Dog Stylist Officially Added to My CV…Ramble

I met the incredible bright spirit that is Suzanne Donaldson, aka Mrs. Sizzle, at a pop-up shop for Love Thy Beast. I was a fan of their reversible gold puffer jacket, and had read The Dogist was going to be there. I took my French bulldog, Elle, and we head to the LES to try it on her. Thus, we set out on a dark winter’s night.

Walking out of the gloomy night, into the Love Thy Beast (now permanent) shop, this blonde spark plug extended her hand, “Hi, she is gorgeous,”she said pointing at Elle. “I’m Mrs. Sizzle!”

I thought, ‘Damn, what have I been doing with my life? I want to introduce myself as Mrs. Sizzle! Who is this amazing lady?’ I spoke with Suzanne and her interns while The Dogist slipped out the door, never to return. (All good because that story ends with Elle in the center of the “Sassy” section on page 127 of his book. Stage mom moment out….)

We went on to join Mrs. Sizzle for a Santacon shoot at Penn Station. She teamed up with street photographer, Jeff Mermelstein, quite a character in his own right, renowned for his New York images.  I love this noir photo Jeff got of Elle for Mrs.Sizzle.com which included our dear friend @chloekhardoggian.

Fast forward to this past April. We say goodbye to our NY dog friends at a charity event including Suzanne. We stay in touch on Instagram. Get asked by another friend of Mrs. Sizzle’s to part take in a London Fashion Week street style shoot, that wound up not happening, but gave me the idea to pitch Suzanne a few ideas to showcase the Best of British Dog Designers with our London dog friends, Winny & Noodle (who unfortunately couldn’t make the shoot due to scheduling issues, but we love quite a bit.)

We discussed fashion pieces – once we both admitted to being obsessed with Ware of The Dog’s Pink Bobble jumper, we knew we were aligned in aesthetic and Suzanne said “let’s go for it.”I have to admit being let loose in Mungo & Maud was a styling dream come true. Elle crawled up into one of the dog beds, snuggling toys while I picked things out for the shoot.

The result has been an incredible collaboration and curation with British designers including the aforementioned Mungo & Maud as well as rising stars Ruby Rufus, Hiro + Wolf and Fetch & Follow.

It was wonderful my very talented friend photographer, Rachel Oates brought the vision to life with her photography. Rachel’s muse, her wonderful Pembroke  @Winnythecorgi and Elle brought the clothes to life alongside our pal, Bodhibulldog.  Thankfully we were quite focused, when recapping as we left the location, otherwise how would we have survived a freak hail storm, Winny’s paw bleeding, and me face planting while trying to keep the designer goods from hitting mud? All in the name of producing incredible fashion moments like those below, which you can see on Mrs. Sizzle.com right now. A huge thanks to everyone involved.

The world is a strange and dangerous place these days, so it gives us the further kick to be able to add some color and fun into this holiday season.

Crush of The Week: Melissa McCarthy…Week

The funny lady looked happy, healthy and was dressed to perfection on last night’s SNL 40th Anniversary red carpet. Her smile makes me smile. I’ve had my up’s and down’s with weight. I’ve been in the winter battle to get off that holiday weight (yeah, very close to normal) so it inspires me to see other women who are winning the battle.

Melissa looks curvy and confident here, the best I think I’ve ever seen her look. She went on to portray her favorite SNL character by the late Chris Farley:

Having had my gallbladder out, if I don’t watch what I eat, I balloon up really fast, even if though I work exercise 5-6 days a week. It’s all a matter of being healthy and able to enjoy life to the max. Thank you Melissa for showing off your curves and having fun with them.

Yesterday a friend remarked how great I look, which I appreciate. The choice has to come from me every day to stay healthy. Since I started eating much healthier four years ago, I can tell you when I overeat now or have something really greasy, my body is sluggish. Winter is a huge challenge for everyone, so seek out some inspiration and take care of yourself. xx

Crush of the Week: Maleficent The Magnificent…Ramble

We’ve all checked in to the Heartbreak Hotel. Some people sabotage the other person, others prefer to take action but hold the root of the betrayal close to their hearts because it is too painful to voice the actions out loud. Maleficent suffers from the former predicament, betrayed by the man she considered her true love. 

Angelina Jolie takes on this role as a villain/hero, a complicated character who addresses some real life concerns. How far would you go for revenge? How much can you give yourself over to a broken heart, spreading the despair to everyone around you, until fear replaces the love and laughter you once shared? What would it take to get over a betrayal so unspeakable, it causes others to weep while you wreck your havoc, losing a piece of your soul with every action? 

I went in with little expectations, after seeing headlines saying even Angelina couldn’t save this clunker. Oh critics, how wrong you are and how wonderful a film it is. Strong females, betrayal, madness, revenge and, of course, the truth about ‘true love’. How marvelous. 

