Ridiculousness

Cultural category

As a kid, I used to be obsessed with playing fashion show with my sister and cousins. We would have all the categories covered: sportswear, evening, swimwear, sleepwear, whatever we could think of and of course, there had to be a talent section.  My Mom or Aunt was always the judge and I’m sure they did their best to keep a straight face whenever fashion show days were inflicted upon them.

In any event, the obsession seems to have morphed into I dress my dog up just because it makes me laugh sometimes.  So, today he was subjected to trying on my scarf.  He sits very content as I do these things.  I think he actually enjoys it or perhaps he is scared.  Ridiculousness I say.  It keeps me sane, I swear.

And I will admit he does have a pair of Pajamas that I put him in and he loves.  I’m very proud of the fact that my dog does not fuss when clothes are put on him and even more so, he is perfectly behaved in any clothing store and clothing dressing room, for that matter.  I’m not sure how he would fare in other circumstances, but he has the shopping down.

Preppy category

Quote

The real values of life are not purchasable with money.
You can’t buy peace and good will.
If you could, the problems that face us would be simple.
All you can do, at most, is to help provide a setting, a scaffolding, an atmosphere, a soil perhaps, where these values can have at least some chance to grow.

John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Just dance

I was talking to a friend this week who said to me they felt they were in a “funk” and were frustrated from their situation, not entirely sure how to get out of it.  We’ve all been there, done that.
There are a few things I have found that can fix any funk:

1.  Dance. Yup, go turn on your favorite music and dance yourself out of it.  Do it alone or with the kids (they’ll love it) or with the dog staring at you.  Do it with the shades up so the neighbors can see.  Who cares.  Maybe you will give them a good laugh.  Dancing is literally a normal part of my week.  If I don’t dance at least twice a week, something is not right.  When you dance, you literally dance any yucky stuff away and you fill back up with all good stuff.  Honestly, try it.

2. Positive thoughts. Think yourself out of it with positive thought after positive thought.  And when you know you are not thinking positive just say to yourself, delete that last thought.  It helps.

3.  Listening to motivational speakers about positivity.  Another “fix” is googling a motivational speaker or spiritualist to listen to.  It will distract your mind out of the funk.  I found this meditation/suggestion of how to end and start your day in order to attract positive things.  It’s pretty simple.  It just emphasizes gratitude and starting your day on the right foot.  Simple is usually the answer:)

Haircut + cupcakes = good day

Babycakes Storefront

I ran downtown today get a haircut from my wonderful hairstylist, Joe at Fringe Salon.  I’ve been going to Joe for years. At one point I had to take a hiatus from going to him (when I worked for a hedge fund) because I had no life other than work and therefore, could not find the time to go all the way downtown to the salon.  When I couldn’t  go to him I went to the John Barrett Salon at Bergdorf Goodman.  As much as the John Barrett Salon is known for their reputation and the solid job they do, Joe at Fringe does a better job (not to mention for about $50 cheaper too).  So, if there are any locals reading this and looking for where to go, Joe is a definite must try.  In addition to a great haircut, Babycakes, a vegan cupcake place that is extremely well known is right next door.  It’s amazing that these cupcakes are vegan.  A great haircut and a no guilt cupcake (or two) that tastes like the real thing is my definition of a good day.  Go try either out and you will be smiling when you leave.

Parisian bike system: Velib

I meant to post this last week, but life has been busy.  Since having commented via posts on the impending NYC bike system, I came across a review of the Parisian public bike system, Velib by a San Francisco native who lives in Paris.  She explains how to best get around using it while there and I thought it was good information to share.  Like many people, I have a slight obsession with reading about Parisian lifestyle.  I use the justification that I do in fact, have French in my bloodline- my Great Grandmother was French.   Unfortunately, I have only been to Paris once. I absolutely loved it. I was expecting people to be rude to me and to my surprise, everyone was nice.  It appeared they thought I was a local because women would just start speaking French to me and I would smile explaining I didn’t speak the language.  Learning the French language is now one of those lingering goals that I don’t work at, yet wish the ability would magically appear.  I’ve decided when I have kids I’m going to make them take the French lessons as children (yes, live vicariously) and perhaps I’ll catch on then.  Wouldn’t that be very Mary Poppin’s perfect?  Enough on that tangent.  Now go visit Paris so you can write your own blog post on the public bike system or for that matter, whatever suits your fancy.

