City Pretty: In Good Company

Skirt: H&M

Green and yellow bangles: B Fabulous; Red bangle: XOXO, Ross; Blue bangle, So, Kohl's; Pink bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Ring: Wet Seal

Top: Self Esteem, Macy's

Saguaro Stripe Barrette Brooch

Top: New York & Company

Skirt: Amazon

Bow: Carole, JCPenney; Blue bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City; Maroon bangle: Iris Apfel for INC, Macy's; Red bangle: B Fabulous; Yellow ring: Making Waves, Ocean City; Red ring: Nordstrom; Brown ring: Charlotte Russe; Belt: Hand-me-down from my mom

Top: New York & Company

Skirt: Material Girl, Macy's

Checkerboard Cherry Barrette Brooch

Shoes: 2 Lips Too, JCPenney

Bag: Current Mood, Dolls Kill

 

Top: New York & Company

When the husband took this first pic of me, he said that I looked like The Nanny on an acid trip.  And even though I don't condone drug use, I couldn't help but laugh.  Because the striped cravat blouse, rainbow cactus brooch, and poufy hair did indeed remind me of the Flashy Girl from Flushing if she were under the influence.  Which makes sense because all three blouses in this lineup are from (to me, anyway) Queens-themed New York & Company.

It wasn't until last spring that I started shopping there in earnest.  I couldn't believe that I hadn't started sooner.  They have so many affordable, brightly colored, polyester tops -- my favorite kind!  Best of all, my new shirts inspired me to make some new barrette brooches.  The Saguaro Stripe one started out as Striped Swallow but never quite took flight: 

The southwestern style worked better, I think.  I love the idea of a black cactus against a rainbow, a kind of stylized version of what the desert might look like at sunset.  

Then there's Checkerboard Cherry, which is pure '80s.

And here they all are together, the for-sale ones and the just-for-me doppelgangers, in -- what else? -- checkerboard formation: 

It's all a little magically messy and messily magical.  In other words, as perfectly imperfect as Topher Grace riding off into the sunset with Scarlett Johansson.

Which means that I'm, ahem, in good company.

Book Report (sort of): Geeky Dreamboats: A Celebration by Sarah O'Brien and Lacey Soslow

When I saw this Geeky Dreamboats: A Celebration book on Fred Flare, I knew I had to have it.  So when I opened it on my birthday last weekend, I was pleased as punch.  Once I started leafing through it I found it was - gasp - even funnier than I could have imagined.  Chock-full of favorites such as Michael Cera, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, Topher Grace, Adam Brody, Conan O'Brien, John Krasinski, and Paul Rudd (my personal favorite), this nearly pocket-sized who's who of nerdy knights in shining armor delivers a refreshingly quirky perspective on what makes a dude drool-worthy. 

Of course, some of the selections may raise an eyebrow.  But as O'Brien and Soslow explain, "Some of these cuties may appear a little dreamier than geeky or a little geekier than dreamy, but remember, the prevailing theme here is the beautiful and poetic combination that makes up the sexy nerd.  Not everyone strikes that perfect balance, but we've found a slew of cuties who come pretty close, and we've ranked their appeal with our trusty Geekboat Meter." (Introduction)  Well put, ladies. 

Whether you're thirteen or thirty, Geeky Dreamboats: A Celebration is sure to earn a top spot on your list of guilty pleasures.             

Movie Moment: Take Me Home Tonight

Before I start yammering on about Take Me Home Tonight, let me begin with its poster.  It's fun, right?  Colorful, wacky, and nostalgic, it promises hijinks and heart wrapped up in a tidy two hours.  And it delivers.  Of course, maybe that's because I enjoy bubblegum kitsch without expecting anything much deeper.  But that's as good a reason as any, especially on a pizza-soaked Friday night when all you want is to ease into your forty-eight hours of freedom on a cloud of brain candy. 

So, for anyone who missed Take Me Home Tonight when it was in theaters back in March (and if you blinked you did, as it was pulled pretty quickly), it's set in the late 1980s and is about MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace), a guy who's living with his parents and working at Suncoast Video as he tries to unravel the puzzle of what to do with his life.  Also, he has a buffoonish best friend (Dan Fogler) who's just been fired from a car dealership.  And a crush on high school it girl-turned investment banker Tory Frederking (Teresa Palmer).  And a hard-nosed cop of a dad who wants him to get off his ass and do something already.  And a wise-cracking writer of a twin sister (Anna Faris) who's going through her own stuff, namely the old career vs. marriage dilemma.  If it all sounds a bit familiar, then that's because it is.  It's been done to death and we've seen it before.  But that's the same reason we (okay, I) love it.  We can relate.  Who hasn't wanted to duck into a Suncoast (ahem, shrine to the ultimate form of escapism) or a department store or, heck, a cabin in the woods to lay low and figure things out for awhile?

It doesn't hurt that the kid pondering all of this is Topher Grace.  Always one with a soft spot for nerds, I'd pick him over fellow "That 70s Show" alum Ashton Kutcher any day.  It's his underdog quality, after all, that makes his pursuit of Tori more endearing than creepy.  He quasi-stalks the girl, pretending to run into her at Suncoast as a fellow customer, a move that comes back to bite him later.  But not before bonding with her over a swell of 1980s music in a sea of big-haired, neon color-clad former classmates at big-man-on-campus Kyle Masterson's (Chris Pratt) Labor Day bash.  My biggest complaint?  When Tori gushes that her favorite song is playing, hinting for Matt to ask her to dance, it's Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight," not Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight."  It's the title of the movie!  And much more fitting.  And, let's be honest, just a really great song.

As promised by its R rating, Take Me Home Tonight isn't all rainbows and unicorns.  It's riddled with F bombs and other eyebrow-raising behavior as it makes its circuitous way to its hopeful ending.  I say hopeful because there are a few shades of things left up in the air, which I liked.  These unfinished edges make the movie more realistic, bolstering its message that taking a few risks brings us closer to mastering our own destinies.  Deep stuff for something named after an Eddie Money song.