I've also been watching the Sopranos on HBO on Demand. I love that show, it's so fun. Today I learned that keeping secrets may (or may not) give you "fake" back pain. The pain is real but its not because there is something actually wrong with the back, but it hurts. Tony Soprano looks like my cousin in law's brother since he gained weight :).
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Obama won in Iowa. I wish I was into politics, this would've been a very exciting 11 months during the presidential elections. I can't even make up my mind if I should vote Republican or Democratic. I Just don't really care either way. When Congress changed everyone was like "Oh you'll see remarkable changes blah blah blah." I've seen none so far.
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In case you are wondering what to wear in 2008, here is an article for you that will explain it all - or at least attempt to. Here is my favorite quote. "My bag is in red patent leather and pony (skin). I know it is just a bag, but I absolutely love it. It makes me so happy to carry it - and happiness is a trend everyone can follow." And this one "Where jeans are concerned, however, trends don't count for much. The most stylish jeans are not the widest or narrowest; they're the ones that fit the best." I totally agree. I also don't know why I don't own a single pair of skinny jeans. I did get one "in trend" - "Mid-length hair with bangs" :) :) :)!
Sun sets on the empire line
All those empire-waist gowns and tops that looked so stylish not so long ago suddenly have turned into the fashion equivalent of pumpkins, morphing from au courant to out-of-date as quickly as the New Year's clocks chimed 12. Or so say northern hemisphere trend-watchers.
The high-waisted "baby-doll" look, which topped most must-have lists in early 2007, is one of several trends predicted to take a tumble early in 2008.
"Baby-doll tops - my clients are totally over them," says Wendy Ricchi, owner of the ZouZou boutique in Orlando.
Berri Morris of the Coralia Leets Boutique in Winter Park, Florida, is even more blunt: "High waists make you look pregnant. My customers do not want to look pregnant. They work out. They're in good shape. They want clothes that show off their shape."
Also on the way out are micro-miniskirts, shapeless tunics and extremely low-rise jeans, say boutique owners.
Those styles will be replaced by fitted tops, belted dresses and trousers with higher waistbands.
On the footwear front, metallic ballerina flats are losing their lustre. "We are all ready for a new shape in flats," says Paige Blackwelder, co-owner of Tuni in Winter Park.
Gladiator sandals promise to be the new favourite. "They are super-cute with anything - jeans, skirts, dresses, Bermuda shorts," says Ricchi. "Any age can wear them. They instantly update last year's outfits. I love them in patent leather black, white, pink, yellow or purple."
Patent leather - for handbags, belts and shoes - is one of the few current trends that promises to last well into the new year. Other holdouts include trench coats, capri pants, clutch bags and platform shoes. But make that "hidden platforms," where the shoe leather wraps over the platform sole, providing elevation without clunkiness, says Melixa Carbonell, co-owner of Shou'Ture in Winter Park.
Make the belts either extra-wide or super-slim and go for extremes in bags as well.
"A big, bold bag in a favourite color is a trend I love," says Erin Skalde, owner of Redhead Boutique in Orlando. "My bag is in red patent leather and pony (skin). I know it is just a bag, but I absolutely love it. It makes me so happy to carry it - and happiness is a trend everyone can follow."
"Green" fashions made from eco-friendly materials such as bamboo were big in 2007. They will be huge in '08, predicts Carina Graham, a buyer for the Downeast boutiques in Winter Park and Celebration, Florida.
Emerald green will also be a key colour come the northern spring - along with yellow, coral, fuchsia and white. Expect to see all those shades swirled into oversized, abstract prints. "Big, bold floral prints, not Laura Ashley-style minuscule florals," says Courtney Karem, owner of Courtney K Couture in Orlando.
Fashion leaders are less certain about trends in jeans styles. Skalde has been debating the subject with her sales clerks, most of whom are university students.
The students think skinny jeans are on the way out, says Skalde. "I feel they are becoming a wardrobe staple, not a trend. I continue to replenish my wardrobe with interesting washes and styles. I wear them tucked in my favourite boots or as an alternative to leggings."
Where jeans are concerned, however, trends don't count for much. The most stylish jeans are not the widest or narrowest; they're the ones that fit the best.
As clothing fashions transition from funky to refined, so do hair and makeup styles. The beauty look for 2008 is "simple, clean and sexy," says Douglas Marvaldi, owner of the Marvaldi Hair & Makeup Studio in Winter Park, an Intercoiffure salon.
