Halloween: Get Messy! Make Mistakes!

I LOVE Halloween. It is my favorite holiday but it always seems to suck.

Remember the drama that ensued after last year's Halloween?

So this year I was excited to go into the city and actually have something to do! After our Kleinfelds appointment Casey and I hopped on a train up town and said goodbye to Julibean, Jaclyn, and the mothers.

We got to Ashley & Mel's and ate some delicious falafel, watched some hilarious television, and then got dressed into our awesome costumes.

Let me just say, my friends are awesome and creative. Even Casey who didn't have time to make or buy a costume came dressed as Harriet the Spy in a trench with a notebook ready to make observations.

So without further ado I'd like to introduce you to:

Mel: Your Other Mother

Ashley: Jem...she's OUTRAGEOUS!

And Me: Ms Frizzle!
(do you remember your childhood? because we do!)

Seriously, awesome costumes!

We headed down to The Bitter End and enjoyed some good drinks, good music, and good times.

Plus, look how many "Dumb Sluts"
Casey the Spy counted during our travels:

We saw some killer costumes. Originally Casey's brother Chris was thinking about coming out with us and I told him he could borrow my tutu and wear some combat boots and a Hawaiian shirt and be Ace Ventura...we thought this was a great and very original costume. Of course when we saw some guy on the street outside a bar dressed in that costume we gave him a high five as we walked past.

We pretty much saw every single costume we were considering ourselves. Carmen Sandiego, TMNT, although I think my favorite was a guy in a Snorlax costume. I snapped a photo with him to show Jason.

However, the greatest costume of the weekend was definitely a little eight year old girl Casey and I met on the subway on Sunday morning. She was standing there in a green leotard with a gigantic potted plant pot suspendered to her and her mother was holding this beautifully hand made green head thing. I knew immediately she was Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors and thought it was the most wonderful thing EVER.

I got to talk to the little girl and her mother and her mom told me that she wasn't even excited about the candy, she just wanted to wear the costume. Apparently the little girl had seen Little Shop of Horrors a few years back and was completely obsessed with Audrey II and wanting to dress up as the man-eating plant alien. The coolest part was when she put the plant head over her, the mouth would open when she shrugged her shoulders.

COOLEST COSTUME EVER.

Honestly, this Halloween was fantastic. Even if I did turn Ashley's couch cushion orange.

DPF: Sanity? Insanity?

Tomorrow is the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington. Although I won't be there I have many a friends who are going.

If we hadn't already made plans to go to Kleinfeld's or enjoy the Halloween weekend I definitely would have ventured out and joined my friends "who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive and terrible for your throat."

I adore Jon Stewart and although he's a comedian I think he typically has a lot of very smart and poignant things to say. In fact I recall a study done on the intelligence of people who watch the Daily Show as opposed to those who watch the O'Reilly Factor and other so called "news talk shows".

I enjoy Comedy Central's version because it is cheeky, hilarious, smart, and damn I love Jon Stewart. Honestly, anyone who proposes to his wife in a Sunday crossword deserves respect and admiration!

The March to Keep Fear Alive is also taking place tomorrow. So here's a little Steven Colbert for you to enjoy:

"America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man,
was built on three bedrock principles:
Freedom. Liberty.
And Fear — that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty."

So to all my friends venturing to DC this weekend:

Be safe. Be sane.

WW: Dress Shopping

If all goes as planned on the 30th I'll be ordering my wedding dress. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not but Julibean and I will be going to Kleinfeld's. At first it started as a joke, that we should go just to get the experience and whatnot but then something incredible happened...

Kleinfeld's started carrying Stephanie James Couture!

I have been in love with Stephanie James' dresses for about two years now. I knew that when the time came I really really really wanted one of her dresses but I thought A-who the hell are you kidding, you can't afford couture anything, and B-the closest stockist is Pittsburgh and you hate going there.

