For Ben

I was never going to show this to the public. Yes, it's made it's rounds in email inboxes around the world but no no no...this would never get out. Then Ben texted me and told me to make him smile. And because I'd do anything to make him happy and get over a yucky day:

I present you this.

It was taken at my friend Marni's wedding, no it's not a joke. When the email came from the wedding photographer that the proofs were now ready to be viewed I couldn't wait. I happened to be eating a bowl of cereal at the time...when I came across this picture I spit milk out all over my computer. My "M" key hasn't been the same since.

Benny, I'll do anything to make you smile. Including posting humiliating yet amazing photos of myself online for the world to see. And if that didn't work, here's a picture of Woffie.

And if you neither of those 2 phenomenal pictures made you smile... go get some Fortune Wok, put in your headphones, turn off the lights and listen to this on repeat:

Stocking up for winter

Each summer, my music listening habits take a major hit. In those beautiful New York months, I like to hear the sounds of the city around me. I marvel in the chirping and the shouting and the construction drills. It's like hearing the noises of my concrete jungle seem to make it all the more vivid. By the time I get into the subway, I'm usually not in the mood for my earbuds and it's definitely too hot for my big headphones. The subsequent result is a drastic dip in my music life.

Then comes the winter. In those harsh New York months I go into a mental isolation. The city seems to quiet and still with everyone moving quickly from place to place. My huge headphones morph into warm musical ear muffs and my big puffy coat creates the perfect mobile cocoon. I gladly recede into myself and cruise through the city like I'm ice skating through a dream.

As we rapidly approach those chilly, reclusive days, I want to bone up with plenty of cold weather playlists. And I'm offficially taking recommendations starting now....

Morning

The creaky knob turns

squeak, squeak, squeak.

And the swelling water wells

pour, pour, pour.

Where I stand it rushes

beat, beat, beat.

Falling with a purpose

down, down, down.

My neck. My back.

Waterfall.

The heat slowly rises

up, up, up.

As I stand in silence

beat, beat, beat.

The soap washes It away.

gone, gone, gone.

La da da dee da

Glitter Box

I'd say that my TV taste is vast and varied and all-around amazing. Let's just say I have a real knack for separating the trashy TV from the MUST WATCH trashy TV. (Of course, I'm directly referring to one of the best shows on TV today, Toddler's and Tiara's) Here at the Glitter Box, I'm going to work tirelessly to bring you some of the very best in the past week of TV. (Of couse, this will probably last about two weeks)

And away we go.

When Snooki giggles it warms my heart like sound of angels singing.

This is kind of what it feels like to work for city government....

PS- Only funny before Katy Perry and her boobs come into the scene. Stick to music, Katy.

How uncomfortable does this interview make you? Years of watching My So-Called Life and drooling over Jared Leto completely out the window. Crush is officially over.

I wish I could remix my clips for you like this. Someday Glitto'babes. Someday.

Texts from Bets Vol. 1

Take me. Then add a few years and a whole lot of sass and you get: Betsy Wilinsky. I've been getting some amazingly zippy texts from her lately. Allow me to share.

Backstory: She reads Glitter Me This in big chunks whenever she gets a chance. Then sends me responses via text to what I've posted. She doesn't realize that she's responding like 3 days late and I have no idea what she's talking about. It usually takes me a good 5 minutes to realize what she's referring to.

The latest gems:

In response to this:

How old is the kid lip singing? Young, it's funny. Old but disabled, not so much. I hope he's young cause it's funny!

This one really threw me off. I got it like in the middle of the day while I was running errands. In response to this:

I like how nelli has a missouri license plate!

Very random and not related to any posts:

When did Lea Michelle get so thin? And not sure about the teeth- they look too fake.

Stay tuned for volume 2, hopefully featuring a couple of voicemails.

Glitt'o Pix

My apartment as told through Sillybands:

Lara

Jaime

(Jaime wants you to know she has much cuter sillybands, they were just in the other room at the time of the picture)

Liz

(Liz wants you know that she used to have cuter sillybands but she thinks it's appropriate to use them as hair ties at the gym and they break)

I think Sillybands should officially be renamed: Rubber bits of happiness. But I guess that's harder to market...

