Summer

This summer I haven't been much in the writing/blogging mood.

So here is a little series of mini-topics, none of which constitute a real post on their own:

The costumes in Julie & Julia. This might be a little difficult because I can't find any pictures of Meryl Streep's costumes and I thought they were fantastic. The dresses! The stripes! The broaches! The hats! The shoes! I was totally distracted by her clothes, especially during the parts set in Paris. And I'm beginning to think I am the only person on the planet who thought they were worth noticing. How is that possible? (Now that I've looked it up and discovered that Ann Roth did the costumes, it all makes sense. She did the costumes for The Hours and The Village and Angels in America and The Talented Mr. Ripley and The English Patient- and loads and loads of other fantastic films that I have also admired for their costumes. Not to mention a ton of Meryl Streep movies. I get it now!)

Last night at Costco I bought a box of plums. They are perfect- sweet and so juicy that I have to eat them over the sink. Of course, now I have to figure out what the hell you do with 5 lbs of plums... (Well, 4 1/4 lbs now.) Stupid Costco.

I went to Ulta yesterday and got a mini-haul of goodies that I have been wanting to try:

• NYX lip glosses in Smoky Look- which is a peachy pink, and Copper Penny, which is a coppery pink. They are awesome. The MAC Lipglasses are usually too sticky for my liking, and the Avon glosses are a little too dry in texture, but the NYX ones are juuuuuust right. That's right, I am the Goldilocks of lip gloss.
• NYX eyeshadow trio in really neutral browns. They seem a little powdery but the color payoff is good over Urban Decay Primer Potion.
• Too Faced Shadow Insurance- a primer that is pretty much the same as Urban Decay Primer Potion (which I'm almost out of, after slicing open the tube and scooping it all into little jars), but it comes in a toothpaste type tube so I don't have to risk my fingers getting to all of the product left in the poorly designed UDPP container.
• Solar Balm- for my cuticles. Nice texture, sinks in fast. Smells like marzipan thanks to the almond oil. I love this.
• Essie nail polish in Swept Off My Feet. This is a gorgeous muted rose red/pink, creamy strawberry color. I put it on last night with Seche Vite topcoat and so far no chips. Really good, considering how hard I am on my fingernails. And it makes my hands look REALLY good. Today someone called my nails "fabulous". MY NAILS. This is good stuff! It's the first Essie polish I've tried, and I think I see what all the fuss is about. Good brush and good formula.
  

A couple of weeks ago my friends and I were roaming through Dillard's, and the lady at the perfume counter gave each of us enough samples for an army of fragrance obsessed, um, people. (That analogy really seemed to be going somewhere. It did not.) My favorite so far has been Hanae Mori Butterfly, which is packed full of all sorts of different oils that dry down to a really lovely musky powdery floral and I should just tape my wrist to my nose. At first I thought it was exactly the same as my Burberry Brit, but I realize now it is plenty different, although this has helped me figure out how to make Brit more subtle. Brit sort of knocks me over the head and I find it hard to wear. Since they are rather similar at first, I'm going to have to use up the Brit before I even THINK about purchasing Butterfly. Other samples we got: Hanae Mori Magical Moon, Queen by Queen Latifah, Fancy Love by Jessica Simpson (ewwwww, so not my sort of fragrance), True Religion, and Beachy and Squeeze by Lilly Pulitzer. Beachy is a little manly, but Squeeeze is really nice, although both of them seem like something you'd pick up at Bath and Body Works and use for a season and then throw away. Sort of generic. Lately my favorite has been Stella by Stella McCartney, and I have learned that I should never ever buy full bottles of perfume, just the little roll-ons. I have yet to use one of those up.

I found out the other day that Lost is available for instant viewing on Netflix, and I have been watching that like crazy. Especially last week since I had bronchitis and all I could do was sit around and cough and be tired and miserable. I'm in the middle of the second season and the show has sort of lost it's ooomph. But the drugs have worn off too, so maybe it's not quite as good as I thought it was. Before Lost I watched the only two seasons ever made of Dead Like Me, and I ADORED that show. I also flew through season 2 of Mad Men, and I am still devoted to that show too. I'm not going to get into the costumes for the umpteenmillionth time, but they are still impeccable.

I know it sounds like I am watching tons of TV, but I'm not. I'm not watching anything on actual networks right now, and I haven't been in a movie mood. I've been trying to get the first disc of The Sopranos from Netflix and they have bumped me not one, not two, not three but FOUR times thanks to a "short wait". I'm getting tired of that!

So those are my little updates. I will try to get more organized about blogging, but as far as I am concerned it is still summer until my trip to DC over Labor Day. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love you all, but don't hold your breath.