some personal notes and a site

I've gotten my hair cut and honestly I told the lady I wanted an inch and she took a mile. It looks very soccer mom-esque, I think, but my Mom says it's cute. The bright side is that it'll grow out in about four months--I don't think I'll be getting my hair cut again for a long time. I had gotten it cut in August but before that it was about a year since I had a haircut, so I think I may just let my hair grow out again.

I actually ordered that Dooney giraffe print passport cover and now I'm waiting for it to be shipped.

I hate when people don't identify themselves on the phone. On of my managers called me and I've known her for about four years now because we went to high school together, but I'm always slow on recognizing voices so it took me a moment to realise it was her. I make a point to identify myself on the phone, even when I'm calling my parents.

I've been reading articles on this website for the past half hour: Think Simple Now. It's very inspirational and motivational. I'm definitely going to keep this site in mind when I start failing at all my New Year resolutions I plan to make. I'm really impressed with Meditation 101: How to Start because I've never been very good at Googling meditation methods, but I've always wanted to try to meditate. I really like that the author also includes on most articles helpful links to external resources based on the article. A+

So, go check out Think Simple Now!

things i would like to own and some things i already do own

Dooney and Bourke US Passport Holder in their oh so fabulous Giraffe print. $45 Which is apparently out of stock, bummer. I also want their Large Sac in Giraffe, the Passport Holder is marginally more realistic. The most to die Giraffe print item I covet is the Roller of course.

I'm really big into luggage and traveling lately. Not that I own luggage or travel, but it's fun to dream. One site that's super awesome to browse and pretend shop is Flight 001, you should check it out!

Oh oh! I just found the most hip iPod case ever: hymn book iPod case from Fred Flare! I love Fred Flare and this iPod case is total genius. Apparently it's imported from England. I don't know why I particularly fancy it, but at this very moment in a 1am sleep deprived daze, it is the bee's knees. I love Fred Flare. I am always adding things to my ff wishlist, but never get around to buying them which is lame. Probably as lame as posting a link to said wishlist. I know, right?

I really want Stephen Colbert's book, I Am America (And So Can You!), I checked it out from the library, but haven't bought it. It's funny and would look really fantastic on my bookshelf between my copies of America the Book. I have two Americas, the hardcover and the paperback. The only other books I have in hardcover and paperback are, of course, Victoria Beckham's That Extra Half an Inch (which is major and lovely and oh so glam!) and J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey. My hardcover Franny and Zooey was bought by my sister from the library and I just now thought of it and my paperback is the mass market one, all of my Salinger books are the $6.95 mass market paperbacks.

Speaking of mass market paperbacks, I need to continue my collection of mass market Sophie Kinsella books: I need Shopaholic & Sister and The Undomestic Goddess. I don't think Shopaholic & Baby will be ready for mass market for a while, especially since it came out this year and will just be in trade paperback in December. Honestly I still haven't finished reading Shopaholic Takes Manhattan or Shopaholic Ties the Knot, but I do own them. I am so obsessed with Kinsella's novel Can You Keep a Secret?, I've read it like three times (which is high praise coming from me, I hardly ever even finish books!)

Anyways, I really should go to sleep now. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head I want or feel like I should talk about right now. Kiss kiss!

suddenly it's christmas

Today I went to Target on a mad Halloween-day search for Halloween Oreos, the search proved fruitless. However, Target did have their Christmas section beginning to be set up. Which reminded me of Loudon Wainwright III's song Suddenly It's Christmas.

Christmas carols in December
And November, too;
It's no wonder we're depressed
When the whole thing is through.
Finally it's January;
Let's sing "Auld Lang Syne";
But here comes another heartache,
Shaped like a Valentine.

Lyrics Copyright ©1993 Snowden Music, Inc.

Download: Loudon Wainwright III - Suddenly It's Christmas

Visit: Loudon Wainwright III // myspace

musings on time and history

I'm watching Larry King (not so) Live and Stephen Colbert just jokingly said he was a historical figure and I wonder... will people remember him ten years from now? Five years?

Not that I'm saying anything bad about Stephen Colbert because I think his show is hilarious, but I'm saying something about the nature of time passing.

Can you remember five years ago? Do people on television matter more than politicians? What will pop culture bring us in five years?

dashboard confessional

When I was fifteen, I discovered a band called Dashboard Confessional. And for the past six years, I've had quite a love-hate relationship with their (and by their, I really mean his, as in Chris Carrabba) music. Even though I doubt I'd admit it in person, D/C's MTV Unplugged is definitely one of my favorite albums. Most of Dashboard's work reminds me of high school--not because I've ever had any of those type of moments, but I did listen to their music consistently throughout my highschool years and I continue to listen to them in college, even though I was completely Not. Impressed. with Dusk and Summer or truthfully A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar as whole albums, but there have been singles since Unplugged I enjoyed. So, history-wise, Dashboard is my high school memory band.



