Flashback Friday: catchphrases

What were my favorite catchphrases or words in the 1980s? They were as follows:

• Rad
• Grody to the Max
• Gnarly
• Psych
• No Doy

I will now use them in one long 1980s rambling stream of consciousness: 

"So we like went to the arcade at my dad's bowling alley and played this rad game called Paperboy, afterwards we went to eat pizza and we saw this kid eating his booger right in front of us and it was like totally like grody to the max. We so like decided to leave and go to the movies and watched this movie called Sixteen Candles which was like totally gnarly and that guy who plays Jake was like so ugly...Psych! He was like a total hunk...no doy."

Do I use any of these words or phrases currently? Absolutely not (psych!)

(photo via)

Flashback Friday: Atari

Remember this?

Remember this?

If you don't, then get the hell outta here you little punk! I want only us old-timers who remember Atari and Pong to reminisce. Who needed Candy Crush or Angry Birds when you can hit a slowly moving pixel square back and forth for hours. Graphics, smaphics...two small vertical lines, a pixelated dotted line and a tiny white square was technology at it's finest. Our pre-mobile devices brains could only handle so much back then.

Our medulla oblongata started developing beyond the simple concept of trying to get a square past your opponents vertical line and we progressed to more complex games like Breakout and my personal favorite - Pitfall:

Eventually we began thinking we were expert video gamers by trying to trick the system. Case in point, the game E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, has gone down in history as one of the worst video games ever. People found it hard to understand. Falling into those damn pits was monotonous and virtually hard to get out of them. But you know what? my siblings and I figured that game out so fast that we got bored with it and started finding ways to have E.T.'s space ship get stuck on earth (basically kill E.T. on the landing spot and have Elliott go to E.T. to revive him right when the space ship lands, the space ship will get stuck and the game crashes - genius right?). 

I'm sure when my kids are old enough they will see what their parents used to play back then and laugh uncontrollably, but I know that we were revolutionaries back then and that little simple Pong game started the whole app craze that we all get obsessed about now.  So thank you little white pixelated dot for making it happen.

Flashback Friday: "Happy little trees"

I used to watch The Joy of Painting not to learn about painting, but to be completely entranced and zen'd out by the calming voice of Bob Ross. He with the white man's afro and the ability to create a paint-like numbers landscape in 26 minutes. 

I found his words absolutely soothing with his talks of "happy little trees" and creating a "little friend over there." He quite literally put me in a "happy little" coma. I've never smoked a doobage in my life but I can imagine watching The Joy of Painting while being all Snoop Dogg (or is it Snoop Lion?) would be a perfect pairing.

I continued watching his shows on PBS not even realizing that Mr. Ross passed away from lymphoma cancer in 1995. It's sad to think that he would not be painting his happy little worlds anymore, but I'm sure up there in the clouds he is painting for the big man in the sky and making him go into a sleepy lull.

I'll end this post with a famous Bob Ross quote: "We want happy paintings. Happy paintings. If you want sad things, watch the news." Well said, Mr. Ross, well said. 

Flashback Friday: Swatch watches

When I was a teenager growing up in the 80s I had no idea what a Rolex watch was and quite frankly could not give a flying fig about it. It was all about the rad Swatch watches back in my day. These watches were first manufactured in 1983 and they were colorful graphic watches you would wear as the ultimate 80s accessory - so casual, so cool, so colorful (that should be the motto of the 1980s and I'm sticking to it). 

Your personality was defined by what type of watch you had: for me the simple nerdy gal I preferred the solid colors with of course my Swatch guard. What's a Swatch guard? well, it's like a pocket protector for your Swatch watch. Have no freaking idea if it actually protected your plastic Swatch, but it looked cool and that's all that mattered in the 1980s (some poor souls who were desperate to protect their Swatches resorted to using a twisted rubber band instead to protect it. I'll give them points for ingenuity, but no points for style).