Flashback Friday

Let's take it back to sophomore year of high school shall we? For me, those were the days of BBYO dances, xanga’s, the occasional consumption of Zima, and awesome mix CDs featuring illegally downloaded napster music. Needless to say, I was superfly.

Midday inspiration

(Ok fine, I'll caption this for you. Last night's episode of Jersey Shore featured Snookie drunk, pulling the socks off of J-Woww while she was hooking up with her boyfriend. How is it possible that this show gets more amazing every week?)

OMG OMG PAPARAZZI PREMIERE OMG

Drumroll please.

----ddddddddddddddddddrrrrrrrr-------

The music video that Dave has been slaving over...obsessing over...Not getting sleep over. Has finally be released. It.is.amazing. Dave edited and co-produced this little beauty and we're trying to get it to go viral. If you like it please pass it along to anyone/everyone you know! Also, in addition to watching it here, don't hesitate to click the link to youtube as well (we like watching the viewer count go up, it's so fun). Sooo happy for you, Dave and Sean and everyone on the team!

See if you can spot my cameo! In addition to smiling pretty for the camera for a split second, I decorated the party scene and also spearheaded the important task of getting everyone drunk. I'm very proud.

Keeping it in the family

My cutie cousins Matt and Andy, My Uncle Wheels (Mark) with Paw-Paw.

Yesterday was a landmark day for my family. It was the 50-year anniversary of my Paw-Paw’s pawn shop called Block’s Loan and Jewelry. Prior to my Paw-Paw owning it, it was my great-grandpa (his father-in-law) Ben Block’s. It is an institution in St. Louis and has been the staple of our family for our entire lives. So excited to see that it was covered by the local news. Look at how cute he is.

I wanted to have this song play when Paw-Paw came up for my candle lighting at my bat mitzvah. That idea was quickly shot down and replaced by the obligatory Frank Sinatra selection. I’m still salty about it.

My obsession continues...

Yo, glitt'obabes. I know you're working and I'mma let you finish but...

Thanks, Lis.

Flashback Friday

I really couldn't figure out what music video mood I was in for Flashback Fridays. I was thinking along the lines of fun... yet appropriate for Yom Kippur. (That kind of reminds me of how I feel when getting dressed to go out. You know...something that says "I'm classy" with an understated "hint of danger").

This leads me to the following Flashback Friday videos. Hello, welcome to my childhood. I picked the 3 videos my fav musical numbers. I'm sure you'll agree that these really were the best ones. Oo remember at the end when they all donate their pieces of colors to make the girl colorful again? Then they sing make new friends and keep the old? I still know every word to this entire video. I bet you do too. No? We're so not friends anymore.

I totally thought the tan green guy was hot.

All time, all time best part is the video below. The red family with the little baby booty with his cold upon his chest. Omg and their light up house? Dyingggg.

Happy Friday!!! And to all my (chosen) peeps out there: I hope you have an easy and meaningful fast xoxo.

Glitt'o Pup of the Day

My mom is going to kill me. I never feature Sophie as Glitt'o pup and she's starting to get really offended (she, meaning both Mom and dog). I'm sorry, Mom. Sophie will have her moment in the spotlight soon. In the meantime, ummmmm can you please look at Emma? No, I don't know her. She was featured on Daily Puppy and I had to share.

Dear Emma, you are yummy like chocolate ice cream and I want to squeeze you.

5 more hours

Yawn stretches wide as my eyes fight to close.

Wake up, open up, I’m even tired in my toes.

Left then right- struggling through each motion.

Rush hour masses, get me out of this ocean.

Gulp down the coffee and open up my eyes,

Tick-tock, minutes counting till I can go outside.

Maturity down, fun up

I finally started watching Tosh.O after reading numerous articles about how the show is completely dominating airwaves (highest rated show on Comedy Central since the Chapelle Show). The more I watch, the less mature I get. I've never been a big youtube-er, I like it but I don't think people walking into glass doors is worth me wasting hours of my day watching. Apparently, that's the old Lara. Give me a fart joke, a girl getting slapped in the face or a creepy Elijah Wood looking character singing Katy Perry music (amazingness posted below) and I'm rolling on the floor laughing.