Imagine my surprise when I found out Dashboard released a new album (The Shade of Poison Trees) today that I only found out about yesterday. I've listened to most of it so far and I'm really enjoying it. I think it sounds more hopeful (or maybe it's just because it's more upbeat musically that translate to hopefulness, obvs. a Dashboard album is not hopeful beyond the "hey does she like me" sort of hopeful) than the last two albums and honestly, it reminds me of older Dashboard. I think, despite its hopefulness there is of course the emo-bitterness you expect from a Dashboard album.

You can listen to the album in its entirety on Dashboard's myspace.

I really am enjoying this album, I think I listened to it because of the novelty of "OMG, new Dashboard? You've got to be kidding me!" but it's surpassed my unwillingness to enjoy it because I love it. The first single for the album is called "Thick as Thieves" which is very fast and interesting. The lyrics are good. I think my favorite track is called Where There's Gold... I think it's depressingly beautifully realistic: Where's there's gold, there's a gold digger.

I think I have a new favorite Dashboard album. It really is good, you should check it out, especially if you went through that Dashboard era in high school because it's updated and realistic--I think Carrabba is disillusioned somewhat. Anyways, I would recommend the album to you!

dashboardconfessional.com
myspace
buy The Shade of Poison Trees

premiere week round up

So, yay for premiere week and new television episodes to watch.

I don't watch Monday night television--I can't even tell you what is on Mondays, but Tuesday brought House M.D. and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

House: I started watching House over the summer on USA, I really don't know the whole show's continuity, but the show is intriguing. Plus, I have total a total hollywood crush on Robert Sean Leonard. [Seriously was so stoked when House came out because RSL was on it, but I think it conflicted with Gilmore Girls the first season or some other WB show, so I didn't watch it]. I don't know how I feel about the show--I enjoy the relationship between House & Wilson, but I'm totally grossed out by medical stuff. I'm really looking forward to Kal Penn being on the show, so I guess I'll have to wait for that.

SVU: SVU has been one of my favorite shows for a long time. Tuesday's episode was okay. Last season ended in a BIG way though, that I was disappointed in how the new season opened. Munch cracks me up. And I love Benson & Stabler, who was that new guy though? Oh my hot, when Stabler was flirting with whatever Cynthia Nixon's character name was, SWOON. I wasn't really all that impressed with Cynthia Nixon (then again, I rarely am), and the storyline wasn't very SVU-like. Hopefully, next week's will be better--wait, I just remembered the preview for next weeks and it really doesn't look all that great, at least next week actually involves sometime SVU related.

Wednesday night brought Gossip Girl and Dirty Sexy Money both which are oh so scandalous and exciting.

Gossip Girl: So it premiered last week, but seriously, oh. my. god. Gossip Girl is my new favorite show ever! I love it! It's so scandalous! And the boys are so pretty. Nate & Chuck are oh la la. Besides the aesthetics of the show, it's just drama-rama. I love the kids, I don't get the storyline between Serena's mom and Dan's dad. My favorite character is Chuck--what is up with his scarf, I mean, seriously. I think I like Chuck & Blair as instigators. I love the show, I watch it on The CW, and then watch it again under unsavory means... plus The CW is airing it again on Sundays at 8.

Dirty Sexy Money: I was on the fence about watching DSM until I read an article in the October issue of Vogue which just cemented my decision to check it out. I really liked Peter Krause in Sports Night (which I consistently tell people is my favorite show) and the few episodes of Six Feet Under I've watched, so he was really the selling point for the show, especially since I didn't know Samaire Armstrong (totally girlcrush worthy) was in it. This show is crazy! And oooh scandalous. And I love the contrast between Nick and the Darlings. My favorite Darling is Jeremy. IMDB has the show listed for only 6 episodes, I really hope ABC doesn't cancel the show because it is so good.

Thursday's only television viewing was The Office.

The Office: I only started watching The Office weekly mid-last season and only because of Ed Helms (he was seriously one of my favorite correspondents on The Daily Show) So, I was so OMG excited at the end of season 3 with "it's a date" but I was seriously disappointed with the opening of season 4. I don't know if the show's a must-watch anymore. I mean, yay Jam--but did anyone else think Jim was totally uncomfortable in some of those moments? And... I don't know. I just wasn't impressed or enthralled.

That's all my TV watching because I don't know what comes on Fridays either.

Basically Tuesday and Wednesdays are my TV nights.

