Princess of Taylor

Baby O's First Fourth

2012-07-05T10:49:00.001-04:00

A post seems appropriate this morning because I'm sure many of you are wondering whether Baby O and I survived his first Fourth of July. Well we did and I'm very pleased that it isn't occurring again for another year.

You may recall that I am not the biggest fan of the Fourth of July due to my extreme fear of fireworks which I have discussed before (see here and here).

This year beside my TOTALLY RATIONAL AND NOT AT ALL CHILDISH fear of fireworks, we had another variable in the equation: Baby O.

Here's the math:

Baby O's bedtime = 7:00pm
When it gets dark outside = 9:00pm
Whether our neighbor's slacker twenty-something year old son would show up with his friends to drink beer and light fireworks literally just outside Baby O's window = x

Solve for x.

I was a nervous wreck all evening. Luckily the noise and concern that our house was going to burn down only bothered me. Baby O slept right through it. For added piece of mind, Husband downloaded a white noise app on his iPad and put it in Baby O's bedroom. Then we cranked up our huge in-wall air conditioner and crossed our fingers that he didn't wake up.

I swear if he had, I would have marched outside and demanded that those hoodlums come in and put him back to sleep!

The rest of the day was uneventful: some shopping and hanging out at home. It was too hot to be outside too long so no cookout for us!

I dressed everyone in red, white and blue outfits and tried to take a family photo. It took about fifteen minutes before we got one with everyone looking at the camera and no one trying to swat away Izzy, who kept leaping onto the couch for the photo. Per usual, Husband made me crop him out so the tiny sliver of blue you see is his shirt.

Me: Burnout Dot Tank, Anthropologie (on sale here) - my first Anthro purchase in a while but I needed a nice white tank for summer and this was on super sale so it fit the bill

Cardigan, Loft

Baby O: Fourth of July shirt, Carters

Shorts, JCPenney

Can you believe Baby O will be six months old in two weeks? Time absolutely flies! I officially quit my job and am looking forward to spending my days with him and watching him grow!

Happy Thursday!

Happy Easter: Baby O meets the Easter Bunny!

2012-04-08T12:56:00.001-04:00

Yeah it was crazy-expensive and it's not like he's actually going to remember that it happened, but what did you expect? I'm ridiculous.

Happy Easter!

Love,

Kathleen, Husband, and Baby O

The Story of Baby O's Life

2012-02-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

Husband and I welcomed Baby O into the world at 6:22 a.m. on January 18, 2012. He's an absolute doll (even when he's refusing to go to sleep at 2:30 in the morning) and we couldn't be happier!

Not surprisingly, Baby O made a memorable entrance into the world. Nothing about my getting pregnant or being pregnant had been easy, so I was expecting some sort of excitement at the hospital. I was not disappointed.

Because the doctors were convinced that Baby O was big and because of my gestational diabetes diagnosis, we scheduled an induction for January 17, 2012. When we woke up that morning, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and it was sleeting outside. Lovely. As instructed I called the hospital to ask if we should still arrive at 7:00 a.m. They told us to come in at 7:30 a.m. instead because they were anticipating some of the morning shift to have commuting issues.

We arrived at the hospital and got checked in by 8:00 a.m. Then I had a few different examinations by the nurse and resident, who reported to my doctor how far along I was. We had two options for medications to begin the induction: cervidil and pitocin. I had mixed feelings about which one I preferred: I'd heard that with pitocin, the contractions can come on like a ton of bricks, giving your body no time to prepare for the pain, but the cervidil had to work for twelve hours, which meant we'd have to wait until late Tuesday evening before there was even a possibility of anything happening.

Ultimately my doctor decided to do a round of cervidil, which she administered at 10 a.m. Then we just sat around all day. I was only allowed to eat clear foods so Husband kept running to the unit refrigerator to get me orange Jell-O, popsicles and ginger ale. I had an IV and two fetal monitors on so getting out of bed to even use the bathroom was a total pain. Husband was helpful when I needed to get unplugged and our first nurse Kelly was very nice as well.

At about lunchtime, the contractions started. Initially they were a good ten minutes apart and were very light. Husband would watch the monitor and ask, "Are you having one?" and I'd have to think a minute before a twinge of pain would hit me.

Around the same time, the nurses changed shifts, which I was not happy about. The new nurse Kathy was just annoying from the beginning: she came in and asked why I wasn't walking around the unit. I told her that no one had connected me to the portable unit so if I left the room, they wouldn't be able to monitor the baby's heartrate. So then she went on about how I simply had to walk around and then said something about the doctor doing a second round of cervidil which would tack another twelve hours minimum onto the delivery. I was like, "Oh heck no!" I told Husband that I was not a fan of this new nurse and that I thought she was only working until 7:30 p.m. I hoped that was true and that I hadn't just made it up and thankfully it turned out I was right!
After promising me more orange Jell-O like four times (only green was left in the refrigerator) and taking nearly an hour to get batteries for the portable unit, Kathy finally unhooked all my wires and Husband and I ventured into the hallway to take a walk. Two minutes later a nurse came chasing after us because we had ventured out of the range of the portable fetal monitor. So basically all Kathy's fussing was that she wanted me to be walking a twenty foot length of hallway.

Though as annoyed as I am to admit it, when the contractions were just "uncomfortable", the walking did help take my mind off them.
By the time the new nurse Audra arrived, the contractions were getting more intense and really close together: less than three minutes. It felt better to move around or to lie on my side so I spent most of my time over the next few hours trying to manage the pain. Audra helped me breathe through the contractions which also helped a lot. She then said something that made me like her even more than I already did: that at 10 p.m. I could probably take a shower and have some dinner!

The doctor came in just after 10 p.m. and I was slightly more dialated. It didn't sound like much to me but the doctor seemed pleased and was ready to start the pitocin. I asked about eating and she said that I could have dinner so Husband went downstairs to pick me up a sandwich.

While he was gone, Audra started setting up the supplies for delivery. She explained that she prefers to have everything ready to go in case things start happening fast. After spreading a blue sheet on a steel table, she started arranging all the tools and surgical supplies for the doctor. It was at this moment that Husband walked back into the room with my sandwich.

Husband: Whoa, it just got real in here!

Apparently up until that point, Husband had felt like we were just hanging out in some type of weird hotel room, but seeing all the tools laid out on the table made him realize that eventually there would be a baby arriving!

At 11 p.m. we finally started the pitocin. I was still really nervous about it because while the cervidil contractions weren't terribly painful, they were already really close together. My concern was that if the piticin amped up the intensity of the contractions, I'd basically be having constant painful contractions until the little guy arrived. We started on the lowest dose and Audra said she'd increase it from there depending on how I was doing.

Throughout this whole process, I'd been really unsure about getting an epidural. I have a decently high tolerance for pain and because I tend to get anxious, the idea of not being able to feel my lower body really freaked me out. Earlier in the day the anesthesiologist came in to do a consult with me and she had assured me that my legs wouldn't be totally numb. I'd also spoken with a good friend who had just been induced at the same hospital last year. She said that getting the epidural actually helped her relax and she ended up dialating really quickly afterwards (apparently fighting the contraction pain was taking so much energy that her body forgot to actually get ready for labor!) Armed with all this information, I figured I'd just play the whole thing by ear and see how I felt.

Almost immediately after we started the pitocin, the contractions began to get much more intense and as the night went on, they got progressively closer together too (remember they were already three minutes apart with the cervidil!). Husband tried to get some sleep and I did too, but by 1 a.m., I was in too much pain to just breathe through the contractions. Audra suggested we get in the shower. While the warm water definitely felt nice, I felt really unstable on the chair she set up (just a rolling stool with some pillows around it). I was afraid that I was going to fall when the contractions really got going so I told her I wanted to get out. At this point, they were coming about a minute or so apart and lasting nearly a minute. In the span of my getting out of bed and going to the bathroom, I was having four or five contractions.

