hollywood housewife

everyone can wear red lipstick

This is my lazy beauty series, where I experiment with ways to make us look and feel prettier.  With as little work involved as possible.

Unequivocally, all women look better in lipstick. 

You might not like the feel of lipstick, or it may not be your personal style, but don't misunderstand the fact that you look better wearing it.

Red lipstick, on the other hand, is scary.  Most women leave the true red power lipstick to those making a bold statement.  But it doesn't have to be your signature style (a la Gwen Stefani) or part of a Halloween costume for red lipstick to be fun and casual.   

If it's the right shade, all women can wear red lipstick and look good doing it.

I decided to test my theory on a handful of my girlfriends.  Two of the six women had never before in their life even worn lipstick.  Two!  These are my immediate friends.  You have to wonder what we even have in common.

Befores and Afters.  Judge for yourself.

K. has the most full and luscious lips.  Gorgeous, right?  She is wearing Nars Semi-Matte in Shanghai Express with a M.A.C. lip pencil in Burgundy.

 

I don't think Rachel has ever taken a bad picture in her life.  Doesn't the red look fantastic with her glasses?  Rachel is wearing Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella.

Nora is an old pro at the beauty experiments.  Which means I might have to rope her in for more.  Nora is wearing Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella.

 

L. was one of the lipstick virgins.  Why don't I have a third after picture for her?  Probably because we were all marveling at how the simple addition of lipstick made it look as if she had touched up all the rest of her makeup.  (She hadn't.  I watched.  There will be no cheating on my lazy beauty posts!)  Or we were blinded by how icy blue her eyes suddenly looked.

L. is wearing Clinique Different Lipstick in Angel Red.

(With both P. and S. we were battling florescent office lights, so forgive my photography.) 

P. was the other lipstick virgin.  Those poor, poor lips having never been adorned.  Doesn't the red look dramatic against dark skin? 

P. is wearing Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella (applied by S.).

Look!  Even red heads can wear red lipsticks!  I think S. looks fantastic.  A co-worker asked her if she was going out after work.  See?  Lipstick - especially red lipstick - says, "I'm going places!"

S. is wearing Clinique Different Lipstick in Angel Red.

Word of warning: a downside to red lipstick is that you can NOT make out in it.

But if I'm in my ratty sweats with my hair in a messy bun, but I have a good solid lip color on, then I feel like I can present my face to the world without shame. 

Do you red?

(It would not hurt my feelings if you sent me your red lipstick pictures.) 

meet my husband

 

We met on the set of his first movie. 

I was a starry-eyed twenty-two year-old fresh from Oklahoma, and at the bottom of the film’s totem pole.  He was older, and hot, and my boss.

I didn’t find him or his friends funny.  I worked on his movie only as a way to pay the rent.  I turned up my nose at everything he stood for.  Somewhere along the way, I changed.   

Despite our enormous differences, we were good friends for two years.  I crushed on him like a giddy schoolgirl, even though I wasn’t his type.  I was prissy, conservative, blonde.  One night all the carefully constructed walls came tumbling down and we professed our undying love.

His version of events may slightly differ. 

Here – and sometimes elsewhere - he'll be called The Gorilla.  Because he kinda looks like one, and because I don’t want his eclectic fan base to land here from a search engine. 

He is kind, and funny, and loves me in spite of everything that tells him he shouldn’t. 

 

I am just mad about him.  He is the reason I am a Hollywood Housewife.

photo by Lucian Capellaro, Paramount International

***

The Gorilla is an established producer/director. He's best known as the creator/director/producer of the following films and television shows:

 

 

   

 

turn your magazine clippings into your own personal look book

I am addicted to magazines.  But they have a tendency to take over my life.  They collect all over the house until I'm pulling out tabloids from 2005 with Britney Breakdown cover stories. 

Quite a few years ago I figured out a system to periodically rid myself of magazine clutter, while also keeping my favorite pictures and little snippets of articles. 

