They Do Exist!

A few weeks ago I made reference to "Kitten Mittons". A creation from the amazing show Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Someone out there went ahead and made some for their cat. The cat, is not too pleased, but at least he isn't making SO MUCH NOISE!

See more funny videos and Cute Animals Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Do they know me or what?

My birthday is this week. Given the awkward timing of my birth being so close to Jesus's I often go about celebrating most of December. This past week I was able to see a number of friends, share a number of drinks, and ended up getting a number of gifts. Above you can see me sporting most of them. What can I say, my friends really understand me.

One friend gave me a leopard print Snuggie. After I opened the gift and subsequently let out a squeal in the middle of the thai restaurant she told me how she was hoping to get this for me before someone else did. When in the store, there was a few shelves of Snuggies, but only one leopard one. A woman was holding it, thinking about it, and eventually put it down for a moment to mull on the purchase decision. My friend was watching this whole thing go down, as soon as the box hit the shelf and the woman turned her back, my friend grabbed the box and dashed to the cash register. Moral of the story, when looking at a one of a kind (in the store) tacky item, don't put it down, someone else probably has a friend that has as bad taste as you do.

Another friend helped further my sunglass collection with a pair of hot pink sunglasses. These will be worn with pride. In fact they were worn this morning on my way to work. The glare off of the snow was completely unnoticeable.

The lip gloss is actually Venom. The Twilight lip plumping gloss. "Get bitten...be transformed" is written on the container the product comes in. I have tried it out. The color and the plumping seem to favor my bottom lip, which really shouldn't get any bigger. It is fun, and it does make your lips look you just sucked the blood out of some poor souls artery. Can't wait to sport it public.

The final gift in the picture is that beautiful metal flower ring. Don't fool yourself, that thing is heavy. It was a treat just seeing the friend that gave it to me as she now lives on the west coast. She told me she happened to see it and thought of me and had to purchase it. Of course I love it and of course I wore it to work the next day. One of my coworkers saw it and said "oh man that ring is just so you!!!". I smiled. It is fun to know that I have a style and look that is my own, no matter how tacky it is.

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I will be 26. Eeeep. Can't wait to see my family and home friends. This blog has been rather ignored this month due to personal stuff, it will probably be ignored again until 2010 as the holidays will keep me busy. On the off chance I can find time to write, I will.

Crunch Time!!

Christmas is in less than a week. Which is awesome. But I am getting a little panicky. My Christmas cards have all been personalized, addressed, stamped and mailed. My gifts not only purchased but also wrapped. And yet I am extremely concerned. Why? I have not yet watched any of my favorite Christmas movies!

Love Actually starts 8 weeks before the holiday and I try to start watching mid November to work with the time frame. I will subsequently continue to watch it semi regularly while cleaning, decorating or just hanging around. The flow of the different story lines is so well executed with the way the characters interact and are intertwined. Even with all the love, the movie keeps it it light and funny with some spectacular lines, such as; "I am Colin, God of Sex". This movie will forever and always make me think of college. I don't even know if I can count the number of times we got together to watch this one.


"Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?" Another new Christmas classic. This movie is so quotable. Everyone seems to around saying lines from this one... "SANTA! OH MY GOD! SANTA'S COMING! I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!" This one let's your inner kid come through. Who doesn't like Will Ferrel in a small green elfish costume? It is truly fantastic. Makes any grump into a believer. After seeing the movie I can't help but to sing a Christmas song loud and clear for all to hear.



My mother's favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We watch it annually as a family, often in Florida. Nothing says Christmas like palm trees. There are so many physical gags in this film. Personally, I love it when they untie the tree and the branches just explode everywhere. Just thinking about it makes me giggle. Chevy Chase is doing well for himself on Community, but he will always be Clark Griswold to me.



I hope to find some time to get some movie watching in stat! In the mean time, at least I can enjoy the cartoon intro to Christmas Vacation.

Happy Commercial

I have a great friend who has the same taste in commercials as I do. We have no problem laughing at the same commercial over and over again. Similarly we will say "awwwwwwwww" whenever something cute shows up. Below is my favorite commercial that is currently being aired on tv. It is by American Express. Just try to watch it and not smile. I can't.

Bam Right in the Snookie

I thought that I could hold out. I haven't watched Real World, Road Rules or the RW/RR Challenge in years. Never got into Laguna Beach, The Hills, The City or any of those spin offs, but man I cannot say no to some guidos and guidettes.

If you haven't read/heard about the show, Italian American organizations are going nuts. They feel that this show misrepresents their (our) culture and that it needs to be pulled from the air. As the round table on Chelsea Lately pointed out, making threats to MTV is only going to remind the world of the original stereotype, that all Italian Americans are somehow related to criminal activity.

Back to the show, the cast is so much fun. Too bad Vinny is boring but then if he had some sort of personality The Situation might get less face time. Every time I try to pick a favorite cast mate, I change my mind. The Situation is an obvious choice because of the number of times "The Situation" is said. Usually it refers to Mike, but sometimes people are really just talking about the current situation and thus causes some confusion to the viewer. The Situation is completely and utterly convinced that he is the ultimate catch and it is so much fun watching how his nights end.

Then we have Pauly D. He is from RI. So there's one draw. The other being his crazy ass hair. The physics behind his do is something I don't even know if MIT students can explain.

J-Woww (what exactly is the need for the second "w"?) knows exactly who she is and is very proud of it. She gives us great lines like following...

Jersey Shore: Jenni "J-WOWW" "I am like a preying mantis" sound bite Jersey Shore sound bites

WOWW" "I am like a preying mantis" sound bite" src="http://www.entertonement.com/widgets/img/clip/wkttnzhlly/1/1_76c8dbe0_ecfa_11de_be33_0019b9e56dac/blank.gif" style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; float: right;" border="0" height="0" width="0">

In her intro we learn that she has fake boobs, as if looking at her didn't tip us off. But at least she is open and honest about it. She has a boyfriend back home, but it doesn't seem like that relationship is going to last the season.

