Art is Gay

Years ago, I was at a house party with my friend Jill. We were waiting in line for the keg, cluching or neon colored Halo cups, and discussing setting one of our friends up with someone else. Our probably gay friend Art (Arthur) came up in our conversation and the following conversation ensued.

Me: Why don't we set her up with Art?
Jill: ART IS GAY!
Me: Oh right
Irate Guy Who Just Heard the Tail End of our Conversation: How dare you say that? Everyone can appreciate art not just gay people and for you to say that art is gay is so small minded WTF is your problem.
Me: We meant our friend NAMED Art is gay.
Irate Guy: Oh.....

In any case while Art is gay, art's sexuality remains to be seen though I suspect it's Bi.

In any case click here to check out the art Andy and I saw on our Public Art Tour of MIT this weekend!

It's Up To Blanche and Rose to Hold Down The Fort Now

We lost another one today, folks.

Bea Arthur passed away today. Bad enough we lost Estelle Getty not so long ago and now this! My fellow Golden Girls fans join me in lamenting this great loss. Rest in Peace, Bea!! You will be greatly missed.

And now, some Dorothy Zbornak quotes to soothe us in our dark hour.






"I could have been living in a swinging condo instead of with...I better not say anything till I've had my coffee...a slut and a moron! I'm sorry, it must be decaf."





Blanche: ''Flirting is in my heritage.''
Rose: What does that mean?
Dorothy: ''Her mother was a slut too.''





"So you're five years older. So am I, so is Blanche. Alright, so you have a few more wrinkles. So do I, so does Blanche. OK, so you're a little thicker around the middle. So is Blanche!"





"I look like the mother of a Solid Gold dancer."





Blanche: Well, I have heard enough! No Devereaux has ever had to go to a bank for sperm. I certainly haven't!
Dorothy: She's always relied on the kindness of strangers.


Oh, back off, Blanche! Not all of us are classified by the Navy as a friendly port!"





Rose: You've become in the news business, what we call a 'hot story!'
Dorothy: You've become in the revenge business, what they call 'next.'





Blanche: Well, I certainly didn't wait for my wedding night, honey. I couldn't - I had these urges. You know, in the South, we mature faster. I think it's the heat.
Dorothy: I think it's the gin.





Blanche. We can't fire her. She's making me a love potion!
Dorothy: Use vodka and black underwear like everyone else!





Blanche: You're jealous of me. Admit it.
Dorothy: Blanche, there is a man leaving in ten minutes. Be under him.

Lip Gloss Hero

I have an unhealthy obsession. One that cannot be denied, though I try. One that many fellow women my age share.

An addiction the likes of which shall not be reckoned with. An unholy addiction. To LIP GLOSS.


It's true.


I can't pass the cosmetics aisle at CVS without picking a tube up, even though at the time I may have a few tubes in my handbag already, barely used. If I see a commercial for a new kind of lip gloss It Must Be Mine. If someone within my range of sight is using a lip gloss I have never seen, I have to know what kind it is and where I can get it.


It's a sickness, I know.

But why shouldn't others benefit from my weakness?

So, I give to you;

The Great Lip Gloss Round Up of The 2009 Spring Season.



1. Chapstick 100% Naturals Lip Butter - $2
It does no good to put lip gloss on chapped lips so I have tubes of this strewn about my life. On in my car, one at my office, one in my handbag. I love how it feels moisturizing but not greasy and has a nice clean feel to it. A great base for any lip gloss.

2. Nivea "A Kiss of Shine" Natural Glossy Lip Care - $3
I grew up using Nivea lotion in the dark blue bottle so this purchase was out of sentimental brand loyalty. It ended up being a good idea though! This is the "lightest" of these lip glosses and feels the most moisturizing. It gives great shine that doesn't last terribly long but the moisturizing sensation it imparts DOES last. Not to mention it tastes like delicious grapefruit. Yum.

3. Maybelline VolumeXLSeduction Lip Plumper in "Pouty Passion" - $8.99
Despite it's incredibly cheesy name, this gloss lives up to it's height. You may have seen my twitter yesterday "My new lip gloss tastes like burning" and indeed, it does prickle a bit when it's first applied which is what makes your lips plump up a bit. I can't confirm that they actually grow by 30% but they definitely did look a little bigger, and the color was fantastic (just a shade darker than natural lip color) and the shine was pretty long lasting. If you can get past the initial "burning", I recommend.

