All Women Stalk for 2006 March

Archive for March, 2006

Caught Red Handed

This evening's after-work plans fell through, so I decided to take a quick (yeah, right) stroll through the super-mega-grande-mondo Sephora in Times Square. It was high time for some product testing, friends.

I quickly spotted the latest and greatest from Fusion Beauty, the people who brought us Lip Fusion. LiftFusion Micro-Injected M-Tox Transdermal Face Lift sure has a fancy name, but does the

Mother and father would be so proud. Father would…

Mother and father would be so proud.

Father would be proud because I just attended a basketball game of my own free will (Nets beat the Grizzlies).

Mother would be so proud because I went with a nice, Jewish girl.

Nails

What did I do today?

My nails. No, really. When I was in Israel, I had a manicure–I wrote about it. That led to me not biting my nails for the entire time I was there. Ok, I bit one thumb nail, but nine out of ten ain’t bad. I’ve managed to not bite my nails before, but it’s been years since I’ve gone this long without a bite.

In case you didn’t figure it out yet, I bite my nails. It’s

Time to Make the Doughnuts

I’ve decided I can’t wait any longer for The Talk.

My head has been moving faster than logic, and suddenly, I’ve been imagining a new and very different life. I’ve been fantasizing about moving to be with Red Beard and all that settling down entails. In my mind, I’m already going to work in DC, making new friends and hitting up happy hour. I’m thinking about a new yoga studio, an earlier spring, a hotter summer and a milder winter. I’m thinking about walks along the Potomac, weeknights at my place and weekends at Red Beard’s. I’m thinking about Sunday dinners with Boy and the chance to meet Red Beard’s parents.

But what if I’m wrong about everything? What if Red Beard isn’t taking our tryst as seriously as I am? What if he just thinks it would be fun if I moved down there, and nothing else? I can also start to imagine uprooting my life only to find out that I made a huge mistake by not checking the facts with Red Beard first.

So tonight I’m going to give him a call. I’m going to tell him that before I throw myself into this relocation fantasy, I need to know, “Is you is or is you ain’t my baby?”

Musical notes

I love all kinds of music, from classical (right now I’m listening to Elgar’s Salut d’amour) and opera (Wagner’s Ring Cycle is a longtime fave) to Celtic (I’m a sucker for the slow airs and waltzes) to classic rock (Springsteen is still The Boss) and new alternative (have you heard Augustana yet?) But I loathe listening to the radio. Cutesy chatter by “morning crews” makes me want to slap somebody. And in addition to annoying me with constant commercial interruptions, even the best stations play songs and artists I don’t like. And the good songs are played so often I get sick of them.

That’s why I’ve been putting so much mileage on the iPod my hunk o’ burnin’ love gave me for Christmas. I love creating my own playlists because even my favorite albums always seem to have two or three songs I’d just as soon skip. One of my playlists, which I call “Rainy Day Tunes,” has been extremely effective in nudging me into a romance-writing mood. The list gets updated frequently, but just in case you’re curious, right now the first few songs are:

Transatlanticism, Death Cab for Cutie
Secret Garden, Bruce Springsteen
Ghost,Howie Day
Passing Afternoon, Iron and Wine
Caledonia, Dougie MacLean
Colorblind, Counting Crows
Boston, Augustana
Always on my Mind, Willie Nelson

As my writing catches fire, I’ll often nudge up the volume and the tempo of my music by clicking on my “Hot Stuff” playlist, which begins thusly:

Are You Gonna be my Girl, Jet
Jenny was a Friend of Mine, The Killers
Tumbling Dice, The Rolling Stones
Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters
She Says, Howie Day
Yellow, Coldplay

Okay, the Elgar violin adagio has ended and I am now singing along with The Wallflower’s Jakob Dylan (yeah, that’s Bob’s baby boy) on Nearly Beloved, which is making it difficult to type, so I’ll end this here.

If you’re a writer who uses music to help you slip into the zone, how about sharing your real or imaginary playlists?

Desperately Seeking Dewy

Beauty Addict reader Lorie sends in this question:

"Lancome discontinued my favorite foundation called “Maquivelours.” It seems that as soon as I truly love some make-up item and how it makes my skin look dewy, etc., off it goes to the makeup Maker in the sky. Have you found anything that goes on creamy, stays creamy (does not turn matte) and offers that dewy look?

I was recently given a sample of Alexandra de Markoff foundation in a jar that was so ...

The Many Faces of Sharon Stone

Could it be? Is this the same Sharon Stone who, just a week ago, looked like she was going to suck the blood of the photographer taking her picture?

Here she is at the New York premiere of Basic Instinct 2, looking quite lovely, I must say. (Although I hear the film is crap.)

But wait a minute. Something's fishy about these pictures. Notice that in all three of them, her mouth changes, but her eyes do not. ...

I loathe the use of the term “soul mates”. It imp…

I loathe the use of the term “soul mates”. It implies some sort of incompletion within oneself. I believe that one has to feel complete before they can share their life with someone. Dr. John Gray uses the phrase ad nauseum in his books (which is partially why I can’t stomach his books). I think he’s the one from Mars.

Speaking of Mars, I’ve been watching the season 1 DVDs of “Veronica Mars”.

My life-saver.

So I get to New York, and as always go through my makeup and hair kits to make sure I have everything I need for my upcoming photo shoot. Only to find out that my straightening iron, the one that cost me about $300 is broken. Won’t heat up. With hours to spare before my shoot, I dash to the down the block Rite-Aid and get this.

Revlon’s Professional Straighter with Dual Edge.

Though most drugstore styling tools don’t really do that much, this ceramic straightner is fantastic. Gets super hot, very fast. Doesn’t turn off after 3 minutes like most styling tools (for at home use I recommend that, but when on a photo shoot and you need it now, the non-turn off is a plus), and the best part: this baby works!

One edge has a sharp line to it that lets you get close to the hair line and does an excellent job straightening the curliest hair. The bonus, is the curved side. The other edge wraps around and lets you do cool flips and soft waves to the hair to create a different effect. Though I haven’t had the chance to play with it enough to see if I can get ‘curling iron’ like waves out of it, I loved the duo action of this straightner. Finally a drugstore find (around $25 at Rite-Aid) that works great!

Product Details:
Revlon Dual Edge Straightener

Perfect Heat® with Ceramic

Rounded edge for curling ends under or flipping them out
“V” edge gets close to the roots for easy lifting and perfect volume
Fast, 60-second heat-up
Variable heat settings
Instant heat recovery ensures high, consistent styling performance
Ceramic easy-to-clean 1 1/2″ plates emit high, constant heat to penetrate hair follicles quickly and retain natural moisture for soft, luxurious styles.

Ceramic 1 1/2″ plates for softer, shinier hair
60-second fast heat-up
Maintains high heat
Variable heat settings
Model RV071C

What’s up next? I discovered Pure Makeup by Maybelline finally has a concealer. Let’s just say I’m so excited, I can’t wait to get this. Hopefully it’ll be as amazing as their foundation is…. stay tuned!