The Best Video

Sistah sent me a video today. I am so glad she did and I am also glad I was at home for lunch when she sent it.

Please enjoy it for yourself by taking a look below.

Love it because: her top is cute. (Possesssionista has the deets on it) Also love that she just came to know a secret her partner had planned for her and immediately felt guilt-stricken about it, as this happens all the time with Markus and I. The crying over anything that is remotely sad or exciting? I mean, I can relate.

If you need proof that I really am an easy cryer, here is a photo of me right after watching the video that I sent to Sistah with my thanks for the referral.

My ugly crying face is why I would be casting gold on The Bachelor and also why I would never go on it. That and the way that I value myself as a human. So both of those reasons together, honestly.

So, any more YouTube recommendations for me?

Dallas Day Dating

Markus and I had a relaxing yet adventurous day date on Saturday. I love day dating because you can have a few plans but stay flexible and it's just more easy going. Markus and I's first date was coffee at 10am followed by, "So what are you doing the rest of the day?" The rest of our date was errands at Best Buy, a stop at our favorite dive bar for cheese fries and stealing newspaper from the dorm to hang out in my kitchen and pack up my house while playing ipod dance party. So maybe I am partial to day dating, but I've never been a huge night owl so evening dates can give me some anxiety. With or without my predisposition, this was such a fun Saturday!

First we ventured to Dallas Contemporary to see the Rob Pruitt exhibit and also check out the Gilt warehouse sale. Normally it is free admission to Dallas Contemporary, but with the sale it was a staggering $5 per person entry fee. There were lots of cool Gilt leftovers out for sale as well as a bar and DJ.

Also making an appearance was my hair's happy place: drybar! They were doing free hair touch ups so I got their Cosmopolitan (loose curls on the ends). I used to teach an art program and one of the things I really miss from the educational world is my new, adult coworkers rarely ask if they can play with my hair like my students love to do. It is so relaxing and the curls definitely dressed up our day date. As Kate Middleton has taught us all, some shiny chestnut locks and a good blow out can take the right girl from commoner to royalty in a hot second.

Rob Pruitt at Dallas Contemporary

Dallas Contemporary is tucked back from some awesome antique stores, so we decided to take a little stroll through the shops. I love The Pink Pagoda's booth at Lost Antiques!

Also by Dallas Contemporary is the world goods outpost Big Mango. I want a fat Buddha for our backyard!

We had the romantic and intimate senior special of dinner at 4pm. The recent ScoutMob deal at Villa-O reminded me we haven't been in a while and that their organic Italian menu items are so good! I also love their in-house filtration system where they make fresh sparkling water. Makes things fancy.

We did a usual trick of the gluten-free vegetarian dining out, which was to each order our own salads (Markus got the house salad and I got the wedge) and then get a few sides and share them tapas style. Their roasted poatoes and onions were amazing and I also loved the spaghetti-stlye squash and zucchini. One of the things I love about eating out is learning new ways to prepare dishes at home. I am definitely going to make some zucchini spaghetti at our house soon!

Markus got crazy at lunch and suggested a Scout Mob double header - first lunch at Villa O followed by a treat from Pacuigo, also on Scout Mob right now. Pacuigo is great for families where one of the members is dairy free, as they have lots of sorbets as well as soy-based, dairy-free gelato. The Scout Mob deal is currently for the West Village location, but we love hitting up The Pacuigo at Northpark as well and then taking a lap around the mall.

The best way to wrap up a good day date is with a movie on the sofa! And the best place to rent a movie is of course, Premiere Video on Mockingbird. I love this video store and challenge you to think of a movie that they do not have! I enjoy geeking out over their documentaries, but this time I went for a personal favorite, Father of the Bride Part II. George Banks slays me. We followed this dad-daughter classic with The Descendants on Sunday, which I also loved. If we are blessed to have a little girl one day I know I will cherish watching Markus fall in love with her, in a George Banks/George Clooney NOT Woody Allen way.

What were you up to this weekend? Any good dates, at any time of the day?

What are some good day dating ideas?

SAG Style

More amateur thoughts from a non-fashionista, this time on the SAG awards! 

