Only in NY?

I was totally that girl today. You know, the one who people talk about with their coworkers or friends later. Not in a terribly bad way, but more of a "you wouldn't believe the wacky thing I saw on the subway today" way.

So let me explain. First off, I am a little lazy when it comes to doing my makeup for everyday wear. But I like to wear a little.

I had an appointment with the dermatologist this morning so no makeup to be wore there. Yikes! Okay, not really- I frequently run errands on the weekends with just moisturizer and mascara on and I'm as happy as can be. And that's what I had on this AM.

Anyway, I packed a few makeup basics so that I could "put on my face" after my appointment. And naturally, I forgot when I was paying and leaving. So, I'm sitting on the subway, one stop away from work and realize I need to put some makeup on. No big deal because I use compact foundation so I can do this quickly on the train.

Except it's not any old compact foundation; it's L'Oreal's True Match Roller. Which I mocked when it first came out (and yeah, I totally did the advertising for it) - and then I tried it and loved it.

So there I was on the train, using my little foundation paint roller on my face and I could feel the guy across from me watching and I'm sure thinking "what the heck is this girl doing?" But I wouldn't look up; for one, it'd break my concentration and I was in a hurry and two, I felt like enough of a fool, I couldn't make eye contact to confirm I was that girl.

And in case you're curious; here's what I'm talking about- totally recommend it if you are looking for something easy to use, lightweight coverage, decently priced and a total conversation starter. ;)

More Kitchen Adventures

Like any food lover/cook, I can never settle with only making the recipes I know I like and come out successfully. How boring would that be? I am always finding new ideas and recipes that I want to try and i mix them in with my standbys.

One thing I decided to try to learn to cook recently is steak. Around Valentine's Day I saw lots of recipes for romantic steak dinners for two. And even though I'm just a one, I studied them and thought- "I could do this."

Next trip to Costco, I found a 4-pack of Filet Mignon for $21.49. That is just $0.50 more than the small Victoria's Filet at Outback, which I will admit I have ordered for delivery when I was really craving a steak dinner.

So I thought, I have 4 tries to cook this steak correctly and it is equal to the price of eating just one steak at a relatively inexpensive steakhouse (by NYC standards at least).

Attempt number 1 didn't go very well. I combined about 4 different recipes and had a plan to make the meat and some sauce. Well...the meat didn't cook enough and the sauce smoked up really badly and basically evaporated in the pan. But lessons learned; more cooking time, no sauce.

Attempt number 2 was better.....but the meat turned out a bit overcooked. I like a medium rare steak and I think after the frustration of having to keep cooking the meat after my sides were ready the first time, I was generous in cooking time. It was also a slightly thinner filet.

Attempt number 3 should have been a success; in theory, all I had to do was combine the lessons learned from 1 and 2. Yeah....still ended up with slightly undercooked meat. And this time, I felt like it was under seasoned as well.

So, the infamous 4th filet is in my freezer and I'm torn. Do I aim to make the perfect steak OR do I try an awesome sounding beef wellington with Gorgonzola cheese recipe? And even more importantly, do I buy more steak on my next Costco trip or do I regale it to restaurant-only food? (and yes, I actually do have "restaurant-only" foods like hamburgers and buffalo wings).

Seriously ABC?!

Last night, ABC announced who the "new" Bachelor will be. Now, I love the show for it's cheesiness and drama. I don't really expect the people to get married, but if true love came about, that'd be great. And ABC used to pick really interesting people or have themes (remember the fake Italian prince?). And then at some point, the show became a starting point for d-list celebrities. So for this go around, the bachelor is.... Brad Womack. He claims that he's going to open up more and really find love this time.

Brad started a vicious Bachelor cycle way back when. He didn't pick either of the girls: Jenni and Deanna. So, Deanna became the Bachelorette. She picked snowboarder Jesse over single dad Jason. Jason went on to originally pick Melissa over Molly and then change his mind and dump Melissa in the after the final rose special for Molly. (they actually did get married and are never in the press, so I think they may make it).

