It has come to that time of the year… when the Isabel Stare-A-thon is over.

Wait! There is no reason to cry 1950’s child!

It’s fine… No not you too guy from Dawson’s Creek:

Seriously no weeping Roy Lichtenstein woman:

Excuse me Homer go get a Mc Ribwich… no crying:

And… GWEN!!!! This is really not a big deal:

Isabel isn’t going away, its just time that the offical stare-a-thon stops. You can still look at her tomorrow… but now it’s on your own time.

fin de Isabel Stare-a-thon 2009

♫lauren

This is probably that saddest time of all 2009 the second to the last day of the Isabel Stare-A-thon.

I know at this time of year the days seem to be a little darker and people start taking down their Isabel Stare-a-thon decorations but there is still the 26th….

To break this news to you I give you a beloved movie & television star: Mr. Jason Schwartzman.

♫Lauren

I touched on this here, but I think that this is easily important enough to have it’s own post, and probably infinitely more.

What I am proposing here is that there is a strong possibility that Ian and Natalie were impersonated by Madrigals. I have not found anyone who believes this except for me, so this may need more developing:

At the end of book two, Amy and Dan are about to snag a clue when Ian and Natalie roll in to steal the clue. Ian plays the notes on the piano, but he doesn’t know that one of the key’s is bobby-trapped, something that the Cahill siblings learned from their beloved Grandmother Grace.

The piano exploded, and the Kabras were badly injured. They were in very bad shape, certainly not well enough to participate in the deadly hunt. At the time, it was well known that they were out.

However, somehow, people forgot all about it. Sometimes I’ll mention their injury to some fellow clue hunters,  and they had completely forgotten. It’s probably because it was never really mentioned, and it was basically glazed over in book three. I have not forgotten, though, and I have always kept it in mind as I have searched for the clues.

The reason why I haven’t been really paying that much attention to it is because, in my opinion, it really is not that important. I do not care much about Ian and Natalie, as it was released in book six that they had no clues, and I had suspected as much. Therefore, they are not really central to the quest compared to other things.

It has become definite to me that they have been impersonated by Madrigals. We all know that Madrigals impersonate Cahill’s, as shown in various different places which I will not get into on this page, and it is impossible for them to continue after such a bad accident. Have you noticed that Ian and Natalie are not as ruthless and seem nicer in the previous four books than in the first two books? Isn’t also sort of suspicious that they have not really been a threat at all? The Madrigals obviously have a plan that doesn’t involve the Lucian’s getting the clues. It seems almost as if they have been helping Amy and Dan, which I’ll cover more in other posts and pages.

So, what do you think?

During the hectic award seasons it’s good to know that some celebrities have their priorities in mind.

Carrie Underwood for example has not missed a single moment of the Stare-A-thon… she gets live Isabel feed directly onto her phone.

Way to be a role model Miss Underwood!

♫LAUREN

I don’t care if Monday’s blue… Tuesday’s gray &  Wednesday too.

It’s Friday… you should stare at Isabel!

Even if you are at work!!! At work you should have a stare buddy makes sure you have enough Isabel eye  intake for the day!

♫lauren!

If you are concerned about smelling like poo poo-poo read the following Isabel Stare-a-thon advertisement:

♫Lauren

Such is the life of an unphotogenic person who tries to look half decent in photos.

Eating is troublesome. But I have to eat or I’ll die. Which is quite obvious, but is something I have to remind myself all the time. I love good food. I just hate foraging for food. I hate crap food. I like fish and chips, which is admittedly a bit junk, but when not soggy is very satisfying. I like 鱼片米粉–you know, the fish noodles thing. I like noodles in general, execpt mushy ones. Have you ever eaten mushy noodles? Nasty.

I hate McDonalds. Their fries turn soggy within minutes, and sometimes from the moment you buy them (from all the oil). And that place smells. Like grease. You can basically feel yourself growing unhealthier from smelling the fumes of the oil and grease. I don’t know how people can stand working there. Drinking coffee from McCafe without gagging from the smell next door is almost impossible. I like good ol’ burgers and hotdogs and American things like that, but Maccers is just awful. Even their hotcakes are stale. Which is not something I like to wake up to in the morning. If you’re going to stuff your face with food, at least eat something that tastes good!

But enough of that. Isabel invited me to LookBook. Thanks Isabel. Ship me to Brisbane, I’ll live in your garage. So this afternoon I took photos and made them into a collage. But I looked so pretentious and kind of awful. Which is the reason for the title of this post. Shoot, erase, reshoot. God forbid someone barge in while I’m taking photos with an auto timer. I don’t know if I’ll post it yet. I think I’ll show Isabel first.