Woman that I want to be when I grow up (see also: one half of comedy's best marriages):

Photo courtesy of People

I don't think anyone drives me as crazy as the Glee girls on the red carpet. You play an 18 year old on TV, you are in your mid-twenties in real life, so why are you dressing and vamping like a 40-something castoff of RuPaul's Drag Race? My mom would tell you to enjoy your days of youth with ladylike flair and humility. And for once my mom and I would agree on something. 

This photo of Lea contemplating death to puppies courtesy of People.

This unfortunate image courtesy of People.

Thank you, other girl from Glee, for being young and fun and age-appropriate! 

Courtesy of People

I love hot moms! So many funny, gorgeous hot women in our midst tonight. 

This mom look sadly represents the state of her current show. Used to be hot and now just happy that people still remember that its around. 

Kristen, I know you want to be artsy instead of just another celebrity hottie and that sucks for you because you are hot. But please embrace the hotness for a few awards show a year, lose the choker and aim to curb the artsiness. Then when you are done we'll work on Zooey Daschenel.

Overall worst look aka The Unfortunate Hippie award goes to my usual fave Busy Phillips. I love the hair but if I would get in trouble for wearing this dress to dinner on the Big Island with my mom and Nannie my Granny, you are not allowed to wear it to an awards show.

Favorite look of the night: Rose Bryn! Very red carpet worthy jumpsuit, in my opinion. I was actually thinking this morning about wearing a tailored jumpsuit to Sistah's rehearsal dinner. I wore pants to my own rehearsal and loved it. I felt like Mary Tyler Moore.

What do you think? What was your favorite look or one that made you a sad? Pants at a rehearsal dinner - yay or nay?

Evol Society - Socially-Conscious Shopping in Dallas

Last night Markus and I stopped by The Shops at Park Ln for a little Thursday night outing. I already am a regular at this shopping center for weekly Whole Foods runs, an amazing Homegoods location and to shop at ReUse Jeans. I was so excited to see another great store, Evol Society, open its doors at Park Ln last night!

Evol Society is a unique fashion and home boutique that carries items that are made by local or global artisans and give back to society through fair trade employment initiatives or one-for-one campaigns. What I really enjoy about Evol Society's storefront is that many of their items are as fashion forward as they are socially-conscious, which is sometimes a rarity. Making doing good even better, 10% of the store's profits are donated to the Roma for All Foundation, helping provide education to the gypsy children of Central and Eastern Europe.

Here are some of my favorites from their current inventory:

These rain boots by Roma Boots are gorgeous and available in adult and children's styles.

Operating on a one-for-one business model, a child in Eastern Europe (known for it's cold, wet climates) receives a pair of boots to guard them from disease and keep them warm every time a pair is purchased.

I am crazy about the taupe matte style (below the table) and think they are a great pairing with the current neutrals trend!

Loved these handmade tote bags and the perfect layering necklace from Take Flight Boutique.

I have an affinity for tree charms. They remind me of my favorite book, The Giving Tree.

I have loved the handmade beads Ugandan women are making from recycled magazine for a long time.

I never thought it would be my style becuase they are usually so perfect and dainty, which I am not.

This interpretation by Uga Beads brings the chunk factor - I love it with a white tee and boyfriend jeans!

These sandals are gorgeous. Also perfect with a white shirt, jeans and chunky jewelry.

Buying one of these Pearl Southern Couture seersucker ties in purple for Markus to wear at Sistah's fast-approaching Southern Vintage wedding.

Of course I had to pick up something for myself as well. A classicly cut and comfortable tee from Love Nail Tree, a made in the USA apparel line run by "two young marrieds." Young marrieds who love a little Woody Guthrie? Sounds familiar.

A little blurry, as I don't really need "takes photos of herself in the bathroom mirror" added to the list of things my coworkers think about me. But a darling shirt with lots of quirk and great fit and quality!

Evol Society is definitely my new stop for gifts for friends and myself. The selection is varied but the good goes across the board!

What are you up to this weekened? Anyone else have shopping on the brain like me? I am going to the Gilt City warehouse sale and hoping to pop over to the Dallas Modern Home tour!