So I started looking for tea length dresses that were closer to my price range of $500 and only found one or two that I was okay with. I didn't really want to settle, but I figured it was bound to happen.

Last month Julibean and I took our mother to David's and I tried on the two tea length dresses they had that I kind of liked. Mom wasn't really happy with the way they looked on me...I thought they were okay and was really just content that I was fitting into one size smaller dresses from the last time I had tried them on.

Julianne found one or two that looked really good on her but because we're in the plus size range it's hard to find a dress to try on that is cut correctly. I carry most of my weight around my ribcage (hello ta tas!) and Julibean carries most of her weight in her tummy. We're very differently shaped and we're both looking for different styles so we thought we'd go to a HUGE place to try different things on.

When I read on Stephanie James' blog that Kleinfeld Bridal was going to start carrying her line I literally did a happy dance and immediately told Julibean how we needed to book appointments yesterday.

When I told my friends we had booked an appointment at Kleinfeld's everyone and their mother wanted to come! And every other person shouted, "If you got on TV you'd be my hero!" If you're asking yes, Julibean submitted us to SYTTD, and no I don't think they'll pick us since we're not very dramatic. However, there is a new version called Big Bliss that they might just grab us for, I mean two sisters shopping at once for their weddings? You'd think they'd eat that shit up!

Back to my point. Maybe two or three months ago one of the girls on a forum I frequent sent me a message since she noticed I was a fan of Stephanie James on facebook. We got to chatting and it turns out that she had just ordered the dress I've been drooling over for the past two years. In fact she even told me what the price range was for the dress and I realized, yeah, I could do that. Long story short, as long as the dress looks killer on me and it's in the price range it should be I'm pretty much gonna order it right then and there.

Now going into Kleinfeld's I actually know exactly what the dress would cost if I ordered it directly from Stephanie James herself. You have to live more than 50 miles away from a stockist to order directly from her store in California. Technically when I move to Virginia I'll be plenty far away from her closest stockist. So if Kleinfeld's tries to up-price this dress I'll have to say no and order it directly from California. But at least I'll get to have tried on the three or four dresses of hers that I adore and be able to feel comfortable about making my choice.

Now here are some images of dresses of hers that I love and can't wait to try on!!!

Greta.

Audrey w/v-neck

Audrey back/button detail

Josephine

Josephine strapless

Olivia

Stella

(All images borrowed from Stephanie James Couture Blog)

Smut for the Masses!

One day I'll be a published author...one day...

Me: what would you do if I became a published author of smut?
Julibean: I really couldn't care less
Julibean: I think it's a little silly
Julibean: but whatever
Julibean: can I pose for the covers?
Julibean: lol
Me: okay, just plain old trashy fiction
Me: hahaha
Me: no, I'm thinking I'd rather just have plain covers with bright colors
Julibean: that's no fun
Me: so you wouldn't feel awkward about reading them in public
Julibean: you've got to hook them in with the cleavage
Me: HAHAHA
Me: but Fabio doesn't do cover art anymore!
Julibean: oh that's too bad

MM: Eat My Shorts

I really can't stop looking at this.




Please enjoy this Monday's Man...in cartoon form. He's the 10 year old everyone loves, and will always love.


(Image borrowed from SenorGif.com)

Betsy in my pants!

A few weeks ago I really wanted to go apple picking but the only person who shared my enthusiasm about this adventure was Ashley and neither of us were free until this weekend. When I looked up where all the apple orchards were on LI they were all out east near Riverhead so we decided it'd be the ideal time to hit up the outlets.

The apples were pretty much picked out but I did come home with a pumpkin and cider and some delicious fall baked goods. And then we went off to the Tanger Outlets.

I was on the search for a dress (for our e-session in November) and a new pair of black flats to replace the ones from Naturalizer that I had killed.

What I found was something far better. First off we went into every store that had dresses for sale. I tried on a bunch but none of them fit the right way. I want something with at least capped sleeves and a scoop neckline. The girls are my best feature and what's the point in hiding them? A few dresses fit and were cute, but weren't THE dress for me.

