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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!





First let me say, Happy Halloween!!! It's one of my favorite holidays and we've got some good fun planned for the little boy (who is 2).  He's going to be a tiger (RAWR).  I'm planning on taking him to an authentic Cajun village nearby for a little trick-or-treating and some fun.  Then his grandparents are coming over and my husband is making chili and we will take him treat or treating in a nearby neighborhood.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Quote It Saturday - Maureen Johnson


This is a weekly meme from the Chick that Reads in which you can quote from anything really. Favorite books, people, just anything that you like!





"Claim whatever you want. Say you only want a happy family or a successful career or a big house. I say: no, that's not what you want. You'll settle for those things, but you really want a monkey that does your evil bidding. Pullman is a genius just for this."

Friday, October 23, 2009

All you need is love (and a sense of humor)

Today is my 5th anniversary of marriage to my wonderful husband.  We dated 6 years before we got married so we've been together for 11 years now!  In honor of this occasion, I present to you a bibliography of our life (in titles).

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison
Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman
Kiss the Bride - Patrica (Meg) Cabot
The Kingdom Keepers - Ridley Pearson (We went to Disney World for our honeymoon)
Swift as Desire - Laura Esquivel
Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth - Sandy Jones              
The Baby Owner's Manual - Joe Borgenicht
The Boy Book - E. Lockhart
A Crooked Kind of Perfect - Linda Urban
P.S. I Love You - Cecelia Ahern

cross posted with The Little Bookworm

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Location, location (or "Around the World in 2 Days")

Once again, this is written as I watch.
Blah blah blah, people gone, we are all good blah

The designers go to Rodeo Drive to meet Tim and Michael Kors who talks about locale inspiration.  Back at the workroom,  Tim lays out all the locations and the designers choose what they want.
Carol Hannah - Palm Beach
Nicolas - Greece
Althea - St. Tropez
Gordana - New York
Irina - Aspen
Christopher - Santa Fe
Logan - Hollywood

$150 - one day challenge. Usual stuff at Mood.  Logan is feeling okay, and Irina is planning a 3 piece outfit (and is bitchy).  Nicolas and Christopher worry about Michael Kors' reaction.
Tim Gunn comes in and makes his rounds.  Gordan is making a necklace and no dress.  Tim is worried.  Althea is doing a mock-up first so she can get the tailoring right on the actual dress.  Christopher has something going on.  Tim says make it fabulous.  Carol Hannah is making a print dress (it looks like a mumu) (Uli would rock Palm Beach).  Tim says cliche.  Nicholas is doing white with a pant.  Logan is making something young and "Hollywood."  Irina is making a lot.  Tim says to watch proportions.  Models come in.  Logan is struggling with fitting Celine.  Irina is very talented but crosses the patting self on the back line a lot.  Christopher is not doing well.  He cuts the dress short to try to make it better.

Runway

Judges: Heidi, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, Milla Jovovich (who tries very hard to be nice)

Logan - Hollywood - white pants with a blue tank top and a black tank sweater vest/jacket (eh)
Althea - St. Tropez - gold shorts with a white layered top and an off white shear jacket (cute)
Nicolas - Greece - gray pant with a white crisscross long sleeve top (eh)
Carol Hannah - Palm Beach - long green printed dress with cross cross rolled straps (pretty)
Christopher - Santa Fe - brown shirt with white and blue sheer top and a large belt to separate (IDK)
Irina  - Aspen - brown pant, tan cowled shirt, faux fur sleeveless jacket (nice)
Gordana - New York - silver dress with a jeweled collar (IDK)

Top 3:

Althea - sexy, surprising
Carol Hannah - love braiding, "at home glamour"
Gordana - necklace is beautiful, very Park Avenue (poor thing immediately starts defending her dress, they have her so beat down)

Bottom 3:

Christopher - costumey, belt only interesting thing
Nicolas - wrong Greece (movie), no fantasy
Logan - styling bad, not outrageous enough

Best line from Milla Jovovich: "If this was called Project I Didn't Mind It, then [Logan] would win."

Winner:  Irina
Out:  Nicolas (WTH!? I thought for sure it would be Christopher.  Ah well, Nicolas had to go at some point.)  And Milla Jovovich is crying.  Sha.


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Book Title Meme

What To Do: Using only books you have read this year (2009), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. It’s a lot harder than you think!

