So I have a little favourite thing I’ve been meaning to share with you. By now you probably know I love The City and Kelly Cutrone — the tell-it-like-it-is fashion PR guru and author of If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. Well, I must have been searching for Kelly Cutrone’s commentary on The City one night, I don’t know, but I came across her new internet talk show with (who knew?) her BFF Justine Bateman, whom most of us remember (and probably wanted to be at one point) from Family Ties. The show’s called Wake Up and Get Real, and it’s a series of short YouTube vids of the two of them telling it like it is.

I think I’ve watched every video they’ve published because I have all that time on my hands, you know. Although I (obviously) loathe the one where Justine shows us exactly what she does with the poor gophers on her property, the show’s da bomb. And the work Justine has done to help save the internet is really admirable.

Although she is a wee on the skinny side, I love the show she did on weight. It’s positively brillers….

And, most recently, I loooove the show she did on her “OLDER FACE”!

Is it just me? Is she not teh awesome???

Kelly and Justine always seem to talk about the things I’m thinking about. I’ll be 36 in September, and I’m thinking about aging. Ever since my tooth situation, I’ve been feeling less attractive than ever. And this chai detox? Holy breakout, batman! (Oh yes she did just write that!) But, the thing is, I don’t obsess care about it like I used to. I feel like my “inside” has finally taken over the “outside.” Maybe that comes with a) losing a front tooth, and/or b) gaining 80 pounds in pregnancy and actually living to tell about it (versus when you were in your 20s and almost died when you gained 0.5 pounds since breakfast)? I do look a lot different than I used to, and, like Justine, I feel more represented by my current face. Welcomed frown lines provide the perfect balance for my sweet-and-innocent, smiley features. I still look younger than my years, or so they tell me, but whatevs, you know?

That said, this extra weight on me — this 10-20 lingering pregnancy pounds — does NOT represent who I am inside. When I look in the mirror before I go to work in the morning (still shocked at the image of me in work clothes after all these years!), I look much thinner than the me that I see in photos or occasionally catch glimpses of in store windows.

I don’t know what the story is with my weight. But, if I keep going as I am — speaking from the inside, and hopefully worrying less and less if people are staring at my, erm, gumline — I feel like it will just melt away. All that, and maybe a jog now and then? Me? A jog? You read that right…. I keep hearing it in my head. And my intuition is on fiyah lately….

Sort of like a few weeks ago, when I was naming our new puppy Betty White, and all I could hear in my head when I was thinking up names for her was “BETTY…. BETTTTTYYYYY!”

WELL, just this morning, I learned that the old woman who died in our living room four years before we moved in here was named BETTY!!!! And her last name began with a W!!!!! And sounds a lot like WHITE!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeaaahhhhhhaeeeaearardafdeqrgaq4go!!!

CREEPY!!!

Anyway. Here are some other hot “older” celebs I love and want to age like….

And, of course….

Love!

xo Haley-O

You know, it’s really hard to write a blog post with your jaw in what seems like permanent DROP mode from watching Heidi Montag show her new cheeks, eyebrows, lips, nose, chin, breasts, butt, BACK (etc.) to her mom for the first time — in tonight’s season’s premier of The Hills (hollahhh!). Sad sad sad. Seriously, it’s really, really sad what’s happening there. I don’t know what I’d do if my little Monkey changed this beautiful face that way….

My jaw is also a little dropped right now because I’m experiencing some post-tooth-surgery infection, and I’m mildly allergic to the meds. SO, I’m cutting this post short in favour of an early-ish bedtime. In the meantime, I’ll give you a little sense of what’s going on around here — the CRAZINESS — by sharing a wee “conversation” the monkey and I had in bed the other day:

Mama, let’s talk about stuff, o’right? ….So things are good, like, you know with me! We’re getting a new dog, I’m getting my room painted, it’s gonna be pink, Rascal’s getting a new crib, we’re getting new blinds……

Oy! More on all of that, and Josh’s new job — working at home! — later.

Love!

xo Haley-O

(By the way, many thanks to Lauren from SCKC Clothing — the amazing new kids clothing store at Yonge and Eglinton (Toronto) — for gifting us with the insanely adorable outfit above. The Monkey was the TALK of her classroom in this totally sweet ensemble, not least because her slacker mom lets her go out in summer clothes all year long. Check Sweetspot.ca for my review of the store, coming soon….)

