weekend forecast

Straight up chillin'


image by Rodney Smith

not your stereotypical housewife

One of the many tv shows I watch is The Real Housewives of New York City. It follows five “housewives” living in the Big Apple and is full of drama, decadence, and ridiculousness—which of course gives me the ample chance to add my worthless two cents.

The housewives are Jill, LuAnn, Ramona, Alex, and Bethenny. Just like the Real Housewives of Orange County, the NYC women spend a lot, go out a lot, and gossip a lot. But the NYC housewives are WAY more catty and dramatic. They all talk behind each other’s backs and are solely focused on being at the top of NY society.

Ramona, Jill, LuAnn, Bethenny, Alex

I don’t get why Bethenny is on the show since she’s not married and she doesn’t have any kids, but she seems to be the common link between all the women—she’s fairly close to all of them. LuAnn requires that she be called “the Countess” because her husband is a minor Count of some European country. Ramona is an opinionated partier who wishes she was still in her twenties (and dresses like it too). Jill (she’s my favorite) is like the high and wise socialite-Barbara Streisand-Jewish Yenta figure. And then there’s Alex.


Alex is the cultured, up-and-coming socialite who lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons. She and her husband Simon vanKempen are inseparable—I mean like they do everything together. (on this week's episode she brought Simon to a 'girls night' dinner party). They’re big on culture, traveling, and being accomplished, and on the show they try (way too hard) to break into the upper echelons of Manhattan society.


What kills me about Alex is that she named her kids Francois and Johan (to be said with a French accent).....um….seriously?!? Francois?? The poor kid is going to be traumatized for the rest of his life. He’ll restlessly lie awake at night haunted by the demeaning taunts of bullies on the playground: “Francois!! Francois!?!?!” Is there even a nickname that can come out of that? Frances?


Then there is Alex’s hair…you can’t see it too well in these pictures, but on the show her hair is usually one big long, stringy, frizzy mess. Hot tranny mess. I don’t understand how if you can afford a $3 million town home you can’t afford a trip to the salon every once in a while. You’d think since Alex and Simon are so focused on being part of high society and networking and impressing people and being accomplished yadda yadda yadda, she’d be a little more attentive to her appearance. It’s called a flat iron woman! When she actually takes the time to get her hair done it looks good.

So for fun, I give you...Alex and Simon vanKempen (with creative commentary added):

And a screen cap from this past week's episode featuring Ramona and Bethenny:


I wasted wayyyyy too much time at work putting this post together.

all images from bravotv.com

i would like a mojito please

I would like one of these right about now:


A minty Mojito:

• 2 tsp. superfine or simple sugar
• 3 sprigs fresh mint (or to taste)
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• 1.5 oz light rum
• ¼ cup club soda
• Lime for garnish

Put sugar, mint, lime juice and rum in a cocktail shaker. Use a spoon or a pestle to crush sugar and mint into the rum. Add ice and shake. Serve over ice with club soda. Garnish with a lime.

Refreshingly sweet!

from dominomag.com

Go Cards!

Major League Baseball season kicked off a little while ago and I can't wait to start going to games again. I love baseball games. They really are a great American pastime--just to sit back and relax on lazy summer afternoons in the stadium with cracker jacks and peanuts, an ice-cold Coca-cola (or beer), and the roar of the crowd. Going to baseball games is one of my most favorite things to do.

Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Having spent a lot of my childhood in Georgia, I was a big Braves fan (David Justice was my favorite player back then...why, I don't know). Then when the fam moved out to St. Louis during my college years, I instantly became a big Cardinals fan. It doesn't get much better than Cardinals baseball. St.Louis is serious about baseball and on game days, the whole city is cheering on their beloved Cards. The fans are the best around and I am very proud to be one!

I caught a lot of Cardinals games during my summers in St. Louis. My favorite players were So Taguchi and Scott Rolen. I liked Rolen since he played third base (like me!) and he was crazy good. I liked Taguchi because his name was fun to say and his jersey number was #99 (which I just think is funny since its the highest number you can have and its so random compared to the others).


Sadly, Taguchi signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies and Rolen was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays (seriously?) this past year. This makes me sad.


But I still love the Cardinals and I will definitely be rooting for them all season.

Now that I'm in DC, the Washington Nationals are the local team and the latest buzz is the opening of the new Nationals Stadium, which is supposed to be uber nice. My dad had a block of season tickets last year in the old stadium and he's gotten them again this year so I hope to be checking out the new stadium pretty soon.

Nationals Stadium, DC

I don't know if I can really call myself a Nationals fan though...the big name on their team is #11 Ryan Zimmerman, who also plays third base, but I just can't seem to get into him....probably because he went to UVA!