Quick rant: I hate television network websites. They're so full of ads and streaming video and other nonsense that they take forever to load. I think the only network channel website that didn't make my head want to explode was Fox--maybe because I guessed correctly at the show's url and didn't have to click from fox.com? But gosh, loading nbc.com and abc.com were nightmares! Oh well.

That's all!

august roundup!

Wow, August just flew by didn't it? I spent most of my August obsessing over Torchwood (which begins on BBC America on September 8th--check it out. John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd are too beautiful for words) and listening to Fall Out Boy.

I also visited Atlanta's World of Coca-Cola which was pretty much too cool for words. I love memorabilia and I love Coke! Right now I'm pretty much only drinking Diet Coke though or Coke Zero because soda pop really is just empty calories for the normal kind.

Beyond the beginning of fall semester, there hasn't been anything worthy of blogging about.

I did buy the cutest coat ever from Old Navy.




















And I really want this flask from Urban Outfitters.


















Oh, I also saw Superbad which was pretty fucking hilarious on all accounts and Becoming Jane which was maddeningly boring despite the dishiness of James McAvoy. And I finally saw Nancy Drew which was surprisingly really awesome!

Becoming Jane did prompt me however to be more interested in Jane Austen's work. PBS is airing her books next year [Masterpiece Theatre: The Complete Works of Jane Austen] which is really exciting because I am really bad at reading and prefer to watch stories unfold. I am attempting to read Mansfield Park, but pretty much I'm stuck on page 49. Austen's work is SO confusing because everybody is like Miss Bertram and I'm like which Miss Bertram is this? And who's Mrs. Grant? OMG, I'm so confused! However, this is progress for me because I gave up on Pride and Prejudice after page 20. Austen's writing style is quite tedious and I don't know how people actually read her works.

I also bought a really swank purse this past month, but I can't find it on Target.com, so I can't show you pictures because I'm too lazy to take any of my own.

Also, mostly, the September issues of magazines have been on a whole satisfactory. I'm terribly disappointed in GQ, but I blame the big emphasis of politics on that--seriously, GQ what was up with that?! But everything else has been tops. I really love the new Brooks Brothers campaign. Heidi Klum is just beautiful in the Town & Country piece too. I haven't really looked at W yet because it finally arrived in my mailbox today, but what I had previously seen of the piece on Gwenyth Paltrow, I'm definitely intrigued by what else the magazine has to offer. And Marie Claire's piece on Ashely Olsen is to die! Loves it.

I think that's all.

A bit of a calendar:
September 3rd/4th: Yelle's album Pop-Up comes out!
September 6th: Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, 10pm!
November 1st: Victoria Beckham's That Extra Half Inch released in the US
November 14th: Project Runway returns!!!

Obviously, nothing cool is happening in October.

TWO MORE THINGS:
Britney Spears's new song is INCREDIBLE! I seriously love it.

And everything should read this interview with Tim Gunn because he is the coolest man in the world.

nobody taught me how to fall in love

I read Dinosaur Comics (T-Rex is the best) and Ryan mentioned this site called the 365 Days Project and I found the most amazing song on it called Nobody Taught Me which is from a 1961 Barbie album.

Check the post out! The song is posted on that page, but I've also uploaded it to mediafire here.

It's very cliché, but it's terribly lovely and sweet.

can you believe it?

Who cares about Paris Hilton or Immigration bills not being passed when there's this news!



Spice Girls Reunion Tour!

You can register to be in the pool to get tickets here. The closest they're playing to me is NYC, but I still registered, I mean it's the Spice Girls! Not like I'd be chosen anyhow!

my super sweet sixteen

My polisci professor showed us this in class this past week.



The sad thing is that this is so true. My Super Sweet Sixteen is ridiculously addictive. I am watching one right now and this girl has an awful lisp/accent and she totally has like one fat friend who isn't allowed to talk much, it's funny and she's totally mean to her. [It's like really sad because I would totally be the fat friend, so I guess I should feel sorry for the chubby girl, but I don't.] Yet, I just can't make myself change the channel. It's not like there's anything else I could be doing... That girl got a Lexus for her 15th birthday (this episode is actually the girl's 15th birthday). What does a 15 year old need a Lexus for? It's not even the car she wanted--she wanted it on the day of her party. This show cracks me up. Her party's ruined now.

I always enjoy the car scenes because it's never the car the kid wanted. It's hilarious. Those poor kids (eyeroll). Ew, this girl really should adjust her tiara, she looks stupid.