4. Revlon Beyond Natural Cream Lip Gloss in "Rosy" - $7.99
This is my favorite of the drug store brands and the one I most often get complimented on. It has the longest lasting shine of the drugstore bunch, tastes like cupcakes and really makes your lips feel moisturized as well. Two thumbs up.

5. Paula Dorf Lip Slides in "Happy" - $21
The creme de la creme of lip gloss, in my opinion. For much of my formative lip gloss using years I was a MAC Lip Glass girl through and through. So what if every time the wind changed my hair blew onto my lips and was stuck there permanently? The shine and long lastingness of it was to die for so I could deal with the stickiness. I thought lip gloss HAD to be super sticky to be long lasting. Then one day, years ago, I blew into Beauty and Main in Harvard Square, late for meeting a friend for dinner and plum out of lip gloss (the horror!). They did not have any MAC but they DID insist I give Paul Dorf a try. So I did. And I have never looked back. The PERFECT amount of shine. The perfect amount of stickiness and the perfect color. I feel like a movie star when I use it. It is my go-to "going out gloss" and I love that I rarely have to reapply it. Sadly Beauty and Main no longer carries this line but check out www.PaulaDorf.com and use coupon code PDLovesMoms to get 20% off until May 16th. You will not be sorry!

Whew I need a break. The passion that Paula Dorf inspires is nothin' to F with.

Ok next up,

6)Trish McEvoy Beauty Booster™ SPF 15 Lip Gloss - $25
While shopping at the Derby Street shops with my mom a few months ago, we popped into the Beauty and Main at that location to inquire about the Paula Dorf lip slides and it was then I found out the sad news that they no longer carried the Paula Dorf line. The woman working there was a huge fan of Trish McEvoy and heartily encouraged me to try out her Beaty Booster Lip Gloss. At first try, I was a fan so I purchased a nudey-pink shade. My mom even declared how nice it looked on me and for a moment I thought, Paula Dorf who needs you? My glee was short lived though. Though I do appreciate that it's SPF 15, I found that it has limited staying power and you constantly need to reapply it. At $25 a pop I can't afford to be running over to B&M every two weeks for a replacement so it was nice while it lasted. And I will definitely keep the remainder of my tube in my beach bag this summer, but I don't think I would purchase it again. Then again if you don't like any stickiness at all and are just looking for a hint of sheer color then this might be right up your alley!

7. Mary Kay Nourishine Lip Gloss in Pink Diamonds - $13
This was a close contender for my favorite non drug store brand. It feels like a much more expensive lip gloss and lasts forever. Also I am a fan of the applicator wand which you don't see much of anymore in lip gloss. The pinky sparkly color is perfect for going out, it feels moisturizing as you use it and it yields a good amount of shine. You do have to reapply a bit often BUT it's a magical tube that for some reason takes FOREVER to run out. And at $13 a pop you won't bankrupt yourself buying a new one every few months. If you have a Mary Kay rep definitely check it out!

So there you have it. Though I do have my favorites, I like all of these lip glosses and none of them as of yet have inspired total and complete loyalty in me. Will the right lip gloss come along one day that tempts me to shun all others? Perhaps. But in the mean time you know what they say, you gotta shop around!

(Special shout out to my blog- girls Kimba and Erin with whom I had dinner and cocktails last night! We had so much fun and look forward to planning another local Blog Girls night SOON!)

Love to Loaf

A shocking amount of people hate meatloaf. Why? I don't know. Danielle and I were discussing the other day that it's basically a giant meatball and you hardly ever hear people say they hate meatballs so what's the big idea? Is it because growing up their moms made it dry and tasteless. Is it because the idea of a loaf shaped piece of meat is off putting? I stand before today, a proud member of Team Meatloaf, to tell you it's okay to like meatloaf! Seriously. And if you don't like the way it tastes there is a lot you can do to change it. Add some Cajun spice. Mix in some bbq sauce. Or in my case, throw a salad in the mix!

The other day when I was going through the fridge, figuring out what we'd have for dinner this week - I was struck with inspiration. I had ground turkey that I had to use pretty soon. I had about 1/2 a ball of fresh mozzarella. I had some basil. I had one large, delicious looking tomato. What to do?

