Archive for the 'bling blog' Category

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Ok, so…

Published May 1, 2013 bling blog 1 Comment

I got this article off of a facebook/Twitter (everything is connected these days, isn’t it?) post from GAOOG. I like it a lot, but I have two things to say. Well, maybe more than two. I agree, of course, that women being mean to women is upsetting, sad, unnecessary, hurtful, cliched and all things icky. I also note, though, that it’s really nothing new (see: Caroline Bingley & Eliza Bennet, for example). I’m not saying this because the post asserted it was a new phenom, but more just to note that I think we have a long way to go before we improve in this area. I also say it because we really probably shouldn’t be surprised at the Most Hated List. Well, maybe a little.

Ok, back to my two things. One, I acknowledge that probably most of the reason women are mean about other women is because of insecurity issues. Wanting to tear others down to make yourself feel better is a pretty well-established phenomenon, I think. Blah blah. On the other hand, sometimes I think women are mean about other women is because women tend to simply be more interesting than men. Yikes. Did I say that? I did. It seems to me it’s easier to criticize people with complicated personalities (and annoying ones) than people who are just boring. Or maybe not boring so much as just not interesting. Or maybe not not interesting but just not as interesting. I mean, I have about zero feelings about K. Stew, but I’m pretty sure there’s a lot going on in there. Whether it’s annoying or not probably has more to do with your age and your relationship to vampire movies than anything else. Remember when everyone was really mean about James Franco because he seemed to be kinda frenetic in his quest for degrees? It just seems like if you’re not really doing too much to show much personality, you’ll stay below the haters’ radar. This of course doesn’t really explain Chris Brown being so low on the list, but I attribute that to no one really caring about Chris Brown. Whoah. Did I say that? Moving on.

Gwyneth. This is my number two. I used to really like Gwyneth. I thought she was spectacular in Emma and The Talented Mr. Ripley. I loved her in Shakespeare in Love. I was never much of a follower of Goop (partly because I can’t navigate the site), but I certainly didn’t hate her for having a blog. I mean, that would be weird, wouldn’t it? I don’t really even hate that she has a crazy diet. In fact, I like that, as the author of the post alludes to, it’s nice to see her fessing up that it takes tremendous craziness to look the way she does. Not that she calls it craziness. What makes me worry about Gwyneth and her whole message is exactly the quote the post’s author ends with: “We have to be the women we want our daughters to be.” I don’t like Apple being so restricted in her diet (or Moses for that matter). It breaks my heart. Even if she allows them to “cheat,” they have to be incredibly aware of their mom’s (impossible) standards. And that’s sad.

The best word ever

Published April 30, 2013 bling blog , toddler stuff 8 Comments

Introducing a new category (that probably should have started in March): toddler stuff. That’s right, folks, say sayonara to baby stuff and please give a warm welcome to the toddler years.

Bear has been saying “uh oh” for a bit now (though she doesn’t always seem to use it in appropriate situations. Like, when I set her down in her highchair. Is there really something troubling about that?), but this morning she said “ball” and guess what she was holding when she said it?! You guessed it: a ball! Oh my God. I started to cry. She really might talk someday!

Regime or regimen: What’s your system?

Published March 25, 2013 bling blog , everyday 11 Comments

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I can’t keep pretending I’m 24 and that my skin is doing ok with just a daily (or so) dose of Olay’s* Complete face lotion for sensitive skin. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the lotion — I still like it — but it’s no longer enough to do the trick. I don’t know if I’m eating something different, if it’s been the jogging in the cold weather, if it’s post-partum life, if it’s always been bad and I just ignored it before, or if it’s this prolonged winter, but my skin needs work. I mean, really, people. It’s a wonder no one has said anything.**

So, I am turning to you, Dear Readers, for some guidance. My research on the Google machine has turned up what appear to be a couple of general truths: (1) I really need to be exfoliating and (2) adding a Retinol-infused product might not hurt. The thing is, though, is that all I need to know? Because I still have a million questions.

Yesterday I decided to purge some of the contents of a make-up drawer and a shelf with facial products. I found, though, a product I thought I should get back to using. “Get back to using” is a bit of an overstatement as not much had been used. So, I splashed some warm water on my face and lightly scrubbed Dove’s Gentle Exfoliating Foaming Facial Cleanser into my skin. I rinsed and applied the Olay staple. I thought, how often should I be using the exfoliator? The product says it’s to be used daily and specifically states, “Created gentle enough to use daily,” but is this true? Or would it be better to space it out? Or would it be better still to buy a heftier exfoliator that isn’t intended for daily use? I have no idea. I quickly realized, though, that my Dove product has been discontinued. I’m not going to get into when it was discontinued; let’s just say this product has clearly been on my shelf for awhile. Ok, so I need more info on exfoliation.

