Category: Friends

Fashion, Friends, Humor, Wedding May 20, 2009May 20, 2009

Eve vs. The Apple

“Look for the woman in the dress; if there is no woman, there is no dress.”
-Coco Chanel

It never fails. Whenever I recommit to frugality (and, though I don’t mind spending money, I already do live well within my limits) I remember something I need to buy, find a place that tempts me to dump money into it, or go shopping with Venice. Usually some combination of the three.

Last night was the third option. I told the girls I asked to be bridesmaids long ago that I want them to pick out a dress they liked, that flattered them, and that they could wear again…I had no idea it would mean frantic searching and agony on their part, I thought I was doing something nice! Venice and I went on the hunt for bridesmaids dresses, and since we live in wedding central, we reasoned, surely there must be something. Two hours later we had encountered monstrosity after monstrosity (long, hunter’s orange, chiffon with a BOW! I didn’t know they actually were legally able to sell something that ugly!) and I could tell she was getting frustrated enough to chew nails! David’s Bridal was explored and discarded, some pretty dresses but ridiculously priced and the alterations would cost a separate fortune. Other bridal shops were the same, the dresses in varying degrees of loath-ability. We’re about the same height (aka short) and let me tell you, no one makes pretty petite bridesmaids dresses. In fact, I’d say that very few people make pretty petite clothing for women in their early twenties period, but that’s an entirely different rant for another day. As if finding a nice bridesmaids dress wasn’t a chore to begin with, finding one in a “specialty size” was pretty near impossible, we continue to be confounded by our height (or lack thereof).

Finally we through in the towel (after we had both stopped into Anchor Blue for flip flops because we both needed a pair, were still both in our work heels, and dying) and slumped home in defeat. Then! At 10 o’clock she called (ironic, since we now live two doors down from one another) and I hurried over to see this marvelous site: Shabby Apple. Another friend had introduced me to it months ago but the memory of it was long gone. It’s a small business run out of Salt Lake City, UT and they sell nothing but fabulous dresses! She found one she really liked (it’s so classy, and not something vile that one tosses in the back of a closet never to be seen again) so we ordered it and we’re now a step closer to being done with this whole parade!

…of course, there were repercussions…I’ve had next to nothing to do at work today so I spent the day cruising the website, having to physically restrain myself from whipping out the credit card! I’m currently drooling over a few and debating which to buy first when I’m no longer out of my I’m-getting-married-and-have-better-things-to-spend-my-money-on hell. …that and today I’m buying a pair of stunning emerald earrings to wear on the big day. A girl can’t have everything. At least not all at once.

For your horror/viewing pleasure you may check out the following. I can’t belive so many people are this cruel to their friends!

Friends, Humor, Wedding, Working Out May 4, 2009

T-Minus Two Months

“Whenever a woman asks me ‘What’s the best way to lose weight?’ I tell her, ‘Get engaged.'”
-David Zinczenko

Nothing like a form hugging (breath constricting) gown to make a girl commit!

Yes, folks, my caloric intake is down and my amount of time at the gym is up. My sleep is heavy and my morning yogurt is “light.” My waistline is in and my muscles are out (in a sleek, feminine sort of way). Barring any mental breakdown and the metric ton of brownies that I would medically require to get over it, roll on July 1!

In other wedding news, Catriona helped me get started on invitations and announcements last saturday, so my stress level in that department has bottomed out, bless her! We threw on Some Like it Hot, I addressed (my handwriting is still awful) and she stuffed envelopes and stamped. With the list much shorter now, life seems so much more bearable.

And in weddings other than my own, good grief! It seems like I get an invitation to a reception, shower, or hen night every day! J. and I went to Marie’s sister’s reception last week, his best friend is getting married this weekend, Kays is getting married the weekend after that, and I get a brief reprive the week after that (unless you count my final dress fitting-which will hopefully be angst free as long as those brownies aren’t required!).

