Mean Girls references aside, I have some very important information for you. One of my personal favorites, Mindy Kaling's blog, Things I Bought That I Love, is back! It's in a new form -- a tab on her new website, The Concerns of Mindy Kaling. The link is here. I'm pretty sure it's sad that this is the best part of my life right now, but this is the best part of my life right now. Thank you, Mindy. Love, DC area first-year teachers.
I've been gone from W&W for so long that there are a lot of things that I've missed that I would normally have commented on. So, rather than leave a gaping hole in your internet lives, I'll just go back through and give you a summary of September 2011.
September 11.
I got a free ipad, moved into a new apartment and spent a lot of time in urgent care for this gross eye problem I'm having. (That's as far as I'll go.) It's wasn't exactly a day of remembrance for me. But I did listen to Acoustic Sunrise and they had a 9/11 tribute that was fan-tastic. I heart acoustic music. Also, this is what my closet looks like in my new apartment:
Okay, that's a lie. But it's almost that good.
September 12.
My Pats started the season on Monday Night Football in Miami. And won.
September 18.
My man Kyle Chandler final got the recognition he deserved at the Emmy awards. If you have any doubt in your mind that Friday Night Lights was the best show on television over the past few years (and one of the only good things Direct TV ever did), just watch this. Tell me you're not moved. Just try.
Man, I'm tearing up just thinking about it.
Also, people wore dresses. Here's what I thought of them.
The good:
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Jane Plimpton, aka the mom from Raising Hope, look totally -- and completely surprisingly -- smoking. Maria Bello doesn't get older, she gets better. Count me amongst the biggest John Krasinski and Emily Blunt fans and this dress is super pretty. It's been a long time since Julia Stiles has looked this good. Julia Stiles has never looked this good before. Jurnee Smollett is so cute and this dress is e-mazing. I really miss FNL. You know, in case that wasn't clear from the rest of the post.
The bad:
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There's something about Heidi Klum's dress that reminds me of the circus. That's not a complement. I feel like this dress is ugly and makes Gwyneth look like she isn't the skinniest person ever. That's tough to do. Dianna Agron is apparently done with school roles. So she's dressing like she 50 and trying to win a walk-on part on Dynasty. If you're as cute and funny as Ellie Kemper, why not wear a dress and hairstyle that does absolutely nothing for you. Speaking of bad hair, Zoe Barlet, what are you thinking? Oh, Brittany, I love you so. But I do not like this. It makes me dizzy to look at. Julianna Margulies, you are so beautiful, why would you make yourself look so bad? Olivia Munn has definitely had better days. Not exactly showing Justin what he's missing.
September 25.
My Pats collapsed against the Bills. It was upsetting, horrifying, stupefying, ugh.
September 26.
I discover that new Rihanna song and my walk to work got so. much. better.
Other than that, I just taught and planned, planned and taught, taught and planned, and had daily mini-breakdowns about why I ever took this job.
I love Sex and the City. It's sort of embarrassing to admit now (I'm not really sure when that happened. How does something go from being cool and fun to "so mainstream it's overdone and too cliche for the coasts, but maybe people in Iowa still like it?" Obviously, that's a topic for another column. But with Sex and the City I'm pretty sure it happened sometime between Carrie getting broken up with on a Post It and Charlotte pooping her pants.) but I'm a big fan. I never really got the whole "I'm a Carrie," "I'm a Samantha," thing, because obviously no one is actually as simultaneously two-dimensional and profoundly screwed up as a TV character. If we were we could save a lot of money on therapy by just watching the movie version where they've all worked out their issues.
Apparently it was raining roses and money at SATC.
At any rate, the best part of Sex and the City was always the clothes and the clubs. There was a time with "the girls" were actually out ahead of what was cool in fashion and in nightlife. And the big mystery of the show was never about whether Carrie would choose Big or Aiden, or if Samantha would ever let a man love her, but rather, how in hell did Carrie afford her life? I mean, the woman hardly works and she lives like a Hollywood starlet. (Who, incidently, also hardly work.) We've all thought about it, pondered it, debated it and analyzed it.
I'm headed down to Austin, Texas for the SXSW music festival for the next five days. Although I'll miss you, Wildcats, I'm pretty excited for 80 degree weather, new music, booze and a great pair of cowboy boots. Also, pretty much everything I know about Texas, I know from George W. Bush and Friday Night Lights, so I'm pretty excited to see this epic hamlet. (Yeah, I know that's an oxymoron) I'm really hoping it's a lot more like FNL and a lot less like GWB.
Folks are split on whether or not my cowboy boots are going
to be a fashion do or don't. What do you think, wildcats?
