Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

After three months of my Netflix rotation being nearly stagnant, I finally made a date with my grandma and watched one of my favorite director's films. Pedro Almodóvar did it again with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His colorful, deliberately scandalous, dark comedies never disappoint. My quick breakdown of the 1988 film; sidetracked suicide attempts, a forgotten blender full of spiked gazpacho, a blissful affair with a Shiite terrorist, an eager Mambo-loving cab driver, and a crazed, scorned woman with two guns on the back of a Harley Davidson. My favorite piece of dialogue:

ANA

I'm fed up!

I'm gonna get myself some quick cash..buy myself his bike and split.

With a bike!

PEPA

Who needs a man?

Learning mechanics is easier than learning male psychology.

You can figure out a bike..but you can never figure out a man.

Birthday Ride up PCH

Despite the June gloom last Friday I decided to jump on my bike and cruise up the coast. Somewhere between Zuma and Neptune's Net I started to feel an overwhelming amount of gratitude. After a self-induced stressful week of placing my energy into all the wrong things (i.e. turning the big, scary 3-0 and the new wrinkles that have set into the sides of my eyes, not having a definitive career and making more money, eating too many cupcakes and not doing enough cardio, never learning to speak Spanish, not traveling enough in my 20's, and never buying that vintage mirror from my favorite little shop in Desert Hot Springs). Sometimes it takes a ride on my motorcycle and an open road for me to come back to earth and remember that I have lived a great life thus far and have many memories and things to be grateful for. It reminds me of this great quote I heard a few years ago:


“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” 

― Epicurus


At the end of the day I chop it up to this; 30 is just a number and I feel great, I have my health and my hair, my family and my friends, I live in an amazing city where the sun shines nearly 365 days a year, I have acquired a pretty fabulous shoe collection and I own a BMW K1200S with a custom paint job and an upgraded exhaust that hauls ass at the flick of the throttle. Life is good.

Gemini Fashionistas

Happy Birthday fashion savvy sisters, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen!

image via ibtimes

I still need to pick up their book Influence. The twins interviewed people such as Christian Louboutin (my fave shoe designer), Terry Richardson (mega fashion photographer), and Alexandre de Betak (producer for Victoria's Secret Fashion shows) with questions in the scope of work ethic, inspiration and personal philosophies. With these sister's blatant affection for art and fashion I wonder how this book cannot be inspiring.

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

In honor of this special day (not only for the love of peanut butter but for my very first post) I want to share my new discovery; PB2. The secret of PB2 is that their peanuts are slow roasted then pressed to remove the fat and oil. The end product is an all natural, no additives, rich in flavor powdered peanut butter with way less than half the fat and calories as regular peanut butter. All you have to do is mix 2 tbsp. of PB2 with 1 tbsp. of water and stir until smooth. I think a late night peanut butter snack just transformed itself from naughty to not so bad on the hips and thighs.

Check out their website here for ordering info and recipes.