Reality Show Season Is Back

Not that Reality Shows were ever gone, but my favorites were back on TV tonight for their season premieres. The Hills and The City are back with avengence. Within the first 5 minutes of The Hills, we all found out that one of the characters had been to jail twice and was in rehab, another character might be on drugs, and yet another character got plastic surgery done to her entire face and possibly her behind. What is there not to love?

Over on The City, things were a little tamer (well at least they didn't involve raging parties in Miami). Whitney was preparing for her fashion show in Bryant Park. She claims that she only had a week to prepare while others had months. Even so, the models coming down the runway looked gorgeous and I was reminded why I even started enjoying these shows. Seeing a young girl realize her dream and what she has worked so hard for is quite inspiring for all of us New Yorkers. Most of us have come here to do something extraordinary and once we get there, its pretty great. It was nice to see it happen, even if it was part of a scripted Reality Show series.

Check out the Whitney Eve website, there are some cute clothes!

A "New" Health Study

Tonight, while checking the news on MSN.com, I came across a rather silly seeming article. The title "Four Unhealthy Behaviors Linked to Premature Death" made me wonder exactly what these behaviors were. After the title, the sub-title states that "People who smoke, drink, rarely exercise, and skimp on fruits and veggies die earlier than usual." I seriously said "Are you kidding me? This is newsworthy? No shit that would make you die earlier."

I go on to read the article hoping that there is something groundbreaking the further I read into this study. Unfortunately I get a paragraph such as the below for an opener:

"MONDAY, April 26 (HealthDay News) -- A combination of four unhealthy behaviors -- smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet and substantial alcohol consumption -- greatly increases the risk of premature death, a new study has found."

A NEW study? Really? Haven't we known this to be a fact for quite a few years, even decades now? Smoking kills your lungs, too much McDonald's clogs your arteries, and Alcohol makes your reasoning which might be otherwise good, work against you. In fact, Alcohol often times makes me want McDonald's and maybe even a cigarette at times. It is all a ridiculous circle but I can guarantee that over 90% of the people in America already knew that these things were bad for your health. Those other 10% are too drunk to care...

A Way To Get Ahead

Last night, I went to the Empire Hotel to have a few drinks with my friends. After dancing in painful high heels for a long time, I decided that I could use a break and I headed towards the restroom. Of course, everyone else in the place had to use the restroom at the same time that I did.

I was patiently standing in line when the girl behind me accidentally bumped into me. I was a bit annoyed when she didn't apologize and I became even more annoyed when she did it again. When I turned around, I noticed that she was way too drunk for her own good. She also started gagging as if she was about to loose her drinks. I stepped to the side and suggested that she would be better off if she faced the sink. I also thought that it would be a shame for her to ruin such a glamorous dress.

At that same time, the bathroom attendant rushed a girl from outside into one of the newly empty stalls. That girl was also about to loose her drinks. Just then, the girl who used to be behind me began running to the front while holding her hand over her mouth.

I am all for having a fun time, however, getting that drunk out at a bar won't get you anywhere except the front of the line for a toilet...which isn't so glamorous after all.

Apartment Hunting Horror

On Thursday, I went to meet my Real Estate Broker. I met him at the first apartment that he was going to show me. It was directly across the street where I had previously done charity work. Needless to say the area was a bit scary but I was keeping an open mind - this was only the first apartment and I hadn't even seen it yet. Little did I know, I didn't want to see it. I wouldn't even be able to fit my bed in it. The next 2 apartments weren't much better.

We headed back over to the West Side (after realizing that I am definitely NOT an East Side girl). The 2 apartments that he showed me on the West Side weren't as awful but definitely overpriced for the space. I hate that apartment hunting in New York can be so challenging! All I want is to find something that isn't the size of a shoebox, where I can fit all of my shoes, and will still allow me to buy shoes - Is that too much to ask? Apparently in New York it is!



Maybe I should just live in my shoes...

Don't Ma'am Me

This morning, while waiting patiently in line at the pharmacy, the pharmacist looked at me and said "We will be just another minute or so Ma'am.". Instantly I decided that I didn't like him.

