2000

I remember seeing this dress for the first time.  Charlize was the first, in a long time, to channel the old hollywood glamour and it was a huge and memorable hit.    

Charlize Theron Vera Wang Dress

2001

Another monumental dress.  The night of the Oscars, not only did Julia win the Oscar, but this vintage Valentino also won her the best dressed acclamation.    

Julia Roberts Vintage Valentino Oscar Gown

2002

I can’t say I don’t remember this vintage looking cap sleeved lace Valentino gown.  Reese looks absolutely stunning.   

Reese Witherspoon in Lace Valentino Gown

 2003

Kate Hudson, spotted in the 2003 Oscars, in a regal champagne Versace gown looking stunning, and like a clone of her mother.  

Kate Hudson in a Champagne Versace

2004

Chloe Sevigny looks dazzling in this sequined cocktail dress.  The only thing I am thinking about is, I want this dress NOW!  It fits perfectly in 2010.  

Chloe Sevigny in a silver cocktail dress

2005

Ahhh, the power of a female back.  This amazing Guy Laroche midnight blue gown looks demure from the front, but the back speaks sexy.  This was by far the first time Hilary Swank looked like a real woman.  

Hilary Swank in Midnight Blue Guy Laroche Gown

The sexy back!

2006

It was hard for me to pick between Keira Knightley and Michelle Williams.  But Keira won!  I don’t know if it is Michelle’s dress color on her skin tone or just that you can never go wrong with Valentino and White? 

Keira Knightley in White Valentino

2007

Georgina Chapman, one half of the Marchesa design duo, looked stunning at the Vanity Fair Party, in none other than a Marchesa gown.  Who doesn’t love Marchesa, and THIS one especially? 

Georgina Chapman in Marchesa

2008

Penelope Cruz is the definition of modern day classic.  I don’t know what this dress is, but I love it.  

Penelope Cruz in a Ruffled Train Gown

2009

This was a hard one.  I didn’t like the pictures they chose, AT ALL, but I decided to pick my favorite fashionista of the year. Rihanna that is.  

Rihanna in Dolce & Gabbana

Reese is already practicing his “caw” so he too can someday be part of the Mean Green at UNT.

Goodness, the weather certainly was frightful. Reese Moose wished he had a fire, because that would have been delightful. Still, he had nowhere to go, so he supposed he might as well let it snow.

Hilary Duff, the former Lizzie McGuire actress was in New York City in May 2009, filming her guest appearance on long-running crime drama Law & Order: SVU. Also on hand for the taping were Law & Order: SVU stars Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay—the latter of whom has just returned to work following her ongoing lung-related illnesses.

Crime-related roles seem to be Duff’s plan for moving on from her tweener roots. The 22-year-old is slated to star in an upcoming movie about 1930s bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, which is due to begin filming in 2010.

Is he an underused masculine appellation or one that’s gone to the girls?

Thanks to Dearest for suggesting Taran as Name of the Day.

There’s a good case for Taran as an underused boys’ name, one that would fit right in with Orion.  In Celtic mythology, Taranis was the god of thunder.  He’s been equated to the Norse Thor and the Roman Jupiter – it’s a rough bunch.  Another related mythological figure wore the name Tuireann.  And, of course, the diminutive -an is seen in many an Irish appellation from up’n'comer Ronan to the overexposed Aidan.

Factor in ancient gods like the Hurrian Teshub, Hattian Taru and Hittite Tahrun – all associated with thunder – and there’s a case that this is a great choice for a boy’s name.

Beyond the gods, there’s also a seventh century King of the Picts called Taran.

But suggest Taran on a modern message board and he’ll almost surely be rejected as a girl’s name.

Blame it on Tyrone Power.  The Hollywood leading man named his second daughter Taryn in 1953, apparently as a feminine version of Tyrone.