How about Caprese Turkey Meatloaf?

I decided to blend two of my favorite easy dishes: Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella salad and turkey meatloaf into one pretty easy and DELICIOUS meal. It came out better than I imagined and I learned a lesson - you don't really need an egg to make meatloaf. I didn't have any and it still held together beautifully. Check it out.



Caprese Turkey Meatloaf
1 package ground lean turkey (about 1.3 lbs)
½ cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup Tomato and Basil pasta sauce, divided
1 bunch basil leaves, chopped
6 oz mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, “spit” removed, chopped and drained (or 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained)
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350
Combine the turkey, breadcrumbs and ¾ cup of the tomato sauce and a little salt and pepper until just mixed. If the mixture is to wet, sprinkle in some more breadcrumbs. If it’s too dry use a little more sauce. Fold in the chopped tomatoes.
Divide mixture into two equal mounds.
Pat 1 mound into a greased loaf pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle basil on top and pat down.
Lay mozzarella slices on top.
Spread remaining meat on top, pressing. Run your fingers along the edges of the meatloaf to seal. Cover with remaining tomato sauce (1/4 cup)
Let sit in fridge for about 20 minutes.
Bake for 45minutes to an hour (until a meat thermometer registers 165/170).
Let sit for 5 minutes.
Slice and serve!



It’s delicious and gooey and maintains the fantastic taste combo of tomato, basil and mozzarella. It was a nice change from our usual turkey meat loaf. It was definitely a hit in our house! I think this would be equally good if you subbed out the basil and mozzarella for spinach and feta!

Weekend Highlights

Well I am exhausted and have a banged up knee. Which in Pink Shoe World means I must have had somewhat of an epic weekend.

Friday evening was our book club meeting, attended each month by myself, Andy, Caity, Amanda and Eileen. This month we read The Big Sleep and held the meeting at Andy's place. We all dressed in 1940s garb, swilled G&Ts and discussed the ins and outs of Chandler's masterpiece. (Iam being base here, this is quite a sexually charged book/movie especially for the time period). Later in the night, Andy Eileen and I retreated to the Ashmont Grill for nightcaps


The next morning I did something I never do: I went out for breakfast. I have been the sort who usually prefers to drink my coffee and have my breakfast leisurely in bed while reading the paper (or watching an informercial for "Dollar Bills" as the cae may be). But on this occasion, when Danielle invited me to breakfast with her and Peter I figured "why not?". And besides my throwing a slight temper tantrum at discovering that this place we went to did NOT serve bloody maries (the horror!), it was a super fun time though I am sure our topics of conversation horrified those around us! But you know the old adage, If you haven't scandalized a restaurant full of people by 11AM, you may as well call it a day.

Saturday night our friends Nicky and PJ came down and while Adam and PJ attended the Bruins game, Nicky and I went with Andy to Jeffrey's in Roslindale for a fabulous (and surprisingly inexpensive!) dinner. Their cocktails ain't nothin' to F with either because with one before dinner cocktail and 2 glasses of wine with dinner I was well on my way to Drunk Pants Land. Which leads to the banged up knee I referenced in the opening paragraph.

Picture it: we are outside Blockbuster video having just walked by a display of First Wives Club DVDs. Which led us to bust out with "You Don't Own Me" on the sidewalk, while doing the dance that Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn do in the movie.


Which led, in turn, to me unceremoniously falling off the curb and into the parking lot. You wish you saw it, believe me.

Sunday brought with it the christening and subsequent raging party celebrating the adoption of the fabulous and super cute Tristan by our good friends Vicki and Joe. Vicky remarked that she is always amused to see me at these church events since I am the least church-y person ever. In fact, when the priest asked "Is everyone here a baptized Catholic" I said aloud "Oh shit is there going to be a quiz?". But the priest was hot which helped put me at ease (and he was only asking the question so he could explain to us non Catholics the purpose of baptism which I thought was nice of him!)

Side note: devout Catholics are not on board with you remarking on how hot a priest is. Nor referencing the "Friar F*ck" Sex and the City episode. But that is neither here nor there.

