Bill's Pick: Nicky Whelan

There are some first names that are bound to make a girl hot.  Nicky is one of those names.  It's just so...cute.  Have you ever seen an ugly Nicky?  Of course not, because the name Nicky automatically adds 15 hot points to even the ugliest of girls.  

Nicky Whelan lives up to her name.  She's also Australian, which gives her yet another 30 hot points, give or take.

It's not like she needs any hot points because she's already gorgeous, and she still would be even if her first name were Ursula.  

If you're not from Australia, you probably don't know who she is.  But in the Outback, she's a pretty famous TV star.  She's appeared in Neighbors and Melbourne Women, to name a few.  Don't worry, I've never heard of those shows either.  

When Bill discovered her, he said she "changed his life," and that if I didn't put her on Tea and Toast immediately, he would kill himself.  (He's still alive.  I know you were all worried there for a second.)

Currently, she is filming Hollywood and Wine (2009) alongside David Spade.  Apparently, the two are "good friends".  Although I can't figure out why she would go for David Spade...

Anyway, feast your eyes on Nicky Whelan.

Cheese Freak: Dore de L'Abbaye

This cheese caused quite a stir among my friends.  First of all, it had a rather odd crust, and secondly, no one could figure out what the hell kind of cheese it was.  

I had about eight people ask me what kind of cheese it was after they tried it, but sadly I could not tell them because all the label says is that it's crusted and originated in an abby.  

The crust was edible but had a weird grainy texture.  Most people just ate the inside and left little nibbled crusts everywhere.  The inside was good, though.  It tasted similar to munster cheese.

I bought it because it had a pretty label, but next time I'm going to avoid a cheese that has a "crute", or a crust, unless I can see it through the packaging and it looks decent.

Overall critique: B-

Barf: The Pussy Cat Dolls

Recently, the Pussycat Dolls performed their new single "When I Grow Up" on London TV wearing THIS.

Good thing they look decent from the neck up because that's all they have going for them in these fug outfits.  The only people who are able to rock the McDonald's colors are McDonald's employees.  

Their stylist had five chances to put a good outfit together and failed every time, except for the one on the far right which is mildly cute.

Pussycat Dolls, please just stick to your usual bras and hot pants.  Less is more with you guys.

This Movie Gave Me A Mental Disorder.

The other night, a couple of friends and I went to see our first French film.  No, we did not see a charming romantic comedy or a steamy love story or anything like that.  We opted for the horror category, and the movie we saw was horrific indeed .

That's actually a severe understatement.  The film, Martyrs, is the most effed up movie I've ever seen and hopefully will ever see.  

Movies like Saw and Hostel seemed like Bambi compared to this.  I will say that the acting was very good, but the scenes were so realistically brutal that I spent a large portion of the movie balled up in my seat with my hands in front of my face.

The movie follows a young girl, Lucie, who was physically (not sexually) abused and escapes from her abuser.  They way in which she was abused proves very peculiar and throughout the movie, you try to figure out what exactly happened to her and why.

Her best friend gets captured by the same people and we see her go through everything that Lucie went through, in all of its gory and violent horror.  

The ending of the movie is somewhat unexpected, but getting there was a little too drawn out.

If you are sick enough to see this movie, expect to see people getting shot, sliced, beat up and skinned.  And expect it to be realistic looking. 

Things That I Miss From Home

In no particular order:

1.  Chili's Babyback Ribs

2.  Mac n Cheese (Kraft or Annie's)

3. Saran wrap/Ziplock bags...they're rather difficult to find here

4.  The ability to walk anywhere without worrying if I'm going to step in dog poop

5.  Fast internet

6. Men who weigh more than me

7. Having someone bag my groceries at the super market

8. Wearing flip flops without feeling like an un-stylish outcast

9. Taco Bell

10. Urban Outfitters

11. My own fridge

12. My own sheets and blankets

13. My shower

14. My shower

15. Duncan Heinz, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker cake/brownie mix...also rather difficult to find

16. People wearing Lily Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines, etc...preppy is non-existent here

Damien Hirst Defies The Economy

"Spin" painting, by Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst with The Golden Calf

This past Monday, the Dow Jones plummeted 500 points.

The last time the market reached this low was in the few days after September 11, 2001.

Lovely.

Meanwhile, on the same day, contemporary British artist Damien Hirst made $127.2 million during his auction entitled "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever."  The auction comprised 223 of his works which were created within the last two years.

"Damien Hirst is a global artist that can defy local economies," said Tobias Meyer, global head of contemporary art at Sotheby's.  

The most memorable piece of the auction was called "The Golden Calf," a real white calf preserved in a clear case of formaldehyde.  Its hoofs and horns are made of 18-carat gold, and its head is crowned with a gold disc.

The calf sold for $18.6 million to  a buyer on the phone.

That's what I want in my living room.  Veal, anyone?

Me Likey This Song.

Outkast's Hey Ya is a pretty sick song.  Someone would have to be very bold to do a cover of it.  But one man named Obadiah Parker was that bold and he pulls it off beautifully.

This Obadiah guy looks like he should be playing World of Warcraft.  But then he opens his mouth and strums his guitar and out comes a beautiful acoustic version of Hey Ya.

Well done, Obadiah.  Well done.  

PS your name is badass.

So Lush

Today when I was lost, I stumbled upon a most lovely bath goods store.  It's called Lush.  I had heard of it before, but didn't think much of it because I'm not really a bath kind of girl.  But this store made me want to take baths.