Because we're little kids we went into the Disney Outlet and I found an awesome Kermit the Frog stainless steel water bottle (which I needed to replace one I broke the other day) and this little guy.

Originally Ashley had picked it up and was like, WTF is this?! And once I realized what it was I threw my hand to my nose and waved my fingers at her.

In my family, that's the call sign for a star nosed mole. Call us crazy, we have lots of hand gestures that mean NOTHING to anyone else but can cause laughter and excitement within my house. Not only was it a star nosed mole, but he was wearing night vision goggles. I HAD TO HAVE HIM. He was on the clearance rack and I bought him for my mother.

When I got home I handed my father the socks he requested I buy him at Van Heusen and my mother jokingly asked, "What'd you get me?" She wasn't prepared for my twitchy excitement and was so happy when I pulled this little guy out of my bag.

Apparently Saturday was Mole Day (10/23) something I didn't realize until my mom was thanking me for the mole on Mole Day. She brought him into school today to add to her mole collection. (Hey, she's a Chemistry teacher, don't judge!)

Anyway, back to the Outlets. We still hadn't found a dress and we were losing daylight quickly. As we were making a beeline for JCrew we saw Betsy Johnson and we decided to go inside because everything's so bright and cheerful in there.

Racks and racks of crazy dresses greeted us, all with signs that read "80% Clearance!"

What, WHAT WHAT?!

We flagged down a sales associate and asked if that meant 80% off the original price or 80% off the lowest ticketed price. Lowest ticketed it was and I couldn't believe the math I was doing in my head when the dress Ashley was holding factored out to ~$50. I had to pull my phone out to double check my math, but low and behold, it was $46!

We were like giddly little school girls rummaging through the racks. Sadly the dresses in the outlets only go up to size 10 so this one was all Ashley's but she found a super cute navy blue dress that wasn't off the charts crazy and fit her like a DREAM.

While Ashley was in the dressing room I was trying on these amazing powder blue shoes. Hello, $35 marked down from $175?!? THANK YOU! Fairly comfortable to boot! Can we say wedding shoes?!

Ashley hugging her amazing dress on the way home.

We couldn't believe we were walking out with these incredible items for under $50 and $40.

I feel like I'm stealing!

All in all, WONDERFUL day. Didn't find a dress but found wedding shoes for $38 and now all the other shoes can go back! Still need to find a dress but I'm hoping the one I ordered from Overstock will be killer.



Edit to add: FOUND a photo of the shoes I nabbed!

Powder blue and perfect! I heart Betsey Johnson!

DPF: Don't Miss It...

Last night one of the Jeopardy clues' questions was "What is Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" And in celebration, a little Matthew Broderick for you...

"Life moves pretty fast.
If you don't stop and look around once in a while,
you could miss it."

WW: OMG Shoes

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but there is a 93% chance that I will wear a tea length dress to my wedding.

That being said, I must therefore have fabulous shoes.

They will be out there, right in front of everyone, for all to see! So they damn well better be beautiful!

I was extremely upset when Sex and the City made it popular to wear blue shoes on your wedding day. For years when I dreamed about my wedding day everything was fuzzy but I knew one thing was certain, I'd wear blue shoes.

I love blue shoes. I have all different types, shapes, heel heights, etc. I think if I honestly counted it'd probably be around 10 pair of blue shoes. What can I say? I just love them. It's gotten to the point where I have to remind myself that I also need things like black heels for work...but the office I currently work at gives me the freedom to wear my blue shoes whenever I'd like. Heck, I've even worn bright yellow pumps on occasion here and nobody's said boo.

Problem is, I have yet to find a pair of blue shoes that I have loved so much (other than the ones I literally want to marry) that I could imagine myself getting married in them. Most pairs were the wrong shade of blue, too bright an aqua or too dark a navy. Nothing was juuuuust right.

