The Evolution of Wooing, 1993 - 2013

1993: The world is a cold, heartless place, where, according to the letters, you actually meet and are rejected by chaps in person.

1994: A thing appears on your new office computer that says: “Meet me for coffee.” That thing is an e-mail, and the poetry of its four words—the magic of them!—opens your life forever to the wonder of words on a screen.

1995: Match.com goes live, and you bravely create a profile saying you are looking for a nice guy “with a sense of humor” and receive 1,270 responses. In the first hour.

1996: Best to gloss over the time you visited that chat room.

1997: Wi-Fi is invented, making it possible for you to meet your future second husband at Starbucks in 2009.

1998: You learn the hard way that the more you google a fella you “might be interested in,” the creepier you feel, and the creepier you feel, the pickier you grow, until finally, with the exception of JFK Jr., there’s not a man remaining in America you’d consider going out with.

2001: Auntie Eeee and her sister, Cande, solve the online-dating “cad, wanker, and brainless nincompoop” issue by launching GreatBoyfriends.com, where women recommend their ex-boyfriends to one another. Oprah says it’s the best idea she’s ever heard.

2003: You are courted on MySpace by the lead singer of a band. It is tender. It is sweet. When you fly to see him perform at a Fort Wayne, Indiana, softball field, you discover he’s 15.

2004: Mark Zuckerberg est arrivé. You really gotta love the little bastard.

2005: You excitedly upload to YouTube a video of you salsa dancing with a semifamous reality-show contestant, but since it’s an interminable four minutes long, nobody watches it.

2006: As Twitter debuts, eventually dooming dictators around the world, you stage a coup d’état of someone’s heart with these three simple steps: (1) You follow the attractive person on Twitter; (2) you retweet two or three of the attractive person’s tweets; and (3) you reply to one of his/her tweets with a lusty zinger. (How not to flirt: See Wikipedia, Anthony Weiner.)

2007: You squeal in the grip of the greatest ecstasy woman has ever known when you turn on your first iPhone.

2010: You discover that a tryst with your boyfriend is twice as hot when you’re Skyping with him while on a business trip as when he’s in your actual bed.

2013: Words are dead. You’re now back in the Lascaux Cave, communicating with images via Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat—and your love life is totally happening on Tinder.

Source: 

Ask E. Jean.  http://www.elle.com/life-love/ask-e-jean/e-jean-20-years-dating

Happy Xmas!

Oh Christmas in LA!

Will I ever get enough of the 80 degree Decembers and palm trees?  And the tan so golden - people lose their minds trying to guess my race/ethnicity. Priceless!

Hope all your dreams come true as well. XOXO

Another Fabulous Fashion District Find

Have I mentioned I love love LOVE Fashion District? :D  I don't visit it as often as I would like to.  However, every time I do, I inadvertently come back with another terrific find.  I should post them here more often.

Once again - perfection does exist...  even if you have to search for it for a few years...  It's even more satisfying for only $5.

UPDATE: Currently Craving: High Heeled High Tops

The 08/26/12 Currently Craving is the most viewed post on this blog.  So I know that you remember my search for the perfect high top sneakers.  I wanted them to go with leggings, skinnies, and, of course, with all my fabulous skirts that I wear all the time now, since the weather is always beautiful in sunny California.
Well... perfection does exist...  even if you have to search for it for a couple of years...

It was love at first sight, even though I had to wait for a couple of weeks to order them (since I just bought a tooth.  Yes, all the way down to da root!).

By the way, Currently Craving is now on Pinterest.

A Girl's Girl?

A girl's girl is someone who:

1) Is attractive without being threatening or overly sexy. In other words, she escapes the skank factor. This is a big one. Because most women want to better themselves with friends who will propel them into the next category, without constantly worrying if their spouses secretly lust over their gal pals.

2) Her house is just so. Do I even need to explain this one? No.

