Burlington Mall

I don't like this mall, but it's across the street from my work so I end up at the mall sometimes.

There are several reasons I don't like this mall:

1: The Macy's is terrible. The racks are so jam packed with crap I can't even move the clothing to attempt to look at it. This really annoys me. Why can't they put out a sampling of the colors/sizes? Instead they put the entire stock of whatever item on the shelves. For example lucky jeans: there are about 25 pairs in EACH size. Is this necessary? Wouldn't, let's say, 3 pairs of each size suffice? Plus I just don't like much of the clothes they sell. I'm extremely picky with clothes, read: clothing snob.

2: The stores don't get much better from there. Let's see I no longer have Jasmine Sola (which arguably kind of sucked since NY&Co bought them anyway). Coach is kind of a sellout these days. I'm sick of the logo. I want stuff to be UNDER stated, not covered in logos. I'm not saying I don't own anything with a logo visible - I do. but I'm over having a bag covered in a logo. Partly because fakes have cheapened them. There are so many fakes out there people often can't tell them apart. All that said, I am going to need a new summer bag because - it's coach silk bag with the damn logo on it. I have been pleased to see coach getting back to their roots and making some understated nice plain leather handbags recently though. So there's hope for them yet. But overall not many stores that I want to buy clothes or shoes at.

3: The food court sucks. In general I hate food courts anyway because they usually have shitty fast food and generally unhealthy stuff. Oh yea and if you do get the salad, which I do and did again today, the lettuce is at that state of slimy leaves with brown tinged edges. It's starting to look less like fluffy lettuce and more like a compost heap. The tomatos are either over or under ripe. Yuck. The only redeeming item in these salads becomes the shredded cheese (which brings us back to unhealthy - not that I don't love cheese but...) Now however the food court is especially shitty. There's only about 4 stores left. Where did all the 'restaurants' go? The whole thing is boarded up shops. It looks like a mall 4 days before it closes forever over there. My hope is that they are trying to clean it up, put in some healthy options (bring back fresh city!) and make it look better for the launch of the new Nordstrom wing.

What's good in this mall?
- The Mac stores are good (makeup and computers).
- The tailor next to Lord and Taylor (I've gotten many pants hemmed there - because pants are now made for amazon women and not chicks that are 5'5")
- The Men's dept in Lord and Taylor (especially the suits).
- Legal's - still the best chowdah around.
- Bath product stores and sephora.
- Crossing my finger's the Nordstrom's doesn't suck. (Note: I've heard it's going to be a "b" store. Meaning no Prada, Jimmy Choo, or Manolo Blahniks. This makes me cry in despair. Please don't let it be so!) They invited me to their gala grand opening event - fancy invite that looks like it was expensive to print. And I'm certainly tempted, but it's $125 to go to. I don't want to pay to shop - as I know I talked about once before in my blog somewhere. As a card holder and a level 2 spender you'd think they would invite me for free. Although the money is supposed to go to charity - so that's not so bad.

What is ok in the mall:
- Sorta/kind of Cheesecake Factory - for the namesake treat of course.
- I used to like Godiva - but the chocolate seems to not be as good anymore. Where's a girl to get some tasty chocolate that doesn't taste mass produced?
- Crate and Barrel (it's on the ok list only because I have to walk or drive to a section of the lot to go there - it's not attached to the mall)

Basically it comes down to this: go to this mall if you need to take a shower, pretty up your face, or buy an iPod. Otherwise, skip it and go to the Natick collection or Copley.

Barney's Sent Me

A "Free Stuff" card that I can use like a gift card. The amount on the card is a percentage of what I spent there last year. Wicked cool right? Well it's only 3%, but still it's free money. Barney's is smart they know getting me back in the store will be beneficial for them - because shoes are my heroin. I need my fix and I need it now.

However, they are making me call to activate the damn card and I've been on hold for 20 minutes WTF. I'm happy for the free money - which I will gladly spend there, but why make me wait on hold to activate it with a representative? This is the one time I'm happy NOT to talk to a representative, I just want the automated 'yes it's all set' call.

Whatever. It's done. Let's go shopping!! There are a pair of hot pink patent leather Jimmy Choos with my name on them. I'm coming sugar - hold on a few more hours!!!

Super Cute Outfit

I love this new outfit from Elie Tahari:

Somerville Bike Path

What's the deal with the expansion of the bike path to Lechmere station of the green line from Davis?