Now, on the train to work, I just read an email from my broker that said "Yes Ma'am" in response to an earlier question that I had sent him. I haven't even met him yet and he already thinks that I am old (unless he is from Texas).

I am not a fan of that word and generally prefer Miss instead. It just sounds much nicer and makes me sound younger - both things that I like to be :)

Fashion Stake

NY Mag's The Cut recently ran a story about how anyone can invest $50 in a new fashion label. This idea is brought to you by a website called Fashion Stake, which apparently even though getting plugs from NY Mag, isn't up and running yet.

The concept behind the idea is to have anyone invest their money into these new brands. While your money might not yield you the highest return, it gives you dividends in fashion show tickets and discounts. If I had the $50 to invest for a designer who doesn't have the $50 to invest, I would surely sign up!

This is a good way to get involved in the industry and to feel connected to a designer, however, I wouldn't bank on getting to many invites to their shows since they may or may not have enough money to do them.

The Brawny Man

brawn.y [braw-nee]

–adjective,brawn·i·er, brawn·i·est.
muscular; strong.

—Related forms
brawn·i·ly, adverb
brawn·i·ness, noun
un·brawn·y, adjective

—Synonyms
burly, robust, strapping.

Tonight, I saw a commercial for Brawny Paper towels. This commercial confused me because I always remembered the Brawny man looking a lot older, and blonder. When I Googled him, I found out that they have changed this guy quite a few times.

The original Brawny man was a bit of a creeper. He parted his hair in the middle and looks like he is either a little drunk or squinting into the sun. Either way, I wasn't a fan. He also has his flannel shirt unbuttoned a few too many buttons down.

The next Brawny man seemed to get a few more highlights. He is blonde, still has the creepy mustache but he doesn't look as wild. He is a little bit cleaner cut. He resembles a Ken Doll if you ask me due to his side-swept hair. He also has a lot more trees behind him. Do you think this logger was going green perhaps?



Today's Brawny man is apparently based on a real person and has gotten quite a makeover from the original. To me, however, he looks a bit too digitized and computerized. You can also notice that this Brawny guy gets brawnier, or beefier, as time goes on. It looks like he has been working out over the past 30 years. As his muscles get bigger, the font type on the paper towels gets less bold. Is this a sign of the times? The beefy guy can have a more feminine look for his paper towels? Or is this meant to distract us? The fancier lettering can just make him look bigger and beefier in comparison. Why does it seem that the Brawny man has gotten a lot cuter? I never thought he was cute when I was a teenager. Is it because I am just getting older as he stays the same age? The trees behind him have grown a little, he had to have celebrated at least a few birthdays right?



After all of this speculation about the Brawny man, I have decided that I don't really care what he looks like. After all, any guy who cleans up the messes he makes sounds good to me!

The "Play" In The LES

Last night I went on a date. I had met this guy a long time ago when he was a doorman on my street. He said that we were going to a "Play" in the Lower East Side. This is a warning for all of you girls who ever get asked to go to a "Play" in the Lower East Side.

Within the first 2 minutes there is full frontal nudity. There is also a pole dancer. 5 minutes later I still have no idea what is going on, but on the stage they bring out a large wooded gold painted penis. This penis also shoots confetti. At this point I was wishing that I was anywhere but here. I look around and see a very old woman next to me. To my horror, she is smiling and clapping at the nude man running around the stage. I still have no idea of what this "play" is about.

30 minutes in I am okay. I'm cracking jokes about it and not as uncomfortable as before. That is until the woman with the huge knockers comes out. I have never seen boobs so big in my life. They are bigger than my head and I am horrified. As we are nearing the end of the show I am still weirded out but thankful that it is ending. Then the cast runs into the crowd to grab people to come onstage. Of course, a random stripper comes up to me and pulls me by the arm and drags me out onto the stage. I am protesting the entire way. She starts waving my hands in the air and spinning me around. Thankfully I had already been disoriented while sitting in my seat. Why did we sit in the front again? I was cursing my date from the stage as he was sitting there laughing hysterically. 5 minutes later, the show was over and I still had no idea what it was all about.

