Current Dating Sitch: SUCKY

Almost all of my blog posts lately have had to do with travel because that's been a huge part of life lately. Along with running. And laying out in the sun. And going out. Yes me, going out lately. Who would have thunk it? After being an anti-social hermit pretty much all year due to my ridiculously hectic schedule, constant exhaustion, and let's be honest, a serious lack of desire to go out, I have actually been less rigid and more open-minded this summer and therefore have allowed myself to have some fun. And date a little too. (Mostly a little because I have barely been in NYC this summer.) This change usually happens with me in the summer and as soon as school starts, I morph back into my usual rigid, über disciplined self.

Sweet Dreams

I love my sleep. It seems though no matter how much sleep I get I am always tired. But such is life. I aim to get 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Sounds like a lot, but if I don't get it, I am not so much a happy camper. Some nights I am fast asleep and don't remember a damn thing because I slept so soundly. Other nights I have some pretty random and pretty interesting dreams. The other night I was dreaming and in my dream my alarm clock went off. Strangely enough, my alarm clock went off in real life too. It was time to wake-up in both my dream and real life. I found it to be the weirdest thing. And the first time something like that had happened. I was telling someone about this that day and we started talking about all the weird things that happen in your dreams.

Sometimes I can remember dreams vividly and other times its all just a fog. Ever sleep with your celeb (or real) crush in a dream and wake up only to realize it was indeed only just a dream and not your reality? Such a bummer. Or wake up and be so glad what you just experienced while asleep was indeed only a dream and you are lucky it didn't actually happen. Whatever it may be, dreams can be so vivid and real for one sec and a blur the next sec. However, there are certain things that happen occasionally that I always remember and I think happen to a lot of people. I assume at least one of these has happened to you...

1) When you think you are falling and wake up to catch yourself.  In a dream, you fall. Whether its off a cliff, down a flight of stairs, on the street, whatever it may be. You all of a sudden wake up catching yourself as if you really fell. You may even shriek or scream. It's scary for a sec, then you realize you are safe and in your soft, comfy bed.

GUEST BLOG: Guilty Pleasures Without the Guilt

Many of my friends have been super supportive regarding my adventures in blog writing. They also happen to be very smart and witty. (Remember you are the company you keep!) I always encourage them to help a sister out and give them an opportunity to express themselves if they so desire. I mean, why should I be the only one able to rant about my life? With that being said, here is a guest blog, the first in looong time. Enjoy. 

If you are like me and a lot of my lady friends, whether you are texting, or talking face-to-face; at least part of your conversations include a confession of indulgences followed by a rationalization or apology. Often, we call these indulgences “guilty pleasures”. 

I started thinking about “guilty pleasures” and suddenly thought…Who the fuck said we had to feel guilty about our pleasures?

After talking about this with a few of my friends, I realized, women, or at least the women I know, feel guilty about pleasures that involve three things.

Our Bodies 

Have you ever found yourself pulling out your hair while watching TV?  Your thumb and forefinger focused, fixated and grasping for that particularly coarse strand or split end, anticipating the pleasure of tearing it out and glaring at it with pride before you let it float to the floor? Or perhaps, you’ve gone to brush your teeth and found yourself absorbed, for 20 minutes or more, pinching, prying and presssing that in-gown hair or pimple, knowing you will not sleep until you are rewarded with the overwhelming satisfaction of release? Maybe you are like Sylvia Plath and you derive “sexual” pleasure from the “illicit sensuous delight” of nose picking...

What's In MY BAG?

Last week I wrote an blog post similar to an article that is published in US Weekly every week. This week I decide to be a biter and follow their cue again, but this time with their "What's in MY BAG?" article. This article asks a celebrity (in this case me, again) what is in their everyday purse. I'm sure its not what's in there every single day, but in general, what do they have in their bag on a normal basis?

I have many purses and rotate them pretty often. But there are quite a few things I transfer each time or have in each bag. But my main bag, my black tote is my everyday bag. So, what's in MY Marc Jacobs tote? So glad you asked.

Never leave home without them.  I always, always, always have Chapstick and my iPhone with me. The thought of not having my Chapstick medicated (light blue tube) just makes my lips dry. I am most def addicted to it. And my other semi-addiction is my phone, obvs. This is a big fat duh. I feel naked without it. I need to know numbers and dates. And have music if I am walking around or taking along train ride. Plus I have games too and a camera if I see something or someone I must take a pic of.