Describe yourself: This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous (Nina Beck)

How do you feel:  Something Wicked (Alan Gratz)

Describe where you currently live: Libyrinth (Pearl North)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)

Your favorite form of transportation: The Luxe (Anna Godbersen)

Your best friend is: Eternal (Cynthia Leitich Smith)

You and your friends are: Enthusiasm (Polly Shulman)

What’s the weather like: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Judi and Ron Barrett)

You fear: The Dead and the Gone (Susan Beth Pfeffer)

What is the best advice you have to give: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Ally Carter)

Thought for the day: I SO Don't Do Mysteries (Barrie Summy)

How I would like to die: Wondrous Strange (Lesley Livingston)

My soul’s present condition: Evermore (Alyson Noel)

*cross posted with The Little Bookworm

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Giveaway at Adori Graphics

Louise at Adori Graphics is giving away a $15 gift certificate to her site.  She does amazing work (check out the header at The Little Bookworm) and is super nice. Click to the button to go to her giveaway.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Quote It Saturday - New Thing Now


This is a weekly meme from the Chick that Reads in which you can quote from anything really. Favorite books, people, just anything that you like!




"This is your new thing now
And it feels so good to doubt you
I could almost live without you
But not quite"
Shawn Colvin - New Thing Now

Friday, October 16, 2009

A Shiny Shiny Challenge (or "Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!)

Christopher is worried since he has been in the bottom a couple of times. Shirin is confident and Carol Hannah feels alright since she's been in the middle.
The designers go to the Museum of Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising to meet Tim Gunn and BOB MACKIE who everyone is excited to meet. Tim goes over how Bob Mackie makes shiny shiny costumes for very famous people ("Sultan of Sequins").

Challenge: Create an extravagant stage look in the manner of Bob Mackie for Christina Aguilera (2 day challenge)

Nicholas think he works like Bob Mackie apparently. Everyone runs around like crazy at Mood. They seem so excited for this one. Nicolas realized they only have 4 challenges left. This is a shiny shiny challenge. Gordana is struggling and starts over the next morning.  Tim comes around for hints and suggestions (and to crush dreams politely).  Shirin is making this huge "Hollywood glamour" dress. "Genevieve meets Vampira" is what Tim says and he doesn't like anything about it. Because Nicolas is working with all white, it is almost a redux of his Ice Queen. Irina just doesn't like Shirin. She has expressed this a lot. I have no idea what Shirin is making because it looks horrible on her model.
Logan and Carol Hannah have a little bom chicka wa wa going on.  Gordana is still losing her mind.
Nicolas says that Irina is a good designer.  Her only problem is that she is a bitch.  And she is acting like one right now about Carol Hannah, saying she is mediocre and doesn't have a great personality.  She says this to Celine who has zero personality.  Also Irina does come off very bitchy.

Judges:
Heidi, Bob Mackie, Nina Garcia (YAY) and Christina Aguilera who is tiny next to Heidi

Runway:
Althea - silver long dress with crisscrossed silver sequin pattern and a furry black jacket
Logan - short zebra print sequin dress with one shoulder and a bolero jacket
Shirin - long black dress with silver, white and black sequin ruffle things on the side of the dress and a dominatrix choker top
Christopher - short black dress (?) with bubbles on the side and a corset top and sparkly panties showing through (WHY) which turns out to be hot pants and a jacket with the corset underneath (Is that better?)
Nicolas - short strapless feathered white dress
Gordana - oh em gee, long white dress with sequins in the middle and it's a good thing she has immunity
Irina - short black with black/silver sequins on the front and a jacket
Carol Hannah - long black dress with sequins and feather, very Mortica Gomez

Top 3:
Carol Hannah - glamorous, promise to turn into something more revealing, a WOW dress
Althea - clever, looks beautiful

Nicolas - very pretty, very workable

Bottom 3:
Shirin - upscale witch outfit, Nina like the top half, the bottom is a no
Christopher - Lady Marmalade redux, aw, Christina gives E for effort, but it's still a no
Logan - Christina is getting cavewoman from the jacket, Nina is getting safe

Winner - Carol Hannah which is surprising

Out - Shirin! Thank God.  She's okay and all, but she was annoying.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wedding Dress Throwdown (or "A Fashionable New Beginning")

So I'm a week late with this, but I'm going to live blog watching this.  I haven't read any spoilers or recaps or anything.
Everyone is sad. Blah blah blah
Irina is smug. Even Logan is tactfully like why.

