Pay No Attention to the Man in the Fannypak!

Scene: walking the dogs after work.

Hubs: Look at my new technique when I walk both dogs in the morning.

[sidenote: yes, i'm WAY too busy getting ready for work, and most importantly.. getting ready to watch the Today Show for 35 minutes]

And then he does this with her leash.

JQ: but where do you fit the water bottle and the discman... while holding 4 lb weights on each arm? while gabbin' with your best girlfriend about the finds you just picked up at The Christmas Tree Shop..

I'll spare you what Rocco thought about his new technique.

But we did pick it up. Cos we are great dog owners.

We Make it Rain in Boston

About 25 of the last 28 days have had a forecast of Rain in good ole' Boston. Such a nice treat after a horrible miserable winter, I must say.

Fortunately, Boston is a fun city so we make do. Saturday night I met up with a bunch of friends to do a little bar hopping in Fanueil Hall. We started the night out at the Hong Kong where there was an awesome 80s themed pub crawl starting up. I wish I had gotten the memo, because everyone dressed up was rocking the theme 110%. The girl on the left in the 80's pumps was my favorite outfit out of the crew.

We then hit up Red Sky, which even though the weather was crappy, the view was pretty cool.

Then it was time to meet up with Yummy Mummy & Legally Brunette and company for dinner at Houstons! Then headed over to Hennessys to see YM's friend's band play the perfect songs you want to hear when out at a bar. Live music is my ffffavorite (but I don't like going to concerts at huge venues)

Upstairs was a girl band playing No Doubt, which made Ali and I want to start an all girls rock band. I wish I had some talent to go through with that. And a guitar!

Probably laughing at something hilarious I said..

I think the equation goes something like.. the more bars you go to in one night, add those X amount of hours onto your Sunday morning hangover....

After some suggestions on twitter, we went to go see Away We Go. Its a movie staring John Krasinski & Maya Rudolph about a young couple about to have their first kid, and trying to find the perfect city to relocate to. It was sweet, funny, dramatic and cute. Plus the cast was perfect!! Maggie Gylenhaul is awesome. And I have a new actor crush, Chris MessinaAnd this movie will forever make me chuckle whenever I see a Stroller. Plus the soundtrack is very iPod worthy.

What movies are worth making a trip to the theatre??

[besides The Hangover, obviously]

Blog Carnival: Kickin' it Old School

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers! This month’s theme is “Looking Back” and we are to post something from when we first started blogging.

I started blogging back in May of '05. And just looking back at the first 50 posts is the most entertaining thing ever (probably only to me, because I pretty much treated it like twitter and wrote some random ridonculous stuff)

One in particular that I like..

The banker's been detained..

Last night I was getting into my Monday night tv routine of Deal or No Deal, followed by 24. Checking the tvo, I was alarmed to see that Deal or No Deal was a 2 hr special. How could Howie Mandel do this to me? Was he not aware of Jack Bauer being stuck in that warehouse explosion last week? Of course I was loyal and switched over to 24. But then I got to thinking..

How cool would it be if Jack Bauer was on Deal or No Deal. It'd go something like this....











You know it'd be great television.. cos 24 is all about suspense, and what do you know.. so is Deal or No Deal. And out of all the briefcase girls, the ones with the big amts like 1 mil and 750K would be Russian spies, that Jack Bauer would have to kill. And then it'd be a huge fight sequence with the Banker, showing his true identity as President Logan. I know it could never work (because its Fox mixing with NBC obviously) but still.. a blogger could dream can't she?

And just because this is the only time its kosher to RP (i'm guessing thats how i say Re Post, like Re Tweet?!) this is the time that I wore Men's Cologne to work by accident...

I wore men's cologne today.

It all happened when Jon gave me all of those makeup freebies last weekend. Well one of them was a small DKNY Be Delicious perfume. Or so I thought. I opened it this morning and it didn't have the spray attachment, you had to dab it on your wrists and then dab it on your neck to put it on. That Donna Karan is super trendy. I noticed it was a little stronger- but i just figured i'm just used to wearing my signature Ralph.

