Most Expensive Wedding Dresses and More

According to The Knot Real Weddings Study, which surveyed nearly 12,000 couples who got married last year, the average wedding dress cost in 2022 was $1,900.

If you were getting married and had an endless supply of money, how much would you spend on the wedding dress? Elizabeth Taylor is the bridal queen of all time. Even though she got married eight times, she still believed in the marital bond and went all out with her wedding dresses. Conrad Hilton and Taylor were married at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills on May 6, 1950. Elizabeth wore the $187,931 designed by Helen Rose[1]. (that is around $2,379,229 today)

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Fox Theatre’s Mighty Mo

It takes enormous skill and musical virtuosity to play this behemoth, and most theatre organists from all over the world consider a performance on Mighty Mo to be the pinnacle of their career. Bob Van Camp was the house organist for more than 25 years at the Fox. When he died, Patten and Atlanta Landmarks board member Robert L. Foreman Jr. sprinkled his ashes in the attic over the organ chambers.

I read in the February 5, 2020, Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Fox Theatre’s 90-year-old Möller pipe organ was hauled to Lithonia, Georgia. The A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company will be doing more than half a million-dollar repair and restoration.

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Sugar Frosted Flakes

They’re Gr-r-reat!

Kellogg’s “Sugar Frosted Flakes” were introduced in 1952. They were a sweetened version of their “Corn Flakes” that had been around since 1894. Corn Flakes were created by Will Kellogg for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he was working with his brother John. Each corn kernel makes about three flakes. In the fall it is harvested and taken to a mill. At the mill, the corn is sifted and rolled then sent to a Kellogg’s factory for the final steps: Cooking, drying, rolling, and toasting. Add the sugar frosting, and viola, Corn Flakes become Frosted Flakes.

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Nik-L-Nip Mini Drinks

Bite’em, Drink’em, Chew’em

I just learned the name of these wax candy treats as I was researching for this post. Vinny Cavallo created Nik-L-Nip in the early part of the 20th century. They are food-grade paraffin[1] wax soda bottles (Coke bottles) filled with a flavored liquid.

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Ann Turner Cook, the Gerber Baby, Dies

A face we all know

Born Ann Leslie Turner in Westport, Connecticut, she was the daughter of a syndicated cartoonist Leslie Turner, who drew the comic strip Captain Easy[1] for decades. Dorothy Hope Smith, their next-door neighbor, who did a charcoal drawing of Ann when she was a baby. Gerber chose that drawing in 1928.

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Looking for Peachtree in Atlanta?

A look at the most popular street name in Atlanta

Within the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia, there are many streets with Peachtree in the name. It seems the name may have come from Peachtree Creek which flows southwesterly through DeKalb and Fulton counties before joining the Chattahoochee River just south of Vinings.

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May 1958

Happy Birthday to me

On Wednesday, May 14, 1958, I was born at St. Joesph Hospital in downtown Atlanta Georgia, under the star sign Taurus, the Chinese Zodiak sign of the Dog, making me a baby boomer. The president was Dwight D. Eisenhower and the number one song was “Who’s Sorry Now” by Connie Francis. “U.S. Troops Flown to the Caribbean After Venezuelans Mob the Nixons” was the headline on May 14, 1959s The Atlanta Constitution newspaper.

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Hostess Snowballs

Fun color, same great taste

Sno Balls were introduced by Hostess Brands in 1947. This Lenexa, Kansas-based company was formed in June 1913. Owning several bakeries, they produce snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names and its Canadian subsidiary, Voortman Cookies Limited.

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Santa’s Reindeer

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away all!

Reindeer and caribou are the same animal (Rangifer tarandus) and are a member of the deer family. In Europe, they are called reindeer, in the United States, the wild ones are called caribou while the domesticated ones are reindeer.

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Red Hots, Red Links, Hot Links

Seasoned to Please

Red Hots, Red Links or Hot Links are stuffed sausages with the internal texture of a hot dog, but in a red-dyed casing.  Depending on the brand, they have varying degrees of hotness. My Dad used to get Red Hots, slice to butterfly them open, and fry them on the stove.

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