I came across these on Zappos one day and thought, now those, I could settle for.

Stella - Pour la Victoire

What I like about them is that although they are white they have a blue sole. They also have "I do" in rhinestones on the sole as a cute little added touch. Not only that, but they have a platform toe bed. Platforms make shoes heels so much more comfortable and easy to walk in.

I ordered a pair to try on.

I was searching again one morning, still trying to find that perfect pair of blue shoes...I wanted a medium heel with possibly an ankle strap. I'm going to be wearing these shoes all day so I want them to be dance-floor ready because when brother Dan spins me I don't want those babies flying off and knocking anyone out!

I found a WeddingBee board where brides were posting photos of their shoes and one poster had a pair of "Design Your Own" Ninas. I had to investigate further. I wound up at the Nina website and holy crap had I found a treasure trove!

Look what I made!

4" Nina Electra white satin w/china blue sole & bow

4" Nina Kyleen white satin w/china blue sole & knot

Soooo exciting! I ordered some plain old Electras from Zappos in two different sizes in the blue and the white to see what the colors looked like together and which size fits best. But really, I couldn't be more excited that I found this site!

Nina are very well made shoes. Typically they are very comfortable to boot! And for $150 I could either settle for a pair of shoes that aren't what I really really wanted, or I could just get a pair custom made for me!

How exciting would it be when someone compliments my fabulous shoes to let them know that they're designed by me fabulous shoes?!


Plus that design your own website is all sorts of fun...I got bored and hilarity ensued...

Clown shoes are crying on the inside :'(

Wear Purple Wednesday

I am a very tolerant person. Although in general I dislike "people" as a whole, I still care and sympathize/empathize with those who face persecution just for being who they are.

When we were at Busch Gardens on Saturday Jason and I went to see the Monster Stomp Revamped show (which was fabulous) and there was a row of people sitting across from us who were special guests of someone. Either to the park in general or to someone who worked for the park and they had a row reserved.

The people sitting behind us who sounded like they would have been perfectly cast into Deliverance made a snide comment about one of the men sitting in the row because of the way he wore his pants. Sounds ridiculous right? I mean I have pretty good gay-dar and I could tell some of the people in that row were fabulous but I've been surrounded by gays, transgenders, and whatever else they'd like to be labeled as (or remained unlabeled) for years now and don't think twice about it.

There's nothing wrong with them, they are human beings and responding to what feels right, in fact I don't even like calling the gay community a "them" because in my eyes they shouldn't be segregated or partitioned off from the non-gays.

We're all human, plain and simple.

I wish some people could remember that!

It took all my strength not to turn around and say something to the couple behind us. I don't even think Jason knew how angry it made me to hear the blatant ignorance. I knew it existed but I had never experienced it first hand and I mean why would I experience it? I'm on the "right" side of the line aren't I? I'm a heterosexual woman engaged to a heterosexual man and that's okay with everyone! Why would anyone persecute me?

Well go ahead and do it, persecute me. Just leave my friends alone. Let my gay boyfriends live their lives. Let my lesbian girlfriends get married if they want. Let my transgender friends be whoever they want to be.

And to support them all, please wear purple tomorrow.

On october 20th we will wear purple to bring awareness to, and put an end to intolerance in honor of the 6 boys who commited suicide in recent weeks/months due to homophobic abuse at home and in schools. Purple represents spirit on the Lgbtq flag and that's exactly what we would like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality. Please wear purple on October 20th. Tell your parents, friends, co-workers, neighbors and schools.

RIP
Tyler Clementi
Seth Walsh
Justin Aaberg
Raymond Chase
Asher Brown
Billy Lucas
Zach Harrington
and all other victims of homophobia

The ULTIMATE DPF

Reasons why this is the most ultimate Dance Party Friday. This video contains numerous things actors and/or references that automatically make it awesome just for referring to said things.