Snookie is the last one worth mentioning (sorry Sammie and Ronnie). She is super short, so short that I am fairly certain she would freak me out. The first night she got beyond wasted and no one wanted anything to do with her. The she brought home so dude that puked all over their porch. Only to top all of this with letting the world know she has a major thing for pickles. I did feel terrible for her, because just as she starts to win over the group and the viewing population, she gets hit in the face. If you somehow haven't seen it yet, here you go. Enjoy.

E! Holiday Gift Ideas

Giuliana provided E! viewers with a gift guide for buying for females. Her suggestions were pretty awesome. I was totally psyched to see that she suggested the folding flats.


The flats she showed were about $60, which is so much more than what I paid for mine. I got a pair of gold ones from Mint Julep for about $20. I was dying walking back from an interview, needed a break, and remembered that I had seen these at the store earlier that week. I bought them and use them all the time. Walking to the T is more than just a few blocks from my house so I usually wear these until I get on the train. While looking for a picture of the shoes I found this great site that sells the ones I got, cute gold pouch and all!

The other item that she mentioned that I found particularly interesting, and that was Big Lips Skinny Hips. This is a lip gloss that doubles as an appetite suppressant. I don't know how I feel about this. A lip gloss that messes with my appetite? Does it taste bad or something? The funny thing is that I have no problem with Venom, which causes your lips to puff up, but messing with your eating habits is just wrong. Honestly, it probably has to do with how weight/eating is combined with fashion and beauty. Make-up does change a person's appearance, but this just seems to be messing with a girl a little much.

I did find a link that provided information on how to apply make-up to make your face skinnier.

Surprise!

No lie, I have probably watched this video at least 15 time already in the last 24 hours. It is beyond cute. Please enjoy. I hope it brings a smile to your face. If it doesn't, well you may need to see someone...

Short Skirt and Loooooooooog Jacket. (and high heels!)

When I become a celebrity and require a stylist, ok so maybe when I become a trophy wife, ok you're right, when I save enough money to purchase ridiculous expensive clothing rather than house, I know the look that I want. Sarah Jessica Parker was seen at her most recent premiere dressed in an amazing mini dress and long beautiful coat. The dress was hot pink, which just works wonderfully.


The coat really makes for a dramatic train. The contrast in hems for the dress and the coat only make SJP's legs look spectacular. I also must say I love the slits in the lower section of the coat to help with the movement of the piece.

SJP is known for being a small woman who loves her heels. These were a spectacular choice. They look like they are a little on the big side, which can often happen as from what I understand since these items are just on loan. Purple complements the pink dress and I love the platform. Personally, I think she was channeling me when she approved this look. :)

These photos were taken from projectrungay.blogspot.com

The print in the dress is something that can't be overlooked either. The swirls help to accent her curves in a positive way. Her stomach does look a little more apparent in profile, spanks would have probably fixed that. It is quite obvious that she has no excess body fat, it is probably just a bad angle.

Anyway, if you need to find me a birthday present (less than 20 days) feel free to pick up this outfit for me!

Internet Nerd Time

The following was just emailed to my gmail account. I have been waiting to try out Google Chrome for what feels like forever now, but since I am a Mac user I have had to wait patiently. Looks like Floyd is going to be giving Chrome a test surf later tonight! W00t

It's finally here: Google Chrome for Mac. Available today in beta!

Hi there,

Thanks for signing up to hear from us regarding Google Chrome for Mac! We're excited to let you know that Google Chrome is now available in beta for Mac OS X.

Here are a few fun facts from us on the Google Chrome for Mac team:

• 73,804 lines of Mac-specific code written
• 29 developer builds
• 1,177 Mac-specific bugs fixed
• 12 external committers and bug editors to the Google Chrome for Mac code base, 48 external code contributors
• 64 Mac Minis doing continuous builds and tests
• 8,760 cups of soft drinks and coffee consumed
• 4,380 frosted mini-wheats eaten

Thanks for waiting and we hope you'll give Google Chrome for Mac a whirl.

Team Jacob?

Yum

Saw New Moon tonight with a bunch of friends. It was amazing. The movie was so much better than Twilight, the acting has improved. Don't take this as me saying that the movie is going up for an award. I'm just saying that I could probably watch this one more than three times. It was a common agreement that three was the maximum number that one could sit through Twilight.

Jacob Black has an amazing body. Everyone in the theater took a deep breath in when we first saw him shirtless. That happened over and over again throughout the movie. Edward is Edward, but Jacob totally has an amazing body and well, for now, I am on team Jacob.

Here's the whole wolf pack. Sigh

Well it is December. Snow was bound to happen

View from my living room

In case you weren't in the Boston area last night, it snowed. Like big snowflakes. This of course came after the awful horizontal rain that I walked through while going to and from the T to get to my job at the World Trade Center. I know it is December, but I was a little thrown off with the snow falling when I left my job at 10 pm. It was super slippery to walk to my car and drive home. I forgot that I would need to brush off my back window as well as the front, so I had to awkwardly get back out of my car after starting it up.

I was more than kind of hoping the snow would be gone this morning. When I first got up around 9 there was a good amount of snow everywhere. When I got up a second time after a nap, a good amount of the snow had disappeared (as seen by the picture above). I do like snow, I really do, but I just haven't bothered to get my winter clothes out of the basement and I just don't want to have to think about that quite yet.

Mother Nature, could you hold off with the snow for another week or so? I'd like it to be kind of warm for the Patriots game that I am going to next weekend. Thanks. :)

Better than Techicolor

Last weekend I went out with my senior year roommates to see Arsenic and Old Lace at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. The movie was made in 1944 and stars Cary Grant. I had never seen this movie before, but this experience makes me want to rent some films from this time period. The conversation was not only witty but fast paced, it reminded me of the Gilmore Girls in terms of the tempo.

If you haven't had the pleasure of viewing the film, the characters are quirky and the plot is ridiculous but that is why it is so charming. The film is 118 minutes and only covers a few hours of a day. Not only is such a short time period covered, but close 80% of the film is set in one room. After watching the film I was amazed on the simplicity of the film and yet how much more enjoyable it was than many of the films that have been made recently. There aer no special effects or big loopholes in the story line.

