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If you have an iPhone… you needed to purchase Hipstamatic yesterday. Now I’m sure this is old news to so many people out there, especially all of you insanely creative readers (yes you!), but I didn’t take the leap until my iPhone was capable of taking non-grainy photos.
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Basically, you choose your camera lens, your flash, and your film type, and take photos that remind you of your family’s old dusty albums. The best part, is that when you take the photo, you have to wait 3 seconds for it to develop, and you have no idea how it will turn out. Imagine that… savoring that magical moment of opening your photo envelope and seeing what was inside for better or worse. It’s a feeling I’d forgotten until this app appeared and revived the spirit of photographic mystery again.
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The app is $1.99, and you can buy extra “hip packs” for $0.99 each that add to your library of lenses/film/flashes. You can upload the photos directly to your Flickr account or share them on facebook as well! Nice on the pocketbook for such a fun and useful little app!
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So who has more fun Hipsta-prints that they want to share?!?

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It didn’t take me long to discover the color in Shahl’s Fashion Color Forecast for Autumn/Winter 2009/10… so my choice wasn’t too random or misplaced but rather highly calculated years ago in some boardroom meeting.
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And while I was looking at color palettes, I figured I’d glance upon those for this summer and see if I’m following any subliminal trends as well. Guess what? I am (according to CIFF’s Trends Spring/Summer 2010).

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This is my summer wardrobe. It’s heavy on the kelly green/blue front, but hanging out in these rusty other colors as well.
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I’m not sure whether I should be happy to be dressing in season with my old clothes (still prolonging any major post-pregnancy shopping trips), or upset that I’m mindlessly following trends. Oh well… at least this way people won’t notice the age of my attire!

“Admit it: If you’ve seen Avatar, weren’t you sort of overwhelmed by how everything in the story has been in some other movie? Pocahontas, The Last of the Mohicans, the Smurfs. (OMG, we love the Smurfs.) It’s like some unholy mashup of those movies, plus bits of Wall-E, Thundercats, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia — every colonialist fantasy in which an Outsider Saves Natives, or Outsider Wants to Be a Native, or better yet Outsider Wants to Be King OF the Natives. Avatar rips off every movie in the world but Twilight.“

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Yes, I was amazed at the visuals, and I totally loved those little floating jellyfish thingys in 3-D (I could find myself saying “oooh” in my head everytime they appeared… like bubbles or something), but I think I’d pass if we had to watch it on our 60-something-inch HDTV. Yet in a way, Avatar made me remember why going to the movies used to be an exciting event… and for that I’d like to thank Mr. Cameron immensely. Even if 3-D TVs are coming to a home theater near you in the future, I know it won’t be the same as sitting in a packed theater house with hundreds of other people waiting for the images to appear on screen like they did last month.
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So what did you think? Did you want to sing, “Colors of the Wind” during the intro Na’Vi world? Did you have to consciously keep your jaw closed (this is Mr. M btw)? Or were you mad the 3-D glasses were an extra cost with your ticket?
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You might not watch GLEE! on Wednesdays on Fox, but for the M household, it’s truly a spot of joy during the week. It might be as gossipy and lurid as 90210, but it’s those song/dance moments that make you pause for 5 minutes during your week, smile, and just enjoy a silly performance on a TV show.

I’ve heard lots of people think it’s crazy and weird… but I guess we fall into that lovely “drama nerd” category, only for us it wasn’t completely dorky and nerdy to belong to. I’ll blame the four years I spent in our middle school show choir, Vocal Motion, on why I think it’s “cool” … and I think Mr. M is reliving his a capella choir days as well. I mean… one of the members of his quartet is now touring the country w/the only major-label a capella choir in the country… so he’s super cool by association, right?

Anyhow… it’s silly… it’s filled with Broadway stars… it’s not a reality show nor long drawn out drama… and it’s on smack dab in the middle of the week. It’s my favorite show of the fall, and I can only hope it lives on for at least a few seasons.

