VMA Madness

Naked is the new black...or so says Miley Cyrus. This is Miley's latest fashion forward moment at last night's  MTV VMA Awards. And this girl was the evening's host! Hard to believe that just 4 short years ago this girl was a bubble gum, tween queen Disney darling. I wonder if Walt is turning over in his grave?

Taylor Swift and Nicki Manaj show the world that there is no Bad Blood. Were they fighting? I must have slept through that one, but ok, seems they could make up long enough to perform together last night. I would venture to guess the whole thing was made up to sell some records. Amiright?

Since Nicki's not fighting with Taylor anymore, she decided to pick a fight with Miley Cyrus. When accepting her award last night for Best Hip-Hop-Video she ended her speech, throwing it back to Miley by saying "and now back to this bitch who had a lot to say about me in the press the other day." Again, relevance, records and dollars. You think the had a meeting before and staged it? I'd say that was the best "performance" of the night. I give her high marks on her dress, tho. I think she looks beautiful.

Ugggh, them again? And seated front and center last night. Question: Does Kim have a tailor? Because I have the name of someone and she could CLEARLY use one. The ill fitting garment does nothing for her except make her look sloppy. Anyway, her self absorbed husband decided to declare his run for the presidency in 2020 on stage. What the hell? If Donald Trump can run for President and lead the polls why not Kayne?

So not relevant anymore. Britney Spears presented an award last night and I know what all of you were thinking because I was too; washed up, tired and over. It's sad because it would seem that Britney finally has her life together. She's no dummy though. She reportedly made $30 million over the last two years for her Vegas show and just renegotiated a raise for her next run. Reports say she will take home close to $1 million a week. And although she has surpassed expectations selling tickets to her show, I'm not sure it's the MTV crowd that's buying her tickets. My money is on the Bingo junket playing crowd filling her seats.

Yup, she won a bunch of awards again..This lady has the Midas touch! And in a class move, she put to bed forever the Taylor/Kanye feud. Repeating his famous and controversial outburst at the VMA's a few years ago, she declared Kanye's career 'the greatest career of all time', then hugging it out with him for all to see. Class act, that Taylor.

WTF?

I'm saddened over yesterday's news of the tragedy in Virginia. Three young people snuffed out because of hatred.

It's unfathomable that a mentally and emotionally disturbed person ONCE AGAIN kills because he/she feels he should, or could. This headline is becoming more and more common in our society. What is this world coming to? This time a young, accomplished duo of journalists and the woman they were interviewing were gunned down. Three lost their lives and the other is fighting for hers. I say three because the shooter killed himself and although it's easy to not care about his life, we must.

Were there warning signs?

Yes, the shooter was fired from jobs multiple times for "disturbing behavior" but how are we to predict he would turn his anger into a deadly tragedy? The Shooter reportedly faxed a 23 page "suicide note" to ABC News two hours after the shooting. In his missive he claimed to be upset over the recent racially charged, deadly church shootings in South Carolina. He said he admired the shooters of Columbine High School and Virginia Tech and called one "my boy right there".

The question we are left with today is how do we prevent this? Can we?

Because a journalist should be able to report from the field without fear, students should be able to learn in a safe environment and church goers should be able to worship in their sacred place without a lock on the door.

And one more deadly shooting headline is one too many.

Dog Days Of Summer

You're either a dog or a cat person. I'm not a cat person, so the doggies are King today on the Daily Dandy!
Some of these are literally LOL worthy!

I miss my little pug Jingles....

I see this just about every morning from Buddy...

Tell me about it baby...

Grandpa doggie wisdom.

If this ever happens to me, I'm not asking questions.

Ohhh boy they are getting creative!

Seen this before..more than I care to remember. 

Now that's funny...

This one reminded me of Frick and Frack...I wonder why?

I couldn't resist this one...

Love this one!

Somedays I feel like Buddy is looking at me this way.

Happy Tuesday Bloggers! Enjoy the dog days of summer while you can!

21!

Do you remember your 21st birthday?
I tried to remember mine, but I got nothing. I know I didn't have a big bash, because I was a senior in college and it was during school, but I vaguely remember celebrating at the school pub. Which is precisely why I don't remember much of it! I do remember being excited that I was finally of the legal drinking age and that I was the very last of my friends to turn 21, so drinking was the plan. That's what your 21st birthday is mainly about, isn't it?

Well my baby girl Frick turned 21 last week-which makes her not a baby anymore. She's all grown up and legal now! And we did have a big party for her....

