the boots of my dreams.

they're now only FIFTEEN dollars. and still available only in a size SIX. oh payless, do you really want to hurt me? do you really want to make me cry??

so sad.

in other, happier, news, i'm in a spectacular mood on this lovely thursday. work was slow last night and i ended up getting out of there at around quarter til eight. nate then proceeded to taking me out to dinner--cheers to impromptu date night!!--at gervais and vine, where, surprisingly, i had never had the pleasure of eating. it was all delicious, from the red bubbly to the marinated manchego to the dark chocolate raspberry torte.

it pretty much made my week, although i'm hoping for big things tonight also, with a little outing to the whig. i'm off tomorrow and don't have huge plans for my day other than the gym pretty much so i kinda' want to let my hair down, have a couple drinks, and hang with some fun people. won't you join me?

made a mix cd today replete with new fun french disco-y tunes. been listening to the playlist all day with is definitely increasing the goodness of my mood. i'm optimistic about work this evening, about a night out, about my day off tomorrow, about life in general.

spoke with sean the other night, while slightly intoxicated therefore erasing most details of the conversation from my already questionable memory, but there was talk of a visit to south carolina. just when life is so fucking good, it gets better? i wasn't aware that was possible and yet...a short charlottesville visit in the near future to see one of my oldest and dearest friends for the first time in years, becca being on spring break soon, would love to hang out with my sister!! sometimes it hits me just HOW MUCH i miss her, then sean?! and THEN a visit to dc to visit nate's family in late march for his spring break, eat good food, see cool people...march is shaping up to be a beautiful month this year.

so even when the hot red ankle boots only come in a tiny tiny size six and even though they're only fifteen freaking dollars, life is pretty fabulous.

la di dah. le bonheur est le meilleur.

academy awards 2008!

this will probably end up a purely red carpet-y post, as i didn't get a chance (yet!) to watch most of the nominated films. in fact, i think the only big one i saw was juno, which didn't seem to have a chance in hell of really winning anything...except for best original screenplay...which it did.

but anyway, on with the red carpet FUN. emma's best and worst dressed. women only, because men are boring ;)

best dressed:


amy adams. this is sooooo pretty! i love the color, i love the silohuette, and although some critics say it wasn't fancy enough for the oscars, i completely disagree as i believe it embodies understated elegance.



heidi klum. i don't why she was even at the oscars, but she might have been THE very best dressed there, so go her. i also LOOOOOVE the styling--the hair is fantastic, the makeup is perfect. lots of women wore red to the oscars but very, very few WORKED red. heidi worked it. there's a difference. this is it.



keri russell. i have had a soft spot in my heart for keri russell ever since felicity which solidified after waitress. i'm so happy she was able to go to the oscars, to introduce a nominee for best song from august rush (which i never saw but whatever) because this is really lovely. ethereal. prettyprettypretty.



marion cotillard. i will confess, i haven't even seen la vie en rose yet, which i know, is a huge shock, terribly crazy, but i fucking LOVE marion cotillard. i think she is insanely beautiful, exceptionally talented, and she seems really sweet. nate asked me last night who i would want to sit next to at the oscars, and i said either jack nicholson (because how fun would that be?) or marion cotillard, if only so i could speak french with her all night long. either way, this dress took a while for me to warm up to, but it grew on me, and now i'm kind of loving it. and i don't think anyone else could wear it as well, but because marion is so gorgeous and so french and so amazing, she does. so good for her. and apparently, it's some scandale that she wore jean-paul gaultier. i forget why. she usually wears someone else, evidently, but i think it's only appropriate.

runners up, best dressed:



jennifer garner. i wish this was purple. that's kinda all i have to say about it. i also didn't like her pimping out rachel zoe during her red carpet interview, but that's because i hate rachel zoe. either way, i like this. almost.




katherine heigl. i think this fits PERFECTLY, which is important. i like the red. i'm just not a huge fan of the hair or the makeup particularly. she looks older for some reason. just because you're married now doesn't mean you have to look like a mom, katherine heigl! you're young. be young. i really liked that she said she was nervous when she was presenting. even if she kinda seemed bitchy on the red carpet, she seemed real during the ceremony, and i can appreciate that. next time, pull your hair up.



kristen chenoweth. she's kinda slouchy in this picture, but the dress is fucking cool. again, i really wasn't a huge fan of all the black. and even though the red was a little tired, this would have been reeeeally cool in red. i also really liked her makeup. and she's just super-talented and seems down to earth.



helen mirren. if you tell me this isn't the hottest older lady you've ever seen, you are a liar.