At 2:15 a.m., I said to Audra, "I think I'm dying." She smiled and laughed a bit (after having been her only patient for nearly seven hours at that point, she had learned that I tend to be prone to hyperbole). I looked her in the eye and said, "I'm not kidding." I was really miserable at that point as evidenced by the fact that I promptly threw up all my dinner. Awesome.

Me: How do you stand being a nurse? I'm disgusted with myself right now and I'm me!

She gave me some sort of explanation about how everyone is good at different things that made me feel better (partially because I was too miserable to care about how gross I was!). I asked if it made sense to check how dialated I was and she asked, "Well if we do that and you are farther along, what's the plan?"

Without even thinking, I responded, "Epidural."

She checked me out and I was up to four centimeters so she immediately put out a page for the anesthesiologist. He arrived almost too quickly because I hadn't gotten up my strength to make one last trip to the bathroom! Luckily he was willing to wait and soon I was perched on the edge of the bed. At that point, Audra had turned off the pitocin, which has a really short half life so it didn't take long to get out of my system. Unfortunately the half life was just long enough to last as I got the epidural and so every minute or so the anesthesiologist was kind enough to stop working and let me deal with the contraction. Somehow I managed to breathe through the one portion where he couldn't stop and I had to stay perfectly still and I got to lie down in bed as my lower body gradually got more numb.

I think I ended up with the perfect epidural. I could still feel my legs, but they just felt heavy and any pain just felt like pressure. A few times Audra asked me to reposition my legs and with her help, I was able to do so. I definitely didn't feel like my legs were gone forever, which had been my biggest fear. At one point I was feeling pain on my left side so the anesthesiologist topped me off with a second dose and the pain was gone after ten minutes or so.

The anesthesiologist left my room at about 3:15 a.m. and I tried to get some sleep. Then about an hour later, it felt like a water balloon popped between my legs. I called Audra and told her I thought my water had broken. She came in and confirmed that it had.

At that point I was worried that I wouldn't deliver by 7am. Both my doctor and nurse were scheduled to change shifts at 7am and I really didn't want to have to deal with two new people halfway through the actual giving birth process. Audra told me that if I was really close, she didn't intend to just walk out so I was glad to know that at least I'd have one familiar face in the room with me!

She left me alone to try to get some more sleep. Then at about 5:15am I started feeling some pressure. I speculated that it was labor-related because it seemed to occur every few minutes which lined up with when the contractions were happening. Audra came in again to check me and confirmed that I was fully dialated and the pressure was Baby O's head ready to come out!

It turned out to be really smart of Audra to prepare the delivery supplies in advance because everything happened crazy fast at that point! My doctor poked her head in (no doubt thinking that she was going to get to finish up her 24 hour shift without delivering one last baby!) and Audra told her that I was fully dialated.

Doctor: What? Really?

They told me that I'd start to push at about 6am and left the room to make last minute preparations. I woke up Husband and told him that we were getting ready to have a baby and he woke up really fast! I'd been worried about how Husband would deal with labor since he tends to get a little woozy when we're going through medical procedures. Audra suggested that he go get some cranberry juice to increase his sugar so he left the room.

Once he was gone, Audra suggested that I start pushing. I asked when the doctor would come in and she said that once he was crowning, she'd call in the doctor. Until then it would just be me, her and Husband. So we went ahead and pushed once and as Husband was coming back into the room, Audra grabbed the intercom and paged the doctor! He was crowning already!

Our doctor came in and I pushed two more times. Then I heard one of the nurses say, "Triple nuchal," and the doctor told me to stop pushing for a second. It seems that in all the excitement, our little guy had gotten his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times! Our doctor was totally calm and just snipped the cord off and Baby O was fine. Then I pushed another time and he was out!

Ultimately I ended up pushing for about 20 minutes (even less if you consider that the 20 minutes included the few minutes that the doctor was dealing with the umbilical cord situation). The nurses immediately put him onto my chest and my first thought was, "This is a tiny baby! There is no way he's 8 pounds!"

They weighed him and I was right: he was 6 pounds, 14 ounces and 20 inches long. Everyone was shocked and still can't figure out how they misestimated his size so much.

Luckily we'd received quite a few Newborn size clothes and diapers at my shower and from a girlfriend whose son was born in August. I was so convicned that we'd be bringing an enormous baby home that I only bought clothing 3 Months and bigger! As it turns out, the Newborn outfit that I brought for Baby O to wear home was absolutely swimming on him! Even now with his one month birthday right around the corner, he's still exclusively wearing Newborn sizes!

Thank you so much for all your well wishes and I hope I haven't kept everyone in too much suspense waiting for a birth story! As you can probably imagine, having a new baby is pretty exhausting and as I type this, I know I'm on borrowed time since he's waking up from a short-lived nap! Husband and I couldn't be happier though or more in love.

Happy New Year: Bump Photo & Finished Nursery Pictures!

2012-01-01T11:08:00.002-05:00

There wasn't much doubt but now it's absolutely certain that our little guy will be a 2012 baby. I had jokingly told Husband that he'd agreed to come last night because he was officially full term (37 weeks) and we'd be covered by our 2011 insurance, but the evening turned out to be completely uneventful on the baby front.

The last few months have flown by! A few hours after my last post, we got a freak October snowstorm and lost power for more than a week! We ended up evacuating to my grandmother's house a few hours away where we managed to keep warm, get some work done, and, most importantly, find a generator for next time (thus ensuring that we'll never lose power in our house again!)

I returned home just in time to receive notice that one of my cases was ready to start the appeal process. That meant 40 straight days of frantic reading, researching and brief-writing which took me straight through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

36 Weeks: Christmas Eve

My brief was sent off in the mail on Wednesday of last week and I have to say my motivation to go back to work decreased pretty significantly at that point. I know this sounds crazy, but I've loved being pregnant even though I've been completely miserable about 80% of the time. My doctor offered to write me a note for bed rest a few weeks ago, but honestly it's not comfortable being at home either so I told her I might as well go into work and be productive. I'm reconsidering that decision right now because at least while sitting at home, I can be in jammies!

The biggest issue has been a nagging pain in my upper right abdomen. It started off as sporadic and only after I did a lot of moving or standing. Then it progressed to every afternoon, regardless of my activity level. And now it's pretty much constant, with a pain that radiates around to my back included for good measure. It's next to impossible to get comfortable anywhere and most nights I end up in tears because I can't relax to get to sleep. Husband has been so helpful around the house though: cooking, cleaning, and last night he rubbed my back until I fell asleep. I'm so lucky to have him around to take care of me!

Speaking of Husband, his hard work in the nursery finally paid off a few weeks ago when our furniture arrived! We rearranged it a few times before settling on a floor plan and then Husband got to work installing shelves in the changing nook. I'm so happy with the finished product and now all we need to make the room complete is our little guy!

Crib, Munire Essex Collection (purchased at USA Baby)

Leachco Teether Guard (Amazon)

Best Chairs Storytime Series, Rena (purchased as USA Baby)

Kids Line Jungle 1-2-3 Lamp (Amazon)

iPod dock (Brookstone Outlet)

Table (Christmas Tree Shop)

Blanket handmade by friend

Glow Worm (in crib) (gift from my sister)

Monkey (in crib) (gift from Husband's sister)

Kids Line Jungle 1-2-3 Hamper (Amazon)

Munchkin Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail (Amazon - Christmas gift from Husband)

Closetmaid 3 Shelf Organizer (Target)

Koala bins (Babies R Us)

Little Boutique Night Light - Monkey (Babies R Us)

Changing Pad (Pottery Barn Kids)

Carter's Changing Pad Cover (Babies R Us)

Crane Humidifier (Amazon)

J.J. Cole Diaper & Wipes Caddy (Babies R Us)

Dresser, Munire Essex Collection (purchased at USA Baby)

Hutch, Munire Essex Collection (purchased at USA Baby)

Assorted books from Wishing Well at Baby Shower

Rabbit figurine from when Husband was young

Sherling Sheep Blanket (Costco)

Willow Tree "Home" Figurine (gift from sister)

Kids Line Jungle 1-2-3 Switch Plate Cover (Amazon)

Obviously we haven't used any of these things yet so I have no idea whether they are useful or practical or helpful or anything, but I think the room looks pretty darn snazzy and I have high hopes for most of the items as they were highly recommended by Baby Bargains, an absolutely amazing pregnancy shopping book that I picked up months ago!