In the fall they finally paved over the tracks on the street at Cedar and put a real walkway there. And it looks like they have cleared away the trees a bit on what will be the path, but the rail lines are still there after Cedar Street.

I looked online to see if there was any news about this expansion, but I didn't see anything. Bummer.

I want it to warm up so I can start biking again!

Well Crap....

So I went to the Project Runway's website to try to buy some clothes and the Rami and Jillian collections are already sold out (on auction). Christian's collection is still on auction, but since they are sold as is - I'm sure they will be far too teeny for me. But I'm going to keep watching the auction... just in case.

Project Runway

And now because of Tivo I got to finally see the final episode of Project Runway from this season. YEY! I knew who won, but I wanted to see all the outfits and the runway show. It did NOT disappoint! The show was FIERCE! ;)

But seriously I now need to find where I can buy the clothes. I loved so many of the outfits. Wonder if they will actually make them in my size. I'm not a stick thin tall model. :(

Off to go find where to buy Rami and Jillian's collection. I loved Christian's, but he probably only makes it for a size 2, and I need a 6 - and the other two had collections of stuff I can wear for my everyday wear.

I love Seinfeld

I love this show. It was one of the best shows on tv. And I love when I made it home from work by 7pm to get to watch it on Fox.

But now that I have Tivo - I get home and there's a few Seinfeld episodes for me to watch and it doesn't matter if I make it home by 7. YEY! And I LOVE FF through the commercials - even better.

Tonight I'm watching it live (bummer about the commercials), but it's one of my favorite episodes:

Elaine bids double of what Peterman told her to for the JFK golf clubs.

Jerry's mechanic steals his car because he's not properly taking care of it.

Newman and Kramer decide to drive to Michigan to return cans for .10 cents rather than the .5 that NYC pays - using a mail truck (because of some Mother's Day loophole for mail).

And lastly George is on a "special project" that he doesn't know what it is because he wasn't in the bathroom when the guy gave him the instructions. So he's trying to figure out without asking him to repeat it.

The mechanic throws the clubs at Newman and Kramer because they are following him, Elaine brings them to Peterman completely destroyed and he says "I didn't know JFK had such a temper."

Classic.

One of the best episodes ever.

Excelsior

WOW. I LOVE this place.

BF took me to Excelsior for my birthday and I can't wait to go back! We got an awesome bottle of wine: Turley Zinfandel from CA. Then we had a sampler of oysters - with three kinds of sauces to put on them - which were fantastic. I especially loved the ones from Duxbury. Then we had the Tuna Tartare - which I loved as well. The soy-lime dressing on it and wasabe was so tasty. Very complex mixing of flavors. And then bf had the duck, and I had the lobster dish which was so fabulous. Each thing got better and better. For dessert we just got the cheese plate with 3 cheeses, fruits, and bread/crackers. Also fantastic, and we were so full we took it home and enjoyed it the next day.

Service was fantastic, and I loved the cozy seat we got. All around it was a perfect birthday meal. I cannot WAIT to go back.

BF: hint hint - book reservations next week. ;)

iTunes pisses me off

So bf gave me an iPhone for my birthday yesterday. YEY! It's very cool overall. I love the visual voicemail and the web capabilities on it. I love the UI, and the ease of usability.

Although I have a few issues with it.

First, it will not let me drag/drop specific songs from my computer onto the phone. I can only sync playlists. This is just annoying. I should be able to drag one song if I want to, why do I have to create a playlist for that one song, then sync it?

Second, if I want to make a ringtone - I can only use songs I have downloaded from iTunes. THEN as if that wasn't enough - iTunes wants me to pay ANOTHER .99 cents to convert the song I ALREADY BOUGHT into a ringtone! That is just bullshit. It's not the cost of the ringtone, it's the principle of the fact that I already freaking bought the song. Why do I have to buy it twice? I have found a way around this by using my own songs, only playing a 30 second clip of them, which I then convert to an AAC file, then change it to a ringtone file, and sync the phone. Voila. It works. A ringtone for free. I'm not saying I'm against for paying for a ringtone - I'm not, but what I am against is paying for a ringtone of a song I already bought! And if I bought a 5 minute song for .99 cents, why is a :30 second clip the same cost? And shouldn't I own the rights of that song already to play it it any way I would like?