I've also rediscovered Texts From Last Night to complete the total maturity downfall. Yesterday I read TFLN at work for a few minutes and I had tears rolling down my face from trying to muffle my own laughter. I think this is the one that got me:

Hahahhah. There were definitely funnier ones but they're not Glitter Me This appropriate, my Grammy reads this. Come on.

Side note #1: Now I just need to convince someone at the networks to adjust the schedule a little bit so that I can better flip between Chelsea Lately and Tosh.O because their commercial breaks are exactly the same time. So annoying.

Side note #2: I also love Tosh.O for the fact that it costs about nothing to produce- the guy stands in front of a green screen the whole show and yet it's Comedy Central's highest rated program. Genius

Wanna know what else is genius? Um. This.

Thanks for the vid, Micah!

Make it work work

While at NYCMedia, I've had the opportunity to produce some really cool content. I’ve been promising to post some of my stories so that the 95% of people in my life who don’t live in New York can see my work. Da-da-da-daaaa. Here is a little sampler. An NYCTV poo poo platter if you will. Enjoy!

Hello, world. This is my baby. It’s a weekly community event calendar called NYC4Free and it airs daily on NYCLife and NYCGov. I’ve gathered a huge collection of shots incorporating a white canvas in different spots around the 5 boroughs. Each week, the calendar looks a little different as I mix up the different shots that I use. I pick the events, the graphics department then puts the words on the canvas’, we voice it over. Boom, boom, boom. If you’re in the NY area, catch new episodes Thursday nights at 9:30pm on Channel 25. It’s pretty adorable if I do say so myself!

The FIT Closet is a super, awesome series I produced for Fashion Week as part of the interstitial series, That’s So New York. The quick, cute one-minute stories went behind the scenes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). We were granted a rare look at “The Closet,” an archive of over 50,000 articles of clothing and accessories dating back to the 18^th century.

Um , you guys, this place is amazing. It’s basically an entire floor of the school filled up of racks and racks and drawers and drawers of some of the most historically important pieces of fashion in the world. It’s climate controlled, light controlled and only specialized conservators can touch the items (and they must be wearing white gloves). Often times, designers donate items themselves for preservation. For these stories, the (genius) director of FIT, Valerie Steele, explained the cultural and historical importance of different genres of clothing and accessories.

The shoes episode was definitely the most fun to produce. My absolute favorite in the bunch is a pair of black boots that made me drool. Not kidding- I drooled in front of Valerie Steele. They are Alexander McQueen, he custom made them for his friend Daphne Guinness. She donated them to the collection for preservation. To say they are breathtaking is an understatement.

For the rest of the FIT Closet series and to watch any of the other great programming we have to offer, check out our VOD player (search FIT Closet to see the other 4 shows in the series) or log onto: nyc.gov/media.

Whip My Hair official video

Willow Smith (of the Pinkett/Smith fame) recently came out with the sure to be smash hit “Whip My Hair.” Dave can’t get enough. Whip it, Dave.

It's kind of like Ben Wilinsky 10 years ago...

Happy Tuesday morning.

Unbelievable

Ben just living the dream with some frat bros at Arrowhead.

HOLY SHIT. That Chiefs victory has left me speechless. Arrowhead looked amazing. The fans brought it. The players brought it. We didn't let up. Seriously. Speechless.

Ben sent me this and I legitimately got choked up. Makes me miss home :(

Ben's cool pix

Andrea, FYI, this is what a Chiefs victory looks like.

In a related note: here is my text message convo with my brother:

Ben: It was insane...and I never got carded...Never.

Me: Every single person that was shown on TV was ugly. Every single one.

Ben: Not what I would describe as an "attractive" crowd...most were from Kstate. It's a Chiefs game, all the hot people are in the suites.

Look at the spiffy hat my Dad got me for the occasion.

CHIEFS AND CHOPPER

Pretty please?