I Liebster You Guys

If the name hasn't given it away, Markus is a native German and speaks the home language fluently and beautifully (for a non-romance language at least). Whenever we are over there visiting family I try to keep up verbally by taking in everything around me. I listen to every family member or store clerk that speaks to Markus and I try to guess what they are saying. I also read everything around me and try to use photos and context to teach myself new words. My little visual learning exercise is how I learned the German word Liebster - meaning dearest, beloved or favorite. When we went to the Christmas markets on my first visit, phrases with this word were scrawled across miles of oversized gingerbread hearts. So my retention of this new word was probably partly my visual learning style but most likely helped by the fact that it was written on a vehicle that always gets my full attention - food.

I did so well at repeating my new vocabulary that my then-boyfriend-now-husband took the hint romantically awarded me with my own gingerbread heart, somewhat pictured below.

The inspirtation behind my "romance across the globe" post is my friend Hillary at Happily Ever Healthy gifting me with a new Liebre heart today when she sent lil' ol' Pancakes and Beet Juice the Liebster Blog Award for being one of her favorite reads! Fitting as I love getting my daily dose of Happy Ever Healthy as well. She has a great experiment going where she is actually trying out all of those healthy yet delectable Pinterest recipes and reporting back on her successes and losses. 



Passing along the Liebster love, here are a few of my other favorite daily reads that win the Liebster Blog award from Pancakes and Beet Juice:

The Concerns of Mindy Kaling

If you follow me on Twitter, you basically follow Mindy Kaling, as I RT her all day long.

She represents each of us. Mindy Kaling bleeds truth.

The Fitnessista

If you want to know if her lifestyle is working for her, check out her body two weeks after giving natural birth. Holy hell.

Hello Kiley

What up to a Dallas girl who shoots from the hip and is going after her dreams!

Legally Fabulous

My real life best friend. She really is this fabulous in real life too.

Length x Wit

If I did not know the author from youth and adolescence, I would be on her blog everyday hoping to read that she is making an appearance somewhere that I could attend and meet her. (Lies. I would still do this.)

She emits loveliness and it shows all over her blog.

Southern Charm

Liz Marie loves a good workout program, going out with the girls and trying new fashion trends. She also gets the good eater award for her inventive Tone It Up recipes. I love keeping up with her blog! 

Out in the blog world - who do you love? Are you a blogger? If so, gimme a roll call so I can start being in love with you, too! 

How did you used to sweat?

I grew up as an energetic child in a fun neighborhood. I had hobbies that made me active but were not necessarily athletic or measurable. Then as I became an adult I learned being active isn't for fun anymore. It's to be skinny and not die. And it needs to be done all the time and on expensive equipment or in expensive classes and definitely in expensive clothes. All of a sudden I didn't like being active anymore. So I stopped. And everyone was right - I wasn't skinny and I wasn't healthy either.

It was the feeling really unhealthy that got me under doctor's orders to start being routinely active again. This time was different than my first foray into adult exercise. I didn't think about how adults like to work out. I went back and thought about what I've done before in my life where I was sweating and smiling at the same time. Most of these memories are me being in school plays, jumping around sets, and most importantly...dancing!

I've always loved to dance. And in high school, so did my friend Mandy. So we'd dance together. In her car, on our free periods, and before and after school with the dance class at our high school. It wasn't very serious but we took it pretty seriously.

Now Mandy and I are sweating like we used to every Wednesday night at Preston Hollow Dance's Adult POP Dance Series. We're still taking it pretty seriously, and even practicing on the weekends between classes. There's a new music video every two weeks, now through the end of February. We've conquered "...Baby One More Time" and are onto "Single Ladies." One of our practice clips from tonight is below!

Sometimes it's good to try something really challenging and athletic. But most days I just want to sweat and smile and feel like after school when stuff wasn't so complicated and the pants that you did sweat in didn't cost $90.

How did you used to sweat? Do you still make time to sweat that way?