New models. in wedding dresses. uh oh
Challenge: remake wedding dresses for divorced ladies

Shirin gets the dress with the least fabric or decoration.  Poor thing (not really).
One day challenge.  I'm getting tired of these.

Nicholas' client - cruelty free (sweet)

Irina's client wants a Cher costume ! and also ?

Can buy 2 yards of fabric and decorations

Gordana is divorced and is dying the dress black.  She calls her kids and is crying. :(

 Tim Gunn comes in to inspire and simultaneously be the harbinger of doom.  He is multi-talented.
Christopher is making a black and white dress.
Irina - short kimono dress
Epperson - black and white, lab coaty
Logan - tuxedo style feel, worries Tim, client doesn't like dresses
Gordana - Tim wants her to push the look, beautiful though
Shirin - looks defeated - Nicolas burst in laughter, listening to her description of her client's dress and she cries because it is ugly

Wedding dress at the core of the whole look
Epperson has to change it and so does Logan b/c they weren't using enough of the dress
Shirin decides to use thread for decoration

Runway day:
Chaos
Christopher's model doesn't want to be a fat grandma, but it seems cute.
Nicolas - one of the most hideous things he's ever made

Models have shown divorcees how to walk.
Judges: Heidi, Micheal Kors (YAY) Zanna Roberts (Senior Fashion Editor, Marie Claire) and Tamara Mellon (President of Jimmy Choo, Board Member of Halston)

Irina: knee length silvery dress with a gold tie belt and shear sleeves
Shirin - above the knee white dress with a green crisscross thread pattern and a empire waist with a green detail under the bust
Logan - wool hounds tooth pants with white ruffled top and sort of a bustier design
Carrol Hannah - above the knew gray dress with a feathery effect and a small black jacket (good model)
Althea - knee length blue dress with a gold belt at the waist and blue cups on the bust with a striped detail down the dress
Nicholas - pants outfit with a burgundy top and a small short sleeve jacket
Gordana - strapless blue gray dress with a cool pattern at a slant and some small ruffles, very rock-n-roll (fits model)
Christopher - bubble dress with a shear overlay and some sort of belt (looks weird though)
Epperson - white dress with a black crisscross pattern at the waist and a jacket that ties under the bust (cool)

Top 3:

Gordana - fits well, good job

Shirin - model not favorite, but judges like; Cher in  Half Bred moment

Irina - looks expensive, unbelievable

Bottom 3:

Christopher - too much volume, space bubble dress

Epperson - Heidi, Oktoberfest; Zanna, pirate dress

Logan - another Oktoberfest moment


Winner - Gordana!
Out -Epperson  NOOOOOOO!!!! I really thought he'd stay.  He is very gracious.


Monday, October 12, 2009

Small update

I've fallen way behind on my TV schedule.  I have 2 episodes of Dollhouse, 1 episode of Glee, and 1 episode of Project Runway to watch.  Mostly this weekend I cleaned so I didn't have a lot of time to watch anything. Ah well, maybe this week...
But I finally got my house as clean as I wanted it.  It's still messy in places like the kichen, but it's clean.  If I didn't have a two year old it would look perfect, but what can you do?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Quote It Saturday - Alice



This is a weekly meme from the Chick that Reads in which you can quote from anything really. Favorite books, people, just anything that you like!


"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" was his response. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."

— Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

Friday, October 9, 2009

Rapunzel's Revenge



Everyone knows the story of Rapunzel, the girl whose parents gave her away and was locked in a tower by an evil witch.  Well, what if instead of being rescued by a prince, Rapunzel gained some awesome fighting skills and saved herself.  And that's where this graphic novel gets good.  After growing her famous hair, Rapunzel rappels down the tower and almost immediately meets Jack, of the Beanstalk variety.  Determined to rescue her real mother, Rapunzel and Jack set off across the witch's land and meet a variety of people oppressed by her.  Through this adventures, they learn about the witch and decide that they must do something about her too.


I liked the art in this book.  It reminds me of line art a lot.  I liked that Rapunzel was a red head and the western theme going on in the book.  Some of the adventure stop-offs felt tacked on, but they are there for a purpose and add some expedition to the story.  The ending was quick but dramatic and the very end was sweet.  I've heard there is going to be a sequel and I look forward to that.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

This is not an all-devouring Dinosaur. It is a Wednesday morning.

