Just Chillin'

Welcome back skittles! We hope you enjoyed a wonderfully long Memorial Day weekend. As for the two of us, we enjoyed a fabulous weekend that started with margaritas on Saturday and ended with blogging and photo taking on Monday. But, as with everything else we do, there were definitely a lot of laughs and tragic people to discuss. So, let's begin.

Saturday
12ish pm - Put the top down on Princess and drove over to pick up Joe. We decided that margaritas were very necessary and bee-lined it to On The Border. Good 'ole On The Border never disappoints for either good margaritas or train wrecks to discuss. Since the former doesn't need describing (two words: Sangria Swirl) let's begin with the latter and tell you about our very excited waiter that brought us our guacamole on a leaf. A leaf... really? Did we run out of bowls in the kitchen? This same waiter also brought us our lunch. And, then didn't leave. He lingered awkwardly after making the obvious announcement that our food had arrived. Almost waiting for an invitation to join us and our guacamole leaf. Sorry, this is a BFF lunch only.

2:00 pm - Following a leisurely lunch we went to our favorite place... hello, Starbucks! But, as we were leaving we noticed the second tragedy of the day. Parked next to Princess was a ginormous black, over chromed Hummer. Now, we're all about some bling, but do the reflector lights really need chrome flames shooting out of them (we all know that Joe's car is really the only one that should be shooting flames). The observation immediately caused Joe to shout, "what did you win the lottery and not know how to spend your money?" Um, we could help.

2:30 pm - Two vienti Java Chip Light Frappuccinos with Mint (one with espresso and one without) later and we found ourselves on the patio at Starbucks being completely fabulous. However, we've learned that fabulousness comes with a price tag - it's called groupies. Being the good Starbuck-patron that he is, Joe has found that there is one particular employee that always seems a little over eager to shout out his name. I'm not kidding. We're sitting on the patio at Starbucks sipping our frappuccinos when this particular Starbucks employee suddenly shouts "Hi JOE!". Um.... uh... hi? {insert awkward pause} Now, resume normal conversation with Gracie. Let's move on.

Monday
10:45 am - There really were not tragic people on Monday, we just wanted to share with you how cute we are. You see, these outfits did not just happen. After a series of calculated wardrobe changes (approximately 12 between the two of us), we finally caught the same vibe. And, viola! Joe comes to pick me up for lunch at Panera and we're wearing similar outfits.

1:00 pm - With a Starbucks cup in both hands, we head back to my house to hang out and listen to music.

Yep, it has been a really stressful weekend, ya'll. Can't you tell? We might need to go to Starbucks one more time ;)

DIY: Accessories

Bet you thought our show got cancelled, huh?? Well not to be concerned because it hasn’t . . . we have both just been busy with our other side projects (that’s what we in the business say when we’ve been distracted) and haven’t had a time to collect our thoughts.

So – with that being said, this episode is all about DIY Fashion. In today’s economy, it’s important to not only be fashion conscious, but to be dollar conscious as well. Not something I’m necessarily known for . . . but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Today’s DIY Fashion is on accessories. I don’t use the term jewelry b/c that immediately turns guys off from listening, and let’s face it, guys like to accessorize as well. Making accessories isn’t all that time consuming, can let out a creative muse, and help you jazz up an old outfit for pennies on the dollar.

Case in point . . . In the pic above . . . I’m currently wearing a leather cord necklace with a peace emblem and some beads on it to jazz up my brown t-shirt. The necklace probably would retail for around $15. Not too steep – but try this on . . . I made it for about $5. Simple statement, sets off my ensemble, and I didn’t spend like a rockstar. Oh, and it took about 10 minutes to make.

On my wrist, you’ll see some custom bracelets. The rainbow bracelet is made of copper wire twisted together, while the beaded bracelets are strung on a thin plastic elastic thread. The beads are grey metal and black metal (with a hint of blue glint). To make it a bit fun I also did some antique silver smiley face beads. Entire bracelet set cost about $8 to make, would probably retail for around $25. Yeah, it makes good sense, and cents . . .

Now Gracie has taken making jewelry to a whole other level, and girl is peddling her stuff on Etsy – don’t believe me just check it out here . . . Gracie's Etsy Shop . . . I mean she’s working on becoming the next Paula Abdul. I’m just waiting for her to tell me she has gotten a reality show or on QVC . . . and lord knows I’ll be there with her!