Okay, that's my spiel about My Super Sweet Sixteen. Hey, if it's good enough for Anderson Cooper to watch, then it is good enough for me. Besides, nothing says entertainment than teenagers throwing tantrums over not getting the right car and spending all of Daddy's money. Like, I just don't get it. Why do we watch this crap? And even worse, why did I just go "Oh no you didn't" when my cable decided to have an emergency testing moment? LAME.

I really need to find something else to watch...

secret society girl

Last month while in Barnes & Noble I had seen a book called Secret Society Girl, the cover was very prep and it was subtitled as "An Ivy League Novel". I promptly swooned and wished I had the ten dollars to buy it. Next pay day, I bought it and was most pleased with the book!

Secret Society Girl is about a college junior named Amy who is invited to be one of the first female members of a secret society called the Rose & Grave. Amy attends Eli University (fictionalized Yale) and Rose & Grave is very reminiscent of Skull & Bones. I love secret societies! The book is an easy read and very cute. The book details Amy's acceptance into Rose & Grave and also some drama with her previous life and her future life as a "Digger" (member of Rose & Grave). Diana Peterfreund filled the book with lots of pop culture references which is always a great source of amusement!

If you're ever looking for a quick cute read and happen to like secret societies like I do, I would most definitely recommend this book--it's very tops. The next installment, Under the Rose, comes out on June 26th and I can't wait! I really look forward to where Amy's life is going to go.

Buy Secret Society Girl // Read Diana Peterfreund's blog

librarything.com

I own 177 books. I did not count them all, however, I did catalog them on LibraryThing.com. Why? Why not! Actually, I was just ridiculously bored and I really did need to do something about my book shelves.

You can catalog 200 books for free or buy a membership (either $10 for a year or $25 for life) to enter as many as you like. However, there is actually nothing from stopping you from making another account after your first one is full, granted you own and have the time to catalog over 200 books.

You can also post reviews of your books and find members who share the same books and tag your books. It's pretty easy to use. I used ISBNs for a lot of my books because when typing the titles the paperback editions would show up. Also, I own some Barnes & Noble editions and it is absolutely important to specify that and well LibraryThing uses Amazon.com to find books, so ISBNs were easiest to use for me since I'm picky. But if you are not particular about the edition you admit to owning, you can just type the title--you don't even have to type the entire title. I also had to use Library of Congress call numbers for a few of my old books and some books, I just had to wing it on. So, yeah, LibraryThing.com is a very good cure for boredom. It's easy to use and well, who doesn't like joining web communities? Haha.

So, if you are bored and have a lot of time on your hands and a lot of books, you may want to try out LibaryThing.com

By the by, my catalog can be found here, if you are inclined to look.

kate nash

Last month, I found a song called Merry Happy on some random music blog--I don't even remember where I saw it. Today, an LJ friend was looking for songs by Kate Nash. I had initially dismissed it because I did not immediately recognize the name Kate Nash. Kate Nash sings the song Merry Happy.

She is also releasing a new song called Foundations soon. You should watch the video. The video is super cute. And the song is so lovely.


I have been listening to the song all day long. So enjoy Merry Happy and enjoy watching Foundations.

katenash.co.uk
kate on myspace

Pre-order the Foundations single on HMV.co.uk available June 18th.
Pre-order the Foundations single on Amazon.com available June 21st

trovata & rufus wainwright

Money can buy happiness but it can't prevent sadness or despair, or bad weather, or loneliness...

This is a pretty cool shirt. I've been interested in Trovata's work since 2005 when they won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award. I really like their clean lines and I love simple menswear and that's what Trovata did at first. I think they expanded to women last year, I'm not too sure. Regardless, I had to share this shirt.

Another thing I tried to write about earlier, but got distracted is Rufus Wainwright. Poses is one of my favorite albums, it really is. And I love most of the songs off of his self-titled. And when he and Ben Folds covered Careless Whisper, it really was a beautiful thing. And this past January when I'd listen to little else but his version of Bewitched. But I'm not too thrilled about his newest release.

Release the Stars comes out on Tuesday. You can stream it from VH1 here. The whole album sounds mostly melancholy. I didn't listen closely to the lyrics, so maybe it wasn't supposed to be, but I found it to be sad. There were two more upbeat (musically speaking) songs: "Rules and Regulations" and "Sans Souci" but that's it. I haven't bought a Rufus album since buying Poses and I really don't think I will buy this. It's not a bad album, but it really isn't my cup of tea.

the red dress

Basically, this is one of my favorite poems. I won't bore you with my personal history of my love affair for Dorothy Parker and carrying versions of the 1943 The Portable Dorothy Parker around.