I created a personal Look Book of inspiration from these inexpensive sketch books from an art store.

While I'm reading a magazine, I turn down the pages that have something I like on them.  Before I throw the magazine in the recycle bin, I rip out the snippets I like and tape them into book.  I just tape them right down with the tape showing and everything.

Eventually I moved from having just one Look Book to having one for home-related things and one for clothes/beauty/gifts.  The Home Look Book is a larger size because I tend to rip entire pages out of home magazines.  

These books are a constant source of inspiration for me.  Sometimes I look at a snippet and think, "I wonder why I tore that out?" but most of the time I think, "Oh, I forgot about that!  Love it!"  And then I sigh over my exquisite taste. 

I turn to the Look Books when I need a gift idea or am stuck creatively. 

The key is to get the turned down pages ripped out and taped into the books in a timely manner.  I may or may not be so excellent at that part.  

Do you do something similar? 

How do you collect ideas and inspiration?

arby's keeps me pretty

Originally published on my former blog on November 12, 2008.

The Arby’s guy knows my name. He knows my car when I pull through the drive through. He knows I like my large Dr. Pepper with a little extra ice. He knows I’m sort of a newlywed and that I used to work in television. No disguise works with the Arby’s guy. I’ve worn scarves, sunglasses, even gone in my husband’s car instead of mine. He always greets me by name and with a big, friendly smile.

It seems that this would be considered excellent customer service. It some ways it is, but most of the time I just wish the Arby's guy and I could pretend every time was the first time and go on about our day.

The Arby's in Hollywood is across the street from Tribune Studios, where I worked for over a year on a Fox show about nannies. This is how the Arby's guy got to know me so well. Every single morning I dropped in for my morning drink and two chocolate chip cookies for my breakfast. It is also a stones throw from my house. Not really, but in relative terms, it is very close. It is one of the only restaurant establishments within a ten mile radius that carries fountain Dr. Pepper, and they happen to have particularly yummy-mixed Dr. Pepper at Arby's. You can see my dilemma.

If I need an Arby’s Dr. Pepper first thing in the morning, during an afternoon slump, or to sip with my dinner, I always have to pause and make sure I’m presentable. Because the Arby’s guy appears to work every single shift of every single day. I swear I can only think of one time I have ventured by when he hasn’t been there.

Sometimes it’s a real pain in the rear to make sure my hair is brushed and my skin isn’t going to scare anybody. The Arby’s guy is cute enough, but he’s hardly swoon-worthy. Still, I can’t bear for him to see me looking like a disaster, which sometimes I do. It’s the non-working thing. You say you’re going to get up and get dressed in the same way you would as if you were stamping a timecard, but it doesn’t always happen. The day starts rolling like a steam engine, and before you know it you’re still in your Uggs and t-shirt, so why change now?

On day three of our honeymoon, the waiter who served us breakfast each day recognized my husband’s name on the bill, and came to our table awkwardly professing his undying love. We were in Tahiti.  When he walked away, I turned to The Gorilla bummed. “Now I have to put on lipstick before breakfast. On my honeymoon.“ Maybe I should have clued in that honeymoon is one of the places where you want to look your very prettiest.

In my everyday life, it’s the Arby's guy who keeps me accountable. If he’s the only reason I slap on some mascara every day, then so be it. Beauty is pain. And I NEED my Dr. Pepper.

how to start a book club

I started a book club with three friends in August of 2008. The idea came up at my birthday dinner, my friend Priya to my right and my friend Rachel across the table. They didn't know one another, but engaged in a lively bookish discussion.

There was wine involved.

A few days later we confirmed that we were all still interested, we added Nora, and Book Club was born.  Eventually we grew to a group of seven, and we met for almost six years before cross-country moves and babies and jobs forced us to regroup. But without a doubt, book club was always a highlight of my month. 