Today I headed to Walgreens (one of my least favorite stores but until they put a Sephora or a Target or – a girl can dream – an independent drug or make-up store on the Square, it’s Walgreens I find myself in to solve my daily product problems) for a Retinol product. At first, I headed to the small Roc section because the internet-verse suggested Roc for all things Retinol. I soon realized, though, that a million brands carry Retinol products: L’Oreal, Neutrogena, Garnier, Olay, and more. This was good and bad news. More choices should create price competition, which is especially helpful for ignoramus consumers like me, but more choices means more choices, which isn’t super helpful for ignoramus consumers like me who know little more than they are looking for something with Retinol. Ugh. After picking up and carrying around more than half a dozen products, I finally settled upon Neutrogena’s Rapid Tone Repair Moisturizer (Night). But now I’m confused. Should I put on lotion after I use this product? Can it go on when I get home from work (when I’m more likely to use it properly) or is it best to go on right before bed? Really, I’m in need of some serious assistance.

With these things in mind, I come to you. What do you use and how do you like it? What have you rejected and why? Do you feel like some products are good for some things, say anti-acne and anti-shine, but they create other problems like, say, flaking? No piece of advice or observation is too small. Please share your thoughts – I’m so interested.

In thinking about a skin care regimen, I almost always think of this priceless bit of dialogue from The Truth about Cats and Dogs in which Janeane Garofalo socks it to the woman working a department store’s make-up counter.

Make-up counter woman: We also have this new face cream which neutralizes the free radicals that attack the skin. Let me ask you: what’s your skin regime?

Abby (JG): My regime? The regime from which the radicals are trying to get free? Are we selling face cream or staging a coup?

I’ve always thought that was pretty funny.

*When did they drop the “Oil of”? I assume it was done in a sort of KFC rebranding way: Let’s take “Fried” out of our title and maybe people will feel better eating here. Let’s take “Oil of” out of the equation so those with oily skin don’t rule us out as an option.

**At least no one has said anything to my face.

NYC and back again

Published February 20, 2013 baby stuff , bling blog , travel 7 Comments

We all seem to have survived the trip AO & I took to NYC and back again. We returned to find Bear alive and well, smiley and normal-seeming. Equally important, my mom & Severa seem to have lived through the ordeal without aging a bit. I’m sure it was stressful, but they didn’t let me know and it certainly didn’t show. Gracie, too, seems arguably younger after the weekend. AO & I had an excellent time. I admit that landing at LGA at 5ish on Saturday night and needing to hit the hotel south of midtown and book it out to Brooklyn for a 7pm reservation had me in both a stressed and exhausted mood all the way from the Detroit airport to Queens, but once we hit the iPad-laden land of Terminal D at LaGuardia, I had a bit of a second wind. We managed to check into our hotel in the Fashion District just shy of 6 pm, freshen up, and meet our friends in the lobby just on the other side of 6:30. Ish. The seven of us piled in to two cabs to Brooklyn. Our res, which I had made, was at Flatbush Farms, not too far off of Flatbush Avenue. Now, we all know I’m no New Yorker (and the owner of the cafe on 27th Street certainly had no qualms about telling me as much), and I certainly don’t think I could do the job of a New York cabbie, but I do know where Flatbush Avenue is. While I don’t think NYC cabbie should be omniscient, I think they should probably be aware of most of the major streets in NYC of which I am aware. And one of those is Flatbush Ave. Pretty. Major. Street. This cabbie, though? Not so much. I had to guide her from the west side of Manhattan to the depths (not really) of Brooklyn using my iPhone’s map. And then I messed up because we were looking for an Avenue and not a Place, but that really doesn’t matter because we were only a couple of blocks off. And what’s a couple of blocks when you’re in the greatest city on earth? Sure, I was wearing heels, but traipsing through the side streets of Brooklyn on a dark February night when peeps are leaving their ground-level brownstones’ lights on so I can peek in at the mouldings? Yes, please! Anyway, we made it to dinner and it was delish. We headed to a bar nearby to find the bride, which was super fun until AO and I hit the wall and decided to head back to the hotel. It was a little after 11. We headed down to the nearest subway stop, knowing the line went into the City, and bought our tickets and headed to wait on the tracks. Hmm, I thought. This train says it’s headed to Coney Island. As I said, I’m no New Yorker, but that didn’t seem right. Oops. Back up to the street, cross the street, find other entrance. Coney Island again! Oops. Cross the OTHER street and bam! Because it was a Saturday night, or maybe just because, the subway stop to take us back into the City was closed. Damn. It. So, we start to walk to find the next stop. And we walk. And we walk. And we’re closing in on the stop according to AO’s phone (mine is dead). And we are right on top of the stop! Except we can’t find it…Where IS it? For God’s sake, who knows? I do know, though, that we can see the Brooklyn Bridge so I’m pretty sure we’re out of stops and need to adjust to our new reality: the third cab of the night. Fine. We get home just before midnight, I pretend I’m going to read and pretty much the next thing I know, it’s 9:15 on Sunday morning. Peaceful sigh.