You know what makes me feel old? Is when they sell Swatch watches that I used to wear on the Internet and classify them as "vintage" - if I only had a Back to the Future Delorean to go back in time and save my watches - found out some of these babies go for over $1000 now. 

I loved my Swatch watch. Radical.

Flashback Friday: Jude Law

True story. In October of 1995, my sister and I visited New York City and saw Jude Law's private parts. Let me back track...

We went to see this off-Broadway play called Indiscretions because the actress Kathleen Turner was supposed to be in it. When we got to the play, we found our Kathleen Turner was ill and her understudy was taking her place. We were a bit disappointed, but we decided to watch the play anyways (turned out to be a good decision).

The son was played by a young actor named Jude Law, whose first scene was in a bathtub talking to his girlfriend (trivia: the girlfriend was played by Cynthia Nixon, who would later play Miranda in Sex and the City). It was your normal chit-chat scene until Jude Law came out of the bathtub in all his morning glory! His bits and pieces, twig and berries hanging out for all to see! (I can go on and on with the euphemisms but you get my drift). My sister and I were literally gob-smacked and soon noticed the majority of the audience were women and most of them were using opera glasses (obviously not their first time watching this play, they came prepared). 

Anyhoo, what happened after that I can't really recall - the play was quite boring, but I remember that actor later when his first starring role in a motion picture came out - Gattaca. No nudity in that movie, but Jude was gorgeous and eventually reached his gorgeous apex with The Talented Mr. Ripley (Jude had a bathtub scene in this movie too - perfect). 

My dear Jude is now showing his age, with the bags under his eyes, the receding hairline...but back in the days he was so gloriously beautiful:

* Sigh * Hey Jude indeed.

(photos via Pinterest)

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Smurf

When I was a kid one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons was The Smurfs. For those not familiar, The Smurfs was about these little blue creatures, who stood "3 apples tall" and lived in mushroom houses in the forest. They wore white pants and hats and lived as a community sharing chores. They were mostly male, except for Smurfette (later, she was joined by Sassette and by Nanny and Clockwork Smurfette [although, I have no idea who the last two were]). There were of course more nefarious characters who wanted to kill the smurfs, most notably the evil Gargamel. 

There were supposedly more than 100 Smurfs in the village, but of course as a kid you gravitate towards a favorite one. 

This post is dedicated to my favorite Smurf of all time:  Clumsy Smurf. 

Why was he my favorite? These are the reasons:

• He had no agendas, he was lovable and is basically the most amiable of the bunch.
• He had the loose fitting hat (that always seemed to hang a little too low over his eyes) which made him even more adorable
• He was accident prone
• He loves collecting rocks and has a fondness for cute animals - he is a hippie smurf
• He has no apparent job in the village, but he is everyone's friend
• He has that southern accent
• He was best friends with Brainy Smurf, who is inarguably the most annoying Smurf, which goes to show you that Clumsy was the friendliest and most patient smurf

If you grew up watching The Smurfs, who was your favorite blue guy?

Flashback Friday: Milli Vanilli

I'm going to just throw it right out there...I was a big fan of Milli Vanilli back in the days. Like the rest of America, I was mesmerized with these two guys with perfect hair, tight bicycle shorts singing great songs like Girl You Know It's True and Blame it on the Rain. Those of you not familiar with this group, here's what they looked like:

Perfect for the '80s right? All style and what many of us didn't know was that there was basically no substance. It was eventually discovered that they were a fraud. Rob and Fab were a well-oiled lip-syncing creation.  They were stripped of their Grammy for Best New Artist, tried unsuccessfully to prove their singing abilities, and most tragically Rob died of a alcohol and drug overdose in 1998.

As much as I hide in shame saying I loved this group and even went to their concert, I am not ashamed many years later to say I still think Girl You Know It's True and Blame it on the Rain  are damn good songs. It doesn't matter if it was sung by two good looking European guys or two out of shape guys hiding in their mom's basement, these songs are just as singable and enjoyable as they were back in 1989.

Okay, I got that off of my chest, now back to our regular schedule programming...