Warning: Never go to a "play" in the Lower East Side. It will make you feel stupid because you have no idea what it's about, you will be horrified by the watermelon sized breasts, and you will be in a general state of shock after you leave.

PS) I went to the bathroom after the show and in the bathroom, the girl in the stall beside me stood up to pee. I might just suggest not going to the Lower East Side at all.

Embarrassing Book Titles

Tonight on the train, I was sitting across from a woman reading the book Dirtier Than Ever with a picture of a woman on the front who is lounging in a chair throwing her legs in the air in a short dress. I was shocked to see this book cover with the title and was even a little embarrassed to look at it. I am not sure when I became so shy about this, but I rarely read books on the train. For one, I like to people watch on the train. The other reason? I often wonder about the personality of a person by the book they are reading or one can sometimes make an assumption about that person after reading the title of their paperback. I enjoy reading dating books but Why Men Marry Bitches and Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man are not the titles that I want to be judged on.



Maybe some day I will get the courage to read a really racy or crazy titled book on the train, but until then, I will be people watching.

Retouching To Sell Shoes

Today on The Cut, they showed pictures of Britney Spears in an ad campaign for Candies shoes. What they show, is the before and after pictures. They ask the question, "Which of the photos helps to sell the shoes?" Personally I don't care if they show the celebrity picture with the cellulite or not. The shoes are ugly and no ad will ever sell me ugly shoes - Britney with or without cellulite!




Also, if they are so good at retouching, why don't they fix her roots?

Walk Of Shame Pants

Yesterday morning, as I walked outside of my building around noon, I saw this beautiful girl standing at the bodega getting coffee. She was super tall, blonde, and had a pretty face. When I got closer, I noticed that she was wearing an awfully large t-shirt and men's track pants. The other thing that she was wearing that really surprised me were the 5 inch heels on her feet. She was obviously doing the "Walk of Shame" or the "Grabbing a Coffee of Shame" in those crazy not-so-Sunday-morning kind of shoes.

That's the bitch of it, she couldn't go barefoot because she definitely would have picked up some nastiness from the sidewalk but she looked absolutely ridiculous. Thankfully, it is Springtime now and if you have a large enough purse, you can always pack a pair of flip flops.

The other thing about this woman was that it made me think about the new trend of sweatpants and high heels as an outfit (see the below from Michael Kors' Fall 2010 runway show). How will anyone ever really know if you spent more than $5 on the sweatpants and if you are wearing them to walk home from a long night out or if you really wanted to be on trend? I love the idea of making sweatpants sexy and fun, however, high heels take away the comfort part of all of it and you might still look like you spent the night at a lover's house. Beware of this new trend ladies - proceed with caution by making sure to specify that you put your outfit together on purpose.

Kors

Spring Flowers

This morning, since it was so beautiful outside, I decided to put on my sneakers and start walking. Yes, shocking - my sneakers finally made it outside for once. I just walked out of my apartment and continued to walk. By 14th street I started to feel a little bit like Forrest Gump because I felt as if I could walk forever. At 35th street I turned around and headed home. On my walk, I made sure to stop and take a picture of the flowers...no, I didn't smell them unfortunately.

I also stopped to check out the flowered shoes at Aldo. I love Spring Flowers!

How Fairy Tales Really End

This email was forwarded to me at work. I think that it is quite funny and also very telling...

How fairy tales really end:


Cinderella - So pretty and stuck in the bar wishing that pumpkin would have stayed a carriage.







Snow White - Screaming babies and Prince Charming...what more could she ask for?









Little red riding hood - She isn't so little anymore is she.










Jasmine (Aladdin) - I love her pink camo pants.









Belle (Beauty and the beast) - Eeek Scary!








The little mermaid - Yummy.

Sex and The City 2 Movie

Sex and The City 2 Movie Trailer - Extended Version!

At first I was not very impressed with the Sex and The City 2 Movie trailer. It wasn't exciting, it wasn't fun. Yes, there were great clothes, but will I get bored at this one? The extended version of the trailer finally came out and Whew. What a relief! I am officially very excited to see the movie.