After that, we had bachelorette Jillian who (luckily) came in third behind Molly and Melissa. Jillian picked Ed and at some point didn't pick Jake. Jake then went on to pick Vienna over Tenley, but Vienna's arch rival Ali became the new Bachelorette. And then....when Ali's runner up Chris didn't want to be the Bachelor, they went back to Brad.

Whew- did you keep up? Here's the cliff's note breakdown: [Bachelor/Bachelorette and their final 2]

Brad- Jenni and Deanna

Deanna - Jesse and Jason

Jason- Melissa and Molly, Jillian came in third

Jillian- Ed and someone...Jake was like 4th or 5th runner up

Jake- Tenley and Vienna, Ali came in 3rd

Ali- Roberto and Chris

Which leads us to Brad...

I will still probably watch but I am annoyed just like everyone else (Facebook and Chris Harrison's Twitter have some angry fans). I'd really like to see a fresh face out in Bachelor/Bachelorette land.

I think it may also be good for me to get more of a life so that I can't remember the last 6 seasons of the Bachelor/Bachelorette finalists off the top of my head.

It's a good thing I can laugh at myself

It's a very good thing that I can laugh at myself and oftentimes admit when I'm wrong.

The latest realization that maybe I was a dumb blonde in another life: superfun vs. superfund.

When people talked about environmental waste areas that were extreme enough to get the government involved with the clean up, I was hearing them called "Superfun" sites.

I wondered what about them were fun but thought maybe it was supposed to be a positive name for such a negative situation.

Turns out, today, I was reading an article about a newly declared superfund site. Still not the most logical word to describe the situation/problem but it is the correct one. I think part of the name comes from the cost associated for the clean up.

So for anyone who I've spoken with about "Superfun" sites, I hope you just assumed that you hadn't heard me correctly, not that I was dumb and had no idea what I was talking about. I actually didn't but I hope my confidence helped me fake it.

How many single 20-somethings does it take to change a lightbulb?

I love my kitchen lights. They are nice to look at and even more importantly, they provide lots of light in a window-less kitchen.

However, the other day, 1 out of 3 burned out. I guess nearly 3 years since installation is about the time a long lasting bulb would burn out. And I had no idea how to change it.... look at these hi-tech little things; a bulb cover and a canopy on the track lighting.

I looked up the company online hoping for some steps on how exactly to change the bulbs. (the bulb cover screwed in was what made me most unsure) The website didn't have any information so I called customer service. They were very helpful and emailed me instructions and tips right away.

Then, I went to Home Depot to look for the bulbs. Today I figured out exactly which bi-pin halogen bulb I needed and THEN figured out how to install a bi-pin bulb (a hint- they don't screw in, they poke in)

And so, I have one bulb replaced and I am crossing my fingers that the other two either burn out right away so I can change them while I still remember the steps or in a long time so I don't have to worry about it.

I'm pleased with myself for figuring it all out- a lot of people said they would have hired a handy man to do this, but I knew I'd be more careful and besides, I think it's important to be able to take care of stuff like that. Just a little project around the house for the weekend.

Spanx for Men?

I can't decide if I am happy that men ae expected to tighten up like women or if I think it is crazy that I guy would wear a Spanx undershirt...

90210!

Thursday was September 2nd, also known as 9.02.10 day. To honor the notorious soap opera, my friend and I went to a 90210 party at a rooftop bar. I happen to have a tee-shirt that is a tribute to one of the more memorable episodes of the show, so I figured, tonight's the night to wear it. And people loved it- so much that I was photographed for a couple of event sites. Here are the pictures they posted and then a link to all of the pictures.




http://guestofaguest.com/galleries/2010/9/90210-9021-oh/

For the record, not everyone in these pictures were drinking the special 90210 character themed cocktails or celebrating the day, but they were all really good looking, which is why I think they're featured.

Laundry Night

I love that in my building, no one does laundry on Sunday nights. Coming from college, I was used to the laundry room and study lounges to be packed on Sunday night as everyone got ready for the week. But for whatever reason, I'm one of the only ones who does wash on Sundays.