The Intercoiffure style guide for 2008 calls for precision-cut, mid-length hair with bangs and subtle highlights. And for light, luminous makeup in pretty shades of pink.
Tousled "bed hair" and deep plum lipstick may have been the "in" look yesterday. Strange to think both already seem dated, along with most fashions featured on 2007's "in" lists.
What's In, What's Out
In/Out
Belted dresses/Trapeze dresses
Fitted tops/Baby-doll tops
Prints (abstract, floral, animal) /Stripes, dots
Bright colors (yellow, coral, fuchsia, emerald) /muted colours
Long dresses /Miniskirts
Full-leg trousers/Skinny pants
Higher waistbands /Super-low waistbands
Bermuda shorts /Short shorts
Gladiator sandals /Ballet flats
Hidden platforms /Stiletto pumps
Patent leather /Distressed leather
Trench coats /Puffer jackets
Sleek totes /Bags with multiple pockets, buckles, zippers
Bold necklaces, cuffs, rings /Delicate jewellery
Mid-length hair with bangs /Long, straight hair
Subtle highlights /"skunk stripes"
Precision cuts/Messy "bed hair"
Pretty pink makeup /Dramatic glitter makeup
--------------------------Top five food trends for 2008
Smoothing the way ... probiotics have moved beyond yoghurt and can now be found in a range of foods.
Photo: Jill Dupleix
It's that trend-obsessed time of year when everyone's looking back at the past year and forward to chart the likely trends of the next. Here are some picks for the five food trends that you'll be hearing the most about in 2008:
Probiotics
The functional-food trend will probably continue to run rampant, with producers adding all kinds of nostrums to all kinds of products and touting them as formulations for the brain or for the heart, for older women or for the overstressed. But expect to hear the most about probiotics - beneficial bacteria. It's not just yogurt anymore; bacteria-enriched products are showing up all over the supermarket, from cereal to baby food to fizzy kombucha fermented-tea drinks. Expect, too, to see more "prebiotics" - foods that provide nourishment for the good-guy bugs in your digestive system.
Backlash against bottled water
Once so chic, bottled water is becoming, as one US newspaper put it, "the environmentally incorrect Humvee of beverages." It's under attack for its effects on the environment, from its depletion of water sources to its carbon footprint to the problem of all those discarded plastic bottles. Plus the fact that it costs more than petrol, while tap water, which is held to more rigorous contamination standards than bottled, is basically free.
Chemical-free food
Food producers are beginning to feel pressure to remove the additives - preservatives, stabilisers, colouring; all those chemicals and such that you can't pronounce - from their cans and packages. "In 2008," says market researcher Mintel, "we will see more products with ingredient labels that read like a home recipe rather than a chemist's shopping list."
Fair trade
With organic food now solidly ensconced in the mainstream, look for fair-trade products to become the next big focus of conscience-driven consumers. The movement seeks fair wages and treatment for workers in developing countries.
Fancy salt
While health activists press for lower-sodium processed foods, upscale "designer" salts are going mainstream. Black, pink, purple; flavoured with aromatics; from the Himalayas or Peru - fancy salts are moving from specialty stores to supermarkets.
------------HAHAHAHAHA
Dear Prudie,
My future mother-in-law and I have a difficult relationship. She doesn't approve of me, and hasn't been positive about my relationship with her son since we first got together five years ago in high school. She's a medical aesthetician, and for the past two or three years, she's been hounding me every so often to let her laser off any unwanted body hair. These conversations generally take place during meals and involve her listing all the places she could zap off hair, while I politely say, "No, thank you," to each one. The idea of this woman, who already despises me, spending an afternoon zeroing in on my body hair is enough to nearly give me an anxiety attack. My fiance tells me that I need to go through with this so that she'll feel needed and be happy, but I feel like having all my body hair lasered off is a high price to pay for familial acceptance. How do I get out of this once and for all? Or am I just being ridiculous?
