Monthly Archives: December 2012

Crossing the line

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“Crossing the line” – said by Mauro at 4.23 AM. This was  forthcoming. It has taken me an entire  three months to leave my beloved Manhattan, and see Mauros neck of the woods. Mainly because of being busy with school and work, but today was the day. I would take a one day ( and first time) vacation to New Jersey. Experience driving through the Lincoln tunnel, view Port Elizabeth, and meet Snooki! ( haha ok, clearly Im joking).

On a more serious note I did see a freestanding emu and Steer in Marlboro (which I referred to as a cow). After meeting Mauros lovely mother, and talking over chai tea, Mauro and I decided to take an adventure to “Freehold” mall close to his house. At first I was astonished at how gigantic the mall looked, and then once entering I was even more bewildered at how crowded it was on a sunday morning.

After walking around for a little, we quickly worked up an appetite, that led us to the Cheesecake factory. Apparently, getting a table at MASA was easier than getting a table at the Cheesecake Factory. So getting told that we would have a “twenty to thirty” minute wait, with a line out the door (In freezing cold weather) was just not cutting it. We walked away laughing, and headed to an easier solution: The food court. Ok, maybe not the healthiest solution, but we did laugh over a Wendy’s frosty.

After our (fattening) frosty “adventure”, we decided to see if Nordstrom had the new Chanel 104 “Rouge Allure” lipstick (that is absolutely STUNNING)!. Remarkably, they did. So I left the mall ten pounds fatter from Wendy’s, with a new Chanel lipstick.

 As I am currently redecorating the master bedroom in my apartment (aka changing the bed sheets and duvet) our second adventure was to find decorative pillows. My new Johnathan Adler bed set is ravishing. Minus the fact that it didn’t come with the two chevon pink pillows shown. So after ABC carpets, Google, and Amazon failed me, we headed into a few furniture shops. This is where the real fun began, which included: Mauro pronouncing Duvet as Dubai,  Mauro playing with the kids toys that he claimed “were all the toys he never had as a kid, all in one place” and lastly, Mauro gripping on to a yellow, rustic airplane (made for an 8 year old) and not letting go.

We finally found some light blue chevon pillows. Although they are not comparable to pink, they do the trick (for the mean time). Last but not least, we walked into Wegmans. A grocery store” notorious” for New Jersey residents (according to Mauro). It was gianomous and i was over whelemed at looking at everything. It ended up taking us an hour and a half to even check out (sorry Mauro!).

Overall our trip to New Jersey was fun. We did not bump into Snooki, see jwow boobs here there and everywhere, or bump into any “situations”.

The undressing of a mannequin

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Have you ever been told you couldn’t do something, and then be more inclined to do it? This is the absolute story of my life. If someone tell’s me I can’t do something, I will go above and beyond to prove a point. In today’s example, it was having a sold out Rag&Bone bag, only displayed on the mannequin.

New gorgeous shoes Mauro brought me!

My train of thought took me back to my buying class in college where we were taught that you should CLEARLY only display merchandise in your window, that are indeed in stock. So figuratively speaking, I enter the store and find a sales associate. The women was most unhelpful and acted like I had three heads when I asked her where the bag was.

It wasn’t one of the three “B’s” (Bergdorfs, Barneys, OR Bendels) so how was I supposed to know their disorderly store layout? Finally after insisting she, at least check the “backstock” for the bag, I decided that I should take the bag, off of the mannequins hand and dash to the closest cash register. And thats exactly what I did.

So the same theory applies to life. When someone tells you, that you cant do something, prove them wrong and walk away smiling. As long as it is legal of course.

The new bag

Ever since my little trip into the container store, and witnessing all sorts of organization maniacs, I have got to admit that I have found myself organizing the most laborious things in the world. Including: closets, cabinets and shoes. I also decided to purchase, and decorate a towel organizer for my guest room. Enough said. On the positive side of being a shopaholic, I am shocked at the amount of sales going on all over Manhattan.

So all in all today has been a decent day. A new dress, a peplum shirt (my new obsession), and a new bag that I switched over mid snow storm, in a taxi. I also was probably one of the only people walking along fifth avenue in a snow storm holding a large coffee frappachino light, and not a hot chocolate. However, it did taste delicious and was totally worth being freezing for.