Sunday was pretty much the best day ever. We left the hotel, bought some flowers and headed to Andrea & Scott’s apartment right around the corner. Of course I was really excited to see them and their apartment (love seeing apartments!), but the real draw was their 2.5 year old gem of a boy, Tennessee. Holy cow is that kid awesome. Bravo, guys. We were also blessed because Keyes and her fella, Joe, made the trip down from the upper west side to meet us for brunch. I can’t tell you how giddy all this made me. Old friends gathered round and chatting and brunching and laughing. Does it get any better? After overstaying (I couldn’t help it! The kid is so awesome and the company so fun and the apartment so welcoming), AO and I headed back to the hotel for a power nap. After this brief refresher, we decided on a walk down to Washington Square Park. We walked around the NYU buildings for a bit and quickly found a bar showing the Badger game. Hooray! We warmed up with some beers and a stunning Badger win. We trekked back to the hotel, grabbing a slice of $1 pizza on the way, and took another quick snooze (do you see the theme?) before dressing ourselves for the wedding. After pushing myself into my girdle-like contraption and getting AO to help me with my zipper, I put on more makeup than I had in months and we headed out for the brisk (in all senses of the word) walk to the wedding locale, del Posto.

What can I say? The bride outdid herself: she looked gorgeous and happy. The groom was glowing. The guests were giddy. The food was taste-a-licious (seriously good). The wine did not stop flowing, which, in my case, wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Anyway, it was really a spectacular wedding, made even better by being surrounded by good friends.

Because our flight didn’t leave until after 2 pm on Monday, we were able to have a Kristin morning! Feebrain sweetly met us at our hotel (trekking all the way from that other island, Brooklyn) and even picked out a nice cafe for us to have coffee and breakfast. Of course, that cafe didn’t really exist, but another one stood proudly in its place and, I dare say, was even better than its former occupant. I had a delicious mozzarella, tomato & pesto sandwich – yes, for breakfast – and AO and Fee had some contraption with prosciutto. Cappuccini all around! This was another one of the highlights of our trip for me: sitting around a coffee shop, chatting with some of my favorite people. Dreamy sigh.

And then we were off! Back to the hotel, into the cab, off to LGA for our direct (yay!) flight to MSN. Off the plane in MSN, AO stepped it to the economy lot, I grabbed our bag from the baggage claim, and we sped off home. We unpacked (I never unpack this quickly), tidied up and I did my best to impersonate a patient person as we waited for my mom & Severa to pull up with baby bear. FINALLY, they arrived! I yelled, “They’re here!” and ran out to meet them. I grabbed Mollybear and whisked her inside. It was about 5:15. She was sound asleep in my arms, on my chest, by 5:37. She slept until 7:30 the next morning. I guess she had a long weekend, too.

Thanks, everyone, for making our first post-Bear vacation an unqualified success!

Project Nursery

Published February 6, 2013 baby stuff , bling blog 7 Comments
Tags:

So, I did it again. I posted pics of Bear’s new(ish) room on this awesome site, Project Nursery. But people don’t love it. Which is ok. I’m ok with that. I swear I am. I feel like I can’t quite photograph it right and I’m blaming part of the lack of love on that. But I think the other part is it’s just not the most fantastic thing people have ever seen. I get that. There are some super creative people out there and I’m just happy they show me their stuff on sites like this. Thanks, creative people!

March 2026
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Join 78 other subscribers