AND now, for the worst dressed of the evening:



diablo cody, writer, Juno. come ON. put in SOME effort. yes, we all know you used to be a stripper. and now you're an oscar-award winning writer. dress appropriately, please.




jennifer hudson. just because it's an improvement on last year's disaster doesn't make it right. her boobs look SOOOO uncomfortable, like they're screaming for some breathing room. everything just looks a bit one size too small, doesn't it? like it's cutting off circulation in certain places? i wish it were a cream color, not bright white. i wish it fit better. i wish she would get a new stylist...




jessica alba. what is going on up near her face? feathers? plumage? really? penelope cruz kinda did the same thing, but hotly. maybe it's because i don't like jessica alba. naturally, i DO like the color.




nicole kidman. the dress itself looks cheap to me and as though it will wrinkle like crazy all night long. the 'bling' is just stupid. i don't even mind nicole kidman, i fucking LOVED her in moulin rouge and thought she was the most fabulous, but she seems to be going downhill since then. shame.



rebecca miller. oh dear.



tilda swinton. who, for some reason until really recently, i always got confused with sting's wifey trudie styler (TS, TS, i guess). this is awful. it's like she went to wal-mart, bought some black velvet (blaaack velvet! in that little girl's smiiiiile!!), cut it up, threw it over her un-styled hair and her makeup-less face, and called it a dress. then she walked up on STAGE to accept her BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS AWARD in THAT. i would be so embarrassed. but maybe that's her thing.

runner-up, worst dressed, because i can't decide whether or not i truly don't like it:



ellen page. we all knew she was going to wear black, but i kept wishfully hoping that she would show in something jaw-droppingly gorgeous, something rich and decadent and bright and fabulous. but this could be worse, i suppose. i do like the vintage-y vibe, i just wish it had more shape. and i know she's only just-turned-21, but i almost wish she had taken ballet when she was little or something, so she had a bit more poise. and better posture. but i LOVE her and think she's terrific, so she's forgiven.

so that's it, i suppose, my red carpet round up. now i have to go watch these films. perhaps there will be a post about how george clooney was ROBBED! in the future...just you wait.

i'll leave you with a little miley cyrus and that really cute pose she's always doing on red carpets these days. p.s. why the HELL was MILEY CYRUS at the ACADEMY AWARDS?! for some reason, i almost loathe miley cyrus. maybe i'm just jealous of all of this:



or maybe not.

sickness.

so i was sick from sunday-present, kinda. i thought it was allergies/a hangover on sunday, but it kept getting worse. and i hate being sick, even just a little cold which this was, really. i just can't do anything and i hate feeling so useless. i slept all day pretty much for almost two days, didn't go to work, didn't go to the gym, had a REALLY hard time taking care of the animals...i was such a pathetic little mess. i'm finally feeling better, but even now, i'm still that sort-of sick which is even worse than being full-out sick. because i want to do things--go shopping, go to the gym, go out, etc--but i just don't fully have the energy.

i have been doing more yoga though, which is really nice to get back into. and although i definitely prefer classes, i'm also finding that doing it solo kinda works.

since i have been sick, i've been thinking about quitting again. cigarettes. the last time i smoked was one little cigarette after lunch on sunday. i haven't had ONE in almost three whole days and i haven't been craving them either. it's just hard to think about working and not smoking or going out and not smoking. i have been pretty good about not smoking a whole lot during the day, in general, even before getting sick. my routine usually consisted of waking up, working out, showering, eating, running errands, and then and only then, usually about three, would i smoke a cigarette or two before work. then a cigarette straight after work. then some with a few drinks after work and that's it. which isn't really bad at all, but i suppose it'd be good to stop altogether.

we'll see. nate and i both do want to stop so i think the two of us together can get to a certain point, some date in the near future and i'm sure together we can definitely do it.

the payless boots were only available in size six, in other news.

and with that, i'm off!!

payless.

so i made a mistake today and popped onto payless.com

i LOVE payless shoes. i don't want a good pair of shoes that will last me forever, because i'm far too ADD when it comes to styles, i want something that i like right NOW and if i don't like it tomorrow, i don't want to feel bad about having spent tons of money on a shoe i'm never going to wear again.