And why not?  Karen was a Top Ten name in the 1950s, with Sharon not far behind.  And while Tara was decades away from her peak, Power was part of Hollywood when Gone With the Wind graced the silver screen.  Taryn first appeared in the US Top 1000 in 1955.  She peaked at #228 in 1985, during the era of Megan, Kristin and Lauren.

No wonder she sounds more than a smidge girly today.  Factor in orthopedic-surgeon-turned-shoe-magnate Taryn Rose, plus actress Taryn Manning (she plays Nola in Hustle & Flow) and you’re forgiven if you think Taran is unwearable by a boy.

Except.

This is 2009.  The era when Taylor, Reese, Baylee, Jordan and Peyton share the same playground, but not the same locker room.  While Taran has never cracked the US Top 1000, there are a few to be found, including:

• Fictional foundling-turned-king Taran in the Chronicles of Prydain, a young adult fantasy series penned  by Newberry Medal-winning Lloyd Alexander;
• Two of Alexander’s books became the 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron.  The young hero’s name remains Taran.  While it was a bust at the box office, a remastered version is slated for release in June 2010;
• Actor Taran Killam was most recently seen as Jimmy on Scrubs;
• In the 1990s, Taran Noah Smith played youngest son Mark on ABC’s smash hit Home Improvement;
• Taran Adarsh is a film critic seen on India’s Zee TV.

Want further evidence that Taran would wear well on a boy?  Baby Name Guesser indicates that it is 3.812 times more likely for Taran to be a boy’s name.

(Of course their most masculine name list includes gems like Scruff and Tinky Winky.  I’m not certain what that measure means.)

If an NFL quarterback can be called Peyton and parents can cautiously re-claim names like Kelly and Ashley for their sons, Taran seems like fair game.

He’s cross-cultural, ancient and, for better and for worse, truly unisex.

Originally I intended to write this entry about the 75 words on page 26 of today’s London Metro under the headline of Gitmo inmates sent to mainland prison. President Obama has decided to move 100 prisoners to a prison in North Illinois and an official claims that ‘closing Guantanamo Bay will remove a deadly recruiting tool from Al-Qaeda.’ That is great! Hoorah! Well done! Hang on a minute…is this the same Guantanamo Bay that America itself used to detain prisoners in, using highly controversial interrogation methods?

Like I said I was going to write about that, when later on in the day another story broke or rather: broke again. Once more it was rumoured that Reese Witherspoon (my girl crush – see previous post) and Jake Gyllenhaal split. I know. Nightmare! Reese after winning an Oscar and clearly trumping her husbands career achievements became a divorcee with two children- at what 31?, found new love in beautiful 4 year younger man (hoorah, well done!) and managed to keep very discreet about it. That – Mr Tom Cruise- is something that a few people could learn…

Yes I know, she has is famous and succesful, yes I know she has been through a divorce and yes I know, she has two children and yes I know, he is four years younger. But. It. Would. Have. Been. Nice. Why do I care so much – you ask? When there are people dying and being abused in say, Guatanamo Bay? Because wouldn’t it be nice to know that despite people going through atrocities in the world, despite women being successful, despite people going through divorce, despite people already having two children by others and despite age differences between partners - love still happens?

Love is beautiful but complicated.

Everything is so fragile when you first start seeing someone, nobody wants to really bare their soul on the first date even if they do show their knickers. ( Which by the way one should only after date three and then you still don’t sleep with someone until you both love each other very much and are both financially stable.) There is excitement and fear at the same time especially as George Michael tells us so often these days, when you have been once bitten. But then your friends start to recognise you are behaving weirdly and before you know it you have described your new man from the funny thing he said to the cute little mole above his eyebrow over a glass or two or a bottle of Pinot and there is no way back. Especially if he then texts and your friends dissect his message to a degree of  PhD in male psychology: if the jury’s verdict is positive then despite all your efforts to play it cool, it is hook line and sinker.