It wasn't until about 7 hours later where I kept on thinking a guy was near my cube because every now and then I'd smell that Guy stench.

Then the wheels in my head started to turn, and a google search later I realized this must be the guy version of DKNY Be Delicious and I MUST be wearing it.

Not that there's anything wrong with it. I just felt like I was hanging around a bunch of dudes all day.

Posted by Julie Q at Wednesday, May 02, 2007 0 Deep Thoughts

A Closer Look

• Contemplating getting my dogs these chairs for when we sit out on the porch for dinner. They are pretty nicely priced, but I'd be afraid Roc'n'Lex would start sitting in our dining room chairs too if they got used to it .
• My Yiayia turns 80 today!!! Happy Birthday! Stop by her blog and send her some birthday wishes!
  
• Fun With Yahoo Answers.. check it out!!! a fun tumblr page that is an awesome entertaining time waster (much like my blog!)
  

• i WISH my random flickr pix would be picked for a Prague ad campaign without my knowledge or consent. Or at least on the preview of Prague's Next Top Model... [src: jezebel]
• 35 Douchiests Dads. Funny list :) Although I'd totally veto Uncle Jesse being a db dad! Have mercy on him.
  
• Ruelala purchase of the week. I kid. I'm banning myself from Ruelala for 1 month. My Tory Burch Tote!!!! Too bad I will not debut it until later on this week, because its supposed to be rainy and crumby in Boston until Thursday. What is this.. London?!?!

And finally, for all y'all with a sense of humor and saw The Hangover.. enjoy this Funny or Die video below featuring Zach G and Bradley Cooper. Thanks Ali for sending!!

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

jq-uoted

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." —Mignon McLaughlin

Had a wonderful weekend in Cape Cod celebrating E's wedding! Cheers to the happy newlyweds and I'll have a fun recap post coming up..

Adventures in Online Sample Sales

Hubs: Hello?

JQ: Hey! Grabbed tickets to OAR for August!!! I haven't seen them in forever.. plus it was no ticket service fee day. double score!

Hubs: Sweet, lets pick out some Birkenstocks before we go!

JQ: Why.. did my Ruelala Package come yet????!

[totally ordered a pair off Ruelala last week due to a random click of the mouse after remembering how comfy the pair I rocked back in 7th grade was.]

Hubs: Wait.. what?

[yeah, he still thinks i'm joking]

--------------------

Later on that evening...

Reading email out loud from ruelala with the MacBook while watching House Hunters.

JQ: 'We are sorry to have to tell you that the merchandise listed below has become unavailable... OH NO! Not my Tory Bombe Burch tote?!?!?!! Ohhhhh YAY, its NOT that.. it was the Missoni tank top. Hmmmmm.. i had forgot about that one. Hey at least my card isn't getting charged for it.

Hubs: Why, how much was it?

JQ: (thinking- well its not getting charged to my card so why not just tell him) $149

Hubs: For a tank top?

And as smart and lovely as he is, he drops it and goes back to reading espn.com.....

--email me if you'd like a ruelala invite. just in time for the gucci sale that starts 11am on Thursday. oooolala!--

Mind Your Manners or You'll Get the Boot

Recently picked up some shnazzy items from and wanted to share...

The front room is almost ready to unveil on Rocco's Modern Home! Just finishing up the entry way with some Greek Key Crown Molding (cos we save the fancy stuff for the 4 square foot area aka only have to pay for 4SF of molding aka brilliant!). The paint has made such a difference from the 80s wallpaper that was up there before.

Then pair your goodies with a delicious scented candle...

And for my absolute favorite find!!! It has a handle so you can hang it on a wall, or on a doorknob..

buying it at Homegoods, $9.99...

...using it accordingly, priceless

Anyone know when the next Halley's Comet is?