Third, I want it to have real gps. Right now it's using three cell towers to calculate where I am. When I'm home it gets me within 3 or 4 streets. Which is ok, but if I'm lost - knowing I could be on 1 of 4 streets isn't all that helpful. Especially if I am lost in oh let's say Boston where there are few street signs - I'm really screwed. But if I viewed it as the middle of the circle - I would be on the correct street (in the case of my house). However, last night when I was in downtown Boston I tried it. and the circle it drew covered: Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Cambridge, Somerville, and Charleston. YA that's wicked helpful thanks. What if I was really lost on Bolyston Street? It had me within a 5 mile radius. Annoying.

Anyway, other than those 3 really annoying things I really like the phone.

American Idol

I love American Idol and hate it at the same time.

Love it because I like hearing new voices and see how these people rearrange the songs and attempt to make them their own - which sometimes turns out horridly.

I like that it exposes younger audiences to different genres, and decades of music they may not normally have listened to. I really loved how David Cook changed up Lionel Richie's Hello last week and made it a cool rock song and then did the same this week with Eleanor Rigby.

But here's what I don't like. I love Jason Castro - how cute is he? but I digress... He did Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - covered by Jeff Buckley in the 90s.

This is one of my top 10 songs of all time. I thought Jeff Buckley was MY generation's secret and I liked it that way.

Do these young kids really understand the exquisite beauty that is Jeff Buckley's version? Do they really appreciate the Grace album? They are all just downloading that one song - missing out on other fantastic songs like Last Goodbye, So Real, and the title track on that album. This album needs to be played in it's entirety from track 1 to 10. I'm not against Jason Castro and mostly I have really liked the songs he has sung on the show - although for me Hallelujah fell short - no one can do it like Jeff Buckley.

After last night's Beatles episode (the Lennon/McCartney songbook) I wonder if a bunch of Beatles songs will become the top downloads on iTunes? I was surprised how several of the kids singing hadn't heard many Beatles songs. How is this possible? I grew up on this music. My very first album in 1978 was a McCartney album. I treasured it and played it over and over. It still plays pretty well - only 2 scratches on the whole album (mostly I listen to it on mp3 now). But then I realize these kids were born in the 90s! They clearly missed out on some of the greatest music ever. Plus to me, if you want to be in the music industry - don't you have to appreciate all kinds of music? Don't you have to take some music theory? Listen to the greats? Learn the history?

David Archuleta gets up there last night and says I've never liked oldies and I don't know any Beatles songs or like them. With hundreds of songs written by them surely a person can't hate all of them? They changed music. It so many ways they influence what it is even today. They have some of the top albums/songs of all time even today. Yesterday is the most covered song in the world. The world. Which by the way, was a song I thought was right up David's alley. THAT'S what he should have sung last night.

Sunday Disco Brunch

@ Gargoyle's is awesome!

I love going to Gargoyle's for dinner - their signature Hoisin & Honey Glazed Duck dish is just fantastic with rice, mango, cashews, and coconut milk. It's soooo tasty. Cocktails are always great there, and it's even fun to go for an after dinner dessert and a drink.

But I had never checked out their Sunday Disco Brunch - until today. I am officially addicted. It's my favorite brunch in Davis. BF got corned beef hash with eggs, potatoes, and some kind of dijon sauce on top. They brought it out in the skillet it was cooked in. It looked great, but I don't like eggs, BF said it was fantastic though. I got french toast sticks with a strawberry maple salsa and a side of bacon - *yes I realize I don't like eggs, but some how like french toast - only when it's not too egg-y. I'm strange, what can I say?

I thought I loved the stuffed french toast at S&S - this beat that hands down.

Coffee was self serve and pretty tasty, and they had a great selection of breakfast cocktails, and coffee drinks (with booze). And who doesn't love a little disco with their coffee in the morning?

I cannot wait to eat there again next weekend!

Modern English

So maybe Modern English didn't have many hits, I had After the Snow and mostly only listened to I Melt with You. It was a fantastic song, but now I am annoyed with them. It's on a freaking annoying Taco Bell commercial now. Really? They sold out to Taco Bell? So disappointing!

Wallpaper, or Pants?

Normally I love Elie Tahari, but these pants are just horrible. They look like wallpaper, or a lamp shade. What is the appropriate use for such pants? I don't want to wear these to bed, nevermind out in public. And they are linen - which really is just a pain in the ass. Definitely not what I was expecting from Tahari.

Why would someone

pay $750 for these Bottega Veneta sandals? First, I'm not a huge fan of flats (a girl likes to look tall) but second, they are just plain ugly looking - even if the leather is fabulous.