MoMo Home Design: launched!

I love antiques and vintage finds.  I’ve always been obsessed with rooms being comfortable, in order, and functionally friendly while looking great.  When I first came to Manhattan I worked at Ann-Morris Antiques, an antique showroom to the Trade that has been on East 60th street for years. I worked there for about two and a half years which gave me a pretty solid background in 19th Century English Country antiques.

Over the last year and a half I have been working freelance at Elizabeth Bauer Design which is an eclectic mix of things, focusing more on Mid-Century items. Returning to the industry has brought my love of design back even more.  So when I can, I shop around for unique antique and vintage finds.  With that, I have decided to start MoMo Home Design , a small online site which will have these finds.  After all, my apartment can only fit so many pieces of furniture:)   I’ll eventually mix in some new vendor items in that I think are great home additions as well. 
 Like I said, I’m starting small, so I just posted my first piece of furniture, a great vintage lucite Mid-century desk I found.   Lucite is great design wise because when you put it in a room, visually it doesn’t take up any space.  Therefore, with the limited apartment space that we have in NYC things that don’t visually take up space and look stylish are ideal.   

Bike on, but use your own bike until Summer 2012

No, we will not be seeing Santa riding on a NYC bike-share system by this Christmas so he is going to have to stick to his sled.  Instead, NY is staying true to who they are and are fashionably late with the execution of the bike program.  How appropriate being that fashion week just ended. The NYT says that the city is still trying to get their act together on this one.  I’m not holding my breath from all the issues mentioned in the article.  Instead, I’m just going to look at this situation like I do men:  If they don’t have their act together, just go onto the next. That is, when I see the bike-share system actually functioning on the streets i’ll consider it then.  Oh, and New Yorkers have been proposing some hilarious suggestions on where to put the bike stations.

  

Missoni Mania

Now, I know we all love Missoni, but today was ridiculous with target’s site crashing from the launch of the new line.  The NYTimes claimed the site was up later in the afternoon and it was somewhat functioning, but it definitely was not.  When I finally got on the site I couldn’t even place an item in my cart.   24 hours later the target site is still completely dysfunctional.  If we didn’t have online shopping, what would the stores look like with this type of mad rush?  The ridiculous part is that by this afternoon ebay had almost 7,000 of the items listed with inflated prices.  Talk about wanting to make an extra buck.  Wow.  I hope those that were able to login to Target got some fun stuff.  I’m over it already.  We don’t have any Target stores in Manhattan, but I’ll survive.  We have plenty of other great options.
Here’s the NYTimes article.

Missoni NY Times article

Eataly – 5 stars and not just for the food

EATALY on 23rd Street has been around for I would say a year now, but for some reason I didn’t make it there until this past month.  Its had great reviews and I finally went with a friend after work to have drinks.  Let me put food aside for a moment because the real shocker was the number of good looking men in such a small radius.  I said to my friend, “Did we just hit the lottery because there are never this many good looking men in one spot in NYC?”  She concurred.

The second time I visited was the same deal:  I mean, seriously good looking men in the middle of the work day.  Ladies, if you are having a bad day, go take a stroll through and you’ll be smiling by the time you leave, gauranteed.  Despite my distraction, I did pick up some groceries: fruit, olive oil, parmigiano, a baguette, etc. Each and every item I picked up was delish. Go spend your evening after work with a glass of wine there and you won’t be disappointed.  Ladies, you are going to have to compose yourself with the scenery. Five stars all round.