It’s hard to write a blog post with a cat on your lap. I think that’s one of the reason’s I blog less often than I used to. That, and twitter, and my seasonal anti-socialness. Yes, beloved Macbook, I know “socialness” is not a word but, according to you, either is “macbook.” There’s such a thing as poetic license, you know. And thank you for helping me spell “license.” It’s one of those words I never know how to spell. That, and “exercise” and “occasion,” and “judgment.” Reminds me of how it took me the longest time to notice the spelling of “schedule” — why not “schedual”?

I so think I’m Aristotle right now — ruminating on the little particulars in life and in the mind…. Because I just read this FABO (I know, not officially a word but whatevs) novel all about Aristotle and his student Alexander the Great….

Yes, I read Annabel Lyon’s The Golden Mean. It was my T-Dot blogger bookclub choice. Aside from the animal experimentation and dead-soldier dissection — Alexander the Great was a wee bit CRAZY (crazy but HOT, apparently) — this was the most relaxing, enjoyable book I’ve read in a long time.

If you loved The Tudors and Rome TV series (LOVE LOVE LOVE), you’ll love this book. Lyon takes you RIGHT out of the 20th century, and into Aristotle’s mind — an insatiably curious, innocent, self-questioning, seeking and apparently bi-polar mind.

If you love ancient philosophy, you’ll love this book. Lyon’s (historical-fictional) contextualization of Aristotle’s works makes his theories so much more accessible than your philosophy professor ever could. If only this book were around when I was taking philosophy exams. I had so many “AHA!” moments — or, should I say, “EUREKA” moments!

If you love ancient history, you might, as the author puts it in her acknowledgments, “turn purple” when you read this book. But I was okay with that.

If you love a little erotica in your reading, you’ll love this book. I’m not sure I ever needed to imagine Aristotle’s sex life. But, it was cool to learn how his second wife taught him that there is, indeed, such a thing as a female orgasm. EUREKA!

At Book Club last night, we didn’t talk much about the book. Probably because we all had different levels of interest in Aristotle and his philosophy. I wanted to talk about the significance and treatment of TRAGEDY and CATHARSIS in the book — but I was once a post-graduate philosophy major. AND WE WERE TIRED. AND WE WANTED TO CUPCAKES…. Check ‘em out!

I set them up in my fancy cake plate. Ooo, did I mention I entertained? I ENTERTAINED. I never entertain at my house. EVER. I chose the book; I hosted the SOIREE. But, I think I did ok! What do you think? Check out the table….

Fresh veggies and hummus….

Chips and dips, and fancy NUTS — total HIT — from my fave food store, Organic Abundance — presented in a GORJ clay bowl handmade by BFF Jenifer-Lyn Terner….

And various grains and bean dishes, etc., etc….

And I dressed up my 5-pound LIGHTER bod….

Getting there…! (I’m getting my haircut TOMORROW, woohoo!). And I wore my fancy slippers….

And I had a great time with my bloggy buddies — like the fabulous and brillers KAREN….

…and SANDRA MAMALOOPER….

Lovelies KITTENPIE and BLITHELY BABBLING don’t show their faces online. But I managed to get a picture of Kittenpie’s lap….

And, of course, the “unwonted guest”…. The Monkey LOVES Mamalooper…. Here she is trudge-trudge-trudging BACK upstairs for the fifth time (I saved her a cupcake, of course)….

It was a FAB party, if I do say so myself. Several peeps in the club couldn’t make it, so it was low key. We drank mint green tea, instead of wine. I turned on the fireplace and gave Mamalooper a blanket to cozy up in. They left after 11pm. I went to bed happy.

Then, today, the Monkey barged in on me when I was in the shower, yelling, “THAT’S MY MAMA!” Let’s just say her playdate, Jill, got an eye full….

THIS MONTH’S BOOK: Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants.

Thinking about the people in Haiti today. A great place to donate is here –  http://freethechildren.com/.

LOVE….

xo Haley-O

If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know how inconsistent I can be. You know how one day I can be all obsessive about my weight, and then the next day I’m all f*ck it. One day I’m all woo-woo with the spirituality and yoga and meditation and the next I’m hard-core working woman. One day I’m watching The Bachelor, and the next I’m blown away (over and over) by Rent….

…remembering that there’s this side of me that’s totally fascinated by La Vie Boheme (and Taye Diggs – OH YEEAAAH!), a side of me that CAN live for the day – what ever happened to that?

…remembering that there’s a side of me that’s wild and eccentric and free spirited. WINE AND BEER! A very hidden side — hidden under baby blankets, responsibility, destructive habits, anxiety and neuroses….