Friends, Humor, Wedding April 29, 2009April 29, 2009

Dude, Where’s My Pants?

“We’re going for the law of probability here: if we take enough pictures then one of them has to turn out!”
(Later)
“Good grief! If he’s not looking stoned then I’m looking like a gargoyle!”
-C

So, after being engaged for months and getting married in just two, J. and I finally took engagement pictures to send out with our announcements. What a migraine! First I had to figure out what to wear (a war in and of itself). This required a mad dash through the mall, trying on and discarding a number of dresses, falling in love with a fabulous white linen one, dropping way too much on it, getting it home, lovingly pulling it out the next day to admire it and being seized by a horrible rush of, “I’ll look like a Stepford Wife!” before finally being calmed down by well meaning friends.

Then we actually took the pictures. After a day of perfect weather, by the time we got to our shooting site there were threatening clouds, of course, and an atmosphere of dust that had blown in from the desert. Didn’t matter, we manned up and smiled bravely while Kays (darling and patient girl that she was) clicked merrily away, delighting mostly in the pictures in which we looked particularly ghoulish. Kays and I then decamped to her house for selection and editing (J. went to Five Guys with the boys. Men).

After everything, the editing was the adventure. By 11:30 pm Kays and I were giggling hysterically as we scrolled through indiscernible blobs, improbable facial contortions, and the occasional good shot (I can count the photos of myself that I’ve liked over the years on one hand, I think I must look very different in my head than I do in real life… ). She, being the photoshop whiz that she is, tweaked a few things like brightening colors, and fixing my hair when I had a fit of narcissistic angst.

Then, just when we were about to pack up for the night, something caught my eye. We’d just spent half an hour on this one picture but something…something was wrong. What was it? My hair was flowing and my hips were at an angle that didn’t make them look huge, J. was annoyingly handsome and smiling, the colors were vibrant…WAIT A SECOND! I looked closer at J.’s trousers and nearly choked. Somehow, by trying to make the colors richer, we had turned his trousers into a gaping pants-shaped black hole! You couldn’t see any pockets, pleats, belt, or anything, it was just a black splotch where light went to die. AND we hadn’t saved the version of the photo we had worked on to fix everything else. We stared in dismay at the screen at the pre-edited photo and the creepy post-production, until I blurted in almost-midnight-and-exhausted panic, “Can’t we just crop in the trousers from the original picture?”
“I’m not sure if I can…” but Kays tried.

Eh voila! The Black Hole is no more, you can’t even tell that it was cropped. Of course we still have to make a final decision and for all I know we won’t even choose that one…but midnight drama with an old friend is worth it! Plus, if we decide today, I can order the prints and get started on announcements finally!

Friends, Humor, Weekend April 20, 2009April 20, 2009

But I’m Le Tired!

“We should get up.”
“Nope.”
-C. and Peregrine

weekend When I was a student weekends were for professional procrastination, the deliberate putting off of what we could do today until tomorrow. Unless it was the weekend before a paper or test, in which case it was a frantic mess of studying, typing, the hot chocolate by the cupload (I prefer sugar to caffeine). But ever since joining the post-undergraduate workforce, I cannot think of anything less relaxing than a weekend! Even if they are fun, they are exhausting.

Peregrine came into town to visit this weekend, YEAH! She’s making the rounds visiting friends, but crashing at my place. Thanks to her I think I’ve eaten more calories in the last two days than a small third world country sees in a year, due to our mutual love of heavy cream, french cheeses, and chocolate. Bad…

I saw my godbrother Pieter for the last time in two years, he’s going to be in Belgium (where I used to live! Eating the waffles I love! And I’m nowhere around!) doing missionary work. He’s going to do a lot of good, I know, but I’m going to miss him! Fairy threw an amazing soiree for him on sunday with waffles as the main event (very cute) to see him off and I was over at their house for six hours. (In other godfamily news, little Elle is four months old and adorable! She’s obviously her father’s daughter; for the first two years I knew GBIL every photo I’d seen of him he was sticking his tongue out. And when I was playing with Elle yesterday she gave me one of her big full body smiles…and stuck her tongue out at me. She looked so like him that I burst out laughing. I can’t believe she’s so big.)

