Woohoo!

I'm glad zappos and I are on the same page....

My order has been received and will soon be on the way.  Woohoo, indeed!

Some Thoughts on Oprah

Ok, so as we all know - it seems to be the (temporary) end of the Oprah Winfrey Show.  I have had some mixed feelings on this woman over the past couple years.  I've felt the ego has, in a way, grown out of control and I also feel that she's made some questionable endorsements over the years (cough, The Secret, cough) that some people have blindly followed.  That, and, well, the whole tangent of the fact that some people just blindly follow and do (or buy) anything she tells them to because, well, she's Oprah (the book club, the favorite things, etc etc.).  

Anyhow.  Now, I do believe Oprah is good at heart, but as I said, sometimes she's a bit much.  However, I was thinking the other day - would it be possible to be Oprah Winfrey - to have Oprah's celebrity status, to have so many people worshiping oneself, to have so many blindly following one's suggestions - is it possible to have less of an ego than our dear Oprah does?  Would it be possible to be grounded?  Is Oprah relatively down-to-earth, given the circumstances?  

While We're on the Subject of Make-up Names

NARS has a real winner.  In both name and product.  It's the perfect color.  I won't mention it here, but it's very well-known in the make-up world.  It's quite possibly my favorite product.  :-)

Crumbs of Love

So my good friend Steve Koo (indirectly) reminded me of one of my favorite things (it's that time of year, I suppose).

Crumbs Bakery

I discovered them for the first time on my most recent New York city trip.  The cupcakes are un-bleeping-believable!!   Not that I live in New York, but regardless, I will declare them the best of New York.   They are definitely the best of cupcakes.

I want some right now.  I know there were rumors of Crumbs coming to Chicago - it is supposed to be 'opening soon'.  Hurry up, Crumbs.

There's A Problem

I think Camille's might have closed.  The location in downtown Chicago.  It was one of my favorite lunch spots.  I loved their wraps and chips.  Something different.  And delicious.  Yet another restaurant I like closed.  File this with Caliente on Sheffield and Mambo Grill.

Sigh.

I think I have a party in mind to blame.

My Favorite Perfume

Angel by Thierry.

Thierry also makes another perfume - it's called Alien.  I'm really wondering how this passed through the focus groups.  Who came up with this idea for a name?  Who agreed that this is was a good idea?  What smell is associate with an alien?  Is it a good one?  Apparently someone thought so.  

I have smelled said perfume.  It smelled nice.  Not as nice as Angel.  But nice.  

Best of Chicago

So, once in a while I like to give some of my favorite small businesses in Chicago a shoutout. Today - Gus's Shoe Repair on Clark in Lincoln Park.

This man is a shoe doctor. Or perhaps a shoe artist. Either way.

Anyhow. He has a very small shop and is relatively inexpensive (I really don't know the market for shoe repair). However, what I do know is that it's considerably cheaper ($10) to get a pair of shoes re-heeled than it is to get a brand new pair of black pumps. I don't believe this guy advertises or even has his own website, but, per his yelp page, he seems to do ok on word of mouth.

Anyway - this is one of the best little shops of Chicago. Many women's magazines (such as Cosmo), claim that once a shoe's heel's spike is exposed and it looks like the shoe above, it is unsalvageable. Gus will tell you otherwise. (Cue for a friend of mine to comment that Cosmo can't be trusted.)

Please take very careful note of the above shoe's appearance because an after picture will, indeed, be posted.

Fun with Girly Stuff

So I am not one to give free advertising. Ever. Especially not on this blog. (Editor's sidenote: If you'd like to advertise on Jaime's blog, please contact the advertising sales team. Contact info to come.)

However, call me Oprah - I have to talk about one of my favorite things/places: the 1154 Lill Store in Lincoln Park. The 'design your own bag' boutique. Otherwise known as heaven. LOVE IT!

The above are my two designs. As a professional artist. I know I'm inspiring a lot of envy right now, but please note that these two designs cannot be purchased at the Lill store. They are Jaime originals and have been copywrited.

Guilty Pleasure

So I am a closet Fleetwood Mac fan. I don't regularly openly discuss the subject. They are part of what I was referring to in the 'obscurities on my ipod' post. I'd admit to liking them, but my parents would probably make fun of me for that, and really, I don't think I could emotionally handle that. I don't remember exactly how or why I came upon them initially - I think it was at some emotional time in high school when I was searching for some music that understood me better than N'SYNC. Well, anyhow, they were in town this past week in concert.

Well, my work gets a lot of tickets to every major event (sporting and concerts). Long story short, a coworker of mine lost a pair of tickets on the behemoth of his desk. I was told by management that if I could find them, they were mine. Well, I woke up at 5 the next morning and, sure enough, I tore this coworker's desk to shreds! He won't be able to find ANYTHING come Monday. But that doesn't matter. What matters is I found the tickets!! (I told my mom I had to go in early to help with a project - said project was 'find the Fleetwood Mac tickets'.)

Anyhow. The show was amazing. The prices of drinks and tchotchkes showed that Fleetwood Mac fans CLEARLY don't care about the state of the economy. Well, I helped the economy last night with the purchase of multiple tchotchkes. I feel good inside - I honestly did my part. That, and I felt a bond with Stevie Nicks through the night - she changed outfits four times in a period of three hours. That, and apparently, she's had the same 'bangs' hairstyle for the past 30 years. I don't know her personally, but at this moment, I felt like I did.

