Being a Gentile Is The Bomb

Jewish holidays are the best. Being the non-believer that I am, I didn’t realize today was Rosh Hashana until yesterday afternoon when my partner informed me that our office would be closed today for the Jewish holiday. Could anything be better than a free day just dropping out of the sky like that? At my old firm, all the non-Jewish folks had to work on Jewish holidays. I love working for a firm full of Jewish lawyers. It is awesome.

I took full advantage of the windfall by sleeping in, going running down by the river, doing a bit of work from the comfort of my bedroom, and meeting my friends at a boutique champagne sale downtown. I bought a sparkly purple party dress from a Japanese designer that made me feel slightly like a giant blueberry but in a fun celebratory, fashionista sort of way. It’s all about confidence and with a banging pair of silver heels, I think I can pull it off.

Today was so good, I hardly need a daily dose of positivity, but here goes:

Thursday’s DDP: My therapist called me and I called her back. We talked about the bad session we had on Thursday and I decided to go in another time to see if we could repair the relationship. I’m seeing her next Tuesday and I’m glad about it. Very mature of me, I must say. It made me happy because I know that if I lost this relationship, particularly on such negative terms, it would have made me really sad. I’ve been going to her for over 2 years! I also texted Bacchus, who texted me back. It’s a baby step, but a step nonetheless.

Hope everyone else had an equally positive Rosh Hashana!

Weekend Redux

The weekend was busy, productive, and way too short. I spent time with Em, went dress shopping with Lakshmi for a wedding I’m attending in two weeks and found a cute dress, met some friends for drinks at The Musical Box down in the East Village, had a 20 minute massage in a tiny Chinese shop that was better than most massages I’ve gotten in fancy salons around the city, and had my hair dyed to cover up some yellow highlights that had been annoying me.

I went back to my old hair stylist and admitted that I had “cheated” on him with the stylist who had put in the highlights. He welcomed me back with open arms and did a nice job. It’s so nice to be together again. His salon is the best because their shampoos includes the most decadent, sinful head massage imaginable. Frankly, it’s so good that it’s hard not to think about sex while it’s happening. On the hair front, I’m glad the yellow is gone, but now that I’m back to the monochrome dark brown, I feel a little too much like a goth for my tastes. *sigh*

The big success of the weekend was that I made it to the gym not once but twice! On Friday evening, I ran for 30 minutes and then lifted some weights, and on Saturday morning, I ran for 30 minutes and then did a pilates class. I was motivated to go, in part, because after only a week of eating healthy I had already started to notice a difference, and I knew that if I went to the gym I’d see even greater results. Once I got to the gym, I was psyched to be there, and very proud of myself. It felt good.

As far as all the dating stuff that was plaguing me last week, it was funny because the minute I got on the treadmill and started running I suddenly found myself thinking, Whatever, I can totally do the dating thing. I don’t need to wait for any silly boys. I’m awesome. You gotta love endorphins. I also had a number of fruitful conversations that helped me get a more balanced perspective on the whole dating thing. More on that later.

Now that I have a cute dress to fit into in two weeks, I’ve vowed to go to the gym at least three times this week. I’m a superhero, I can totally do it. Before I know it, I’m actually going to have a routine. Amazing. Tomorrow, I meet with the nutritionist and find out exactly how much poundage I’ve lost in the last 9 days. Wish me luck.

Best Thong: Hanky Panky

Some time ago I came across a post by Heather of Miles Etc. regarding thongs. She recently returned to to the world of paid labor and business attire and was describing her twin frustrations with panty lines on the one hand and uncomfortable thongs on the other. I can relate to her dislike of panty lines, but have to disagree with her regarding the merits of the thong.

It’s hard enough being women, walking around in our normal, imperfect, beautiful, curvy bodies, worrying about everything it is that we worry about each day. The last thing we should have to worry about are annoying panty lines. Panty lines, on all occasions under all types of clothes (business attire, jeans, and yoga pants, for example), are unflattering and totally unnecessary. No matter how perfectly shaped, skinny, toned, and smooth you are, add a panty line and you’re booty will suddenly look bumpy, bulgy and indented. It’s a travesty, and it doesn’t have to be that way. You can totally eliminate the lines and maximize the assets without sacrificing any comfort.

I started wearing thongs about 8 years ago because I thought they were kind of sexy, but now wear them exclusively, not only or even mainly for the panty-line buster effect, but because I find them way more comfortable than any other type of panty.

My thong panty of choice is Hanky Panky’s low rise thong. They are awesome. I swear. They have a thick band of stretchy, soft, sexy lace that completely eliminates all lines and sits just below your hips very comfortably, and they’re low enough to fit under most low-rise pants. They don’t ride up or cause uncomfortable wedgies anywhere, and they’re made of a very flexible, breathable fabric that feels nice against the body. When I wear them, it feels like I’m not wearing anything, which in my book is pretty much perfect. In contrast, other panties, that can scrunch and ride up in unseemly places, feel bulky and awkward. The other great thing about Hanky Pankies is that they come in a ton of beautiful, fun, practical colors. I have about 20 different pairs.

In New York you can get them at the Pink Slip in Grand Central or in a lot of the boutiques around the city. According to their website, you can also find them at Bloomingdale’s, Neimen Marcus, and other department stores such as Lord & Taylor. For anyone looking for the perfect thong, or a new sexy panty, check ‘em out and let me know what you think.