Now comes the tricky part, you both are clearly keen and the game is pretty much up – how do you keep it fresh and prevent anyone getting bored and moving on? (See how I don’t specify gender here; it is because yours truly does acknowledge the thrill of the chase and the sugar-low afterwards!) I believe keeping your own life would be a good one, doing things on your own so it is still exciting to see the other and to be able to tell them things. New things. Not the things that you have told them about the laundry before when they just didn’t listen. Luckily my friends think the same (that is why they are my friends) and especially when we all get together which takes an awful lot of planning – the next one is set for March -we hardly ever get introduced to each other’s partners. This does lead to an interesting conundrum around this time a year: the Christmas card. Do you address it to just your friend OR to friend and partner? I on principle decided the former, only to receive several Christmas cards signed by the latter…I’d like to state that there are exceptions to my ‘principle’: civil partnership or marriage. Frankly I am so in awe of this institution that it warrants a mention on the Christmas card. 

Thus to wrap it all up… Dear Mr Gyllenhall, we’re at the end of 2009 so surely you must know by now that if you like it then you better put a ring on it; and when you do, I promise I will happily mention you in my card for 2011.  

We spent some time baking and decorating sugar cookies on Saturday. 

It was the first time we’ve ever baked them from scratch, and we had a lot of fun.  Okay, I got a little frustrated, because mine kept tearing when I tried to transfer them to the cookie sheet.  George’s turned out perfect each time, of course. 

Laura gave me her sugar cookie recipe, but I didn’t have all of the necessary ingredients, so I used this Mrs. Field’s recipe.  I did use Laura’s icing recipe, and it was easier to make than I expected.  A few colors I made a bit too runny, but they still tasted good.

Here’s how they turned out.  Laura, don’t laugh.

George didn’t want Rudy to be left out, so he made him a few cookies too. 

Rudy was thrilled!

Now, if you want to see some really fun sugar cookies, check out some of Laura’s creations here and here.

Sending an arms-full of good wishes your way for a fun, healthy, & prosperous new year!

George and I think Reese is going to be the class clown when he’s in school. 

See?  He loves to entertain. 

Today I saw a different side of him.   We had to go back to the doctor, because Reese has had a runny nose and a bad cough for 7 weeks straight.  While we were in the waiting room, Reese was playing with 4 other little boys about his age.  He climbed up on a slide where another boy was standing and started touching the boy’s hair.  I knew this wouldn’t end well, because I could tell he wanted to pull his hair.  (It was kind of long on top – perfect for pulling.)  I told him no and shook my head.  He stopped.

And then Reese whacked him over the head with a block.

When I got onto him, he proceeded to do what we call the “evil laugh”.  He does this fake laugh when he gets in trouble, as if to say, “Ha, ha!  I don’t care what you say!”

It was really hard not to laugh in response to Reese’s evil laugh.  But I didn’t.  The little boy was fine, but did go tell his mother he’d been hurt.

I keep saying that I won’t know how to deal with Reese if he turns out to be the class clown, but I think I’d prefer that option over him becoming the class bully.

Labl’d – Weight of an Empty Room

Tracklist:
Joy Orbison- Hyph Mngo
Simian Mobile Disco- Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)
Havocndeed feat. Theresa Joy- Vindicta
NastyNasty- No Names
B. Rich feat. Reese- Make Me Dance (J. Rabbit Remix)
Emalkay- When I Look At You
Daedelus- For Withered Friends (Mumdance & High Rankin Remix)
Buraka Som Sistema- Restless
Little Boots- Remedy (A1 Bassline Remix)
Crystal Fighters- Xtatic Truth (L-Vis 1990 Remix)
Afrojack- Hard Love
Sticky & Natalie Storm- Look Pon Me
Max Morrel- Girls Meltdown
Lykke Li- Dance Dance Dance (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)
Dances With White Girls- And How We Live
Wolfmother- New Moon Rising (Riton Vocal Rub)
Congorock- Exodus (Malente Remix)
Diplo & Blaqstar- Get Off (Jack Beats Remix)
Amanda Blank- Might Like You Better (NROTB Remix)
Kid Sister- Right Hand Hi (Kill The Noise Remix)
Djedjotronic- Dirty & Hard
Boy 8-Bit- The Cricket Scores

Back in the summer, George, Jessi and I took Reese to Peter Piper Pizza.  Reese had a blast running around “playing” all of the games and trying out the rides.  His favorite was the ice cream truck.  Unfortunately, Peter Piper Pizza just closed down.  I guess we’ll have to check out Chuck-E-Cheese’s.

