A Closer Look

Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler are having a baby! Not the news one would be expecting from them, but I'd totally be down for relocating to Chi-town to throw myself into the PTA drama zone with KCav when our little ones go to school together. Come on, anyone who didn't love her on Laguna beach is a snooze fest.

Speaking of K's. Kris Humphries is trying to keep his 15 minutes of fame going. Moves like whoring out your bachelor pad to Life & Style magazine are probably not the smartest move. Reality TV proved you have nothing to offer us. The best is the commenter on Refinery 29 saying "I can't help but wonder if Kris Humphries has confused himself with a fresh-faced college (female) freshman who has her monogram above her bed - and on everything else she owns" Agreed, also, I can't really picture a grownup seeing that as his vision for his bedroom!

BuzzFeed brings you the 53 most ridiculous outfits from Fashion Week. In case you were looking for the perfect outfit for those spring barbecues that are just weeks away! But for real, scroll through if you have a moment, highly entertaining. I'm actually considering buying look #27 (NSFW) for the next PTA meeting me and KCav have in Chicago!!! wocka wocka wocka

The Ides of March: I was so excited to watch this movie.. Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman (random fact, I think PSH is the 2nd dreamiest out of all 3 of those guys.. don't ask). Let's just say, it was GREAT acting, but just the most boring PT (Tough Guy's phrase for Political Thriller) around. But then again, no one should listen to my opinions, because I then watched the Drew Peterson Lifetime movie and thought it was fab.

And finally, a closer look at my new favorite TV couple*: Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally's video for Collegehumor.

* Funniest TV couple that is, until Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy get together.

Like mother, like daughter

me checking my twitter during 'the waddle'

lil c, checking her imaginary twitter at m's 1st bday party lunch

no words.

Stripes and Whites: a DIY Closet Makeover

I've been bitten by the craft bug! There are so many fabulous blogs out there that I've been pining over lately with projects I want to try out.. well this weekend I tackled my first one inspired by Jen at Tatertots and Jello: making a striped closet.

We have this closet in our house that is basically our hamper. Its boring and dull and ends up being 'that place where you throw random things'. Well no more. It started with a trip to the Home Depot at 7am on a Saturday morning, picking up the following:
I opened up the closet door and tried taking a picture. Since my computer desk is about 5 feet away from the closet door, I couldn't back up enough to take a picture of the before. Have no fear.. with my photoshop skillz I was able to puzzle it together for you by taking a bunch of pictures and grouping them together.. and here you go.So after emptying the closet and washing the walls and sanding it a little, I applied the frog tape and crossed my fingers it would come out straight... [along with using a level of course].
And then it was paint time. It was hard to screw up the paint job with the frog tape being there. I did 2 coats of Martha Stewart Glidden paint in Lagoon [waiting an hour or so between coats]

I removed the frog tape immediately after the second coat was applied to reduce the risk of paint going through the tape and ruining my stripes and dreams.

With only a couple of hiccups in the corners-- apparently I didn't apply the tape as well as I should have for the corners-- I was extremely happy with the results!

Although this was entirely a Julie DIY.. I asked Tough Guy to put up the new wire shelf and the iron caddy on the walls, which he was a doll and did.

Let me know what you think!
Obviously I'm bummed that I couldn't get enough room to take a full picture of the new laundry closet.. and the jumbled group of pictures doesn't do it justice.. so each of you will just have to come by the place to see it, and we can talk amongst ourselves while I do some laundry for you ;)

What has been your favorite DIY project?

Katniss + Q

I never read Harry Potter or Twilight or any real series besides The Baby Sitters Club (Stacey was my fav!) and Encyclopedia Brown.. Then my dearest Erica sent me a simple email (a couple of months ago actually) only stating that I MUST read The Hunger Games. And then this Friday, for some strange reason, US Weekly and EW did not show up as they usually do. I dusted off the Kindle and was transported to the country of Panem.

I will leave you no spoilers. But book one is done, and book two is being started as soon as I press publish post on blogger.com.

Read it. Movie comes out in March. Unfortunately Michael Fassbender was not cast, but it still looks amazing. I'd link the trailer but advise you not to watch it until after you read the book!! I feel like the nerd at the sleepover. I'm totally going to go see it on IMAX!

And for those worrying throughout this post, US and EW came first thing on Saturday am. All is well.

What to watch, 2012 Volume 1

The most exciting thing about the holidays being over? NEW TV is back in our lives!!!

But there were a few shows that I let slip by in 2011 that I luckily got a chance to catch up on..

Enlightened, on HBO

I think since this series premiered around the same time Entourage was ending, I placed it in the crappy HBO shows category (consisting of Entourage, Hung and How to Make it in America), so I passed. But Tough Guy read a good review on Grantland.com so we checked it out, and after watching the first 4 minutes of the show, I knew it was going to be something special. The acting in it [mostly by Laura Dern] is phenomenal.. if you are sick of watching The Office, I would give this show a shot. I'm sorry, but its just not the same without Michael Scott. Andy Bernard is an excellent supporting character, but this new synopsis is just not meant to be. Getting backed to Enlightened, you cannot turn away. Since each show is only 22-25 minutes, it's really easy to find yourself getting caught up to speed. And I have a new found respect for Luke Wilson.. this is the first thing I've seen him in since Royal Tenenbaums that I've enjoyed.