Her birthday was last Thursday, August 13th, so she had decided that she wanted to paint the town of Boston red with her new LEGAL ID. My nephew is a club promoter in Boston, so he hooked us up in the city's most happening Thursday night spot with VIP treatment and bottle service with 12 of her closest friends. The plan was to start out at our house with a BBQ with friends and family then we would all grab a bus (that we rented) and go into the club.

The week before the party I spoke to my nephew and told him to expect us in Boston around 9 or 9:30. He nearly fell over laughing, "Auntie, the club doesn't open till 10:00," he said. My Guy and I were dumbfounded. 10:00 on a Thursday night is past our bedtime, so needless to say we were second guessing the entire night. But it wasn't about us, so we let it roll. Then our friends started to drop like flies.

"I've got a big meeting in the morning, so we will come to your house but we are going to pass on the club, " one friend said.
"That's kind of late for us, so if you don't mind we will see you at your house and then go home from there, " another told us.

Did I mention that we were feeling the same way? After a chat with Frick, she reluctantly agreed to go to the club with 12 of her closest friends sans her parents. After the BBQ, cake and a bit of merry making and  pre-gaming, the van/bus came to collect Frick, Frack and her friends and off they went! Funny thing was, once the kids left, those same friends who decided to opt out of the club ended up continuing the party at our house till about 1AM!! The kids were sending us pics and videos from inside the club and a few of my older nephews showed up at the club to celebrate with Frick! Which can be both a blessing and a problem when you weigh about 95 lbs like Frick does...

Poor Frick. I'm not sure she ever consumed that much alcohol in such a short time, but just as I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed I started getting text messages from her friends.
"We gotta get her home-she's not feeling good"
"She may need a dry cleaner for her outfit."

Oh boy, I thought, we've all been there but it's not fun once you get there. And I felt a bit guilty, like I sent her out to the lions...

Frick arrived home safely and without any major incident, but I think her dress and her dignity have seen better days. The silver lining in all of this? Frick continued to tell me what a wonderful brother she has! She explained that Frack totally took control of her predicament and took such good care of her. All in all I think that is the best present any one could ever ask for.

We Have Contact!

I have been wearing contact lenses now for about six months. I recently did something I've always wanted to do-I got colored contact lenses! My first pair arrived last week with my own prescription and I immediately put them in my eye. The result is not too different than that of the picture above. Needless to say, I love them! It's me, only slightly different, and with lighter eyes. I couldn't wait to show them off and get everybody's reactions but I had no idea what was to come. Everybody reacted alright-some positive, some not so positive.

My mom-"You don't look any different to me, but I love them!"

My dad noticed right away-"You have colored contacts on! They look great!"

Frick-"Mom, are you wearing colored contacts? You look awesome!"

A work colleague-"What did you do different? Did you cut your hair? You look fresh! Like you just came from the spa. Did you do botox?"

Some of my very good friends took a moment to notice only AFTER I pointed them out-"Oh yeah...I like them!"

But my boys? Not so much.

Frack- "Mom, something's wrong with your eyes!! Look in the mirror!! You look like a werewolf!!"

And most of all My Guy- "Honey, there's something wrong with your eyes! It doesn't look good. Like you look sick."

Everybody has an opinion. Safe to say, I'm having a great time freaking people out but My Guy is having the hardest time with them. Not one to adapt to drastic change, he told me that he does not like them at all. He even went as far to say that he loves my eyes the way they are naturally, and that you can't blame him for not liking his "beautiful wife" any other way. "OK honey", I said, "let's not lay it on too thick"..

Good thing I'm confident in who I am. Otherwise I would be second guessing my new contacts. I'm chalking it up to a fashion experiment with very mixed results, but I'll continue to wear them, just not every day. You can't blame me for wanting to mix it up a bit every now and then. Can you?

My Self Fulfilling Prophecy

A lady came into The Candy Bar last week and told me a story.  She said that she had gone to New York for the weekend and forgotten her makeup bag. She was devastated and after swearing at her husband for not checking with her to make sure she had all of her bags, she had to think fast.  The friend she was visiting was not a makeup wearer, so the option of borrowing makeup for the weekend was out the window.  She told me she went to the local mall and had her makeup done at the Bobbi Brown counter where she spent $150 on makeup products that she really didn't need.  Having just posted about makeup products I bought at CVS, I told her if it were to happen to me, I would have gone to CVS.

The reason I tell you this is because I kept repeating during her story "that would be my worst nightmare".  Well guess what? My worst nightmare came true!  In what I'm calling my self fulfilling prophecy, I did exactly the same thing this weekend when I went to Cape Cod.  Imagine my surprise when unpacking my bags I realized I had forgotten my makeup bag.  I swear I willed it to happen. So what did I do? I went pronto to CVS to replace what I needed.