Although my due date isn't until January 21, we have an induction scheduled for January 17. Our little guy is already very big (6.7 pounds at the 35 week ultrasound) and I happened to develop gestational diabetes so they don't want me to go beyond my due date. It's very exciting to think that in just a few weeks, our little guy will be here!

Happy New Year everyone! I have a feeling 2012 is going to be awesome!

In My Room: Nursery Progress and a Bump Photo!

2011-10-29T13:23:00.000-04:00

Today officially marks the beginning of my third trimester! Yay!

In celebration, I thought I'd share some progress photographs of the work that Husband has done in our nursery.

To be clear, Husband is not a handy person. He'd be the first to admit that. I had my heart set on wainscoting and after checking a few books out of the library and speaking with an associate at our local home repair store, Husband seemed pretty convinced that he could install it himself.

And to my total delight, he did an amazing job!

Here's a shot of what the room looked like beforehand: all bland and wainscoting-less. Terrible!

But after Husband putting in a weekend of work wainscoting and Sister-in-Law coming over the following weekend to assist with painting, look at the lovely after photo!

I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. There are a few bald spots that Husband needs to touch up with paint, but otherwise the room is ready for furniture (which unfortunately is not going to show up until around Thanksgiving, even though we ordered it over Labor Day weekend. Good thing we're major planners and ordered so early!)

Because I couldn't wait to get my decorating on, I asked Husband to install the Roman Shades and valances I had purchased so the room would feel more "homey". Even though window covering-installation has been the bane of our existence in this house, he did a great job and even hung up/fluffed out the valances for me!

Obviously we're going to have to get something to wrap the long cords around, but the window came out exactly how I imagined it! I can't wait for the room to start filling up with more stuff!

And because in my last post, I was complaining about not having a baby bump yet, I thought I'd share a photo (from two weeks ago) because I have seriously "popped". Overnight I went from, "Hm she must have had a big lunch," to "Holy moly, she's having a baby!" Clearly I'm very pleased because now I can eat a big lunch and people don't think I'm a piggy, they are well aware that I'm eating for two! Sadly, I wasn't feeling my greatest when this photo was taken, I'd been hunched over all evening in an uncomfortable chair and was experiencing wicked round ligament pain! Ouchers!

And if anyone is interested, the leggings are from Old Navy (available here) and the tunic is from JCPenney (available in stores only) (their respective maternity collections).

I'll try to post again with more nursery updates and bump photos, but I have to be honest, this pregnancy business is wearing me out. I go to work, get home and then almost immediately get into bed! I guess I should enjoy my sleep now before this little guy arrives in January!

Speaking of January, it's snowing outside right now so stay warm everyone!

Happy Saturday! And Happy Third Trimester to me!!!!

These Are the Days of Our Lives: An Announcement

2011-09-21T16:01:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late to the table regarding the "scandal" that's recently been a hot topic in the world of Anthropologie-blogging. Click here for JG's ridiculously thorough summary of said scandal.

I've decided to refrain from commenting on the actual goings-on because (1) it's a week later and there's no need to beat a dead horse and (2) I don't actually consider myself an "Anthro-blogger" more of a "talks about all sorts of random ass stuff which frequently includes Anthropologie blogger" so I don't know that my opinion would be appropriate.

However, the whole incident has led to a fair amount of self-reflection on my part which I do feel the need to address.

When I started my blog back in January 2010, I was running like a mad woman and in need of new (and smaller) clothes. I was restocking my closet and it sounded like a lot of fun to bring all you lovely readers along for the ride. I also thought writing a blog would be a fun way to bring some attention to some of my more random interests.

That anyone started reading my blog continues to shock me and I'm grateful for every single one of you.

However, in the last 21 months, my priorities have drastically changed. Many of you followed my struggles with infertility this past year and again I saw blogging as an opportunity to get some information out there. I don't want to be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about IVF (in vitro fertilization) and putting my journey out there for the world to read helped give me confidence to speak about it in real life.

I don't shop for clothing as much as I used to and reading through many of the comments over at GOMI made me realize why: there are other things much more important to me. That dress I'm so in love with today will be back in another colorway next month or it will go on sale. Or it won't and I'll never own it and shockingly the world will continue to exist.

That isn't to say, however, that I have stopped shopping. In fact, Husband and I made a rather large purchase over Labor Day weekend.

That's right, readers, I'm pregnant. Husband and I are expecting a little baby boy in January and predictably we are both over the moon excited. I've been putting off making an official blogging announcement in the hopes that I'd soon have a cute little baby bump to show off, but unfortunately I'm so tall, even at 22 weeks, I've still got nothing!

That said, I'm going to try to keep up the blog to the extent that I'm able, but from a decidedly different viewpoint. In Princess of Taylor-world, maternity pants are "in" and Pilcro cords are "out". As soon as my bump is a little more noticeable, I'm looking forward to running posts reviewing maternity clothes and even giving advice about combining your non-maternity closet with your maternity closet.

For anyone wondering, my pregnancy is progressing beautifully. The doctors have said on more than one occasion that things look "perfect" and I'm beyond thrilled every time I hear that. Husband and I have been on this journey for such a long time, to hear that we can finally relax and just enjoy preparing for this little guy brings us such happiness!

I have been experiencing some wicked pregnancy symptoms, most notably heartburn and exhaustion. But thanks to my Leachco Pregnancy Pillow and twice-a-week yoga classes, I'm finally starting to feel a bit better. I've also been very excited in the past few weeks to feel our little guy moving and as I type this he's happily kicking away.

I want to thank each and every one of you that's commented or emailed as I've chronicled our journey. And those of you that sent us positive thoughts and well wishes as well.

It is when someone opens their life to the point of sharing happy news like this that it becomes clear that, like in any relationship which has ups and downs, we truly are a community. And one that I'm very happy to be a part of.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Freddie Mercury; a VIP shopping trip teaser; and an Anniversary!

2011-09-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday would have been Freddie Mercury's 65th Birthday. I apologize for not celebrating on the actual day but I was away from my computer making some very important purchases (more on that in a future post).

I was not the only one to delay celebrating Freddie's birthday. Today, Google is celebrating with a lovely "Google Doodle" of Freddie Mercury pictures and animation, accompanied by Husband's favorite Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now". Very cool!

Today is also another important day: it's the five year anniversary of my current job! And tomorrow I have an interview for a potential promotion so everyone keep your fingers crossed for me!

Burning Down the House

2011-08-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

I can't remember if I've used this post title before, but even if I have, I don't care. It's too perfect to not use right now so forgive me if it happens to be recycled.

On Saturday night, Husband turned on the stupid whole house fan just as I was stepping into the shower.

The whole house fan is a huge point of contention between Husband and I. I hate it. He loves it and is convinced that when it's 3000 degrees outside, all he has to do is open the windows and turn on the whole house fan and suddenly the house temperature becomes bearable.

Wrong.

So in any event, he wisely decided to turn on the fan when I was in the shower and couldn't complain about it.

Unfortunately, this also meant that the fan went into its whole house sucking glory right as the furnace was cranking up to give me some hot water.

The result: the pilot light burned out.

Husband didn't realize that the pilot light had burned out until I walked into the living room twenty minutes later and asked what the unusual smell was. After initially claiming that it was coming from outside, Husband did some investigation and realized that without the pilot light functioning, gas was just flooding into the house.

We immediately panicked, which turned out to be appropriate when a few minutes later the carbon monoxide detector went off. At that point, Husband practically shoved me and our Boston Terrier Abbie into the car and told me to pull out of the garage and into the street. Ten minutes later, he came skittering out of the house, holding Izzy, who had snuck under our bed (I can only imagine this involved continued Festivus-style Feats of Strength because our bed is freakin' heavy!).

