Oops

Smash invited me to see Fuerzabruta last week and oh, I am so glad I went.

From its official website: "Fuerzabruta doesn't have a purpose.  It is."

Oh Pioneer Woman

I'm not a huge fan of the giant personal megablogs out there (by which I mean random, individual blogs like mine, except with better web design, plenty-o-ads, and over twelve readers) - it's not that I don't like the authors, or that I think they shouldn't make money off their sites, but they tend to focus on their full time job, which is... blogging (hi, Dooce).  But I'll skim them once in a while, which is how I stumbled on this picture of a kitten lying on top of a puppy on The Pioneer Woman:

Like, I'm not supposed to repost this?  Point Pioneer Woman.  Someone knows how to broaden her audience.

The Good Wife: Season 3

Season three premiered and it's great.  PHEW.

The only way for this series to end satisfyingly is if Peter goes to jail again.  And gets shivved.

Goop Goes to the Emmys!

Says Gwyneth of this photo, taken at a slightly awkward angle:

I live for Tina Fey and I love Kenneth from 30 Rock! Wait ... why does my arm look like that and since when do I have 9 chins?

Is this is to show us that Gwyneth has the same "Ahhhhh I look horrible!" reaction to pictures of herself that we do?  A pretend cry for help for her fictional body dysmorphic disorder?  Is a pre-emptive strike at us for realizing that Tina Fey looks awesome in this picture?

In any case, I think this is the last "scrapbook" edition of GOOP where GP snaps away with her BlackBerry rather than bringing along dear friend Mario Testino.

Birthdays and Wine

Melanie's birthday was last week, so she had a dinner at Antibes in the East Village.  It was really fun - the food was good, it was a big fun crowd, and we more or less took over the restaurant.  Mel even made place cards!

Before the dinner, we decided *not* to do the open bar option, which was an additional twenty bucks or so.  "We'd have to have like five drinks each to make it worth it," someone said, "and it's Tuesday."

Um... know your audience, guys.

Noisy Kittens Waiting For Dinner

I watch this more often than I should admit.

Your Friends Are Second

It was a good weekend to be my friend, particularly if your name ends in "ie."

First, Brie had a giant, above-the-fold front page travel article in the Times about traveling the outlaw road of Patagonia, also featuring her photographs.  What?!  That's pretty exciting.

And then if that weren't enough, Hallie went and WON AN EMMY.

Seriously, I know the coolest girls.  The smartest, loveliest, funniest, best-at-writing ladies in all the land!

Food and Fashion

I've been reading this blog by makeup artist Annamarie Tendler for a few years now.  I found it because her then-boyfriend posted on Mindy Kaling's old blog, which led me to his blog, which led me to her blog, and then they broke up and she got a new boyfriend and I realized like 6 months ago that her new boyfriend used to date one of my friends.  Whoops!  But what can you do, it's still highly readable and full of fun makeup tips; plus, she is very into cats.

AT's old boyfriend founded CollegeHumor and her current boyfriend writes for Saturday Night Live.  This means that she has a lot of cool and famous friends, and one of those friends, Aziz Ansari, did a feature with her called Food & Fashion.  Here's what I learned:

• I need to go to Torrisi.  I've been hearing about it consistently for the past few months and I can just feel a three-star review from the Times around the corner, waiting to dump hordes and hordes of three-star-seeking Times readers into the already long lines, a la Roberta's.
• Aziz Ansari *could* be my best friend.  He said so!  Check out the quote, re: Torrisi's chicken parm: "Trust me, this is THE must eat sandwich of 2011. Also, if you are into phrases like “THE must eat sandwich of 2011,” we can be best friends."  I say things like that all the time.  Hell, I went on a sandwich crawl last year.  Aziz, we're doing another one!  You should come!
• I like my job and all, but there's definitely something to be said for working on your own time, giving you the opportunity to hang out at Roberta's with your arty friends in the middle of the day because you're technically "working on a project."  Also, Ms. Tendler is good at makeup.

Good for you, guys!  Bring on more blog posts about food and very tangentially about fashion!

Photo by Noah Kalina

Wait, What?

I began this blog in late 2004.  We're approaching late 2011.

I've had this blog for almost SEVEN YEARS?

SEVEN?


That's a phD.  A second-grader.  A lame-duck two-term president.

I don't know how I feel about this.  I should probably go think about myself some more and figure it out.

Tireed

Really fun weekend but by the time I was force-marched to Overlook for the Bears game (which was awesome), I looked like this:

(that's a corpse-reviving Diet Coke in front of me, and yesterday's clothes.  I only eat clean on the weekdays).

Sad/Happy

Ten years ago this was a horrible day.

One year ago, this was a wonderful day.

Here's to many more happy days.

Spicy

Maybe it's because I'm almost thirty and therefore turning into a crotchety homebody, but I'm really excited about my new spice jars.

On a recommendation from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, I decided to go Type A on my old spice storage "system," which was basically "shove everything in the cabinet and keep the Old Bay* near the front."  I ordered 24 totally cute 4.5 oz glass jars from Amazon (also available piecemeal at Crate and Barrel), and they arrived yesterday.  I broke them out at dinner, after Dan, Melanie, Willis and I had devoured a pot of ricotta gnocchi, a peach tart, and two bottles of wine.  Pros of having family over for funtimes: no one cares when you start labeling jars at the table.

Then this morning I removed the Saran Wrap boxes and stray rubber bands that had taken over one of our drawers, scrubbed it out, and attained this beautiful, perfect, ALPHABETIZED, Martha-Stewart-like, Katie's-mom-would-be-proud Spice Zen:

WAIT!  The labels aren't straight!

There we go.

I have room for a few more jars and a couple more spices to decant, but this is just so so sooooo much better.  No more cursing because I KNOW I have nutmeg but can't identify it by feel as I fish behind everything else in the cabinet, not that that happened yesterday or anything.  

Having this one piece of perfect organization makes me feel like I can do anything.

*I make a lot of Bloody Marys.

Yay Chicago

Went to Chicago for Labor Day.  Hung out with the in-laws.  Ate a LOT.  Laid on the beach.  Went to a Cubs game.  Played some tennis.  Got complimentary drinks on the plane.  Good times!

Warbies!

Ha!  This ad is awesome.



I bought a pair of Warby Parker glasses a little while ago and really like them.  They make me look extremely intellectual:

Too smart for color, even.

So if you're in the market for a pair of glasses that are well-made, reasonably priced, and make you look like a Bushwick* resident, check WP out - ninety-five bucks including the lenses, all coatings, shipping, and a 30-day return period.  It's pretty sweet.  Even ck wears them, and he has perfect vision.  Don't we all want to be more like ck?

*Bushwick has supplanted Williamsburg as the epicenter of Painfully Hip.

Tomatoes and Mozz

Recently I told Kate that I've never been to Eataly.

"Meghan," she said, "I don't even know who you are anymore."

So I went, FINALLY, and it was everything I expected and more.  I bought some lovely tomatoes and mozzarella from the dude who makes the mozzarella right in front of you.  Then I went home and made dinner:

Yum yum yum!  But I still had more food!  So what was I to do?

Make the exact same thing for breakfast, only this time... add toast.

Lanvin Central

Karen Elson is cooler than I am.  It's just a fact.  She's British.  She looks like a gorgeous alien.  She married Jack White and was apparently cool enough with her husband's previous marriage to a) have his ex as their maid of honor and b) have kids with said ex's last name.  When she and Jack divorced, they threw a BARBECUE.  She performs at music festivals!

But at least she's not a very good dancer.

(The moves are from Dance Central on XBox Kinect.  I'm not even being fair).