FINALLY saw The Hangover today. I haven't LOL'd like that in a theater since Superbad (and that's only because I saw Step Brothers on DVD in my living room)

Whether you wait for video, or check it out in theaters.. its a must see. The cast was awesome, and I now have a big celebrity crush on Bradley Cooper (developed a slight crush on him when he played 'Sack' in Wedding Crashers). After the movie, we all grabbed some lunch and ofcourse the topic of a Vegas Bachelor party came up since the guys will be planning them for friends at some point. Maybe it was the unlimited refills of Diet Coke & a lemon, but GL and I agreed to sign a contract that they could go to Vegas for an upcoming bachelor party. Do I believe this will happen? Highly unlikely. Which is why I act so hip it hurts about it. But good job 'The Hangover'... you somehow made it look like any trip to Vegas will not be as naughty! NOTE: Title of the Post will only be recognizable after you see this flick (no pressure or anything..)

The rest of the weekend was a nice time. Saturday was a gorgeous day out, and I finally got to meet some new Blogger Friends after our schedules aligned for brunch! Me, Yummy Mummy, Legally Brunette and Bex dined at Sonsie on Newbury, and I had such a nice time!!!!! While I was a little intimidated since they were all lawyers (what if they used some big words that I had to pretend like I knew?!!?)-- the conversation could not get more entertaining with shopping, law school, and babies. YM's Little Man was there as well, and I found myself just staring off at him cos all he did was smile & laugh! Eeeeek my ovaries! Had to grab a picture of him before she rode off for a day of fun at the park. BTW I'm not sure how YM does not have her own show- she's such a cool, hip & hilarious mom! Can't wait to meet up with all these ladies again :)

OOOOOOOO while walking down Newbury Street (third straight Saturday in a row) I saw another vision in prep. This one TRUMPED the last weeks look that I showed via JQ Lounge Cam. He was standing outside of Stephanie's on Newbury waiting for his date to arrive (boy or girl- couldn't not tell), but it was so awkward for me to snap a pic- so I took a mental not of his outfit and immediately started perusing vineyardvines.com and other sites to replicate it for you...

After Newbury, me & hubs packed up our little Lexie (cos Rocco was vacationing in VT with Glam-ma) and headed over to a fellow Real Housewive of the Metro West house to hang out by the pool and enjoy the sun. Trashy tabloid magazines, sitting in the sun by the pool, cocktails, chatting and Trader Joe's snacks is like my idea of the best time ever (with some would be Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc thrown in had I been able to drink with the hangover i was rocking)

Lexie and Mikey chased each other around the yard the entire day... Lexie is a flirt

Why does the North East have real winters again? I'd take a weekend like this over skiing ANYTIME!

Summer Shows: Volume 1

It was sad for a month or two with Lost being over, but Summer not only brings the sunshine, Perfect Polished Toes and Sangria, but also spectacular fun tv to indulge in!

Some shows I'm looking forward to.

True Blood. HBO, Sunday June 14th 9pm. click here.

Obvi.

I'm not a sci fi nerd. I usually like Romantic Comedies, good shows like The Wire, TLC's A Baby Story, any show about House Renovation or Cake Renovation, Reality Television.. but vampires? It just wasn't my scene. Until True Blood. This show completely caught me off guard and I was hooked after the first 15 minutes of the first episode. Yes, I know I should watch Twilight, but already I feel like its comparing the original 90210 to Sweet Valley High (which I think I was the only one who watched that show when the girl from Clueless was on it) You still have time to catch up on Season 1 by Sunday.. but it depends. how dedicated are you? (besides this girl who I respect for her taste in tv - cos its basically the same as mine!)

Fact: Sookie and her Vampire Beau date in real life. Just had to include that! FTW

Mad Men. AMC, Sunday August 16th 10pm. click here.