It’s getting quite boring. But I have nice online friends who use good grammar, and even though one lives in Australia, one’s moving to Australia, life could be worse. And if my dad does eventually move to Brisbane, that would be quite lovely…

PS. I know my posts make me sound anorexic or wanna-rexic or whatever that is, but I’m not. I’m just lazy and have gotten used to not eating because I’m hopeless at cooking, there’s nobody at home most of the time, I’ve eaten the same thing 14 times a week (cai fan–vegetable rice) and I’m just not in the mood for it anymore. It’s slimy. It smells weird. Normal people would be put off by it.

In this day of 3-d rendering & pixar we should not forget the 2-d creation. And moreso how 2-d creations feel about Isabel:

♫LAUREN

Bárbara se despertó ese día llena de sudor.  Había tenido una pesadilla horrenda como las de siempre.  Ella había crecido con una certeza que algo de lo que pasaba afuera de su casa estaba mal.  Sus padres le decía que tenía razón y que por eso era necesaria que practique ahimsa siempre.

Normalmente Bárbara no le tenía miedo a las culebras, pero ésa noche soño que un grupo de salvajes culebras negras llegaron desde la Plaza Mayor de la ciudad para atacar a la casa de su vecina, Fernanda Ruvalcaba.
Las culebras medían más o menos dos metros de largo y tenían colmillos enormes y filudos.  Llegaron mientras Fernanda y sus familia dormían en su humilde casa, hecha de compartimientos de metal, caja de cartón, pedazos de madera y cortinas para separar las habitaciones.

Llegaron sigilosamente a atacar a todos los Ruvalcaba, los mordieron, los estrangularon y después se los devoraron.  Era tanto el miedo que sintió Bárbara en ese momento que cuando despertó no quiso ni salir de su recámara.  Cerró todos las puertas con llave y prendió su estéreo para escuchar la música más feliz que se le ocurrió en ese momento—James Brown.
Al escuchar el ruidazo su madre llegó a la recámara de Bárbara pare decirle que apague esa bulla, que todos los vecinos se iban a despertar y que había suficiente ruido en ése país lleno de guerra y no necesitaban más.  Bárbara estaba demasiado ocupada bailando y cantando para quitarse las visiones de las culebras devorando a su amiga de la mente, pero no pudo, así que bajó la música y le abrió la puerta a su mamá.
Al ver su rostro pálido y su sudor, Isabel entendió que éste no era solamente un capricho de su excéntrica hija, si no que era un mecanismo de tranquilidad.  Ella conocía las tendencias de Bárbara más que nadie.
–Mamá, tuve otra pesadilla.—Bárbara le explicó todo las enormes culebras, la familia Ruvalcaba entre lágrimas.—Se sentía tan real.
Isabel hizo lo que pudo para consolar a su hija, quien apenas tenía seis años y estaba demasiado joven como para tener pensamientos tan horrorosos.
Ese día le permitió a Bárbara quedarse en casa en vez de ir a la escuela para poder enseñarle unos ejercicios mentales para combatir las pesadillas mientras estaba dormida.
–Tienes que concentrarte.  Cuando duermas y un espíritu maligno quiere llegar a estorbar tus sueños, debes de abrir la puerta de algún cuarto en el que estés.  Si no hay una, imagina que estás creándola para poder salir.  Después imagina que estás en un pasillo tranquilo, lleno de todas las cosas que te mantienen feliz.  Has de cuenta que estás llegando a tu recámara, o al sitio en el cual estás durmiendo.  Si vez a tu cuerpo, intenta que tu espíritu vuelva a entrar.  Si tu cuerpo no te deja, inmediatamente regresa al sueño.  Cuando tu cuerpo no te deja entrar mientras tengas una pesadilla, es por que el sueño es demasiado importante y hay mensajes dentro de el que tendrás que descifrar.
Ahí mantuvo Isabel a Bárbara, provocándole sueños para que ella aprenda a ejercer el poder mental necesario como para vencerle a las pesadillas.

Images sourced from Vital-Imaging.co.uk

Model, ISABEL PEREZ, has come out on top once again with some amazing photos shot for VITAL IMAGING.

Q1: You have very unique features, are you mixed with different ethnicities?
Yes, my mum is Mixed Hispanic heritage and my Dad is of African Heritage

Q2: Give us a little background of yourself and what you do!
Ok, I’m 20 years old, I came to England when I was 8 … I think…and I was brought up in Spain.
I work for an events company and a house DJ agency/label so I’m pretty much involved in the stress of an event at day and enjoy it at night … haha

Q3: How did you get into modeling?
I literally was asked once to do a shoot and since then I have constantly been asked. I wouldn’t call myself a model, that’s not really where I see my career path … I don’t think I could commit to just modeling. 

