The Cinderella Project!

Do you or any of your friends have bridesmaid (or other prom-caliber dresses) in your closet that you’ll never wear again? Personally? I have 4.

Let’s join forces to help make underprivileged high school girls’ prom dress dreams come true by donating them to a charity I’m volunteering for called The Cinderella Project. Here's how you can help:

Get your dry-cleaned* bridesmaid or prom-caliber dress(es) to us between now & the end of February.

Send an e-mail to casajules (at) gmail (dot) com for shipping information.

Please ask all of your friends to dig through their closets, too!

*Average cost to dry clean a dress can be anywhere from $6-$15. Many dry cleaners will comp this for you or discount that price if you explain it’s for charity, especially if you already use a particular dry cleaner on a semi-regular basis. If your dry cleaner won't comp it for you and you can't afford to pay for the dry cleaning, please send the dress to us anyway! We’d rather have the challenge of getting them dry cleaned on this end vs. you not donating your dress(es).

Thankfully, lots of people have been helping me get the word out, and they'll get a post all their own when everything is said and done, but for now, here's a little bit of funny business that went on when one of my BFFs retweeted one of my Twitter tweets. See, Twitter only allows for 140 characters, so there can be a bit of creative editing when retweeting. She accidentally edited out an important word, and... well, see for yourself:


The BFF's retweet. Helpful but maybe asking for a bit too much from people.



My follow-up tweet; just to clarify things!


Thanks to everyone helping me help The Cinderella Project make some very deserving high school girls look and feel gorgeous at their prom!


Follow me on Twitter HERE.


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You NEED this reminder!

Trust me: You really, REALLY need to read my guest post over at Ree's (aka The Hotfessional):

CLICK HERE.

You can thank me later.


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Foo-Koo

I really, really, really, really want the much-anticipated Momofuku cookbook, and not just because it's fun to say Momofuku*.



Any cookbook review that starts off with, "Chef David Chang's first cookbook is long, laced with profanity and full of complicated, labor-intensive recipes" is for me. I mean, c'mon.

Read the full review HERE.


*Momofuku is Japanese for lucky peach and also--in a nod to the inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando--the name of a series of constantly-packed NYC restaurants by Korean-American chef David Chang.


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Outlawfully wed

Ladies (and some of you men out there):

I give* you Jesse James.

Would I like to gnaw on his biceps for a couple of hours? Yes, please.


He cleans up nicely, too. Rawr!



Click here to follow me on Twitter!


*It's more like I'm dangling him in front of you. You're welcome.

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Scotchy scotch scotch

Click here to follow me on Twitter!


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Public Service Announcement: Black Friday and Everyday

My mom spent decades managing a group of Hallmark stores. I worked retail jobs all through high school, partway through college and for years afterward on weekends. It is hard work, not only physically, but also emotionally... especially this time of year.

1989. Working hard at the after school/weekend job. I just finished putting together that entire display with the one token dude we had working there. Lucky for me he was hot and a gentleman at that, so he did all the heavy lifting; because honey, trust me when I tell you that I spent entirely too much time on my hair that day to work up a sweat installing ornaments in freaking July. YES, July.

1989. The Hallmark Maven, aka Boss Lady. She will crack the whip, and not in a good way.

There are more days than I care to remember that after working an 8-hour shift during the holiday season, I'd get in my car & cry on the way home from not only being yelled at by many customers, but also from the searing pain in my feet, back and every muscle. The pain was so all-encompasing and downright awful that my co-workers & I would always refer to this scene from the Stephen King movie Misery after those ass-busting shifts:


Feeling like we'd been hobbled after working retail during the holidays was more common than not.


I say the following from experience:

• The customary response to "Thank you!" is "You're welcome!"

• The appropriate follow-up after YOU bump into someone else is "Pardon me!" or "Excuse me!" or anything besides rudely grunting as you barrel through their skeletal system.

• People working during any kind of Black Friday sale are likely overworked and often times, not treated very well by shoppers. If someone goes out of their way for you or does a great job, ask for their name (if they don't have a nametag on) and let their supervisor know as soon as possible. If not that day, call or send an e-mail the next day.

Be kind, especially near the end of the business day when they've been running around like chickens with their heads cut off in order to try and keep up with the demands of shoppers. You'd be surprised how far looking someone behind the counter in the eyes and smiling at them will go.