Art is everywhere: Walking dead inspiration

The Walking Dead's season finale was this past Sunday and now I have to wait like 10 years (okay, I'm being a tad bit dramatic) before season 4 premieres. 

In honor of Walking Dead, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite Zombie recreations using food.  I'm okay with my kids playing with their food as long as they create something as hilarious and creative as below:

Enjoy!

(via)

Flashback Friday: Grimace

In the grand old debate on what Goofy was (man or dog?) and what Gonzo was (bird or insect?), when I was a kid I wondered what Grimace was (must be something with the letter "G" that makes things ambiguous). 

Those of us ol' timers remember when McDonalds had McDonaldland. McDonaldland was McDonald's marketing tool which began in 1971. The fantasy world was inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his cast of supporting characters (Officer Big Mac, Hamburglar, The Fry Kids, Mayor McCheese, Birdie the Early Bird, to name but a few). Most of these characters traits were easily correlated to who they were: Ronald was a clown, Officer Big Mac and Mayor McCheese were a hamburger and cheeseburger respectively, Hamburglar was a guy who steals hamburgers.  

(via Flickriver)

But what was Grimace? He was a big purple, blobby thing with big round eyes and bushy eyebrows. He originally began as a bad guy who stole milkshakes, but by 1972 he was changed into a good guy and his appearance was made less menacing. 

McDonald's described Grimace as such: "He is a big fuzzy purple fellow and Ronald's special pal."  Thanks McDonalds for making things as clear as mud. 

You know there are just some mysteries which shall forever remain a mystery - like Stonehenge, crop circles, UFOs - I should come to accept that the big purple blobby thing called Grimace shall remain that big purple blobby thing called Grimace. He was officially retired from McDonalds in 2003 - RIP Grimace.

Flashback Friday: The Outsiders

I remember the exact moment my girlish hormones went from "I'm too shy to say I'm crushing on this guy, because I'm still not sure what this is all about" to "Hello cutest guy on the planet! Please become my boyfriend!!!!!!" (had to add all those explanation points, because pre-teen girls say everything excitedly). That moment was 1983 when the movie The Outsiders (based upon the novel by S.E. Hinton) came sauntering into my life. Literally that movie was a living, breathing, Teen Beat magazine, but it had a certain grown-up feel to it because Francis Ford Coppola directed it and there was no cheezy '80s music montage moment (which BTW there is nothing wrong with those '80s music montage moments - The Karate Kid wouldn't be what it is without them).  

Check out this cast:  Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise. All of them in their youthful beauty back then. My particular crushes were on C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy Curtis) and Rob Lowe (Sodapop Curtis). And when I say "crushes," I mean like your typical over-obsessive teen crushes: plastering my bedroom walls with their posters, buying every possible Teen Beat, Bop, etal magazines, watching subsequent movies made by them...the list goes on and on.  And to be honest, even though my teen crush on C. Thomas has faded, I still find Rob Lowe (who is almost 50 years old) smoking hot. Need proof:

But I digress. The movie does not feel dated either (maybe because the movie was set in the 1960s, but filmed in the 1980s and therefore is hard to pinpoint the look of this movie) and it's score was done by The Godfather's Carmine Coppola and Stevie Wonder did the title track "Stay Gold" (inspired by Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay"). There is too much cool attached to this film. Those that were disappointed the original film did not include additional scenes based upon the book, Coppola did release his "director's cut" with 22 additional minutes in 2005. 

Want tidbits?