It was so great to see little Tristan celebrated and he looked fanastic in his little white suit. Then there was an after party in Foxboro which was an elegant and smashing time (Shout out to Annie and Merie (<-- probably spelled wrong but I gave it a go!) and after the after party is, of course, another after party this time at a local hotel bar where the Whiskey Sours and glasses of Black Label were traded in for glasses of white wine and Bud Lights. I love that Vicky, the original Braintree party girl, is still able to party up despite having two kids and being a responsible adult. This gives me hope for us all.

Now if you will excuse me I need about 8 more cups of coffee.

Happy Friday!

Oh look at me. The prodigal Blogger returns.

Work has been totally stressing me out lately and since I dont want to burdern you guys, as I burden my friends in real life, by constantly talking about work, there you have my lame explanation of my sporadic blogging as of late. Things are looking up though. And my attitude is MUCH improved.

Anyway.

Yesterday was my first day off, kicking off a spring/summer of 4 day work weeks. I celebrated by getting tipsy on lemon-ginger martinis with Adam, Andy and Danielle on Wednesday night and waking up at the luxurious hour of 8AM on Thursday, ready to enjoy my day off. I putzed around the apartment for a while, catching up on some DVRd goodies and drinking coffee. Then I head out in the late morning. First stop, Barnes and Nobles. I had forgotten how much fun book shopping is. Especially when it's buy 2 get 1 free! Who can pass up that bargain? So I ended up with:

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler - for book club
My Life in France by Julia Child, - because I love France and I love Julia.
The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir - because so many of you have beseeched me to read Alison Weir, knowing my obsession with all things Tudor

So that was quite a fruitful trip. Then it was off to Glow for my first mist on tanning session of the season. They're 20% off this month so if you are local and sick of being pale, definitely check them out. Being "tan" does wonders for one's state of mind.

Next up? Food shopping. Holy moly food shopping in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday is something of a luxury. I usually go after work on Wednesday so I felt incredibly spoiled NOT having to wait at the deli counter, being able to maneuver my shopping cart up and down aisles without feeling like I'm in gridlocked traffic, no lines at the checkout counters. Mon Dieu!

As I mentioned before I have been reading my mom's old cookbooks and in one of my faves, the author talks about the "european" way of food shopping. Which is basically buying whats fresh and in season and what look sgood and not, shockingly enough, using a list. The idea is that by doing this you end up with better AND less expensive items. SO I gave this a whirl, forgoing my usual "Plan out the weekly menu, make a list of what I need to create that menu" and kind of went kamikaze food shopping. It was great! I ended up with tons of in season fruit and veggie, a variety of meat (london broil steaks, chicken breasts and ground turkey were all on sale) and I spent about $20 less then I usually do on a weeks worth of groceries. Not too shabby!

I then swung by my parents house, since they returned home from their vacation. It turns out that the dog gained TWO pounds while in our care. Which to a smaller dog is like 20 pounds. Sorry Bodhi. I am at least glad there is one man in my life that doesnt infuriatingly seem to never gain weight. Ha!

In conclusion, my night was spent reading The Big Sleep in preparation for book club tonight. It was quite the page turner and I could not believe how risque it was. Drugs. Nudity. Sex. Porn. Murder. Mon dieu!! With all that going on it was easy enough to finsh it in one night. People are sometimes shocked at how fast I read but hello, I was an English major in college and am a master procrastinator. I spent many a night staying up late,fueled by oceans of Dunkin Donuts coffee, reading a book so I could then write a paper about it and turn it in the next day. My speed reading skills are highly tuned.

So that is that, not bad for the first day off!

WTF

I never said I wasn't a total baby sometimes.

Now, one of the things I love about my apartment is that in general I feel totally safe in it. I'm on the top floor, the front and back doors of the building are hardcore and always locked. The doors to my actual apartment are hardcore to. This affords me the luxury of not thinking at any given moment that a murderer is going to break in (Unless I take a shower immediately after watching a horror film but that is a story that has already been told).

So, this past Saturday Adam and I went to my parents' house to have dinner with my brother, do some laundry, hang out (my parents are currently on a month long vacation in Florida). We were up pretty late hanging out, drinking wine, etc so Adam and I decided to stay over. Fine. We went to bed around 1AM. Around that time the dog started crazily barking and I heard a car loudly idling out front. I got out of bed and peeked through the blinds out the window; a beatup white pickup truck was idling out front of the house with it's lights off.

WTF.