 So I staggered out of bed this morning and did my usual thing.  Little man and I are prepared to leave, on time, and I go to open the door to the garage.  Nothing.  I locked and unlocked several times all the while turning the knob.  Nothing.  It won't turn.  I can get out of the house and all.  That's not the problem.  The problem comes from the fact that my effing car is in the garage and there is no way to get it out.  I called my husband thinking he might have a solution.  I called like 10 times.  I sent the following text message: HELP. Nothing.  I called his store.  Nothing.  Keep in my that I have a two year old all the while "helping" and saying things like "stuck."  But when I started crying out of panic and frustration he stroked my hair and asked if I was okay.  Awwww.   I took the door knob off but that didn't help.  Finally, I called my mom.  Yes, I apparently cannot handle any situation on my own without calling my mom.  She came over to try to take the hinges off the door since I didn't have a hammer inside.  Yes, we have like 5 hammers in the garage I couldn't get into to, but nothing inside.  The hinges are painted over so they are stuck.  God save me.
FINALLY BT calls back and I yell explain about the door and he comes and opens the garage for me.  We have a minor fight and leave for our respective works.
So I make it to campus with no incidence, only to find the (one way) street my parking lot is on is blocked off for some kind of emergency.  I drive around the block, same thing.   I park in pay parking.  By the time, I walk to my building, the emergency has cleared off.  I walk back to pay parking and pay $1 for 15 minutes.  (I pay $105 for parking a year, mind you.)  I make to my office where I scream my effin head off silently.  So despite the universe's attempts to stop me, I am at work.  FU universe and your little pony too.


blog title from a Neil Gaiman tweet this morning

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Book Nerd

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X+
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien *
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X+
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte *
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X+
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman X+
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens X
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X+
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller X+ (took me 3 tries but I did it)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare *+
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien *
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X+
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X+
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X +
34 Emma - Jane Austen X+
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hussein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X+
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X+
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X +
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude X+
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery *
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X +
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X+
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov X
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X+
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker *
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X +
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce X
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray *
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X +
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X+
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams *
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole *
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X+
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X+
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


READ: 38
LOVE: 23
WANT TO READ: 9

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Sew blue (or "The Sky's the Limit")

The challenge is to create 2 looks using the color blue for the Inc brand at Macy's in teams of 2.  So you know what that means.  The winner gets to create a holiday dress for Macy's.  Everyone has 15 minutes to sketch and then they pitch their ideas to Marina Riardon from Macy's and the team leaders will be chosen after that.
Teams:
Irina - Gordana
Althea - Logan
Carol Hannah - Shirin
Christopher - Epperson
Louise - Nicolas

They all skip off to Mood and Louise misplaces her damn money and this is not a good start for her.  Also she is stuck with Nicolas who is going to bitch about her constantly.

So they get to work and Tim Gunn goes around being both hopeful and the harbinger of doom.  Nicolas states repeatedly that he hates ruffles.


Judges:
Heidi, Michael Kors (YAY), Zanna Roberts (from Marie Claire), Martina Riardon
You know the fact that the judges change so much is both a good and bad thing.  It's bad because they can't see what kind of talent the designers have beyond this one challenge.  It's good for the same reason.  They won't keep someone around based on a past design or personality.

Top 2:

Carol Hannah - Shirin: the color scheme is nice, both black and teal-ish blue dresses

Irinia - Gordana: business day look and a very cute striped day dress with v necks
For reasons unknown, Irina throws Gordana under and tells the judges that she doesn't know how to do anything with Irinia's direction.  It seems unnecessary. She also gives Gordana a hard time about the business wear  but the judges love it.

Bottom 2:

Christopher - Epperson:  First of all, Christopher cries a lot this time.  Of course, this is the first time they hated something he made.  The colors of the two dresses don't match to start.  They made a bubble dress and a shirt dress.  Both would have been cute except the fabric was all wrong especially the shiny material on the shirt dress.  Michael calls it a librarian shirt dress made in the 60's, LOL and also HEY.

Louise - Nicholas:  Both were fairly awful with these ruffles just stuck on them for no real reason.  Nicolas was right.  Heidi makes the point about 5 times that Nicolas is lucky to have immunity.

Irina - WINNER
Louise - OUT