Yes, the story revolves around two old women who mercy kill (for lack of a better term) gentlemen that come to their house looking to rent rooms - which is a little hard to believe. Of course, their nephew discovers when he goes to tell them he secretly got married and is on his way to his honeymoon. While waiting in the house, he happened to notice a body was stuffed in the window seat. That body was their most recent kill - number 13.

Once this discovery is made, hilarity ensues. If you do go see the film after reading this, please be excited to know that Peter Lorre does play the part of Dr. Einstein. He is his usual creepy yet adorable self.

The Brattle shows classic movies regularly and for a very reasonable price. I enjoy that there is an establishment that allows us to experience these films in the theater as a big screen can really enhance a film.

If I had happened upon this film on my tv at home, I doubt I would have watched the whole thing, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have paid very close attention. So I am glad my friend thought we should go out and see it. The last movie I saw at the Brattle was Casablanca. If you haven't seen that in the theaters, you really should. It was so much better in the theater than in my house.

Midnight Madness and cupcakes

Davis square has the glorious tradition of allowing shoppers to do some Christmas shopping late night. A number of local stores have gotten together to offer discounts to shoppers if they wish to come around between 7 and 12 pm. As the night progressed so did some of the discounts.

This was the first year I knew about the event (thanks Twitter) after spending 3 Christmases here and I am so happy I decided to head up after dinner at Game On!. A couple of girls joined me and we had some major success not only shopping for others but also shopping for ourselves.

Magpie was the first store that I hit when I was wandering around waiting for my fellow shoppers. Since I started my shopping just after 9 pm, I got a 30% discount! Awesome! This allowed me to purchase more stuff for people, as I set budgets for presents and if I get discounts that simply allows for me to get bigger or better things as it is about what I spent, not what it was worth. Overall, this store is as adorable as it is small. It has tons of graphic t-shirtss that are snarky and clever. They also sell bags, calendars, magnets, aprons, and jewelry. There was an awesome tumbler set that I was so tempted to purchase for a friend of mine. The set that I was eyeing were Rolling Rock bottles. The artisan takes bottles, breaks off the tops, and then sands them down so they become glasses. Really awesome.

After my friends joined up we went over to D-squared. One of the items that we found particularly interesting were these feathered headbands. The discount here was only 15% and since the bands were around $42 we figured we would pass. Honestly, they were gorgeous, New Year's Eve worthy, but it would be harder to find another time to wear it.

Black and Blue was one of the final stores that we went into, it is a small clothing boutique. The stuff they sell and price range somewhat reminds me of Mint Julep. It was after 11 when we got there so, 40% off!!!! Here was where I got a present for myself. A beautiful purple wrap dress and crazy structured tank top.
I have wanted a wrap dress for a long time and have never been successful in finding one that flattered me. Here was the dress made for me. The color is amazing, the picture does not do the dress justice.

The tank top has all of this bunching to it that helps give a girl some shape. I can use all the help I can get. For a better feel of its powers, here is a picture with me in it. In general the tank would be worn as part of a more layered look as the shoulder/strap area is a little strange. 40% off was really the reason I went for it. After the discount, it was only a few dollars more than the tank tops I normally buy for layering and this one will provide so much more help with my shape.

Our shopping adventure concluded with us getting some samples of pickles from Dave's Fresh Pasta and then a discounted Lucky Cupcake from Kickass Cupcakes. (My fortune said "be afraid, be very afraid" - not so nice.)

In addition to getting myself a new outfit, I was able to get some Christmas gifts for friends. There were tons of people walking around, so I want to think the night was a success for the businesses. There were lines at every register. Keeping stores open late like this was genius. It is hard to be motivated to go shopping right after work, especially if you work late. Getting the opportunity to start shopping at 9 pm was simply amazing.

Normally I am not a pill kind of girl

I need to meet this Russian professor. He created a the VODKA pill. Seriously. He figured out how to turn alcohols into a powder and then packs the powder into pill form.

How did I find out about this? My friend saw the article and informed me that he just knew this was something I had to be aware of. I was rather excited, but then slightly concerned that when my friends see new ways to imbibe alcohol or anything to do with vodka, they think to tell me about it. Oh well. I enjoy being in the know.

The vodka pill sounded really neat when I first read the headline, but then I thought about it. It isn't like you take the pill and then dissolve it in water to create a drink. Cheap alcohol tastes bad, but good alcohol is well for lack of a better word, FANTASTIC. You so thought I was going to say good. Oooo. This makes me think, if you took a vodka pill with a cranberry pill would it feel like a Cape Codder?

We are in the final countdown!

Meet my small little Christmas Tree

While my dinner was in the oven, I decided that I should go down to my storage space and bring up my little Christmas tree. He was very happy to come out of the box and all of the lights still work. His new home is next to my awesome blue vintage chairs (you can see one in the background - some people think they are ugly, those people don't have my vision of awesomeness). It was actually hard to find a place for him because I don't have an extension cord. Eeep, that is going on my list of things needed for the apartment. I do need still find my box of ornaments and tacky decorations, but that might be for tomorrow.

The need to put together my tree came from walking through CVS and seeing all sorts of holiday tackiness that was there to bought. At this point, I need to inform you how very proud of myself I am, I did not make any impulsive purchases tonight. While I was good tonight, please don't read into that statement as me saying I return sometime after this weekend since I am working both Friday and Saturday night - extra money!!!

Speaking of my second job, which is helping me stay in the black in general, and get me through the holidays specifically, Black Friday was the first day that I made a holiday gift purchase. Believe it or not, by that point I already felt like I was behind. One of my friends let me know she not only got my birthday present (my birthday often gets over shone by Jesus...) but also my Christmas one! When I heard this, I felt like I was a terrible person. Now it is December 1st and I have completed my sister's present, started my parents and one of my friends. I feel like I am in a good place. I haven't really figured out who I am shopping for exactly. But I DID get Christmas cards today. That is a relief. I need to figure out addresses and make lists. Christmas cards are my favorite tradition, I have been giving them out since freshman year of high school. I think I need to schedule a night to write them. Oh! Maybe I'll see if some friends want to come over and hang out while I do them...and they can do theirs too...it would be cute...maybe?

Oh I love holidays but it is overwhelming decorating, shopping, partying and celebrating on top of everything else. Only 23 more shopping days till Christmas!!!