Right now I’m all hard-core working woman — I’ve been eating, breathing, and sleeping bTrendie — partly because I’m feeling more passionate than usual about it, and partly because I’m having a little trouble registering some unbloggable stuff right now, some major transitions. Right now I’m all obsessed with what I eat and what the kids eat and what the world eats — partly because I read too much, and partly because I’m having a little trouble registering that I’m not in control of every little thing in my world and the world around me….

I should tell you…, I should tell you….

I should tell you. I should tell I threw my books out just to get back in. I’d forgotten how to smile…. I should tell you I should tell you. Here goes. Here goes….

I gave them away. All my diet books. Some of my cook books. When I was pregnant and suffering from debilitating prenatal depression, the doctors came and took all my books away for this same reason.

Information — books, google, GOOGLE. It creates the illusion that you can control things. The more you know, the more empowered you are, right? WRONG. There’s such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Knowledge isn’t power when there’s too much of it. Knowledge is power in moderation. There’s also life.

So, here goes. I’m going to live in the here and now…. Yes, little voice in my head from the other day (WOO-WOO), I’m figuring it out — I’m going to try to LIVE. Which means I MUST get off my arse right now. This life’s on loan, after all. Better make the best of it while I rent it!

Well here we go…. Here goes. Who knows. Who knows where. Who goes there. Who knows. Here goes….

If you haven’t seen the movie or play (I’ve seen both) RENT, you really must RENT IT! And you also really must know that I’ll be singing this soundtrack in the car, in the shower, as I cook, and maybe even on the streets and restaurant tables for the next few weeks, no doubt. And if you think this post is all kinds of cheesy, you gotta know, that’s okay. Because it’s all about me today….

REMEMBER THE LOOOO-O-O-O-O-VE!
xo Haley-O

UPDATE: AND, OMG, I just learned on twitter that this — my favourite show (RENT) — is playing THIS WEEK at Toronto’s Canon Theatre : http://www.mirvish.com/OurShows/. How weird (WOO-WOO) is that?!

T’WAS A TIME OF CHANGE. Last week, I wrote a little email…. I needed some help. I’ve been pretty mum about this, but, if you were to seriously stalk my tweets, you’d probably see that I’ve been having some anxiety lately. A lot of anxiety lately. Not “OMG OMG OMG WE’RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEE!” kind of anxiety, but a very physical kind characterized by heart palpitations and obsessive thinking. It’s been rough. And, of course, I blame THE CHAI, which, no, I haven’t been able to quit.

Until last week, that is. THE TIME OF CHANGE…, when I wrote a little email to Caroline Dupont.

Caroline always comes to my rescue. She’s a total EARTH ANGEL, the best healer I know, and rife with sage, practical advice — in person, as well as in her book Enlightened Eating (my eating bible), her meditation cds, and new DVD (which I JUST ordered and am so psyched about).

I wrote a very “determined” (as she put it) email, asking for a complete “regimen.” I wanted breakfast, lunch and dinner DICTATED to me, as well as when to exercise, do yoga, sleep and meditate. I was hoping that this regimen would help me replace old habits with new ones — the right ones.

Caroline didn’t want to give me a strict regimen, though, because she didn’t think it would work for me in the long run. She wanted me simply to start with a few changes. The main one being…

MY MORNING SMOOTHIE (click the link for the recipe).

I’m supposed to drink that thing every day, come hell or high water.

I’m also supposed to walk for 30 minutes 4 days a week, and practice 30 minutes of yoga the remaining three days a week.

I’m supposed to meditate daily. (And, omg, this has been surprisingly SO enlightening and healing. More on this later in the week.)

I’m supposed to go to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 every evening….COOOUUUUUGH!

So, I’ve been drinking my smoothie every morning. NO CHAI (bingo!). And I’ve been walking and meditating and practicing yoga. The only problem with the yoga is that a certain someone gets a little, ermm, creepy while I’m practicing (with my camera in hand, apparently)….

…He’s horribly sneaky and distracting while I’m practicing. But, I INTEGRATE it.

The other changes that I’ve — WE’VE (Josh and I) — made this weekend are MIRACULOUS and will have to wait ’til the next post to be revealed because, without any chai in my system, I’m a total zombie. ZOMBIE. And I can’t write anymore because it’s 9:15 — almost “bedtime” (heh, I wish).

