Assorted diversions.

In an effort to avoid the crushing boredom of Sarah Palin’s just-released emails from her brief but forgettable half-term as governor of the Arctic, I decided to spend my first Sam-free Saturday night with a sack of Cheetos, a tall Marcytini and a pair of fine films — Pillow Talk and Murder on the Orient Express.

(Don’t tell anybody, but that was probably the most excellent lead-in sentence I’ve ever written.)

Actually, I also spent some time tonight ordering air freshener refills from Yankee Candle (see photo), filling my seven-day pill sorter for the week ahead, rinsing out a few dishes and admiring the haircut I got this morning. No kidding, this is absolutely the best haircut I’ve had since I moved to Texas in 2007. Carmina is a new stylist at the salon I’ve been using for the last couple of years and I told her if she ever decides to leave I’ll have to throw myself in front of a city bus. (I might be exaggerating a little. Maybe just a Volkswagen.)

And now it’s time to head back into the family room to watch a couple of vintage Julia Child episodes that I recorded yesterday on The Cooking Channel. (You can tell these have to be extremely old reruns because her mixing bowls are AVOCADO GREEN.)

Julia Child is brilliant, hilarious and adorable. Last week she taught me the right way to hard-boil eggs. Seriously.

I might stay up all night. Thank you for reading this and bon appetit, y’all.