Went to get $6 of stuff came out with about $45

I can purchase new $80 shoes if they have a high enough heel or a $40+ dollar hot pink dress if it has a tutu skirt without even thinking twice. But can I purchase a new hair brush for $3 after breaking mine? No, not on your life. For some reason spending those three dollars has been the hardest thing for me to do for over the last 3 years. Instead, I have opted to get annoyed and frustrated every day while brushing my hair with a broke brush.

After the rope on my shower puff snapped, I realized if I am going to drop a $3 on a new puff, I might as well get that brush. So with that said, today I took a venture into CVS, and like any good American, I came out with more stuff than I intended to. While I roamed the aisles, there were a few things that made those 20 minutes most enjoyable and enlightening.

I ended up purchasing a pink shower puff. I reached into the first bin I saw and ended up with it, the chose was not something I had thought much of at all. As I continued down the shower stuff aisle I noticed that the men's and women's supplies were segregated more intensely that I ever thought. Not only are the shaving products separated, but the shower gels/body washes were kept on either side of the shaving products so that the soaps could not get confused. In the area of the male shower supplies BLACK shower puffs were on display. Over by the women, pastels ruled. It never occurred to me that if a guy wanted a shower puff, he would need to own a black one, but apparently someone seems to think this color choice is needed.

After over coming you shock of the black puff I began to think about how I wanted to drink a Cape Codder when I got home but had already left the grocery store and was pretty sure I was out of cranberry juice. Well, CVS sometimes has drinks and food so I continued on. There was no cranberry juice in the fridges, I thought I had been thwarted and then I saw the "water & juice" sign. AWESOME. Right? Not so awesome. Apparently, in CVS flavored seltzer water is considered juice. There was nothing on that set of shelves that was either plain bottled water or flavored seltzer. I was slightly taken aback, why bother have the juice part? Oh well...

I had acquired a number items at that point but had a nagging feeling I was missing something. Then I remembered I was low on q-tips! Duh. I stood there for a moment trying to figure out where I would locate them. Technically they are not supposed to be used in your ear and instead for make up removal and cleaning small things. Off to the beauty aisles I went. After coming up with nothing I asked the woman stocking the shelves. The BABY SUPPLY AISLE was were I was directed. Honestly? Who decides where to put this stuff. I figured you might need to know this when you go through your set of 300.

The final thing is not so much entertaining but, I don't know, maybe something that just eases my mind. My friends and I had been talking about how women get the short end of the stick when it comes to health issues. By health issues I am not talking about actual physical diseases, conditions, or biological stuff, but things like having to pay more in health insurance. The other things mentioned were how being a woman with lots of headaches is considered normal, but if a man had the same complaint to their doctor action would be taken, or that you can't use flexible spending accounts to buy tampons and pads (this is something that just baffles me). After talking about how you can't do this, we suddenly got really concerned that we might be paying taxes on these items. Sales tax is not placed on things that are "necessary" like milk. Pretty sure any female would add tampons to that list. Well with this on my mind, I went ahead and purchased some, I needed them anyway. NO TAX. Thank God. If I had seen a line item for tax I would have ranted - even more than when I discussed my displeasure with the way Birth Control is prescribed. All you women, please let it be known, we are not being taxed for menstruating.

It only takes five months to make the Fashion Bible...

See. The sun never sets on a bad ass.

Two weeks ago, I saw The September Issue, which if you don't know, is about the creation of the 2007 September Issue of Vogue. The documentary provides insight not only into how the issue is made, but small glimpses of both Anna and Grace. These two remarkable women are the genius behind the top fashion magazine in the world.

There is speculation that Anna was the inspiration for the character of Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada. After seeing The September Issue, I understand where the thought comes from. Anna is certain with her decisions and does not need an extra moment to form an opinion, and for this, she is able to create a master piece month after month.

As much as I enjoyed learning more about Ms. Wintour, Grace Coddington stole my heart and gave me a job to dream about. She is the top fashion editor in the magazine and creates, by far, the most amazing spreads. I only recently became a Vogue subscriber, but it was easy to flip through the issues I have in my house to confirm that my favorite spreads were done by Grace. At 68 years old, she is still producing great work and appears to be one of the few individuals who know how to stick up to Anna.

One of my favorite moments was after the final shoot in the documentary where she uses the camera man as one of her props. She realizes as the shots are being touched up that Anna may wish to tuck his tummy a little, and Grace immediately gets on the phone to editing telling them they better not touch his gut! I have to admit, letting him keep his body as it is, does add to the photo. She has a gift. I was not the only one who was smitten by Grace and her somewhat dumpy dresses/skirts and hippie sandals (no disrespect Grace! I love that you wear what is clearly comfortable!!)

I love the line in the Huffington Post article towards the end...

"They like to dictate the hair, the makeup, the clothes, the photographer – and that's annoying. I like to do that."

So Grace, if you see this, please let me know if you need an assistant. I am completely and absolutely fine with dropping everything here and following you around the world that is Vogue.

Exercise Illiterate

Umm, I can't wait to find out what this exercise is, or how it helps me.

I was in Dick's Sporting Goods on Saturday afternoon. I have been well aware of the fact that while I look like I might be considered "in shape", I am very much just skinny fat. My muscles are consistently tight which causes them to cramp up and me scream - in public. Over the course of the last few months I have been saying over and over again that I would start up yoga again and regular stretching. So far, nothing. I'm done with excuses, I need to get on this before my body curls up onto itself. It could happen, I think.

Anyway, back to me being in the sporting goods store, I decided to take this opportunity to look through the fitness section. Here I found those big fun balls that are used for stretching or sit ups or something but quickly realized that as much as I have wanted one of those, all I really need at this moment are some of those stretch bands. I found a set of three that were not on sale, but honestly, I can spare the $20 to get myself loosened up.

I went to start my new life. A life that would consist of crunches, push ups, squats, and stretching (for flexibility) and I got stumped when I went to leave the starting gate. To start my session, I figured I would break out the new bands and go with the flexibility stretches. The box tells me that they are three different resistance levels, but doesn't bother to tell me which is which. I mean they are different colors, how hard would it have been to say red = easy, blue = medium, green = hard. I tested them out and think that the red is the easy one but I am not completely sure.