i have a pair of boots from payless that i think i've worn exactly one time. but they were twenty-five bucks. so it's like, i like having them around in case there's that ONE outfit with which they go perfectly, but i don't really mind that i don't wear them everyday because when it comes down to it and we're thinking about the big picture here, twenty-five bucks? not THAT much money, REALLY.

and there's not tons of cute stuff on the website necessarily right now, that's not the problem. the problem is that there is a pair of boots, ANOTHER pair of cute little ankle boots, something to which evidently i'm addicted. and they're thirty bucks. again, not TOO TOO much money, but do i really need another pair of cute little ankle boots that i might not necessarily wear lying around my closet? and they're red which is both more and less appealing to me. i LOVE red shoes. i'm slightly notorious for said love of red shoes. but red is surprisingly hard to sort of match to things.



i'll probably end up buying them at the end of the week. a little valentine's gift to myself, after what promises to be a hard week of hard work.

that sounds like a nice sort of deal there.

it's a gray day. i need to get out of the house, but go where? always a difficult, unanswerable question. i have a day off from work today. i've been to the gym, i've eaten a big delicious breakfast, and walked the dog. and it's to that point in the day where either i have to decide to go out and do something, or take a nap or something.

the grayness isn't helping me resist the nap option.

but i'll probably go across the street for coffee and some real writing.

ma boisson preferee

c'est stoli avec de l'eau citron et beaucoup de glacons. c'est parfait.

'i want to save the world through cookies'

so i made a few chocolate chip cookies today. thought i might bring them into work and let that be my positivity spreader for the day. but i made them bigger than usual therefore there are less of them. next time: double the recipe. additionally, i discovered a few little secret ingredients and tricks. so now they're MINE. and that's always fun, to know how to make something and well and just a titch differently than anyone else's. they're soft, slightly undercooked probably, quite honestly, but that's the way i like them.

in other, far healthier news, i got myself to the gym today for the first time in two days...something happened this weekend, where i just felt really unmotivated to go, and i hate that. i hate taking two days off, because it's always hard to get back into the groove. it's the same thing for me with work, it was the same thing with school. two or more days off from anything, and i am in full-on relaxation mode. ironically, the gym really relaxes me, so i'm trying to get back into a good routine here.

especially when there are cookies lying around, waiting to be eaten.

i'm watching some britney spears special on E! and it's depressing, seeing the downward spiral. from almost the very, very beginning, you can just tell where she's going to end up. and it's more depressing that this special exists and more depressing still is that people are watching it. i'm watching it.

and with that, i've turned off the television. so now i'm listening to yelle instead. a faaar better use of my time. french 80's-inspired disco-y music. YES.




either you're totally annoyed by yelle or you kinda love 'em and they put you in a good mood and i definitely belong in the latter group. either way, between a good workout at the gym, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and yelle, i'm definitely ready for a fun mardi gras shift at work in about an hour and i hope to radiate positive vibes all night long.

la vie est belle, mes soeurs et mes freres.

springtime

i haven't blogged in a while, although, in my defense of sorts, i have written. today is one of the few times i wish i smoked inside my apartment. something about writing and smoking just going together so well. something about the nicotine sparks inspiration, something about the poetry of the smoke swirling, something about the whole ritual of it all helps me.

but alas, i don't smoke indoors and i own a slightly restrictive desktop computer, therefore, there will be no smoking.

i'm listening to 'hot chip,' myspace's artist of the day or week or month or whatever it is.

not convinced they're any good. thanks a lot, myspace, for your recommendation. next!

the super bowl was yesterday, the first year i've ever really done something for it and the first time i've ever been the least bit slightly kinda interested (go giants!) got to hang with some very cool people and eat very very good food, have some fun drinks (who drinks champagne at a super bowl get together?! me), i had a great time and it was one of the very very first times i've felt like columbia's not such a bad place and there are some nifty people here. i've expressed it before, i'm sure, and i've been highly aware especially more recently that the friends i've had in the past, all the way from 2nd grade to my senior year of college, aren't going to get replaced, replicated, nor bettered.

but only even more recently have i begun to discover that there are others out there and they're not the same, but they may very well be just as cool and just as interesting as long as i don't pre-judge them and give them a chance and open myself up a bit for more friendships.

it's hard when a few of the people with whom i surround myself are a) un-trustworthy, b) potentially bi-polar and c) make a habit of self-contradiction, but that's okay. i'll still open myself to the people i think are worth it and if it doesn't work out for me, i have so many people who truly do and always will have my back.

and isn't that, in the end, the entire point, really?