• This was Rob Lowe's first major film role.  He was 17 years old
• The majority of the main cast were under 20 years old, except Patrick Swayze who was in his 30s and Ralph Macchio who was in his 40s (I kid! He was 20, but looked the youngest)
• Director/writer (and Francis Ford Coppola's daughter) Sofia Coppola had a cameo as the girl who kept pestering Matt Dillon for a dime
• The author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, had a cameo as a nurse in one of the hospital scenes
• For those who probably have GIFS or Tumblrs of Tom Cruise running in his movies, he does have a very brief running scene before they fight the Socs in the big rumble scene (also Cruise has the least amount of screen time than the other main cast members)
• Blooper fans? When Matt Dillon (Dally) falls off the chair in the drive-in theatre it was really an accident, but they kept the scene in the movie
• Blush moments for a pre-teen girl: (1) Rob Lowe (Sodapop) coming out of the shower; and (2) Matt Dillon (Dally) in his tightie whities

Yeah, I still love The Outsiders. *Sigh*

What a cubicle dweller dreams of...celebrity style

I find Chelsea Handler not very funny (sorry Handler fans), but the gal has an beautiful office space. Which makes me think that in real life she isn't as abrasive or crude, but a sweet, girly girl like the rest of us.  

(via)

Her office is super feminine. All those pops of pinks and magenta. The desk facing the lounge area is perfect if I wanted to do work and entertain at the same time or when I just want to kick back and read some design books.  

(via)

How about that awesome wall art by Kyle Bunting. It is made entirely of hide. It is definitely appreciated from afar as well as up close. The brass Arteriors lamp is of the moment and fits in perfectly with the decor. 

Check out the rest of her space over here. Girlfriend even has a vanity mirror desk and a floor to ceiling marble bathroom.

Bow Ties are Cool

"I wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible" - Macklemore

It used to be in the day that bow ties were considered for older, professorial gents or Alfalfa from Little Rascals, but now I'm noticing that the bow tie is making it's comeback with a much cooler crowd.

I'm personally digging the guy who can sport this look outside of your typical red carpet tuxedo. If you can wear a bow tie with your suit or with just a dress shirt and look like you own it, then you are superbad in my book.

Is the bow tie sexy?  That can be debatable, but it does have a certain hipster-nerd-cool vibe to it.

Need proof? Check these guys out:

The Gosling. Nuff said. The guy could wear a bucket on his head and still look cool.

JT. I can now forgive him for his frosted tips, diamond earrings and questionable fashion sense back in his *NSync days, because JT is such the renaissance man and he knows a good bow tie when he sees it. 

JGL. Not only was he the best character with style in Inception, but on the red carpet he knows how to rock a bow tie. If there is a word to describe JGL, it's "dandy."

K. West. Before he lost cool credit by dating a Kardashian, Kanye had better taste in accessories with his bow ties.

RDJr. Only Iron Man himself can get away with the polka dot bow tie and striped jacket. His irreverent style fits his personality to a T. 

Harry.  I'm an old fogey, so I only knew about this kid by reading US Magazine and dancing (badly) to his band's song on Wii's Just Dance 4, but I find his last name fitting - this kid has "Style"s.

B. Goreski. If there ever was a person on the face of this planet who is trying his damndest to bring the bow tie back, it is this former assistant to stylist Rachel Zoe. I can just imagine his immense collection of bow ties rotating in his walk-in closet. It's probably like walking into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Uggie. Yes, even those of the canine variety can sport them.

Top Five Oscar Acceptance Speeches

I am a HUGE Oscar fan, no not Oscar the Grouch (although he is appealing in his grumpy ways), but the Academy Award "Oscar." It's the granddaddy of award shows because all the biggest stars come out for it and all the best fashion (and some bad fashion) is on display. 

One of the best parts of watching the Oscars is seeing what people will say when they win an award and unfortunately a good 95% of them are your typical speeches - you know the ones thanking their agent, their co-stars, even God (who is probably, next to Oprah, the most mentioned person [or divine being?] in people's speeches). 

But once in a blue moon, there will be memorable ones to me (and I say me, because I'm only going to talk about speeches that I have seen in my lifetime and remain in my waning memory).  So I present to you my Top Five Oscar Acceptance Speeches:


Winner:  Anna Paquin
Award:   Best Supporting Actress 
Movie:    The Piano (1993)

Most of us now know the adult Anna Paquin as Sookie on True Blood, but I'm old enough to remember her as that cute kid in The Piano. She was truly a great child actor that deserved her award. Her speech was not cloying, it was what a child would sound like if they won an award - gasping and giggling before she was able to get her words out. Plus she had the awesome bejeweled purple beret that I still remember to this day. 