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Just as it happened (if only in my head) when I was a kid

When I was 11, we took a road trip to visit old friends of the family for Thanksgiving. So many moments from that holiday weekend are permanently etched into my brain that I could write a book, or at least a short story. For now, though, there's this:

We were in a big house with an extended family of people we referred to as our aunts, uncles and cousins even though they weren't blood relatives, and it was a blast. One night before dinner, all the kids (ages ranging from 11-19) were seated around the huge table laughing and carrying on. I specifically remember one of the older boys asking me about my boyfriend KC, whose picture I had just pulled out of the vinyl photo holder in my velcro wallet.

Just then, a mustachioed uncle cut through the dining room to get to the kitchen. Red-nosed and tipsy from wine, he tripped over our mascot, the family's golden retriever. As he bent down to see if the dog was okay, he said with slurred words and glassy eyes, "You have to really be sorry when apologizing to a dog, otherwise they know you're faking it. You reaaaaallly have to make some sweet love* to the dog. Or they'll know. That you're... hey, why are you all giggling?"

When I read this New Yorker column back in 2007, I was transported back to that night... in the very best way:

THE WISDOM OF CHILDREN, by Simon Rich
A Conversation at the Grownup Table, as Imagined at the Kids’ Table

MOM: Pass the wine, please. I want to become crazy.

DAD: O.K.

GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.

DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.

UNCLE: I’m having sex right now.

DAD: We all are.

MOM: Let’s talk about which kid I like the best.

DAD: (laughing) You know, but you won’t tell.

MOM: If they ask me again, I might tell.

FRIEND FROM WORK: Hey, guess what! My voice is pretty loud!

DAD: (laughing) There are actual monsters in the world, but when my kids ask I pretend like there aren’t.

MOM: I’m angry! I’m angry all of a sudden!

DAD: I’m angry, too! We’re angry at each other!

MOM: Now everything is fine.

DAD: We just saw the PG-13 movie. It was so good.

MOM: There was a big sex.

FRIEND FROM WORK: I am the loudest! I am the loudest!

(Everybody laughs.)

MOM: I had a lot of wine, and now I’m crazy!

GRANDFATHER: Hey, do you guys know what God looks like?

ALL: Yes.

GRANDFATHER: Don’t tell the kids.

Happy Thanksgiving!

*Of course he didn't mean it like THAT, but we were a group of kids, and it was funny. In all honesty, I probably haven't matured one bit in the humor department since that night.

Source


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Yo! Edvard Munch...

Yo! Edvard Munch*... I'm happy for your painting skills & imma let you finish, but Oprah has the best SCREAM of all time. OF ALL TIME!!!!!!**


My favorite is when she introduces the cast of Friends with outstretched arms and a heartfelt, "Frrriends!!!"

I plan to be doing this ALL weekend whenever I see anybody I know. Furthermore, it is no exaggeration when I write that if someone made a video of every guest announcement Oprah has ever made on her show over the last 24 years, I would sit down and watch it several times.

*Related sidenote: His last name is pronounced "Monk", which I learned 13 years ago when interviewing for a museum gift store job and saying it like it's spelled. I got corrected on the pronunciation, screamed in embarrassment (on the inside) and then I got hired anyway.

**It's not too late for yet another Kanye West/Taylor Swift reference, is it?
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Words to live by

It is my hope that all young (and old!) girls get a chance to hear and understand and live by what Amy Poehler says at 1:29 in this video from the Glamour* Women of the Year awards:


Brilliance at 1:29

I couldn't agree more... make 'em work for it, girls!

Lucky for me, I have more funny men in my life than I can count on 10 hands. I really, really love you, funny men!


*I haven't so much as picked up a Glamour magazine since college, but I think Amy Poehler should get every award available just for being so cool, smart & funny...and for having a foxy, comedic-genius for a husband, though I assume having a foxy, comedic-genius for a husband is it's own reward.

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I'll let you figure out who is who

"BREAKING NEWS: What's Next for Oprah & You?"

If I had to guess, I'd say that one of us will continue living life as a billionaire and the other one will continue wondering why her dreams of getting tickets to the other one's "Favorite Things" show never came true.

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