Lovely

This is another Oasis find ($248, oasis-stores.com).

Those Brits

I was flipping through the December issue of Lucky magazine today and I came across this skirt, which has my name written all over it. What. You don't see it? Invisible ink, alright? Invisible ink! And there in the little credits box is a website called oasis-stores.com which I immediately went to in order to ponder over purchasing said skirt and then quickly realize the last thing I should be doing is purchasing another skirt. The point being, Oasis! Does anyone know Oasis? It's a totally underrated UK chain that has continually played second fiddle to Top Shop because it is not quite as flashy and trendy. BUT. It is amazing. And who knew they were now throwing us Americans a bone via a somewhat questionably-designed website! This is very good news. Even though I do not need another skirt.

Meow

I hate cats. Which is funny, seeing as I am often described as "catlike," my mother's nickname for me is "pussycat" (there is no good reason for this) and an old boyfriend once remarked that cats and I kind of have "a thing." When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, "I don't know. I feel like cats look at you and they'e like, 'Oh, hello.'" So. When I came across this t-shirt on Forever 21 ($12.90, forever21.com) I was also kind of like, "Oh, hello." Cats are little biatches but with a pair of sparkly red spectacles they are suddenly...chic? And, unlike the entire cat population, I never met a three-quarter-length sleeve I didn't like. Sold!

Preferences

And one more for good measure. Leo! That's what I call a big star. He's been everywhere in New York lately, lunching with Baz Luhrmann at Cafe Gitane, wearing some sort of scary wolf mask at the Soho House Halloween party. You know, creeping up on models like a Victoria's Secret boy short. Point being, dude's out and about. Which brings me to a few weeks ago, when I found myself at a club called Avenue at around 1:30 a.m., sardine-stuffed with the rest of the idiots onto a tiny dance floor drinking a $25 vodka soda. Fyi, I'm not the kind of girl who typically goes to "the club." Never have been. Give me a Guinness, a dive bar, a dirty dance floor and an amenable DJ and I'm good to go. But what can I say? Sometimes you just have to follow your friends to Avenue and be miserable about it. So as I was planning my escape, there was suddenly a buzz in the air. A je ne sais quoi. And before we could say, "unnecessary baseball cap and bad jeans," in walks Leonardo Dicaprio, flanked by some sort of bodyguard and bona fide solo, no less. The most interesting part of the equation is that he did not disappear into some VIP room where he could get his creep on in the privacy of his own...VIP room. No. He proceeded to stand on top of a banquet bordering the dancefloor and survey the room, swaying back and forth every now and then. Rather harmlessly, I might add. It just seemed curious to me. Here I was, a nobody, and Avenue was pretty much the last place I wanted to be. But Leo Dicaprio...he could probably be sharing a vintage scotch with Bob De Niro that very moment in Bob De Niro's apartment, no less and instead he's like, "Nah, I think I'll take the banquet dancing at Avenue. Hand me another $25 vodka soda, will ya? Extra lime."

Hmmm...

Speaking of celeb sightings, I happen to live in a celeb-heavy neighborhood and probably pay $300 more per month than I should because of it/have zero closet space/a mini-fridge, but I like it that way. Because celebs make the world go round, don't they? They make life worth living. If anything, they certainly make NYC a more tolerable place to live, and this is coming from a person who wouldn't live anywhere else besides NYC unless that place was LA January through April. I don't usually write about my celeb spottings, because they are plentiful (evil cackle), but I think I'm going to start because they are also kind of amusing and eye-opening. You know all of those photos of Hugh Jackman tooting around on his razor scooter? Yeah? Well he and his daughter almost ran me over the other morning on Bleecker Street whilst I was just trying to walk my dog. Solid sighting, if I do say so myself. But the best is the followup. A few days later I'm stopped at the same corner next to his "wife" and daughter (no Hugh as far as the naked eye could see) and the wife is chatting along with the daughter in her native thick Australian accent. "We're going to Hugh's house because he has a backyard," she says, nonchalantly, and the daugher kind of nods her head, tantalized as she should be by the backyard. And then I'm thinking, "Wait. Hugh's house? Don't they live together? Minor detail, but why do they call him Hugh?" And I'll just leave you with those thoughts because they are provoking, aren't they?

Random

Last night I was minding my own business eating shrimp and grits at a lovely new restaurant in my neighborhood called Lowcountry (photo above, West 10th and Greenwich Ave-try it, it's about as good as a West Village gem can get) and in walks Josh Lucas which is fortuitous seeing as I wrote about him on this blog like a month ago. Now, being me I glanced at him as he walked by and thought something like, "Cute, but a little short. Too bad." and then moved back to my shrimp and grits, not really making the connection and anyway my eyesight is not what it used to be. But then he was seated at a table next to me and he started talking and let me tell ya my ears basically bitch-slapped my eyes and said, "Wake the hell up! That's Josh effing Lucas!" I mean we all know the voice is good, but in person it's melodious. Someone ought to be paying that man just to talk to them every day.

Brain Candy

One of the unfortunate things about getting older is the boys keep getting younger. Or fortunate? Let's try to see the glass half full here. Anyway at 24 the above Andrew Jenks, star and executive producer of his very own show on MTV, is probably a wee bit young for a sophisticated woman such as myself. I imagine if we were hanging out I might, at some point, make a reference to "90210" and he would say something about Annalynne McCord and then there would be an awkward moment because I was thinking more along the lines of Shannen Doherty and good god why am I on a date with a 24-year-old? My point being, he's adorbs isn't he? The jist of his show is he spends a week (or so) with a person who is very different from himself and through the process of understanding and open-mindedness, he finds a common ground with whoever this person may be, so adorbs with a heart and a mind at that. Also, I like his hair.