Reese really loves his kitty. Poor Jenny…

Today the Lippmanns and then the Otterlees joined us to celebrate Thanksgiving 2009. No drama, no episodes, just great food and friends. A few pics:

Ronnie did a great job on the table.

Sophia may be Finn's biggest fan.

The family Lippmann.

There's a device I could have lived without.

Finn with his momma.

Reese and me.

Jayne, Grant and Mark Otterlee.

Reese with Grant and Auntie Jayne.

The host and hostess.

Reese, pondering the meaning of life in Ollie's daybed.

Very, very full.

Still wondering if Otter has teeth.

Warning: This topic may be a bit too racy for my conservative readers, but should you bear with me, you might just experience a necessary awakening.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing In The Next Room (or the vibrator play) on Broadway with my girlfriend Alessandra Hirsch.  The best introduction as to the content of this play is to simply re-tell a true story told by one of the fictional characters:

When the English art critic John Ruskin married Miss Effie Gray in 1849, they spent their honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands.  Both were young, healthy, and attractive people, but never, on their honeymoon or in the six subsequent years of their marriage, did they succeed in having sex.  After great bitterness, their marriage was annulled by an ecclesiastical court on the grounds of non-consummation.  In a deposition made to his lawyer, Ruskin testified in his own defense that on their wedding night, when he saw his wife naked, he was horrified.  He had seen many representations of naked women in classical sculpture, and none of them had pubic hair.  He thought this was a deformity of his wife’s part and was thoroughly disgusted by her body.

The Source of Happiness by Phyllis Rose

Sure, we can look back at this story and snobbishly lift our chins, proudly gawking at how far we have progressed as a society of human beings.  The Victorian way of life believed that absolute innocence was the purest, most respectable way of living life.  To them, ignorance was truly bliss.  Their unawareness led to sexless marriages, thus unhappy husbands and wives, and countless divorces on grounds such as the aforementioned.  Could anything positive possibly stem from this torturous life style?  OH WAIT I KNOW: VIBRATORS!  (And Sarah Ruhl’s amazing play, of course!)

Did you know that vibrators were the first in-home electrical appliance?  Even before hairdryers or electric griddles, women were buzzin’ their way to ecstasy.  Doctors would use in-office vibrators on women suffering hysteria.  They began treating women using a nice “genital massage since the fifth century B.C., and, quite frankly, they were tired of it – too time-consuming, fatiguing, and difficult to learn” (Sex & Serendipity by Rachel Maines).  Before Freud, hysteria was an unknown illness caused by “the revolt of the uterus against neglect”, thus the vigorous massage to release the anxiety.  “The idea was to produce a crisis of the disease, like the breaking of a fever, which, in the case of hysteria, was called the hysterical paroxysm.  This condition was characterized by heavy breathing, contractions, and discharge of moisture” (Maines).

In other words, an orgasm.

Yes, we have come far in our quest for sexual liberation, but I believe our discoveries have only begun.  If I should mention the word sex around any adult in New Castle, PA, most (with the exception of a few) will blush and quickly change the subject.  In my experiences, I have learned that many people are afraid of its power and stricken with some form of religious guilt.  Whatever the case may be, there are still women (and men) feeling shameful for desiring something completely natural and totally human.

