destination: Philly, bachelorette-style!

As you read this, I'll be en route to my bestie's house in PA!  She is getting married to the love of her life on June 1st, and this weekend is her bachelorette party!

Today we're going to hang out at her house, and then tomorrow we'll be going into Philadelphia for some fun, dinner, and bar-hopping.  I will give details on Monday but I don't want to spoil the details for her.  Here's a peek at what I've got goin' on for the weekend:

bachelorette party by misstypea featuring lip makeup

We're all wearing black dresses and S is wearing a glittery fun dress to stand out.  I borrowed a dress from a friend that is sort of similar to the one above-- it's black crochet overlay, short sleeves, nipped in at the waist.  Just simple and I'm going to accessorize it.  Gotta go with the nude heels to lengthen the leg.  Will be styling my hair in big, sexy curls, and going with a bright pink, glossy lip.

Can't wait!  Have a good weekend!

my review of The Great Gatsby

As I've mentioned here, The Great Gatsby is my favorite book.  I'm a big fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald (I wrote my high school thesis paper on The Beautiful and Damned) and have always been fascinated with the 1920s.   When I heard about the movie adaptation I was completely thrilled and anxious for it to come out.

via eonline.com

I've now seen the movie twice, and here are my thoughts:

• I enjoyed the movie very much!  I thought it was well-done and what I expected from a Baz Luhrmann interpretation of the story.
• The movie is generally very faithful to the book-- most of the dialogue is right from the book.  For someone who truly loves the book and remembers specific phrases from the book, this was a delight. I would have been disappointed with something less.  I read a review that said the movie was TOO faithful to the book.  I think that's complete crap-- people always criticize movie adaptations for taking too many liberties with the book, so this seems nuts to me.
• I thought Leonardo DiCaprio did a good job, but I felt that sometimes he was overacting a bit.  "Old sport" isn't an easy phrase to make sound natural, obviously, but sometimes his "accent" he put on was a bit much.  
• Carey Mulligan did a good job as Daisy.  Some say they feel she didn't "connect" but Daisy isn't supposed to be relatable or likable.  She is decidedly aloof, selfish, immature, and petulant. At the end, in the suite in NYC, I felt you could see her emotionally detaching herself from Gatsby and retreating back to her comfortable life with Tom.  
• Toby McGuire was a great Nick Carraway.  Yes, the whole frame for the movie was invented-- Nick at a Sanatorium writing down Gatsby's story-- but it made sense since Nick is narrating the movie and looking back on what happened, having learned from it and thought about it.  It's interesting to note that Fitzgerald wrote the book while on holiday at Cannes... a very different situation!  Anyway, Toby McGuire was great the audience's proxy in the story.  He was relatable and funny.
• I thought the actors who played Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker were also great.  Even though Jordan wasn't how you picture her in the novel, she nailed it, I think.
• Meyer Wolfsheim was... Indian!  ha :) Not Jewish.  Too funny.
• The scene when Nick first walks into Daisy's house and goes into the room where she and Jordan are lounging around really came to life for me in the movie.  It's a scene that's hard to picture in the book and I think this completely nailed it.
• I also really enjoyed the scene at the "barbershop," the first party scene, and the party in NY with Myrtle and her friends.

Overall I thought it was really good!  It's definitely worth seeing.  The themes of the book transcend time and are still relevant today.  It's also just enjoyable to watch!  It's nice to just sit back and let it take you away to another time. 

Have you seen it? What do you think?

sick days

Hi there!

Coming to you from a blanket on my couch...  Yep, this girl is sick.

In fact, I've been sick since Sunday.  I forced myself to go to work on Monday to try to get some work done, but ended up staying home the past two days so that I don't infect my coworkers with my cough.

I have extremely mixed feelings about sick days.  It always seems like it will be great-- you think, great! I'll stay home, sleep all day, relax... it will be so nice!  But the truth is, it's boring.  And "relaxing" and sleeping is no fun when you can't stop coughing and can't breathe through your nose.  Not to mention my workouts have had to be shelved this week, which is very frustrating to me.

Today I'm going to do my best to rest and hope that I'll be better for this weekend-- my bestie's bachelorette party in Philadelphia.

Do you like sick days? Feel annoyed with them like I do?

2nd Annual Dog Mommy's Day // Treat Yo Self Day

Hey all!  Happy belated Mother's Day to the moms and dog mommys out there!

