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Life. Style. Watch my stylish friend Jessy decorate her new house in the suburbs.

MN.  Street Style Minneapolis style.

Mom.Blog. Writer Sara Aase gives tips on family finances and staying out of the red.

Politics.  Colbert challenges RNC Chair to some wickety-wack.

@stranger #friend

When my friend Beth asked me what the hell Twitter was, I gave her a really dumb answer, "It's whatever you want it to be" I said, irritating her and myself.  And while that's true, it's so not helpful to someone trying to grasp the sense of the micro-blogging phenom.

Twitter asks one simple question, "What Are You Doing?" and for the first six months after I signed up I answered that question rather dully. 

Andrea is:
at brunch
in New York
watching The Hills
listening to The Hold Steady

Then one day I was getting a pedicure and I couldn't decide which color to choose. Total fashion emergency.  I texted my sister, but she wasn't writing me back. (Angie!) So, I sent a tweet asking my followers if people were still painting their toes black and within minutes had several people telling me "absolutely not!" Thank goodness I asked.

Suddenly I realized I had 23 new best friends (that's how many people were following me at the time) to help me make major life decisions. Totally awesome.

I have a lot of great real-life friends.  They're creative, stylish, smart and brilliantly funny, but they're not always available.  More importantly, they probably wouldn't be my friends if I was constantly texting them asking stupid questions and telling them how many calories I did or did not consume in a day.

omg. I'm at 3200 calories. someone please tell me not to eat this second bowl of ice cream? #skinny

My "friends" on Twitter, however, can easily delete me or mute me if they start thinking I'm a total drag and losing a follower would'nt make me hate myself quite like my best friend telling me to shut-up would.

So what is Twitter?  For me it's a place to connect. A place to go when you want to talk about #oscar dresses all night while your friends are sleeping or out having a real life. It's a place to follow social media freaks who get all the news first, fashionistas, smart moms and people who just make me laugh. It's a place to go if you never feel like shutting-up.

Confessions of a Recovering Shopaholic

I went to New York last weekend to see a terrible movie.  It was panned by most critics as being ill-timed and shallow, but my review of Confessions of a Shopaholic was that Isla Fisher wore bad clothes and there was not nearly enough shopping. 

When I lived in the city my office on 5th avenue was situated on top of Henry Bendel and across the street from Bergdorf Goodman.  If I took the long way home I could hit Saks Fifth Avenue and Sephora.  Stopping by JCrew and Anthropologie was just a part of my day—like going to the bathroom. It seemed  part of the culture to come home armed with shopping bags.

I suppose you could say that I was a Shopaholic.

After three years in Minneapolis where the sidewalks are not quite the runway shows they are in NYC and with all the talk of recession and trends of living simply, my cravings for handbags and shoes have become more subdued and realistic. Just slightly. A girl can't be expected to walk around in dingy rags.

Bill Cunningham would love to see fashion history repeat itself with down-market hems and lots of black, but I came home with some bright new gloves, ridiculous shoes and a dress with strawberries on it.

  
Shoes by Chinese Laundry Dress by Juicy Couture Gloves by Aspinal

Hint, Hint

I can't stop thinking about these earrings:

Visit www.marcjacobs.com
Photo: Mark Platt

Oh, yes, Fancy Touch Screen Phone. You will be mine.

I've been lusting after the iphone for quite some time now. I know all about the awesome, amazing things it can do and while I know it won't change my life, I know it's going to totally change my life. For example, it has a GPS that will actually tell you where you are.  A much needed feature for someone who often wonders where the hell she is.

The problem is that I have a perfectly functioning BlackBerry that will not go away.  I've had it for three long years.  Longer than I've ever held on to any phone.  Right?  Most phones I have for two seconds. I was constantly losing them or dropping them in the toilet, but this beast will not die. It's crashed to the ground a million times.  It's sailed across the ice on a frozen lake.  I've tried accidentally running it over and I've tried losing it in restaurants.  Last week our server found it under the table after we'd left, no doubt because he had to sweep up the enormous amount of pizza bits that Henry had dropped to the floor.  He came running out with it yelling, "Ma'am you forgot your phone."  I told Henry to run, but we couldn't lose him.  I got my phone back.

Finally, the battery started dying.  An easy fix, sure, but why invest in a new battery for a phone that can't possibly be in my life for much longer?  I carefully complained about my problem, trying not to sound too eager about the prospect of a new iphone and a lovely, well-meaning person came home with two smuggled batteries for my Blackberry.  It's like brand new again.

I may have to hire a hit man.

Fresh Air Fund Needs Counselors for Summer 2009!

When I was a little girl at sleep-away camp I absolutely idolized my counselors.  I thought they were the coolest girls in the world, with the best clothes and the warmest hugs when I was feeling homesick.

Sadly, I missed my chance to be an awesome camp counselor, but if you are going to be 18 years old by June 20th and love to work with children, you have the opportunity to experience the joy of working at a summer camp.

The Fresh Air Fund is currently accepting applications for Camp Staff for Summer 2009. 

They're looking for counselors and program staff for all five of their summer camps - but places fill fast, so get your application in today.