Take me, for instance.  I lost my virginity in a Chevy S10 in some alley behind a deserted house, or shed, I don’t remember.  What I do remember is having sex because that person wanted me to, not necessarily because it was something I desired.  I felt pressured, and immensely guilty.  Because I was so tense, it was impossible for me to indulge even the slightest bit.  Plus, with all the PG-13/R movies I had seen with sex scenes (namely the Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe scene in  Cruel Intentions), I had this false idea of what it was supposed to be like, how I was to perform, how I was to sound, etc, etc.  I felt as if I was watching myself have sex, where my body was just rolling with the punches.  So fornication was never a result of passion that organically spawned from me, but served merely as an act of generous guilt.  Not a guilty pleasure even.  Just simple, straight-forward shame.

Not to mention the LACK of orgasms I was experiencing during my earlier sexual encounters.  Oh, God.  And somehow, I convinced myself that this was okay. Ladies, it’s not okay. Yes, we are more difficult to decipher, but our ability to climax is necessary to our health.  It’s a positive thing.  And let’s face it: it’s awesome!

I am writing today to express my love of the female body and all of its complications, its quirks, and its secrets.  Time warp alert: GIRL POWER!  Abstinence is a nice thing if you choose it for yourself, but if someone else chooses it for you against your will, then you are only fighting against your own nature.  Your body is gorgeous, your heart is beautiful, and you are allowed to express the amazing-ness that is you in any way you desire.  In the play, the two main women played with the vibrator on each other (clothes on, of course) – it was a fun game, and they bonded over the different experiences each one had during her own orgasm.  They listened to their bodies demands, and followed suit, no questions asked.  This is not barbaric, slutty behavior: this is instictual, powerful, and beautiful.

Funny little fact: most women experience their first orgasm by themselves.

Another funny little fact: women who masturbate are more likely to be open and comfortable in a first-time sexual encounter than women who are clueless as to how their own bodies function.

Just like DNA, every woman is unique.  You should name your flower, and know every detail down to the tip of the stem.

Happy Hump-Day!  Let’s make every day hump day!

Stay Blessed,

Bry

So…

Chief is known to get the munchies early in the morning. We all know WHY he gets the munchies so lecturing him on laying off the chocolate or how diabetes runs in his family and his sugar is probably in the 40,000 range means nothing.

And because we all know why he gets the munchies, I told him that he had to keep his munchie-stash out of the kitchen. There is NO reasons for the kids to get the munchies other then their kids and munch. So if we want to prevent Spaz from getting so big that he can’t fit through the door, then the candy and the cookies and the mini pies can’t be in their reach.

So Chief keeps them in his night table drawer.

Yesterday, our really cool vendor that gives us really cool stuff at a really cool.. ridiculously low price delivered about four cases of Keebler Peanut Butter Chunk Chocolate Chip cookies.

I swear that Chief’s eyes rolled back into his head and his body quivered like a rookie actress in one of those low low low budgeted porno flicks. So I rolled my eyes “FINE” and grabbed a pack for home.

I smuggled them into the bedroom before the kids could see them and promptly forgot about them.

I’m not a cookie / cake / pie / ice cream person so once they left my hands they also left my conscienceness.

Fast forward to this morning.

Chief usually wakes up first :: rather, I usually kick him awake because he NEVER hears the alarm :: .. gets dressed.. takes the dogs out.. and promptly gives them a treat when they come back in.

Then he wakes me up.. leaves for work.. and I spend the next 20 minutes yelling at the dogs that are weaving themselves in and out of my legs that NO MORE! ALL GONE! GO LAY DOWN! JESUS CHRIST YOU ALREADY HAD A TREAT!

The funny thing is, Bella knows what the word “treat” is so when I say it, she tries to get up on her hind legs and dance in circles but she’s too fat and usually just tips over like a weeble.. all the while making this WHOO WHOO WHOO sound.

So the whole cycle starts all over again..

Anyway.. THIS morning, they kept on prancing around the night table. I didn’t think anything about it because in between yelling at them, I’m yelling at Bubba to get his ass out of bed and doing some serious clock watching.