I also got some shopping done over the weekend, got a haircut, did my weekly library raid, watched two movies from my list, contemplated (but then rejected) the idea of doing laundry, straighted my flat, paid bills, and balanced my budget. And now I’m back at work. Bleh.

Friends, Life April 1, 2009April 1, 2009

Girls Interupted

We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.
-Ian Percy

Ever since taking that personality test I’ve been thinking about personal strengths and weaknesses, and have come to some interesting conclusions.

Recently I was talking to my dear friend Marie who has endured a hellish past two years, rife with all sorts of problems from the medical to the personal. She’s doing much better now (from an outsider’s perspective at least) and last monday in particular the girl got empowered. She got good and mad at her situation for the first time in a long time, got a bunch of people in line where they were slacking, and generally went about setting the world to rights. She says this is out of character for her, and to a degree that’s true, but what really flummoxed me was that she said she was angry at herself for ever having been a “pushover” in her situation (incidentally, not a word that springs to my mind to describe this woman). In fact, the thing that I’ve always admired most about Marie is her poise: the way she seemed to handle adversity with grace, gentleness, and quiet determination. I never thought that what I saw as a real strength would be something she saw as a major life obstacle!

...and being an Ice Queen is...good? HUH?

But then I considered myself. Quite a few people recently have told me that they admire my “assertiveness,” “strong will,” and “boldness,” but that aspect of my personality is always something I’ve had mixed feelings about. I developed a rather aggressive, stand-offish (in some ways) personality to defend myself when no one else in my life seemed able to, to take care of myself when I was well and truly on my own. I’ll be the first to admit that this forcefulness–not to say intractability– has literally saved my sanity a few times (plus getting a waiter’s attention in any restaurant in Europe would be impossible without it), but that I don’t necessarily like it. Being bold and appearing confident can be useful, but it can also be abrasive (it earned me the nickname Ice Queen in high school: sometimes it was said with odd admiration, sometimes is wasn’t) . But still people can like this aspect of me, this facet of my personality that I am sometimes grudgingly thankful for, sometimes outright dislike, but am always willing to use.

Maybe it isn’t too odd that what we see as our greatest weaknesses other see as our greatest strengths. In the end, we’re probably both right.

Friends March 30, 2009March 30, 2009

Hooked

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. ~Anäis Nin

Once a week my friends from London and I get together, nominally to watch The Office and 30 Rock but really to gossip and catch up and reminisce about England. I’ll never forgive Marie for going back this summer while I’m here, but I’ll be back in Cambridge for Christmas (this year with a husband. Weird) so I just have to hold out strong until then.

84_charing_cross_road Anyway, in the spirit of Anglophilia, Marie had rented a movie for us to watch and I’m completely smitten! It’s called 84 Charing Cross Road and chronicles a based-on-a-true-story 20 year correspondence between an American writer and the proprietor and staff of a bookshop in London that specializes in antique books (incidentally, a 200 year old edition of Newton from this place cost less than £5! Why couldn’t I have lived in the 1940’s?!). This film is absolutely charming, and I don’t mean it in the patronizing way that word gets used, it’s an engaging, delightful film and you get completely engrossed in the story. I may have to go on another Amazon.com spree here shortly! That and the next time I’m in London I’m going to have to find the real 84 Charing Cross, even though I understand the shop isn’t there anymore which is tragic in my opinion. Excellent choice, Marie.

coldcomfort1 But this incident got me thinking: I’m indebted to friends or circumstance for so many of life’s little gems. Way back when I was living in Micronesia my friend Biscotti Rose, during one of our many slumber parties, declared, “I have a movie you just have to watch!” And thus I met Cold Comfort Farm, with some of the greatest English actors working today: Kate Beckinsale, Aileen Atkins, Rufus Sewell, Joanna Lumley, and Sir Ian McKellen. Years later I bought the novel and laughed even harder at it than the film.