Just now, I thought to see if I could tell visually if there was a thickness difference. I am going to keep red as the easy and move blue to hard, but green could be the easy one too...I am just going to go with my gut.

On top of not knowing what the levels are, I also don't understand what the clip is for that is found in this kit. There is a great chart that shows me movements I could try, unfortunately they don't include what the clip is for, or explain how I would secure it to the door way. My thought was to tie it to the handle, but I feel that is probably wrong.

I think I am going to have to do some research tomorrow to find out exactly how to use these gigantic rubber bands. Baby steps? At least I own them now.

Competitive Conversations

Some families compete with each other by playing flag football, others play board games, my family, we are competitive conversationalists.

The last few years have been a little quiet at my aunt's house as one of the families had been spending the meal with their other grandfather. This year, they came back to Clifton Park and brought him with them. Even though we were down 3 people as my cousin's family (they have a 2 year old) opted to stay down in North Carolina, the house was still booming with noise from the 13 adults who were milling around.

I'm thinking that it is the Italian part that causes each and everyone of us to use what many people consider shouting as a natural method of communication about every day events. From interacting with friends, it would appear that most find it necessary to be in the same room to have a conversation. Not us. There is no reason someone in kitchen cannot ask someone in the living room their opinion on a matter. Additionally, if two people are in the living room talking about their day and a third person walks by with something on their mind, there is no reason to wait for a pause, that person can jump right in. The better topic, or louder voice, will win out.

Minus the brief moment after grace where everyone ate, not a minute went by where at least 6 of the 13 were talking. Being able to not only follow multiple conversations, but also participate, AND eat your share of shrimp cocktail (with extra horseradish in the sauce) is an art form. I dare anyone to try and survive one of our functions.

Please note, that this is not limited to just Thanksgiving. Our family will also get together on Black Friday for dinner and pick up two more members of the clan. It is a toss up whether we go to my uncle's house or a local restaurant, going out together is definitely more entertaining as we tend to overwhelm the waitstaff. We all talk a lot, eat a lot and drink a lot. The third only causing the first to get louder...

Trying to get US in the black

Tradition places me in the middle of Colonie Center at about 11 am today. The females of my mom's side of the family have been "enjoying" an afternoon at the busiest malls in the Albany area for about 20 years now.

When we were younger, my grandmother would take all of us cousins to the movie theaters that sit within a mall to see a show and then have a little lunch. Very minimal exposure to the extreme shopping that was going on at the time. Now that we are older, we have said good-bye to Thanksgiving movies and hello to elbowing the crazies for the deals.

By no means do we do the 5 am door busters - at least not typically - but we have been known to go from about 10 am to 5 pm. By five we are tired and over the whole consumerism thing and head on to big family dinner number 2, which has come to mean setting up shop at my uncles for pasta and wine.

This year we didn't make it past 2 pm and later ended up at a sports bar where we overwhelmed our waiter with our volume and ordering. It was a grand time.

But back to the shopping...I would say that the six females did their job and managed to help stimulate the economy to some degree. Personally I got half of two Christmas presents and then a few things for myself. Big purchase (which will be considered a birthday/Christmas present to myself) was a Burberry perfume/lotion/body wash set - that came with a free teddy bear! Burberry clothing is something that I have no interest in, their fragrances are something else. When I was in Vegas I fell in love with a scent and have yet to find it again. I purchased Beat today and while I love it, I am not sure if it was THE SCENT, and I am still ok with it. If you're in Boston, I'm sure you will notice the new smell, I plan on wearing it pretty often, especially given what I paid (even with the deal)

I am not sure what the official numbers were like regarding how much was spent by the people, but I will attest to the fact that mall was not empty. Additionally, people were hungry for deals, we saw many people stocking up on deals and ready to argue about prices with the sales staff. (In most cases these arguments were because the customer didn't bother to read which brand was on sale an decided ALL griddles sold in Macy's were on sale...yeah not so much). Hopefully, the economy continues to move in a positive direction. All I know is that I am ready to jump into the Christmas present purchasing madness.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am probably in a car right now on my way to Troy, New York for Thanksgiving. Around 10:30 or 11 am every year Alice's Restaurant comes on the radio. And every year my family and I try to find it as we clearly can't be bothered to learn what station it is on. If you never have heard this great story/song, well have no fear, I found it on youtube for you!

There are some ugly babies out there, but...

there is no reason to be retouching baby rolls!

I am perfectly comfortable about the fact that models, actresses and public figures get air brushed and morphed into perfection when their images get published. Weird hairs, random zits or discoloration can be removed just to smooth out the image, but getting rid of a baby's fat rolls is just going to far.

Most of the time, babies are cute purely because they are chubby. I don't care for kids, but I cannot help but smile if a see a blob with pudgy arms and legs waving around. Skinny babies make me nervous. They look sick. Infants can't really move much on their own so they can't really be "working off" their calories, thus, they should have some heft to them.

Photoshop and retouching is a slippery slope. I understand wanting to show the best version of an image, but some standards need to be reevaluated based on the subject. Its true, I don't want to see a chubby model (unless she is a plus size), I do want to see a chubby baby.

Thirty

# of books that I have bought and are sitting on my bookshelves unread.

7 - # of collections of short stories that I have started or picked through, but yet to complete all the entries

6 - # of books I started and put back down because I didn't have the time, focus, or energy to invest in them

6 - # of books bought for a college class that I didn't to to that semester and vowed to read later in life. Later still has not happened

Forty-nine books that need to be read, are dying to be read, are staring back at me in my living room. This number does not include the book I need to read for book club that is being held next week. Every few weeks I end up in a book store and say that I cannot purchase a new a book until I catch up on all the ones that are already scattered around my apartment. Those days I usually end up with just one new book in my purse. It is an addiction and it hard to break.

My goal this thanksgiving break is to read at least two of them and three magazines (which would get me caught up in that area). The first book would be the book club book, the second being The Host by Stephanie Meyers (yes the Twilight lady). I would say don't judge me for The Host but you already have, instead I will ask to still be my friend. :)

I don't know when I am going to find time to really get these piles down considering I feel like reading is a waste of time right now as I try to get my life together. So maybe when I am 50 I'll have a few hours? If anything I need a job that lets me travel so I can plane read...

