Tuesday, January 27, 2009

When Harry Met Sally

This past weekend, when I still had time to breathe (unlike now, as school has started up again), I watched When Harry Met Sally. I LOVED it. For ages my father has been telling me that it's one of the best movies out there, and now I agree. In fact, I watched it a second time. STRONG recommendation.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

H&M

   On a recent trip to the city, I went to H&M in Herald Square with a $40 gift card that I received as a birthday present a few months back. I ended up buying some very practical clothing for school (grr), but while I was there, I fell in love with two dresses that I did not buy:

     The first, a large black and white plaid which was not at all flattering ON...it made my shoulders look even broader than they, unfortunately, already are. It looked good on the mannequin though..


The second, a gorgeous 50's style dress that had a stunning silhouette. It gaped bizarrely in the back, though. I look back with regret - I should have bought it and had it taken in...

  Other than these two pieces, the store was filled with sales on all their winter-wear. Also, they got in racks upon racks of beautiful, delicate pastels in blue, pink, green and peach. I suppose I'll just have to go back for some of those...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Shrek: the Musical

  Last night I saw Shrek: The Musical on Broadway. I feel very cultured (and privileged) to have seen two shows in one week! 
  It was very entertaining, though I wouldn't consider it to be good theater. But it was funny, with good choreography, and a cast full of talented actors!!
  That was partially the reason I saw it: I recognized two of the actors from previous plays. Daniel Breaker (who played Donkey) also played The Youth in Passing Strange, my favorite play. And Sutton Foster (who played Princess Fiona) also played Jo in Little Women (which was only on Broadway for a short time...something like 6 weeks).
  After the show I did something new. I waited outside the stage door with my two friends. And I met Daniel Breaker! He was very funny (even in real life), and personable. We discussed the movie version of Passing Strange, which is apparently getting great reviews at the Sundance festival. Hopefully it will be picked up by a producer soon; I know I would pay to see it.

Monday, January 19, 2009

In The Heights


  Last night, I went with the family to see In The Heights on Broadway. The original concept, lyrics and music were done by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also happened to be the main character. He came up with the show when he was a sophomore in college. I hate Wunderkinds - they make me feel so incompetent!
  Anyway, I loved it, though no one else in my family shared that feeling. The music was incredible and unique - I'm pretty sure it's the only musical on Broadway with rap music. My dad thought the plot was shallow, which it was (though not at all as shallow as the likes of Mamma Mia, Hairspray, and Wicked), and my mom thought the music was disappointing, because there weren't any numbers that she could see becoming classics (she really likes classics). My brother, who is 10, is too young to have understood the concept or any of the jokes, so he hated it. 
  The fact that I have a year and a half of high-school Spanish under my belt helped a lot, because pretty much every song had at least a few words in Spanish. And the fact that I'm an adolescent helped, because many of the themes were ideas that pertain to teenagers, or ideas that I will have to face in a few years, once I hit my 20's. 
  In conclusion, In The Heights was extremely entertaining, the acting and singing were fabulous, and I recommend it for people ages 13 and up.

Sailor Style

If, like me, you don't actually plan on getting on a sailboat this spring, there is another option for us "landlubbers." We can still capture the preppy, sun-soaked mood with these sailor-inspired finds: 


Chloe striped dress $2185
 Chloe Myrtle sunglasses - $290

Gap double button skirt - $58

 Gap Favorite Striped crew neck T - $14.50


Covergirl Outlaslip stain in Coy Coral

 Diane Von Furstenburg Spring 2009 RTW

 Gianna Rose seashell soap$29.10 per box

 Kate Spade wedge sandal $198

 H&M cardigan $34.90

 Old Navy belt $12.50



 Tory Burch flip flop $45


 OPI "Sea Ya Later, Sailor" nail polish

 Juicy Couture flip flop $98

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Freedom

  I am now officially done with my midterm exams, which means I'm on vacation. FINALLY. I'm not going anywhere interesting, unlike my friends who are headed off to Florida, Cancun, Israel, and South Africa. Instead I'll be at home, with a week and a half to watch a ton of movies, read a stack of books, add to this blog, and most importantly - SLEEP. 
  Inspired by Modern Marie, here are a few songs about vacation, freedom, and hanging out:
 1. After Hours - We Are Scientists
 2. All We Ever Needed - The Early November
 3. Dear Maria, Count Me In - All Time Low
 4. Clockwatching - Jason Mraz
 5. Everything's Right - Matt Wertz
 6. Sleeping In - The Postal Service

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

  I recently finished reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards.  For lack of better words, it rocked!! Good plot, realistic dialogue, incredible character development, it was just perfect... I definitely recommend it for fans of Jodi Picoult's writing - I found some similarities. Now I really want to see the movie! TGFN(thank G-d for netflix).
  As far as books, I have moved on to Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It seems interesting, but I'm not enjoying it AS much. I hate when that happens: you finish reading such a good book that for a while afterwards you compare everything you read to it. 
  What are you reading/any suggestions??

p.s. that question was directed to all my imaginary readers... unless I were to attract a couple of real readers?