Miserable Monday Mustard Greens Macaroni and Cheese

Yesterday was my own personal shit storm of first world problems. I have very few bad days. Usually when even something catastrophically awful occurs, I can find a sliver of silver lining and come back with the last-minute rebound. My bad days, instead, are those pesky little suckers of 24 hours where not one miniscule thing can go right. I even wrote this entire post last evening, told my husband that I felt like it was one of my personal bests, and then went back to publish and it had been completely deleted. Days like yesterday are why humans invented comfort food. And at about 3pm I set my mind to make me some. I wanted something out of a cardboard box with a cheese ingredient to bring my day back from the Debby Downer duldrums.

I repeat myself often when I mention that I am not a cook. I am just a girl who loves fresh dinners at home, who stands in front of her stovetop every night, asking it to love me back. Getting back on point from my foodie Notting Hill moment, my cousins are actual fancy cooks. They make gluten-free, vegetarian meals and desserts that are mindblowingly delicious and complicated. I get Facebook messages from them titled "Super-Easy Gluten-Free Pancake Recipe" with 47 ingredients. To add fanciness to the fanciful, they are also a ballerina and award-winning writer duo living in Manhattan. It don't get much fancier than that, amiright?

Thank you, fancy cousins, for teaching me the word blanching over Thanksgiving dinner. You helped me make some real fancy blanched mustard greens from our Urban Acres food co-op bin last night to complete a still-comforting-but-not-so-guilty comfort food meal.

(Miserable Monday) Mustard Greens Macaroni and Cheese

one bunch mustard greens

one box macaroni and cheese (I love Annie's Creamy Deluxe Gluten-Free!)

leftover roasted butternut squash (if you've got it)

salt

lemon juice

To blanch the mustard greens, I filled a medium pot 2/3 up with water and salt and brought it to a boil. I washed my mustard greens with some veggie wash and cut off the stems. 

I dropped the clean mustard greens in the boiling water for about a minute and a half, until the greens were a really bright, kelly green.

Meanwhile, I began prepping my gluten-free mac and cheese noodles according to the directions on the box. You cook Annie's gluten-free noodles in boiling water (I add a little salt) for 8-10 minutes.

To finish the mustard greens blanching, I poured out the greens into a colander after 90 seconds in the boiling water. Then I put them in a bowl of ice water and a few squirts of lemon juice that I had prepped beforehand. I quickly made sure all the greens had been fully rinsed by the ice water and then dumped them into the colander again and patted them dry with a clean dish towel. Blanching complete!

We had recently roasted some butternut squash for pizza toppings, so I pureed the leftovers in our blender with a splash of almond milk. Markus used this as a cheese substitute for his noodles with some nutritional yeast. I added the puree to the cheese sauce that came with the macaroni to give it a little extra flavor and health benefits. This really added to the recipe and I think we'll do it often for pastas!

I cut the blanched mustard greens into small strips and tossed them with the noodles, the Annie's cheese sauce, butternut squash puree and a little Earth Balance non-butter.

My veggie-filled carb fest put me back on the road to recovery. After trying them, I am not sure if I am naturally a mustard greens girl (Markus loved them, however), so covering them in a cheese sauce was a great way to introduce a new flavor to my pallete. I felt very Deceptively Delicious with my hidden butternut squash puree and found it a great way to use leftover produce!

What are your tips for overcoming a bad day? How do you like to try a new veggie or food that might be a little outside of the comfort zone of your tastebuds?

The Unshopped for Home

My favorite website, Apartment Therapy, ran a post a few weeks ago on unshopping - finding decor for your home from items you already own. I really enjoyed the article, since I love a home that has a look that shows there was some thought or curation behind it, but since I do pay a mortgage every month I don't necessarily have the means to go out and purchase a house straight from a showroom.

Here's a few snapshots of spaces in my home that have been unshopped for.

The gallery wall behind my living room sofa (which by the way, is over seven years old and still kicking - my friends joke that everyone important to me has slept on this sofa) was started when I first moved to Dallas and seriously did not have one dime to buy art for my apartment walls. I also was getting back into the groove of living in the city and we didn't have much money for dates since Markus was still finishing school. Local rock shows were/are our designated date and there were often free gig posters that we could pick up and put in a frame later. Now gig posters are a guilty pleasure of mine. I am especially fond of Dirk Fowler's work since walking by his printmaking classes when I was an Art History student at Texas Tech got me into the craft behind this art form. One of the many things I love about Bolsa in Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District is how they feature his work. The pillows on the sofa are also free t-shirts from different local shows that my best friend helped me make into pillows!