I had managed to take with me a bag filled with my moisturizers and serums, so I was missing the complexion components in my makeup regimen. I had no foundation, no mineral powder, no bronzer, no mascara, no brow pencil, no blush and no eyeliner. My little experiment turned out to be a blogging blessing which allows me to share with you my findings. 

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Foundation: 

This was a complete surprise to me because I got to tell you, I really like this!

Why I like it:

• Great coverage and finish which makes the easy to use foam applicator a breeze. 
• Gives a complete application and the coverage is build-able which I needed
• True to color 
• Natural finish with long lasting wear-ability

What I didn't like:

• Sheer application of product did not last all day

L'oreal True Match Mineral Powder:

This one didn't have a chance, I'm completely and totally obsessed with my Smashbox Halo powder so I knew this one was going to fall flat. 

Why I like it:

• Set my foundation
• Easy to use brush comes attached to product
• Finish gave my a skin luminous appearance

Why I didn't like it:

• Very Messy
• Screw top reveals sifter top
• If too much product on top of sifter, creates a messy storage and not ideal for a neat and clean application.
• Packaging is not luxe. Not even close.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara:

I have blogged about this product before, safe to say it's possibly my favorite mascara ever.

Why I like it:

• Wand is longer which allows a complete application on whole lash line.
• Formula is wet and thick which leaves lashes defined, lengthened and voluminous 

Why I didn't like it:

• There are no reasons why I don't like this product. Did I mention that it's my favorite mascara ever?

L'oreal True Match Naturale Blush 

This looked easy and the color was pretty, so I thought why not?

Why I like it:

• Natural plum color
• Gave me a luminous glow
• Lightly pigmented for natural finish so it wasnt a strong statement blush

Why I didn't like it:

• Very messy
• Screw top reveals sifter top
• If too much product on top of sifter, creates a messy storage and not ideal for a neat and clean application.
• Packaging is not luxe. Not even close.

Maybelline Eye Studio Brow Define and Fill Duo:

I'm someone who has been using the same eyebrow pencil for about 6 years. I have to say, this was the best purchase because it helped me realize it was time for a change.

Why I like it:

• Precision crayon allows for exact application, 
• Foam tip powder applicator on opposite end creates a thickened natural looking brow without too much product

Why I didn't like it:

• No spoolie brush to groom brows afterward

Maybelline Master Kajal Eyeliner:

Thought this would be an easy no-brainer but was pleasantly surprised

Why I like it:

• Super soft creamy black liner
• Coned shaped tip applicator creates easy line, 
• Waterproof

Why I didn't like it:

• Not opaque, to get opaque black line you have to compromise the longevity of your liner by using the fine point tip

Bottom line, my friend spent $150 at a mall makeup counter and got 3 products she kind of liked. I spent about the same, got a ton more and was truly surprised at how many of the products I really liked. I also discovered that cheap drugstore makeup isn't that cheap after all. 

The moral of this story is even though I enjoyed this little experiment, I doubt I'll ever forget to check, and then double check whether my makeup bag is with me again!

The Nanny Chronicles

Another one bites the dust...

It wasn't bad enough that our boy Ben lost his freakin mind and started banging the Nanny, but now reports have surfaced that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's marriage may have been doomed over the suspision that Rossdale cheated with....THE NANNY. 

WTF? 

What gives? Do all these successful men have mommy issues? Or do all men have issues? Mom's hire nannies-especially working moms-so that they can contribute to the family financially, and socially so that they can have a life that is not centered around the kids. Moms need to feel good about themselves, and a good mom takes care of family first but then takes care of herself. When mama's happy, everybody is happy and a working mom needs both family and career to work cohesively to achieve domestic harmony. 

The nanny is key to the cohesiveness of those two worlds. But in today's crazy, sexed up, messed up world, do moms now need to worry about what goes on at home-with the nanny and her spouse-while she is working? So it would seem that any woman in her right mind would hire only Mrs. Doubtfire doppelgangers. Knowing what we now know, what are the options? 

Look, my kids are out of the nest and their "nanny" is still at my home 2 days a week taking care of household business. She has been with my family for 10 years and she's 28. AND did I mention that she looks like a Brazillian J LO? Am I worried? I wouldn't be human if I didn't let sinister thoughts creep into my head. Top that off with the fact that I was once married to a serial cheater and got my world rocked by the shit that he did. But I decided a long time ago that in order for me to live happily and not be completely devastated by a man and his extracirrucular activities, I have to love me more. Simple, I love me more and in the best case scenario he loves me more too. 

I don't know if simply loving yourself more is the answer, but it's a start. 

That and finding the agency that only employs women nanny's over the age of 75.