He finally gets up .. I wake up Spaz.. We leave.. I return.. Walk into my bedroom and what do I find?

The night stand drawer is open.. the wrapper from the cookie package is shredded on the bedroom rug so it looked like a tinsel factory exploded and there’s and the empty plastic tray that USUALLY holds cookies is sticking out of the drawer.

Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy IMMEDIATELY dives under the bed for cover. Bella TRIES to do something but she’s too wide so she basically attempts to put the Sad-Dog face on and telepathically convince me that is was ALL ERNIE.. even though she had crumbs stuck to the fur under her chin.

So.. taking a deep breath.. I call Chief

ME: Hey.. um.. yknow those cookies I brought home last night?

CHIEF: Yea..

ME: You had them in your nightstand, didn’t you?

CHIEF: Whhhyyyy????

ME: You had them there, right?

CHIEF: Ok

ME: OMG! I’m not accusing you of anything I’m only asking if that’s where they were

CHIEF: Well, I don’t know.. I hate when you ask me questions that you already know the answers to because it’s like you’re going to holler at me or something

ME: I DO NOT!

CHIEF: Yes you do.. you get all like “Uh huh” “Uh huh” “yea, right”

ME: Tsk! Whatever.. that’s not the point.

CHIEF: Then what is the point? That I can’t keep stuff in my night table?

ME: THE DOGS GOT INTO YOUR NIGHT TABLE AND ATE ALL YOUR COOKIES

CHIEF: What?

ME: You didn’t hear me?

CHIEF: No. . I heard you but I had the drawer closed. They actually opened the drawer?

ME: Yep.. the knobs are loose

CHIEF: OMG.. they actually opened the drawer. It was Ernie, right? Ernie did it? I guess so because Bella’s teeth would probably fall out

ME: I doesn’t matter which one did it.. THEY ATE A WHOLE THING OF COOKIES

CHIEF: Um. It wasn’t a whole pack. We were up at 2:30 eating them.

ME: We?

CHIEF: Um.. yeeaaaa.. me and the dogs

ME: Oh my fucking God. You ate cookies WITH them.

CHIEF: So that would explain it…

ME: Well.. you can do all that explaining when you have to clean up all the diarrhea and vomit that’s sure to happen.

CHIEF: They’ll be fine

ME: Yeeaahhh… guess you forgot about the time they ate a whole case of Reese cups huh?

CHIEF: shit

ME: Exactly

Video should work now…

While Reese and I were sick we watched copious amounts of 90210.  Like his mom and dad, he is now a huge fan of the theme song.  Check out this video of him watching it, and be sure to watch all the way to the end.

P.S.  I think he wet his diaper halfway through.  See if you notice when he does it.

After watching Reese suffer through the flu, and now battling it myself, I completely recant what I said about getting the flu shot. 

Last night I felt so horrible I thought I was going to die.

Take it from me, stop what you’re doing and go get  yourself a flu shot!

Today the Otterlee and Jenkins fams rode the Santa Train in North Bend. It wasn’t the longest of journeys — the brochure said three miles but it felt like three hundred yards. Nevertheless it was a fun way for us to spend a Friday afternoon. A few pics:

The train arriving at the station.

Mom and Finn standing in the queue.

A view from inside.

Brother and sister.

Sidekick Grant makes an appearance.

About as close as we can get to them posing.

Uh ... if only we could have a caption contest.

This part didn't go so well ...

Jayne, Otter and Grant Otterlee.

Our fam -- and if we're not careful, our Christmas family photo for 2009.

Today the Jenkins fam headed over to the Roosevelt Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods Market) to celebrate Sophia Cheuk’s fourth birthday. About 20 or so families were in attendance for kids’ cookie making. A few photos:

These are going to be some tasty cookies.

Ted Naff is having more fun that he's letting on.

John Naff is none too impressed with Reese -- yet.