ms. adams

amy adams graces the cover of the most recent issue of W Magazine. i, personally, am a huge fan. it started with enchanted and miss pedigrew lives for a day. i think she's simply delightful and was really excited to read more about her (she grew up mormon).

the piece talks about her road to glory (did you know she's 34?) - having been nominated for two academy awards in the last 4 years. adams talks a lot in the piece about reflecting on the past. i think it is a great message. be proud of what you have accomplished here and now - but never forget where you come from and what makes you you at your core. i especially like this excerpt :

"I was just so reflective the whole evening on how I came to be sitting in that room . . . at one
point my fiance was like 'you feel distant'. And I said, 'I am! I can't even talk to you!' I was
there at the Oscars thinking, what if I never left the Gap?"

she's great. the article is great.

help here and now

a few weeks ago kyle and i went to see dave barnes, a musician we've been fans of for many years now. this is the second time we've seen him and both times he has talked about this thing called the mocha club. mocha club is this website where you give up $7 a month - the cost of 2 mochas - to support a project in africa. for example, $7 can provide clean water to 7 africans for one year. (they send people to africa to dig wells) i've chosen to give my money to fighting HIV/AIDS but there are other projects to choose from, all of which will do wonders for the people of africa. take a minute to visit mocha club and learn more about it. and if you should feel so inclined, donate! visit my mocha club url where you can join my team and make a contribution here.

warm weather and an ice cream cone.

what better way to spend a warm tuesday afternoon than with an ice cream cone?? if you have a ben and jerry's near you - take advantage! i know you want to jess moore.

NYC

this past weekend i went to new york to surprise MG for her birthday! she is a great friend and i was so happy to be able to do something a little extra for her birthday this year! we had such a good time and i was so sad when it ended.

my parents came into town as well friday evening and saturday we spent out and about. we went to carnegie deli and i had this ginormous chicken salad sandwich. aside from the rain, it was a perfect weekend and i can't wait to go back - only two months away...

the joker

i don't know what it is, but steve miller band's the joker is a song i could listen to over and over and never get sick of. i love it. it just came on my pandora and made my day. favorite line: you're the cutest thing i ever did see - i really love your peaches, want to shake your trees.

the queen

as you all know - the obamas are on their first european tour as the first couple of the united states, and michelle's ensemble choices have been a-buzz.

well - i came across this picture and love it - not for what mrs. obama is wearing but because of queen elizabeth. i just think she's so cute (and little next to these two). she's a fascinating woman and i actually just learned something new about her sunday night. there was a show on tlc called 'royal inquest' about dangerous things that have happened to her family. it started with an attempted kidnapping of her daughter, anne, and ended with a tale about Elizabeth.

in the early 80s, there was a very poor man who thought the queen would help him if he could only speak with her and explain his whoas. so he stalked buckingham palace for months trying to figure out how to break in. he eventually succeeded, roaming the halls of the palace, until he came across elizabeth's room. along the way he picked up a glass ashtray, broke it and was carrying a jagged piece of glass when he found her. her guard had left his post to walk her dogs and the man walked right in. he sat down on her bed, all bloodied, and began to talk to her. he told her all about his problems and she was polite and listened - offering advice where she could. she had a panic buttom that she pushed but it was not hooked up so nothing happened. she sat with the man for a while - even calling the police - and no one came. finally taking matters into her own hands, she offered him a cigarette and he accepted. she led him into an adjacent room and came across a maid. the maid then got her body guard who arrested the intruder.

the amazing part is how calm she remained through the whole ordeal. she clearly didn't have enough security and her composure kept her calm and helped avoid any real tragedy.

seventeen

so in college i wrote a paper using seventeen magazine from the early 1970's, specifically 1972-1974, as my primary source (for all you history peeps out there). the magazines were my mom's when she was a young woman (13-15 years old). it was fascinating to dive into the issues, looking at what editors of the time thought seventeen readers wanted to read - and, in my opinion, what they thought they should be reading. they contained incredibly contradicting articles and advertisements. an article on your first period next to an engagment ring ad. quilting patterns next to getting into college advise (not that you can't do both). and noted: not a lot of sex advice. the seventeen of this time was evidence of a changing popular culture that tried to please both sides of the spectrum.

i am telling you about this because today i happened across a cover of the latest issue of seventeen, something i haven't payed much attention to since i was 15 or 16 (having switched to cosmo near the end of high school as i'm sure many of you did). i saw the cover in a people.com article about taylor swift - the latest teen to grace the cover. a few things from the cover caught my attention and i ended up heading to their website.

i mostly found that seventeen is still contradictory. on the cover of this issue reads a title 'flat tummy tricks' - which in my opinion isn't a title that should exist on a teen magazine. at the same time, there's a whole section of the website devoted to a campaign to help girls dispel negative body images.

i could go on but i'll stop. what you should take away from this post is that seventeen is an interesting magazine to look at through the years because it gives a glimpse into what is/was expected of young women in any given decade (that it's been in publication). you know - have your period? look for a husband! or please, be thin but don't get an eating disorder. it's bad for business.

ps--'Pretty Hair and Glowy Skin' - since when did glowy become a word? i just don't words that sound as ridiculous and incorrect as glowy should be on the cover of a magazine .