French Dressing

Yes, I have an opinion about Michelle Obama's and Carla Bruni's wardrobes.
Now, I love Michelle Obama- she is an excellent role model for young women (and men!). She is so much more than her sartorial choices that I have a hard time getting excited one way or another over her clothes.
Michelle Obama grew up in a lower middle class home, worked hard, and graduated from Princeton and Harvard. Her brother is a Princeton-alum former bond trader who gave up banking to follow his passion and become a basketball coach at Oregon State. Her husband you may have heard of as well. What I'm saying is that Michelle Obama is clearly not a woman who spends hours perusing Vogue and sitting at the front row at Fashion Week, and that's more than fine.
Carla Bruni, on the other hand, has led a very fashionable life. Born an heiress, modeled for years, and had all the rock stars she wanted. She's actually a talented musician as well. As the First Lady of France, we can all enjoy her towering over Nicolas Sarkozy (even in flats.)

The G 20 fashion face-off between these two extraordinary women was highly anticipated, for whatever reason. I guess we all need a distraction from the imploding of the world, or something. Anyway, Carla wins. There's no way around the fact that Parisian couture looks a whole lot better than Isabel Toledo and J Crew. Sorry, America.
I don't like Michelle Obama one iota less, obviously, but I must say, it's enough already with the black cardigan. You don't throw on a black cardigan to meet the Queen. And she had it on again yesterday! Is there a 2 checked bag policy on Air Force One?

The Forty Buck Experiment

This blog is called Spends 2 Much for a reason, and I think that has been amply demonstrated in these posts. But here's the thing: I have decided to see if I can live on only $40 for an entire week. This is for groceries, incidentals, lunches, and anything else that pops up during the week.
I know I should be able to do it, because I have done it. When I moved to the city in the 90s, I worked as a publicist for a small publishing company. It was my dream to work in publishing. It was not my dream to earn 28 grand a year. After rent, my Metropass, and other bills, I had much less to spend on food than I do now, but I ate perfectly well.

I have to remember how to shop as though I only have $40 on me, so I will be leaving my debit card at home this week.

I have plenty of stuff in the cupboards and freezer, so I should only need veggies and beverages. One of my problems has been that I "start again" every time I shop, rather than buy things that complement what I already have. I have a feeling that spending less will result in healthier dinners, so I'll post what I come up with.

Off to make the shopping list!

Worth It- Cole Haan Boots

These boots rock. I got them last August at Cole Haan in the Time Warner Center. Paid a bit more than I normally would for boots, but I love the Nike Air soles, so I went for it.

Vacations are the best test of soles, and a 4 day walk around New York confirmed that these boots are indeed made for walkin'. For once I didn't need to hop in a cab or on the subway because my feet were killing me. They're gorgeous, too! I will be wearing the hell out of these, with pants and skirts, until it finally warms up around here and I can whip out the ballet flats for the summer.

Thank you!

To the visitor who told me about the song Sorry Lori !- Yes, someone did finally write one. It's by Jason Collett, and I should probably have heard of him, but hey, I'm old.

This Can Only Help

Great Idea , thanks Little Bridge.

One of Those Days

One of my favourite episodes of the old Mary Tyler Moore show was the one where Mary had a really bad day. Bad hair day, spilled coffee on her shirt, screwed up at work, tripped and sprained her ankle... when she finally got home, she had this exchange with Rhoda:
Mary: Have you ever had one of those days?"
Rhoda: "Mostly."

That's how I'm feeling lately. Today was a banner day- I was going to stay home, since I'm not feeling well, but at 8:00 I remembered I had a few meetings with some vendors who were flying in from Montreal, so I picked up the first clothes I could find, did a lousy makeup job, and bolted out the door. On the way to work, a crazy man yelled at me" Hey you fucking smart cookie- LOOK AT ME! I know it was you!", then he SPAT on me. Fantastic.

Sat at my desk, and opened a vanilla yogurt. Must have been vacuum-sealed, since it exploded all over my sweater.

My boss came by and told me that another project was due today, and we were having a team meeting. I raced between projects, skipped lunch, and worked like a madwoman to be ready for my 1:30 meeting. Tick, tick, tick. Where are they? Oh, they declined the meeting last week, but no one bothered to tell us. Great.

Finally, I had time for lunch. I spilled Ginger Carrot soup on my sweater.

Amazingly, nothing went wrong between the hours of 2 and 5 PM.

And as soon as my boots hit the pavement at 5, it started to rain.

Hey There, Anti-Regulationists!

I'm just curious- if you are one of the many who think that the American banking system should continue along with very little regulation or oversight, what do you think of the bail-out?

I mean, if you agree that a business should be able to chop up derivatives, sell them, and insure them, then shouldn't those institutions, no matter how large, be free to go down in flames?

I am not being entirely sarcastic here- I want to know if it is philosophically possible to be anti-regulation and pro-bail-out, and if it is, I really want to hear the argument.

That's all.