We sat in the car for a bit, waiting for Husband's beloved whole house fan to suck the carbon monoxide out of the house. Then Husband decided that he didn't trust our silly little detector so he called the fire department.

Which was awesome. They showed up with a full fire truck and three other vehicles. Our neighbors were freaking out, coming outside to ask what was going on.

The good news is that the carbon monoxide was gone. The bad news was that the firemen couldn't get the pilot light started again.

Our hot water heater is more than forty years old so we knew going into buying the house that we'd need to replace it eventually. I'm just glad that (1) the heating company I like had an appointment to install the new one this afternoon and (2) this didn't happen in January because even with 80+ degree temperatures, a totally cold shower is pretty ridiculously miserable. This morning Husband heated up water for us to bathe "Little House on the Prairie"-style. It was pretty awful.

The hot water heater is just one of a few things that have been breaking down recently (our cars seem to be tag-teaming being in the shop: we pick up one and the other has an issue), which partially explains my absence here. I've been spending all my free time shopping online for new cars and hot water heaters! Arg!

Such is the downside of home-ownership, I guess!

Happy Tuesday!

Birthday Greetings & Re-Releases

2011-07-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

Today is Roger Taylor's 62nd birthday! Happy Birthday, Roger!

(I couldn't find a recent picture of Roger so I just used one of my favorites from a few years back when he appeared on The X Factor.)

Roger's always been very opinionated in his songs and way back in 1994, he included a song on his Happiness? album titled "Dear Mr. Murdoch". Here's a link to the lyrics which are, in typical Roger-fashion, "colorful".

Well since our boy essentially had a crystal ball as far as predicting some of the scandal that's gone on recently with the News of the World and some of Murdoch's other papers, he's decided to seize the opportunity for a little self-promotion and is re-releasing a new version of the song. Click here for a full story.

The new version is much softer and includes less studio effects than the original. I think I prefer it. Of course, because America doesn't exist in Roger's mind, it's not available for download over here, but if any of you lovelies across the pond want to figure out a way to get it to me, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Click here to purchase at Amazon or here to purchase at iTunes.

So Happy Birthday, Roger and for those of you who can download his new single: Enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!

Festivus in July: An Airing of Grievances

2011-07-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure what it is lately, (the 100 degree heat perhaps?) but just about everything that the people I work with have been doing is driving me seriously up the wall. I've been having mini-gripe sessions with Husband and my sister but today I decided to formally air my grievances (Festivus-style) in the hopes that they will no longer continue to burden me.

Let's begin:

1) To the lady who brushes your teeth in the ladies room every single afternoon:

This is weird. Sorry, it is. What are you eating for lunch, every single day, that you must brush your teeth and muck up the sink? Seriously, aren't there products for this very type of situation? Granted, it may not be the same thing as a good toothbrushing, but I refer you to my previous point: change whatever it is you're eating for lunch!

2) To the smelly lady who hoses down the bathroom with industrial strength bathroom cleaner:

Listen, what goes on in the bathroom is your business, but the industrial strength Lysol sitting on the counter is not Febreeze. Heck, it's not even really Lysol: it's freakin' industrial strength antibacterial, "do not ingest in a unventilated space-warning" death spray. Whatever you're doing in the bathroom requires, at most, a spray or two. It's not necessary to empty the can so that the next poor soul to come into the ladies room has to hold her breath for the entire time she's in there because she's afraid she's going to die. Seriously, die.

3) To the male attorneys who are under the impression that the louder you tell your courtroom story, the more noble your cause will be.

One of the first things I did when I switched jobs was switch offices. So now I'm closer to the male contingency on our floor. These male attorneys come in each morning shouting about what cases they have on in court that day and afterwards return, regaling the secretaries with stories (at the top of their lungs) about their victories. I feel like this is something we should have learned in law school but perhaps not so I'll repeat it here: talking the loudest does not make you right. It's gotten to the point where I have to shut my door because of all the hoopla. Ridiculous.

4) To my actual office mates who neglect to walk an extra three feet down the hall to invite me to lunch:

In our office, there's a hallway that veers to the right and leads to the lunchroom. My office is literally three feet beyond that hallway. If you get winded walking those extra three feet and make sure I know you're eating, you should probably look into that. And even if you do have some sort of serious "can't walk three additional feet medical condition" (which I know for a fact you don't), why don't you pick up the phone and tell me that everyone else is eating? Just because I have a new job doesn't mean I don't eat anymore. And as I've told you many times, I'm not shutting my door because I'm avoiding you (see #3).

4) To the lady who wrote an email, sent it to 60 random people, and then instructed everyone to hit "Reply All":

Bitch, seriously? Now it's sad that your friend has cancer. Really, it's horrible. And if I had ever met the woman or had even ever say heard her name before this morning, I'd be really upset about it. But I have no idea who your friend is nor do I have any idea how I ended up on this email list. So now, I've spent the entire day downloading and deleting messages of people signing up to bring food to this woman. If you're going to send an email like this, maybe take five extra minutes to purge down the list and make sure you are sending it only to people who might actually help out. All you're doing right now is spreading gossip about your friend because the first thing I said when I got the email was, "Who the heck is Susie Johnson?" which was immediately followed by a trek around the office asking that very question of any warm body I could locate. I'm sure Susie tremendously appreciates people all over the city asking who the heck she is and if we heard she had cancer.

Photo credit.

Oh and NEVER instruct people to "Reply All". Never. Come on! If you can't take the ten minutes it's going to take to compile the list of food then you really aren't a good enough friend to be planning this endeavor. Just sayin'.
6) To the guy in the office next to me who plays weird-ass music all freakin' day.

I get it: people like to listen to music while they work, but it's your choice of music that has me confused. Like right now, for instance, he's listening to what I can only describe as music that should be played during the relaxation portion of a yoga practice: repetative soft piano playing. The other day, I swear he had the wedding march playing in there. Really weird. Our walls are paper thin so if he's listening to it, I'm listening to it. I swear one of these days I'm just going to bring in Queen II and see if his head explodes.

Does anyone have any grievances about your work place? Feel free to air them here! And then we will continue on to the Feats of Strength.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday, Brian May!

2011-07-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning with a sneaking suspicion that it was someone special's birthday and I was right!

Happy Birthday, Brian May! I can't believe it was nearly one year ago that I had the chance to meet you! I hope you have a wonderful day, just as you deserve!

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II (No Spoilers)

2011-07-18T13:29:00.001-04:00

I got cheated out of seeing the final Harry Potter movie on premiere night because Husband and I totally misestimated when tickets would go on sale. We thought two weeks prior was ample time, but they apparently were on sale earlier than that because by two weeks ago, both the 7pm and 9pm shows on Friday night were sold out.

I briefly flirted with the idea of going to the midnight show but ultimately decided that I wouldn't truly enjoy the film if I was on the verge of turning into a sleep-deprived zombie!

In the end we decided to see the 4pm IMAX show on Sunday afternoon. It was crowded but the nice thing about our IMAX theater is that seats are assigned so we just rolled in at 3:50 and got our awesome aisle seats that we selected weeks ago.

(Of course, this system doesn't work when you have annoying people who show up at 4:15 and OF COURSE have seats in our aisle so they are crawling across us while I'm sitting there sniveling over the shot of Dobby's grave. Jerks!)

First off, there were a TON of previews. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. In my mind, the lights would dim, they'd show a premiere for The Dark Knight Rises (wahoo!) which is being released next summer and then it'd be Harry-time.

Wrong.

We sat through premieres for Real Steel (which seriously looks like the dumbest movie ever made); Puss in Boots (which made me laugh, but not sure if that character can carry a whole movie); The Adventures of Tintin (which, according to Husband, has nothing to do with Rin Tin Tin); The Dark Knight Rises (okay, that one I was excited for but the preview was a little skimpy on the Christian Bale front. What's up with that?); Happy Feet Two (are you freakin' kidding me? They couldn't even put together one movie that made sense and now they're doing a second one?); and probably more that were so memorable that I can't even remember them a day later.

