Why Netflix Sucks

I just woke up to an email that was all "Ohai! Remember like 5 months ago when you suspended your Netflix account? Well, you picked today to be the day it unsuspends. Have fun!"

Crap. Of course I forgot that I set it to today, I suspended it back in like September! I grumbled a little, because I *really* didn't have the spare $8 right now, but I was just thinking a day or two ago that it would be awesome to have for a month to catch up on a few things I've been wanting to see.

Of course, when I pulled up my account, I discovered that since Netflix sold their souls a few months ago and now streaming and dvds are separate plans, they automatically charged me for the "one dvd and unlimited streaming"... the plan I used to have for $8, which is now $16.

SIXTEEN FREAKING DOLLARS.





I don't remember the last time I spent $16 on ANYTHING, except like, my plane ticket to Canada back in July.

I'm not kidding.  I'm cheap.  And poor.

If my arm accidentally got cut off, and the doctors were like "Well, we can save the arm, but it is going to cost $16", I would probably have to think about it for a minute.

Okay, so that part is a slight exaggeration, but seriously, $16?? So now I have a whole $5 left in my bank account until I get my commission check in a few days. No, it's cool, Netflix, I didn't need to buy gas or eat or anything this week.  We're cool.



Yes, it's totally my fault that I forgot that my account was supposed to renew today, but dang, Netflix. If someone was on the old $8 plan, don't you think it would be, ya know, THE RIGHT THING TO DO to offer different options when their account comes back?

I tried to forget my newfound brokeness and just enjoy it, but the streaming is SO BAD on my laptop that it took me like 45 minutes to try to watch 10 minutes of The Tudors. It would play fine for like 20 seconds after I refresh, but then it started lagging about every 2-3 seconds, so that the picture was never in tune with the audio. I know my poor lappytop is kinda slow, but I watch Hulu on it all the time and never have problems, so I don't really know what's up. Gonna try from the desktop later, hopefully that will work better, because I now intend to do nothing but watch Netflix for the next 30 days.  Especially since I now can't afford to do anything else!



UPDATE- I just got the reciept from Paypal... with tax it came up to almost $18.

This is how my mind works.

I was just flipping through my February issue of Yoga Journal, and came across a photo of a guy in Intense Side Stretch with his hands in reverse prayer.  I couldn't find the exact photo online, but it was basically this:



MY HANDS CAN NOT DO THAT.  I am so confused by this. I'm freakishly flexible, so I usually have no trouble copying a pose, but my hands will totally not do that.  At all.  So as I was standing there in the middle of my living room, trying to make it happen, this was all I could think of:



I may need to spend less time on the ol' internets and more time stretching.

Spring 2012 Couture

I can't believe I haven't blogged about the spring couture runway shows yet! I've been super busy, but man... priorities!


I liked Alexis Mabille's giant flowers on the head thing, because let's face it, I would totally wear one, but I hate the painted faces. I feel like the face + flower distracts too much from the garments, which *should* be the focus, especially at a frickin' couture show.




I was mostly let down by Armani Prive. I just have certain expectations when you put "Armani Prive" and "Couture" in the same sentence, and those expectations do not include suits that look like the people of Munchkinland would wear to an office job in the Emerald City. The dress above is my favorite. If you know what's good for you, you'll go to style.com and watch the video of this coming
down the runway.  It's so shimmery and floaty and just.. whoa. Sadly, I liked most of the dresses *less* when I saw them move.

As always, the details are my favorite thing:

What every well-dressed Slytherin will be carrying this season.

I'm still not used to Bill Gaytten being the designer for Christian Dior, but I knew from the first dress that I'd like this collection. (Sticking your first look on Karlie Kloss is always a good idea, too.) I have a feeling a LOT of these dresses are going to turn up on the red carpet for awards season.  

Elie Saab always makes me happy. (But dude, Arizona Muse looks SO different this season! I think it's something with her eyebrows?) I like this seafoamy color, although it was annoyingly hard to really see the whtie dresses against the runway.

You guys, we have to discuss the fact that Jean Paul Gaultier did Amy Winehouse-inspired couture. It's kinda too soon, and kinda freaking genius.

I want this dress for meeeeeeeeeee!

