Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Road To Make-up Sex: How To Get Out Of The "I Forgot Valentine's Day" Doghouse

You’ve just spent a week or so on the couch because you forgot about Valentine’s Day weekend! How do you feel? Well, if your answer was anything close to “Kinda like a douche” then, this is the right post for you!

For many of us, Valentine’s Day is just a cute little holiday with hearts, candies and red balloons. Others feel that V-Day is a worthless celebration created by candy companies to mock the single and bleed the wallets of the committed. But, for a select few, Valentine’s Day demands extra love, grand romantic gestures and memorable words. If you are dating, married to or shacked up with one of those people, forgetting February 14th is a BIG no-no, honey. It will do nothing but earn you a one way ticket out of Snuggletown and snippy, clip conversations.

Not to worry, my dear! I am going to show you how to create the ultimate “Please forgive me” date by using your darling’s favorite big screen romances. We all have a favorite movie romance. Now here’s your chance to use it against them! By following a few simply instructions, you can make up for your insolence and give them the most romantic experience of their lives! Now, lets get started.
 

Dirty Dancing

This one should be a no brainer. The solution to another sleepless night on the couch lies in a bit of rump shaking. Get your baby out of the corner and on to the dance floor. Don’t like to dance? Well, tough titty, kid! Getting your P. Swayze on may be your only redemption.

New York Date: Bembe Nightlife and Lounge (www.bembe.us)

Show your darling that your hips indeed, don’t lie at the sexiest club in Brooklyn. This place ain’t no twerkfest, people. We’re talking passionate dancing, hypnotic rhythms, and warm, flavorful music. After a night here, you’ll be the Don Juan or Aphrodite of your lover’s eyes once again.

Jerry Maguire


A romantic comedy, cleverly disguised as a sports movie. With lines like “You complete me” and “You had me at hello”, it’s easy to see how this movie caused hearts all over the world to go “pitter-patter”. So, take the hand of your paramour and mosey on over to the nearest sports venue. A little chanting and team spirit will set your wrongs to right.  Put your arm around that love of yours, sneak some kisses and go for a touchdown of your own. Nobody’s throwing a flag on this play.

New York Date: Madison Square Garden

If you like it, put a foam finger on it. Alcohol, junk food and the New York Knickerbokers will guarantee you an amazing date. Want to exceed expectations? See if you can slip someone an Abraham Lincoln to get you and your main boo-boo on that “Kiss Cam”. All will be forgiven.



Pretty Woman

I hope you like credit card bills because dropping plastic is the golden shovel that will dig you out of this hole. Give your honey the makeover of their dreams! Now, no giving them your card and then splitting. You are going to have to be there for this event, start to finish. Give opinions. Smile. Act like you are having a ball.  Yes, you’ll be crying on the inside but, it’s better than crying because you’ve been denied nookie access.

New York Date: Shopping/Paul Revere/The Met

Help your sweety relive the most popular scene in the movie with a full blown shopping spree. 5th Ave or Target, it doesn't matter! Take them somewhere and dress them up in more than just your love. 
Next, have them change into your hard earned money and head on over to the romantic West Village restaurant, One If By Land, Two If By Sea. Delicious food, roses, long stem candles... Yep, you are totally getting some later. But, just incase, lets put the cherry on top of this sundae. End your date by seeing a wonderful show at the beautiful Metropolitan Opera House. The scenery alone will take their breath away. Then, just sit back, relax and have someone sing you a story in a language you probably don't understand for a couple of hours. Just like Richard Gere, you'll be showing your love that they are more than just a simple hooker. 

The Notebook

He built her a house. Do you hear me? He. Built. Her. A. House. You’ve got some work to do my friend. You are going to have to find Nicholas Sparks in your heart and whip out some serious “I’ll die without you” type business. Give your baby the gift of memories and dreams. Build them a home just like that ol’ pimp Noah did for his one and only.  I’m assuming that most of you don’t really possess the funds to build a two story house in Brooklyn. Don’t worry I got the answer you need…

New York Date: Ikea

Yes, you read that right. Look your honey in the eyes and say “Baby, let’s ride off into the sunset and straight into the nearest Ikea. Daddy’s gonna build you a home. “ Walk around, hold hands, pick things out together.  Not yours, not mine, ours. Ours. That’s the key word that’s going to get you kisses. Build your home with things you both love. Not living with your person yet? That’s ok. Nothing says romance like whispers of the future. Plop yourself down in your dream model flat and serenade with hopes of “one day, maybe’s”.  Bonus: Ikea actually has a restaurant in it and the food ain’t half bad.