On top of all the above advice (and so much more that I have yet to implement and share), Caroline gave me this gem of guidance that I know she’ll love for me to share:

Your principle spiritual practice right now is your kids. Soon enough they’ll be in school and you’ll have more time for uninterrupted yoga and meditation. Create activities with them…. When you take them to the park remind yourself to breathe and be…. To everything, there is a season.

I’ve really taken that advice to heart and have been LOVING the relief and peace of mind I get from getting down on the floor and really PAINTING and DRAWING again, with my children — ESPECIALLY when I’m not feeling “well”….

…one of my new favourite things…!

Many, MANY, thanks to Caroline Dupont.

Love…!

xo Haley-O

Okay, who’s bright idea was THIS?:

I mean, aside from the director’s, what’shisname.  I have a right to know who’s messing with my already anxious mind. There’s no way in HELL I’m seeing this movie. Even though friends of mine WHO JUST HAD A BABY went to see this catastrophic movie and said it was a freaking joke and that, if you’re afraid of 2012, then this is the movie to see because it’s a freaking joke. A bunch of models and action figures and a bunch of capitalizing on what’s already a subject of GLOBAL HYSTERIA.

There’s also the big Swine Flu vaccine. And people not vaccinating their kids calling people who DID vaccinate their kids stupid because the vaccine is, i.e., “too shady for me.” And then there’s people who vaccinated their kids calling people who DIDN’T vaccinate their kids stupid because, well, you know, blah blah. We’ve all heard it. And then THIS comes out and capitalizes on what’s already a subject of GLOBAL HYSTERIA.

…A bunch of horrible creepy aliens disguised as gorgeous humans (of course, because all humans are gorgeous) wanting to take over our health care — “universal healthcare,” hmmmm…. LIKE we needed this right now, in the middle of flu vaccine hysteria. Like I freaking needed to see that episode. And isn’t Elisabeth Mitchell in, like, enough creepy shows already?

Hasn’t she already freaked us out enough in LOST….

The posters for 2012 are plastered on our Toronto buses. They’re on billboards and every other commercial. WHO NEEDS THIS? I ask you, WHO NEEDS THIS?

And then you turn on the news, NAY, you turn on a freaking KIDS’ show, and there it is again — that 2012 commercial, and the news HEADLINES of the day, which are always godawful because they have to HOOK YOU IN. And JUST when you sit down to a meal of pasta with mushrooms, they are SO going to tell you that pasta and mushrooms will KILL you because…stay tuned for the news at 7 and you’ll find out. GRAAARGH!

I’m just a wee blogger. A wee PERSON at barely 5’1″. But something’s gotta change. The media, entertainment, and the commercial peeps — desperate for us to WATCH them, even as we PVR everything — have to stop spreading the fear. Whatever happened to SPREADING the LOVE!? You know how many people are TERRIFIED of all this sh*t? And there it is, IN YO FACE. If it’s not V, then it’s Fringe, or The Law Abiding Citizen. Freaking The Law Abiding Citizen — my poor mother will never answer her front door again. Why can’t Gerard Butler make more movies like THIS, instead:

WHICH, I loved. LOVE LOVE LOVE. The chemistry between those two, OMG — which is shocking, since we’re talking about Katherine Heigl. Speaking of which, I also loved this one….

WHICH doesn’t say much about my taste in movies lately. But, seriously, anything to get away from all the mind-blowing scary stuff.

Just the other day, I’ll have you know, the Monkey saw THIS poster on some storefront window….

And she actually yelled, “MAMA, LOOK! ORPHANS”! This from a girl who’s TV watching is limited to Tree House and the odd PVR’d So You Think You Can Dance Canada — with vehemently fast-forwarded commercials.

I’ll also have you know….

Yesterday I walked through downtown Toronto with my family.

The annual Christmas parade had just ended.

There was GARBAGE everywhere.

All of it was from fast food.

On our way home, we passed a protest with violent images that I didn’t need to see just then, on my Sunday afternoon walk with my young family.

Violent images are everywhere. They’re f*ing with my mind and I HOPE NOT my children’s minds.

All I ask is that Gerard Butler make some more funny movies, that Elizabeth Mitchell do a sitcom FOR ONCE, and that horror films stay where they USED to be — on the FAR corner in the back of the video store, and not mixed among the fluffy mainstream ones. Sensitive minds like mine CANNOT take all this SCARY stuff. CANNOT.