Maybe these were used on the set of Rome? Going to a toga party? These are the shoes for you...

I am so over winter

I am officially all set with winter. Well, let's face it, I was all set with winter before it even started, but now I am REALLY ALL SET. I don't want to see snow for at least another 10 months.

I'm sick of parking bans and fighting for a spot. Trying to get home 10 hours before predicted snow to actually *get* a spot. Sick of unbecoming footwear. Sick of cleaning off my car. Sick of winter coats. *Sort of* sick of cashmere sweaters (because seriously - who doesn't love cashmere? I just don't want to wear one for another 10 months).

I want green! On trees, the grass, on shoes! I'm sick of looking at drab empty trees. I am ready for some spring! And speaking of spring and green, how cute are these green patent wedges from Kate Spade?

Just when I thought...

Ugg couldn't possibly make an 'ugg'lier shoe - they surprise me again with the "Fluffie Thongs" at Saks.

WHAT is this monstrosity?

Designer footwear for Sherpas in the summer? Who wants to wear a carpet on their flip flop? Not to mention, wouldn't this be kind of hot in the summer? But regardless - they are just plain vile. um yes I'll take the flip flops that look like fozzy bear... not.

So I'm a Masshole

I'm probably a Masshole driver. I'm ok with that. I pay attention, I try to drive well and I'm a step 9 driver. But when people are driving - they are trying to get somewhere! It's not a parade!

Today I'm behind a person at a green light who isn't going at all. I beep just a little as a friendly reminder. nothing. beep again. nothing. finally I lay on the horn and after about a minute the person suddenly realizes perhaps they are the one being beeped at and oh yes there's been a green light for 4 minutes and moves. Granted I realize there are times we get distracted while driving, but I try to keep that to a minimum. How can someone sit at a green light for several minutes and have no clue it's green or that cars behind them are beeping (I wasn't the only one)??? Luckily it was a really long green.

Random Thoughts...

So I meant to talk about this yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to... I'm so glad the Pats signed Jabar Gaffney yesterday. It's only a one year deal, but it's still something. I'm still sad to see players like Asante Samuel and Donte Stallworth go, but I hope they will be able to replace those players with some decent people. I am really, really happy about Moss of course - I am hoping for another record breaking season with him and Brady!

Troy Brown still hasn't made a decision to retire yet - most people thought he would retire, but who knows... he's good on 3rd downs, so maybe it will be good to have him around for another year. But his return to active play this past season - in which the ball bounced off his facemask wasn't really the return fans were hoping for.

And I wonder if Ty Law will really come back? Apparently he's interested in doing so, I and I would love to have him back - he was a great corner. but I would have loved to have him AND Samuel. sigh...

F*^@king Arlington Roads

On my way home from work, driving through a sea of potholes on the wonderfully maintained Massachusetts roads in Arlington, I was trying to avoid one pothole and an oncoming vehicle I hit yet another pothole. I immediately knew it wasn't good. I heard a strange sound, and then I drove for about 10 more feet before my car was completely hunched over to my front right side. GREAT. Just fucking great.

Where are all our tax dollars going to? WHY can't our roads get repaired then? I drive on this road every single day and these potholes have been on this roads for at least 2 months. There are so many you can't avoid all of them, and unfortunately for me - I didn't avoid the right one today. But WTF how long does it take to repair these roads? Why should the road be like a mine field? How long is a reasonable time to wait for the roads to get fixed? 3 Months, 4? Never??? ARGH

I was planning on going to the gym and run about 3 miles and was planning on beating my time from my last right, and then I was going to make some chicken to put on top of a salad and watch some tv. Well all of that, or most of it, was out the window after the pothole.

Luckily I have AAA because I have no idea how to change a flat tire. I have had AAA for years, but never have had to use it until today. I called up - I was slightly annoyed that I had to press a few buttons to connect to a person, but it was probably because I was freaking out about the flat. Anyway, I got connected pretty quickly to a representative - who was really great. She took all the information and said a truck would be out within an hour to change the tire. After what seemed like an eternity - but realistically was probably 15 minutes the guy showed up. He had been nearby on another call so I lucked out in a way. He changed it quickly and I was back on the road.

MA roads SUCK - big surprise, but AAA rocks!

Make the deal already!!

Why are the Patriots taking so long to sign Moss? It's killing me! I've been waiting for news since Friday. Boston.com is now saying it's "imminent" well then hurry up!!