oh youtube...

a couple of entertaining youtube videos:


and this one is stolen from my friend Jessie's blog. it is just too good to not be posted again!

Jeeealous

This season of ANTM is pretty bland but i love this clip. The best part is Tyra's reaction to Allison's comment. I am glad that in the makeover they made Allison blonde-aka a little less scary. She is actually my favorite right now!

Keep Voting!

Last night I listened to Naomi Wolf speak. She is most known for her book The Beauty Myth-a feminist cornerstone which discussed the effects of beauty in all areas of life. I remember reading that book over and over again during high school. The Beauty Myth inspired me to become more vocal about my feminist beliefs which must have been a universal response to her book since her work ushered in the third-wave of feminism.

Now she in a prominent political activist-for democracy. Her current book- Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries-urges every citizen to use their voice to actively keep in check our democracy. People are lazy about politics-even with the spark ignited by the recent election many people just voted and stopped there. It is imperative to vote in Congressional elections and not be passive in community choices-no matter how small. Keeping checks and balances balanced in our system and democracy alive is an active effort that is too often taken for granted.

So take a moment today and look into your district and see what exactly is going on and how you can influence changes that will impact your everyday life. It would be a waste not to speak up! xoxo*

The Way We Were

I am actually a complete hopeless romantic but i despise most dramatic, romantic movies and won't watch most of them (I haven't even seen The Notebook). However, there are a couple of love movies that i adore, one of which i watched again this past week at the Junior League. The movie is 'The Way We Were'- it is about a complicated relationship between Hubble (played by an omg drop dead gorgeous Robert Redford) and K-K-K-Katie (played by Barbara Streisand). It is completely beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time.

The end of the movie was paralelled in one of my very favorite shows -Sex and the City. Carrie compares her relationship with Big to the one between Hubble and Katie. Mostly stating that there were two types of girls in the world-the Katie girls (the complicated/interesting ones) and the simple girls. Later in the episode Carrie meets up with Big after his engagement party and she re-creates the ending of 'The Way We Were'. (Obviously their relationship ended up differently than Hubble/Katie.) Here are the two clips:

Attack of the 'Models'

Oh Tyra Banks. She's a little-scratch that- completely nutty but i am addicted to America's Next Top Model. Everytime I watch that show i always say that if i was tall i would clearly go on that show and win. It is all part of my 'secret' desire to become a lingerie model. I was thrilled when I discovered that the current casting for ANTM is for 5'6" and under! I was going to drag my ass to the NYC auditions but never made it there this past weekend.

Its a good thing I didn't because well, there was a bit of a stampede.

Home is Where My Habits Have a Habitat

I am a nail biter. I'm not sure when it really started but i'm pretty sure it has only gotten worse. Right now i am completely stressed out and the brunt of it has been taken out on my poor little nails. I didn't notice how horrible they were until i realized that they almost look as awful as the example of extreme biting on Wikipedia. Eek.

Then on the subway i saw this man with perfectly glossed lips and shiny well manicured nails. I looked at the nubs of my nails and felt slightly jealous/disappointed that he looked so much better than I did! I'm not sure what the cure is-less stress? Impossible! I attempted to paint gross tasting polish on them but then i just added a new habit of picking it off and then biting. Or not even biting them but peeling the nail. Gross.

If all else fails i could always go to a rehab clinic for nail biting. All I need to do is hop on a plane to Venlo, Netherlands and start my treatment.

Freeze Me out

I have a huge issue with asking other people for help. My biggest and most recent example of this would be my freezer. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but my frezer rebelled and became this:


Yea that would be my freezer. I have been trying a multitude of ways to fix it but I cannot seem find the solution. My real issue is that it has gotten so horrific that I am ultra embarrased to actually get it fixed. I guess eventually i will just have to suck it up and ask haha...xoxo*

PS that yellow thing is a towel that i was using in one of my experiments to fix my freezer. it failed. and was then eaten by my freezer.

