Old Spice

"a man should smell like jet fighters and punching."

I hope ya'll have seen those Old Spice commercials, I'm sure you have. If for some reason, you haven't seen em click here. And then for more hilariousness click here to learn how to romance your lady.

For the record, Old Spice totally reminds me of my Dad and he DID NOT smell like jet fighters and punching.

Uh. FAIL.

I have to believe that AT SOME POINT, Kirsten Dunst thought to herself, "This might be a bad idea. And this outfit is ridiculous."

Ginny Weasley??

Looking good! Somewhere in NYC my brother just did a double take....and rented Harry Potter.

Music Monday

So now that I live in North Carolina, I have the ability to listen to music in the car versus on my iPod as I fight investment bankers and fashionistas for a spot on the subway platform. Since none of our cars are "iPod friendly", I've had to rediscover the beauty of CDs. (I know you are saying, why don't you buy one of those tape thingys that lets you listen to your iPod over the car speakers....well when I first moved down here I did get one. And it got stuck in my Dad's tape deck, and I then attempted to get it out with a screwdriver and that didn't work out well [i do not recommend that to my readers. trust me.] and I ended up having to have a car dealership friend get it out. Drama.) So I've been burning CDs and busting out my old CD book.....and that's how I came across today's selection. I rediscovered my Taj Mahal cd's, which I hadn't listened to in YEARS, and have been going through the process of uploading them onto my iTunes. Today's song just makes me feel so happy for some reason....the minute you hear it, you want to turn it up and sing along.

I'm house/dog sitting this week and its rainy here so I'm just chilling on the couch with the dogs, listening to Taj. I recommend you do the same. "Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes" by Taj Mahal

I'm pumped

Is it just me or does this look like it MIGHT be good? For some random reason I have always loved the movie Wall Street, so I have high hopes for the sequel. I know he's supposed to be the bad guy, but I love me some Gordon Geiko. He looks so good in a suit.

The Sting

Last night I was watching the 5 o'clock news, when the below story came on. The "Troubleshooter" was going to expose a man and his moving company who originally ripped people off in 2005 and has recently been doing it again. So as I'm watching, the reporter says "You remember Derric Fozard, we caught up with him in 2005..." and they begin to show footage from their original story.......

And as I'm looking at the old footage around the :31 mark, I think to myself...."Huh. That's my brothers truck. And his old house in Chapel Hill." And then all of the sudden, my brother's fraternity brother is on the screen welcoming the man into their home. I don't know how I didn't know this at the time but apparently Alston's roommate, Brent, participated in a sting operation for ABC 11 back in the day. Amazing.

This spurned a bevy of emails last night, with some insightful commentary that I thought I would share with you.

Brent: "Hidden cameras and some deft questioning from yours truly brought that man down. When Alston caught wind that I had used our house to stage the sting operation, he was none too pleased. I believe his exact words were: 'So you're telling me that this known criminal knows exactly where we live?!' But now the Silverado will always be linked to fair play and justice, so we're even. "

Thompson: "Justice never looked so handsome."

Thanks for keeping the streets safe for citizens like me Brent. I appreciate it.

Happy Tuesday

I just saw a bumper sticker that said "Coach K wears jorts." and I nearly swerved off the road I was laughing so hard.

Music Monday

I have been getting all sort of good music suggestions from my trusty readers - thanks everyone! My stereo runneth over. Recently it was suggested I check out Alberta Cross (shout out to Patrick!) and I'm really loving their entire album. (Interesting wikipedia fact: The name Alberta Cross is an anagram but they won't tell what it is. Right now at least 40% of you are trying to remember what an anagram is.....) They played in NYC the other week when I was in town and, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go see them but I encourage ya'll to check them out!

Take a listen to "Song Three Blues" by Alberta Cross.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

For Rives' past two birthday's Elizabeth and I have put on our chef's hats and had a blast creating his birthday cakes. Click here to see his 1st birthday cake, a firetruck, and click here to check out his 2nd birthday cake, Winnie the Pooh. At this point we fancy ourselves quite the professionals and for this 3rd birthday in April, we are going to attempt a cake of a little more difficulty....you'll have to stay tuned to see what it is and how it turns out!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth's good friend had a baby shower the other weekend and Elizabeth decided to make the cake versus purchase one. To go along with the monkey themed shower, Elizabeth opted to create a monkey cake complete with pink balloons to celebrate the Baby Girl that's on the way! I'm quite proud of how the cake turned out - good work E! - and I think our undertaking in April will go just as well.

Starting to put the "fur" on...

How cute is that face?

"Fur" is done, time for feet and hands!

