MAC Wildly Lush Plushglass: The Cure for Frosty Lipsticks

If you've got some frosty lipsticks collecting dust in your makeup drawer, give them a second life by applying MAC Plushglass in Wildly Lush over them. This hot new lipgloss by MAC, which has a slight "plumping" effect to give you Angelina Jolie lips, is all the rage right now with the girls at my MAC counter. It works on every skin tone and is perfect for taking the frost out of lipsticks like MAC "O" and Viva Glam IV. It's also good for toning down dark colored lipsticks, converting any shade you wore in the winter to a nice shade for summer.

I actually bought this a while ago, and the plumping effect does work. I don't know what they put in it to make your lips tingle and plump up, but your lips do look fuller about 10 minutes after you apply the gloss. For only $17.50, it's a nice way to sample the trend and give the lipsticks you already own a different look.

Aishwarya Rai Mehndi and Wedding Links

Out of all the photos that leaked out on the web of the Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding, this is my favorite. All the rest of her pictures show such a restrained smile, I feel the photos don't do her justice. Perhaps it was the tension from the media or the wedding itself, but I wish she had smiled more and looked more relaxed. Then again, I didn't smile much at my wedding either, because my mother told me "good girls" are supposed to just sit there and stare at the floor. And not smile. I really regret listening to her old school advice. All my wedding pictures turned out like crap.

Meanwhile, how much you wanna bet that lady in the orange is the one who leaked this mehndi pic out onto the net? Just look at her, I can practically read the expression on her face, "Look at me, bitches, I'm applying henna on Aishwarya Rai's hands. Yeah, that's right, THE Aishwarya Rai. Did you get a good look? I'm actually touching her hand! Envy me, bitches, envy me."

Here are some more buzzworthy links related to the "wedding of the century":

Aishwarya Rai Ties the Knot (Celebitchy) (Good pictures of Ash and Abhi's visit to a temple AND super rare photos of them at their wedding reception. )

Pictures of the Mehndi (IBN Live)

Pictures of Ash and Abhi on a pimped out private plane decorated with flowers. (First Bollywood)


close-up photo at top of page via (Ek Jut)

The Paternity Test Results Are In

Was this even a shock to anyone? I think the only thing that shocked me was how long it took to get this paternity test done. They could have had this answer a long time ago if they had just put our guy Maury Povich in charge. I mean, Maury is an expert at handling paternity tests. He does six paternity tests an hour five days a week, you can't get more efficient than that.

The WOHM Next Door

So get this. After we came back home last weekend, I immediately got to work trying to locate a babysitter to start helping me out during the day. But so far, instead of landing a babysitter, I got mistaken for being a babysitter, and got taken advantage of by the WOHM (Work Out of Home Mom) next door.

The WOHM is a doctor, and her husband is a doctor too. She's got two kids, ages 6 and 1, and a live-in nanny who takes care of them while the parents are at work. The nanny not only takes care of her kids, she also cooks and cleans the house, so when the WOHM comes home from work, there's a home cooked meal waiting for her in a tidy house. The nanny is an old, unattractive woman (like Nanny Mcphee), which is why I think the WOHM hired her. Had the nanny been young and hot, the husband probably would have made a play for her.

Anyway, so far it sounds like this WOHM's got a pretty good deal when it comes to balancing work and childcare, right? Nope. The WOHM wants more. She wants a little friend her son's age to play with him a few times a week so he won't have to sit at home all day playing video games by himself. Her son, who I'm gonna call Ross Gellar, because that's exactly who this child looks like right down to the haircut, is two years older than my son. The WOHM has rarely ever spoken to me for more than two minutes, mainly because she's never home, but last week I made the mistake of playing outside with the children and she spotted me as she was driving home.

Here's the beginning of how I got screwed.


WOHM: "Hiiiii! How old is your son?"

Me: "Four."

WOHM: "Wow, Ross is six. He's been aching for a friend to play with, do you mind if I call him outside and he can play with your son?"