All of their products are handmade and natural and look good enough to eat.  It was like being in a candy store except everything was soap.

They had all kind of bath fizz things (I don't know what they're called...you drop them in your bath and they fizz and smell nice), ones with dried flowers in them, ones with sparkles, you name it.

It made me feel so boring, with my Dove unscented soap I always buy.  Clearly, I am missing out on a whole world of neon colored heart shaped sparkly soaps.  

Lush has locations all over the world, putting an end to boring white bars of soap everywhere.

Bars: Hideout

Saturday night, we went to this bar called Hideout.  It's off of Rue Mouffetard on a tiny street called Rue Des Lombards.

Rue Mouffetard is full of fun bars and restaurants and is quite the place to be both on weekends and weeknights.  It's like the meatpacking district in NYC minus the scantly clad Staten Island girls.  But it does have trendy places condensed in one small area, and it even has the cobblestone roads.

Hideout is composed of a crowd of 20somethings, mostly guys, loud music and red walls.  On this night a pint of beer was 5 euro and a round of ten shots was 35 euro (but that didn't stop us).  They gave us our shots in a nifty little block of wood, complete with salt and limes.

We had to show some French guy what to do with the salt and lime.  I guess they don't do that kind of thing in France.  We also discovered that guys don't really buy drinks for girls here.  Bummer.

We ended up leaving the bar wayyyy too late because it stays open all night (most bars close at 2 am).  This was a problem because the metro also stops at 2 am.  But luckily, we met some fun people to hang out with at an ungodly hour and we had a lot to drink.  So everyone was in good spirits.

Last night, which was a Tuesday night, we heard that Hideout was having happy hour all night long.  We decided to go again since last time was such a blast, but we figured no one would be there because it was a Tuesday.

It was packed.  There were probably three times as many people there than on Saturday night.  It was like being in a mosh pit of drunken skinny french men.  We loved it.  A pint of beer was 2.50 euro, so I decided that would be my drink for the night.  We met more fun people, practiced our French, and saved some money.  Definitely a successful night.

Cheese Freak: St. Felicien Du Dauphine

At the grocery store the other day, I had to stock up on my cheese.  Now, I love cheese a lot more than the average person.  It's actually kind of weird.  Don't judge me.

The cheese section in a Paris grocery store is vastly different than the one I'm used to at Stop n Shop in Connecticut.  In Paris, most people love cheese just like moi, and it shows in their "cremerie" section at any grocery store.  It's basically a huge refrigerated wall of any cheese you could ever dream of, from cheap to pricey.  It makes me want to cry with joy.  

Cheese in the states is getting increasingly more expensive these days, especially the good ones.  You can barely get anything decent for under ten dollars.

But ce n'est pas la case in Paris.

I just bought a lovely wheel of goat cheese for 2.50 euro.  In fact, I bought two of them because I knew I would probably eat the first one within a day.

It's called Reflets de France: St. Felicien Du Dauphine, and it comes in a convenient little plastic case.  It's totally affordable and delish.  

Overall critique: A-

I will continue to feature different cheeses of all kinds, from both grocery stores and fromageries.  So if you're a cheese freak like me, I hope you will appreciate this section.

Bill's Pick: Marisa Miller

Bill and I debated for several days over who would be the next Bill's Pick.  They were either too trashy, not hot enough, etc.  But when in doubt, you can always turn to Victoria's Secret to give you a classy, gorgeous lady.  Which is why Bill chose...drum roll...Marisa Miller.  

She pretty much owns every cover of Sports Illustrated and has appeared everywhere, from Vogue to Bath and Body Works.  It's difficult to find a picture of her where she's not in a bikini, not that anyone's complaining.  

She is an ambassador for the American Cancer Society, where proceeds from her online store are donated.  She supports the Young Survival Coalition which educates women under 40 about breast cancer.  If that's not enough, she's also an environmentalist.  She preserves the world's oceans and beaches with The Surfrider Foundation.  I guess that makes sense since she's from Santa Cruz.  

Parisparisparis!

Eiffel Tower

I have totally been slacking with the blog these last few days, and I apologize to all three of my fans out there.  But on to more important things...

The last week I have been in Paris, and it feels like I've been here for a month.  I mean that in a good way.  There's so much that you need to absorb quickly, and just the fact that you are living in a city makes each day exciting and different.

Here are some things that I did not know before hand, that I learned the hard way:

1. Their toilet paper feels like like tissue paper that I put in gift bags.
2. Not everyone speaks English.
3. Some people pretend that they don't speak English.
4. When purchasing groceries, the store does not supply grocery bags.  You must bring your own carrying device or buy a bag at the register for 20 cents.
5. French men are extremely clingy.
6. Food at most cafes or patisseries is not refrigerated while in the display case.  Even tuna sandwiches.  But it still stays fresh.

The first night we were here, we saw the Eiffel Tower (obvi) which was a beautiful violet color with white stars.  We also saw the Catacombs which was really cool/creepy.  You had to walk down a 34943539 mile stone spiral staircase and then 23487291 miles of tiny dark stone hallways to get to it.  And then you had to go up all those stairs after.

In the Catacombs.  Those are all femur bones stacked on top of each other.  The round things are skulls.

We also saw the Sacred Coeur which is in Montmartre, an adorable little town with cobblestone roads.  The houses there were so quaint, and the way the paint was peeling off their shutters was just so chic and french.

Behold...the Sacred Coeur

View of Paris from the Sacred Coeur

Our first crepes!  I got Nutella and banana.  Mmmmmm