So – the point here is simple – Fashion doesn’t have to cost a fortune. DIY Accessories are the way to go . . . and if you don’t have the creative bug you can always visit Gracie’s online store. Let her know I sent ya!

“About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs.”
Manolo Blahnik

Seriously?: Fame Expires in 15 Minutes Heidi

Hey Skittles!! It’s time again for a little rant in our segment we like to call – Seriously??

Seriously??

Heidi Mont-whatever-her- freaking-last- name is has landed on the cover of another magazine?? I fail to see why an insecure twit whose only talent is pretending to love, not love, love, and not love some guy that in real life she doesn’t love is famous. I mean, seriously . . . when was the last time that a “reality” show was actually reality?

I’m not sure what she does to be famous other than be annoying. And her latest issue is that she’s now “addicted” to plastic surgery. And it was “Hollywood’s” fault that she had 10 procedures in one day and wants more. And leave it to People (or as I call it Creople – b/c it’s just so sleezy and creepy now) to put her on the freaking COVER of the magazine.

Are we even pretending that this is journalism?? I love how they have her wear some slinky dress, put on her sexy face (or maybe that’s her only face now b/c of botox) and then at the very bottom they ask “has she gone too far?” like anyone that magazine is marketed to is going to say yes.

Here’s the bottom line Skittles . . . Hollywood has gone too far in glorifying beauty and youth (I know, like that’s a huge statement from Capt. Obvious me) and it’s just a bit sad. I’m fairly certain I can live my entire life without ever seeing Heidi who-her-face and Creople again . . .

PS – I just got a text message from the Grim Reaper, it was about Heidi’s fame. Yeah, it’s dead.

TTFN!

The List: Must Have iPhone Apps

Happy Friday, dear readers!  To celebrate the beginning of the weekend, we felt it necessary to let you in on some little bits of wonderfulness that make our lives, and soon will make yours, so much sweeter.  Now, let me start out by asking: did we mention that we have iPhones?  Just in case you missed it, we do.  Okay, with that established, you can assume that our crack... ahem, iPhones are always with us.  Joe loves his so much that he said thanks for his at Thanksgiving.  But, the part of our iPhone that we love (other than having our music with us at all times) is that you can download all kinds of cool apps that make life so much easier and enjoyable.  So, here's our Top 10 list of must-have apps for your iPhone.  These are in no particular order, but trust us, they are all very necessary. 

Joe's List

Pandora Radio

Everyone hates listening to the radio these days. First, it’s all looped – so you end up hearing the same 5 songs over and over and over. (Radio totally ruined Owl City’s Fireflies ~ side note) Second – commercials. They are always extremely obnoxious and really, really loud. Kind of like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum in your lap while sitting on one of those commuter jets. Enter Pandora Radio – an application that streams music over the network straight to your iPhone. The cool part about it is that you put in a few artists – and it will start playing not only those songs, but other songs by other artists that people like that also like your artists. AND – you give it a thumbs up or down . . . the app LEARNS what you like to listen to and will play it. It’s Freakalicious!

Facebook
Or as I like to call it . . . Crackbook. Yes, it’s totally addictive and I love updating it all the time. Plus – I can check it at work since we’re not allowed to have internet access and I can have something to doodle with if I’m bored. Yes . . . we all know how much we love our Crackbook . . .

Occasions
Every person that is ADD needs this app. It’s not free (I think it was 2 bucks) but soooooooooooo worth it! It stores every date you ever need to remember. Birthdays, Anniversaries, First Dates, 10th time that you got a chili dog at Sonic . . . whatever! Then, when the dates coming up, it will give you an alert so you won’t forget. Seriously – It’s awesome! Trust me! B’okay?

Sportacular
It’s way better than ESPN Scorecenter . . . let’s get that out of the way right now. If you don’t trust us . . . ask Mr. Paul – he’s got it on his iPhone too! I don’t really have time to follow sports, but I am a sports fan. I loves my Aggies and Cowboys . . . and we all know about Gracie and her Tarheels . . . and this app allows you to set up your favorite teams and alerts to how things are going. You can set it up to let you know when a score changes, alert you at the end of halves or quarters, or the games. PLUS – it will remind you there are games coming up in case you don’t have the schedule committed to memory. Trust me – it’s not just b/c I’m trying to be butch and have a sports app on my iPhone . . . I swear!