Back 15!

10 years ago "back 15!" probably was not a phrase many people found themselves screaming. Last night half the room was yelling it as we watched the Kitten Mitton clip from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The episode was played off the dvr and while it pretty much has you laughing from the beginning there is one particular point when the mittons are being wore that is just bust a gut hysterical. As soon as that moment past everyone wanted to see it again and "back 15" was being yelled, because in case you couldn't pick up on its meaning, we all wanted to go back in time 15 seconds to see the action again.

I really found it fascinating that not a single person yelled out rewind, it was every one's instinct to yell out for a repeat of those 15 seconds.

If you are an It's Always Sunny fan and you haven't seen this clip yet, you really should. If you aren't a fan, but loved Arrested Development you probably are a future Sunny fan and just don't know it. I've put the clip below. But I will admit, it is funnier to watch it with friends.



Final note, EW did a story on the show recently which was pretty good and I suggest you read it if you haven't already.

Mac and Cheese with Gravy

Sunday night was Thanksgiving dinner round one. A group of friends and I got together to stuff ourselves silly with turkey and all its fixings. The paper plates we used were a little on the small side, which made it hard to fit all of the different food items on them. Don't be fooled, we didn't take smaller portions, but merely piled everything on top of each other. This turned out to be a great way to discover fantastic new food combinations. Baked mac and cheese tastes wonderful when you dip it in gravy, similarly, sopping up the green bean casserole mushroom soup mixture with turkey is absolutely divine. If you don't have the guts to try it this Thursday, I guess you will just have to take my word.

Dinner was quite the success and dessert was fabulous. We had three types of pie and all were made with lots of love and butter. :) There was this magical chocolate pie that is just perfection. Words can't do it justice so I am not going to try. There was just so much chocolate pudding, chocolate chips and half and half. So full of fatty wonderfulness. There were a handful of people taking hits of whipped cream right out of the can.

The evening was a great way to end a weekend, it was hard to fight the turkey coma when I got home at 9:30 and still needed to get work done. Fighting that natural tendency to pass out after a big turkey meal is really hard. I managed to stay up till 1 am but I was much slower at getting my work done, and I didn't even get any where close to my kitchen which was FILLED with dirty dishes from making mac and cheese earlier in the day.

Short Skirts - IN

Perfect timing. Just as I finished up last months Vogue, December's came in the mail! One of the final spreads was entitled "playing the field" and it was designed by Grace Coddington, it was of course, my favorite in the issue. There were only four images, but the style that they were showing off is exactly what I love. You guessed it, short skirts with high heels. The tag line, or caption if you will, reads "With a bumper crop of the season's freshest floral frocks and short skirt suits, it is hard to pick up one".

I love the idea that the short skirt could be in a suit. It kills me that suits have to be so conservative. Why can't sexy be considered serious? Men look very sexy in suits. We don't make them wear lumpy gross shirts and unfitted pants, why are females stuck in school marm duds in the corporate world. I am all for a movement to short skirts in the working world!

My favorite piece was the skirt with tons of volume. Recently I have come to love the bubble skirt and all it has to offer. Mainly, I think this is because these skirts don't rise up in the back on me like others do based on their design. Most A-line or flowy skirts get stuck up on the shelf that is my backside. You don't believe me? Ask any of my friends...



I find her face a little off putting but the outfit is just so freaking cute. I don't know if I could necessarily pull it off with that print, or in general, but I'd love to try!

Plus 1 rules

With everything going on in the economy people understand that the holiday parties are probably going to be cut down or simply canceled. Slashing away at the holiday festivities makes sense from a financial standpoint, but given the statistics of workplace morale and the forecast that a majority of employees plan to jump ship in 2010, the merriment really should be kept up. We minions don't have much going for us right now except more work we can possibly handle.

One friend was informed that the holiday party was going to change. She isn't sure what that means...is it off...is it still on but slightly cut back...or are is there going to be some soda, cheese and crackers? Who knows.

Another friend put this message in her gchat status.

holiday christmas party for employees AND significant others (ONLY). great. making an appearance as Bridget Jones once again.

This comment made me pause and think to myself. I mean I understand that the term "significant others" are used because if you said "married" or "married/engaged" people would revolt for various reasons. Until recently same-sex couples couldn't get married, and even though they are able now, there are many couples both hetro and homo that choose to just be partnered, so the term "significant" has been considered the most PC term.

I get this. But really what does significant mean? Online dictionaries agree that this adjective means "important; of consequence". I would say that this description applies to my closest friends as much as anyone else. I might not be in a serious romantic relationship, but that doesn't mean that I don't have significant others in my life. In fact, there are people who are in relationships with individuals who make them miserable. Why is that bond more legitimate than the one I have with a friend? If my company chooses to limit our party to employees and a significant other, I am inviting the same friend who I have invited for the last 2 years. She is one of my best friends and has provided significant support for me.

In the end, I find the concept of only romantic partners as plus ones to be insulting. The reason you bring your partner is so you have someone to talk with, why does the world think that single people don't want to have that safety net too? If anything, there is nothing more painful than having to endure a long conversation about some couple's kid that you have no interest in. At least if you have a friend with you, the two of you can go off and laugh over a drink about the awkward conversation.

Going under the Naughty List

This sweater is by Grey Antics.

It is entitled "Mommie kissing Mr. Klaus Sweater".

I don't know what about this sweater bothers me more. On one hand we have the simple fact that there would be permanent mittens on the boobs. On the other we have the idea that Santa Klaus would have has hands on my boobs. Either way my boobs are being highlighted and I am not sure if this would be a way I would like to do that. Also the song is about Mommie kissing Santa Klaus, I don't feel like many moms shop for themselves at U.O. but I could be wrong. I bet this shirt is just really hipster and I am too square to get it.

Finale Finally?