Sleepless in Seattle / You’ve Got Mail

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan really did a number on us in the 90’s. Hell, I’m tearing up just writing about them. If your love likes one of these movies, chances are they love the other. This is your chance to combine the two films and hit them in the face with pure love. TKO. The credits for both these Nora Ephron classics should read “Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan and New York.  The city plays a romantic third character that helps to bring both the leads together. So become the romantic, compassionate, smooth beast that Nora Ephron lead us to believe you can be! Woo your sugar with the perfect Big Apple date night.

New York Date: Letters/Dinner/Sightseeing

There are three essential components to this date: Love letters, a romantic dinner and a trip to the top of the Empire State building.

Phase 1: Love Letters
Ok so, you messed up. Emails are not going to get you forgiveness. Nope, you are going to have to go "Old School Playa" with hand written letters. Seduce your lovers affections using words. Compliment them, intrigue them, let them know that you notice everything about what they do and who they are. I'm talking Shakespeare sonnets. If you write anything that resembles "You Remind Me of My Jeep", may God strike you down (Congratulations! You just survived an R. Kelly reference). Leave the letters everywhere they can find them and wait for the magic to happen. If you really want to turn the heat up, I suggest making one of those letters dirty. Awwww yeah. Give your baby the scandalous who, what, when, where, why and how of your dirty plans for them. Make sure they never forget the true meaning of hot and bothered. Now, if you're not really good at expressing your "Dirrty" through words, you should probably phone a friend or something for help. Nothing kills the mood more than a bunch of bush league dirty talk. You want to be the J.K. Rowling of smut, not the Stephanie Meyer.

Phase 2: Romantic Dinner
You've wooed your honey with words, now woo them with charm. In one of your letters, invite your someone to meet you for a romantic dinner. Make sure to tell them that you’ll be the one with the rose in your book. Trust me, if they’ve seen the movie, they’ll get it. Now here's your chance to have a little role play fun. Act like this is your first date. Rekindle that mystery and fun that you had at the beginning. A little conversation and flirtation will be just what you need before entering phase 3. 

Phase 3: Empire State Building
Now that you’re both horny and well fed, jump into the world of “Sleepless in Seattle”. End your beautiful night on top of the Empire State Building.  The lights, the views, the history… this building screams amore. Bonus points if you can get to the top by sunset. It's an amazing sight. Snuggle up and enjoy the beautiful city below. Before you leave, take your lover's hand and say the words "Shall we?" (Its in the movie! They will get it) and give them one heart stopping kiss on the most romantic building in NYC. And that my friend, will be a wrap.



There you go! 5 wonderful dates based on 5 romantic classics. So, go ahead and choose your own adventure. You forgetting Valentine’s Day will be but a distant memory. Next year, try to pay attention when you start seeing heart balloons and teddy bears everywhere. Seriously, they give you around a month’s worth of heads up. Sheesh.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

MURRAIED

It's official! I've traded in my sassy Nordstrom's Rack shoes in for the snug warmth of my snow boots. There's been at least 1 snow storm a week since 2014 made it's grand entrance. I feel like the city is resting inside a giant snow globe that unfortunately, ended up in the hands of hyper 5 year old. Shake shake shake... blizzard. Shake shake shake.... crazy, negative degree winds. Shake shake shake... making your weekly grocery run to Trader Joe's into a deleted scene from the movie "Alive". I'm pretty sure I saw a Yeti when I was walking past Central Park this morning. But, even with all my moan and groans, I have to say that they city looks so beautiful under the blankets of white. Especially those first untouched hours in the morning, when everything's peacefully quiet and the streets belong to you. 


The last few weeks of my life have been a crazy whirlwind. The kind chaotic experience where you constantly forget what day it is and exhaustion becomes your venerated companion. But honestly, I've never been so happy to be so tired. When you end the day doing what you love, thankfulness replaces fatigue. I am incredible thankful. 
I had the pleasure of booking my first role of the year with Time Warner Cable for an exciting Super Bowl event. I put my Disney cheerfulness to use by playing "Tour Guide" to a host of people. 2 weeks of rehearsals and 1 week for showtime. My favorite part of the job were all of my lovely castmates. I was so lucky to work with the best group of people ever. Every single person brought their amazing personalities in to make this experience seem more like a party. I looked forward to seeing them everyday. What can I say, I love making new friends. So if any of them are reading this, I have to say again, I adore each of you. 



Working hard for the money.