However, the emptiness of the laundry room last night was a bit of a problem. See, we have laundry cards that we reload on a little machine and use to run the washers and dryers. The machines do not take any coins.

I knew I was close to being out of dough on my card so I grabbed my credit card when I took everything down. I also had just bought some new jeans and I'd been traveling the last 2 weeks, so I had 6 loads to do (sheets, darks, dark new jeans, lights, whites, reds/pinks- OCD, I know).

I get everything in the washers with $0.75 left on my card. Perfect! Refill it while I'm down here, and then in 35 minutes, toss about half in the dryers and I'll be good to go.

Except the machine was broken. Wouldn't take my credit card. Fine...I came back with cash. That didn't work. I tried to buy a new card...nope. And since it was desolate, I couldn't ask anyone if I could borrow their card or if they had a different bill to try to use.

And so, I hung up ALL of my clothes. Yes, 8 pairs of pants, a set of sheets, PJs, undies, plus the usual things I normally hang dry- dresses, gym clothes. When people feel like they're buried under their laundry (do people really say that?) I can attest that filling your bedroom, part of your living room and hanging sheets over the shower in the bathroom really makes you feel like I'm buried in clean clothes. Better than buried in dirty clothes though.

A New Marketing Idea?

I love packing my lunch for work. I think that it's economical and I prefer my own cooking to a lot of the food options near my office. One day last week, I put my bowl of turkey soup in a paper lunch bag with some carrots and a yogurt and stuck the bag in my purse.

I get to the office and go to put the soup in the fridge and realize that it is leaking. And has been leaking my entire walk to work. The bowl now has no broth in it, but my purse is pretty wet, everything covered in broth. Yikes! (I was laughing as I dried everything off...things like this can only happen to me.)

But here's where my marketing idea comes into play. My pocket pack of tissues got some of the broth on them and I didn't realize it until I pulled them out later. They had dried but had an aroma of chicken broth.

When you're sick, would a chicken broth scented tissue make you feel better? It's a couple of tried and true cold remedies all rolled into one.

Obviously, I'm kidding, but deep down part of me wonders if I should look into a patent. As someone who works in marketing/advertising, you never know what the next thing to launch will be.

All My Single Ladies...

Women who live alone have a bad reputation; stereotypes of crazy cat women or sitting home eating hagen daz watching soap operas all weekend are common. I think every woman that lives alone thinks about these as the really scary future you avoid.

But there is something about women who live alone that people don't realize. You have to do everything around the house alone:

I finally got a new rug for my living room; I was shopping/looking for about 3 months and found a rug at Crate and Barrel in Costa Mesa over Christmas about to be discontinued. Nothing like being totally relaxed on vacation and then knowing there are only 20 in the country left to help me narrow 3 months of shopping down to a purchase. So, the rug came yesterday, I hit Home Depot on the way home from work for a rug pad and I was ready to go.

Putting down the rug pad was nice and easy, stuck it in place and then started to heave and unroll the rug. Of course, the unrolling messed up the rug pad, so there was some additional lifting and positioning of the rug.

Then, I had to lift the couch little bits at a time to get the rug underneath the couch. The lifting wasn't too terrible because I was just putting a couple of inches under the couch and I was pleased with how the rug looked.

Then, after a couple hours of watching TV, eating dinner, and looking at the rug, I decided that I want more of it under the couch and closer to the wall, to show off more wood floor up by the TV. So, like any rational woman who lives alone, I start pushing and shoving the couch off of the rug so that I can reposition the carpet and then move the couch back.

It wasn't as smooth sailing as I envisioned. The logic of lifting and sliding the couch, and the angles to do so was correct, but really required it 2 people to move both the rug and the couch. However, once you move everything into awkward places and then realize the rug is too heavy for you to lift or roll, you just improvise in order to get the living room back together.

The happy ending of the story is that I now have a rug I really like in a position I really like. The moral of the story is Friday night at 10pm, alone, is not really a good time to move furniture. But...at least the heavy lifting is better for me than hagen daz.

Check out the new look:

The colors aren't great in these, but after all the work in moving the furniture, I was too lazy to use my camera and just took these on my phone and emailed to myself.