Girl Bonding Over Oscar and Ellen

I watched the Oscars with a group of my girl friends and decided that “girls only” Oscar parties are the way to go. We drank wine, ate chocolate and cheese with abandon, commented on the hotties, shredded the poor fashion choices, and laughed a lot. Everybody was relaxed and I think they had a nice time.

At one point, a male stopped by and scolded us for being “catty.” We weren’t being catty, just boisterous. For every woman we thought had a hideous outfit, there was another and another and another that we thought looked absolutely gorgeous. We promptly informed him that he was outnumbered, that critiquing the celebrities was part of the fun, and that he would be wise to go with the flow. I thought we saw the same old thing from her, her, and her, and though I’d already seen far too much of her in Babel, I thought she cleaned up quite nicely.

My chocolate mousse and meringue dessert were hits. The only problem is that I far overestimated the amount of food my friends would consume and have at least three months of cheese left over along with several Tupperware containers of dessert. Things do not bode well for me in terms of getting my health kick off to a solid start this month. I’m afraid, very afraid… But, also happy. It was a fun night.

Bag Smitten

I just recently rewatched the SATC episode where Carrie realizes that she’s spent over $40,000 on shoes! She had bought about 100 pairs of fancy shoes like Manola Blahniks, and spent several hundred dollars on each of them. In Carrie’s case, $40,000 also approximated roughly all the money she had earned, and she was thus faced with a closet full of shoes and no home in which to put them. (Aiden was forcing her to vacate or buy her apartment after they broke up. Nasty Aiden).

I confess I don’t understand the shoe obsession, and I can not imagine a day when I would spend more than $150 on a pair of shoes, and that’s my absolute uppermost limit, including what I would spend on knee-high length boots. I’m just not a shoe whore. I have better things to spend my money on, like traveling and investing.

Until recently, I was not a bag whore either, but unfortunately I think I’ve been bitten by the bug. So far, it hasn’t caused any damage, but it has created great temptation where before there was none. For the longest time, I’ve had a few bags that I use all the time and most of them are black – it’s classy, practical, and matches with pretty much everything I own. Most of them are Coach; none of which have the logo plastered tackily all over them. The most I’ve paid for a bag is $250, which to my credit is on the lower range of the designer bag market. I know, hold back the applause for my huge accomplishment.

But, for the last few months, I’ve found myself popping in to bag stores with greater and greater frequency. After being satisfied with black for years, suddenly I’m craving bags in dark blue, eggplant purple, or sea-green. I’m a vegetarian and an animal lover, for god’s sake. I limit my milk intake so as to avoid supporting the veal industry, yet my eyes light up at the sight of smooth colored leather. It’s terrible. Where does this desire come from? I swear I didn’t even have the bag gene before moving to New York, but clearly a mutation has occurred.

Not that I would do anything crazy. A friend of mine recently bought an awesome bag, and I recognized it’s utter awesomeness. It had a thick, round braided handle, tons of pockets, a beautiful enormous interior, and was made of soft smooth black leather (not gold, the gold is hideous!). I found myself coveting it and eyeing my much smaller sized black hobo with a flicker of disappointment. That was before I found out how much she had paid: $2,000. Yes, $2,000. On a bag! Not a car. The price tag made my covetous feelings vanish instantly. Thank god.

This morning, another bag caught my eye and I complimented it’s owner. It was a gorgeous pale, but deep, purple color and looked a lot like the bag pictured at the top of this post. She told me that it was a Balenciaga (Ally Bean, everyone does that), and I filed the name away to look up later. Imagine my disappointment when I realized the bag costs $800.

Hmmph. At least I have good taste.

Kiss My Citizens

I was a bad girl today and skipped out for a few hours to go jeans shopping with Raj’s little sister. Not terribly bad because she is leaving the city and this was her last chance to go jeans shopping for some time. In addition, she really needed them, she’s a sweetheart and I really like her, and she asked me to help her. Plus, I’m kind of an expert in this area. How could I refuse to share my expertise?

We went to Pookie & Sebastian in midtown, a place where I’ve often had good luck with jeans shopping. It’s so much better than the nightmarish, but enthralling, chaos of Bloomies. It turned out that the ones that she liked best were also a pair that I had had my eye on for some time, the Laetitia Wide Leg Flare – ass pictured above – from Citizens of Humanity (I love COH). The same pair, coincidentally, that my friend Wood also bought a few months ago. They’re super flattering, with just a hint of stretch to maximize your curves comfortably, they’re long, and they were on SALE! So, I got a pair too. Yeah! I love good shopping days.

After jeans shopping, I had to get back to work because I had an appointment with my asylum clients at 2:00 pm. Raj’s sister however, now that she has finished school, had the entire afternoon blissfully free. She headed off to Bloomies to go to Kiehl’s, another secret I’ve shared with her. I discovered Kiehl’s when I moved to New York, and I love them. (I’m seeing a theme here). When I first moved here, my skin started breaking out a bit, I think because of the change, and the grime, and the stress. But Kiehl’s put everything right with the world (at least with respect to my skin). Their “Foaming Non-Detergent Cleanser” for combination skin is awesome, as is their “Ultra-Moisturizer with SPF.”

Kiehl’s is a great company because they don’t test on animals, support the environment, and appear to have the genuine belief that a good business must be about more than making a profit; a good business must contribute to the community in some way. I like that.