Angel introduced me to a science fiction series that I was initially dubious about. After all, scifi? Isn’t that for people who go to conventions, think Klingon is a legitimate language, and don’t make physical contact with the opposite sex until their 30’s? Not so! You want a series that delves deeply into human psychology, valor, and vice? Lois McMaster Bujold is the writer for you. Peregrine, I maintain, is responsible for much of my cultural happiness. Even though I resisted her civilizing efforts for years. She first exposed me to Chocolat and Amelie, plus more books and fine food than I can name!

BBC and PBS stations! Where would I be without them? Agatha Christie’s indomitable Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the upstairs/downstairs dichotomy of London’s 1920’s in You Rang M’Lord?, the hilarious, frantic antics of Hyacinth “Bouquet” (actually pronounced “Bucket”) in Keeping Up Appearances. I stumbled upon each of these gems while doing late night laundry across the years and they fulfill my need for British TV (even though You Rang, M’Lord? never shows up here, blast). I also watched my first opera on PBS when I was 9 and have been hooked ever since.

French classes exposed to Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac and Le Comte de Monte Cristo, as well as Marcel Pagnol, and the first time I read Rousseau it was his La Nouvelle Heloise. I read my first ancient Greek play on a whim after pulling down a random book from my mother’s library, but I was hooked and at 13 I wrote a short play on the ancient model that won me a competition and was produced by Theatre Virginia.

IRS Guy introduced me to a fabulous little restaurant called Gloria’s Little Italy and while he didn’t make it past a second date, Gloria and I have been very happy together ever since. Peregrine (again!) first took me to Bombay House for Indian food. J., who lived in Korea for 2 years, has completely addicted me to Korean cuisine and knows the best holes in the wall for oriental food, to say nothing of the local hotspots (he’s lived here longer than me).

What sorts of treasures have you discovered through other people?

Friends, Humor March 26, 2009March 26, 2009

What’s Your (Personality) Sign?

“[upon reading result] Sorry. Giggles are all I can manage.”
“Right? It makes me giggle too. Then I cry.”
-C. and Peregrine

Peregrine, during one of our regular marathon phone calls, updated me on her always intriguing love life. The funny part is that she took the Myers-Briggs Personality Testand it pinpointed her tendencies in romance dead on, much to our amusement. Out of curiosity I took it too…and had to chuckle. I’m an ENTJ, and my personality is:

Hardly more than two percent of the total population, ENTJs are bound to lead others, and from an early age they can be observed taking command of groups. In some cases, they simply find themselves in charge of groups, and are mystified as to how this happened. But the reason is that they have a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever they are – to harness people in the field and to direct them to achieve distant goals.

For the ENTJ, there must always be a goal-directed reason for doing anything, and people’s feelings usually are not sufficient reason. They prefer decisions to be based on impersonal data, want to work from well thought-out plans, like to use engineered operations – and they expect others to follow suit. They are ever intent on reducing bureaucratic red tape, task redundancy, and aimless confusion in the workplace, and they are willing to dismiss employees who cannot get with the program and increase their efficiency. Although ENTJs are tolerant of established procedures, they can and will abandon any procedure when it can be shown to be ineffective in accomplishing its goal. ENTJs root out and reject ineffectiveness and inefficiency, and are impatient with repetition of error.

ENTJs have a natural tendency to marshall and direct. This may be expressed with the charm and finesse of a world leader or with the insensitivity of a cult leader. The ENTJ requires little encouragement to make a plan. One ENTJ put it this way… “I make these little plans that really don’t have any importance to anyone else, and then feel compelled to carry them out.” While “compelled” may not describe ENTJs as a group, nevertheless the bent to plan creatively and to make those plans reality is a common theme for NJ types.