Any favorites from last week?

Slingshot T-Shirts Review & Giveaway!

I was super excited about the chance to review a shirt from Slingshot T-Shirts, because they have hundreds of different band shirts, including U2!  YAY!

I picked this one to review:

It's a juniors shirt, so I went with XL since, ya know, I have boobs.

It's super soft and stretchy, and fits perfectly! The design is applied smoothly, and it looks like it should up well over time. Plus it has one of my favorite lyrics from "Get On Your Boots!" Totally loving it! Plus, it's on sale for TEN dollars right now!  WIN!

They offer free shipping on orders over $40, and you can save 10% by signing up for their e-mail newsletter!

One of my readers is going to have the chance to pick out a shirt of your own!  Here's an idea of some of the awesome shirts you'll find at Slingshot:

More music shirts:




Movie shirts:



TV Show Shirts:




and Cartoon Shirts:



To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below!  If you have any problems with it, or need help with how to enter, just leave a comment or email me!

The Guiltiest

You guys, I have a confession.

It's bad.

I watch Toddlers and Tiaras.

I watch Toddlers and Tiaras every week.

I watch Toddlers and Tiaras while discussing it on IM with Katie every week.



It's one of the highlights of my week.

I KNOW.

It's just.. the kids have life goals so similar to my own.



And the moms are 100% my role models for classy women.



I can not begin to tell you guys how often we quote this show.  Basically, every single day.

When I found out a few days ago that tonight was the season finale, Katie and I decided that in a sort of celebratory mourning, we would share our commentary about this week's episode with you lovely readers.

Except, of course, in true Katie fashion she totally flaked on me, leaving me with a half-written blog post (everything above this) and nobody to do episode commentary with.  Discussing the season finale of Toddlers and Tiaras with a friend is hilarious, but talking to *yourself* while watching it alone is kinda sad.



Maybe season premier of next season?

Target Tuesday #23

Happy Tuesday, all!  I actually *remembered* that it was Tuesday this week, so there is, in fact, a...



I'm actually going to Target in a few hours (when it warms up above 40, brr!), but in the mean time, here's what I'm lusting over this week!


Xhilaration® Chain Evening Bag - Black
I <3 this purse!



Global Girlfriend green Flower of life sling
This would be such a perfect bag for the theme parks!


Mossimo Supply Co. Juniors Knit Dress
I'm kinda obsessed with this little dress!  (Why are the dresses I love never sold in stores?)

Head over to Fabulous But Evil to check out the other Target Tuesdays and link up!

Disney Movies- Woohoo!

This post brought to you by Disney Movie Club. All opinions are 100% mine.

You guys all know that I'm a big Disney nerd. I even used to get paid for it! I was a PROFESSIONAL Disney nerd. 

My dvd collection is a little lacking in Walt Disney movies, though. I have most of the most important ones (Little Mermaid, Lion King, Aladdin... although one of my supervisors at work borrowed my Beauty & the Beast like 2 years ago and still has it!  Hmmph.) but I'm missing a lot! I also discovered that there are a bunch I've never even heard of, like this:

 

 

What is this movie about?  Who cares!  It has a monkey in a spacesuit!  I AM IN.

Disney Movie Club has a whole array of Disney movies I've somehow never heard of: Scandalous John, The Castaway Cowboy, Menace on the Mountain, etc. They obviously have the newer movies like Up and Tangled, too, and must haves like Mary Poppins and Pirates of the Caribbean.  There's also a selection of movies you might not have known were Disney-related, like The Proposal and 10 Things I Hate About You. Pretty snazzy!

What's your favorite Disney movie or movies? Which ones do you totally need but bot have yet? Should I feel guilty that I just realized I borrowed Wall-E from a coworker and naver gave it back? Oops.

Project Runway- They designed what?

I missed Project Runway All Stars the other night because my electric sockets were being evil and I had to have an electrician out to replace the one my TV plugs into. Anyway, I just caught up on Hulu, and y'all, we need to talk about this.

The challenge this week?  To design a dress for Miss Piggy.  Last week: Badgley Mischka. This week? Muppets.  Really?



Don't get me wrong, I frickin' love the Muppets, as I'm sure anyone in their right mind does.  I go to Muppet Vision 3D almost every time I'm at Hollywood Studios.

