Blah Blah Babycakes

Weekend

Seeing The Runaways at the new Showplace Icon theatre in St. Louis Park. Apparently, this theater has a bar, couches, reserved seating, bathroom attendant and a "no teenagers allowed without their parents" rule. 

Dinner at Doug Flicker's new Piccolo.

Some serious couch time to catch up on RHoNYC and How to Make It in America.

Candlelight yoga at Corepower.

Kristin Stewart plays a young Joan Jett in The Runaways

Foodie Fail

Henry has a morbid curiosity and when he asked me what would happen to him if Nick and I were to die, god forbid, I thought for a moment about telling him that he didn't need to worry about such things. Instead, I told him the truth, that he would go live with his aunt in New York. I searched his eyes for sadness and tears, but there was only one thing he wanted to know.

"Will Auntie make me eat stuff that I don't like?"

This kid still has some serious food issues. 

After flunking out of food therapy two years ago, we've made very little progress. Actually, we're in the exact same place. Henry still only eats a couple of different things and refuses to try anything new. He continues to gag in the morning when he smells my breakfast and even though I can see it in his eyes that he's tired of chicken nuggets, the child won't touch anything else.

If asked to pinpoint exactly where I went wrong, I wouldn't know what to say. Lord knows, I've tried everything.  I have some guesses though and I think I went wrong as far back as Brooklyn. (Nanny's fault!)

I do know enough about kids now to know that it's never too late to implement change and to make things better (I mean, I JUST now started 1-2-3 Magic.  How did that book slip through the cracks?), but this food problem is a real doozy.  

At this point I have given up and am waiting for maturity and peer pressure to come around and help me out.  I'm still sneaking veggies into his waffles to ward off scurvy, but it will be a glorious day when we can walk into any restaurant we want without a McDonald's Happy Meal hidden in my handbag.

Say Cheese! How to look good in bar photos.

There are a lot of tips on the internet about how to look good in photos.  Most of them involve things that are out of our control like lighting, special clothes and makeup or red-carpet style poses. I'm not so interested in those tips. I want to know that when someone whips out a camera at 1am on Friday night I'm not going to look like an asshole in all the pictures that show up on Facebook on Saturday morning. Some people have it easy with a brilliant smile and a face that makes love to the camera.  I hate those kind of people.  (Try to avoid being in the same photo as them!)

For the rest of us, the stars need to be aligned in order to look good in a photograph.

Practice these tips in the mirror and you'll find the stars on your side.

When you first try them out, you'll feel and look like an idiot, but after some time it will come naturally and you'll look great in every photo.

1.) Turn your head slightly to the side and point your shoulder towards the camera.

2.) Extend your neck. (also very slightly)

3.) Point your nose down.

4.) And look up through your lashes. (if this feels too awkward try to keep your eyes closed until the last minute and then open and look up)

It's kind of a come-hither stare, but it works. Your face will look thinner and your nose will look smaller.

Smile your best smile and if you struggle with looking fake, put the tip of your tongue right where the back of your front teeth meet the roof of your mouth.

 

Change of Plans

I'm breaking my rule of never talking about the blog on the blog in order to make a little announcement.

The thing is...I am so over mommy blogging. Totally, totally over it. That fact, combined with a few more personal reasons have left me phoning it in for a long time now.  Since I've been blogging in some form for more than 10 years I can't just stop. And even though I've lost more than half my readership in the past year, I'm addicted to posting stuff on the internet and so I'm simply instituting a change of creative direction.

Last night over drinks with a few girlfriends I was passing out various beauty supplies that I'd ordered from far away places, telling them about the most amazing cleavage bra and bragging about the new 12 calorie, 5 grams of fiber crackers that I'm addicted to. Basically, I was being an annoying know-it-all, but one that you'd for sure want to be friends with, right?

It came to me that I need to be blogging about something that I love.  And I love nothing more than sharing great ways in which you can feel, look and be your best.  Sadly, I'm talking mostly about the outside kind of beauty, but I'm sure there are plenty of other blogs that will take care of the inner kind for you.

My friend Aimee says she'd still rather hear my secrets and tips over a glass of champagne (I taught her how to always look good in photographs), but it will be just as much fun to share them with you.

As always, when I'm shilling products it's because I love them and am grateful for them.  If I'm compensated for my post in any way it will probably be over on Blah Blah Babycakes Reviews, so you can be sure that I'm always 100% authentic. 

There are a few Henry stories that I need to share with you to tie up some loose ends and let you know where he's at and where he's headed. I'll do that soon.

So there you have it!  I hope that those of you who have been with me for years, supporting me and watching Henry grow will still pop in to say hello once in a while, even if you're not interested in black market Latisse.  Adjust your RSS feeds accordingly.

All my invisible, internet friends have meant a lot to me and I thank you.

Turn That Frown

I once gave my sister and my friend Beth what I called "poor man's botox" for Christmas.  The gift consisted of a satin pillowcase and a box of Frownies.  It was meant to be kind of a joke, but the truth is these two things actually work to prevent wrinkles.

Frownies were created way back in 1889 and basically they're stickers that hold your skin in place and prevent repetitive motion while you sleep, which as we know, causes wrinkles.  Especially that vertical forehead line (or two) that can make you look constantly angry. Frownies are not sexy, but neither is my mouth guard and so I just go for it at night with the whole maintenance thing. And Henry has fun ripping them off my face first thing in the morning. 

I go back and forth about the real botox.  It's costly, not permanent, can sometimes make you look like an idiot and who knows about the safety issues.  I'm not saying I'll never get it, but for now I'll stick with the poor man's version.  

Frownies can be found at your local Whole Foods or online at Drugstore.com and have a MakeupAlley.com rating of 85%.