It’s been a little longer than six months since my last entry.  What’s changed?  Not much unfortunately.  I wish I could say I’ve lost that extra weight that’s been plaguing me for most of my life.  I wish I could say I’ve paid off my credit cards, I wish I could say that I finally found happiness within myself that didn’t include material possessions.  But unfortunately, none of that is the case.  What I CAN say is that I’ve taken steps to get my life in the order I want it to be. 

Weight loss – I’ve joined Weight Watchers again.  I’ve been going for about two months and I’ve lost 7.6 pounds.  I still struggle every day with what I’m going to eat.  The bad news is, I LOVE food.  The good news is, I’ve recognized the problem and I really want to fix it.

Debt – I’ve been going to Debtor’s Anonymous meetings for about two months.  The meetings are every Thursday night in a nearby town.  The stories are sad, and I am by no means in the worst condition there, but it’s still difficult.  I haven’t been in two weeks because I didn’t think the meetings were doing anything for me.  But maybe the problem is that I don’t WANT the meetings to do anything for me. 

I think one of the main problems is that I sit back and expect everyone to fix my problems for me, OR I expect my addictions to fix themselves.  No more pity party Ashley.  I have made a resolution that I will NOT buy anything for the next ten months.  The exceptions are as follows:

- Christmas gifts/cards for my friends and family

- Hair/makeup products

- Music on iTunes

Title says it all people…

So for those of you who are not truly familiar with the King (or Queen) of all handbags. It’s definitely Hermes. And to be even specific, it’s the Hermes Birkin. These bags START at $3,000 and have a wait list for the average person of around 6 years. Of course, if you’re a celebrity, it’s easy to get around that. And just to prove my point, take a look at the fabulous Mrs. Victoria Beckham. It’s rumored that she has just over 100 Hermes bags. More than half of them are Birkins (FYI, the black ones are all DIFFERENT black bags!!!!)

Damn I’d love to spend a day in this woman’s purse closet! You know she must have one!!

So we all know there’s another SATC (“Sex and the City” for those of you NOT in the know) coming out. I do plan to see it, however, it’s more out of habit than anything else. The fashion has gotten beyond crazy. I mean, yes the women obviously spend alot of money on clothes. But what are the odds that Carey (who was once famously told that she “lives for fashion”) would have three friends who spend equal amounts of money on fabulous clothing, even if it is in NYC.

I guess I’m just kind of getting sick of all of the drama. According to the newest trailer, Carrie has been married to Big for two years, and now she’s complaining that their marriage is getting stale. So then she runs into Aidan and TADA (as my baby nephew would say) she’s itchin to get into bed with the dude. Charlotte on the other hand is pissing and moaning that she can’t handle her two little girls. NEWSFLASH! You moaned and groaned that you wanted a baby for YEARS and now that you have two (and no job and tons of money) you’re complaining that it’s “too much”. This is what you wanted sister! So deal with it.

Anyway, it seems Samantha is up to her old tricks, which is getting old. I can’t name a single 50 something that acts like that. No matter how much they wish they did. Also, I’ve never liked Miranda. She’s much to negative for my tastes. Ok, I’m off my soapbox. Like I said, I will definitely see the movie. But begrudgingly.

I never really understood why people enjoyed karaoke. That is until I tried it on a recent cruise I was on. I was always too shy to sing in front of a crowd, but then I thought, “what the heck? I’ll never see these people again, and most of them are even too drunk to recognize if I see them tomorrow”. So I gave it a try, and LOVED IT!
My poor husband has had to put up with this new fascination of mine because guess what… there are like a million and one karaoke videos on youtube. So I can do it for free all of the time now!

Here are my favorites, where I actually sound kind of decent:

Jewel – Foolish Games
Aretha Franklin – Natural Woman
Roxette – It must have been Love
Sophie B. Hawkins – Damn, I wish I was your Lover

Here are some songs that I sing for fun, even though they’re nearly impossible:

Flo Rida – Low
Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be
Soulja Boy – Crank Dat
50 Cent – In Da Club (Brian said with this one, I sounded more like 20 cent)

Here are the songs I sing when Brian has to drag me to bed because it’s 2am, and I’m on my 6th glass of wine:

Guns N’ Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
Daniel Bedingfeld – If You’re not the One
Whitney Houston – I will always Love You
The Cranberries – Zombie

You should give it a try if you’re home bored one night. It’s actually pretty entertaining!

Ok, so there really is NO contest in terms of the Deschanel sisters. I don’t get why people think Zooey is talented. Emily, on the other hand, actually is a great actress.