I kinda went back and forth on how I felt about the assignment itself- to make a flamboyant cocktail dress for Miss Piggy.  It is a cute challenge, and a little more creative than the "make an outfit out of random crap" they keep doing. I like that they had to think out of the usual design scale, too- what looks great on a size 0 model isn't necessarily going to work on a Muppet.  However, the designers still *used* their regular models. I think the challenge would have been better if they actually had to design for the Muppet-sized frame.

It is kind of funny how serious everyone took it.  When Joanna (their mentor) asked how a pig will feel about wearing a giraffe print, I mentally heard Santino from Season 1 breaking out into song- "Lighten up, it's just faaaaashion!"

Random notes from judging:
There were actually NO dresses in the runway show that I looked at and was like, "Oh, that's perfect!"
I kind of want to spend the rest of my life watching Austin Scarlet converse with Miss Piggy.
I want the polka dot dress for me.



I don't want to post any major spoilers, for those who are behind like I was, but I'm curious what you guys thought about this episode!

Group Dinner Dates- Would you do it?

A new dating service in Orlando recently asked me to check out their service, and I have to admit I was kind of curious. DinnerDate is a site that lets you pick a group meal to attend, where you'll get to meet other local single people. It's kind of a cool concept- it takes away the possible creepy factor of meeting someone online, since you're out with a lot of other people. I like that it also ups your odds of meeting someone you find interesting, since you are in a group of around 8-10 people. They keep the mix of men and women attendees at each dinner party balanced (except for the gay/lesbian parties, of course), so you don't end up with a Bachelor/Bachelorette type situation where everyone is fighting over the same person!  Plus, if you don't find yourself interested in anyone, it sounds like a cool opportunity to make new friends or do some networking! (It's Orlando, we almost all work for a theme park.)

I checked out some of the available dinners, and it looks pretty cool.  The dinners are organized by age groups (20s and 30s, 30s and 40s, etc.), and they do some themed dinner groups like single parents or young professionals. You can see who has signed up to attend each one, so you have a general idea of who you'll be dining with. The restaurants are nice without being too fancy (I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of them were interesting places that were already on my list of local restaurants to check out!), and you can check out the menu options ahead of time. Most of the restaurants currently up for dinner parties are located in Winter Park or Downtown Orlando, so I would love to see them add something on the south part of town, for those of us on that end. You pay a flat fee for your meal when you book your spot (most appear to be $20-$35), plus a $5 booking fee.  I did a little investigating, and found that the price is basically what you'd be paying for a meal anyway, so DinnerDate isn't charging an absurd mark-up or anything.

Setting up a profile takes like 2 minutes, and then you can browse through other members, and even invite them to the dinner you're attending.  Kinda cool!

Overall, it sounds pretty cool.  You get to check out a new restaurant, meet new people in a low-key environment, and break out of the whole "dinner at IHOP with coworkers when we get off work at midnight" routine.  If you don't end up connecting with anyone on the date, it's no big deal since it wasn't a one on one thing. If someone does catch your eye, but you don't get around to exchanging contact info, you can always message them later via DinnerDate's site.

What do you guys think?  Is this something you'd do if it was available where you live? (They're launching in Orlando, since we are obviously the most awesome, but it will probably be elsewhere soon!) Do you think it sounds more fun than the old fashioned (ha!) dating sites?  Should I do one of these when I'm back in Orlando?

Disclosure- I am being compensated for this post, but all words and opinions are 100% my own.

But Baby It's Cold Outside

I hate winter. I know, some people are like "Snowflakes and hot chocolate and cute scarves and it's all so magical!" That's not me. I pretty much go into hibernation mode, curling up in bed with lots of blankets and the heat on as much as possible. Sometimes I'll pile a cat or two on top for good measure. (I *really* miss Florida!)

One thing I loooooove on those really cold days when it feels like the chill goes all the way to your bones and won't go away is my little Heart Warmer from EdenFantasys.

These things are insanely cool. It's a gel-filled heart that's full of MAGIC. There's a little metal disc inside, and when you click it back and forth, through some magical scientific phenomenon (or a tiny invisible wizard, you pick) the gel inside the heart starts heating up and getting hard. (That's what she said.)