AP Mobile

News alerts from the AP wire. Simple, and effective. Again . . . no time for tv right now, so it really keeps me connected to what’s happening in the world. I do have several news ones on my phone (USA Today, NY Times, WSJ, etc.), but this one sends you an alert when there is a breaking story. It can be comical about what is considered a “breaking” story – but since I’ve had this app I’ve always known about the latest happenings and been able to impress my friends and colleagues with how connected I am. And after all, it you can’t one up your coworkers . . . what good is a news app?

Gracie's List

Yellow Pages Mobile

Between E-mail, E Readers, and a website for practically everything, who really needs a hardcopy of anything anymore?  Enter Yellow Pages Mobile.  This handy little app will let you search for the business or category of businesses that you're looking for and will provide you with the name, address, and phone number once you find it.  Then, wait for it.... you can tap on the phone number and it will dial it for you!  No need for pen and paper to write it down and then enter in the number.  It's a one stop shop!  It will also let you save the business name, address and number in your contact list for later use if you should need it again!  Now, go get this app and recycle your yellow pages!  You've been meaning to clean out that junk drawer in your kitchen anyway. 

Style.com
Okay... so we all know that Joe and I love us some shoes and we're constantly on the hunt for new clothes.  Girl's gotta look cute!  So, I read this app religiously every night before bed.  It gives me my daily fix of the newest runway shows, designer collections, fashion blogs, and basically gives you everything that you would find at In Style.com.  You can even vote for the Look-of-the-day. One word: obsessed.

Shazaam
We've all been there.  We're in our car, at a bar, in Starbucks... wherever, when a song comes on that we've never heard before.  "I've gotta know what that song is!"  And, then there was Shazaam.  One press of a button and voila!  You know the song title, artist, and it even connects you to iTunes so that you can buy it if you like it that much! 

Are you noticing a theme here... simplicity, anyone?

Backgrounds
This app is Pimp My Ride meets the iPhone.  I mean, what's the point of having an iPhone if it's not totally cute?! This app gives you tons of pictures to chose from so you constantly have the cutest iPhone on the block.  Just search for the style you're channeling that day, or look through the most recent photos.  Find the one you like, save it and make it your wallpaper. Yep, it's just the simple.   

Guitar Rock 2
Okay, so this list would not be complete without, at least, one game.  I mean let's face it, if there is something that our iPhones are really good for, it's keeping us entertained in boring places (i.e. dentist's office waiting rooms, long flights, trips to the DMV, work... wherever).  So, I felt it shameful to not include at least one.  Now I love me some Rock Band and can belt out Bon Jovi while rockin' the guitar like it's no body's business.  But, when I can't have my living room band (The TarHawks, for anyone who cares) with me, this app does the trick.  It's just like playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band complete with colors and notes streaming toward ya! Trust me, it was the best $5 ever spent.

Alrighty, now you know.  So, go get yourself some new apps.  Trust us, they're totally fabuloso.  We have 'em and our precious iPhones aren't worthy of anything less!

Have a great weekend!

Fashion Intervention: 5 Too Many

Hey Skittles!! So, a must have winter accessory is the scarf. Typically, winter coats come in just a few colors - and most of the time look rather dreary - kind of like the weather. The one way that you can jazz up your bundled toucas is to don a fun, even flirty scarf. As you can see in the picture, I happen to have just a few scarves, but could definitely have a few more.

Now . . . we all appreciate the scarf, we all love the scarf, but honeys . . . let's face it. We've all seen that tragic person walking by us that might have put on one too many. Or 2 too many . . . or in the case of our fashion victim, we'll call her Sally Jean, 5 too many. But before we get to Sally Jean, let's go over the rules of scarf wearing.

1. Brightly colored scarves on dark coats look fantastic. Brightly colored anything clashing with your over processed red hair and pancake face make up are typically what those of us in the know would call a "don't". I'm just sayin . . .

2. The scarf should be warn to accessorize the outfit. It's okay if it also happens to keep your neck warm. Don't use the scarf for any other reason.

3. Do not match your hair or make up to the scarf. Gracie or I will slap you. And if we're not there one of our loyal Skittles will do it.

4. As a general rule, although it does apply to scarf wearing, LESS is MORE.

Case Study: Sally Jean

I love me some DFW International Airport people watching. There are so few places in the world where you can sit and watch soooo many fashion victims pass you by. It's almost like fighting a midget. You know you shouldn't watch and gawk, and probably should break it up, but that whole train wreck mentality kicks in and you just can't help but watch it go down. That's what happened to Sally Jean.

Sally Jean is most probably a native of Dallas. I'd even wager that she resides in or near the Highland Park area (the Jerry Jones side of town for those not familiar with the area). She had beautiful designer luggage, some fantastic boots, a cute belt, and about 5 too many scarves around her neck.