Have you ever had one of those days that you can definitely add into your lifetime memory file? One of those amazing WTF moments that gives you just one more fun fact about yourself? Well, that happened to me last week. For some reason, I was just having one of those "pep-in-my-step" days. Work was smooth. My tours were going well. I remember laughing my ass off in the green room with a few of the other actors that morning. My hair was cooperating with life. If you are a fan of deserts, that day was like a warm fudge brownie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I got to flirt with an Italian soccer player (go on and add some chocolate syrup to that) and I met Chica & Carly from "The Sunnyside Up Show" on Sprout (put a cherry on top please). It was just a GOOOOD day. Apparently God thought that I needed to add a few sprinkles. :)


My new Boo Christian Vieri. Yeah, he doesn't know that yet but, people like surprises right?







Fox Sports was having an after party that night. They had countless sports figures coming through and Kings of Leon were performing for the 300 or so guests. A few of us were asked to work the event and give tours to the VIPs who wanted it. Well, of course no one really wanted a tour. They wanted to drink and party. So, we were let loose and told we can stay for the concert. While there, I talked with Michael Strahan (my mom flipped out) and tried to get Randy Moss to get an accent nail (my dad flipped out) and had a chance to take pictures with the Vince Lombardi trophy and the Fox Sports robot, Cleatus (They both think I'm officially cool now). Finally, it was time to watch Kings of Leon do their thing. Wow, what an amazing band. They sound so great live. I was already a fan but now, I'm a KOL groupie and proud of it. 







During the performance of "Taper Jean Girl", I heard a crazy "YEAHHHHHHHH!" shout behind me. When I turned around, there was Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad's Jesse) jamming to the music. Also close by was the one, the only, Bill Murray. You guys, I am pretty ok with keeping my cool when around celebrities. I usually just freak out in private. But, I couldn't help it. I started giggling like a school girl. Bill Murray was right there! Throughout the concert, I noticed a heap of celebrities in the house. Ryan Philippe was around. My pre-teen self almost went through puberty again. Rob Thomas was hanging with Aaron Paul and Bill Murray. It took everything I had not to sing "I wanna push you A-round" when I met him. Kevin Bacon was in the house. Sorry guys, I didn't have a chance to ask him to dance angrily with me around a VW Bug. Next time :). I just kept having these moments of "What the hell am I doing here?!" It was insane to me. So I just started dancing and dancing and jamming and being there in that moment with my new friends and loving every second of it. 



Aaron Paul, Bill Murray and Rob Thomas

At the end of the show, I was determined to meet Bill Murray. I mean, this was the actor who's starred in several of my favorite movies. So, I took a deep breath and walked towards him. He turned to look at me just as I was starting to speak. Right away, he droves his hands in my hair and proceeded to muss it up a bit. It was like a kid getting their hands in play dough for the first time. All I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open in shock. I was being "Murraied" 


Murraied: Stange things that Bill Murray does to the fans he encounters. Usually ending with "Nobody's going to believe you". 

After he was done, he smoothed my hair down a bit and said "You're cute". I asked him to take a picture with me and he happily said "sure". The lights in the place were crazy and blue so, the picture came out a big mess. When I said as much, he looked at it and said "NOOOOO! We look like mythical Gods!" So yeah, didn't get a great picture with him but, WHO CARES! I just met Bill Murray! 


Mythical Gods



So guys, that's it! That's the big story. I had one for the books last week and I couldn't be happier to add another crazy story to this chapter in my life. You gotta love those little moments when you are blessed with times that tell you "You are where you are suppose to be". Sometimes I have them just walking down the streets of NYC. Other times I have them sitting in my favorite coffee shop. This time, I experienced my appreciation at a small Kings of Leon show with my new buddy Bill Murray. I found a gray hair the next day while tidying up my locks. I like to think Bill Murray put it there just for me to remember him by. Or it could be that I'm turning 30 this year..... Naaaaa! It was Bill Murray :).

Until next time....



5 Philip Seymour Hoffman characters that make me smile
Yes, we know that he could deliver an Oscar winning performance. But, the roles that pop in my head when I think about him will always be the ones where he looked like he had a hell of a time filming them. He was an amazing actor. Someone who I would dream of performing with one day. RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman. You were a King in our industry. Thank you. xoxo


1). Dusty from "Twister"
     The role that made me fall in love with PSH! Dusty just looked like a fun character to play.




2). Lester Bangs from "Almost Famous"
      One of my favorite movies, period.




3). Owen Davian "Mission Impossible III"
      Seriously. This character was so creepy. He reminded me of a Bond villain. I'd never seen him play such a souless character before. Loved it.




4). The Count "Pirate Radio"
       I love this movie! Loved this character. Philip Seymour Hoffman and movies about great music go together perfectly




5). Sandy Lyle "Along Came Polly"
     The throat clearing scene may have been one of the times where me and my coca cola did a spit take. 




Love Always, 

The girl who loves the movie "Groundhog Day"