Oh to be a Chauvinistic Pig back in the '60s. Don Draper is bootyliscious and he can talk about the Kodak Carousel as much as he wants and I'd buy it. I love this show because I love the entire cast and the storylines with it. A chick who hides her pregnancy cos she had sexytime with a coworker in his office? Scandalous. The amount of scotch they drink before 9am would knock me out for about 3 days straight. Ron Burgandy meets Newsies meets Sopranos. This show is a treat.

Royal Pains. USA, Thursdays 10pm. click here.

New show and the Pilot episode got the hubs attention enough for him to program our DVR to always record it. That's pretty impressive because while I'll watch anything- he's a picky tv snob. The guy from Road Trip is in it too! Long story short- city doctor gets blacklisted out of town and ends up hanging around Rich 'Cidiots' (the locals word for City Folks who invade the Hamptons every weekend). The Jokes are fun, the Hamptons scenery is gorh-jas, and each member in the cast has beautiful eyes. That's hard to come by! Or maybe it was our HD TV. Either way, I'd definitely check it out.

Shows that will not be showing up this summer? WB's Privileged did NOT get renewed. Sad Face. I dont want to admit how much I loved that show. Also- Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia doesn't come back until September- so that will 'Fall' under the Automn shows. yucka yucka yucka.

Shows I've stopped watching: The Bachelorette (sorry but its a bore fest this season. very cute guys though- makes great content for The Soup), I'm a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here (speidi should stick to scripted television and full makeup), SYTYCD - I gave that show about 10 minutes before I was like.. what the what? but that's also because I hate dancing, and clubs where people dance. I'm more of an 'Elaine' type of dancer.

What shows are you excited to watch over the summer?

There's No Breakfast. Just Brunch.

Fantastical little weekend. Friday we hung around and tried out a new (to us) Mexican Restaurant outside Boston. It was called Zocalo Cocina and it was pretty yummy. They even had a 'low carb chicken burrito' that was recently added to the menu that I loved. After the Teeth Whitening, I've tried switching to an all white diet when it comes to drinking. But i'm sorry, White Sangria will NEVER be as good as Red Sangria! That is a fact.

Saturday I was uber excited for my trip to Newbury St to go to Melt Boston and cash in on yet another groupon. My mom was going to get her Teeth Whitened- so we decided to make a girls outting on Newbury St. Grabbed some lunch on Charlies patio and checked out some retail.

My favorite buy of the day from Newbury Comics:

McLovin Air Freshener $4.99

Then as I was walking to Melt for some spa pampering. I saw him. A vision in Prep.

The Pink Belt with the Aligators on it was what did me in. I whipped out the Google Phone and point'n'clicked this ridiculousness. Even my mom said 'Yeah, that's way too preppy for that young boy.. I didn't want to say anything cos he could hear me' (as he's still about 5 ft away from us)

Melt Boston was a very nice visit. I had a 2 groupons that equaled about $250 worth of goodies. The first hour was a Body Polish. According to their site 'Your body is deeply exfoliated using the salt or sugar of your choice, cleaned with hot towels and followed with a relaxing application of hydrating body butter. Scents change seasonally.' Um, yeah it was amazing and I'm pretty sure I fell into a deep sleep about 45 minutes into it. The next hour was a Luzern Facial, and I think my face got replaced with Giselle's skin afterwards, because it was dewy and clean and supermodelesque.

Groupon has done it again! BTW my mom's teeth came out like 10 times brighter and whiter then my did. Jealous! But mine are still white- no thanks to giving up my love affair with Red Sangria.

The rest of the weekend we headed down to Newport, Rhode Island for a family cookout. I hadn't been to Newport in awhile, and forgot how pretty and relaxing it is! After a fun night of BBQ'ing and Flip cup, we ended Sunday morning with brunch at Atlantic Beach Club and headed back to Boston.

The rest of the lazy Sunday was spent with our two little kiddies, Rocco'n'Lexie.

Fun weekends like this one make me forget about the 10 horrible snowstorms we had this winter!!

OH WAIT! The best part which is why this post is titled what it is. While driving into the parking lot for Atlantic Beach Club....