I call the posters we have in our bedroom "the reason why Markus and I don't fight before bed." How can you really argue with someone when you are looking at their first grade photo? I find it impossible. Our wedding photographer and graphic designer, Danny Hurley, made these for us for our wedding reception. We have them mounted on foam board and now they are a fun focial point of our bedroom. I don't usually put a lot of family photos out around our house so I think the scale and youthfulness of these lightens up the motherlode of frames I have below it. When do you ever get art of this scale for free? 

I actually prefer the unshopped look, as it means my home is furnished mostly by memories. Of course I also love it because repurposing what we have it a great way to reduce our comsumer waste!

It's a fine line to walk, though, to insure that it never looks like I decorated with garbage.

What do you think of the unshopped look? Does it make you unique or does it come across like you don't want to purchase new items for your place? Be sure to check out the full Apartment Therapy article for more ideas on decorating with what you already have!

Date Night Diaries: A Gluten-Free Pizza Party

Markus plans the best date nights. There are always multiple stops and reservations for a great dinner. He also does a bang-up job of asking me out. Short of getting to see him pull up in his car and ring the doorbell, it's all the fun of dating. And no guilty feeling when we wake up in bed together.

So yes, very fun semi-formal date nights do occur in our marriage. Last night, however, was one of those awesome date nights that just kind of come together and you realize that the guy is a total keeper because you don't need all the fancy stuff to make for a perfect evening together. The best kind of date.

Still working through our first food co-op batch, I had a pear and a butternut squash that needed a good recipe. Somewhere on the internet I randomly found a recipe for a pizza topped with roasted squash, pesto, feta and pear. Um, amazing. Unfortunately I have yet to be able to relocate this recipe so if you are the inventer of said pizza, props to you and please don't be mad at me.

I define a date as a planned and hyped event with two people that could potentially have sex later. Pizza party was totally a date as I found this recipe on Monday and things were planned and hyped all throughout the week. I am pretty sure we talked about Friday Pizza Party every day this week. Just on an added ironic note, Markus and I first met when the boss of his pizza company asked me and my sorority sisters one night if we wanted to come up and make our pizzas. I ended up working as the front counter at the store for over a year and then Markus and I started dating. So I guess I am some huge pizza lush, which I don't find surprising. This was, for some reason, the first time we had made pizza together since working at "the store" and it was pretty funny how much we got into it!

Butternut Squash and Pear Personal Pizzas

(adapted from an interwebz recipe I was lucky to find once but sadly never again)

1 pack of two udi's gluten-free pizza crusts

1 butternut squash 

salt

cinnamon

1 pear cut into thin slices

feta cheese

pesto 

tomato sauce (I used the one we have for pasta dishes)

Horizon organic mozzarella cheese (just because I had it in the refrigerator)

*To make Markus' pizza vegan, he used a pesto that did not have a cheese ingredient and daiya vegan pepperjack cheese. 

When I got home from work I sliced the butternut squash in half, scooped out the seeds and then continued slicing it into 1/2 inch cubes and removed the outer peel. I put the squash cubes in a mixing bowl and tossed with a bit of olive oil, herbamare salt and cinnamon. I roasted the squash in a 400F oven for 45 minutes. Perfect amount of time for a quick workout or a light cleaning while you wait for dinner! Or online shopping, whatever the day calls for. 

I prepped a small amount of our equally small kitchen counter space, cleaning it with an all-natural vinegar-based disinfectant. Once the squash was finished roasting we layed out our crusts and toppings and got into pizza party mode.

Personal pizzas. L-R: Markus & Lilly

This was such a great dinner for a family who loves to cook together but have different tastes! 

Pizzas went into the over at 350F for seven minutes. Then onto plates for dinner time.

My stunning finished product.
I think I deserve a pizza oven in my backyard like the one Gwyneth is always using in her goop posts.