It's hard to explain, so I made you this super high-quality video of the process on my lappytop:

Mind blown? I KNOW.  (Why did I say you boil it in a pan?  I meant pot.  Kitchen equipment is confusing.)

These are technically made to use on achy body parts, but when it's frickin' cold outside, it also feels really good just to heat one up and randomly stick it on various parts of your body for a while!

They come in 3 colors (red, purple, and pink) and are only $8! You can reuse them over and over, you just have to boil it to turn it back to the liquidy gel state.

A similar product is the Hot Love set, which is almost the same thing but you get two smaller ones for $9.99.

I have these, too, because I'm way to lazy to boil the heart every single time (WOW that sounds creepy out of context. I'm afraid to check my Google Analytics after this...), so having 3 hot massagers in rotation cuts down the frequency of having to spend time in my kitchen. I need to order more so I can be lazier! Of the two, I like the Heart Warmer more, it seems to get warmer and has a more appealing texture.

They actually remind me a little bit of those movies where you see people with hot water bottles or hot bricks in their bed to warm them. Except clicking a little disc thingy is way more fun than making your chambermaid heat bricks, or so I would assume.

Do you have any sneaky tricks or gadgets for keeping warm in the winter? I'd love to hear suggestions!

Disclaimer: I will receive a gift card as compensation for this post, but all opinions are 100% my own.  EdenFanasys is an online sex toys retailer.

Books I've Read So Far This Year

My goal last year was to read 50 books, and I *just* made it in time, finishing the 50th on 12/31.  I thought it might be fun to post about some of my favorites from the year, but at the moment posting about the books I've read so far in 2012 sounds like more fun.  I guess because they are more fresh in my mind?  Here's what I've read so far this year:



I somehow got on a Philippa Gregory kick towards the end of last year, which continued with The Constant Princess as this year began.  This is the book that comes before "The Other Boleyn Girl", and I think it might be my favorite of hers so far.  While most of Gregory's books alternate between the points of view of several different characters, this one alternates between first and third person.  Sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does.  I know she takes a fair amount of liberty with the story, but I enjoy historical fiction that puts a real life behind names from history books. 



(Noooo, I totally didn't steal this cover image from Amazon!  Ignore the "look inside!"  I... I drew this all by myself in Paint!  I think I'm getting good.)
The Boleyn Inheritance is also from Gregory's series about the Tudors, covering wives 4 & 5. (The Other Boleyn Girl comes in between The Constant Princess and this one, but my library doesn't have it.)  Not quite as good as The Constant Princess, I think because I didn't relate to or like the main characters as much, but still a fun, compelling read.  It's interesting to me how much suspense Gregory can put into a story where we all know the end.







After all the Philipa Gregory, I was kind of on a Tudors kick, so I ended up picking up The Six Wives of Henry VIII.  Yes, I'm reading a 600+ page nonfiction history for fun.  It's interesting, though!  I'm particularly amused by Henry's pride in his calf muscles when he was young, apparently he had a tendency to show them off, and at one point he asked if the new French king had legs as good as his.  I'm actually not finished with this one yet, I'm less than 200 pages in, but I figured I'd write about it anyway since it goes along with the first two.





Yes, I realize that everyone else read Water for Elephants like a million years ago. I really enjoyed this one; It's not a life-changing book or anything, but it is a fun, quick read (it took me a day). I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, eventually.







I kinda hated this one. Citizen Girl is by the authors of The Nanny Diaries, which was super popular several years ago, so it seemed promising.  It sucked.  The authors tried to be clever, but instead just succeeded in being really annoying, with a main character named Girl, who has a boss named Guy, a boyfriend named Buster, etc. By the time it got to the Eastern European girl named Moldova, I was ready to punch the character names in the face.  (At least they didn't name her Ukraine.)  I had that "huh... this isn't very good." realization around 30 pages in, and by about 100 pages I had decided it really wasn't good, but I figured I'd already wasted a couple of hours of my life, might as well finish it. I kept hoping and waiting for it to get better, but it never happened. 


That's my 2012 list so far!  (We're less than two weeks in, so it's still short!)  What have you been reading lately?