Crush of the Week: Kit Harington…Ramble

Game of Thrones fans do not have to wait until April to swoon over Kit Harington. The Londoner stars in “Pompeii” in theaters today. Those who have managed not to give a crap (too much gore/sex/dragons/hot men/creepy white walkers/the brutal red wedding) about ‘Game of Thrones’, or are completely TV free now have a chance to swoon over Kit on the big screen, playing a slave turned gladiator. Hmm, sounds a little familiar, but no this is not a rehash of Russell Crowe’s unforgettable performance in ‘Gladiator’, it is a love story, from what I gather a bit ‘Gladiator’ meets ‘Troy’ with a switch that the object of lust, I mean love, instead of being the forbidden Helen, is Kit’s character. Well hello Hollywood, I like that twist as much as I like action movies and historical fiction so bring it!

As a romance writer, Kit is extremely hero inspiring. That soft voice, the sullen, yet sexy looks, and the rock hard abs he earned for this role is all a recipe for swooning. Yeah, yeah, don’t be so superficial you’re thinking. He is a very decent actor, classically trained with deep royal ties in the family tree. Even at under 5’8″ Kit is a powerhouse of extreme sexy.

I also really like to dance around singing Bastille’s “Pompeii” any chance I get, maybe my crush is on anything having to do with Pompeii? HA! Nah, but please enjoy the amazing Bastille’s SNL performance of ‘Bastille’ and think of Kit as you dance around singing ‘A-a- oh aaaaa-ooo, aaaaa, aaaaa-ooo, how ammmIgonnabeanoptomistaboutthis?’

Crush of the Week: Olympians…Ramble

Americans are never more proud to beat our chests with patriotism than watching The Olympics. The Winter Olympics provide a lot of tasty ‘dude’ eye candy for all of us at home. Have you found yourself saying ‘rad’ frequently since SAGE Kostenburg won a gold medal for snowboarding? Bro, the blizzard is in honor of Sage coming to NY for the first time, to make him feel in his element. 

Still has there been any more pride-inducing fever than the THREE Americans on the podium for free style skiing? 

Gold medalist, Joss Christensen dedicated his win to his dad, who passed away while he was on a plane overseas. The same thing happened to my dad, although I was flying overseas on vacation, but it makes this win all the more awesome to me personally. My eyes are glued to watching these athletes fly through the sky, soaring faster than a lot of people drive, with ease and determination. Thank you for inspiring us Joss, Nick and Gus. USA! Your smiles and amazing attitude are so refreshing and revitalizing. Big love to you and your families. 

Crush of the Week: Joseph Gordon-Levitt…Ramble

As a kid actor on “3rd Rock From The Sun” JGL was good at delivering punchlines and holding his own amongst the comic genius of John Lithgow, Kristin Johnston, and French Stewart. He had cool boy long hair and a cheeky smile. Then, as he got older and moved into films like “10 Things I Hate About You”, I heard he was an obnoxious ass through the Hollywood PR machine. It effected a project I was working on the time and served as a crush killer. I never got to work with him directly, and let’s face it we were all like 15 years old at the time, right, so like, who can hold us accountable for growing up in the show biz.

I moved on to other crushes like Brad Pitt, with his beautiful golden hair and more manly figure. Yet, over the years, Joseph G-L has proven to be a real talent. He has written songs with hipster it girl Zoey Deschanel (you thought I was going to mention that  movie they were lovers in? JGL grown-up crush inducer!)

He hosted SNL showing off his musical skills even more– did you know that for a time he studied at my alma mater Columbia University? Even more interesting, he started a company with his brother called HitRecord.com, which is a collaborative community to create – short films, books, and now a TV show that is a variety show (what a natural for JGL!).

This “Regular Joe” as he calls himself on HitRecord.com is a true artist, one that never stops creating, learning and exploring. I love how he gives it his all and totally commits to whatever he has taken on, which is why he is this week’s crush of the week. Regular Joe wiped the stage with Stephen Merchant and Jimmy Fallon this week, lip-syncing his heart out while promoting the film he wrote and directed called ‘Don Jon’ (according to co-star Tony Danza it perfectly captures this moment in history where we all consume too much media and how it has socially effected us). Joseph Gordon-Levitt you had me at “Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer”…..

Crush of the Week: Kylie Minogue…Ramble

Yesterday I attended a special Kylie Minogue event at SAKS (*yes the fabulous flagship on 5th Avenue, who doesn’t love saying flagship? Ah, 5th Avenue your many flagships always bring a smile to my face because of the glamour it immediately instills in my bones). Sometimes good things do come through and my wonderful friend Dorothy remembered that I’m a huge Kylie fan. 