ENTJs are often “larger than life” in describing their projects or proposals. This ability may be expressed as salesmanship, story-telling facility or stand-up comedy. In combination with the natural propensity for filibuster, our hero can make it very difficult for the customer to decline.

TRADEMARK: — “I’m really sorry you have to die.” (I realize this is an overstatement. However, most Fs and other gentle souls usually chuckle knowingly at this description.) *** Favorite quote!

Although ENTJs are not naturally tuned into other people’s feelings, these individuals frequently have very strong sentimental streaks. Often these sentiments are very powerful to the ENTJ, although they will likely hide it from general knowledge, believing the feelings to be a weakness. Because the world of feelings and values is not where the ENTJ naturally functions, they may sometimes make value judgments and hold onto submerged emotions which are ill-founded and inappropriate, and will cause them problems – sometimes rather serious problems.

ENTJs are decisive. They see what needs to be done, and frequently assign roles to their fellows. Few other types can equal their ability to remain resolute in conflict, sending the valiant (and often leading the charge) into the mouth of hell. When challenged, the ENTJ may by reflex become argumentative. Alternatively (s)he may unleash an icy gaze that serves notice: the ENTJ is not one to be trifled with.

napoleonstart20copy-7046175 The classic ENTJ: Napoleon. Um, can anyone say Small Dog Syndrome? Haha!

Friends March 25, 2009March 25, 2009

Book Mavens

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid.”
-Jane Austen

books1 I got this questionnaire from Peregrine and since I recently I had to go through all my books before commissioning J. to move several boxes of them into our new place, I figured I was in a good position to talk about them. My Someday House has a huge library with full shelves around three walls, a fireplace, and the world’s most comfortable couch and chaise for lounging with a cup of tea. As the years go by and I keep buying more books, my imaginary walls keep expanding and the books have gone from cheap paperback to more impressive and beautiful editions, but the look of my fantasy library remains the same.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Probably Lois McMaster Bjuold, followed by Jane Austen, Tolkien, and Marian Keyes. An odd mix: scifi, classic British Lit, fantasy 9the good kind, not the weird kind) and contemporary Irish

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I have two copies of Candide.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Nope. Modern English and its callous disregard for proper form is the only reason most English speakers can understand one another.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Good gosh, what a question! Ultimately probably Miles Vorkosigan, although I admit to crushes on Faramir from the Lord of the Rings and a dark sort of bad-boy-craving for the Vicomte de Valmont from Les Liasons Dangereuse.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I can’t keep track!

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
The Diplomat’s Wife by Pam Jenoff. I only read it to kill time, but it was an absolutely atrocious book.

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
The Lucifer Effect, by Phillip Zimbardo

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, the funniest book I have ever read in my life and a work of genius!

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Ditto to Peregrine, no idea why one person gets it and another doesn’t.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I Lucifer, by Glen Duncan…and I just found out a while back that they are!! With Daniel Craig in the title role (double delicious). I worry about them getting the metaphysical aspects and scope to translate well onto the screen, but if they can pull it off it will be amazing.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
I have no idea, so many of my books are historical classics that have managed to make the transition in various levels of completion. Then again enough have been butchered…I’ll say Atlas Shrugged, because the interpretation might actually convince me to hate it.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Never had one.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Watermelon, by Marian Keyes, which is surprising given my enthusiasm for some of her other novels

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Probably The Scarlet Letter the first time I had to read it. I tried it again a couple of years ago and it went down much easier.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
The Merry Wives of Windsor, which no one ever reads but everyone should because it’s a riot! Saw it at a Shakespeare festival in the States and at the Globe in London.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French, but I’ll admit to not really ever giving the Russians a chance.