Q4: What are your hobbies?
Because work takes up a lot of my time, I tend to share my spare time between friends and family.

Q5: What is your favorite part about being a model?
Waiting to see what the pics look like… That always gets me a bit hype straight after a shoot… Oh no, wait, the dressing up is really cool, I like creative crazy stuff!

MORE SNIPPETS FROM HER INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS FROM ISABEL’S VITAL IMAGING PHOTO SHOOT WHEN YOU READ THE REST!!! 
 

Q6: Did you always want to be a model?
Yeah, when I was younger I was the tallest in my class and very skinny so a lot of people mentioned it to my mum, so I had my moments. But I always changed my mind like all young girls.

Q7: Any tips for young females and males trying to get into the industry?
I think young girls should be realistic and know what they want to do before they get to it. It’s easy to get your feelings hurt and this may lead you a stray to what your look really is. Also I see it as every girl is aspiring to be a model aswell and tend to get into the glamour for quick and easy exposure, once you are there it will be hard to come out or be respected as a non glamour model. But all girls should have fun and have a say in shoots.

Q8: What has been your biggest struggle?
I don’t like to see certain areas in my life as struggles but challenges. I’ve come from moving from one country to another, learning to know who I am and what cultures I fit in. I also, for certain reasons, had to bring up my family on my own… so yeah loads of challenges but good ones!

Q9: Any hints as to what we can expect in the near future from you?
Erm, there’s a few exiting things that I don’t want to jinx! But yeah I don’t know let’s see what 2010 brings!

Photographer: Hema Patel

Make up Artist: Prima Patel

Vital Studios

http://www.vital-imaging.co.uk/

020 8749 6417

info@vital-imaging.co.uk  

Images sourced from Vital-Imaging.co.uk

Today’s Isabel Stare-a-thon  contains a certain dreamy and golden globe nominated Joseph*:

*many of the ladies & the gents agree on his pure dreaminess, especially Christine & Lauren

♫ Lauren

In this time where finals are taking over the days and nights of every college student we here at Viciously Sweet want to make sure you’re taking enough time in the day for a break.

And if you are on a break… it might as well be spent staring at Isabel.

Look around… everyone is doing it… and what if it is on your final????

Now an ad from the makers of the Isabel Watcher:

♫lauren

Do you ever worry about what children are being taught in school?

I was asking the neighborhood children what they learned about Isabel this month only to learn the school doesn’t teach the Isabel Stare-a-thon!

How can we have children become global citizens if schools aren’t even teaching about Isabel staring!

Tell all the schools in  your community: less math more Isabel.

♫lauren

Yeah, It’s official – I’m launching my CD “Make A Difference” @ JB O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Tomorrow!! The place is certainly going to be rocking with special guests Astro and Isabel Quigley

The pub is such a great little place – friendly people and staff, brilliant food, music, snooker table, what could be better for a Sunday night?

JB O'Reilly's Irish Pub

Kick off is @ 6:30 pm with Isabel Quigley up first. Then Matt plays @ 7:30 pm and Astro will finish off the night!

Address: 99 Cambridge Street, West Leederville, 6007

Hope to see you there!

Matt

There is a special place in the world where you can celebrate Isabel all the time… I present to you on this the 22nd day of the Isabel Stare-A-thon 2009, the Hall of Isabels.

♫lauren

Somehow sleep seems to be the topic du-jour here. Isabel sleeps. Thomas sleeps. What on Earth am I doing up? Argh… well, if you don’t, you should know me by now. And, aha! Craig calls. We must watch SYTYCD! I will finish up later…

*Next night*

Is it foolish to even try to make Isabel and Thomas a pair of matching Christmas pants? I think I just spent the last twenty minutes trying to draw the pattern onto the fabric. My eyes were half open. What’s wrong with me?! And this after nearly falling asleep on the freeway driving home from a visit with my college friend and family:

Andrea, Isabel (2) and Thomas (10 weeks); Ana, Vivian (almost 2) and Patrick (12 weeks)

Thomas (10 weeks) and Patrick (12 weeks)

So, back to jolly festivities. I have never made a gingerbread house in my life (help!) For years now, I have meant to try it; certainly, it would have been good to get some practice in before plunging into a home-made-from scratch gingerbread project with Isabel. Not that Isabel had anything to do with the end result:

Gingerbread House

Mmmm... Burnt caramel... "Mommy, this candy tastes funny."