Project Runway season six is over. Finally. This was the first season that I didn't really even pay attention to the runway portion of the final episode. I also watched by myself because most of my friends feel the same way. The season was meh. These designers didn't really have a point of view. There were no Ulis or Lauras or Jeffreys. Irina kind of has a p.o.v. but I don't find it particularly breathtaking. As Michael Kors said, "The warrior woman is not a new character". While it is hard to think of something completely new, I am kind of over the whole living in the city is like being in a jungle or war so we need to use clothing to protect ourselves but make us fierce.

I will admit there were two moments that did cause me to use the rewind button on my dvr.

First, Jaslene from season 8 of ANTM was cast in Althea's line. That draggy woman who somehow won season 8. The bigger question was how Natasha made it to the final two as she was terrible for most of that season, don't ask why I remember that. But yeah, my eyes popped when I saw her go down the runway


She looked good. I am glad to know she is working, even if it is the Project Runway finale. At least it's still Bryant Park during fashion week! Her face was less draggy than I remembered.

Once I got over that moment, I honestly also got over Althea's line. Thankfully there was Carol Hannah. Her clothes were beautiful. I didn't even think they were too overworked. I restarted her collection because I realized I wasn't paying attention and it was interesting! The first dress was eye catching, but it was this outfit that got me rooting for this southern lady.


You can so see me that, can't you? The skirt is short, but full and there is a tutu type material coming out of the bottom. What is not to love???

Really went over the pictures of Irina's collection one more time. Not my style. It is well done, but those damn hats just keep me from really liking some it.

In the end, can't WAIT for season 7. I am pretty sure it has been confirmed that they will back to NYC and that Meana Garzilla and Michael Kors will be back for all episodes. Their catty commentary is really what makes this show worth watching. That and the clothes...

Couldn't get past pg 3 in Vogue before I had to drop everything and blog...

I opened my November issue of Vogue (again way behind in the magazine reading) and started flipping through my favorite part...the ads in the front. Can't quite explain why, but I am such a sucker for fashion photography. The new ad for Chanel just made me stop and pause. It is so simple and clean, which represents the essence of Coco Chanel so perfectly, and yet I couldn't help but stare. I actually had to go online to the site to see what other images came out of this shoot. Turns out that is Lilly Allen, man does she look better than I remember!

Seriously, don't know why I am drawn to this one so much. Maybe it just reminds me of the Audrey Hepburn shots that I studied all October for my costume. Who knows. But I wanted to make sure none of you missed out on the image!

Serendipity allowed for an Aha Moment

It was a little chilly when I left my place on Sunday morning so I grabbed my favorite pashmina (from the wonderful author of Swingin Round the Polestar) and headed to the T. I was off to meet some of my kickball girls for brunch at Columbus Cafe. Brunch was wonderful. We gossiped, giggled, and stuffed our bellies.

Where is this story going? Well, fast-forward to Monday morning. Getting ready for work and I want my pink pashmina. Cannot find it ANYWHERE. I look EVERYWHERE. The apartment is pretty clean. It wasn't under the pile that was my pink tutu dress from Saturday, nor was it under the mail or the pile of coats on my chair. Logical conclusion, it must be in the Cafe. They didn't open until 5:30 so I figured why not just head there right after work. Waiting for them to open would have just wasted 3o minutes of my day.

The T was slow, and a bigger pain the usual. I was one stop away from Massachusetts Ave and I felt someone bump into me. The car was not that crowded so it had to be purposeful, I look up, it was a guy I went to school with for 12 years. We had a nice short awkward conversation and then as soon as he got on I had to get off.

I mulled over the interaction for the remainder of the travel - it was a quick turnaround as the scarf was not there, bummer. As I was getting to the grocery store for the second time in 24 hours I realized whoa, I have grown. It was quite the Aha Moment (please Mutual of Omaha or Oprah, don't try and sue me for that!) I have spent the last three years up here growing and evolving into an amazing person. I admit, I am not the most stable person emotionally, but I do really enjoy being me and have some high self-esteem. The person I am now is nothing like the person I was in grade school, I am so less awkward. Well I am awkward in a new way. :) I don't think I would have had that moment if I hadn't ran into him. As I have mentioned in previous posts, there are a bunch of things I would like to change in my life, but I am very happy being me...

Oh and don't worry, when I got home I went to throw my cardigan on the cardigan pile that is on the back of my couch only to notice that both of my missing pashminas were somehow stuck between the cushions. Go figure. I can't get upset. If I didn't travel down on the orange line, I would have never run into my former classmate, and the moment would never have happened...nor would that awesome one person dance party I wrote about yesterday.

Dancing with myself on my way home from the grocery

Today was totally an ordinary day. Nothing particularly exciting happened. But for some reason I had an urge to dance. I think my need dates back to Saturday night. A friend of mine had her birthday celebration and in the invite there was mention of dancing. I had a phenomenal hot pink dress (complete with a tutu skirt) and HIGH heels. Totally ready to dance. The rain kind of put a damper on the plan as the bar didn't get crowded enough for the dance floor to pick up before I left. Then Sunday I did a little abc.go.com tv watching trying to let my body recover from the drinking. (For some reason "classy" beer likes make me hungover, it is kind of a pain)

As you may have heard, Ugly Betty has been banished to the least desirable time slot - Friday evenings! I figured I should watch episodes to see if I feel like I can handle yet another show on the DVR. Safe to say I can. One of the episodes features Betty having to find a date to a work party and in the end decides to attend by herself. Of course the final scene is of her dancing to Dancing with myself which is one of my favorite dance songs. I used to have to take the bus to work, I would often listen to it and dance on the corner. Those mornings I got a lot of smiles.



In addition to hearing that song on Sunday, I had pandora playing on my computer this afternoon and You can't stop the beat came on from Hairspray. If that isn't a catchy song is, I don't know what is. I mean

And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it/The best that i can today/'Cause you cant stop/The motion of the ocean

Such a great beat. Try and listen to it and sit still. Dare you



With all this music bubbling up inside of me, I basically had to let loose. On the way home from the grocery store I 100% started to dance up the street. Arms flying, hips swaying, some hopping and possibly some head bobbing. One guy in his car at red light yelled out "hey girl, you look happy!" I had to reply "I am". There was just so much energy in my body. I did race back to the apartment and had a one person dance party to the 10 minute movie version of You can't stop the beat. Without my grocery bag on my shoulder I definitely had more free range of movement so hair flips and body waves were just all over my living room. I am thankful for my shag rug now for two reasons. It feels good on my feet, but it also absorbs the shock of me dancing and hopping around up here.