• Gregory Hines
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Channing Tatum
• Dirty Dancing
• Kevin Bacon
• Jamie Lee Curtis
• Old School Michael Jackson
• The list goes on and on
• and on and on...

I'm off to VA for the weekend, enjoy!

A Life in the Theater

Last night I got a call from my friend Matt at around 6:15.

Any chance you can be at Broadway and 45th by 8:00 for a premiere?

A friend of his is the assistant to a Broadway Producer and scored him some comped tickets for one or two of the shows opening this week. At first I wasn't really interested in schlepping into the City so I took all the info down and called one or two of my friends who live in Manhattan and asked them if they were interested.

Then I'm sitting there looking at my little post-it note that says A Life in the Theater starring Patrick Stewart and TR Knight and I thought, what the hell am I thinking?! I can't pass up Patrick Stewart LIVE.

Changed real quick into something slightly less business casual and slightly more Broadway fabulous and ran to catch a train. Hoofed 11 blocks up to 45th and got there just around 7:45.

Some of you might remember that this isn't the first time Matt has called and asked if I wanted to be his +1. I went to a wedding with him last summer which was incredibly enjoyable and when he found out that he had a pair of tickets instead of just one I was the first person he called to see if I could fill the seat.

So I get to the Schoenfeld and Matt's standing there with his friend Diana and since she's the Producer's Assistant and it's Opening Night she's running around trying to find all the VIPs to make sure they get their tickets and head into the private entrance.

We're standing there chatting with her when she waves her hand over my head and shouts:

Mr Grey! I have your ticket!

Who else strolls up but Joel Grey.

Seriously, walked right up to us.

Now I am not familiar with the full body of his work, nor could I remember his name (I am the WORST with names) but I knew that face and I knew he was a tremendous actor. I know he's been in things like Cabaret and the Wizard of Oz but me personally, I'm more familiar with his cameos on shows like Buffy or as Arvin Clone on Alias.

He seemed a very polite old man.

We took our seats and Matt searched the audience for other names, mentioning that Taye Diggs was supposed to be there but Adina was not. To which I replied, "It's okay I know all her solos."

Mr Diggs turned up in the aisle looking dapper as ever in a fedora.

The show was HILARIOUS. The end was a little bittersweet but the two men played off each other beautifully. I can't begin to describe what the show in essence was about, so here is the little description of it from BroadwayWorld:

Describing life in the footlights from an actor's point of view, A Life in the Theatre focuses on the relationship between two thespians: Robert, an older, experienced performer; and John, a relative newcomer. Though Robert's guidance is welcomed by John at first, as the play progresses Robert falters as an actor and mentor, and John emerges as a mature actor. Mamet was inspired to write A Life in the Theatre by what he had observed backstage as well as by his own experiences in his early career as an actor.

Really a wonderful production. I highly recommend it if you've ever been involved in theater or if you're even just interested in theater.

Afterward Matt had passes to the after party. We meandered around outside the theater while I double checked the train schedule and I almost got knocked over by a photographer. When I looked up I didn't see anyone around but then Matt turned to me and said, "I was just three feet away from Angela Lansbury."

I refrained from shouting out, "Loved you in Penzance!" and we walked back up 8th towards Penn. Unfortunately I would have missed the drunk train if I had gone to the after party.

You see, there's this break in train service from about 11:00pm to 2:00am and if you miss that last train out of the City then you're stuck sitting in Penn Station for HOURS. Not something I wanted to do so I skipped the after party. I'm sure Matty had a wonderful time hob nobbing, maybe he even got a photo of Patrick Stewart for me!

(Image borrowed from BroadwayWorld.com)

Horseshoes and Handgrenades

And this is why I love my brother...


