#TheDress...

Evidently the dress is black and blue-but I saw gold and white. I guess that means my emotions are in check? Such a fuss....

But I don't want to talk about that dress. I wanna talk about this one:

Get this...

This dress that Lupita Nyong'o wore to the Oscars last Sunday was reportedly made completely with pearls; 6000 white Akoya pearls-estimating its worth at $150,000.00-was STOLEN right out of her hotel room!  Nyong'o reportedly told police that the dress was stolen out of her room at The London West Hollywood sometime Wednesday between 8am and 9 pm, while she was out. 

Holy Hollwood caper, bloggers! Have a great weekend and please try to lock up your valuables! 

UPDATE: The dress has been found! According to TMZ.com the thief who stole the dress returned it to the hotel after he learned that the dress-made of pearls-were fake! He contacted TMZ to inform them of "Hollywood's fake bullsh*t".

You Go Girlfriend!!

A self proclaimed "Bravo-phile", it has been well documented here that my TV almost exclusively broadcasts the Bravo network when I find myself in front of it. So it should be no surprise that while on my recent 15 day-unauthorized vacation, that suddenly I had some rare personal time on my hands. Thank God for my iPad, because actually sharing the family room TV with my family can get very tricky. Since I needed to catch up on what all my favorite Housewives were doing, I downloaded the GENIUS Bravo ap and discovered my entire guilty-pleasure-viewing world at my finger tips!

It was within that world that I decided to start watching Bravo's first scripted series "Girlfriends Guide to Divorce". The show is promoted constantly during the Real Housewives franchise and stars Girlfriend Lisa Edelstein as Abby McCarthy, an acclaimed self-help author and family guru who lives in LA. Edelstein is a brilliant choice considering I loved her as the long suffering girlfriend of curmudgeonly doctor House of the 2004 long-running TV series bearing the same name. "Girlfriends" was one of my best binge watches to date. Season 1 is comprised of 13 interesting episodes.

Now before you say anything negative, let me clarify a few things:

• I am EXACTLY the demo Bravo wants; over 40, educated, self employed career woman who is divorced with two children. Safe to say the show speaks to me.
• Abby McCarthy (Lisa Edelstein) and I are nearly the same age and living somewhat the same life-not really-but I am sympathetic to her character and the parallels are numerous. 
• Add marriage, divorce, sex, money, fashion, family and powerful women and I'm in.
• The series first premiered on my birthday. Need I say more?

To those who say that Bravo and it's reality TV franchises are partly responsible for the "dumbing down of America", I say here is a smart and sexy, scripted show that just may teach us a thing or two. 

It's powerful. It's funny and compelling while being heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. And if you've ever been through a rough patch in your life or have a girlfriend who has, it manages to mirror your own personal story only with better fashions and better scripts. It's also one of the best season finale episodes I've watched in a long time. You don't have to be a girlfriend to watch it either, I think the story lines are compelling enough for anyone watching to find a relatable angle. 

Bravo, Bravo! Thanks for giving us finally Girlfriends we can depend on. 

Hollywood's Golden Girl

I like this lady. There is something about her that draws me in.

Maybe its because she strikes me as the kind of person who just doesn't give a sh*t.
Maybe it's because she's interesting and beautiful and has always been on the outer cusp of Hollywood-like she's been there all along-but not quite.
Maybe it's because she looks and acts like she knows exactly who she is.
And maybe because she just kicked everyone's ass this awards season.

Patricia Arquette is boss lady. The thing is, she always has been. Most recently as TV's The Medium, which had a 6 year run, and up next CSI:Cyber, it's safe to say she has been quietly succeeding in the complicated maze of the acting world. One of a family of Hollywood types-her famous siblings, Rosanna, Richmond, Alexis and David, are well known themselves for various reasons-acting being the common denominator. But there's something about Patricia, and Patricia right now.

I'm not talking about her Oscar acceptance speech either, although that just adds another dimension to her appeal. I'm talking about how she carries herself. She's every woman. She's feminine and relatable because she possesses an elegant beauty that can't be found in a hair and makeup room. She is a beautiful woman, of that there is no doubt, but she is a beautiful woman on what appears to be her own terms. She doesn't conform to Hollywood standards and she doesn't have to. She set the bar for herself and it works for her.