Now you say, “Come on, Andrea, just follow the recipe.” If only Martha Stewart and Cooks Illustrated could be so clear. First, MS said “roll out dough to 1/4″.” Do you know how thick that is??? Well, my little cottages have a greater R-value than our own home! Isabel’s gingerbread snowman even melted in there. Jeez. And then her caramel recipe was worth the money I spent to get it. Exactly. NOTHING! I just got crystallized (white) sugar. So, I checked out CI and it gave me temperatures – duh! But, it failed to explain the timing and reasoning. Now, I know that funny chemical properties change at different temperatures, so they could have warned me, “do not leave the room! Even though you have been standing there watching the thermometer slowly creep up the scale for what seems like forever now, do not leave the room! I promise at any moment I will shoot right up.”

Well, I left the room. It was only a couple of minutes (to my Mommy brain, at least) and then I smelled burning sugar. Then I bobbled back and forth like a chicken with its head cut off between the stove and the gingerbread to glue the darn thing together before my “amber” caramel glue turned to stone. Beautiful piece of artwork, isn’t it? Yeah, I thought so, too. And then Craig said, “yeah, I meant to tell you how difficult it is to clean that out.” And I said no problem! I’ll just stick some water in there and boil it. HA! It hardened so fast my brush got stuck in there. Aj jaj, jaj! It’s okay, I finally got it out.

And I threw the gingerbread out, too. Hello BB&B! Give me that kit! Learning curves. I thought I finished with those back@mit.edu.

The pretty side is we got our tree and done her up!

Putting the lights on

It's getting there - just forgot the garland!

That night Isabel was up until 11pm insisting on helping me to put up some balls, “this one is NOT fragile, Mommy.” I started to fall asleep at 8pm but couldn’t and because I had a headache took some Excedrin and decided to finish the tree… at 2 in the morning. “Silly Mommy.”

***

This Christmas season is a ton of fun so far. Isabel has so much anticipation. She loves the Christmas lights Daddy put up and makes sure they are lit every night. She gets this wide toothy grin and her eyes just sparkle when she sees all the colors turn on. And, of course, she does her thorough inspections to make sure all the bulbs are in proper working order.

Daddy's putting up the lights

She also got this Advent calendar from her Aunt Mary with little bags of treats for every day of December. I swear Isabel started to wake up earlier and earlier every morning just to open the bags up. Pitter patter pitter patter up to our bed. “Can I open another present now, Daddy?” Turn over… It’s 6:30 in the morning. Oh maaaaan… We caught it on tape the first or second morning. Now one of us drags ourselves out there to do the deed. How can we deny her this LOVE? Every day now, she tells us she is a good girl and can get a present under the tree in the morning. What’s on her list? Well, for days we have been trying to pry a wish list out of her (okay, she is just 2) and all she wants for Christmas this year is…. Candy. Maybe we should go over our Halloween lesson again.

Okay, really, I’m going to bed now.

a little over 2 months now

little Isabel

"But he has CRUSTIES in his ear!"

my little Stud

Today why don’t you sit on the grass, relax and stare at the splendor of Isabel.

get as close as possible:

♫lauren

p.s. Hi David VP of staring at Isabel

When we decided to call our daughter Clio, we forever closed the door on another favorite name – Theodore, nickname Theo.

Or did we?

For every family that decides Maya and Milo are too similar, another embraces the sound-alike names.  Or insists that Alicia and Alina are totally different names.  Perhaps it never even occurs to them that Joanna and Jackson are both related to John.  Or maybe the first time you think of the famous actress is when you introduce your daughter Grace, little sister to Kelly and others ask if you’re a fan.

Siblings’ names will be said together countless times.  The names we like often have much in common.  So how can you tell if your choices make for a compatible sibset, or if they’re much too close?  Here are ten factors to consider.

10.  The names share the same meaning. This can be a subtle way to link siblings’ names.  Think Lucy and Claire.  One means light; the other, clear.  Felix and Asher both mean happy.

Trouble comes when your family of two ends up a family of four or five or more.  Your first two are the nicely paired Hazel and Ivy, but after using Olive and Jade, your choices for #5 narrow to Loden, Fern and Moss.

9.  The names share the same origins. Name aficionados know that Jacob and James are related.  I’ve groused that naming your twin daughters Isabella and Elizabeth is like naming them Mary Anne and Marianne.  Except that it’s not really so.

Origins aside, Jack and Sean make for a compatible pair of brothers’ names.  And Charles and Caroline seem different enough to be worn without incident.   Daniel and Danielle, however, don’t work.