Beach Cabana DB: Yeah? (aka if we were parking to go to the beach, it would be $15).

Hubs: We're getting Breakfast

Beach Cabana DB: There's No Breakfast. Just Brunch.

Hubs: Same thing.

Beach Cababa DB: (insert fake laugh) Ha! Yeah I guess you're right (aka Go Fugs Yourself)

WHAT A DB! But I did crack up at his quote enough to remember to name my post this. Thanks dude!

Pretty Things Make Me Happy!

Speechless. I know I'm probably the only person out there who still gets a kick out of bows on shoes. My first pair dated back to when I was 9 and my mom let me pick a pair of patent leather shoesies with the slightest kitten heel. The bow was green, red, and purple. Thinking back- they were hideous, but I felt like a princess every time i heard the little heel click on the pavement. Shoes: J. Crew, and unfortunately they are not on sale.

I'm not an interior designer, but if i WAS, my fabulous eye for things would be portrayed in a portfolio liked Amanda Nisbet. I saw a sneak peak on Desire To Inspire (btw- great website I just found) and cannot turn away!

Ooooo another pretty lilac bedroom! This one is from Tobi Fairley. I would feel like a Southern Bell in this room. Actually I'd feel more like Cher from Clueless- but either way its a good thing. As long as it includes a Closet that circulates my clothes.

Every time we work on a house project, we always say 6 months until we pick up a paint brush again onto the next room. Boo to that! And, yeah, where would one find such ridiculously awesome Black Chunky Curtain Rods? Yeah, they don't look TOO expensive. le sigh.

Ahhhh Peach. Its Wedding Season, and here are some pix (courtesy of Style Me Pretty) of a JQ Lounge approved Rehearsal Dinner. If we were to attend this Rehearsal Dinner, me and hubs would be called Hadley & Skip (aka our Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard monikers)

I must have HBO's True Blood on the mind (season 2 premieres June 14th 9pm!!!) because when I saw this print on Print & Pattern I felt a special bond with it, and THEN i noticed its called Sukie Fruit Fabric. Its been way too long since I heard a Vampire say 'Sookie'

Happy Wednesday!

Kneet Knit Tweets!

Must. fight. urge. to. shop. But I want I want I want a Tweet Pillow! This cool chick named Julie (you sensing a pattern here???!) came up with these about a week ago according to her blog, and will soon be taking orders! Unfortunately most of my tweets are silly and not worth the cost of yarn, but heck, why not order a Diablo Cody tweet or Aziz Ansari rant...

Just looking at them makes me happy!

After quicking peroozing my tweets the only one I like so far to display on my couch is:

What Tweet would you get done?

My Pearly Whites bring all the dogs to the yard.

Cashed in this weekend on my super duper Boston Groupon Deal I had purchased a month or two back. Teeth Whitening @ Brite Smile for $185 (normally a $600 value). My teeth are already an okay shade of white to begin with, but I really wanted to go for that WOW you're teeth are white you must be a supermodel factor.

Made my appointment for a Saturday. They scheduled me for 11am and asked that I keep in mind I'm supposed to stick to an all white diet for the next 24 hours after the procedure. Hmmmm all white diet. Mashed potatoes, White Wine, Bread, Cheese, Chicken Salad, you catch my drift....

The people who worked there were really nice, and after an awkward 1 hour of my mouth filled with cotton balls and crazy mouth pieces, voila! My teeth were 5 shades whiter.

I caved when I was leaving and bought the $80 teeth whitener pencils (they say it goes on just like lip gloss for your teeth) and the $20.00 whitener tooth paste.. hubs just about had a heart attack when I walked out with a tiny little white bag filled with $103 full of teeth whitening ridiculousness.

So here it is, the big reveal!!!

yeah, its hard to take a picture showing both top and bottom teethies!!! JQ Public Service Announcement: if your a kid wear your headgear at night if you have to! I would pretend to have it on and then throw it under my pillow, cos c'mon who wants to wake up with drool pool around their face. This advice goes for retainers too! I went from looking like Topanga to Jewel in about 2 weeks of not keeping up with the retainer.