3) She wants babies, lots of babies. Or at least, she publicly pines over all things motherhood in a way that rivals only her husband's rabid love of SEC football. Because this, apparently, is the fruition of womanhood. And of course one child is never enough. One child forces her to ask the question, "So when are you going to have another one?"

4) She is smiley. In fact, the probability of being a girl's-girl increases with the size of and the frequency by which you flash your pearly whites. Think Julia Roberts toothiness. She played a prostitute in "Pretty Woman" and still audiences perceived her as wholesome as granny's apple pie every time she bared those mega-watt chompers.

5) She does not have a past. Or if she has an unsavory history, it is one that makes her look enduring in a June Carter, Lifetime movie sort of way.

6) She is good with correspondences: think thank you cards, holiday cards, birthday cards, scrapbook pages, etc...

7) She has a well-stocked purse. Need a tissue/nail file/safety pin/tampon/ironing board/tire iron/vintage off-white cameo pin? This girl has it all in her Kate Spade. Eat your heart out Mary Poppins.

8) She is better than all of your friends in at least one hobby. Bonus points if she is a) a militant jogger or triathlete, b) insane coupon-clipper, c) yoga instructor, d) culinary queen, or e) a combination of two of the above.

9) She looks effortless in ridiculous trends. Somehow she manages to be the one person on earth who doesn't look like bloated roadkill while wearing jeggings and faux-fur wrap.

10) Other girls like her, and she likes other girls. The majority of her friends are other women (mostly) like her. Because girl's-girls tend to attract one another.

Source: 

La Literati: A Girl's Girl http://christeenefraser.blogspot.com/2010/11/girls-girl.html

The Real Haute Style

According to the new book I am reading, all fashion is from France.

Plus, apparently "everybody's doin' it" - Fancy Skirt + T-shirt is a trend.

Source:
Lookbook.nu
Who What Wear  whowhatwear.com http://www.whowhatwear.com/fall-fashion-street-style-trend-fancy-skirts-plain-t-shirts-2013

RANDOM TIP: Balance

I know from experience that no matter what I eat, it all ends up in one place - my booty.  Which is why I had to balance the last post with this one.  Enjoy the "9 Butt Exercises For a Super Toned Tush".

Source:
Women's Health www.wh.com http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/best-butt-exercises

Perfect Chocolate Cheese Fluff

I used to bake.  Now, since the weather is always perfect here in the heart of LA city, I stick with cool no-bake desserts.

3/4 cup low fat chocolate milk          

1 cup fat free cottage cheese

1/3 cup sugar free chocolate flavor syrup

1 pkg (4-serving size) chocolate fudge pudding mix

2 cups chocolate whipped topping

Pour milk into blender.  Add cottage cheese and syrup.  Blend until smooth.  Add pudding mix.  Blend again.  (This stage of the preparation will be over faster than you expect.  The mixture gets so thick that it pretty much stops moving.)

Scrap it out into a large bowl.  Stir in whipped topping.  Mix well. 

Spoon into serving glasses.  Garnish, if desired.

Makes 8 servings at 113 calories each without any garnish. 

Make sure to eat this dessert within a day or two – sadly, the fluffiness settles. 

Shopaholic Addiction Statistics

Another CreditDonkey survey yields un-surprising results.  

http://www.creditdonkey.com/shopping-addiction.html

Warning signs of shopaholism include feeling guilt or shame after shopping (which 36.7 percent of respondents have experienced), hiding purchases from their families (20.5 percent), and checking available credit at least once a week (26.7 percent). However, just 4.7 percent of respondents said they have been labeled “shopaholics."

Houston, we have a problem...

A recent study by CreditDonkey found that 41% of Americans have less than $500 in savings. And 76% of us are living paycheck to paycheck. 

Source:
LearnVe$t http://www.learnvest.com/2013/08/youll-never-believe-how-much-i-saved-and-how/
Credit Donkey  www.creditdonkey.com/no-emergency-savings.html