming on a larger plate. I swear it tasted better coming from stemmed crystal. Maybe we really do eat with our eyes to a great degree.
Jim prefers to eat out of the pot or microwave bowl. Less to wash. Some people do NOT eat with their eyes.
Dave is pretty much the same way. He could really care less what he eats on, as long as it's good to eat. I prefer the trappings. And Sindi, in culinary school, the maxim is that we do eat a great deal visually, so if the food looks nice, it does make a difference.
I certainly do think that the visual can have an effect on how enjoyable a meal is. I still dont plan on buying any stemware though :)
Do you guys mean for every single time you eat, or just for the occasional dinner you decide to make a production out of?
I think it varies. For the most part, I eat off of my plain, everyday white stuff. I like the simplicity of it. For nice meals I have a set of china that I really like that I think lends to the festivity of the occasion.
Oh I just drink wine right out of the ripple bottle and only put it in a jelly jar if there's company over or something ;)
Sweet! Drinking buddies at the core!
For me, I don't get so elaborate with every meal [after all, like slynne, I currently don't have any stemware]. But I rarely use dispoable plates, cups, or plastic-ware these days... To me, it IS nicer to eat off of 'real' plates, bowls, and glasswear. I rarely use my non-disposable plastic cups any more, too. The dinnerware that I do own is definitely not high quality at all but it IS better than plastic. Oh, I do have a couple nice tea-cups and saucers as well as 3 teapots [which aren't too expensive but I think are nice]. And though I use my regular mugs most of the time when drinking tea [or hot chocolate], I do use the nicer tea cups fairly often. And a teapot, too, most of the time. Which pot depends on how much I'm making at a time, one's a 2-cup, the other 2 are 4-cup pots. Having multiple pots HAS come in handy on more than a couple occasions. Like for times when it's nice to serve more than one kind of tea or one regular tea and the other one decaf.
I like the idea of having more than one tea pot. Perhaps I will buy another one. I have one that does four cups. If I want less tea, I have a big jar that I use.
Definitely think, whoever wrote this, that there is a lot of practical reasoning for all of this. It's empowering to know one's potential, limits, abilities and weaknesses. It also probably saves you a lot of wasted time, energy, etc. in the long run.
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