So tell me, are you GLEEful…. or do you think I’m crazy?

D&G just released a new line of unisex fragrances… and it seems like 1994 all over again! Is it really time to bring back the CKone era??

I mean… just look at the two ads next to each other…

This time around… the models are a little older… a little more naked… not causing an interracial kissing stir… and in color. But they’re selling the same pastel colored “we” scent that worked us all up long ago.

Now don’t get me wrong. I was a big CKone’er. I think I loved it mainly because it wasn’t Sunflowers (which, btw, still exists?!?) and on me it was very very subtle. I mean, middle schooler’s needed some serious fragrance to hide the smell of adolescence, so it seemed to work out pretty well.

But would you go back to the unisex fragrance days? Share a bottle of scent with your significant other?

Remember when I talked about how awesome my experience with cold brewed tea was? Well, it looks like the cold-brewed coffee trend is picking up as well. What really peaked my interest was that it claims to produce coffee that’s 70% less acidic than a hot brew, which should truly make anyone’s stomach lining happy. Now, the main catch is that you have to wait 12 hours for the good stuff to arrive… and you won’t get to wake up to the smell of it brewing… but the guarantee of good coffee without dousing it in creamer sounds highly intriguing. I mean, drinking Starbucks coffee without enduring the immediate pain?? I can only imagine!

Has anyone tried cold brewed coffee?? Am I crazy for wanting to?

p.s. It’s super eco-friendly too — since it uses a stainless steel filter & it’s BPA-free plastic!

1) WIPEOUT  — ABC

There is really nothing more mindless and wonderful to watch than this when you want to escape at the end of the day. People crashing and bouncing off of big balls, spinning devices knocking people flat on their backs into the water, and just general silliness when they put in an obstacle that makes the contestants verbally question the motives of the producers. I giggle for the whole hour, knowing mainly that I wouldn’t be able to do the Wipeout Zone in less than 20 minutes and that these crazy people are really putting themselves through this voluntary torture. Truly refreshing game show TV at its best. [BTW... there are now 20+ international versions that premiered this year...awesome]

2) Leverage — TNT

Continuing the trend of fun TV… Leverage wins out as one of the best shows out there during any season. It’s Mission Impossible/A-Team with better technology and characters and many more laughs. I <3 witty shows like this one… especially with great actors.

3) [if we still had HBO] Entourage

I know that very few people outside of Los Angeles watch this show, mainly because the inside jokes are insanely angeleno in nature and I’m not sure they translate well for the rest of the world (any show that mocks the valley is all right with me – 310 baby!). But season after season, the gang & Ari never get old, and it’s a buddy show that always seems to work perfectly.

4) Big Brother — CBS

If there’s nothing else on TV, you can watch people trapped in a house eating all day and plotting over silly stuff. And that’s the best thing about it. It’s on ALL-THE-TIME! Turn it on, tune out, watch pretty much nothing happen but pass the time away.

5) HGTV’s DESIGN STAR

Watching a normal HGTV show gets you ideas for 1 room… but this competition multiplies the creativity you get to see every week. I’m seriously dying to see this season too, since my favorite designer of all time (I <3 you Candice Olson) is a judge along with Genevieve “Feathers” Gorder (come on, you have to have seen that Trading Spaces where she hot glued feathers to the wall!!!) and Vern Yip. It’s a fun reality show to discuss… especially since it’s based on work and not personality… and they do a good job mixing up the challenges to make each week fun!

So what’s your favorite summer TV indulgence??

will you be watching the watchmen?

I’m sure we’ll try our best to see it this weekend, since I desperately owe Mr. M some movie time. And this review actually gets me really excited for a cinematic treat, although I’ll need to bring lots of candy & soda in order to survive the 3 hour run time!

I have a feeling that this one will quickly be added to the “must-buy blueray” list immediately following the showing as well.