The standings so far:
Cardinals -- 5 -2
Nationals -- 3-5

GO CARDS!!

brushstrokes and blossoms part deux

After my visit to the Smithsonian Art Museum yesterday I decided to check out the cherry blossoms which are in full bloom right now.


This week is the main week of the National Cherry Blossom Festival held every year here in DC. It celebrates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the mayor of Tokyo, Japan to the city of Washington in 1912 to signify friendship and good will between the United States and Japan. The festival started in 1935 and has been held yearly ever since--it's a major tourist attraction as people come from all over to see the blooms and take in the concerts, parade and various activities.


3,800 more trees were given in 1965, so there are a lot of cherry blossoms. The trees are planted throughout the memorials, mainly around the Tidal Basin (a big "lake" in DC near all the monuments) and the Jefferson memorial. When they are at the peak of their bloom, it's a beautiful sight to see.

I decided to talk a walk around the Tidal Basin and snap some pictures.


A canopy of blossoms...I veered off the tidal basin walk to see one of my favorite memorials in DC--the Washington DC World War Monument.
It's like the forgotten monument of DC--it's hidden away between the trees off the path to the Reflecting Pool, so not many people notice it. It's just an old columned rotunda and it's not that big, but I like it because it's got this old charm and character to it and you usually have it all to yourself. It commemorates the men and women of DC who died in World War I.

It's like a hidden treasure of DC.

I kept walking around the Tidal Basin and passed a picturesque trail covered in fallen cherry blossoms...it looked like snow.

brushstrokes and blossoms

I was given the day off work today so I decided to make good use of a Friday and finally go downtown to visit the Smithsonian Art Museum, which I have been wanting to do for a while (I was in a mellow, artsy kind of mood).


The overcast, windy weather made it a perfect day to wander through the art gallery and gaze at some incredible portraits and paintings. I was mostly interested in seeing the "Impressionism" exhibit, as that is one of my favorite periods of art.

"Spring" (1890) by Thomas Wilmer Dewing

"The Hermit Thrush" (1890) by Thomas William Dewing

I think it's the soft brush strokes and the pastel colors that attract me--along with how impressionism seems to evoke the whimsy and romance of the "gilded age" in history. Seeing these paintings in person is so much better than looking at them in pictures. You can get as close as you want and see each individual brush stroke and imagine the painter moving his brush to get the colors and shadows just right. If you take the time to really look at it, you gain a much greater appreciation for the painter and his art.

"The White Ballet" (1904) by Everett Shinn

I kept coming back to this ballet painting--for some reason it just kept grabbing my attention. I think it's because of the unique point of view. It's very voyeuristic--you're looking over the audience's shoulders, seeing what they are seeing and catching their reactions.

This one was my favorite:

"The South Ledges, Appledore" (1913)
by Childe Hassan

The detail in the brush strokes was incredible.

This one wasn't in the Impressionism exhibit, but I really liked it (the pink colors don't show up nearly as well in the picture):

"Juliette Gordon Low" by Edward Hughes

She's the lady that founded the Girl Scouts.

After my visit to the art museum, I headed down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom--being celebrated by the famous Cherry Blossom Festival. More on that later...

smells like curry

So I live in an apartment complex and there are three other neighboring apartments on our level. I've never met the neighbors across from us but I do know one thing about them: they like to make curry dishes...A LOT. How do I know? Cuz I can smell it...and it's not just a faint scent of curry being cooked. It's an overwhelming cloud of curry smell that lingers on the whole floor of our complex; thickening the air and seriously making it difficult to inhale.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against curry or anything. It's just when the smell is so intense that it penetrates my apartment that I have a problem with it.

Upon coming home the other week, I get out of my car and can already smell the curry as I walk up to the building. As I approach my apartment, the neighbors across from us are preparing to leave their apartment, leaving their door wide open. I'm just raising my hand to put the key in the door when the most intense rush of curry smell hits my nose; so strong that my eyes water and I have to cough. The smell of curry flooding out of their small apartment is overwhelming...the air is stale and heavy, as if they haven't opened any doors or windows in years and have been cooking curry eight times a day for just as long.

Once inside my apartment, I take a huge breath and inhale the clean air. At least...it should have been clean. But no, it smelled of curry! I figured it was just because I had opened the door and some of the smell from outside had followed me in. But then I go into my bathroom and am hit with the overwhelming smell of curry again. And it's not just in my bathroom, but my bedroom and the kitchen and the living room and my sister's bathroom....the whole stinking apartment is suffocating in curry smell. Lo and behold, the curry smell is coming through the air vents!!