"The Red Dress"
Dorothy Parker

I always saw, I always said
 If I were grown and free,
I'd have a gown of reddest red
 As fine as you could see,

To wear out walking, sleek and slow,
 Upon a Summer day,
And there'd be one to see me so
 And flip the world away.

And he would be a gallant one,
 With stars behind his eyes,
And hair like metal in the sun,
 And lips too warm for lies.

I always saw us, gay and good,
 High honored in the town.
Now I am grown to womanhood....
 I have the silly gown.

mad about madras!

Dooney & Bourke have a line of madras bags this season and they are to die cute. I want one. Pictured is the Bucket Bag, however, what I really want is the Medium Sac. However, the only thing I can barely even afford is the Flap Wrislet. I guess I should save my money!

summer movies

I am forever finding movie ticket stubs in my bedroom. I think there's one for Just My Luck somewhere by my bed, it just lays on the floor (amusement that I never realized until today, I saw a Lindsay Lohan movie on 06/06/06). And I have a stack in my TV stand and my In the Land of Women ticket stub is covering my face on my driver's license. I think I have one in my copy of another e.e. cummings. I know there's at least six in my old wallet from 2004 which I still have because it's Deery Lou. I love going to the movies and I don't throw my ticket stubs away. I love watching movies in a dark theatre on giant screens.

However, this summer, I honestly don't have one movie that I'm just DYING to see. I mean, there's Ocean's 13 which I will inevitably see because it's Clooney, Pitt, and Damon, but I don't think I'll be bummed if I don't see it. I will probably see Licensed to Wed because I have a girlcrush on Mandy Moore. Those are the only two movies I may spend the money to see.

This summer is full of blockbusters too: Spiderman, Shrek, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribean. Sequels, movies people are excited about, movies that have fans. I just am not excited about them. I never actually saw any of the Spiderman movies. I hated Shrek. I disliked the last Harry Potter movie, it was so boring and a waste of time. I missed the second Pirates movie and we own it, but I can't be bothered to see it.

I just wished I was more excited about summer movies. Well, at least, maybe this summer, I may actually read a book or two.

finetune & blueprint

I read about this cool thing called FineTune on Blueprint Magazine's Blog. Basically, you pick 45 song from their selections and make a playlist. It has to be 45 songs for some sort of legal reasons. likewise, you can only pick three songs per artists, but it's pretty neat. I've been listening to my playlist for at least an hour. Most of it is stuff I actually have on my itunes playlist, but it's still neat like in case your ipod's battery dies or something, you can just open a playlist from finetune and listen to music you like, instead of being stuck with internet radio. If you like internet radio, you can also pick artist radio stations which plays "related artists" selections. One downside is there's a weird limit on hitting next, which is really bad for people like me who don't actually listen to complete songs or get bored quickly. Regardless, FineTune is pretty neat.

Since I mentioned Blueprint, I thought I'd rave about it as well. Blueprint is a Martha Stewart publication and I know Martha Stewart isn't that cool, but Blueprint is incredible. Its tagline is "Design Your Life" and the magazine encompasses lots of aspects of life. I haven't had time to devour all of the May/June issue (cover pictured), but the previous three issues are INCREDIBLE. There's an article in every issue called "100 Reasons to..." which very interesting. Last issue's was "100 Reasons to Get Rid of It" and the first issue was "100 Reasons to Crack a Smile" which actually did make me smile. #41 John Cusack in Say Anything. #80 The National Spelling Bee on ESPN. #89 Chuck Norris in general. Maybe you didn't smile, but I certainly did. The magazine also recommends cool books and awesome music. The current issue suggests summer time music with a guide of Old and Newish albums to pick. All in all, I think the magazine is pretty hip. It deals with pop culture and etiquette and every day life. I really enjoy it.

So, sign up for an account on finetune.com and make a playlist and pick up a copy of the May/June issue of Blueprint, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

summer beauty

I love this Lilly Pulitzer dress. Jacqueline Dress Lace. So lovely! Lilly's released a men's line which isn't quite as lovely. Exhibit A.

Sometimes, I really wish I could afford key prep clothes.

how it ends

The thing about reading a biography, especially one of a dead person, is that you know how it ends.

hey pretty

I want this blog to be full of news stories and poetry and Things That Matter. It won't be. I will post about books I want to read (and maybe one day I actually will read.) I'll tell you about the Kate Spade handbag I'm saving to buy. I'll write about celebrity gossip and tell you how completely ridiculous the world is. I'll post quotes about love and rave about Zelda Fitzgerald.

The truth is this summer I am hoping to find depth.

Kiss Kiss, Sell Out will probably be full of professions of love. Love for music, books, shoes, magazines, television and movies. While I may not be very smart, but I am genuine.

Let's see how things go, yes?