8. You’ve neglected 25 letters of the alphabet. Sometimes this is unintentional.  You’re naming your sons after their grandfathers – Michael and Matthew.  Or you just happen to like the names Julia and Jason.

But let’s say you choose a letter with fewer options.  I remember hearing about a family with four sons – Henry, Heath, Hugo and Hatrick.  Are they hockey fans, or was Harvey not their style?  And if you’re on the second generation sharing the same syllable, your options might be very limited.

7. The names are linked in history or pop culture. If the movie was a bust, or we’re talking minor comic book characters, this matters not at all.  (You can safely ignore “But Sami named her twins John and Alice on Days of Our Lives.”)  Some combinations might appeal – think of daughters named for two Jane Austen heroines, as in Emma and Elinor.

But then there’s Gillian Anderson’s threesome – Piper, Oscar and Felix.  Her kids might not know The Odd Couple, but it is hard to imagine that it didn’t occur to mom.  Or the truly unthinkable – siblings named Romeo and Juliet, or even, in our Twilight era, Edward and Bella.  (Though it can happen after the fact – in which case, all you can do is laugh.)

6. Your choices can lead to same nickname. Sure, you never intend to call Kathryn or Katelyn by the nickname Katie.  But it could easily happen.  And how will their sister Annie feel about having an unrelated name?

This usually occurs because of #9 or #3.  But not always – Amelia and Marianna could both shorten to Mia.  Alexander and Natasha could both go by Sasha.  The harder you have to think about it, the less it becomes a concern.

5. Your favorites share the same ending. If you like Isabel, you might also like Annabel.  Ditto names like Parker, Carter and Harper.  But sharing the same ending is another sign that your favorites might be too close for comfort.

4. They nest like a Russian matryoshka. Does one name fit neatly inside the other?  Annika and Julian share an “an” but it isn’t glaringly obvious.

But Ella and Kellen seem like too much of a set.  And, in cases like Anna and Susanna, it feels as if one sibling’s name is just an elaboration, rather than an original choice.

3. They share the same first syllable. With #10 through #4, it is easy enough to come up with examples that work, despite being close in some ways.

But #3 takes us deep into the danger zone – can you imagine sisters called Madeline and Madison or Allison and Alexis?  (Photoquilty knows of a Madeline/Madison set – plus the dog answers to Maddie!)  How ’bout Jordan and Georgia?  A Supernanny episode featured twin girls Maile and Maila – pronounced Miley and Myla.

2. The names rhyme. Yes, there have surely been twin sisters called Cara and Tara.  But most parents – and siblings – would find it a bit too matched.

And yet, this is trickier than it sounds.   Timothy and James, Jeffrey and Stephanie and, of course, Benjamin and Jennifer all end up rhyming if you use the most common diminutives.

1. A combination of the above. Jackson and Jonathan are close, but probably on the right side of the line, while Jack and John don’t pass the test.

Jeffrey and Stephanie seem less troubling than the Hollywood power couple Benjamin and Jennifer.

Sarah and Laura are pretty close, but Laura and Maura would work only on fictional characters.

And so I’d love to know:  what choices have you had to reject because they’re just too close to your an older child’s name?

Hello pasty America.

The Isabel Stare-a-thon was all the buzz this year at Vamp Con 2009… and really vampires can be dangerous they can bring throngs of emo kids around you.

I just wanted to share a bit of information during this season: if you are Isabel be careful when you are in shadows… teen vampires think the Isabel Stare-a-Thon is totally suckalicious (’sucky’ to Vampires is good).

♫LAUREN

What is more professional than a laser pointer at a presentation?

If you said a laser stare during the Isabel Stare-A-thon you were right!

In this historic event where the people I torture (my friends) meet, you can get such an experience. Here is Eric (of the professional Ladies action) with Isabel (of Clay Aiken Fame) during this joyous time on the year:

Set all lasers to stare!

♫lauren

Besides major political things, Oprah and war etc.’s President Obama has many interests; such as butterflies, making wax statues, and staring at Isabel.

But since he is all the way at the White House it’s very hard for him to stare at Isabel. So he has put $400 billion dollars into a program that will track Isabel’s every move and send him crisp images of her 24/7.

Can you stare? Yes You can!

♫lauren

Sometimes you find Isabel in mysterious places:

keep on staring.

♫lauren

On a winter afternoon what is better than staring at Isabel?

the answer: nothing

♫lauren

Just a reminder that the Stare-a-thon is going strong!

If you see Isabel, don’t be afraid to stare, she knows that it’s her civic duty to catch all of your eye glances.

And remember… if Isabel is in a staring distance you stare at her… and do nothing else!

when will people learn?

♫lauren