18) Roth or Updike?
Neither, my tastes don’t run that modern. I’ll amend shortly, I promise/

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Sedaris.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer for fun, Shakespeare for a good read, Milton when I’m feeling philosophical or intellectual.

21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen, but not obsessively.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Anything after 1850, probably. And American, I don’t read too much of that…I need to expand my repertoire.

23) What is your favorite novel?
That’s like asking me to pick a favorite pair of shoes! Or a favorite kind of chocolate desert!

24) Play?
Broadway: The Scarlet Pimpernel for fun, Into the Woods for thought. Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing. Also in my top five, Congreve’s Way of the World.

25) Poem?
Song of the Wandering Aengus

26) Essay?
Another gap in my reading!

27) Short Story?
I don’t remember the title, but it was in an anthology of Indian (the subcontinent) American women.

28) Work of nonfiction?
The Story of Britain, by Roy Strong. Got me through my entire major.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
See #23

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephanie Meyer, ephemeral as her books will undoubtedly be in the grand scheme of things her current popularity offends me.

31) What is your desert island book?
Probably an Encyclopedia Britannica, because I’m assuming I’ll be on that island for a while.

32) And… what are you reading right now?
How to Hug a Porcupine, by John Lund.

Friends, Home, Humor March 18, 2009

Moving On Up (so to speak)

“However did you get your couches in? Doesn’t seem like there’d be enough room on the walkway.”
“Val and his friends lifted it over the railing.”
“Oh, very nice. Man-ual labor.”
-C. and Venice

house_moving J. and I enlisted Scotticus and my godbrother Bear today (many thanks, gentlemen) for the picking up, maneuvering, and dropping off of our sofa and loveseat today. Huzzah, they’re in! AND I got my landlord (who is probably heartily sick of me at this point, what will all my calls, questions, and obsequious permission asking) to give me the go ahead to paint. Et voila, I have a major weekend project! I’m probably biting off way more than I can chew, but that sort of thinking goes with the whole, “Let’s get married,” theme.

Mattress comes tomorrow, and I should be ready to start bringing stuff in this weekend. And apart from the total lack of pots, pans, towels, tools, and various other things one get from registering for gifts (all of which are pretty necessary so living without them will be an adventure) I’ll be set.

Mom approved the wedding invitations so basically I’m through planning this Carroll-esque caucus race! Hurrah!

Fashion, Friends, Humor February 23, 2009February 23, 2009

Fashion Forward

“Remember that always dressing in understated good taste is the same as playing dead.”
-Susan Catherine

This is a momentous week, my friends, and even before I tell you why I can feel the judgement emanating from your eyeballs as you read this. The answer is simple, it’s my own little Fashion Week in Small Dog Syndrome Land: Oscars last night and America’s Next Top Model starts this Wednesday. See? I feel it already.

Growing up I wasn’t exactly a tomboy so much as I never learned how to be a girl. In middle school Peregrine tried vainly to force me into blow drying my hair regularly, then I lived on Guam during high school where hair product and makeup would have come to a sticky and unattractive end anyway so no one bothered, and THEN I moved to a university where lots of the girls tend to have hair and makeup that would rival any beauty queens in both height and thickness respectively. But slowly and surely I gleaned the necessary skills to keep from looking like a gorgon OR a Blondezilla and now I (think I) have my hair and face under control.

However, even when I was myself hopeless, I have always loved fashion! I have always liked it when people find a way to make practical things interesting and beautiful, Fancy food, lingerie, fun architecture, even colored post-it notes are great, anything that does a job but looks good doing it is worth the time and money. And clothes? They keep you from being naked but they also show your personal taste, demonstrate solidarity with groups or complete independence, convey position…they just talk and tell stories. And they’re such fun! So obviously watching the Oscars is like being a kid in a couture candy store!

My thoughts on the night’s gowns? Read on, let me know what you think:

So close! I LOVE me a red dress, but the carpet matching hurts.