I took the opportunity during the previews to go to the ladies room...twice.

On my second visit, I overheard an amusing conversation: a girl, about 12 or 13 was standing with her mom and said, "We should have gone to see Harry Potter," to which the mother snapped back, "No we shouldn't have." "Why not?" the girl asked? "Because it would be filled with all kinds of naked people and insinuations about that."

Um, okay...

Back to the movie, which finally started: they did a nice little two minute recap of where the last film picked off, which was nice. Husband and I had actually watched Part I that morning because he knew he'd be totally confused otherwise, but I appreciated director David Yates acknowledging that the last films was released far enough back that we all might not remember that Dobby had just died and Voldemort had gotten the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb.

The criticism of Part I was a lack of action. This movie picks up at the portion in the book where the non-stop action starts so the movie itself goes by really quickly (especially since at only 130 minutes, it's the shortest of all the Harry Potter movies).

As a Snape fan I was really only interested in two scenes of this film. Generally I've been disappointed with how the films have reduced the character of Snape to nothing more than a menacing set furnishing. There is so much detail that's been lost in the translation of book to films and on more than one occasion I've remarked that I can't believe that J.K. Rowling signed off on some of this stuff!

Snape is the reason why I got into the Harry Potter series. I saw the first movie with my grandma way back in 2001 and loved it. Actually, I loved the character of Snape and was excited to find out that the great Alan Rickman was behind that dark hair and billowing cloak. That's the reason why I picked up the books in the first place because I knew from the start that this was a brilliant character.

I can't even really describe how disappointed I was at the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, not that Snape had killed Dumbledore, but that so many readers were incapable of seeing that there had to be more to the story than initially met the eye. I knew it and I hoped that when the final book was released, both Snape and I would be vindicated (I won't say whether we were or not!)

Regarding Snape's two scenes in the final film (and if you've read the book, you know what they are), I'll say two things:

First, I appreciate the fact that whoever wrote the screenplay for this movie appears to have at some point (possibly even recently) read the seven books and realized the importance of much of the information that may have initially seemed trivial (say to the screenwriter of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire who seemed uninterested in anything that didn't involve fourteen year old love or the TriWizard Tournament).

And second, that someone else finally realized that they had the amazing Alan Rickman who was capable of pulling off more meaty acting than the occasional scowl or sneer.

I thought the two scenes were very well done. And I wasn't the only one in the theater waiting for them. As soon as Harry left Dumbledore's office, about thirty people exited the theater to rush to the bathrooms!

The rest of the battle was well done. They moved around the order and location of some of the events and I'm not entirely sure why, but it didn't really change much. Neville got his big scene, which I'd heard had led to applause in other theaters. I think if it had occurred at its proper place, it might have generated more excitement.

The final confrontation was really confusing to poor Husband who had not read the books so I had to explain what actually happened as we drove home. He also got some crazy idea about Snape and Harry being related which I had to address as well!

As expected, the epilogue was ridiculous. I don't know what it served to accomplish in the book and felt the same way about the film (a well placed appearance of Snape when Harry turns the Resurrection Stone would have conveyed the same message), but since this movie was actually following the book, they included it. In my theater, it got a few laughs, but that's about it.

I will say though, that the final image of the film was a powerful one and if we had to see the silly epilogue to get there, then I suppose it was worth it. I do wish Rowling had come up with a more suitable way to end such an epic tale.

I liked it. Husband liked it. Right now there are reviews floating around that it's the best film of the series and I'll reserve judgment on that one. I'll need to see it at least a few more times before I'm comfortable making that kind of declaration (although as I told Husband, it's not like any of the other movies are exactly It's a Wonderful Life as far as I'm concerned).

We paid the extra few dollars to watch it in 3D and I can't say that added much to the film. Other than the occasional snake or fireball shooting out, the 3D portions were rather subtle. If you're looking to save a few dollars, I'd say just watch the regular version (especially since wearing 3D glasses makes it very difficult to dab your eyes when you're sobbing away for the second half of the film!)

I don't know that it makes sense to recommend seeing it: I expect if you've seen the other seven films, at some point you'll see this one. If you haven't seen the others, don't go out and see this one expecting to have any earthly idea what's going on. But if anybody cares, those are my thoughts on the film! What did everyone else think?

Happy Monday!

**DISCLAIMER** While my post does not contain any spoilers, I cannot guarantee the same of the comments. Read at your own risk. (And also if you are still getting Harry Potter spoilers at this point, you really should do yourself a favor and just read the books. Even without Alan Rickman, they are so much better than the movies!)

Money for Nothing (and Jewelry for Free!)

2011-07-13T15:25:00.000-04:00

To paraphrase Capt. Jean Luc Picard, rumors of my death by fireworks are greatly exaggerated.

Fear not, readers, I'm alive!

A few weeks ago I arrived early to a doctor's appointment. Way early. As in, I had entered the appointment into my calender wrong, thought the appointment was 30 minutes earlier than it was, and then showed up a good 10 minutes before that time.

With so much time on my hands, I pulled out my iPhone to check my email. As it turns out, my unexpected free time turned out to be a good thing. I had received an email from Pandora asking me to fill out a questionnaire. If I was one of the first to fill out the questionnaire, I'd receive a free leather bracelet and Murano glass bead!

I filled out the survey at the speed of light and entered my address at the end.

Then I promptly forgot about my free jewelry...until I got home last night and found a package on our front porch! My bracelet! And to my excitement the bead is a pretty one too: not just some leftover ugly thing! I couldn't help but put on my free new lovely today and wanted to share it with all of you!

So if you ever get a survey from Pandora offering a free gift, fill it out! They aren't joking around! They will seriously send you a free bracelet! Very exciting!

Happy Wednesday!

(Edit: Oh and I'm obviously totally psychic because I referenced Capt. Jean Luc Picard above without realizing that today is Patrick Stewart's birthday! How awesome is that? Happy Birthday, Mr. Stewart!)

American Girl (wait, am I allowed to use this title, Mr. Petty?)

2011-07-01T11:04:00.002-04:00

Can I make a confession, readers?

I hate the Fourth of July.

Now that's not to say that I hate America (I don't). Or that I'm anti-barbecuing (I'm actually rather pro-barbecuing). Or that I'm some sort of crazy masochist who really wishes my office wasn't closed on Monday (seriously, readers, do you not know me at all?)

What's the appeal? All they are is big, loud, flaming balls of fire?

But the one thing I do hate, that colors my entire ability to enjoy any aspect of the Fourth of July experience, is fireworks.

As a child, folks in our neighborhood would set off fireworks themselves. Now, we lived in a pretty decent sized town which put on a big fireworks display in a local park (more on that later) so there was really no reason to take a miniature explosive and waive it around in the middle of a residential neighborhood. But people did it anyway and it scared the pants off me.

I remember thinking it was gunshots and the murderers were coming to get me next. And though I have no idea if it was fireworks-related, one year someone drove a car across someone's lawn into their living room. I always imagined that the driver grew distracted because he was holding a sparkler of some sort.

To avoid this neighborhood nonsense, we'd attend the town's fireworks display. This included performances by the symphony orchestra (with the 1812 Overture played as the grand finale to the evening), picnics on the grass, and, of course, fireworks.

I was really never a fan of the noise even of this (allegedly) safe, professional display so we stopped going and I'd just spend the Fourth of July sequestered in my room with headphones on. Then in college, I had a friend visiting from out-of-town. My mother suggested going to the park to see the fireworks and I assumed that any nervousness that I'd had as a child would have dissipated.

And it had.

That is, until it became very clear that the wind was pulling the flaming ash remnants of each firework further into the park than the crew had anticipated. Fireworks rained from the skies, culminating in the blanket next to us actually catching on fire! I was in hysterics and we left immediately.

At least this is pretty and has some sort of rhyme or reason to it!

That was my last foray into fireworks viewing. If fireworks are involved, I won't go. Period. I bended my rule slightly a few years back at Epcot because I figured that Disney would be trying really really hard not to kill me so I could probably trust them. I made it out of the display physical unscathed, but still emotionally shaken.