As for the next few days, Mauro (my incredible boyfriend whom I often refer to) will be staying with me. Unlike when we were stuck inside for Sandy (the hurricane) and I had an extreme case of cabin fever, (and possibly one or two hissy fits at the fact that we couldn’t go out, and were confined to a diet of poptarts and special k) I am looking BEYOND excited for the week ahead of us. We already have the Americana, Pedicures, and Il Mulino on the to do list.

A blonde and white out

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So if the title of the post didn’t make your jaw drop, i’m not qutie sure what will. I am SUCH a girl, that i never even considered owning tools in my apartment, such as a hammer. So when I got a painting to go in one of my bathrooms for Chritmas, and replace the six ugly flower pictures that the interior decorator had decorated with, I was eager to get the ugly pictures down, and put the new modern picture up. So thats when I decided to become handy with what I had. All Blonde-Ness aside, this included: Whiteout, a fork, and dedication to get the job done.

So clearly i took the six frames/flowers down, and was left with a white wall full of holes. Although i do have tins of paint in my apartment from when it was first decorated, clearly i am no painter. So my first thought was how do i fill up these hideous holes? My first answer was: white out! So brains of Britian (me) Decides to white out the holes on my penthouse bathroom wall. Probably not the wisest idea, but it definetly worked in the moment. The next task i had was how to hang a picture without a hammer, so i had to think of something hard enough. I used the back of a fork to hammer the nail in the wall and hang the picture. Wuhlah! My guest bathroom is now complete with the six flower pictures gone. Well gone.As well as the interior designer who resides in Paris.

Although this post doesn’t directly have a message, and (i shall admit) is quite tideous to read, i wanted to share my experience with you to eliminate all claims that women are only good for cooking and cleaning. Wrong, Wrong and Wrong. Women are good for MUCH more, and infact for those men that think otherwise, lets get one thing straight: Men would not be here without women.

So that was my thrilling thursday, a blonde, whiteout, a fork, a picture and determination.

Boxing Day

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After waking up at 7am on what us Brits call “Boxing Day” I must say I got quite a lot accomplished. Christmas was amazing and I was blessed to get everything AND more that I asked for, including a silver Chanel, a beautiful dark wood Jewelry box, Escada perfume, a Keurig coffee machine, heels, lots & lots of clothes and money from my family. Luckiest girl in the world=understatement! Christmas Eve was also fun, doing straight shots of vodka with my 74 year old grandmother.

“Santa” also came and spoiled Mauro and I rotten (Thanks Mum) 21 and still never too old for a talking Santa, who comes in my room laughing that one of my little sisters had left a wire trap to catch Santa and his reindeers. Mauro was also startled and woke up, stating that “THIS WAS IT!”Apparently the magic never grows old, unlike us humans. After opening stockings and sacks from “Santa” in each of my 10, 8, and 5 year old siblings rooms, we went downstairs to find a professional drum set, a Taylor Swift guitar, and a microphone. Goodbye Jonas brothers, Hello Band..Benstock.

So as you can only imagine the house was LOUD all day long. Luckily my mother had brought me a “home for the holidays survival kit” that included ear plugs, a flask, 10 excuses to leave a family function early and a humorous 32 page, actual survival kit. It remained un-open up until around 1 pm, when my brother started “playing” his drum set, my sister started sweetly singing/screeching one direction on her microphone, and my grandfather started swearing (or as Americans say: cursing) at cooking the christmas dinner. I needed alcohol and ear plugs ASAP.

A British Christmas dinner is equivalent to as much food on thanksgiving. It consists of yorkshire puddings, paxo stuffing, roast potatoes, butter beans, peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, turkey, bisto gravy and the best part yet: three bottles of Cristal. Mauro also contributed to the traditional dinner celebration by bringing Chateau Talbot from 1978.

The fun started to kick in after two glasses of champagne, a taste of Chateau Talbot, raspberry chocolate moose cake from Leonetti, and ice cream. A sugar rush and Cristal go well together. I then played twister dance moves with my 5 year old sister Poppy, who is a mini version of me, with more cheekiness, sass and beauty. Baby blue eyes and dark brown spiral curls- yes please!