Family Guy

One show that never fails to make me laugh is Family Guy. Last fall I saw Seth MacFarlane and crew perform live (they did a reading of Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie as well as radom songs in between) and they were fantastic.

Everytime i watch an episode (I own all the seasons yet I still dvr on TBS) I find something that cracks me up-or some nuance that I didn't notice before. Today was a rough/annoying day at work so my cubicle neighbor and i watched the following clip a million times:



It never gets old. haha xoxo*

Mother, Mother

All generations tend to be a little different due to a myriad of factors-economic, state of the world, technology etc. As a result each generation of parents have varying styles parenting. Well, my mother is pretty much obsessed with the way I look (and the way she looks). I have noticed that a lot of my friends have simlar problems with their mothers.
 
This came to a head yesterday when my mom and I had an hour arguement because my sister tattled that I was wearing flats to an early dinner instead of heels (the average age at the Oceana restaurant at 6pm was 85 so who exactly was I supposed to be impressing?). Apparently, flat shoes make me look 'dumpy' which means i look like a hot mess which in turn means i am disappointing the family. Okay, that might sound like an overreaction but thats pretty much my mother's way of thinking. She then told me that the real problem wasn't my flat shoes but that i would not admit that i looked 'unattractive' wearing them. Whut?
 
Let's just say the conversation didn't end well.
 
It does worry me about our generation as parents-especially with a lot of girls who have weight insecurities. Do these problems get passed down from generation to generation? Sadly, I think they do.

The Bachelor Gone Wrong

I am a fan of reality tv (even though i kicked my Hills habit long ago-seriously nothing happens on that show!). I have also tried to be on a couple of reality shows-those details will have to be for another blog ;). The one show i would actually be scared to go on would be The Bachelor because knowing my luck I will end up on national tv bawling in a limo.

Well, tonights Bachelor finale made me so disgusted. The poor protagonist was supposed to be Jason Mesnick who presented himself as the ultimate good guy- devoted to his son and all he wants is some amazing family. He originally proposed to an adorable Melissa but 6 weeks later changes his mind and picks the other girl. WTF. I am all for following your heart but breaking up with a fiancee and then five minutes later making out with another chic is completely classless and cruel. Thank you ABC and Jason for not having a soul.

I have an issue when i watch these shows-I feel so much emphathy for the nice girls who aren't chosen and are ripped apart by the lies they were told. I always think 'what if that was me?'. I am so confused by what has happened to the concept of relationships and engagements. If you don't want to 100% be in a relationship or being engaged DON'T BE IN ONE. Its not that difficult and any one who just stays in something because its easy or they just want to be laid is sad and pathetic. I can only pray that I never end up in such a situation.

Help Me Martha!

A couple of weeks ago I saw Martha Stewart speak at Business Week's Captains of Industry Lecture Series at the 92nd St Y. I was never the biggest Martha fan but was intrigued by her career/empire.

Well, she completely surprised me-Martha was witty, funny, and seemed genuinely intrigued by everything and everyone. She was certainly quite arrogant but completely deserves it! Martha has writtten over 65 books, magazines, multiple websites, television series and a station plus a bevy of designs for Macys, Wal-Mart and K-Mart. She opened Martha Stewart's Center for Living at Mt. Sinai and is working even more expansions to her empire.

Martha was also a lot more open about her troublesome past. When asked what she has learned she said 'I learned to live with less...something that everyone is learning now.'

Now if only i could learn to wake up at 5am and take on the world every day like she does!...xoxo*

Lonely In The City

There have been a myriad of articles about whether or not NYC is a lonely place. There have also been sayings and songs with the same theme: being lonely in a crowded room.

Lately, the feeling of loneliness has been hitting me harder than usual. I'm a very independent person- I go to museums, concerts, and Russia solo without blinking an eye.

However, I am starting to really tire of not having many true connections-especially in the city. I'm not really sure what else i can do to fix this...xoxo*