There's Nothing Like a Dame: Top 8 Old Hollywood Ladies

After several weeks of drooling over handsome actors, I think it's only fair to give a little credit to the classic women of Old Hollywood. It's a rare woman today who can hold a candle to the elegance, beauty, and sophistication of these ladies in their prime. Each is stunning in her own right, and it was almost impossible to rank them, so I didn't try very hard--the order is basically random.

My favorites include...

1.) Elizabeth Taylor









2.) Ingrid Bergman









3.) Veronica Lake








4.) Sophia Loren









5.) Marilyn Monroe









6.) Audrey Hepburn








7.) Grace Kelly










8.) Vivien Leigh








I found it so difficult to limit myself to a Top 8 that I decided to include a bonus list this time.

Honorable Mention:

1.) Heddy Lamar









2.) Ava Gardner










3.) Rita Hayworth










4.) Cyd Charisse









5.) Bridgette Bardot








6.) Leslie Caron









7.) Katherine Hepburn










8.) Natalie Wood









Sorry the pictures are so small. Blogger was giving me fits and this is all I could manage.

Introducing the Littlest Kortan

Yes, sir, that's my baby. (Well, "our" baby, but that's not how the song goes.) The munchkin is scheduled to make his or her big entrance on February 2, 2007. But since my Frost DNA is involved, chances are he/she won't be arriving on time.

To answer the most common questions:

1.) Yes, we'll be finding out the gender, assuming the baby cooperates. I can see the appeal of waiting and being surprised in the delivery room, but I'm not that patient. Besides, I'm a planner--and planning is much easier when you know what you're planning for. (Also, as my friend Rush says, "My life is enough of a joke as it is, I don't need to intentionally prank myself.") We don't care which gender we have first, but we really hope to have the opposite one the second time around.

2.) No, my morning sickness wasn't too bad at all. Got a little queasy when I let my stomach get too empty and felt more exhausted than usual, but I was pretty lucky overall. I hope that trend continues.

3.) Yes, we're excited. (Duh!) We've been waiting till Killer was close to retiring from the Air Force before we started our family. We wanted him to be able to be around for things like first smiles, first steps, and first words, not hearing about them in a weekly phone call from the Middle East. (We found out about the now-defunct transfer to Maryland 4 days after we found out I was pregnant. That was a fun way to spend my first trimester.¡)

4.) No, we won't be telling people the names we've picked out. We want it to be a surprise. Well, mostly, we want certain people (see last week's post), to keep their negative opinions to themselves. We think we've got a better chance of that happening if they don't hear the name till the ink is dry on the birth certificate and it's a done deal. Most rational people know that it's incredibly rude to insult the name new parents have given their baby (stupid celebrities excluded); but before it's born, everyone seems to think that they get a chance to try to change the parents' minds. For some reason, some people think they get a say in what we name the kid we're going to be raising. Hey, if they want to change all the diapers, clean up all the vomit, make all the trips to the ER, and pay for college, then maybe we'll let them have a vote. Otherwise, we'll promise not to name our baby Space Alien Kortan if they'll promise to keep it to themselves if they think the name we pick is too "weird." If they want to name something that badly, maybe they should get a kitten.

5.) Yes, we're sure it's not twins. As little brothers are contractually required to do, Ty was taunting me about it, so we asked the ultrasound technician to double-check. Not that twins wouldn't be twice as nice, but I'm pretty sure I'm too lazy to take care of twins. I like to sleep at least 5 minutes a night, it's a habit I just can't shake.