Watch here.

Winner:  Jack Palance

Award:    Best Supporting Actor

Movie:     City Slickers (1991)

One of the best parts of the movie City Slickers was Jack Palance. His "I crap bigger than you" line is still one of the best lines in movie history and only Jack Palance could say it and you believe him. So when Mr. Palance won his first Oscar for that role, it was wholly deserved. But his speech is like what your crazy old grandpa would say and do to show he still has it (although l was afraid he would croak on stage doing it!). Most Oscar winners will just stand at the mike and say their speech, Jack Palance walks the walk or more like one-armed push-ups.

Watch here. 

Winner:  Joe Pesci

Award:    Best Supporting Actor

Movie:     Goodfellas (1990)

We all know Joe Pesci as a rat-a-tat actor - always talking (check out his Lethal Weapon movies), but his Oscar speech was all of six words...yes six. So those of us who cannot stand long winded speeches (I'm looking at you Anne Hathaway. Watch this Joe Pesci speech when you win this Sunday night and get some pointers), Mr. Pesci's short speech should be up your alley.

Watch here.

Winner:  Adrien Brody

Award:   Best Actor

Movie:    The Pianist (2002)

Adrien Brody became the youngest Best Actor winner at 29 when he won the Oscar. Like any young man - who can be rather impulsive - when you are on stage with one of the most beautiful actresses in history what do you do? Well, you give her a big, fat, kiss in front of millions of people watching. Was it kind of creepy? There are those who would say so, but to me it was an impromptu moment for a person who may never have that opportunity again (if Brad Pitt was on stage I would do the same, although Angelina Jolie kind of scares me, so maybe not). 

Watch here. 

Winner:  Cuba Gooding Jr.

Award:    Best Supporting Actor

Movie:     Jerry Maguire (1996)

One of my favorite movies is Jerry Maguire (it's one of the few Tom Cruise movies that I didn't mind that Tom Cruise acted like Tom Cruise) because of one Cuba Gooding Jr. He was Mr. Serious in Boyz In the Hood, so when he played Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire with so much humor, wit, cockiness and heart it was a welcome surprise. It's almost a tragedy that he followed that movie with Snow Dogs and Boat Trip, but for one brief shining moment he made us all cheer for him when he won that Oscar. It's one of the few speeches that I enjoyed from the beginning to the end. You usually welcome the Orchestra cutting off someone's long winded speeches, but Cuba's interruption of the Orchestra was done with such enthusiasm that it got most people in the audience to give him a standing ovation.  Well done, Mr. Gooding Jr. Well done.

Watch here.

I'm hoping that this year's Oscars will give me some memorable Oscar speeches to add to my collective memory and if not, I hope one day they give an Oscar to Robert Downey Jr., because I bet good money that his speech will be the tops.

Love week: Favorite Romantic Movie

I'm dedicating this week's blog posts to love. For those out there bitter about Valentine's Day being a Hallmark driven thang, I say poo on you! There is nothing wrong with a day dedicated to love and you don't have to be coupled to express your love to those you care about. 

Monday's post is about my favorite romantic movie:

There are those who may find this movie sickly sweet or blame it for derivative movies like Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve, but I honestly love it. Screenwriter/Director Richard Curtis has a way with british romantic comedies like Notting Hill, Bridget Jones Diary and Four Weddings and Funeral that keeps it this short of sugar by infusing it with just the right amount of wit.  

This movie weaves together multiple story arcs of people moving in and out of love around Christmas time. You don't have to be in a relationship to enjoy this movie. You have your stories involving bromance, unrequited love, young love, troubled love, sibling love, prime minister-household staff love and Colin Firth. 