I’ve been a fan since Kylie was on ‘Neighbor’s which is practially a requirement in order to claim your Australian heritage (as I do). I even watched her sister Dani on ‘Far & Away.’ (If you are not familiar think Dani is to Kylie as Ashlee is to Jessica Simpson- are you with me?!) 

A few years ago I was covering a Kylie in-store event at Virgin Megastore in Times Square for Rollingstone.com. I was in the press area for a few hours and then Kylie was going to do a signing. These two guys I had been chatting to rushed over to get a STACK of vinyl signed. They handed me their camera to take a photo with Kylie (we’re talking a huge professional grade camera). After I took their photo a notorious person from her then-label came over (the two guys were her very, very good friends) and told me and the rest of the press who were waiting in line that we could go to the back of the queue with all the other fans. 

My mouth was aghast, if that had been told to us upfront I probably would have left my photographer and gone to the back of the line hours beforehand- and I don’t mind doing that for Kylie, it was just that we’d all been there for almost as long as the fans already. Anyway, crushed I left and it was upsetting. Since then I have gone to see Kylie from her first performance in the US for Bravo at the defunct Limelight to twice at Hammerstein Ballroom. Her show is incredible and a definite must-see so I was beyond thrilled when I landed the VIP invite for the SAKS launch.

After Kylie arrived, the SAKS staff had ushered us against a wall and then towards the elevators to the VIP room. Kylie was up there after posing with the FASHION book downstairs for the photographers (hello a lot cuter than back in the day!). There was a makeshift line where different brands like Gilt Group folks were vying for Kylie’s attention. Then, I was asked to take a photo of her with a guy who I had been shoved up against downstairs. Shades of deja vu were coming through hard and fast as he finished telling her he’d thrown up three times that day in excitement of seeing her. (Fortunately he did not do that infront of us and also had copious amounts of mouthwash before attending the book signing.) 

Kylie seemed to be moving in the opposite direction of the makeshift line and my compatriots from well-known outlets were more interested in getting more Prosecco from the very handsome male model acting as a waiter than getting a photo with Kylie (because they have them from other events!) The three times my size bodyguard seemed to be growing larger with every moment as Kylie was then introduced to VIPS from Louboutin. Finally,I saw my now-or-never moment and stepped in as this other woman, I knew from downstairs was not a lifelong fan, tried to cut in as I was getting my photo moment. Sure enough Kylie’s lovely assistant made sure I got it. I can’t thank her enough!

There I was, with my Kylie under one arm, Prosecco in the other (because really it is Kylie and that requieres bubbles of some sort!) and Kylie threw up the “supercute” fingers (see below):

 

Here are a few more reasons I love Kylie:

1) She stands for GLAMOUR. Look at her working that Pucci dress. It had a lot of cut outs and wo-wo-wo-wow can she pull it off!

2) Kylie is a true pro at working a room. She was sweet, funny and had a great sense of humor while we were all trying to get her attention (aka mini-stalk!)

3) Do I even need to say how much I love her music? I did refrain from asking her what she was doing there when clearly “your disco needs you.” Oh, ha ha damn should’ve said that instead I made her an “honorary Asian” because she threw up the supercute sign. It’s because “I’m so tiny” – yes and we love our little pop stars! 

4) Did I mention when Kylie is around male models are also? 

5) For a lady in her mid-40’s she looks better than those half her age because she knows how to smile, wow and exude joie de vivre! 

This event reminded me of why I wanted to work in entertainment- Glamour, L’amour, Fashion and beyond all FUN! Thank you Kylie I was so very lucky, lucky, lucky to meet you. 

Crush of the Week: Helen Fielding Creator of Bridget Jones…Ramble

I attended the BookExpoAmerica (BEA) last week at the Jacob Javits Center. It was a whirlwind of activity with arms and elbows flying as readers grabbed for free books. Well, before that frenzy which left me seeking the santity of the Harlequin booth, I had the enormous pleasure of attending the Author Breakfest hosted by Chris Matthews where I got to hear Helen Fielding speak about her third Bridget Jones’ book “Mad About A Boy.” 

I’m going to give you the gist from my notes of what she said. Imagine a fabulous dry British accent that sounds like champagne and you’ll enjoy it even more. Disclaimer: I said gist and yes some is verbatim, but don’t (literally) quote me or Helen on that!

I want to thank everyone for coming here today. It’s nice to see all of you. The first time I had a public speaking engagement like this only two people showed up. One of them I had dated. Afterwards we went to lunch where he told me he was gay. — grrlgenius: transported to Bridget heaven!) I never thought I’d write another one (Bridget Jones novel) after the first two because I lost my voice. But last year, some things started to strike me as funny again and I started writing without telling anyone so that took the pressure off and reclaimed my privacy which allowed me creative freedom.