See -- Sally Jean is kind of a big girl. And in an effort to hide the fact that the seams on her shirt were screaming to be put out of their misery, she was wearing SIX distinct scarves that I could count in a 5 minute time span. It was as if she had woven them all into a massive bib ot cover her entire front midsection. In all -- it was not attractive.

Now I know y'all are saying that I'm just being mean. But really . . . isn't it actually meaner to let someone you know walk out of the house looking silly? Her husband did . . .

So back to the scarves, she was wearing 6 different red scarves, and they all appeared to be of different shades. They were tied once and then draped over the front of her body in an effort to hide her stomach. Instead, it actually attracted people to it. Sally Jean, bless her little heart, obviously was breaking one of the most important fashion rules ever -- Less is More. She could have easily pulled off 2 scarves, or maybe 3 if they were all kinda slim. The long draping of the scarves would contrast with her own natural curves, creating a very nice slimming effect.

However . . . if you chose to do what Sally Jean did and wear 6, then you will hide your entire body and all that extra material hanging in front of you will appear to actually be your bulkiness. Yikes!

Another rule Sally Jean broke, and it's important to, is to not match your scarf to hair or make-up. If you are like Sally Jean, then you shouldn't drape yourself in bright reds. Contrasting reds (or any color for that matter) tend to make you look sick, or worse . . .

Moral of the story Skittles -- don't wear more than two scarves. PERIOD.

TTFN . . .

Style is primarily a matter of instinct. -- Bill Blass

Seriously: Global Warming What?

Alright Skittles . . . here’s the segment of our show that will show up from time to time where we might need to get a little something off of our chests. Gracie and I are always astonished by some things that we see when we’re out and about, and that can typically result in at least a 10 minute tirade about how we feel about it. And, the conversation will usually start off and end with us saying “Seriously?” So, welcome to our first installment of “Seriously?”

In this installment, I have to say is this . . . Is all this snow, ice, and single digit weather necessary?? Seriously?? The last time I checked, I was living in the middle of the continental United States – literally smack dab in the middle of it. This is supposed to be a TEMPERATE CLIMATE ZONE, not an ARCTIC one! It hasn’t crept above freezing in over a week, and every night we are experiencing single digit temperatures. Did I miss something or over New Year’s Eve did Kansas suddenly end up in some continental realignment shift process that takes place once every 600 million years and now we’re located North of Canada?

Seriously!! Mama Nature did not pay the gas bill or something! I normally don’t advocate violence, but if girl doesn’t warm this place up quick, I’ll be forced to slap a ho . . .

I get that everyone wants a White Christmas (I did!) and it was beautiful and such, but enough already. I’m fairly certain that all this snow and cold business is really not necessary. On the way to Panera today, I saw 4 vehicles in snow drifts, two of Santa’s elves begging on the street corner because of lay offs, polar bears wearing snuggies, and the following CNN News Alert . . .

“Hell has officially frozen over.” (all the zip codes in Topeka start off 666 . . .hehe)

Seriously!

Celebrity Sighting: Fire Your Stylist

First of all, let me start by saying Happy New Year to our audience out there in blog-land!  We hope that everyone had a fun and safe evening last night.  Joe Joe and I both enjoyed our evenings so much that we determined this morning around 9 am that the sun did, in fact, move closer to the earth.  However being the great blog hosts that we are, we would never let our post-New Year's Eve feelings stop us from bringing you all the latest and greatest.  With that, I'm pleased to bring you the first installment of a new segment entitled Celebrity Sighting.  You see, Joe Joe and I love to dish about the things that we find inspiring and diss the things that we find a little train-wreckish, and celebrities are not excluded.  They can be a source of inspiration or a really good topic for laughs over lunch. 

So, during our 9 am catch-up this morning our celebrity of discussion was J Lo.  I'm not sure if you were able to watch Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve show last night, but if you did you already know about the outfit I'm about to discuss.  However, if you missed it, do not fear because I come equipped with YouTube footage to help keep you well informed.  You see J Lo stepped out on stage in full body spandex.  Yes I repeat, full body spandex.  Now we love us some J Lo, and we are not opposed to flauntin' it if you got it, but I'm afraid that no one needs to flaunt everything all at once.  So, J Lo honey, we've got a little advice for you: fire your stylist.  You're a diva, you don't need a bedazzled full body spandex suit to prove it.