For us geeks, it's fun watching this movie now and seeing a young Andrew Lincoln using his real english accent before he became southern zombie ass-kicker sheriff Rick in Walking Dead. Martin Freeman, pre-Bilbo Baggins, playing a body-double in sex scenes. Little cutie, Thomas Sangster, as the boy in love with his schoolmate before he became the voice of Ferb in Phineas and Ferb.  

Of course, there is also my pretend, British boyfriend, Hugh Grant. There is no one, NO ONE, who does british romantic comedies better than him.  That great hair and that dashing wit can only be exhibited by Mr. Grant. I miss him on the silver screen...come back Hugh Grant!

But I digress...enjoy this movie with your loved ones and remember what it is all about: Love, actually. 

The Majestic Butter Creature

My five-year old son, Milo, is obsessed with the game Minecraft. Those not in the know, Minecraft is a popular pixelated game that many boys (and men) love playing. You can build worlds out of these pixelated blocks and you also protect yourself against Creepers and Zombies. 

For the past week Milo has been bugging us to post him on YouTube playing the game. His aspiration at five is not to be a superhero or a firefighter or a cowboy, but to have many people on YouTube watch him play his favorite game! Who are we to deprive him of his goal.

As for the title of my blog post? That's the name Milo refers to himself when he fights the evil creatures - "The Majestic Butter Creature" (because he loves butter so much). 

So if you can, like-share-view his video and maybe one day he can be the new YouTube sensation like the Biebs and PSY. 

(Minecraft image via moddb)

Top Five TV Shows I can watch as re-runs

To be honest, there are TV shows I watched in the past that I loved back then, but now if I see them as re-runs I don't love them as much. For some reason, I cannot watch an old episode of The Cosby Show anymore or even Growing Pains. I'm embarrassed to even admit I watched Joanie Loves Chachi, The Love Boat, and Alf.

Guilty pleasures like Beverly Hills 90210 or Melrose Place, are shows I probably cannot even watch one episode now that I can still enjoy (well, maybe the whole Kimberly Shaw comes back from the dead thing on Melrose Place is still enjoyable).

But the following TV shows were my favorites when they were on the air and I can probably still watch them now and not get bored. These are not, I repeat, are not guilty pleasures.  They will gladly be in my time capsule.

Felicity (1998-2002)

I'm a sucker for love triangles and Felicity had it in spades. You were either a Ben fan or a Noel fan. You either liked guys who were troubled and a little bad or you liked guys who were safe, sweet and reliable. Where did I lean? Let's just say I was happy who Felicity ended up with because he was the one she traveled across the country for in the first place.  Besides the love triangle, Felicity had some of the best side characters in TV-land: Javier, Sean, Meghan and even annoying, little Richard. Just watch the first two seasons of Felicity and you'll see what this show is all about. 

Dawson's Creek (1998-2003)

Told you I'm a sucker for love triangles. The mother of them all was the whole Dawson-Joey-Pacey saga. I still can't imagine why someone would root for Dawson. He was always a tad bit too whiny and over-analytical for my tastes, so it made sense she chose the more interesting side-kick who ended up not being such a side-kick after all. Dawson's Creek also had Michelle Williams, who brought the gravitas to this show and deserved the Oscar nominations she got later in her career. Dawson's Creek was also ground-breaking in it's day with the first male gay kiss aired on national television - way to go Jack!

My So Called Life (1994-1995)

This gem of a show lasted all of one season, but it's still cool in my book and doesn't show it's age. Angela Chase and her friends were real and there was nothing precocious about them. The awkwardness and angst of Angela was what made her such a good character. She acted how a teenager should act. Angela's troubled gay friend, Rickie, was heart breaking, but was eye-opening to what a 15-year old gay teen goes through when dealing with his sexuality. And let's not forget Jordan Catalano - Jared Leto at his most beautiful. The fact this show ended too early is still frustrating, but then again maybe that's why this show is a cult classic now - the mystery of what could of been is still there. 