Me: so last night I had a dream
Me: that we were sky diving out of a helicopter
Me: and Julianne and Dad dropped together
Me: but then we were catching up to them because the helicopter was falling out of the sky
Me: and you kind of crash landed upright in the woods
Dan: That's pretty fucked up
Me: and suddenly I was this little Chinese escapee or something and some asshole gave me a armed grenade that I couldn't let go of lest we all die
Me: and I found some soldier in a Volkswagen micro-bus nearby and asked for his help
Me: and then these badasses came out of now where and started shooting at him
Me: so I threw the grenade at them
Me: and then I ran
Me: and everyone was running towards me but I waved them off and the bus exploded
Me: and then I climbed up a tree with my flat little shoes
Me: it was so weird
Dan: Unscrew the fuse from the main body next time
Me: well I thought of that when I woke up
Me: that I could unscrew something
Dan: Elise, what the hell did you have for dinner?
Me: meatloaf?
Dan: Well, so far as I know the pin and spoon screw into the grenade body. You could conceivable unscrew that from the body and then just let go of the spoon.
Me: good to know
Dan: Then the fuse would burn down, but not have any bursting charge to set off.
Dan: Since that's in the body, which you've disconnected...
Me: I like how you totally disregard your crash landing a helicopter or me suddenly being Asian and go straight for the munitions part
Me:
Dan: I focused on the thing I could actually affect.


Good to know!

Mediocrity!

Last night was pretty low key. We all had a really long weekend (my father and I spent all Saturday schlepping around Brooklyn with my grandma) and we literally all just kind of zonked out watching Cash Cab and screaming answers at the stupid contestants.

This commercial popped up during one of the breaks:


I just turned to my Dad and said, "Really?"

Because it was such an amazing commercial!

He was up in a second navigating to 2011Mediocrity.com to find out just which car company was behind it. He had his suspicions it was Subaru but my Mom fervently thought it was Volkswagen.

The website is hilarious. I completely applaud ANY company that will go THIS far with their marketing.

My favorite part is Mediocrity Motor Company's Mission Statement:

The Mediocrity mission is to manufacture the most mainstream mid-size sedan on the road today. Our company is extremely dedicated and passionate about "middle-of-the-road." Each and every day, we strive for predictability, unoriginality and no-frills utilitarianism for all of your transportation needs. The 2011 Mediocrity will get you from A to B without anybody ever noticing, and that's a good thing.

If you then click the button at the bottom of the Mission Statement that says "Click here if you don't subscribe to these principles at all" it brings you here.

Well done folks. Well done.

Makes me love Subaru even more!

MM: Tasty

Okay so legit, this man is hot.


Whether he's dancing in baggy clothes, running around in a ridiculous GIJoe suit, or just plain lying around in his underwear Channing Tatum is freak'n gorgeous.

This one's also enjoyable:


Okay I'm done drooling now...

Manjoyment Monday: I Miss Him

Last week I sat down and watched a movie with my Dad. He had gotten The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus from NetFlix and neither of us really knew anything about it except that it was Heath Ledger's last movie.

Let me just throw this one out here. Ever since 10 Things I Hate About You I've loved Heath Ledger. I thought he was a tremendous actor, looked nothing like all the "pretty boys" of Hollywood that every other girl swooned over, and one day I hoped he'd give me a tambourine.

As he was in more and more films I respected his acting exponentially. The Patriot, Casanova, Brothers Grim, and of course his chilling portrayal of the Joker in Dark Knight - words can't even describe the incredible job he did with that part.

I still remember going out and buying the Vogue that he was on the cover on just so I could read more about his career. This photo was in one of those spreads:


That was right around the time he was filming A Knight's Tale because I remember them talking about him riding around on set. I enjoyed the way he tried different parts in different genres of movies. I've never seen them but I heard fantastic things about Brokeback Mountain and Monster's Ball. All around he was a great actor and I seriously believe it when they say he would have been the greatest actor of his generation.

The day I heard he died was a sad day indeed. I remember folding laundry with my mother and listening to a news report about how RENT was closing on Broadway (which upset me enough) and then there was an urgent report about how Heath had been found dead in his apartment in the City. That officially killed it, right there.