Spread the LOVE! I ASK THEE! PEACE! Unicorns…? Fairy dust and mermaids? SPARKLES…. Gerard? HEART. CLIVE OWEN. Will Ferrell. Please. More comedy, love, yooooga, less fear. LESS FEAR.

xo Haley-O

I was the only person in my entire book club of 12 Toronto bloggers who liked, nay LOVED, Australian author Christos Tsiolkas’ latest tome The Slap.

Maybe it was the exhilaration of it all — the exhilaration I felt when I flipped the final 483rd page of the book exactly one hour before I had to drive 45 minutes to Denguy‘s house for the monthly meeting last night. Maybe it was the 483ish times the author used the c-word (or not, since I don’t think I’ve uttered the word in my entire life). Maybe it was the sexy-hot Hector, the icy cool Aisha, the sweet sympathetic Richie. Maybe it was that tiny detail, when teen-aged Connie gave her friend the stink eye for throwing a cigarette butt in the bushes: “It would end up in the sea. [Connie] got up from the bench, picked up the butt and put it in the side pocket of her backpack.”

Or maybe I’m just a dark and twisted horndog.

But the book won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book. Are the Australian literati, then, also dark and twisted horndogs?

I don’t know. Why don’t you read it, and let me know what you think. THEY hated it. I loved it.

And yet I wonder if I would love ANY book right now. Because reading is such a LUXURY for me these days.

So, I suppose if there’s any time to read the new Tori Spelling book, NOW would be the time?

Yes, I’m so grateful just to be READING again — to relax and escape for a while, even into Tsiolkas’ dark and twisted world of horndogs, a world totally removed from my own. Maybe that’s why I loved it.

It was a good escape. And a good accomplishment. 483 pages. Unlike changing diapers and waking up in the middle of the night to get the monkey WATER, I didn’t HAVE to read it. But I did. And it felt GOOD.

On to our next book club book, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher — chosen by Ms. Mamalooper, who has returned to blogging after, ohhh, 6 months’ hiatus. But, FIRST, a book of my own choosing (for, yes, my goal is to read TWO books this month). It’s a book by one of my favourite authors, highly recommended by my mother….

I can assure you there won’t be a single c-word in this one, and I will still love it.

And I can’t wait to get lost in it. Tonight. I hope. After I put the kids to bed, and wash the dishes, and write tomorrow’s bTrendie email alert, and write three articles, and answer 483 emails.

I get a complementary facial every month. It’s basically an honorarium for being brand ambassador for my favourite company Pure and Simple, which involves sampling their latest products and offering feedback. Their new foundation, by the way? — OMG, TDF (to die for). Anyway, last month, September, I had NO FACIAL. Why? Because I didn’t have THE TIME.

This very thing — the fact that I didn’t have the time for my September facial — made me realize I desperately need to simplify my life. “GLARGH,” I realized, “I don’t even have time for my monthly facial! My free facial! And if I don’t have time for my once-monthly facial, I sure as HELL don’t have time to go to the gym.”

That’s what I surmised. So….

I quit the gym….

Yes, the other day I went to the gym all ready to workout for the first time there in FOUR MONTHS. But, my heart was IN MY BELLY. It’d been there for hours. I was dreading walking my arse through that door again, dropping the sad Monkey off at daycare, and shaking it to another high-speed AC DC song. GAH!

So, I canceled my daycare spot and b-lined it to the membership office.

“Are you sure you want to quit, Haley? I feel like we’ve done this a dozen times already,” the membership salesperson said.

“I know. We have. At least a dozen times. But, I quit. I can’t make it here. And Monkey doesn’t want to go to the daycare.”

“Well, you could do the reduced rate: 4 visits a month for $9.”

“Nope. Can’t.” I stated bluntly, thinking I CAN’T EVEN GET TO MY FREE FACIAL.

As the stress of HAVING to go to the gym gracefully fell away (as soon as I signed the cancellation papers), I knew I had to QUIT MORE THINGS.

I have yet to figure out what those things are.

Needless to say, I will NOT be joining Facebook. I don’t have the time! And if I DID have the time, I’d fill it with a KRUMP class instead  — because holy Tara-Jean on So You Think You Can Dance Canada tonight. Awesome.