Even though Emily’s most famous for her starring role on “Bones“, I think she’s does a great job on that show. I don’t know how many of you have actually watched it. I, myself, only have watched it on occasion, but her incredibly smart, yet clueless character really has a lot of wit and is entertaining. She’s like a likable “House“.

However, her sister… is another story. Have you seen that cotton commercial??

Oh it’s painful to listen to her sing! How did she get a chance to perform at Coachella? I mean, they must be willing to book anybody I suppose. Plus, her acting is TERRIBLE! Have you ever seen the movie “The Happening“? Yes, it was an awful movie, yes Mark Whalberg is just as bad of an actor, but she was almost laughable in her role. (And don’t even get me started on M. Night Shyamalan…. WTF man?!?) Anyway, I just had to put my two cents out there.

Emily Rules….. Zooey Drools!

10.  BEST
Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal
Original Artist: Michael Jackson
It’s almost impossible to remake a Michael Jackson song successfully.  I imagine part of the reason why Michael allowed it was because this was when it was beginning to be broke.  But I’m so glad he did!  This band did an awesome job!  Also, the video is HILARIOUS!

9. BEST
No Doubt – It’s my Life
Original Artist: Talk Talk
Something about Gwen’s sincere voice just seems to fit the lyrics almost better than the original.

8. WORST
Emma Bunton – Life in Mono
Original Artist: Mono
Why?!  Emma, you have such a sweet voice… why oh why would you attempt this post modern theme?  It just doesn’t work.

7.  BEST
Mariah Carey – I wanna know what love is
Original Artist: Foreigner
This work was just released by Mariah and I have to admit, I love it just as much as the original.  She truly is a musical genius from this generation.

6. WORST
Britney Spears – My Prerogative
Original Artist: Bobby Brown
This song wasn’t played on the radio too much, and it’s a good thing.  I think this was the beginning of Britney’s rebellious stage and this song was just a poor choice.  No one can sing this song with Bobby’s attitude.

5.  BEST
Mary J. Blige – Natural Woman
Original Artist: Aretha Franklin
No one can compare to Aretha’s original, but Mary comes close.  It sounds so effortless, and there are just enough changes at the end of the song to modernize it without changing the tone too much.

4.  WORST
Celine Dion and Anastacia – You Shook me All night Long
Original Artist: AC/DC
Again… WHY!?!  This video is actually pretty funny to watch. Check out Celine’s moves around 0:25sec

3.  BEST
George Benson – On Broadway
Original Artist: The Drifters
I could jam to this all every night.  I LOVE it… and it’s perfect for singing along.

2.  WORST
Mel B.  – Word up
Original Artist: Cameo
This is just weird.

1.  BEST
The Cast of Rent with Stevie Wonder – Seasons of Love
Original Artist: The Cast of Rent
So much better than the original version.  Stevie just adds some of the best vocals and harmonizing. 

Honorable Mention
BEST – Dixie Chicks – Let Him Fly (Original Artist: Patty Griffin), Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow – Cruisin (Original Artist: Smokey Robinson)
Worst – Puff Daddy, Mase, Fatih Evans, etc – I’ll be Missing You (Original Artist: The Police) , Kelly Osbourne – Papa Don’t Preach (Original Artist: Madonna)

So I sold two bags to Bag, Borrow, or Steal.com.  The first was a Burberry Manor tote I paid $450 last summer.  They offered me $300 for it.  I was like “woohoo!”  The second was an old Kate Spade that I paid $200 years ago.  They offered me $71.  Then I was like “SUCKERS!”  

Click below to find out who the real sucker is….

Burberry Tote

Kate Spade Tote

What causes wonk eyes in pictures? We all know Paris Hilton is famous for them:

And even some other celebrities are guilty:

Shannen is a repeat offender
 

Katy even posted hers on her website.  Looks like she’s pretty good-natured about it.

Even Beyonce has just a hint of a wonk eye on her Cosmo magazine cover.  Hello Editing department?!?

The reason I bring all of this up, is because I finally have a wonk eye pic of my own…..

How did it happen?  I have no idea!

Do you judge someone based on their drink of preference? I definitely don’t, but I find alot of people do, which I think is just strange. Why is it considered more sophisticated to like non-sweet drinks? I (personally) LOVE sweet drinks, including:

coffee with 4 splendas
Bailey’s on the Rocks
SWEET white wine
pina coladas
diet soda

Now I ask, what’s so unsophisticated about that? Also, what’s wrong with pink drinks (at bars)? I don’t like cosmos (not sweet enough) but I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at a girl (or a guy for that matter) drinking a pink drink. Alot of them taste good!
And for the record, I’ve tried drinking beer, black coffee, and red wine. But it’s gross!!!