25 Things You Don't Know About Me

Every Thursday I run to the mailbox to get my US Weekly. It's one of the best $52 I spend all year. It's a good magazine for someone like me that has ADD. The articles are pretty short and not too wordy (I am looking at you People!) so I can cruise through it without much thought and learn a ton. Usually by the time I get the magazine I know about 70% of what's in it (from the news and other blogs I read), but I still love reading it and catching up on all the new celeb gossip. I sometimes even get good book recommendations in there. Who would have thought?

Anyway, each week US has a featured "column" with a celebrity called "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" and the celeb goes ahead and lists 25 random fact about themselves. I always, always think to myself as I am reading this "What if US called me and asked me to do this? What would I write down?" Well, why should I wait for US when I have this great avenue to make this exact list? (And we all know how much I love lists!) The stuff I put on this list, some of you who know me well might already know, but others might learn something new about me.

50 Shades of Meh

As the weather gets nicer and nicer and my tanorexia sets in, my need to be outside more and more increases, and so does my desire to read. As big of a TV fan as I am, summer shoes are just okay and my DVR rarely has more than 3 shows on it at once. The combination of weather and bad summer TV gives me the opportunity to get in a lot more reading. I often do it by the pool, at the beach, or laying in Central Park. With that being said, one of the most popular trilogies right now that everyone is talking about is 50 Shades of Grey by E.L James.

I kept hearing about this book wherever I would go. Women of all ages were talking about it. My Facebook newsfeed was all abuzz about it. So of course I had to find out what all the fuss is about. But here's where it gets tricky. This is not your normal chick lit read. This is kind of soft core porn/erotica that has somehow become mainstream and totally acceptable to read. First it was available only on e-readers, then the paperbacks came out. What this means also is at first when women were reading it, no one else really knew it because it was on their Kindle, Nook, or iPad and no one could see the cover of the book. Now if someone is reading the real-deal book version, everyone knows. And lord help those nosey people that look over someone's shoulder on the train (I am raising my hand here!) to see what they are reading. They will probably blush quite a bit.

A Sea of Kleenex

I consider myself to be a very sensitive young lady. And I cry often. I feel like a good cry is so therapeutic and really helps release a lot of negative energy that might have built up. Sometimes I really look forward to a good cry. But sometimes they just creep up on me. Two triggers that I have are old people and obese people. Sometimes I will see these two types of people on the train, in a restaurant, or even just walking down the street, and I will just start to burst into tears. It's a problem. However, if I am home and need a good cry, I have some movies that will do the trick. These aren't my usual sports tear jerkers, but actual tear jerkers that normal people also cry at. If I don't feel like crying and these movies are on, I will usually avoid them at all costs because I don't want to deal with the puffiness and red-eyes that will linger. These are also movies that don't just have my eyes well-up and tears rolling down my cheeks; they are movies that I will literally be heaving, trying to catch my breath and have a sea of snot-filled Kleenex surrounding me. Not a pretty scene. But like I said, sometimes I am not allowed to watch these (self-imposed rule) unless I really need a good cry session. And you know what, sometimes those are just necessary. So when the time comes, these are the movies that I turn to.

1. The Notebook. Duh. What girl has seen this movie and bawled their eyes out? And even some dudes will actually admit to crying during this movie. I don't know what it is exactly that gets me every single time, but it does. I think its the fact that these two people have found love so real and intense that it will not be broken by anything. Not even Alzheimer's. This movie also is one that makes me feel sorry for myself. "Will I ever find a love like this? Who really is so lucky to find a true love this real? Does this happen anymore? I want this. I will never have this." These are the thoughts that go through my head during this movie. Over and over again. Maybe its unhealthy I watch this. Maybe I should stop. But damn, Ryan Gosling, you give me a little hope so I will continue to torture myself and watch this movie over and over again. 

Hungry for the Games

It's almost here. March 23. Random date, huh? No, it's not anyone I know's birthday or anniversary. I'm not heading anywhere exotic on vacation. And it's not the day that I am certain I will meet my future husband. Why its the opening of the Hunger Games movie. And I absolutely cannot wait. I know, I know, I sound like a huge loser making that statement, but I haven't been this excited to see a movie in a while.