So far be it for me to tell you all to not go see the fireworks this weekend. And as foolish as I still think it is, lots of people get a thrill out of holding potential death in the form of sparkly lights in their hands.

But, please readers, be safe this Fourth of July! Follow instructions on any fireworks that you must set off, be sure to do so in an open space (i.e. not the dead end of our street where our neighbor's fool children put on a little show every year), and please, for the sake of those of us that hate this tradition, end all your shenanigans on July 4th! There is nothing I hate more than thinking I'm safe for 364 more days only to hear some yahoo with leftover fireworks setting them off on July 5th.

You get one day, people! One day!

Happy Friday!

Nights on Broadway: Exciting News for Fall

2011-06-29T14:28:00.000-04:00

This morning while eating my Honey Nut Cheerios and watching Morning Joe, I let out a loud squeal.

Husband, unsure as to what on Morning Joe could cause such delight or alternatively such horror, rushed into the room and asked if anything was wrong.

Me: No! It just scrolled across the screen that Alan Rickman is coming back to Broadway this fall!

Husband: In what play?

Me: ...Does it really matter? We're obviously going.

During my car ride to work, I considered the possibilities.

I knew that Rickman had originated the role of Le Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liasons) way back in 1985, but wasn't considered famous enough to reprise his role in the film version. Then a few years back, he stared in Noel Coward's play Private Lives (which annoyingly I did not know about until the weekend that it closed).

Surely he'd be tackling something different as opposed to doing one of those roles a second time. And as glorious as it would to hear him sing on stage, I suspected that it would be a play, not a musical.

I confirmed both of these things once in the office. The play in which Rickman will star is Seminar, a new play by Theresa Rebeck, which is about four awe struck students taking a course taught by a famous writer (Rickman, of course). Click here for the full story.

I'm totally hoping that they cast some super famous Hollywood types as the students so when I go see the play and stand by the stage door afterwards, everyone will be there to see those actors and I'll have Alan all to myself!

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

So if you're anywhere near New York this fall, check out this play. Rickman rarely turns in a less than stellar performance and maybe you'll even catch a glimpse of me as I'm being hauled away from him by the police!

(And in the meantime, you can catch Mr. Rickman as Severus Snape in the final installment of the Harry Potter movies on Friday July 15. I've got seriously high hopes for the amount of Snape in this final movie so they'd better not disappoint!)

Happy Wednesday!

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?: What I Wore

2011-06-28T12:02:00.000-04:00

Today's outfit is brought to you by the letter, "P".

First, the P stands for progesterone shots, which really are the death of me. I've been very lucky that Husband is talented enough in the shot-administering department to avoid any major bruises or welts, but I have suffered from some irritation and itchiness at the injection sites (my lower back).

The discomfort has made wearing anything involving a waistband quite uncomfortable so I decided that I wanted to pick up a few cotton dresses for the warmer weather.

Dress, Bass Outlet

Beribboned Buds Cardi, Anthropologie

Araxi Sandals, Seychelles

Honora Sterling Cultured Pearl Tutti Fruitti Hoops, QVC (available here)

Bracelet, Bass Outlet

Which brings us to the second word P stands for: Princesses!

I mentioned my need for dresses to a fellow princess over email a few weeks back and it just so happened that she and a third fellow princess were going to the outlets that weekend! I excitedly accepted the invitation to join them and on that Saturday, we hit up two local outlet malls with the (ridiculously well-behaved) mini-princesses.

I wasn't sure where I'd track down the dresses, but certainly wouldn't have ever even considered the Bass Outlet, where lo and behold, the entire store was cotton dress glory!

And they were all on sale for $20!

Because it was really the only thing I wanted to buy that day, I picked out four dresses (including this one, which isn't cotton, but a nice jersey material). Then at the register, I spotted this cuff bracelet for 80% off! I declared that they were practically paying me to buy it (the total came to approximately $4) so I added it to my pile.

I've gotten so much wear out of all four dresses already and I'm so glad I found them. Now I just hope that soon I can start wearing clothes with waistbands again!

Happy Tuesday!

Remember the Time?: What I Wore

2011-06-22T12:35:00.002-04:00

So you know how I used to have this blog? That I updated, like, daily with outfit photos and shopping adventures and Queen-related ramblings?

No?

Well, trust me. I did.

And then life got super crazy and then my new job got super crazy and then on top of that I had family in town for a week. Then more family in town the next week. And in the middle of all that, I turned 30 and Husband threw me a big "surprise" birthday party.

(I put "surprise" in quotes because the party was originally a surprise, but ultimately I was let in on the plans after we had a little situation.)

And by we, I mean me.

And by little situation, I mean crying and sobbing that Husband was going to be out of town for my actual birthday and no one was going to even get me a cake.

I will say that Husband did redeem himself for being away on my actual birthday by throwing me a super awesome party at a local restaurant and by giving me the greatest gift ever: Michael Jackson: The Experience for Playstation 3.

Despite my lack of posting, I have still been wearing clothes. Nearly every day, in fact! Here's proof:

Loosened Shelby Blouse, Anthropologie (available here)

Lexie Plainweave Flare Pant, The Limited (select sizes on crazy sale here)

Merona Wedges, Target

Jade Necklace, Purchased in Juneau, Alaska

Bracelet, Bass Outlet

Earrings, Kohls

I got this top ages ago and I'm so in love with it. So in love, in fact, that I gave the yellow version to my mother for Mother's Day and that I'm seriously considering using my online birthday discount to purchase it in a second color.

The good news about having family in town is that I had three potential photographers just sitting around this morning with nothing to do. That meant I could use my iPhone to take a picture, rather than our video camera, which seriously has like 9000 outfit photos on it that I'm just too lazy to upload and edit.

Someday, readers. Someday.

So to briefly conclude: I'm back. I'm 30. And I'm going to try really hard to update more than once every few years. I promise!

Happy Wednesday!

The Perfect Drug: A Rant

2011-06-06T15:13:00.000-04:00

I try really hard to not get political on my blog. Not everyone agrees with me about political issues and as much as I enjoy a good debate, I've found that not everyone else out there is as capable as playing nice as I am.

That said, today I am so furious about something that I just had to write about it. I don't think the reasoning behind my anger screams one side of the debate or the other and frankly, I suspect this is an issue about which all sides could agree.

A few minutes ago, I got into a fight with my insurance company.

Actually, that's not correct. I got into a fight with the pharmacy that my insurance company owns and insists that I use if I want my medication to be covered. It's a mail order pharmacy, which means I have to calculate how many days in advance I need a refill and then remember to call.

It's a real pain in the butt.

Today I needed two refills so I placed the order and was told that I'd receive the package tomorrow. Then I got a follow-up call asking that I call back to resolve a "problem."

The "problem" it seems is that the pharmacy had decided that I had requested one of my refills too soon. True, I do have a nearly full bottle at home, but I figured since I was refilling one prescription, I'd ask for the other as well. They informed me that I was not authorized for a refill of the second prescription until Friday.

Which would have been fine. Annoying, but fine. Until the lady said, "Well you're only taking a 1 cc dose so you should have plenty left."

I responded that in fact I was taking a 1.5 cc dose per my doctor's instructions.

"Well that's not what I have here."

Now I'm mad. I hate getting mad on the telephone because it never ends up solving anything and most of the time is counter-productive, but this biotch was not going to tell me what MY doctor and I decided would be my dosage.

It's not like the medication was Valium or Oxycontin, something addictive or that could be sold on the black market. I'm refilling progesterone in oil, for pete's sake, a drug whose side effects include weight gain, heartburn, painful injection sites, and constipation.

Ooooh I know all you ladies out there are going to be in the seedy underbelly of your local communities tonight to get your hands on a fresh batch of progesterone in oil, aren't you?

When Husband and I first started seeing our fertility doctor, I had to do an intake with the insurance company to make sure that we had exhausted all our fertility options before they would agree to pay for a specialty physician. The intake was shockingly invasive. I spent an hour on the phone detailing my sexual and reproductive history, as well as Husband's.