Horrible. Day.

But back to Doctor Parnassus...

We sat there watching it and were like...ummm...huh? We had no expectations for it nor did we know anything about the plot line and it was super intriguing. We couldn't stop watching it even if we wanted to.

The first time Tony (Heath's character) steps into the Imaginarium my Dad turned to me and said, "I can't believe Johnny Depp didn't play this character, he would have been perfect for it." And then as if the Imaginarium heard him, Heath Ledger turned into Johnny Depp.

It wasn't until the second time he was in the Imaginarium and Heath turned into Jude Law that we realized what was going on. At that point I was really interested in what the heck was happening and hopped over to IMDB to figure it all out. Once I read a little more about it I remembered that not only had it been Heath's last movie, but he had died in the midst of filming it. It suddenly made so much more sense.

Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all stepped in after Heath's death to finish the movie for him. The producers, directors and staff actually decided to make a few re-writes and complete the film using other talented actors as stand-ins.


The result was phenomenal. I'm not saying it's my favorite movie ever. It was written and directed by Terry Gilliam so it was a little weird to begin with. The best I could describe it was Monty Python meets Tim Burton with a dash of Toon Town. But overall the way they wove the footage together if I hadn't know Heath had died in the middle of filming, I wouldn't have noticed. It wasn't disjointed at all, it was marvelous.

I thought it was also great how Jude, Johnny and Colin not only stepped in to finish Heath's work but they also gave all of the money they made off the movie to Matilda Heath's daughter. While we were watching some bonus footage one of them said basically: "We thought if Heath had finished the money would have gone to her anyway and we wanted to support her future."

So totally sweet. So unexpected. So strange a movie.

Improv Everywhere

On Saturday I participated in the mp3 Experiment. Originally I was going into the City to visit my friends James and Glenn and see their new apartment on the upper east side. Plus James had to help me fix something on my laptop and he's pretty much been my IT Savior since college so I lugged my backpack around NYC all day.

I met Matty and his roommate for lunch since they were in town to see a show and it's been awhile since I've seen him. Then I made my way uptown to James and Glenn's.

The weather could not have been more perfect on Saturday by the way, it was breezy and cool but sunny. Ideal City weather.

Met James's friend Laura and he fixed our computers and then we got ourselves together and packed our bookbags with things we needed for the mp3 Experiment and headed back down to Grand Central.

The instructions for this year's Experiment were to download the mp3 and load it onto your device without listening to it (of course James listened to it beforehand because he's James), be in a certain part of NYC at a certain time and hit play exactly at 6pm, pack a bag with a roll of toilet paper, a marker, two 8.5"x11" pages with letters on them, and a gift for someone. They suggested something you had lying around your house that you no longer want and someone else might find useful. Laura wrapped up a tape measure, I wrapped up a pair of American flag sunglasses left over from the Party in the USA, and James wrapped up a copy of Windows Vista he wasn't ever going to use.

The instructions were that you should start out in a retail store somewhere between Park and 8th Ave from 39th to 42nd. We were running a little late and met our friend Sara in Quicksilver in Time Square. The store was PACKED with people plugged into headphones.

And then we all started slow dancing with an inanimate object. Almost the entire store was part of the Experiment. Those who weren't really had no clue as to what was happening and looked a little freaked out.

Then we took to the streets and freaked people out further by freezing in place for a good minute. We continued to wander around the streets first pretending to be in a marching band, then doing silly walks. Finally we picked a stranger and followed behind them forming as long a single file line as we could mimicking what they were doing. Once that was done we gave as many strangers high fives as we could to show them that we're "fun people" and that they shouldn't be scared of us.

From there we moved onto Bryant Park because the Improv Everywhere narrator Steve was waiting for us. According to his brother Mark who was narrating for us in Steve's stead, it was Steve's birthday on Saturday and Mark was throwing him a surprise party in Bryant Park but Steve was already there and he was all alone.