I was first introduced to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Triology last year by a good friend of mine and a student of mine at different times. On separate occasions both of them told me what an amazing series this one and how I must, must read it. They both explained what the books were about to me in their own words, and my response was "um, that sounds dumb. It's so not for me." I mean, did I really want to read about a futuristic world where people are voted in once a year to fight to the death for others entertainment? No I did not. And when I was at the movie theater a little while after that and saw the trailer for the movie, I straight up didn't get it.

Singing Myself Home

I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's new book Sing You Home. One of the main characters in the book is a music therapist and at the beginning of the book, she goes on to explain how certain songs can evoke memories in people. How upon hearing a certain song, it can bring you back to that place emotionally. How you were feeling and experiencing at that time. In my opinion, this concept is so very true, and it started to make me think of songs that I hear and bring me back to certain (usually special) times in my life. I can think of numerous songs that I only need to hear the first five seconds of and they will transform back to a place in time. Sometimes that song might bring m back to a sad time, but usually the song takes me back to a very happy and fun time in my life. Below are 5 songs that I hear and right away and automatically get me transform me back to a "happy place."

1. Thong Song (Sisco) and Big Pimpin' (Jay-Z)  Remember back in the day, when big events would come up and you'd make a mix tape or a mix CD to remember that event. I use to make them all the time for flights when going on vacation and for road trips in college. One of the best mix CD's I ever made was for my senior year of high school spring break trip with my girlfriends. We went on a Carribbean cruise that spring break and it was such a fun time. We played that mix over and over again. I listened to it on the airplane and we played it on the deck of the ship and on the beach over and over again. Today, when I hear either of those songs, usually on shuffle on my iPod, I instantly get a smile on my face and can't help but shake my head to the beats of the music and the good times I had with my girlfriends on that trip. 

2. Forever Young (Rod Stewart) I will usually hear this song listening to classic rock on some random station in someone's car and it brings me back to seventh grade. This is the song that my Bat Mitzvah montage starts off with. As the song plays, there are pictures of me on the screen of me in different points of my life and you can see me growing up. The second I hear that song, I can picture that montage in my head. Damn, I was so adorable when I was little.

3. Ignition (R. Kelly) and In Da Club (50 Cent).  My junior year of college, my mom and I went to Florida for about 5 days together to visit my grandparents. We also made small road trips daily to Ft. Lauderdale, South Beach, etc... and would bump tunes in the car and sing along. We listened to a lot of hip hop and pop radio stations and these two songs were pretty mainstream and played on both stations so we heard them a lot. And we'd sing along and out loud each time. My mom also knew all the words to both songs so we'd really rock out the duets each time. This was one of the best trips I have ever been on. It was the first vacation my mom and I ever took just the two of us and really solidified our relationship. She is truly my best friend and its funny to think how much R. Kelly and 50 Cent could brought us so much closer.Whenever I hear these songs, I think of all our adventures that trip and all the memories we made together.

4. Crank That (Soulja Boy). Believe it or not, this song reminds me of Israel? You see, a little after this song became popular I went on my Birthright trip to Israel. I was one of 2 people on that trip from NYC so that automatically upped my street cred in the group, natch. Not only did I know the words to the song, I knew the dance too. Pretty fly for a white Jewish girl, right? The trip was 10 days long and there wasn't a day on that trip that we didn't hear that song and I didn't perform the dance for our entire travel group. By the end of the trip, most of our 40 person group knew all the dance moves and we would often just break into dance on the middle of our bus. Israel didn't know what was hitting 'em.

5. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor). Every year in middle school there was a talent show. In seventh grade, three friends and myself decided to enter the show and lip sync and dance to this song. We choreographed the entire dance and had color coordinated costumes. Basically, we were the shit. I mean, we practiced our butts off for this show and when it was our time to perform, we nailed it. All the practice, time, and energy we put into our act paid off. We were a hit. Also, for the rest of the year, when this song came on at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (which we may or may not have requested to the DJ), everyone circled around us as we danced our little hearts out with our awesome choreography. These days, I usually only hear this song at weddings or Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but you better believe I will whip out some of my old dance moves and show everyone that I've still got it.

Some of the songs I listed above might mean nothing to you at all. They might also bring back a completely different type of memory for you. However, for me, I know that even writing this post helped me reminisce of great times in my life and how much music can really affect someone and change their mood. With so much more to come in my life, I know I will be able to connect to so many more songs, both old and new, and make new memories with them.