The udi's crusts were divine. A great combination of crispy and chewy and far better than many gluten-free crusts that I have paid premiums for at specialty restaurants. The feta balanced the sweet pear and butternut squash perfectly. I loved using both tomato sauce and pesto as well. Pizza night was so simple and delicious, it is definitely moving from a date night treat to a weekday dinner option. Thank you, udi's, for another great gluten-free product!

So much quality time to talk about our week. No movie theater to rush to or waiter checking in on us. It was a completely blissful and simple Friday date night. 

What have you been up to this weekend? 

A Family Fitness Affair

Everyone is trying to keep those New Year's health resolutions at our house! And I do mean everyone, including the dog.
Last night I had a Junior League meeting until 8:30. When I got home this was what I walked in to.

Maybe if he had known he was going to become material for a blog post he would have put on a shirt. Maybe.
Markus loves to cycle but sold his bikes after college to help fund the inital months of adult life. When he started pedicabbing at the Ballpark in Arlington and Cowboys Stadium, he got a gym membership solely to use their spin bikes so he could train for the crazy grueling pedicab sessions on the weekend. Only catch in this plan was the gym is boring, full of Jersey Shore castoffs and the spin room was only available outside of their classes during very specific times. Markus found a dealer on Craig's List that sells the gym equipment that the local YMCAs can no longer use and hooked up my boy with this sweet ride for less than a third of a disocunted retail cost. He's lovin' it. Cheers to having the husband at home more! He can open jars for me while he's on the bike now so there are no more dinner delays.

Not to be upstaged, Little Child decided to practice some yoga next to the bike.

My family was my own thinspiration last night, as I popped in my new Physique 57 DVD for the first time and got my saucy ballerina on next to Hubs and LC in the living room. I tried the Express 30 minute DVD first and oh.holy.gosh...it was so good. I am so so happy I threw a little Christmas cash at these and finally purchased the three-disc set. I am looking forward to trying the full 57 minutes on Friday as well as the arms and abs over the weekend. Expect a review from me in a few weeks when I can really dish the dirt on this awesome workout! In the meantime, the video below gives a little overview about the hilarity that is ensuing in my living room right now.

Anyone else still trying their hardest to stay on the New Year's Resolution train? What are you doing to accomplish your fitness goals?

Upcoming for the Up And Comings - The Gilt City Warehouse Sale and Phenomenon

For the most part, if you are 26 and trying each day to walk the line between being cultered and fashion forward but also having a few spare pence in the checking account, you've heard of Gilt. I am most totally a Gilt City girl at heart. Gilt City opens the secret discount door to hot cities in the country, with sushi classes, movie sneek previews and private event tickets. Obviously Dallas is a Gilt City hub because we are hot, right?

I did a mini-jump out of my office wheelie chair this morning when I saw an email from Gilt City re: a warehouse sale of all of their Gilt Group items in Dallas next Saturday! Lots of designer items that have appeared on Gilt will be for sale along with refreshments from smartwater and KIND bars, hair touchups and mini-facials. This event is like a party of my favorites. In case you were just generally wondering what some of my favorites are, a rundown follows.

Favorite only slightly guilty pleasure: discounted designer clothes

Favorite place for artsy fun in Dallas: very much Dallas Contemporary

Favorite hair happy place: Drybar

Favorite snack: KIND bars (I keep up to seven in my bag at a time when traveling for work.)

Favorite cardio sport: diving all after the goods at a warehouse sale

BOUGHT MY PASSES TO THE SALE. DONE.

Markus is even excited to go because he needs some new sweaters and now has a chance to take in Rob Pruitt's Failure exhibit at the artspace without me mentioning that I am hungry after a few minutes.

So to visually recap, buy your tickets on Gilt City Dallas for January 28's perfect afternoon blend of this

Photo courtnesy of Gilt

with a little of this.