After Mauro survived a Benstock Christmas, we ended up driving home and got back to the city within 50 minutes, and then passed out leading too our snowy adventure today.

The day started at 7am with organizing,cleaning, Starbucks, croissants, and what-not-to wear outfits. Or in my case boots. Ugg boots. Ugly Ugg boots. On the positive side they were very warm and comfy for this rain/snow/sleet/inconvenience that we are facing here in New York.

 As curiosity has it, I entered the “container store” today, and dragged Mauro with me. Ironically for a store that claims to be organized, I found it very unorganized. But still I managed to pull of my “Rebecca Bloomwood” act by making a (very unnecessary and impulsive) purchase of a pencil holder, and envelope organizer. For letters/bills that I am yet to pay (Thank you daddy). We also went shopping in Victorias Secret,  Dylan’s candy bar, and Barneys, where I then progressed to buy the entire store (almost).

Finally we ate at David Burke, where Mauro ate Asiago Truffle fries and I ate a lobster salad. The music was surprisingly good, but with doors opening and closing it was colder inside than out, and the crowd was full of tourists. As for tonight, dependent on snow..Lavo is on the to-do/to-go list. Along with eating Calamari, Lobster Fra Diavolo, and of course Martinis for two.

The Words

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I am almost in full disbelief that Christmas Eve is tomorrow. Where has the year gone? Although their were a few flurries of snow yesterday, it absolutely did not meet my expectations of “having a white christmas” nor did these few flurries meet my expectations of a romantic, tiffany-esqe scene.

In celebration that the world did not end on 12/21/12, Mauro and I celebrated by indulging in the most delicious Macaroons ever, Godiva chocolates, AND new Alexander Wang Shoes (Thank you Mauro!). We mutually forgot about all the calories we had just consumed, by doing some damage in Chanel (me) and Bergdorf (Him). After working up even MORE of an appetite directly from shopping, we then headed over to Serafinia on Madison Avenue, eating even more. Helloo Holiday humongous-ness.  
We finally headed home and watched this movie “the words”.  At first the reason I picked this movie was because a) I wanted to fall asleep and b) it was on FIOS but it turned out that the movie was excellent and held both of our attentions. 
Today was interesting, in terms that Mauro and I went on a road trip back to my house on Long Island. After stopping in Tiffany’s at Manhasset and falling in loooovee with a diamond ring  (and sulking like a “toddlers in tiaras” spoiled brat when I couldn’t have it) we finally get home to a house full of hyper kids (my siblings) presents everywhere (the norm), and chaos. On the positive there was one bottle of Cristal in the fridge, to get through the day and prepare for our Christmas Eve party tomorrow. Wish me luck!

YES!

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So if the title of this post led you to think that I was engaged, you are entirely wrong. Sort of like the diamond ring I wear on my right hand, that I have been told is a BEAUTIFUL “engagement” ring. A)it is my right hand, not my left and b) If it was an engagement ring, it would be much much bigger. On an attempt to make cupcakes with blue icing, I failed horribly. Luckily my oven ended up surviving, along with one cupcake. The rest ended up looking like cookie monster, on drugs.

The rain ended up stopping mid-day in Manhattan, and my determination to actually leave my apartment, half filled fridge, and couch increased immensely. So I decided to be adventurous and take the subway to Herald Square, which ended up to be a big mistake. People where literally pushing and shoving to move. I also watched a person get arrested, someone try to steal another women’s purse, and a person screaming to themselves, all within the same five minutes. Welcome to Manhattan.

After escaping the tourists and crazy people, I finally found the nearest Starbucks closest to my destination: Elite Daily. Approximately four steps before entering the Starbucks a beggar on the street looked up to me and starts yelling at me to “take my time slut!” I was absolutely mortified and speechless. Calmly proceeding into Starbucks and avoiding the rude comment I decided to order a drink and sat upstairs amongst a young couple making amends, two people that looked like they were directly sent from match.com and a match made in hell, a women sitting in Spongebob square pants patterned PJ’s, and a David Beckham impersonator. Finally after much observation, and an OD on sugar, I got the amazing opportunity to interview with the Co Founder Of Elite Daily, which I can easily say was the highlight of my week. From the company to the environment, everything seemed beyond amazing. Although i did argue my point that not ALL women have an expiration date 😉