Yeah, I can't end this post without including the Glee version of Dancing with myself.




Today was a day for dancing. Therefore, today was a good day. I might just need to dance myself to bed now.

MAJORLY HUGE JELLY FISH!!!!

EW

If I see jelly fish in the ocean anywhere near me, I panic. I just cannot deal with them. Even though I know the clear ones don't sting, they are just so weird!! Sometimes they wash ashore along the coast and when you are strolling with friends while chatting, it is easy to put your foot down right on top of one. The squish and cold and ugh I can't even handle typing about something that hasn't even happened to me personally in years. Ick.

When ever it got unseasonably warm back home early on in the summer I felt both joy and dread all in one fell swoop. Joy, because that hopefully meant a great summer full of beach days, dread because that meant the jelly fish would be on the move and they would be coming to my beach. There is really nothing more depressing than going to the beach knowing there are tons of teeny tiny little jelly fish floating around out there. Well red tide is way worse and smells terribly, but if we only count situations that allow you to still swim, teeny jellies are up there.

Now what might be worse that teeny jellies? How about 450 pound ones!!! Well they are out there. Japan is being surrounded!

A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net

MSNBC.com had an article out about this crazy population of sea creatures. I would normally like to provide more quotes from this article but they really give me the willies. If you are braver than I, please go ahead, but be forewarned that these things are huge and really messing up the fishing industry! Yet another reason to shake our fists at our changing climate...

We need to end this post with some picture of jelly fish that I think are cute. The live in the aquarium. Please meet the upside down jelly fish:

Oh and let's also show some jelly fish ATTACK!!!!!!

This last picture might have been the inspiration for a potential tattoo. But I am not supposed to be thinking of adding any more ink to my body. My parents would not be very happy with me and I would like to keep their love and support right now. But seriously, don't you find the two jelly fish bouncing into each other kind of beautiful? Especially when they look like they are on fire!

**These pictures were taken by me at the Mystic Aquarium when I spent a very amusing weekend with two lovely ladies :)

Sandwich --- drool

My friend got her wedding dress the other day. It is super pretty, but no posts of it as she isn't getting married in June and no one should see her dress before her big day. Sadly, because it ended up looking like nothing she was initially leaning towards, we needed to pick out new bridesmaids dresses. Good bye amazing jersey dress. Bright side to this? We are taking another trip to David's Bridal and stopping at Friendly's for lunch. I get to order the most amazing sandwich again.

Honey BBQ Chicken Supermelt

The sandwich that sets the bar for all others. Crispy strips of chicken breast are smothered in our sweet honey BBQ sauce, then covered with melted Cheddar cheese, crisp bacon and ranch dressing. It's a masterpiece served on grilled sourdough bread.

Feel free to learn the calorie count I stand by my decision that it is totally worth it.

I can't wait to have to go pick up my bridesmaid dress. I just really want at least one more. :)

Seriously. If your mouth doesn't water after reading the description, shame.

Sticky Feet No More

Domestic Goddess duties just build up so high when one lives alone. You can't ignore the dirty sink surface in the bathroom or the stack of mail in the living room or the sticky kitchen floor hoping someone else will deal with it. For the last few weeks I have noticed that my kitchen floor had a sticky spot near the stove. (Hey I admit it, sometimes I really get into cooking and not everything makes it into the pot) The spot has been bothersome, but I couldn't bring myself to deal with it. Tonight, it is just me against the spot.

Washing the floor is something that I hate doing more than any other chore, but at the same time if I am able to complete the task in one go I feel so freaking accomplished. Back in the day when I worked at the ice cream store we would have to mop up the floors - which were covered in ice cream, fudge, caramel and who knows what else - my back always was killing me the day after. Fortunately, my teeny kitchen has an even smaller floor. This means I was only Cinderella for about 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes felt like forever.

I am now rather proud that my feet no longer stick to the floor and I hope to be more careful while cooking so that it doesn't get gross like that again. But we'll see. Worst comes to worst, I have to pretend to be a Disney princess for another 10 minutes. I think at this point I have already done some serious laundry, cleaned the bathroom, washed the dishes and cleaned the floor. I am letting my domestic goddess alter ego have a break now. I only wish I had the energy to make something to eat for dinner, but then again, I would just have to clean up again...

Oooops. Sorry.

I saw this woman the first time one the way to work on the Friday before Halloween. She had an orange face and huge black hair with some gray streaks. Thought to myself, awesome Halloween costume. She had to be like a witch or something.

Yeah, saw her again this morning. Not a costume. Self tanner and bronzer issues. This reminds me of a girl I once knew that was often on the orange side. Very awkward. Why do women do this? What color was your skin originally that you thought orange was a better alternative?


I understand that getting a real tan or tan from a box are not the healthiest things for a person, but looking like an orange is down right awful. I'd rather just be pale...

Mid-Week holiday? Yes please!

Most holidays I get off for work create three day weekends. I definitely have a preference. I like the Friday rather than the Monday. Friday you work towards all week knowing that you simply have one less day that week. You should try to get it all done, but hey maybe it doesn't happen because you only realize on Wednesday that it is this Friday that you won't be in. It causes some anxiety at times but overall the weekend shows up and work shmork, the three days are fantastic.

The Monday off is a little less awesome. As that third day ends your mind starts going to all of the things that you need to now fit into the next four days. FOUR DAYS. You barely can get everything done in five, what is going to happen when your weekly tasks go unfinished. You can't use the "oh I forgot we had a day off" excuse as you started one less day.

I don't know if I have ever had a midday holiday before. (Thanksgiving and Christmas don't count as I usually have the day off after) And boy am I now hooked. Two days of work. One day off. And then just two more before the week was over. Best schedule ever.

Please don't take this post as any disrespect for our Veterans. I am very thankful for what they have done. The holiday is just unique in how we observe it. It is the actual date (a very important date, 11th day 11 month 11th hour) and I am glad we don't just assign it to the closest Mon(Fri)day!

Let's end on a happy note: Dogs welcoming their soldiers back!