I'd probably never pay $600 for this ever- but i'm very glad I tried it. And my mom, hubs, and bride-to-be Erica jumped on the Groupon Teeth Whitening bandwagon too so they'll be getting it done soon as well!

SO now I want to know is, when is Groupon going to be offering a Boob Job deal?!?!??? I kid I kid, its hard enough playing tennis with the ones I got now (and yeah- that was a Real Housewives of New Jersey shout out to those who [I know] are loving this season as much as I am!)

Why do haters h8 Jon & Kate?!

I was one of those who had never really watched Jon & Kate Plus 8 and all of a sudden started seeing them EVERYWHERE in the last month. US Weekly (3 Covers) Star (2 Covers), Today Show, Access Hollywood, People.com, you name it, there was Jon & Kate and that goofy haircut.

Apparently they had a marathon gearing up for the new season that debuts tonite. Ughh, enough already! But then it happened.

I watched an episode.

And I think I had the epiphany that many 'Twilight' fans had when reading about Edward. (which I have still yet to do even though I frickin LOVE HBO's Trueblood)

I was in love with the Gosselins.

Even Hubs was smitten with show! He didn't storm out of the room like he usually does when 'Real Housewives' or 'The Bachelorette' appears on the screen. He sat there and smiled and laugh everytime one of the little kids said something ridiculous and cute.

Every single one of those kids are adorable, and I even like Maddie who's dubbed the brat of the house. They say the darnest things! And while watching more eps then I'd like to admit in 3 days- you got to see in the relationship of Jon and Kate. While the magazines call her a monster- and she does come across as a little psycho when she snaps at Jon, she's just a little OCD and trying to take care of 8 kids.

How is Octomom allowed to have 14 children? Jon and Kate have their shit together (as parents if not as a married couple) and it is a process just feeding your littles ones breakfast in the morning. How the heck is Octomom handling it? Kate may be strict and hardcore- but Octomom is just bonkers and doesn't even have a good head on her shoulder. Sorry it just baffled me while watching this show and how they do everything.

I hope the tabloids lay off Jon and Kate, because after watching the show- there is a whole lotta love in that (new 1.5 million dollar courtesy of TLC) household.

Unfortunately its what you get when you put your life out there for Reality TV, but I'm glad they do because Alexis Joel and Aedan (along with the rest of them obvi) put a big smile on my face.

Currently..

• proud and super excited that my friend Lauren is contributing to a fabulous purse line! She and her aunt, Connie, have launched Couture Planet, and we attended the Obama Collection launch at The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. The collection looked so nice, and they even served gourmet french chocolates with sea salt sprinkled on them. You have not lived life until you try one of these chocolates.....Couture Planet is a very cool concept because each bag is made in Massachusetts from recycled newspapers, many coming directly from guestrooms in the hotel. Here are some pix from the event..

Plus they are on Etsy and twitter!

• ACHING! Went to BodyScapes to cash in on 1 of 3 personal training sessions thanks to the superawesome GrouponBoston deal! Let's just say there it hurts to type. But yeah, it was almost FUN to workout! My completely out of shape body needed a good beating. I figured I'd finally have feeling back in my thighs after all the lunges in one week- so i made my next appt for then.
• Counting down the days til my birthday weekend in July. The lovely hubs told me to pick a place anywhere for a weekend away, and I chose my favorite city in that I've never been: Charleston, South Carolina ! Maybe because I was a Southern Belle in another life? Most likely... We picked a hotel on the water that serves Sweet Tea anytime you like, and has fresh milk and cookies served everynight on the rooftop deck! (plus wine and cheese gatherings, obvi) I'm going to take a billion pix! Anyone been to Charleston?? Would love to hear about places to go!

What city [in the continental US] would you pick for a birthday weekend celebration?