If she's selling, I'm buying. I read that she was strongly considered for the Dorothy Boyd character in "Jerry Maguire" so to Patricia I will say this, you had me at hello.....

The Clean Plate Ranger

Americans are fat. We all know that we are bordering on obesity. We've heard the statistics over and over again. On average, Americans are 23 lbs over their ideal body weight. The fact is that American's are becoming more accepting of a larger sized self. The older I get, the harder it becomes to loose "that 10 nagging pounds", and I've finally discovered why.

Because my parents drilled into my head, at a very young and impressionable age, to eat everything on my plate.

I don't blame them, really, because their parents drilled the same thing into them. In fact, if we are looking to place the blame, we can blame World Wars 1 and 2. As a result of World War 1, our government created the "Clean Plate Club" because of the limited amount of food in the country. The Clean Plate Club, first established in 1917, was a movement that began after Congress passed the Food and Fuel Control Act . The act enabled President Woodrow Wilson the power to regulate the distribution of food, which was becoming scarce. Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover as the head of this task and his job was to make sure that the precious food Americans had didn't go to waste.

Hoover targeted small, school aged children, with the Clean Plate Club pledge:

 “At table I’ll not leave a scrap of food upon my plate. And I’ll not eat between meals, but for supper time I’ll wait.”

And so it began a generation of Americans who were taught never to waste food. That generation were our parents parents, who then raised our parents to believe in the same pledge. Then along came the Great Depression and World War 2 and once again food in America was scarce. The Clean Plate Club was re-established in schools across the country and another generation reinforced the importance of never wasting food. They taught their children and so on and you see where I'm going with this?

Flash forward into the future, and here we are Super Sizing everything and eating whatever and whenever we want to, yet we still fell the need to never let it go to waste. Old habits die hard, and Americans continue to overindulge and take home "doggie bags" so that not a scrap goes to waste. I noticed that when a large plate of food is put before me I immediately feel a pang of guilt, like I need to finish it and if I don't I've committed a crime of some sort.

And we wonder why we are 23 lbs. over our ideal body weight? Go figure.

The Reluctant Vacartion

Ok, so I just got back from Florida.

I was there for 15 days!! And before you bemoan what a complete b*tch I am for complaining about being in Florida during the snowiest spate of weather MA has ever seen, understand that it wasn't the most convenient or comfortable for me. Get this-three canceled flights! Yes, I swear three of my scheduled flights home were cancelled due to snow. I was lucky enough to have a place to stay, and I got a bonus vacation to boot, but I own my own business and I was very anxious to get back.

So here I am and don't you just love the first day back? Not really.

• Piles of mail at home and at work. Nothing is more anxiety inducing that a big, tall pile of unopened mail. It makes me feel like the little girl who slept through the final exam!
• So many invoices for product! And all that accounting?? I need to make lists of priority and take it slow-otherwise I will have a full on anxiety attack.
• Piles of laundry! Not really. I was fortunate enough to take home 100% clean laundry. Thank God for small miracles. Nonetheless I have piles of clothes to put away.
• Ice dams-if you don't like in New England you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Ice dams are when snow fall after snow fall after snow fall collects on the roof of your home. Ice forms on the roof which when you mix that with the heat from the inside of your home, it causes the most incredible water damage that is sneaky and crazy. 

But rest assured, there is some comfort in the fact that I am back.
On the contrary, there's the satisfaction of crossing all those crazy things off the list and feeling like you are accomplishing something. Seeing my dog's face after 15 days made my heart sing! There is the warmth of the fire and relaxing under my favorite blanket with my dog at my feet and of course, my own bed! I missed my own bed.

Going away for a "surprise" vacation was great, but if you had told me before I left that I would be gone for two weeks I would have said your were outta your FREAKIN mind! I would have said no way-nada-not happening. Yet it did happen, and if I tried to duplicate it again next year it would never be as spontaneous. So this one will go down in the history books as reluctant, yet special nonetheless.

