I love plants – and succulents are easy to take care of – look fantastic and come in endless shapes, sizes and colors. Good options for low maintenance decorating. A small succulent is usually around $3, then a little planter pot is about $3-6. The cutest planters usually don’t have drain wholes in the bottom – so here’s a tip – add rocks or a little gadget called “garden genius” which is a pot filler. That way the water doesn’t settle at the bottom.

The brown pot? Yeah I got really excited – ooo look at this vintage planter I found in the tool shed. Or a citronella candle made to look vintage – sigh.

When it comes to skin care I stick to what works for me despite the cost – due to my sensitive skin. Mass marketed skin care usually has tons of fragrance in it which can do a number on me. But when it comes to hair care I’m not going to debtor’s prison over shampoo.

I mean I love Ouidad and Bumble and Bumble but sheesh – who are they kidding?! For instance Bumble and Bumble’s Sunday shampoo – vs Pantene’s Clarifying shampoo… $19 for 8oz vs $4 for over 12 oz’s!!!! And they have the SAME ingredients!! Same with their straightening cream – yeah it’s amazing but you pay for amazing. So instead, there is Marc Anthony’s cream for about $7 and often at Ulta I find buy one get one free.

So beauty without debt – novel idea.

I knew he had been in India the last two months – he and his brother are native Brits but his parents migrated from Northern India many moons ago. His parents, namely his mother, have been on him for a year or so to go to India to find a wife. He’s been pretty opposed to this idea, images of eager young – very young – women looking at him as a potential green card. But in his words “I’m sick of fighting them”, so he agreed.

I think he’s contemplating writing a book on the experience at this point. He indeed was seen as a walking green card, I wish I had been a fly on the wall for these meetings. He’s what you would consider a “serious sort”…needless to say parading him in front of 15 families is not his idea of fun! I haven’t gotten the details yet, but apparently he met some doozies!!!

But at last a “normal” family and a “normal” girl was presented to him. Now this is the fascinating part. He met her, liked her, had his cousin inquire about whether she was being pressured into all this or not and how she felt about him. All of her answers were positive so they met again, hit it off and decided to get married. “Do you think this will work?” he asks, “I think it would work, you are easy to be with” was her response. And boom it was done! They courted for two weeks, got engaged and were married within the following two weeks.

He came home to London a married man! Now if that isn’t efficiency I don’t know what is!! So can arranged marriages work in today’s world? I don’t know, but it is intriguing I must say.