Not to a doctor. Not even to a nurse. But to a random lady with a checklist who happens to work for our insurance company.

Now we're very lucky because our insurance does cover a great deal of these treatments, when many other companies do not. We also pay for it, rather royally each month so it's not like we're getting something for nothing here.

However, I don't think it's appropriate for us to completely trade in our privacy in order to get this coverage. If my doctor increases my dosage of medication, it's my business, not the insurance companies'. It's not like I was claiming he had prescribed some new medication. It's the same medication that I've been taking for six months and I need some more.

Thankfully, my doctor decided today to decrease my dosage so my one remaining vial of progesterone should last until the insurance company decides to send me some more. They also claim that I should receive my second medication tomorrow, when I need it (although last time they ended up farming the order out to another company that promptly lost it and didn't send it out until the following day).

I can't help but think that this would all be resolved if they would just let me go to the freakin' corner pharmacy and refill my prescriptions on the day that I need them, but nope, their business model is to sit in a building 1000 away and send out medications when they, not the doctors, decide that patients need them.

And people say we don't need health care reform in this country? Baloney.

Hey a Movie!: What I Will Be Doing Thanksgiving 2011

2011-05-25T11:24:00.001-04:00

Words can seriously not express how excited I am about the latest Jason Segel movie.

I've been a fan of Jason Segel's since we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall a few years back and now, of course, we love him on How I Met Your Mother. Husband likes Amy Adams so this movie is going to be something we'll both enjoy.

It's called Green With Envy and here's the trailer.

PSYCH!

Oh my gosh. Even the trailer is freakin' awesome, utilizing the ol' switch-a-roo, one of my favorite things ever!

I've been a fan of the Muppets since I was just a mini-princess. My family still tells tales of me whining to my uncle, "No MASH. Muppets!" when he wanted to watch MASH and I wanted to watch The Muppet Show. And just a few weeks ago, I insisted that Husband watch The Great Muppet Caper with me when I found it on television!

I'd heard a while back that Jason Segel was a Muppets fan (some of you may recall him playing the theme to The Muppet Show during one of his depressed scenes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and that only made me love him more!

Whee! I can't wait!

Another Saturday Night: Justin Timberlake hosting Saturday Night Live

2011-05-23T14:15:00.001-04:00

By now I'm sure most of you have seen (or at least heard about) Justin Timberlake hosting the season finale of Saturday Night Light, with musical guest Lady GaGa.

Husband and I DVR Saturday Night Live every week and watch it over breakfast on Sunday morning. That said, we're not really big fans of the show. Many of the current "stars" are overrated (i.e. Kristen Wiig), their sketches are out of date (i.e. The Lawrence Welk Show. Seriously, SNL?) and the writers couldn't properly end a sketch if their lives depending on it.

But for some reason we continue to watch.

I said to Husband before he hit "Play" yesterday that if they couldn't manage a funny show with a host like Justin Timberlake and the biggest musical act in the world, they had better be planning some pretty big renovations over at SNL this summer.

Luckily for the cast and crew of SNL, the show was funny. Probably the funniest show of the year (not that that's saying much).

I'm always excited when Justin Timberlake hosts Saturday Night Live. Not because I'm a Justin Timberlake fan. Because I really don't think I am. In fact, if you had asked me 10 years ago in the height of his N*Sync days, I would have said I hated him.

But slowly, over the past decade, he's begun to grow on me.

Sure I still don't own any of his albums. And I'd never go see him in concert. But somehow his mixture of halfway decent acting and not taking himself seriously has won me over, despite myself.

It's weird how we shape our opinions of celebrities, people whom we've never (and probably won't ever) met. Over the Easter weekend, my family and I had an interesting conversation. My sister had read an article about Gwyneth Paltrow and how many people seem to inexplicably hate her. (For the record, I did try to locate the exact article, but when I Googled "Gwyneth Paltrow" and "dislike" about seventy pages of articles popped up. Seems this topic is nothing new in the media.)

I'd read the same article and chimed in, "Yeah I hate Gwyneth Paltrow and I seriously can't figure out a reason why."

Gwyneth Paltrow has done nothing to offend me. In fact, I've really only ever seen a few of her movies (Sliding Doors, which I loved, and Shallow Hal, which is actually kind of sweet). I've never really seen her outside of acting either: I don't watch daytime or late night television so I rarely see a celebrity interviewed. But yet the very thought of her makes me cringe.

I feel the same way about George Clooney. For some completely unknown reason, I hate him. This is despite an adorable article I read in Time magazine several years ago. George comes to the interviewer's home for dinner, ends up in the climbing around in the attic trying to locate a smoke detector, and then two days later bumps into the interviewer again at a local restaurant, where he invites him to join his party.

Talk about an everyman! I should love George Clooney!

But I don't.

Conversely, I always think that I love Alec Baldwin. He's hysterical on 30 Rock and for the last ten years has stolen every single movie he's appeared in (his role in The Departed in particular was truly inspired). Then he appears on Real Time with Bill Maher or 60 Minutes and I realize that he's actually rather obnoxious: political to the point of nauseousness, arrogant, and generally not at all funny.

That doesn't stop me from tuning in to 30 Rock every week and defending him when a co-worker attacks him, which occurs on a regular basis. A few years back some of Alec's voicemail messages to his daughter were leaked, causing a public relations nightmare. In one of the messages he called her a "little pig" and my co-worker simply will not forgive him for that, despite how critically acclaimed his work may be.

Husband has a total irrational hatred of Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm not entirely sure when it started, but he hates him and is convinced that he's only 5 feet tall. In reality, Jake is over 6 feet tall, but even if they were standing next to each other, Husband wouldn't believe it.

Are there any celebrities who you irrationally dislike? Or that you suddenly realized that you actually liked? I'm sure I can't be the only one out there who does this!

Rapture: What I Wore

2011-05-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

So I thought my days of being able to post these colder weather outfits were numbered, but it seems like I was wrong. It's May 18 and it's 50 degrees outside. And raining. It's seriously like The Day After Tomorrow out there, which is appropriate considering some wacky folks are convinced that the world is going to end on Saturday.

Sugar-Coated Shirtdress, Anthropologie

Sweater, Loft

Leggings, Macys

Franto Sarto Panko Boots, Macys

Belt, Kohls

So was the first round of markdowns in Anthropologie's tag sale as disappointing to everyone else as it was to me? I emailed my mom and sister to ask them. My mom responded that nothing on her wish list was marked down and that she agreed with me. My goofy sister agreed with me too but then listed out the ten things she had already ordered and was considering going back for more!

I'm holding out hopes that we get better second week markdowns and maybe even an extra % off promotion, particularly since my birthday is next month and I'd love to treat myself to some pretties in honor of my third decade of life!

Happy Wednesday!

The Way You Look Tonight: What I Wore

2011-05-11T15:22:00.001-04:00

Since it's finally been warm enough to start dressing for spring, I figured that I should start to clear out some of my outfits from way back in April when I was still freezing my geezer off on a daily basis.

Evening Lilac Top, Anthropologie

Acting Out Skirt, Anthropologie

Hue Tights, Macy's

AK Anne Klein pumps, Macy's

Pandora Bracelet

Necklace, Kohls

Honora Sterling Cultured Pearl Tutti Fruitti Dangle Hoops, QVC (available here)

*EDIT* I totally mislabeled these earrings! These were a gift from wonderful Husband for our Fourth Anniversary back in March. Get it? Fourth Anniversary is fruit; these are Tutti Fruitti hoops? Oh I'm so clever!

This top was my first purchase in my recent attempt to basically wear pajamas to work: it's super comfortable and soft and yet looks rather polished and appropriate for the office. Since this top, I've supplemented my collection of "practically pajamas officewear" with the Monthly Meetup Pullover and two Translucent Dolman Tees.