Looking good

Feet and hands complete.

The final product!

Just another day at the office....

Readers, you are welcome.

My sister, who is a faculty member at a private high school in Charlotte, participated in some sort of Spirit Week dance at a school pep rally, which featured various faculty members and the boy's basketball team dancing to "Pants on the Ground" from American Idol. I can imagine it now....

Katie: "You want me to dance in front of the entire school?? That's crazy talk, I couldn't POSSIBLY do that.......without centerstage billing. Watch for the changes and try to keep up boys. Hit it!!!"

So the little blond girl dead center wearing a black t-shirt and who's hat keeps falling off, that's our Katherine. Who is taking it WAY too seriously and looks as if she could be a student. Frankly, I'm surprised Katie hasn't petitioned the school to become a member of their cheerleading squad. She's all "Faculty Advisor"? "Team Captain"? Same thing. Give me those pom poms and stand back. Please note how good some of the high school basketball boys are....they just learned the dance at lunch and they still break it down old school. Love it.

Sidebar: And I'm not sure that "backing it up like a dumptruck" and "dropping it like its hot" are appropriate dance moves for a college prep school. I mean, I did both on the dance floor of the wedding this past weekend but that's different, I'm a mature adult. With mad dance skillz.

NYC Weekend - Update II

Friday I slept in and then met Carrie and our friends Colleen and Liz for lunch at Dos Caminos. "Dos" is right near where I used to work, and right across the street from Carrie's office, so it was always our go to spot for delicious Mexican food. After a delightfully long and yummy lunch, Carrie and I went to get our nails done and then laid around her apartment the rest of the afternoon watching Friday Night Lights. Heaven. Friday night we kept pretty lowkey because we had to wake up at the crack of dawn (also known to me as 7am) to drive up to Rochester, NY for our friend Courtney's wedding!

We drove and drove through frozen, barrier upstate NY tundra until we arrived in Syracuse, where we stopped for lunch at their local college town sports bar. Mmmmm hamburgers, fries and Bud Light - oh my! I have to say, I'm sure Syracuse is a fine college town and all? But ITS COLD THERE. FOR MANY MONTHS of the year I would imagine. I would not be able to handle it, I would go insane.

We arrived in Rochester and quickly showered up and headed to the wedding. The ceremony was so gorgeous and Courtney looked amazing! The reception, back at the hotel, was nothing less than expected....full of good food, good drinks and fun people. Congrats Court and Matt - so happy for you both! (And jealous that you are in Fiji as I type!) A few pics.....

Matt and Courtney

Matt and Courtney

The Jarvis' getting introduced

Brian and Carrie

Me and Court

The Girls:

Carrie, Ellen, Kelly and Jenny....minus Courtney who was a little busy.

As per usual, I was the third wheel in Carrie and Brian's marriage, sleeping on a cot in their room! Fun, fun, fun right Bri? Her hubby was a trooper and put up with our girl talk, so on the ride home Carrie hopped in the backseat to watch movies on her DVD player with me, and we let Brian listen to sports radio in complete and blissful silence. Well almost blissful silence....we kept fawning loudly over Ryan Reynold's abs to which Bri was all, "Umm....those aren't magic headphones in your ears. I can hear you."

Hello Mr. Reynolds

After arriving back in NYC on Sunday, we quickly ran to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the Super Bowl since they were having people over to watch it. It was a fun time but after such a long trip, I was ready to get a good night sleep and head back to Raleigh.

Whew. The End.

Best Jeopardy Answer Ever.

Heading over to Chapel Hill for the Dook game tonight......Go Heels!

A Date in the Life of Beesa

In a city full of such diverse and random folks, dating in NYC can be quite comical. I've heard many funny anecdotes about blind dates, creepy dudes, having to take alternate walking routes through your neighborhood to avoid running into bad dates, etc.


When I was up in NYC on Thursday night, I asked my friend "Beesa" (For the sake of anonymity we'll call this person "Beesa", although clearly its my friend Neesa) how her love life has been and who she's been dating these days. After going into a detailed story that ended when Lollie and I finally told her she only had 4 more minutes to talk, she dropped this pearl of NYC dating wisdom on us. I immediately told her, "That's going on the blog."



Beesa: Well, he kissed me in the cab. Which was super awkward....

Ellen and Lollie: Why?

Beesa: Cause the cab driver was just sitting there.......waiting........and staring. It was creepy. It was super creepy. It was like a super creepy three-some.


