CHARMED

So there's been many mentions to me ever since sharing my humiliatingly hilarious story of my 8th grade french teacher widdling down my existence on this earth by simply remembering me after 10 years as "the girl who always had the unique and elaborate earrings". Alright fine. I'm owning my reputation as a crazy earring lady. Whether that be negative or positive in connotation, it's who I am. And upon further examination I've come to realize I'm a crazy bracelet and ring lady too. Might as well just merge it all together and let the world know I like outrageous accessories okay. Since I like tips, my tip for your accessories, crazy or not, is to display them - on your dresser, on your night stand, on that useless weird side-table taking up space with a lamp on it and nothing else, even on the wall. Why spend all that money on pretty pretty things and then keep them hidden in a box 99% of the time? I was gifted one Christmas the most fabulous thing ever. An...

In this fleeting life, cities empower and defeat, jobs arise and disappear, green pieces of paper rule decisions while the heart falls by the wayside. Our one constant in the choppy seas of incessent change are the special moments with the people we love most. The moments you usually don’t realize are so special until a time later when it pops like a bubble out of your frontal lobe. It plays over, a vivd deja-vu - you can see distinctly the overwhelming smile on your mother’s face and the sparkle of happiness in her eyes, flickering back on the movie screen of your mind. You wish time would freeze back at that moment so you could revel in the beauty forever. Your bones overflow with tingling joy. The next feature plays and the next and the next. You see his piercing blue eyes fade to black and feel his fingers sweep along your forehead, transported to the time when you fell asleep on his lap. Your heart is warm. These are the moments I want to dedicate my life to achieving. No city, no...

We've all had those days. Those days. Nothing specifically happened, everything (in theory) is actually perfect, we can't point a finger at anyone, and there is no logical explanation for why we're draggin', can't focus, and can't motivate ourselves to be a productive human being for the day. Just BLAH. The BLAH days. A bad case of the BLAHs. Well I'm happy to profess that there is a pretty simple and fabulous antidote for BLAH days. It will make you smile, make you feel like a kid again, make other people happy by default, and most importantly it's really flippin' yummy. I'm talking about making a PIE! Pie just can't go wrong, can it? Even just finding out that I was referring to pie made you happy didn't it? And honestly I have no clue what makes a good pie - so if I can pull this off to success so can anyone. One blah day not too long ago I decided PIE was indeed the answer. I went to the store and bought pre-made pie dough. Bam, just ...

Now anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for a great bargain. I'm also a sucker for french onion soup on any menu, sparkly and funky printed scarfs, and most notoriously I'm a sucker for apparently outrageous earrings. To the point where my 8th grade french teacher, whom I happened to bump into at the town dump while dropping off garbage, squinted her eyes at me after I squealed in happiness to see her after 10+ years......her brain was racking and racking and finally her squint turned into a look of surprise and amusement.......I was "the girl who always had the unique and elaborate earrings!!!". 10 years and this is the single tidbit my existence is widdled down to by someone. Might as well be swinging crystal chandeliers from my ears. My reputation precedes me! But those are different stories all-together. This particular story is about the fact that whenever I'm in close proximity to any kind of thrift/antique/consignment store....my involuntary bargai...

There really is nothing better than getting away for a long weekend. Leaving any trivial concerns, any partially made to-do-lists, any good-intention to start that project...leaving it all behind - and for a few days wipe your slate clean, just live in the moment, let your hair blow in the wind, drink too many martinis, and spend a little bit too much money. Re-energize, re-fuel, review. A long weekend spent back in the city in which I arrived eagerly & anonymously and departed almost as eagerly 5 years later with a crystal-clear understanding of who I was and who I DIDN'T want to be. I still have lots of love for New York, but I have to say it was an absolute pleasure to be visiting purely for fun. To ride the subway as a novelty and not a necessity. To run through the streets trying to make it on time to a Broadway show and not to a meeting. To stand still for a minute and marvel at the canopy of city lights at night...instead of cursing that I haven't seen the light of d...