Guilty Confessions

So, my parent’s have been visiting for just short of an eternity and my sister and I have been pulling out our hair keeping them busy. Lunches, dinners, movies, theater – lots of theater – I’m feeling very cultured. And totally exhausted. Not to mention exasperated, I really don’t know how people used to live with their families for their entire lives, but then maybe that’s why so many died young…

At any rate as a late birthday present we decided to take our mother to see Wicked. I’ve actually been a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz my entire life – when I was 4 my family and friends put on a full scale production recorded for posterity on Super 8 – but I digress…

Anyway, for some reason I’d been wary of seeing Wicked. Despite having grown up watching and loving musicals – everything from Singing In The Rain to The Wiz to Everyone Says I Love You – I’ve gotten a bit jaded when it comes to Broadway. However, I kind of loved it. The sets, songs and performers were great, it was truly fun. Though I’m loathe to admit it, I’m clearly not as jaded as I thought – there were even a couple of songs that made me tear up. Oy god, I’m such a sap!

Fine, since I’ve already confessed to being sappy, I might as well lay it all out on the table.

A couple of months ago my sister and I took a friend to see Xanadu for her birthday. (I promise, I really am kind of cool.) Again, had seen the movie as a child, and though I can’t say it was my favorite, it’s one of those cult things that you can’t help but know about. And as much as I’d like to slam this one, I can’t. Sure, it was totally campy and cheesey, but you know what? It rocked! Even the concession stand got into the act. In addition to selling the requisite “Xanadu Brand” t-shirts they had a fab array of apparel from leg warmers to short shorts. Also a great variety of 80s refreshments like Pop Rocks, Tab, candy necklaces and Shasta. You can see it, right? Pretty fricken’ awesome.

So yeah, from the moment we arrived we could tell we were gonna have a great time, but as we stood in the lobby gulping wine while waiting for the festivities to begin we began wishing we had gotten a little more into the act. I fished around in my bag and found some glittery lip gloss which I brandished with a flourish to jazz up our eyelids and lips and paint little stars on our cheekbones – ok, maybe I am a freak…

Of Turkey and Tudors

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with fantastic friends, delicious food, buckets of wine and board game called Quelf that I highly recommend (by the end of play one friend had his hand wrapped in tinfoil, another had a box under her dress and there was an egg sitting on the middle of the board) no seriously, it’s fun. Later in the evening we found the On Demand karaoke channel which proved to be a lot of fun…until the next morning when I woke up with laryngitis! Yeah, it sucked, but my sister and her husband took care of me, making me tea and turkey sandwiches and, the piece de la resistance: we had free premium cable channels all weekend!

On Sunday morning I decided to give The Tudors on Showtime a look…and ended up watching the entire season! It was pretty fascinating what with all the drama, death, intrigue and sex – did I mention the sex, wowza! But really, I think it was the hot guys that kept me going. It’s a great cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam, Gabrielle Anwar (forgotten all about her hadn’t you? yeah, me too), but I have to say, Henry Cavill is my new boy crush. I think it’s because he has that cocky/bad boy look and sadly that always seems more attractive…

Anyway, I’m thinking I may have to sign up for Showtime so I can catch the second season next year – great, another distraction, just what I need!!

signs of the apocalypse…

Over the years hundreds of actors have compromised their craft and shilled their signature voices for various businesses and products, but this morning I saw (or heard) a commercial that goes on my list of new signs of the apocalypse – indy star Parker Posey’s voiceover for Marshalls.

Please Parker, say it ain’t so!

’tis the season

Yup, it’s that time again. Halloween masks had hardly come off when stores in my neighborhood started filling their windows with cotton balls, tinsel and snowmen. An avalanche of holiday catalogs have drifted through my mail slot, to say nothing of the myriad emails touting the latest decorations, gadgets and toys we all need to run out and buy – or sit on our asses and purchase online. Don’t get me wrong, I like to complain but I do love the holidays.

The following, however, are a couple things I question as being a necessary part of the upcoming festivities:

I got an email from the wonderful cooking supply store, Sur La Table this

morning with one of the new “must haves” for the holiday season – a giant cupcake pan. Now maybe I’m crazy, but isn’t the whole point of a cupcake to be small in scale? If it’s giant, wouldn’t it then be a regular cake? Oh well, if it makes the kids happy, far be it from me to judge.

But then they also suggested this ceramic rooster as a gift:

No, there’s nothing wrong with is per se, but does anyone really need more objects that simply take up room and have absolutely no function? More to the point, this one costs $250! I challenge anyone to convince me of the necessity of this over-priced tchotchke.

OK, that’s it for now but stay tuned for more outrageous holiday gifts and gadgets!

a week in shoes

Well, maybe not in reality, but here are a dreamy selection of shoes that, if I owned them, would take me through the week:

MONDAY:

These seem like a good pair to start off the week, functional yet whimsical. Marc Jacobs can always be called upon for a beginning of the week shoe crisis.

TUESDAY: Flat boots from Loeffler Randall are just the thing to for the inevitable errands you’ll have to run that didn’t get done yesterday.

WEDNESDAY: Give your day (and your legs) a little lift in these leopard wedges form Christian Louboutin, the man knows what he’s doing, enough said.

THURSDAY: After work cocktails anyone? Even though you’re tired, these shocking pink Stella McCartney pumps will have you dancing out the office doors and into the corner pub.

FRIDAY: Hot date with the new guy from the 7th floor? Show him your sophisticated side with these gorgeous covered wedge pumps from Martin Margiela – you know after the third martini they’ll be the only classy thing about you…

SATURDAY:   Sure, these Christian Louboutin glitter prive platforms are a bit tacky, but they’d be great for a hot night on the town with the girls.

SUNDAY: These Chloe boots would jazz up any lazy Sunday afternoon stroll through the park or brunch with friends to discuss naughty things that happened in those Louboutins!

Coveted item of the day

Ahh, Balenciaga…

As alluded to previously, I Balenciaga bags. I can’t quite remember when this love affair started, but it was first consummated in about 2003 with this beauty:

That said, my love affair is pretty restricted to the bags. Although there is the occasional item of clothing that leaves me drooling, there are quite a few that give me pause… Though if you can get away with this C3PO look, more power to you. It’s also hard to imagine on which occasion these shoes would come in handy, unless you were like, I don’t know, Rainbow Brite’s crunchy-fashionista cousin.

At any rate, my love for their yummy bags has not diminished, therefore, here are a few of the current ones that I’ve been dreaming of…

Totally digging the hobo with the big hardware. I’d love it in black, or maybe purple…

Also love the round bag in Pine from Fall 2007.

Love the shape, love the color, love the hardware!

This color is so rich and it would go with everything I own, but not as wild about the style (and as we know I already have a blue one, can”t be too crazy now, can I?!)

And then, ehem, there’s my new baby:

Yeah, I did it and I couldn’t be happier. It holds everything – computer, book, and all the myriad crap that I accumulate and lug around all over the city – and I wonder why I have neck and back problems!

Coveted item of the day

These are just plain HOTTT

Roger Vivre Rose shoes