I’m a reality TV WHORE. I love it. I love the worst of them and the best of them — from A Double Shot at Love to Paris Hilton’s My New BFF to Big Brother (STARTS TONIGHT!), Survivor, American Idol, America’s (and now Canada’s) Next Top Model, (does The Hills count?), to perhaps the best of the bunch, So You Think You Can Dance. Of course, I have a little soft spot for So You Think You Can Dance, since my cousin MILES FABER finished in the top 4 of So You Think You Can Dance Canada just last year. But, seriously, it’s an AMAZING show. Anyone who’s ever had any interest in dancing, or who likes a good hip hop video, going to the ballet, Broadway (heyoooo!), ballroom, or even just MUSIC — THIS is the show for you. Just TRUST me.

(By the way? Let’s pretend last night’s Russian Folk Dance routine never happened…. I know they’re trying to represent DAWNCE in all it’s forms. But, seriously, there ARE limits. Omigod with the red cheeks on Phillip Chbeeb! Anyway.)

(OmiGAWW! — and no wonder they were in the bottom three tonight!)

Beyond that, though, this show showcases the best of the best in choreography. So, you’re not just watching any old dancing. You’re watching masterpieces by MIA MICHAELS, TICE DIORIO, NAPPYTABS! And did I mention MIA MICHAELS?

This woman gets me every time. (I may even have a wee GIRL CRUSH on her!) Sometimes, she’s a little over the top — which is also why I love her (I can relate to being a little over the top). But, for the most part, she hits the mark every time and makes you fah-reaking THINK. Last night was simply BEYOND, though. Mia’s exploration of Addiction with dancers Kayla and Kupono was nothing less than BRILLERS. BRILLIANT. I think I must have watched this dance thirty times….

The quality of this vid, the timing, is not stellar. But, you get the picture. How many times did you watch it? And how ADORABLE is Kupono? And how magnificent is Kayla? And how amazing is Mia? Do me a favour and watch it at least twice — keep your eyes on Kayla the first time, and Kupono the second. And then maybe go back and watch it a third time. It’s BRIL-LIANT! As Tice Diorio (LOVE) put it perfectly, “I don’t feel like I watched a dance. I feel like I had an experience. And that’s — entertainment.”

I not only get chills when I watch this routine, but I cry. Because it HITS ME hard. I’ve been an addict my whole life — not only to substances (*COUGH* StarbucksGrandeSoyNoWaterTazoChai *COUGH*, among others, *COUGH*), but to behaviours, to work…. I KNOW and understand very well what Kayla, and MIA with her awesome vision, so perfectly and passionately portrayed. I loved it. This is way beyond reality TV. This is FINE ART.

Watch it, yo! And thank me later!

Love!

xo Haley-O

I was going to write a whole blog post on this weekend’s movie rental and the superficial profound effects it had on me….

A lot of Gorgeouses might disagree with me on this one, but I liked this movie, and I really think you’d like it, too….

Anyway, I was going to write this big post on how the movie, and Annette Bening in particular, totally inspired me. Just. LOOK AT HER:

GORJ. Simply GORJ. At 51 years old, gorj. I want to look like that when I’m 51. Natural — I’m looking AT YOU, Sarah Jessica Parker’s silicone additions at the OSCARS…can you believe!? I’m still hoping it was just the dress….

Back to Annette and The Women. I’m not going to get into it now because, frankly, I’m blogged out — between a new LO-HO-HONG post at the Kitch and the video blog over at Goodies, in which I announce the WINNERS of our big contest this month, and Minden makes an appearance…. AND, to be honest, I’m a little preoccupied right now watching The Oscars and tweeting about it with all my tweeps! SO FUN.

Again, anyway, back to Annette and The Women…. The funny (and a little bit annoying) thing about this movie is that EVERY single person in the movie is A WOMAN. Every single extra. EVERYONE. It’s wild.

If Josh hadn’t returned the movie, I might have watched it again, you know…. Because it inspired me. It inspired me to be okay with aging, and to maybe even embrace it. Because, you know what? I couldn’t take my eyes off Annette Bening. And, that excited me. I mean, she was a hellova lot more interesting to look at — at least to me — than the perfect Eva Mendes….

Okay, I’ve officially run out of steam. But, here are a few things Annette has inspired me to start doing…

1. Eat better….
2. Dress better.
3. Read a novel.
4. Exercise.
5. I always do my best with this one anyway, but…, AUTHENTICITY. Beauty lies in being AUTHENTIC and, with that, goes SELF-CONFIDENCE (of which I could definitely have more…).
6. Brush my hair.
7. Wear lip gloss…. Pale coral….

That’s all. I give up. I’m just way too distracted to write tonight. But, this is what I got. Now go check the other blogs…!

Love!
xo Haley-O