For all of you fans out there, take a peek at the video and enjoy.

Celebrating The Sunshine

The past two nights after work my friends and I have been outside. The sun and warm weather is infectious and I can't seem to get enough.

On Wednesday night it felt like an official kickoff to Summer when we went to The Frying Pan. This is a bar that I have written about more than once before. This bar is actually a boat on the Hudson River at 26th street that happens to serve buckets of beer and bottles of wine with plastic cups. The boat was packed and full of cute boys (It seems as if the warm weather brings them out of hibernation). I had a plan that if I were to see someone super cute that I was interested in, that I would fall into them and blame it on the rocking boat. Ingenious. I know.

Tonight, we went to a Fashion Meets Finance event at The Empire Hotel on 63rd and Broadway. The event is to get girls in fashion to meet boys in finance. I went for the views on the outdoor roof deck! Despite not meeting too many boys in finance I had a great time and was soaking in the sun and gorgeous weather. I also had fun snapping the picture below of the huge neon sign for the hotel. You can really see how blue the sky was today. I hope that everyone was able to do a little bit of celebrating of the sun and bright blue skies this week.

The Only Time To Buy Ugly Shoes

Tonight I did something with shoes that I have never done before. I guess that I should rephrase that since they aren't actually shoes. These things are the ugliest footwear that one could ever put in the vicinity of their toes. I mean, they could never make an outfit look anything but awful. These disgusting things that I am talking about are Crocs and I ate them.

Yes, these Crocs that I received over the weekend weren't made out of the neon colored rubbery material that they normally come in. My Crocs were made of sugar and cocoa powder and they were quite delicious. Because of these yummy little chocolate goodies, I have changed my original thoughts on Crocs. It is okay to buy these "shoes" if you can actually eat them. Otherwise they are still not okay to wear in public.

Sorry for all of you Crocs lovers out there, I just can't get past how ugly they are despite the comfort factor.

Happy Easter Weekend

After the crying baby and annoying flight, I arrived in Pittsburgh to a beautiful weekend. I couldn't have asked for better weather. Friday was spent in the sunshine with martinis and margaritas. Saturday, again was spent in the sunshine and visiting the Andy Warhol museum. Sunday included egg dying, hiding, and hunting. I had the best weekend hanging out with my sister.

Today, I was excited to get back to the city because my allergies were really starting to get to me (I was missing all off the non-pollinated cement). I am currently in the train going into Penn Station and I realize that I am comin back into the city the same way I left it - with a crying baby. Man I missed this place.

I hope that everyone had a Happy Easter weekend, crying babies and all!

Airport Not So Fun

After I left the grandfather guy at the bar, I went to board my plane to Pittsburgh. I was so excited to get my vacation underway and have a relaxing flight with my iPod and my Glamour. Unfortunately my music and magazine were no match for the 8 month old baby that was screaming bloody murder in the seat directly infront of me.

When I say that she was screaming bloody murder, that is an understatement. This poor little upset baby bawled for the entire flight. I turned my music up so loud that I might have popped an eardrum - that is still better than listening to a baby cry. Just when I thought I could begin to relax with my music blaring in my ears, the baby decided to poop her diaper. I have never enjoyed one of the magazine fragrance ads so much in my entire life! Thank you Beyonce. Your new fragrance Heat is amazing (especially when you tub the tester directly under your nose). The girl in the seat next to me watched me do this, smiled, and opened up her magazine too :)

Airport Fun

I am currently at the Newark, NJ airport waiting to board my flight to Pittsburgh. I was just sitting by a guy at the bar who was having what I thought was a very intimate conversation. "Ohh I looved that picture that you sent me. It was amazing. I was thinking about it all day long" he said. I thought, wow that is a little too graphic for me. Then he turns and suggests that I take a look at the picture. Slowly I turn to look at his phone laiden with fear. I see a cute little baby in a pink onesie. Boy was I wrong about that one! It goes to show how much I need a break from this city!