In honor of the holiday...

Things that I am Thankful for...

*family
*unlimited nights and weekend minutes
*holiday music...even in July
*pumpkin pie and warm apple cider
*friends
*vanilla scented candles
*seeing your breathe in chilly air
*Texas
*"raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" (just making sure you were paying attention)
*e-mail
*good literature
*pink roses
*people who believe in your dreams

To each of you, Happy Thanksgiving!

**Star Sitings** (courtesy of my trip to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade)
Ruben Studdard
Clay Aiken
Christine Baranski
Harvey Feirstein
Hillary Duff
and sexiest of all...
Jeff Corwin

Fitting Room 101

While working in the retail industry, I have come to believe that the fitting room is a wonderful place to conduct research. Not on which way is the proper way to fold men's shirts (which is a science I have still to master) but on a number of the social and cultural tendencies that we all seem to possess. You learn a lot about the constructs of body image, the spending habits of urbanites, and even which age groups lean towards which colar combinations. But by far, the most intriguing part of human psycholgy that can be witnessed and disected in the fitting room are male/female relationships. I have tested my hypothesis on more than one occasion (as is always done in highly scientific experiements) and have come to the following conclusion: The length of a couple's relationship is directly connected to the way in which the male in said relationship remarks about the clothing the female is trying on. To further my case, take the following two examples as evidence:

1) When a woman asks her male companion the following question, "What do you think of this top?" and his answer is either one of the following:
a) "I think it looks amazing!"
b) "well, you know, you look good in anything"
c) "whatever you think"
then the relationship is relatively new and still in the stage where the male expects that it is probably a trick question and will do just about anything to please her. He feels safer posing yet another question to her to see if he can understand what she wants him to say because he is not yet comfortable sharing his truthful opinion about a topic rooted in pure vanity.

If, on the other hand, the same question is posed and the male responds with one of the following:
a) "I think you need a different size"
b) "Don't you have one like that already"
c) "Hey, it looks nice"
then the relationship has probably already passed the "please me" phase and moved into a relationship that it truly comfortable. The male realizes that he can be honest and the female accepts his honesty as a showing of real love. If you are questioning the fact that 1a and 2c look strangely alike, then let me explain the drastic difference. The male in relationship two realizes that the female does not have to look "amazing" in everything, he feels no need to use such an exagerrated adjective to describe a simple whit t-shirt because he knows, as does his female friend, that sometimes you just need to look "nice" and that is okay too.

So there it is, my experiement in the psycholgy of relationships as witnessed from my little perch atop the fitting room door. I will continue conducting research from within and report back with any new discoveries.

Cameras, High Kicks and Meatballs, Oh My!

It isn't every day that a girl ends up on a television show. Lucky for me, Friday wasn't just another day in the life of a twenty-something college student. The day started out normal enough, sitting at the computre doing homework, talking to professors and so on. But by 4 pm I was off to experience a New York night that I won't soon forget.

The evening started off with Joi and I at a cheerful show featuring the Radio City Rockettes in their Christmas Spectacular. Aside from the bitchy woman whom I had to put in her place, the show was so much fun. I mean, can you really go wrong with bejeweled and sequined high-kicking in perfect unison, live animals like camles and sheep, and a saucy southern-style Mrs. Clause belting out holiday cheer? I think not! We even stopped for a brief second after the show at Rockefeller Center and watched the folks ice skate around the (suprisingly small) rink under the shadow of the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen! Holiday cheer was all around...it was nice...

Then it was time to forget about the holiday hijinks and dive into martini! I gathered up a few friends for dinner at Rocco's...you know, the place that is featured on the NBC show The Restaurant. After signing consent forms that basically stated that we won't sue if we are shown in a "bad light" on tv and that we won't sell our stories to The Enquirer, we walked inside to complete mayhem. Th place was super crowded and busy and loud and all of the things that make for a happening New York hot-spot. We squeezed our way to the bar and grabbed a drink and snuck in a quick game of foosball while we waited. I saw Mama and Rocco (schmoozing some table) and was follwed by lots of cameras. They taped our table for a little while but quickly moved on to more important patrons I am sure. The food was suprisingly delicious and reasonably priced. It was good fun...now I'll just wait for next season and see if I make my televsion debut, probably stuffing my face with bread and meatballs...sexy!