We crept into Bryant Park, thoroughly confusing everyone who was already there and when Steve turned to look we ducked under tables and chairs and hid behind trees. All at once we jumped up and "Surprised!" Steve. From there we took a speed lap around the gravel track, which proved to be hilarious since half of us were going the opposite way and we had to turn around when we ran into the other half of the group.

Kind of looks like Pollock doesn't it?

Then we got together on the grass and pulled out our letters and spelled words with a partner. James and I spelled BEES and we were in high demand when we started making sentences.


After that we drew portraits of a partner on the back of our paper. The one Laura drew of me was pretty freak'n hilarious.

And then we drew a map of the world, passing our paper to strangers until all 7 continents were drawn. These maps were ridiculous. I guess I forgot that lots of people don't know geography very well. Finally Steve told us to star Nicaragua on our map. I overheard someone saying, "That's in Africa right?" *facepalm*

Next we exchanged gifts with a stranger. I gave my sunglasses to a nice lady standing next to me and from her I got Memoirs of a Geisha which I have not read so it was a pretty good gift.

James got a candle which he was extremely pleased with. Funnier still it was hazelnut scented and the fragrance was called "Smell My Nuts" and all I have to say is that they do in fact smell wonderful.

They got an awesome photo of James and a great photo of the woman I gave my sunglasses to but apparently I got cropped out of both photos even though I was standing right next to them.

After the gift exchange we pulled out our rolls of toilet paper and Steve informed us that we were going to have a mummy dance party but first we had to get ready.

We partnered up again and wrapped each other in toilet paper like mummies. Hilarity ensued as everyone stood around wrapped from head to toe in TP.

Then we danced!

Here's an awesome shot of my friend Sara. Toilet paper is SO in this season!

It was quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever experienced. I'm so glad that we heard about this event and got to participate because it really was exciting and although pointless it was fun!

Snagged this photo with my phone.

(Photos: Group shot borrowed from Chad Nicholson and solo shots borrowed from Ilya Chigirev.)

mp3 Experiment 7

I'll be there.

Will you?

I'm DANCING!

Okay so there is no dancing here today per-say. But I am totally doing a little dance in my chair right now and I'll tell you why!

You all know that I love nerds. You all might realize at this point that I'm quite the nerd myself. So when I tell you that there's a Web Series that I love because it's about nerds I doubt you'd be shocked.

It's called The Guild and it is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's a show written by Felicia Day about a group of people who play "The Game" aka WOW and are in a Guild together. The first season is all about them meeting out of game and becoming friends. The second season is a character developer. The third season tears them all apart and introduces a rival Guild and the fourth season has thus far been quite the gem.

Wil Wheaton (who I've loved since Star Trek: TNG) popped up as the leader of the rival Guild in season three and becomes a fake love interest for Felicia Day's character. One of the guys in the show who has been in love with her from the start gets this incredible piece of art done for her to show he supports their relationship 110%:


First of all, let's just talk about this image: It is GOLD.

This is like trashy romance novel cover art at it's BEST. (And we all know how I love those!) The original artwork is done by a man named Greg Aronowitz who I just want to kiss because this tickles me THAT MUCH.

Also, because I'm a dork I follow Felicia Day on twitter and after that episode aired I tweeted at her that they should totally produce the "Highland Sextasy" image as a poster. Apparently I wasn't the only person who asked for it because low and behold just yesterday she said:

feliciaday: FINALLY! Per demand: Thanks to our friends at @thinkgeek - Team Cawkes poster now available to purchase! http://bit.ly/cawkes

It's already on backorder. And I already have visions of buying it, framing it, and putting it on the wall above my craft'n table. I asked Jason if he'd still love me if I did this...the verdict is still out on that one.

But come on, wouldn't you just pee yourself with laughter if you walked into someone's room and saw that poster?!