My Latest Interest....

So, until recently, I've never been into listening to whole CDs. Back in hs, I would buy CDs and very rarely listen to the whole thing - only once in a while. It was more that I would put it on to listen to a certain song, then change it to another cd with a certain song. I really would have loved an ipod/itunes back then. Then, in college, I would make CDs of various songs ('I made you a mix tape'). Now, I have an ipod/itunes.

However, somehow, my latest interest (aside from blogging), has become listening to whole CDs. It kind of started with Taylor Swift, but it's really expanded. I looked up artists that I really liked a song from, then downloaded the whole CD. Now I understand the whole 'really good album' concept - I thought it meant moreso that someone ended up having a lot of singles from an album. Anyhow.

Any 'good album' recommendations? Anyone else out there like me, in this respect?

Non-Conformist

So, I don't own Uggs. I have nothing against them. I don't purposely not own them because I'm intentionally trying to go against the mainstream, because that's stupid. I just don't own them.

I own THESE BAD BOYS instead. Gabriella Rocha, courtesy of Zappos.com. (I deserve a kickback for this.)

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Random Sex and the City Quote

Miranda:  That seems so judgmental.

Carrie:  Miranda, you ARE judgmental.  Try putting it to good use.  

It's Almost That Time Again....

To some, fall signifies the start of football season.   To me, fall signifies the soon impending start of another intensely passionate and competitive Sunday afternoon sport.  Seriously, is there anything more exciting?   Anyone who questions the ferocity of figure skating - just remember Tonya and Nancy....

Birthday Shoutout!

I just wanted to throw a quick shoutout to one of my friends and apparently, one this blog's regular readers - Happy Birthday Ellen!!!   The combination of good friends, good beverages, downtown Chicago, the bathrooms at the Hilton, the hot pink dress I coveted, Sluggers, 80s music including but not limited to "Like a Prayer", and the Wrigleyville area was nothing short of superb.  

P.S.  Ellen, I hope this merits a comment by you!!

F*R*I*E*N*D*S?

So there's some quiz circulating the internet/facebook/etc. - "Which Friends character are you?"

I think I took it and it declared me Rachel.  Now, not that I have any beefs with that.  However,  I think it's blatantly clear which Friends character I am.

"I'm not so good with the advice...can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?"

My Favorite Show on TV

My boys!  Woohoo!  Quite possibly the best show currently in new episodes on television - I'd even pick it over So You Think You Can Dance (which is an entirely different genre).  Dare I say it's fair competition for NBC's The Office?

One thing that amazes me - it's put out by TBS.  Now, don't get me wrong - in the rerun/movie department, TBS is king.  However, when it comes to its own programming - there have been some craptacular events I can't even forget no matter how hard I try (She's a Lady, The Real Gilligan's Island, and whatever that horrific show about a bizarre British woman coming to America was - produced by Courteney Cox and David Arquette - sufficed to say the Friends curse is alive and well).  

Anyhow.  The characters are very real, normal people.  Attractive yet not perfect looking.  Living very believable lives (for the most part).  Hanging out at very real Chicago locations (this is part of why I like it).  Spectacular.  

One thing that's a little unsettling to me though - the main character.  She's a female.  Single.  Living on the north side of Chicago.  Originally from the suburbs.  A writer.  Working at the Chicago Sun-Times....

What is the name of this show's creator?  Do I need to keep a better watch over my shoulder?  Once PJ starts dancing, carrying Coach bags or shopping at Express - I'm retaining legal counsel.

Swoon

Despite his wandering, umm, eye....I love this man.  Perhaps even more than I love the Hill-meister.  I'm sure this is no surprise to my loyal blog readers.  In fact, it's probably a good thing he and I don't know each other on a personal level - it could lead to bad blood between Hillary and I....

Obsession

I own somewhere near 100 bottles of nail polish - a good 50 of them being OPI brand.  What would be the need of all these nail polishes?  I dunno.  But I do know this - kind of like with clothes, shoes, purses, etc. - I feel like I'm constantly using the same ones (be it me favoritizing some or me being just so used to them because I have them) and I am always up for buying a new one...one that looks just like the ones I have mind you....

Sigh.

Gymnastics!

One of my favorite things - Olympic gymnastics (!!!) is coming up!!  This is the stuff dreams are made of, baby!

What's not to love about it?!!  

(Well, aside from quite a few controversies - eating disorders, overzealous 'stage' parents, verbally abusive coaches, abnormal childhoods, antigrowth hormones....)

That being said - three flips in a row on a four inch beam!?!?!  You won't be able to tear me away from these upcoming events.  This is what I call reality tv!!

Observation, Part 2

Today I meandered into the Coach store around 200 S. LaSalle. Coach is currently suffering from what I call "Starbucks Syndrome". I wasn't in the store but five seconds when I heard "love that purse" in reference to the purse I was carrying (it was a Coach bag, mind you). Ten seconds later "I love the way you matched your sweater to your bag". "Great outfit". Ugh, ugh, ugh!! I'm not a piece of toast, stop buttering me up! One girl segued her comment about my purple bag and purple sweater into "and did you see this purple scarf? we also have a purple wallet".

I couldn't take it. I walked out; I bought nothing. I went straight into Starbucks and got a latte.