—A Hairy Situation
Dear Hairy,
The image of you defenseless on the table while your future mother-in-law aims a laser at you is too horrifyingly reminiscent of that scene in Goldfinger in which the eponymous villain has Bond strapped to a table as a laser slowly moves toward his private parts. So, in answer to: Are you being ridiculous? No, I don't think it's ridiculous that you take offense at dinner conversations that revolve around your superfluous hair, and that you're annoyed that after three years of declining her offers to zap you, she still persists. Let me assure you that if you go through with this, she'll come up with other things that need removing, like you from her son's life. Obviously you and your fiance are very young, but I'm afraid that if he's encouraging you to have his mother laser your body to make her feel needed, you need to rethink his readiness as husband material. Tell him you're done discussing this with his mother, and if he won't back you up completely, give him a bottle of Nair as a parting gift and ask him to pass it on to Mom.
—Prudie
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Dearest Prudence,
My wife and I have been married for a little over a year, and it's been absolutely idyllic, except for one problem: Since we've wed, my wife has taken to belching and farting all the time. We dated for several years before we tied the knot, and I heard her pass gas only once. She turned beet red, laughed hysterically, and then cried out of embarrassment. I can't believe how much she's changed. Now she's at the point of rippin' 'em several times a day without much acknowledgment at all. I've had several gentle discussions asking her to dismiss herself into other rooms, try to "keep the magic," etc., but these have all been met with hostility and resentment. Not only that, but the problem only gets worse after we talk about it. It's gotten to the point of severely impacting my sex drive. I would think she would understand; the one time I let one go, she got mad at me for killing the romance! Any suggestions?
Dear Prudie,
I've suffered from panic attacks since I was around 16, and I'm now 32. Life has been poor because I've been afraid of doing things. Four years ago, I got a girlfriend who's been with me through thick and thin. She helped me get through my panic attacks and find a better doctor. I started cognitive behavioral therapy about 10 months ago. The effects have been life-changing. My doctor suggested I make a bunch of changes so I'd feel better about myself, and my girlfriend has helped me with painting my condo, getting me a new wardrobe, furniture, etc. Unfortunately, she's 37 and lives with her parents. It didn't bother me in the past, because I was so grateful to have any kind of female company, but now that I'm getting better, I see my 14 years on medication as lost time that I want to make up for. I'm worried she's going to improve me to the point where I'll no longer want to be with her. Whereas in the past I was grateful to be dating someone who was helping me get better, I'm afraid that in the long run, I'll just develop the self-confidence to want to date someone younger than I am who lives by herself. Would leaving her be reprehensible, or should I stay with her out of a sense of duty?
—Panic-Free/Guilt-Ridden
Dear Panic-Free,
I'm delighted to hear the cognitive behavioral therapy has been such a success and that you feel you're reclaiming your life. However, it's less delightful that the first thing you want to do with this new life is be an ungrateful jerk. This devoted woman was good enough when you were lonely and suffering. But now that's she helped you overcome your illness, you want to dump her for a younger model. First of all, five years is not a major age difference. Second, if she's 37 and still living with her parents, there are things holding her back from living a completely independent life, and maybe it's your turn to help her. I can't encourage you to be with someone out of guilt and pity, but have you truly had this woman as your girlfriend for four years only because you felt you couldn't do any better? Surely over that time you two have built something together—she certainly has invested a lot in your well-being. Since your therapy's going so well, discuss with your doctor what kind of romantic choices a decent person in your position would make.
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Household Employment Signaling Greater Weakness
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of households has for the last year shown far weaker job growth than its larger and more closely followed survey of payrolls, even when the two define jobs the same way.
In December, nonfarm payrolls rose 18,000 while household employment plunged 436,000. But such monthly changes are hard to compare because the two surveys define employment differently. For example, the household survey counts the self-employed, while the payroll survey doesn’t. The payroll survey counts someone with two jobs twice, while the household survey counts him once. Moreover, the household sample is far smaller and thus more volatile. By design, its raw data is never revised, which imparts a false sense of reliability.
Still, once those adjustments are made, the picture remains the same. Household employment has risen just 100,000 since December 2006 and when the definition of employment is changed to match that of the payroll survey, the increase is just 375,000, according to the BLS. The increase in nonfarm payrolls was 1,270,000 in the same period. Some of that latter increase will be trimmed during the BLS’ annual benchmark revisions to be released next month. It has previously estimated payrolls would be revised down for the 12 months through last March by 297,000, which, assuming an average monthly reduction of 25,000, would reduce the 12-month increase through December by just 75,000. But the downward revisions could be larger given the arrival of more comprehensive quarterly state unemployment records for subsequent periods. –Greg Ip
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