With my new job comes a lot of reading and writing and frankly, it's just not comfortable doing that when I'm all dolled up. Thus far, I've gotten no reprimands and even a few compliments on my evening to day-wear so I'm thinking if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Happy Wednesday!

Throwing Around Blog-Weight

2011-05-09T14:15:00.000-04:00

Have any of you fellow bloggers ever done this?

My situation: I ordered pair of sandals on 4/28. My local running store had done a review of the Montrail Lithia Loop Sandal and I knew immediately that I needed to own it. Every summer I buy a new pair of sandals, typically Reefs, and every year I kick myself for trudging around all summer in a sandal with absolutely zero arch support. These Lithias sounded amazing though and I immediately searched around online for the best deal.

So order placed on 4/28, I get an email confirmation of my order, and then...nothing.

I start to get a little annoyed. So much so that I go to the customer service page of the site where I'd ordered the shoes and fire off an email inquiring where my shoes are. They are listed as in stock on the website so what's the problem.

And then I get no response to my email!

Now I'm super ticked off. I could have bought these shoes from a thousand other places and this particular site doesn't even have a cancel order button so I'm just at their mercy until they decide to cancel the order themselves or ship the damn sandals.

My second email to customer service went out today. In essence I said that I wanted a response THIS AFTERNOON via email that my shoes were shipping TODAY or else I wanted the order cancelled. Then for good measure, I added a sentence about how I would say nasty things about the website and even nastier things about their customer service on my blog if I didn't hear back from them.

Less than an hour later, I got an shipment confirmation email. I can't say definitively that the idea of being slammed on a blog is what finally lit a fire under this company, but it seems pretty significant that less than an hour after I make the threat, the sandals are on their way to me.

Because it looks like I'm actually going to receive my sandals, I won't say which website I was dealing with, but I will certainly thing long and hard before I order from them again.

Has anyone else ever done this? I've never before considered having a blog to put me in a position of power when it comes to retailers, but it seems like that could be the case. Or am I thinking myself too important? Or maybe it was just that I gave them an ultimatum: ship the shoes or lose the sale?

In any event, I'm quite pleased with myself and am patting myself on the back for a job well done (even if I'm not entirely sure how I did it!)

Happy Monday!

Anthropologie Fitting Room Reviews (Translucent Dolman Tee, Hamatreya Skirt, Cultivation Skirt)

2011-05-03T11:55:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite things is returning to Anthropologie after a short absence. When I'm in the store too often, it seems like none of the new arrivals are the things I'm excited about. But insert a few weeks before excursions and suddenly the whole store seems like my playground! On Friday evening I had some shopping to do and just couldn't resist hitting up Anthro to try some things on.

Translucent Dolman Tee, size Large (originally $38, now $19.95)

So as many of you know, Kim over at Anthroholic is obsessed with this tee, so much so that she bought it in two colors! I've been trying to acquire more comfortable clothes recently (so much of my current wardrobe is fitted and dressy) so this tee seemed like it could fit right into a more casual look. My store had tons of this top in a variety of sizes and colors, including the lovely green which is now sold out online, so I stood for a good five minutes trying to decide what color to select. In the end, I grabbed the grey motif, which is the color that I had originally liked so much when Kim wore it here.

I was kind of surprised at how much I liked this top! I had gone with a Large because I wanted it to gather properly around my hips and that turned out to be the perfect size. Seriously I cannot stress how comfortable this top is: the fabric is so lightweight and silky. It felt like I was wearing jammies. I didn't find the grey motif to be "translucent" as the name suggests but I'm sure some of the lighter varieties could be. Despite that, I'd still wear a tank underneath it to the office. The price point was so great that I couldn't resist taking this home with me and today I woke up to news that I was eligible for a price adjustment! Hurray!

Hamatreya Skirt, size 12 ($88)

Truth be told, this skirt was the reason why I stopped by Anthro in the first place. I'd seen that Jacquelyn had found the skirt in her local store and reviewed it here so I was hopeful that it would be in my store as well. I literally did two laps around the store on the prowl for this skirt before I picked up a single other thing and practically squealed when I finally found it.

Sadly, that was the extent of my happiness over this skirt. I'd suspected that the fit would be off for me. As cute as the Thousand Days Skirt, Circle the Globe Skirt, and Field Skirt are, they have just not worked for me. I did manage to incorporate a Field Skirt into my wardrobe this winter, but I can only wear it with tights, which seem to anchor the skirt in place. Otherwise the skirt slips up to my ridiculously high waist, making it totally indecent length-wise. The fit was fine and I didn't find the skirt to be too poofy or even the pattern to be too juvenile (one of the biggest criticisms of this skirt), but even in the five minutes I stood in the fitting room, I had to tug the darn thing down a good four times to keep it in place. And since my waist is so high, the skirt ends up making me look so much wider than I actually am when it's further down on my torso.

Despite all that, I still really do kind of love this skirt and would still consider it come sale time!

Cultivation Skirt, size Large ($68)

This was my attempt at a more adult print alternative to the Hamatreya Skirt. Unfortunately the fit issues were the same and even sitting (unflatteringly) on my low waist, this skirt felt insanely short! I think this skirt is a great option for folks who like the color palate of the Hamatreya Skirt, but not the pattern and for $68? Holy great deal, Batman!

I have a few more reviews that hopefully I'll get up in the next few days. Hopefully everyone is having a great week!

Happy Tuesday!

THE Dress: Opinions?

2011-04-29T11:29:00.002-04:00

So for the past few weeks, the media has been in a near frenzy about the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Granted I was a fan of Prince William's back in high school when he was a total cutie, but as we've both gotten older (and some of us balder) so sadly the spark is long gone between Will and I.

Kate and her sister, Pippa, the maid of honor before the ceremony.

However, Kate Middleton has always struck me as a rather classy girl. Somehow she's managed to avoid any sort of major scandal during her decade in the public eye and according to reports, she and William are quite in love.

A few folks in my office intended to wake up this morning at 5am to catch the wedding cermony itself. Seeing as how I didn't wake up at 5am for my own wedding day, this seemed rather extreme, but I was pleasantly surprised when I sat down with my bowl of cereal right as the "kiss" from the balcony of Buckingham Palace was about to take place.

Kate and William on the balcony.

Watching the couple come out onto the balcony was interesting. For several minute leading up to their entry, the cameras had focused on the thousands gathered outside the Palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds. The crowd stretched out for what seemed like miles. Upon entering the balcony, Kate Middleton looked truly stunned at the number of people waiting. It made me think how surreal it must be, for both Kate and her family, that she's now a member of the royal family. Crazy!

They stood for a few minutes, joined by their families, including the Queen, waved to the crowd, and kissed twice. Then they went back inside.

Honestly, there is not a single bone in my body that would be interested in standing outside for hours, without access to a bathroom, to see that little display. The folks there seemed excited though and cheered wildly.

The dress, I thought, was lovely. Initially I could only see the lace sleeves and it was love at first sight. I'm such a sucker for lace and it was a must-have on my own wedding dress. Unlike Kate's lace, my lace was not hand sewn incorporating the four crests of the United Kingdom with the seamstresses required to wash their hands every thirty minutes to not soil the fabric. When I saw the entire dress, it somehow managed to be a dress that any woman could have worn but yet at the same time be a dress completely fit for a princess.

And true to form, I thought her hair and makeup looked divine. I even rather liked the pearl crown she wore when I'm typically very anti-crown at weddings (though I suppose I must make an exception for an actual princess). EDIT: Seems I need to get my eyes checked: the crown was a diamond encrusted Cartier one, Kate's something borrowed from the Queen! It was slightly disgusting to read that the hips of her wedding dress had been padded to create that royal Victorian-esque look. Apparently I'm very Victorian...no extra padding required!

I was just a baby when Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married so this is my first exposure to the spectacle that is a royal wedding. While I really wasn't into it leading up to the day, I have to say that it was fun waiting for them to come onto the balcony and it sounds like many are predicting that they'll live a long, happy life together. I hope so!

Did anyone get up early to watch the ceremony? What did you think of her dress? I'm interested to hear opinions!