As I've mentioned here before, Mother's Day is a tough day for me.  After my Mom passed away it just seems to be sooo pervasive!  The TV ads, the facebook postings, it's all very... in your face.  As a result, we started celebrating dog mommy's day.

On Sunday R made me breakfast, which was super sweet! Check out the goods:

egg in a hole and mimosas

also chocolate chip pancakes & bacon

Yum!  Hope you had a great day, whether you were celebrating someone else, yourself... or just having a lazy Sunday!

Friday Warm Fuzzies: 5/10, aka Great Gatsby Day

Hey y'all!  Happy Great Gatsby Day Friday!  As you can see I'm more than just a little excited to see the  movie, premiering today.

So, here we go!  What I'm jazzed about today:

1) Meeting up with law school friends to see The Great Gatsby movie in Winston! I'm super excited to see my girlfriends and to see the movie.  I'm seeing it with my book club ladies next week, but I couldn't wait until then to see it.  No, I haven't read reviews yet, and whether they're good or not, I don't care!

via USAtoday.com

2) Getting takeout from my favorite Thai place from law school!  I still dream about the red curry from this place and am dying to get it :)

3) Trying Camino Bakery for breakfast tomorrow-- Teri and my friend L have been raving about this place forever, and I can't wait to go!

4) Doing a little shopping this weekend.  I have a couple occasions coming up that call for something new: my bestie's bachelorette party and rehearsal dinner.  I might hit the outlets on the way back from Winston or head over to the mall on Saturday.

5) Dinner date with my husband Saturday night at a new restaurant in Raleigh called the Cowfish.  It specializes in burgers, sushi, and burger ingredients in the shape of sushi!  Should be interesting!

Are you going to see the Great Gatsby this weekend? 

#tbt five years ago...

Five years ago I was a college senior in my last month at University of Delaware. Gosh, time flies!

Here's what I was up to at age 21, five whole years ago:

Enjoying many many adult beverages at Preakness with bestie S--

At PURE nightclub in Las Vegas on spring break with my roomies!

On R's frat's away weekend. Side note: the caption on this album of mine says "weekend of debauchery, sunburns, and bro-cabulary".... I wish I was kidding ...

yes, y'all... R had a goatee in college. don't even get me started.

 

 

Nw, excuse me while I cry in the corner because I look so young in these pictures! Yikes!

 

 

Met Gala fashion: My loves & hates...

The Met Gala always produces some of the most exciting fashion choices of the year.  This year, making the night even more interesting, the attendees were asked to dress in a punk theme to match the exhibit-P unk: Chaos to Couture.  Hollywood + Punk? I was excited to see what would transpire. 

My least-favorite looks:

Met Gala 2013 Worst by misstypea on Polyvore

1. Gwyneth Paltrow:  Okay, I don't make it a secret that I don't like her, in general.  On a normal occasion this dress would be different and interesting.  On this occasion it's just annoying because she clearly did not dress to the theme.  Or even try to.  She just grates on me, y'all!
2. Elle Fanning:  The dress is ugly, but what's worse is her eye makeup.  She looks like an alien.  I will give her props though because 1) she went for it! 2) she's young and experimenting and that's great. 
3. Madonna:  Oh honey, no...
4. Ashley Olsen: She is usually pretty stylish and this is just confusing.  It's not punk-themed, at all, but rather, is just odd, billowy, and weird.  Not flattering at all, either.

And my most-favorites:

Best Dressed by misstypea on Polyvore
 

1. Carey Mulligan in Balenciaga: This look is chic and gives a nod to a more punk/goth look while still being "her."  The hair and makeup is spot on, also.  If I were attending the Met Gala (ha!), I would have picked something like this given this theme-- cutouts, black, sexy.
2. Taylor Swift in J. Mendel: I like this dress.  It slants a little more to the art deco side than punk, but I think it's an appropriate choice.  Not crazy about her hair, though.
3. Blake Lively in Gucci: I love this dress.  The lace detailing is gorgeous.  She's gorgeous. Nuff said.
4. Joan Smalls in Tom Ford: I just had to google who she was (a model), but she knocked it out of the park.  Gorgeous lace dress.  Love the hair and makeup.  And not to mention she had handsome Tom Ford on her arm.

Who's look did you like?  Hate?