Angel (1999-2004)

I like the fact that the show Angel took three characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that were a bit one-dimensional and rounded them out and showed other sides to them other then the nerdy Wesley, the stuck-up Cordelia, and the brooding Angel. The nerdy Wesley became the tough-ass Wesley with his own tragic love-story with Fred; the stuck-up Cordelia became more caring and wise and would make you believe that Angel could fall for her; and the image of the brooding Angel was shattered during season 1, episode 13 when...gasp...Angel dances. The last season ended on a high note for me by bringing on Spike as a regular cast member and having Angel still fighting the evil forces yet leaving his fate unanswered. 

Lost (2004-2010)

Is it too premature to include this show on my list? After all it's only been two years since it went off the air. But I know when re-runs are shown, I'm going to watch it and still try to get clues on what it all means. The ending was a tad bit disappointing for me, but the ride to get there was exhilarating, fascinating and enjoyable. Every character had their purpose (except Nikki and Paolo that is) and you actually came to care about their fate (the episode where Charlie dies still makes me teary-eyed). As for the love triangle that shows tend to have and I tend to enjoy, this particular triangle became a quadrangle where both the bad girl and the bad boy ended up with the good doctors and Sawyer remains hot (I had to throw that in there).

I like Girls

I'm kind of out of the loop when it comes to series television. Being a full time working mother with two rambunctious kids, the only regular tv shows I watch are on Nick or Nick Jr. I think I've seen every Max & Ruby, Dora The Explorer, and Ni Hao Kai Lan shows there ever was and for that matter I've seen them more than once. 

So when I started watching the hit HBO show, Girls, I had no idea it was on it's second season - that's how behind on the times I am. I literally got into this show that I ended up watching the entire first season on my IPhone in one day. Now I'm caught up and make it a point to watch it on Sunday nights. 

The critics say it's similar to "Sex and the City," but to be honest, I never watched one episode of that show. The show it resembles to me is one of my favorite shows of the 1990s - Felicity. Felicity is also about young friends in New York City. Hannah is like Felicity, although more wordy and with tattoos. Marnie is like Felicity's uptight friend, Elena.  Jessa resembles Felicity's cool, yet tad weird friend Meghan.  You can even say Hannah's gay ex-boyfriend, now roommate, is like Felicity's Javier (who is still one of my favorite characters that ever inhabited tv-land).  As for Adam? He's Ben, only more troubled and definitely a little psychotic. Girls is like Felicity, but way more funny and definitely filthy (in a good way).

Believe it or not, a lot of men love Girls too. The show is smartly written and the mistakes and issues these girls go through is definitely relatable to men as well. Problems with relationships and jobs is something everyone can relate to. The characters in this show are not perfect, in fact, they are all a bit narcissistic, self-absorbed and sometimes unlikeable. The friendships aren't all "lend me your ear" or "I'm here for you," but more real, brutal and honest. 

This is not some chick show. Check it out if you can.

Photo Art

One of my favorite classes I ever had in high school was my sophomore year photo class. I learned to love the camera and the ability it had to make your subject look like art. I am still a huge fan of using your photographs as a home decor element. It's not only personal, but sometimes can be quite inexpensive as well.

Some of my favorite home decor shots are the ones using large celebrity photographs as art on their walls. Being a fan of the world of home design, pop culture and photography, it's the perfect combination.

The following photo collage is such a fantastic way to display your personal photos in a stylish and artistic way.  I've begun my own project to frame my children's photos through the years this way. 

Polaroid Art.  A simple idea of arranging your polaroids into a heart shape and then taping it to canvas.  Love it.

Next time don't relegate all your photos to an album - frame it, hang it and be proud of it. 

(photos found here, here and here; if anyone knows the source of the Paul Newman photo, please advise)

Art is everywhere

You know I'm envious of anyone who can look at a crack on a wall and create art out of it. 

OakOak is a french artist who uses the urban landscape as his canvas. 

What I love about this guy is that he is says he is a "pen pusher" by day and not a trained artist, but his street art does what art is supposed to do - creates emotion in a visual way. They definitely make me smile.

Check out his blog and see how "graffiti" doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.