Here are a few tips to running a successful book club:

1.  Establish a few loose guidelines.  You want to make sure everyone is on the same page and with the same expectations right from the beginning. Will it be come-one-come-all, or do you prefer to keep members to invite only? Will you meet strictly on the first weekend of the month or just when schedules allow? Where will you meet and at what time of day? Should you impose a page limit on selections? These things can all change over time, but start with a general idea of what you want.

We went with members only (unless we were purposefully adding someone), and our group was small enough that we could quickly choose a date each month that worked for the majority. We were a weekend brunch kind of group, but depending on our circumstance, weekday evenings could work well, too.

2.  Pick a theme or don't.  There are good book club themes out there. You could choose to read only Pulitzer Prize winners or first books in a series. You could focus only on women authors or only authors who wrote under a pen name. The nurses at my OB office are working through the classics in their book club. The possibilities are endless. 

My book club doesn't have a theme, but we do tend to gravitate towards darker stories. 

3.  Establish a "picking" order and write it down. This may feel a little formal at first, but it has helped us to keep track of whose turn it is to pick the book that month. We each take a turn in a specific order, and when a new member has been around for several months, we add her to the rotation. I send out an email each month with the chosen book and the date picked to meet.  We are fairly loose in deciding when we're going to meet, but do try to stick to a monthly timeframe. 

I know some clubs choose their book selection by vote, but I don't recommend that. A huge benefit to a book club is that you're introduced to authors and genres that you might otherwise never have read. Don't get too wrapped up feeling "responsible" for the pick. Sometimes the worst books (or at least the ones we disagreed on) sparked the bed discussion!  

4.  Let the conversation go where it wanders.  We joke that we spend about half an hour discussing the book and the rest of the time discussing everything else. And I do mean everything else. We have spent entire days, hours and hours, lounging in a living room parsing What It All Means. I have found my book club to be an intellectual outlet I didn't even know I craved, and I almost always leave the meetings feeling full and grateful. 

I do not think there are any secrets to this. We keep our group pretty small, which helps. As a whole, we don't see each other all together except for book club, so the gatherings always feel special.

You don't have to be an ardent reader to participate in a book club. Almost anyone can manage one book a month. Sometimes it's even nice to have the discipline. If I don't get anything else of substance read that month, I can count on making it through the book club pick.

Don't wait until you have more time or more friends interested. If it's something you're interested in, don't hesitate. 

If you're lucky, it may just be the best conversation you have all month.

change your kitchen, change your life part II: transformation

Yesterday I showed you the dismal, dreary kitchen of yesteryear.  

I will spare you the five months of construction pictures, and simply present you with the bright, beautiful, life-changing kitchen transformation:

 

You're gasping, right?  You're practically applauding the screen?  (Please tell me you are, because with all the dollars and time spent, I want to give the room a standing ovation EVERY DAY.)

Here's the view from the other corner, looking into the dining room.  Notice the microwave is in the island.  This was not my first choice, but it made the most sense.  My mom hates it.  I've gotten used to it, but agree that it is not ideal.  

 

You can see now why I don't mind standing at the sink.  (Please disregard how these pictures are from various stages of "lived-in.")

 

change your kitchen, change your life

The Gorilla and I will be in the market for a new house in the next few years, and have recently become addicted to HGTV.  The problem with those HGTV shows is that it makes you want to re-do everything in your house.  Or is that just me?

The good thing about the HGTV shows is that it really helps you sort out what is important to you in a home.  We debate whether a pool is better than a nice view, or the merits of having two separate living areas. 

One thing we agree on unconditionally: the kitchen.  We have become very specific about the kitchen.

We remodeled our kitchen two years ago and it has changed the way the we live in this house.  Where we used to treat the dark, cave-y kitchen like an oversized pantry - simply getting in and getting out with what was needed - we now spend most of our time at home in this bright, happy room. 

This was our kitchen before.  Contain your envy.

The cabinets were hand-made.  This is not quite the same as "custom," if you catch my drift.