So close again! If only you'd worn your Prada dress instead of your Prada sheets!

– I really wanted to like Amy Adams’ dress, Carlina Herrera, in another venue I probably would have but she looked like she was emerging from the red carpet and so I’m going to have to regretfully say no. Her Fred Leighton necklace though? To DIE for!
– Jessica Biel’s dress wasn’t entirely off, Prada is always stunning and I do like structured bodices, but this one hid too much of her fabulous form. The color and the fabric are beautiful, but she looks a bit too much like she just rolled out of bed. And not in the good way.

Two thumbs way, way down. Beyonce, this smacks of your mother's designing...

Too bridey. — Taraji, too elegant to be shunned.

– Beyonce. Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce…you coined the phrase “bootylicious,” why must you encase yourself in a black and gold monstrosity? The bodice cut would have even worked if you didn’t have the weird graphic, but I absolutely and forever will hate fish-tail dresses.
– Taraji Henson’s Roberto Cavalli gown was so elegant! It was almost too bridey for me, but when I tried to think of another color it would have been equally stunning in I couldn’t so I’m going to have to let this one slide. Ethereal and graceful. The hair was a bit boring but still equisitely ladylike, and I’m going to say redeemed by the pop of her red bag. Nice sparklers around the neck too.

The dreaded fish-tail strikes again (see Beyonce above). It just doesn't work, please let it go.

–Penelope Cruz’s Pierre Balmain gown was lovely in its own way, but again with the bridal thing? Her’s even has the big skirt and sweetheart neckline. Pretty dress, but I didn’t like it for the Oscars.
–Melissa George. Dolce and Gabanna let her wear their stuff? What were you thinking?! That is all.

Not all the pundits agree, but I thought she looked great. Classic black always works, and goodness knows I love my emeralds!

Evan wins for the evening, in my book at least. Favorite look of the night!

– I love Angelina Jolie (post Billy Bob Thorton) and I think that she always looks elegant. Maybe her style isn’t as flashy and provocative as some people would like, but I think her choices tend to be pretty good. There was a forgettable Armani Atlier once and a mumu-esque mistake for her Changeling premier, but by and large I think her minimalistic style really works. She wore an Elie Saab in a classic black. Hate away stylists everywhere, I liked it!
– My favorite look of the night was Evan Rachel Woods in another Elie Saab. Also understated, but beautiful lines, gorgeous detail work on the bodice, and suited her peaches-and-cream complexion perfectly. Subdued but fabulous earrings, and dark nails (love ’em!).

I am deeply in lust with Angie's earrings. My most coveted item of the night. — I am deeply in lust with these sparklies. My most coveted item of the night.

Since I’m still poor I have to live vicariously through the TV. Margot and I met up with Angel at her house to watch the Oscars, make last minute bets about which movies/people would win, and (for me at least) drool over the dresses. Unfortunately I think the Disney Princess Leauge gowns were bad and there were way too many bridal looking gowns (No, I’m not being selfish and self-centered, I just don’t want to see brides on the red carpet. Mine isn’t even white, back off!)

Others were equally stunning, Anne Hathaway was breathtaking as usual, and Best Actress Kate Winslet’s black and blue off-the-shoulder number was lovely. Meryl Streep’s gray dress I didn’t care for at all, and Sophia Loren? Ghastly!

Lest we forget, the accessories were lovely: Taraji Henson’s bag and Amy Adam’s necklace being in the top three, but I love emeralds. Love them. My engagement ring attests to that. Ergo I must must must find a way to steal Angelina Jolie’s Lorraine Schwartz earrings.

Finally, the WORST looks of the night? Miley Cyrus in Zuhair Murad. Scarlett O’Hara managed to make drapes look good, what’s your excuse? And Sophia Loren? Goodness knows we love you but WTF?!

: What is this? Fish scales meets dirty south? Fire whoever told her to wear this, stat!

Humor. Opinions. Life in London.

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