All-in-all it was a really good night. Now the next few weeks are going to consist of me slowly hacking awat at all of the stuff I have to finish for school before I head home for the holidays...wish me luck!

**Star Siting**
Gloria Ruben

Wine and Cheese...Oh, and Literature

My class last night marked the second week in a row in which class has consisted of passing around bottles of wine, eating cheese and crackers, and discussing African American literature and societal trends. I'm sure that it has something to do with the alcohol, but mostly it's just that my class has bonded into a nice little family, that we are able to discuss all kinds of deep and taboo subjects and leave feeling as if I have just gone to church and a scholarly lecture all at the same time. I'm kind of sad for the semester to end because I like seeing all of these folks each week. Fortunately for me, our last class is a fancy Italian dinner on NYU's dime and I am sure the wine will once again be flowing helping us through our last goodbye.

Tonight I felt just like Cher in Moonstruck! I put on my new outfit, hailed a cab and headed for Lincoln Center and La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera...it was absolutely amazing! As I was standing under the snowflake-like chandeliers sipping champagne at intermission, I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming! It was everything that a trip to the Met should be. See, I told you that November was going to be a good month!

**Star Sitings**
Bebe Neuwirth
(eating sushi across from the met)
-AND-
Philip Seymor Hoffman
(of indie films fame)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

...and feel like it too! The weather has finally chilled and now that the Halloween decor is gone, the Christmas trimmings are taking over. As I passed by Lincoln Center the other day, Santa's helpers were out stringing lights in the trees. I have always dreamt of being in New York during the holidays and I'm already planning all of the fun things that I can do to celebrate: I already have tickets to see the Rockettes at Radio City, I plan to go see the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefellar Center (and maybe squeeze in a few spins around the ice skating rink,) stroll by the Macy's windows...the possibilities are endless!

To kick off the festive season, Elly and I went and saw the cutest movie with all of the best British stars...if you weren't in love with Colin Firth before...then you will certainly be after this one! Aside from the ever-looming end-of-semester-madness...this month is looking great!

**Star Siting**
Ben Curtis...aka, "Steven the Dell Dude"
(buying clothes at the store where I work)

I'm not alone!

According to a recent study done by the lovely people at Match.com (very scientific, I know) and the people at MSN, 72% of the women polled think that men with gray/silver hair are hot!

So here is a little toast to all of the Sean Connery's and James Brolin's in the word...cheers!

Until about five minutes ago...this had been a really good day. Like a true foodie, I spent a couple of hours roaming through the new grocery store I found that actually felt like a real grocery store. Granted, the one that I have been going to has everything I need, it certainly doesn't have everything I want. It's small and limited at best, but the Food Emporium is fantastic! I strolled through the spacious deli and looked at all of the good food and watched the sushi chefs put together some unique meal ideas, I stopped at the seafood counter and bought shrimp for scampi, and passed by the bakery smelling all of the good treats-which incidentally inspired me to bake a cake of my own-and wrapped it up with a swing around the produce section. It was fabulous and my fridge and pantry are sufficiently stocked.

Now on to the bad part...NYU financial aid sucks! Yes, sucks...somehow the incompetent man that I gave my loan deferment forms to nearly two months ago never processed my info and I receive a package of mail from home today (otherwise filled with fun things like the Christmas edition of the Victoria's Secret catalogue) with a bill in it from my loan company saying that I owe them $400 in past due payments! So you can see why I am not real happy. Fortunately I was able to speak with a very nice lady at the loan company who ensured me that all would be forgiven, I just have to go back to the hellish financial aid office and resend my paperwork. This time, however, I will hound their lame asses and maybe even watch them press the fax button just to make sure that it all works this time.