I didn't have a problem with this and said, "Sure." My son's been a little tired of playing with his sisters too and wanted some male company so I felt it would be a win-win situation. But I realized, that inadvertently, I got put in charge of not only watching my kids, but also Ross. The WOHM scurried inside saying she needed to take care of her 1 year old, but I think more likely, she probably went in for a nap.

The kids and I spent about half an hour outside before it started getting really cold and I wanted to go inside. My son, who was ecstatic and completely lost his mind after realizing there was finally a boy around to play ninja turtles with him, asked Ross, "Hey, wanna come inside with us? My mom is going to bake brownies!"

Umm, I was? I guess I was now. The kids ran into the house before I did, and I thought I'd quickly run over next door to let the WOHM know that her son was going to be staying with us longer. The babysitter came to the door and said it would be fine, so I figured, okay, for my son's sake I could do this, even thought I was dead tired.

After three hours, a tray of brownies, and four bowls of ice cream, it was almost time for the husband to come home and for me to start dinner. There was no sign of the WOHM or the babysitter. No one even called to check up on him. I was really surprised. I mean, they hardly know me, what if I was a psycho?

Finally, I told my son Ross had to go home, his mommy is missing him (not!) and got Ross's coat to walk him home. At this point his mother comes to our door and says, "Hey, I was wondering if Ross wanted to come home now?"

"Yes, he does," I say, but clearly from Ross's actions, he was not ready to leave and his mother picks up this.

"Aww look he's having so much fun. He really needs to play with boys his own age. Hey, my husband and I have to go out somewhere right now, can you just walk him home later when he's ready to go home?"

What? The kid had already been here for four hours, I kindly said, "Um, I don't think so, I have to put the kids down for bed soon."

So she said, with a rather disappointed look, "Oh, okay. Come on Ross, time to go home, you can play again tomorrow!"

The next day, my son ran over to Ross's house after breakfast and brought him over to our house. Again. The babysitter was probably loving the fact that she only had one baby to take care of now that the dumb girl next door (read: me) was willing to take a load off her. Forget searching for a babysitter for me, I was now worried how I would get rid of the free babysitting job I suddenly got myself into.

This happened for a few more days, Ross coming over, eating lunch with us, playing in the house, bragging about how much bigger the plasma screen TV was in his house and how he has all these super games and toys in his house. Finally, after Ross left one night, I told my son,
"You can play with Ross outside all you want, but I'm sorry he can't come over until he starts inviting you to his place as well. It's not fair that he gets to see your house and you don't get to see his." My son understood this and has now limited his playtime with Ross to riding his scooter outside, but no more indoor playdates. I mean, you could say, "What's one more kid when you've already got three?" but it really does start to add up to more work, responsibility, and stress, especially if that additional child is not your own, and you can't yell at him to stop misbehaving like you do your own kids.

So I've been Ross-free now for about two days now. I hope it doesn't get jinxed. Meanwhile, the WOHM next door hasn't even once called to thank me for watching her son and providing him with meals and playdates. I wouldn't have minded the arrangement if it hadn't been so one-sided. I mean, the first night she even wanted to leave him with me while she went out to dinner with her husband! Some people have such nerve. Do they think just because I decided to pop out three kids, and become a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) I wouldn't like some kid-free time too? The irony of it all, is that my main focus that week was to find a babysitter so I could have more free time, and I ended up becoming an unpaid, under-appreciated babysitter instead.

The Most Regifted Wedding Present Ever: The Crystal Vase

I think more than 70% of all the crystal vases given to newlyweds each year is a re-gift. It's that dirty little secret that happens at weddings every year. No one talks about it, but everyone knows it's happening.

To the newlywed couple, receiving a crystal vase is at first a thrill. The fragility and the luxuriousness of it all makes you feel like you're finally a grown-up and a real "married" person. No more 7/11 Big Gulp cups posing for vases for you my friend, you've got crystal in the house now. I remember clearly, receiving 35 different kinds of vases at my wedding. At first I thought, wow, how generous, and then after I opened the 10th box of yet another crystal vase, it dawned on me, what am I going to do with all this crystal? We didn't even a have a showcase or enough ledges in the apartment to hold all of these.