When the first Bridget Jones book came out there wasn’t any of the online things around that are around today like Twitter. I signed up for Twitter to do some research as Bridget Jones. Twitter is like a popularity contest. I kept checking the account for followers: naught. Again: naught. Then I got suspended from Twitter for checking 150 times in an hour how many followers I had. (grrlgenius: crowd was roaring laughing). Women come up to me all the time to tell me how much they relate to Bridget. I feel like I’m the Pope, confess child confess. One woman told me she went on an Internet Date and they had kissed a bit. A few days later she’d received a mass email from the fellow announcing his wife had just given birth to a girl. 

No matter where I go though women tell me they relate to Bridget even in Japan where they are so fabulous and tiny and eat small amounts of fish! I think she is so appealing because she represents the gap between how you feel you should be and how you are inside. When I was a kid I thought middle-aged woman were sagging and not very attractive with gray hair and you know today’s middle-aged women are very glam. This book sort of rebrands the older woman of today. Now there’s young children and you have so many priorities the to-do list might have find cheese, finish novel on it. Look at David Cameron, the PM of Britain. He was in the car on the phone and his kids were acting up. He finally had to say to them “shut up I’m on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel.” So, see all of us are juggling a lot of things today and we try to act like we’re glamourous when we are a mess on the other end. I’ve been wearing sweatpants and didn’t brush my hair looking quite feral while I wrote this book. So now I’m going to go on a huge diet (grrlgenius: she is so tiny!) and have massive amounts of plastic surgery before the book comes out. 

Crush of the Week: Suffragettes….Ramble

Recently a potential romantic lead in my life told me he doesn’t believe in voting. Hello crush killer alert! Yesterday I saw on Twitter that New York Times best selling author, Allison Winn Scott tweeted “I really cannot understand why someone would choose not to vote. What a gift we’re given of democracy. Too bad some are so complacent.”

Of course, just like with anything on the Internet, there were immediate naysayers crapping on* (from time to time Australian phrases remind me I’m half their’s!) about the lameness of the electorial college. Yes, we all know that there are issues with the voting polls, the rigging, the fact your vote is an ‘advisement’ for your local rep to cast the state electoral college votes and, if they don’t agree they can vote for another candidate. We also know that rarely, if ever, happens because elected officials want to be elected again. 

Don’t forget ladies Suffragettes fought hard for our right to be in equal in this matter with men and able to vote. It’s one of the only areas of life- voting, that is, in theory, actually equal. I’m not going to even get into Romney’s “binders full of women” which sounds like how witches were rounded up and burned at the stake once upon a time in his state no less. We – women, we have the right to vote so use it. Do what you have to do and make ladies like Susan B. Anthony sing from along with you after you do just as they did in Mary Poppins “well done!” 

 

Crush of the Week: Robert Downey Jr. …Ramble

RDJ is an eclectic artist who has survived jail, a crappy self-indulgent CD, drug use and the baddest playground known as Hollywood. Now a veteran of the industry with two successful franchises – Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, 

I’ve had a crush on this man even his wife describes as odd, for some time. Hey, everyone likes a bad boy! What I love about RDJ at this point is his influence over other actors and helping create some amazing careers. 

It was RDJ who convinced Gwyneth Paltrow (if you didn’t know she was one of my faves then search her on my blog for why) to take the role of Pepper Potts in Iron Man by telling her she should be in a film people went to see. Oh yeah, being real is an RDJ talent. 

While I don’t care for his buddy Mel Gibson, RDJ is a loyal friend who totally got annoyed with his ‘Due Date’ co-star Zach Galifiankis for getting Mel kicked off a cameo of ‘The Hangover 2’. I also LOVED that RDJ fell in love with the Frenchie on ‘Due Date’ he tried to adopt him unsuccessfully. (Frenchies can be little heartbreakers in the best way possible.) Still, it’s kind of cool that Robert stood up for his friend who has been revealed as a crazy racist who’s lost his mind during Mel’s ‘hard times’.

Now Robert Downey Jr. has continued to work his magic on ‘The Avengers’ franchise. First, he insisted and convinced director Joss Whedon to have the Pepper Potts character in the film to enhance his character Tony Stark, as ‘crazy-in-a-relationship’ kind of guy. Secondly, according to the DETAILS cover interview with Chris Evans aka Captain America, RDJ connected with Evans via their shared agent. He convinced the reluctant Evans to take the role telling him by making tons of money for the studio it would enable Evans to get backing for the smaller films he really wants to do in the future. 

What a helluva a friend, mentor, and kickass actor! I can’t wait to see him in ‘Avengers’ out May 4th.