I know you guys have been a little confused about how to officially "follow" me and I'm here to help. What does it mean to follow me? Eh, not much but it makes me happy (and it makes me look super popular)! Hop on the bandwagon, all the cool kids are doing it.

Ok see that button on the right hand side of the screen? CLICK!

You have to sign in using an already existing account with any of these lovely options. I know you guys have one of these! So I picked my gmail (google) account and was taken to this screen:

Great! Just put in your password!

Almost done!!! Click that button! Click that button!

You won't get spam mail, or emails or any notifications of any kind. If you go to blogger.com and click dashboard, you can see my new posts. Other than that- still check in with GMT the way you normally do.

Love ya! Mean it!

Reasons I love New York #8

The display at my grocery store: Colt45, Honest Kids organic fruit juice and Nesquick. You say irresponsible? I say breakfast of champions.

Taken in the subway this morning. This photo doesn't do the scene justice. There were about 10 guys. HUGE writing on the back of their shirts- "counter terrorism unit." I'm used to seeing police officers but this scene was crazy. Their guns were bigger than me. The first thoughts that popped into my mind were "DON'T FUCK WITH NEW YORK." I tried hiding the fact that I was snapping a picture. A second later the officer pictured to the left came up to me and asked me if I got a good shot. He told me I could get in trouble then smiled a really nice smile. Then he told me that it's his job to notice everything going on around him. I told him I hope so and that I appreciate it. Don't mess with New York.

I was walking a friends dog on Saturday and happily stumbled upon the Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park. The Howl Festival celebrates all things East Village. It was obviously quite the scene. My favorite part was that lining the park there were huge white panels hanging on fences, sectioned off for different artists to cover. It was incredible.

Twin tower lights.

My favorite.

I heart New York.

What a girl wants

Future rental

I'm going to tell you a little tale. Last year for my friend Ashley's wedding I had a fashion crisis. It was a dress disaster of such a magnitude that for the past year I've been severely scarred. You see, I had a dress in my closet earmarked to wear. A lovely, adorable, beautiful dress. On Thursday I tried it on and it was all wrong. Out of date, fit in all the wrong places, generally horrrrrrible. I know...I'm the idiot who didn't try on my dress until the day before I was leaving but whatever (because here at Glitter Me This we do not focus on the dumb things that I do).

SO I was dressless, out of time and in a complete panic. I ended up wearing an inappropriately short, very cleavage-y, not very dressy dress to a black tie wedding. Oh... and in an attempt to "dress up the outfit" I wore it with dark red matte lips and a terrible gold necklace. I looked like a trashy trainwreck. Oh god I'm having flashbacks.

When Sarah and Hayden got engaged I vowed to prepare well in advance and dress appropriately for their wedding weekend. Then all my fashion dreams came true. Enter Rent the Runway. Cue harp music.

The no fee membership to the website grants you entry to a vast closet of beautiful designer clothes to fit any occasion, for a fraction of the retail price. Think of it as netflix for your wardrobe. Dresses can be rented in 4 or 8 day increments. You receive your dress in the mail with a return prepaid envelope pouch.

Wear your dress, look fab, return dirty. They take care of the rest. Oh, and you can also rent jewelry. I know...did I just rock your world?

Just look at this. Can someone please throw a black tie holiday party so I can wear this? Thanks.

A few prior to Sarah's wedding, I made my selections, placed my order and boom! Hello beautiful. I was perfectly prepared, perfectly dressed and had an absolutely perfect weekend. I love you, Rent the Runway!

What I wore:

Dear Ashley, I'm sorry for looking slightly ridiculous at your wedding. I think I've redeemed myself. That shoulder is so fierce it's bananas

Obsessed. Literally obsessed.

Obsessed again. Ohh sweet sweet glittery sparkles.

I know, so hot.

Lovely outfit. Beautiful bride. Amazing wedding.

For some reason Christina Aguilera's song What a Girl Wants kept popping into my head as I wrote this post. I think it sums up my thoughts on RTR quite well:

What a girl wants, what a girl needs. Whatever keeps her happy, sets her free and I'm thanking you for knowing exactly...