The smell was so overpowering that I had trouble falling asleep that night thanks to the curry-smell-induced headache. I had to light like 15 candles and two scented oil burners. Now, I'm sorry, but if your curry smells are taking over my apartment and making it hard to breathe easy in my own bed...then we have a problem.
....

After that first curry day, the smell went down a little. We didn't smell it for a while. Until this morning.

I grab breakfast, throw on my light coat from the front closet, and head out the door. While sitting in traffic on my way to the metro station, my nose starts to sniff out that faint familiar smell of curry. I think maybe I'm just imagining it, so I go back to concentrating on traffic. But the curry smell still lingers...I am still catching whiffs of it and it's making me uneasy.

My nose tries to follow the scent...and ends up on my jacket sleeve. To my horror, I am the source of the smell. My jacket smells like curry!! My jacket-which sits in the front hall closet whenever I'm not wearing it-smells of curry! The neighbor's curry smell is so strong that it has come through the door and walls and seeped into our clothes!! I had to ride the rest of my metro commute smelling of curry...which I'm sure the person sitting next to me really appreciated.

The curry smell must stop. I have no problem if you cook curry...just don't let the curry smell fester in your apartment so that it has to escape through the air ducts in the complex and settle in everyone else's homes, stinking up their clothing, and causing them to buy out the whole scented candle aisle at Target.

Expand your eating habits and fumigate your stinkin' apartment!

valentino perfection

Behold the beauty that is these Valentino black and white satin peep-toe pumps...



Just looking at this picture brightens my day...if only they really were in my closet.

image from The Wedding

i can't get enough

I admit, I watch a lot of tv. The DVR at home is constantly recording shows-- anything from the new John Adams miniseries on HBO to Rock of Love on VH1. Amidst all the crazy reality shows and entertaining dramas (which need to come back on air--i miss Ugly Betty!) is one show that is more fascinating and addicting to watch than any other: Jon & Kate plus Eight.


It follows the Gosselin family in their everyday life as the parents survive the chaos of raising two sets of multiples: 6-year-old twins and 3-year-old sextuplets....it...is...fascinating!



I LOVE this show. Every time an episode ends I want there to be more. It is so intriguing to me to watch how this family functions. Even though their house is overflowing with chaotic energy, Jon and Kate run a surprisingly organized and efficient household. And these kids are sooo cute!


The twins are Cara and Mady and the sextuplets are Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah, and Joel. I admit that little Aaden is my favorite :)


They call him "the Professor"...which is so fitting because he wears the cute glasses and always seems to be interested in learning and observing. On the show, he says he loves animals and he's always smiling and running around all giggly. He's too cute. I watched the episode last night where Jon took Aaden out for a day of "male bonding"--Aaden chose to go to a dairy farm to see cows. It was adorable!

I love that they make the effort to give special attention to each kid individually and that they let the kids do the activities they like. Like Cara and Mady go to "kids cooking class" and take piano (Cara) and violin (Mady) lessons. And Hannah, on her special day out, she got to go horseback riding since she loves horses.

This show is so fun to watch...I just can't get enough.

images from TLC and sixgosselins.com

j.crew love

If there was any brand that epitomizes my kind of style, it's J.Crew. I love everything about it: the styles, the fits, the colors, the quality. Maybe I don't love the price so much but I think their clothing is worth it and they are always adding to their sale and offering coupons and free shipping offers via email so it's not so bad.

J.Crew has outfitted a big portion of my closet...thanks largely in part to Virginia Tech's "J.Crew sale" that the student government holds every semester. Twice a year, the big ballroom in the student center is filled with boxes and boxes of J.Crew clothes, shoes, and accessories--from the previous season but still new and packaged. And everything is discounted BIG TIME! (Needless to say, I was a HUGE patron of the J.Crew sale during my days at Tech). Like two years ago, I got this $255 Sophia long silk dress for 10 bucks...10 bucks!


The J.Crew sale was like the highlight of the semester for me...seriously, I would mark it on my calendar the moment I found out the dates. The sale lasted a week...I would go everyday to see if they put new stuff out (which most of the time they had). I got way too much enjoyment from rummaging through box after box and finding perfect pieces that I could get for like 75% off. Thanks to the sale, I found the perfect jeans--the Hipslung style-- that after several years are still my favorite pair.

Since I'm not in college anymore, I miss being able to have practically the whole J.Crew collection discounted at my fingertips for a blissful week each semester. My love for J.Crew has only grown since then. I love opening the mailbox to see the most recent catalog with its great styling (especially the more recent ones shot in Paris and Rome). And yea I have the sale page bookmarked on my work computer...and i check it...daily. Their new Spring collection just has me drooling in front of the computer babbling to myself, "I want! Me likey! Pretty shoes!" Some of my faves:


all photos from J.Crew.