To which Lollie and I bust out laughing and couldn't stop.....I guess I never really thought about it before, but I'm sure cabbies witness some crazy stuff in their line of work. People kind of forget there sitting there, a silent, stoic witness to all that happens. Hang in there Beesa, dating in NYC can be tough but it sure does provide us with lots of laughs....and things to write on my blog. Can't wait to hear more stories!

NYC Weekend - Update I

Ok, here we go....Last Wednesday I had a delightfully easy flight up to NYC - a flight which included a male flight attendant who I KID YOU NOT started off this attendant shpeal with "Are ya'll ready to do this? We bout to get it crack-a-lacking up in here! I gots Heineken and Budweiser that been on ice since 9am, delicious wines available and all sorts of other bevys. Here I come with this cart, cause you know that's how we do the thing at American Airlines!!" Internet, I kid you not. This actually happened. And all the old people on the plane were HIGHLY confused and I was all "Phenomenal. I'll take a Heineken." I got to my brother's apartment, where I relaxed and then showered up for dinner with my Junior League girls. We had a delicious meal at Serafina and it was so good to catch up with these lovely ladies!

Thursday I woke up and headed to SoHo for a LONG OVERDUE hair appointment - if you have been reading this blog for a while, you might know my obsession with Gossip Girl and you might recall this incident where I learned that my salon is frequented by Gossip Girl, Blake Lively. I kept my eyes out for her but, alas, I left the salon with no celebrity sightings, only good hairs. I walked around SoHo for a bit window shopping and trying to stay warm with coffee, but finally gave in to the cold and went back to Alston's to watch television and get ready for Thursday night dinner.

Thursday night I met my friends, Lollie and Neesa, for dinner at newly opened Choptank in the West Village. It was good and I would definitely recommend it, but the menu is very limited so if you are a picky eater, beware....after gorging myself on oysters, shrimp tacos (YUM!) and red wine, we headed to The Village Tavern to watch the Carolina game. Some friends joined us and my brother and a few of his fraternity brothers and we had a good time, even though Carolina lost. Ugh. Here a few pics....next update to follow shortly.

Orlagh, Lollie, Neesa, Sally and Ellen

Pete and Orlagh

Sally, Alston, Lollie, Me and Neil

Nessa and me looking very pale. Gross.

(And Robert all focused on the game in the background like a good Carolina fan.)

Steven, Sally and Alston

Sally checks Alston's nails....he is working hard not to bite them and they look good!

Keep up the good work!

Making the best out of a loss.

Getting our hair ready for our close up.....

This pretty much sums it up.

Music Monday

Whew! I just got back from NYC and am trying to unpack, do laundry, etc. so I apologize that this week's MM is late.....frankly, I'm surprised I didn't get a hate email from my brother yesterday talking about the "integrity of Music Monday" and my "commitment to my readers". Anywhoo.....It was an exhausting but fun visit (photos to be posted soon). I also got to finish watching Season 1 of "Friday Night Lights" while up there and am now moving on to Season 2. So good. While Carrie's husband wondered how much he should let her slobber over Tim Riggins before being officially offended, I myself have a massive crush on QB1, Matt Sarasen.

Completely gratuitous photo for Carrie and Katie. Hello Tim Riggins.

And thus, our MM selection, featured numerous times throughout the show...... "Devil Town" by Bright Eyes.

Clear Eyes. Fulls Hearts. Can't Lose.

Snow Days

It snowed here in Raleigh, which is a pretty rare occurance, and to celebrate I spent the weekend with my main man Rives. The weekend consisted of sledding, eating my body weight in rice krispie treats, playing Super Mario Brothers, building blanket forts and playing "Dragon", a game which consists of growling at one another to scare them and breathing fire. (The dragon game inspired by the "dragon" in the last world of Super Mario Brothers, known to you and me as the giant King Koopa, also known as Bowser....I just totally brought you back to the day, huh?) So all in all, it was a very productive weekend as you can tell.

Below is Rives and his snow angel. The photo of yours truly attempting a snow angel is highly unattractive and thus you will be spared that sight. You're welcome.

Music Monday

Umm.....continuing on my theory that The CW plays some great music? Gossip Girl recently featured Passion Pit's "Moth's Wings" - love it. Seriously, what is going on at The CW and can they hire me to help put together soundtracks for their shows? Their programs might be the cheesiest ever (and by cheesy I mean phenomenal and I can't live without them) but their music is fabulous.

Speaking of Gossip Girl - heading to NYC on Wednesday to catch up with good friends, eat lots of food, drink red wine, gets my hairs did, stalk a celebrity or two and help celebrate as my friend Courtney gets MARRIED! Can't wait to get up there, its been too long! Full report will follow but in the meantime enjoy some Passion Pit.