Portlandia, on IFC

Since Season 2 is starting up this week, there were a lot of writeups about this show. I have no clue what channel the IFC is, so I just did a quick search on Comcast on Demand and sure enough there were a few episodes from Season 1 to check out. IFC's website describes it as "Each episode's character-based shorts draw viewers into "Portlandia," the creators' dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon." Its a bunch of sketch comedy bits mixed together from Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein with some awesome cameo's. And I absolutely love all the banter.. you can tell most of its improv.. you will be giggling the entire time.

Downton Abbey, on PBS

I am the most random person when it comes to TV. I can change the channel from 60 Minutes to Millionaire Matchmaker without any hesitation and vice versa. It wasn't until the Today Show had the Downton Abbey cast out on the plaza collecting Christmas Gifts for charity that I'd heard about the show. It then seemed to pop up every because they are also gearing up for Season 2 on January 8th. If you like period films like Pride & Prejudice and Jane Eyre, you will love this show. You can watch them online, here. If you saw my tweets yesterday, I kept on comparing it to the Kardashians, but with not as much makeup (men included).

MOVIES.

Young Adult, in theatres now.

Go see it. Its snarky, its funny, and its so fun to talk about after you leave the theatre. Basically Charlize Theron who is living the 'fabulous life' in the big apple (make that.. the miniapple) goes back to her hometown to get her high school sweetheart back. Only problem is? He's overjoyed with his life including the birth of his first baby girl. Charlize and Patton Oswalt are too much. She's way too beautiful, even when she's giving the evil eye, as she does for about 85% of the movie! I cannot wait to watch it again when it comes out on video.. Tough Guy and I are still debating over the ending and what the outcome was.. much like we did after The Social Network. (Mark Zuckerberg did not screw over his friend, I say!)

I was obsessing over Charlize's sunglasses the entire movie and after a quick google search, I was more excited over learning that there is a website that figures these things out for you!!!

Did you see any great movies or catch up on any good shows over the Holidays???

Gwen totally gets Baby Q

So I've been such a bad blogger not posting all of the awesome things I got when Missoni for Target debuted back in September. I promise I will grab a picture of all said items, its just that most of them got stowed away in C's closet because I wasn't ready to use them yet!! But now I just want to run back to Target and pick up stuff from Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Mini for Target collection, because if we took C on a baby spring break to some place not freezing? This is what I would dress her in.. [yes, I know how odd a baby spring break sounds]

This adorable Anchor Dress, $18:And this navy dot dress on a different day, $18:

Throw some Anchor jeggings into the mix for $17:

I have a weakness for hot pink nautical jackets! $20.00:Annnnnd some hipster hot pink sunglasses, $6.99:

Even though we're only thinking about baby girl clothes, if the day comes where I ever have a baby boy to dress, I told Tough Guy he'd wear nothing but sailor outfits, madras and baby tuxedos every day.

Sailor romper, available in stores:

Happy Holidays from the JQ Lounge!

Hope everyone has a safe and fabulous holiday with the ones they love! Its been so fun getting Lil C ready for the holiday season. Although its true what they say.. all you really need is wrapping paper and empty boxes, and your baby will be amused for days.
A Special Thank you to Tiffany & Co for the gorgeous Holiday Card.. Also, blogger friends Christmas cards are probably 14% of why I became a blogger in the first place ;)And to Nintendo for the best T Shirt ever!!!
And to Tough Guy, who always knows how to keep that fine line between Christmas decor being classy and tacky when preparing our goodies for Christmas Eve that we are hosting..Hope Santa is good to everyone!

Champions for Children's

Earlier this month I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Champions for Children's Event at the Seaport World Trade Center as Tough Guy's plus 1. This is considered one of the ultimate fund raising events of the year for Children's Hospital Boston. They raised over 3.5 million dollars this year!

It was a "Victory Parade" themed gala, and it replicated the parade route in the room complete with the Duck Boats! The beginning of the night there was a silent auction, that had everything from Golf packages, Spa packages, Designer Clothing, Tropical Vacations, and even a visit to the Jimmy Fallon show...which was obviously valued at 5 billion dollars in my eyes..

I believe this was Miss Teen NH.. my research department is on vacation this week.

After a lovely dinner, the live auction began, and that's when the big donations showed up. I've never been to a real auction before, it gets very intense and exciting! Throughout the night they also showcased so many great stories about some of the patients and its so nice when you see the athletes spending time with the children and lifting their spirits.

The Bruins received a special tribute and a table (of ballers) even bid $25,000 to have the 2011 Stanley Cup at their table! Which was pretty hilarious because that meant basically most of the room would be walking up to you to take a picture of your table all evening. The auction items were pretty cool- one was a mega packed trip to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, another was a Red Sox game and your date would be Mark Wahlberg (Tough Guy had to hold my arm down from raising my hand for that one!), and some other cool events like a private plane to Vegas to go see Elton John (they handed out 2 of those packets for a cool $70,000 each! -- we only be $55Gs so sadly we lost. hahahahahahaha righto)

It was an awesome night and it was so cool being at an event with all the Bruins. Tough Guy even got mistaken as one at the bar. Next year that baseball game with Marky Mark is mine.. I'm going to put $5,000 in savings every week until then.

Have you ever been to an auction??

I feel like I would be the best auctioneer ever.. I am excellent at fast talk mixed with jibberish and shopping ;)