I watched for a few moments and then woke Adam up "There are some weirdos out front". Adam mumbled something like "so what?" and seemed unconcerned.. I continued my vigilance at the window and soon two guys got out of the car and began rooting around in the bed of their truck, presumably to grab their shotguns and lay siege to the house.

I should mention at this point that Adam and I stayed up until 3AM the night before watching Saw III and Saw IV.

Anyway.

The two youths grabbed a big box and started walking into the yard, towards the backyard. At this point I ran over to my brothers' room and knocked on his door "I think your friends are here??" Peter, who had been asleep, stumbled out of his room like mumbling something like what would my friends be doing here at this hour and looked out the window at the truck and announced he had no idea who those guys were.

"OMG it's probably guys coming to hold us as gunpoint and rob the house"
"Are you serious? Have you seen Mom and Pop's TV? That thing is like 20 years old who would want it?". Peter replied.

Though he had a point, I was not assuaged. After confirming that my brother had locked all the doors before he went to bed, I was like "Someone has to go out back and see what those guys are doing here".

Adam, who was still not at all concerned, suggested that if I was that worried I should call the cops. Ehh I didn't really want to do that...cops at my parents house late at night? Shades of the 1997-1998 Braintree party scene. I don't need any of that.

So Peter, a very good investigator, goes downstairs and returns a minute later. It turned out the Dolans house, who live two houses from my parents and who have two teenaged kids, was all lit up. Every light in the house on. Kids hanging out on the porch. Driveway full of cars.

Shades of 1998 indeed!

Surmising that that truck's occupants were late party attenders who had cut through the yard to get to the Dolan's, and not teenaged murderers laying wait on the back porch. I was thoroughly calmed down enough to return to bed.

The next morning, I was letting the dog out and noticed that same pick up truck was parked in front of the house.

"WTF?" I said to my brother.

Peter, not up on the Internet lingo asked "White Trash Forever?"

Indeed.

F a Blog Post Title

Yesterday was the second to last Thursday I will be working for the forseeable future.

Yesterday we picked what days we will each have off on our new shortened work week. I was gunning for Wednesday but ended up with Thursday which is fine with me, too. You may be surprsied that I didn't want Monday or Friday. But Monday are my busiest days here so it wouldnt be fair to my team to take that day, and then Fridays are kind of...dare I say it...FUN around here. The beer cart. People in a good mood and less stressed than earlier in the week. In the summer we cook out at noon. So I didn't want to squander my day off on that either. SO, Thursday it is! If you are looking for someone to share cocktails with on Wednesday nights, I am your girl.

What will I do with my day off each week? Well according to Adam I will be cleaning and doing laundry. Hmmm we will see about that won't we? I have a few goals. I would like to go for a walk in the mornings down at Wollaston Beach which is desserted on weekday mornings. And then I would like to pick up a Julia Child cookbook over the weekend and use my Thursday afternoons from time to time to try my hand at the intricacies of French cooking! If you can reccomend one stand out Julia Child cookbook please let me know dans le comments.

And of course the first Thursday that it's above 70 out you can catch me at the beach!

Moving on...

I have been prowling around for a new "going out" clutch. Now for me, clutches are a dime a dozen. I hit up vintage and antique shops and get really cute ones for small money. So I own about 10 clutches. But my favorite "going out" one, a darling silver envelope clutch, has seen better days (probably in the 1960s). As such I need a replacement but so many clutches these days are kind of cheesy/ not the right size/not what I am looking for. Thankfully Felix Rey came through in the clutch for me (i = puntastic) and I scored this adorableness for about 1/3 of what it retails for on Gilt.com



Love it! Gray satin is so elegant but that red bow is all pop-art and silly. I would totally carry this during the day too with jeans.

Additionally, I am now in dire need of gold peep toes heels. I found the most fabulous pair a few years ago at Target and wore the complete crap out of them. They were gorgeous and no one ever believed me when I said they were from Target (Hilary do you still have yours?). Now they are scuffed and sad and I am sad too because a life without a go-to pair of gold peep toes is not a life I want to lead.

In conclusion: tomorrow I am going to a Spring Beer Tasting. Look for highlights on Brew England this weekend. Then I believe at night we will be grilling. Maybe having some folks over. I know it's going to rain but Grillin' in the Rain is a broadway hit begging to be sung. It's on.