I put up what I could on any flat surface I could find, the window sill, the dining table, even the corner of the bathroom sink. I even remember buying a small table from The Bombay Company just to display some of the crystal vases. The rest of the vases that were unopened were gradually re-gifted to unsuspecting couples who married after us. I had no use for them, and I'm sure the new couple would realize that they had no use for them either, but I had to get rid of those vases. I felt a little guilty at first, re-gifting something so impractical, but after a couple of times, I got over the guilt. First of all, I knew that I wouldn't be the only person giving them a crystal vase, and secondly, I knew that within a few years, the couple would eventually re-gift it to someone else. Passing it around like a hot potato. That's what married people do with crystal vases.

I don't know where the tradition of gifting newlyweds crystal vases came from, but I think a more practical idea for a gift would be cookware, flatware, bedding, or honestly, a gift card to Bed Bad and Beyond. Very rarely do newlyweds buy themselves a crystal vase, they are more likely to buy a toaster oven.

See Star Shrink

2002

2005

2007

Wow, check out the incredible shrinking Star Jones! She took her time, (and had some major "help") but she seems to be finally down to her goal weight. She lost the long hair and got her some Ugly Betty glasses too (which don't look so bad).

This reminds me, I need to get back onto the exercise wagon too. Ever since the kids got sick, the Pilates DVDs and any form of cardio took a back seat. I quit the gym back in November because it was too hard to get there on a regular basis. After dinner was the only time left during the day to go, and by that time, all I wanted to do was sleep and get off my feet. But I really need to start exercising again, not just for the pursuit of the vanity size, but really, just for my health. For that short period of time I did get to the gym, I used to feel so much better and alert after working out, now I just feel sluggish and can barely keep up with the kids.

2007 photo via Just Jared, 2002 photo source, and 2005 photo source

Picture of the Day: Two Exes and a Wedding

Look at these two at one of Liz's gazillion wedding receptions in India. I bet they're bitching about Hugh and Jemima at this very moment.

If you're new to the story, it goes something like this:

-Imran Khan and Jemima used to be married. Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant used to to date.

-Jemima introduced Liz and Hugh to her husband, Imran, and the four became friends.

-Then, Jemima divorced Imran. Liz and Hugh broke up as well.

-Liz started dating fabulously wealthy Arun Nayar.

-Then, Hugh and Jemima hooked up and got engaged. Soon afterwards, Jemima and Liz stopped being BFF's because Jemima had jealousy and insecurity issues with Liz. She thought Hugh would go back to her, so she cut Liz out of the picture. But apparently, Liz was the least of Jemima's troubles because the problem was not with Hugh going back to Liz, but rather, Hugh kicking the habit of hookers.

-Jemima and Hugh broke up, while Liz moved on with Arun Nayar and got engaged to be married to him.

Throughout all this drama, Liz and Imran maintained their friendship. Now, Imran and Liz are feasting on biryani in India at one of Liz's bridezilla weddingpalooza dinners, while Hugh is dodgeing photogs in London (he didn't go to the wedding and couldn't come up with a good reason why not) and Jemima is at home kicking back more gin and tonics to drown the pain of seeing pictures of her ex with her nemesis. Ain't love grand?

You know who else was at this wedding dinner? The UK's Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty.

Shilpa is totally rocking the current fashion trend of silver in this outfit. Silver work on her suit, silver clutch, silver earrings, I'm liking it. After years of seeing so much (expensive) gold in partywear it's nice to see purse-friendly silver make a style comeback.

photos via Daily Mail

For more Liz Hurley/Nayar wedding news, check out some of these shameless self-promotional plugs from Celebitchy and other sites:

Latest Photos from Hello Magazine (Celebitchy)

Could Liz Hurley Already be Pregnant? (Celebitchy)

Liz and Arun's gift to their wedding guests, a Bollywood film starring themselves. This is what happens when people have so much money they don't know what to do with it. They make their own Bollywood films. (Daily Mail)

Her Name is Mrs. Nayar, Bridezilla if You're Nasty (Celebitchy)

Pics of guests arriving to the wedding, including Elton John in track suit and Elle MacPherson (SkyShowbiz)