Photo courtesty of Dallas Contemporary

The best strategy for warehouse sales to avoid overspending is to shop with a purpose. I myself will be using this opportunity to show for another important event - Dallas Contemporary's Phenomenon, supporting the museum's exhibition and learning programs. Markus is a big street art fan and former DJ from his glory days so he is chomping at the bit to see the infamous Shepard Fairey spin on February 4 at the museum. As for me, I just like to DANCE YO. Also, Shepard Fairey's new murals in the Design District will be a landmark in the cultural history of Dallas and I am happy to be able to one day say I was an attendee of this movement. An attendee/dancing queen, obviously. I think I am going for a look of part Teen Witch and part The Man Repeller. What do you think?

So many unique events happening in our city! All at the hipster hub Dallas Contemporary. I hope to see you at one or both of them soon! Anything on your calendar that you are particularly looking forward to?

Thoughts on the Globes

What kind of amateur blogger would I be if I did not force my hot sports opinions re: The Golden Globes fashion and events with my dear readers? 

Lea Michelle as usual showed up thinking she was going to rock the "I'm young and here to represent the next generation of fashion " look. Here was her constipated attempt. I think her red carpet strategy is bend, snap and then start imagining your dog just died. You have the rest of your life to be a stuck up ice queen and your TV show sells its merch at Hot Topic. Live it up a little.

Photo courtesy of People.com

Thank you, Emma Stone, for totally nailing the "I'm young and here to represent the next generation of fashion," look with stunning and inventive Lavin and a respectful, nonchalant pose. Run this town, girl.

Photo courtesy of People.com

I found the turtleneck on the red carpet look to be a lovely silhouette. Very ladylike and nods to the Vitorian admiration of swan-like necks, which I love because I have a clear foot between my head and my shoulders or so it seems. There is a right and wrong way to do this look, though.

Right way to wear a turtleneck on the red carpet:

Naya Rivera looking very fresh yet classic and "Glee" appropriate.

 Courtesy of People.com

I will always adore Jessica Chastain for bringing one of my favorite characters, Celia Foote, to life on film. I thought this dress was a perfect mix of old Hollywood and contemporary minimalism, and stunning with curves and coloring.

Courtesy of People.com

Turtlenecks gone totally wrong award goes to Guliana Rancic. Oy vey. 

Courtesy of People.com

On a mental health note, I would like to recommend beta blockers to the lovely yet out-of-control Miss Paula Patton. If you watched the NBC telecast you got to literally watch Paula turn around, give herself a pep talk and then turn herself to the cameras for this faux laugh shot. It was amazing to watch. The lucky lady then got to sit in the front row of tables for the awards show where she proceeded to give about 47 one-woman standing ovations throughout the evening. Straight up rookie moves all night long. My mother would say "poor dear got too excited." Paula's mother would agree and hopefully gave her a courtesy call this morning.

Courtesy of People.com

To continue ranting, let's all boycott girls like Stacy Keibler. The girl who can't believe how fortune she is to be chosen by George Clooney to sleep with him for an undetermined length of time during which she is allowed to be at his beckon call and accompany him to the events of his choosing. Of course she looks good. Her full time job is sleeping with George Clooney. I feel like for years we've watched Stacy Keibler take every avenue available to mankind to becoming famous without having talent: WWE, Dancing with the Stars, Us Weekly fitness articles and now the last stop on the train as George Clooney girlfriend.

Here is Stacy enjoying her moment as a big celebrity at the Golden Globes.

Courtesy of People.com

Just as a reminder to Stacy, who is obviously reading, here are the ghosts of George Clooney girlfriends who have walked the red carpets past thinking their lives ha finally changed for the better.

No one knows this woman anymore.

Anyone??

Ending on a non-scathing note, it is time for the Golden Globes Bestie Award. This award goes to Busy Phillips, for being Michelle Williams' bestie and accompanying her to the show and looking cute without rocking a look that would get on any best dressed lists before her bestie. I thought she looked so fresh and I would totally wear this look and dress. The duo looked so precious during camera shots throughout the evening and in the subsequent party pics. Makes me wanna call my bestie up right now and remind her that if I ever get nominated for a Golden Globe she can totally go with me in a tres cute but less star-power dress than me. And vice versa, obviously.

Courtesy of usweekly.com

Just a few random thoughts on an evening full of lovely if not sometimes comical women. Who did you love?