Saturday, January 3, 2009

In Defense of Israel

I have been keeping up on news of the current Israeli-Palestinian war, and I must speak out in favor of Israel. The media tends to paint Israel in a bad light, accusing them of unnecessary violence and murder of innocent Palestinians. However, I'm going to present what I know of the Israeli side of the story:
In 2003, Ariel Sharon gave the Palestinians a small strip of land in Gaza, displacing hundreds of Israelis from their homes, in an effort to make peace. Once in control of this land, the Palestinians elected Hamas, a globally-known terrorist organization, to run their government. And as "thanks" to Israel, they have launched THOUSANDS of Qasam rockets into Israel, aiming not for army bases and government operative buildings (which would have been bad enough), but for towns filled with innocent civilians. The town which has been hit the hardest is Sderot, which has been hit up to over 20 times in a single day. On a good day, only 3 or 4 rockets land in Sderot. The children of the town have to live with the daily reality of running for their lives into bomb shelters, situated in their PLAYGROUNDS and KINDERGARTENS.
When the 6-month cease-fire expired on December 19th (during the cease-fire, an average of 3-4 rockets were STILL fired into Israel DAILY), Israel wished to renew it. Hamas would only agree on the condition that Israel give them more land from which they could launch rockets. Israel said no, and each day more and more rockets were fired into residential neighborhoods in Israel. On Friday, December 26th, 30 rockets were fired. On Saturday morning, Israel finally struck back, from the air, dropping bombs on Hamas operative bases, and places where bombs were made and/or stored for use against Israel. There were casualties, as there always are in war. But there were many fewer than Palestine's media wants us to believe. And as Hamas struck back, sending in more and more rockets, Israel sent in AID PACKAGES for the Palestinian civilians. Those same packages were destroyed by Hamas, without being distributed to their ailing citizens. So Israel is not fighting the Palestinians - they are fighting Hamas. And now, Israel has begun sending in foot-soldiers to specifically seek out Hamas leaders and terrorists, or people who are hiding terrorists or their bombs, to avoid killing any more innocents. I honestly think that Israel cannot be considered the antagonist in this conflict. Shouldn't everyone have the right to protection?

Friday, January 2, 2009

Bands of a Feather

  Because I am Jewish, I celebrate Chanuka rather than Christmas. I have never been envious of Christmas-celebrators; we get presents on Chanuka, we have awesome traditional food (potato latkes (translate: fried pancakes), sufganiot (translate: jelly donuts) and chocolate coins) and it lasts EIGHT times as long!!!
  However, one thing that always seemed unfair to miss out on was Secret Santa. So this year, I came up with an idea, which I then presented to two of my best friends. We would have Secret Dreidel/Maccabbee/Chanuka Armadillo (from Friends) - we couldn't decide on a name. We were a few days late though - we just exchanged the gifts at our new year's party. One of my friends got the other, and me, lip gloss (we are both unnaturally obsessed). I bought bras for each of them (push-up for one, a loud seasonal print for the other). And my other friend bought us feathered headbands from a local hosiery store. I am absolutely obsessed!
Some other feathered headbands I would buy if I had the money and if I could own 6 of these w/o being considered a loser:
 bowtiquefrieda.com ($40)Forever21.com ($4.80)


Forever21.com ($7.80)
Urbanoutfitters.com ($24.00)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year, my future (hopefully) followers!
My resolutions for the upcoming year?
~Get more sleep
~Redecorate bedroom
~Read a LOT
~develop sewing skills (which are, at this point, WORSE than mediocre)
~become more aware of current events 
~see lots of plays and movies
~get a boyfriend (please?)
~Make this blog popular...though I'm really not sure HOW yet.

Went to a New Year's/birthday party for a friend last night. Wore:

Sorry the picture isn't so great (that's another resolution: finally learn how to USE my camera)
dress: Calvin Klein 
tights: Conway (which I seriously recommend for hoisery - these cost me $1.99)
shoes:Jildor
I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, stylish 2009!