Marketing Strategies

Mike walked into a post office just before Valentine's day, he couldn't help noticing a middle-aged, balding man standing in a corner sticking "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them.  Then the man got out a bottle of Channel perfume from his pocket and started spraying scent over the envelopes.

By now Mike's curiosity had got the better of him, and so I asked the man why he was sending all those cards.  The man replied, "I'm sending out 500 Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'" 

"But why?" asked Mike.

"I'm a divorce lawyer," the man replied.

http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/valentine/valentine_jokes.htm

Different Strokes For Different Folks

It's a simple fact of life; we are all unique. 

We, as people, like different things and we have different tastes. It's when those differences go outside the realm of what is socially acceptable, that certain problems begin. And when those differences happen to someone with celebrity the problems become headline news. Bruce Jenner is headline news. It is now confirmed that since Jenner and his wife Kris separated last year, Jenner has been slowly transitioning into a woman. Jenner, the patriarch of the all-reality, all-the-time, "branded" family, The Kardashians, has been in the public spotlight for years. He has long been the butt of their jokes, ridicule and total disrespect on camera, so it was no surprise when Jenner and his wife divorced recently. 

What was surprising was Jenner's changing appearance. Despite the divorce, Jenner continued his supporting role on the family's reality show and during that time his hair grew longer and longer. Then he was photographed wearing nail polish and sporting lip gloss. Then a few months ago, Jenner had a laryngeal shave to minimize the appearance of his Adam's apple and the cat was out of the bag..

Bruce Jenner, a gold medal winning Olympic decathlete, buff and masculine father to 10 kids and 3 times married man suddenly reveals he wants to be a woman. It's a stunning admission for a guy whose life is so very public. The transgendered community today are enjoying a much bigger and brighter presence in the public, due to shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "Transparent", and now Bruce Jenner will reportedly get his own TV reality show to document his transition. If Jenner has been unhappy for all these years as reported, at 65 he no longer has to live a closeted life. 

It's not going to be easy, but whoose to say living all those years uncomfortable in your own skin was any easier? I know society will have issues with his transformation. Bruce was America's hero in the 70's. Our gold medal winning athlete that stood for everything sport and now we need to see him as a woman? But it's not up to society. It's up to Bruce Jenner and his family. 

What ever he decides to show the rest of the world is up to him too. And whomever decides to watch his journey. 

Weighing My Options

So get this...

I'm on vacation in Florida with My Guy and my famliy when the winter that wouldn't quit just wouldn't quit. I was supposed to leave last Monday, but the last snow storm (just about 14") squashed my plans. Because we changed the flights the Saturday before, we were able to get out on Tuesday. Great, ok we planed to stay here in Florida for a week.

So here I am enjoying the nice weather when we hear about the next storm, Snow Storm Marcus- which is now hitting my region with a vengance. Now my flight home for Tuesday has been cancelled, and I'm not able to see any way out until Friday at the earliest. Hmmm, I find myself in a unique position that leaves me with a few options: 

PROS:

-No children at home to worry about. No one to get back for besides our dog-who is in GREAT hands and our perspective businesses-which are in GREAT hands. 

-The weather here. I have been in flip flops all week and yesterday we enjoyed a beach day with gorgeous high temps. 

-Golf, fun, shopping and sun. Did I mention that flip flops are better than snow boots? 

-Family time. This extended stay gives me plenty of quality family time- the only ones missing are my kids and heck, they wouldn't have been here or at home anyway. This empty nest thing is turning out not too bad at all.

-With all this quality vacation time, I've decided to start watching "Breaking Bad". So glad I did.

CONS:

-

-

I can't come up with any..

Both mine and My Guy's businesses are closed today due to snow and mine most likely will be closed tomorrow. Aside from a few commitments that I can reschedule, I think staying here is definitely in my best interest. This is certainly a unique position to be in indeed! 

It's kind of a no brainier don't you agree?

Wikid PISSAH!!!

I'm beside myself...What. A. Game! 

Probably the most exciting thing I have ever seen...and I'm still not over it. 

This win was especially exciting and sweet! So while I let this marinate for a while, I invite you to watch this hilarious Jimmy Kimmel beauty by a couple of characters from my home town!

SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!!!!!