The History of the MANICURE

Okay...so this post is going to be a little weird and off-topic from my usual (not that I follow any type of pattern--a.k.a I literally talk about whatever is on my mind and this is hard evidence of that). SO, while standing on the Q train (my cart reeked of alcohol, reminding me.."OH, it's St. Patty's day!"), completely squished, I looked at my hands wrapped around a grossly warm spot on the pole at the center of the cart (collecting germs by the second), and notice my unpolished nails with cuticles popping out in, like, twelve places. I subconsciously said to myself, "Oh Eileen, you need a manicure." Now when you're eleven, thirteen, maybe even at your current age, you enjoy manicures. The hot towel, cucumber spa-smelling lotion, the ten second hand massage, and getting to choose a new (maybe even funky) color to flaunt all week...for me it used to be that exciting. I loved going to get a manicure Friday afternoons with my friends after school. Nowadays, it's something I dread. I opt for the faster and cheaper "change of polish," not because I am being cheap but really because I want to get out of there ASAP! Whenever I do get a manicure, the manicurist usually tells me how horrible my cuticles are, and that goes in one ear and out the next...hopefully I'm awesome in other ways that people won't be judging me on my cuticles!
So why is it that when I chip a nail, or actually see my nails clean (which by the way is kind of pretty and refreshing), I suddenly NEED a manicure? Having another person paint and play with your nails isn't something anyone NEEDS, it is something you WANT. After some simple computation in my genius-math-y brain (meaning I did everything on my calculator--even the easier ones), I found that a ten-dollar manicure (average, because some are twelve and some are eight, depending on where you live), once a week will cost you $520 a year! If your manicure is twelve dollars...$624 a year! In ten years, that's $6240 dollars you spent on something so temporary, paint on nails. Let's say you've been getting mani's since you were sixteen and live until your ninety-five. You would have spent $49, 296 on your fingernails, and in the end will have nothing to show for it! (that's a twelve dollar manicure, assuming you tip anyways). This post is starting to make me think that I have a future in writing fourth grade textbooks. (Oh and by the way, this is forgetting about the uber-expensive pedi!).
        Now, I'm not saying ditch the manicurist and never ever go back. (Not like you'd listen to me anyways, or at least I hope you wouldn't listen to me). What I am saying is, let's start a new trend--THE BARE NAIL TREND--save up on average $524 per year, and in a few years...LET'S GO SHOPPING!
      I got to thinking, who came up with this costly idea that many are obsessed with? As a matter of fact, the famous manicure started five-thousand years ago! Arabs used to henna for manicures. The French manicure was a result of Parisian women wanting their nails to look like the perfect natural nail, nude with a white tip. In the 1920s and 1930s women were "ooh-la-la-ing" to the French manicure, while nowadays some look at it as a check-in at a senior center. Some 3,000 years ago in China and Egypt, nail color was used to represent social status. In China, red and blank fingernails were used for royalty, and in Egypt red was seen as the royal color for Cleopatra! This may be part of the reason why red seems to be a very popular nail color...we don't see many girls walking around with yellow nails, do we?  Nail salons seem to be extremely popular in the United States, and had some sort of boom in the last 10 years. In 2000, fifty-thousand nail salons were recorded, whereas in 2010 a whopping hundred-thousand were, DOUBLE!

Proof that manicures and pedicures were done in Ancient Egypt, this was found on Pharaoh's tomb!

Thank you to my sources (I did not know the random facts above all my myself!):

http://www.uspedicurespa.com/blog/12-history-of-pedicures.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manicure (I trust Wikipedia)

Love,

Eileen!

A post about...nothing!

Brainstorming blog ideas is making me realize how much I miss it! I cannot believe it has been almost two months...I am so sorry, and if you don't forgive me...I understand (not.....just kidding, it's a free country and if you don't want to waste your time on my site...fine! Do it somewhere else why dont-cha?) Anywho, it's been a while, but I am BACK IN BUSINESS (but don't worry I am not getting paid to do this...maybe that's sad that I call this fun, I dont know)! You have Glee (specific episode on March 15th where New Directions debuts original songs--if you do not watch Glee tune--no pun intended, okay yes intended-- that out completely and consider un-bookmarking my blog and don't come back...kidding gosh!) to thank for me reuniting with Home Sweet Dorm. That was probably the most confusing group of nonsense I ever put in parenthesis together! Okay, so Glee really inspired me to blog (and of course y'all--could you tell I'm in a Southern mood too!), and that will show through my body movements and perhaps outfits in the pictures below (the Glee part not the Southern part...I don't think). My little clothing-trying-on extravaganza led me to a few very important realizations: I AM A TERRIBLE MODEL. Years back, trust me, years (YEARS) back I sent in a photo of my seventh grade self to Barbizon thinking they would sweep me out of my Hebrew class and whip me into high fashion photoshoots and if I was lucky enough, I might even end up in Delia's (which by the way, was the only place I looked for back-to-school shopping). Boy was I wrong...never got a call and I'm still kind of sour about it. Next realization: Photobooth on Apple computers is God's gift to self-bloggers and freaky constant self-portrait takers everywhere! So here's a shout-out to you...Love, Eileen. Next: If I had a tripod to hold my Macbook up and face it wherever I want, my pictures would be in various, and more interesting places rather than alternating between the three spaces in my room where I try to balance my computer on dangerous wobbly things. So here are some pictures to hold you over until the next time I decide to blog about something illegitimate and unfocused! Ba bye!

A dress from Nasty Gal that decides to be longer on one side than the other!

Gotta love the spinning pics...they're fun

Michael Jackson-esque, anyone? H&M.

Shirt: vintage urban (I don't mean it's really vintage just bought it a few years ago)

Skirt: actually vintage, found it in my basement...thanks Mom!

And this is where the Glee comes in....

I should probably not be posting this....wtvr.

Hüvasti sõbrad! (Goodbye friends...Estonian anyone?), 

Eileen

5 Things

A lot of bloggers do something like this, “Five Things” post. It kind of annoys me because it proves that they have nothing at the moment specifically interesting to blog about so they take the easy way out by picking five items lying somewhere in their room, photograph them, and upload away. I am going to be truthful with you…I AM DOING EXACTLY THAT RIGHT NOW. With spring semester in blossom (I feel like an idiot saying “spring” semester only because I am staring at a foot of snow in my backyard, but whatever), the lengthy reading assignments are back. I officially said goodbye to having the “lack of anything better to do than click on Facebook homepage more than five times in one sitting” phase.

1.     For those of you who have ever been to my bedroom, you surely have noticed, and probably even played with my five string pink electric guitar (look and count closely, I assure you there are only five strings).  Don’t worry, I didn’t get ripped off from eBay (even though I did get this guitar off of eBay), my baby cousin was having too much fun with a toy called “Eileen’s important stuff.” This crippled guitar that I never got around to fix is always a nice conversation topic sitting in the right corner of my room (appropriately placed so every time I open my closet door it slams into it—yikes!). Instead of allowing it lean against my wall to rot, I’ve realized that this guitar is also a great prop for, let’s say, an album cover if I were to magically transform into Taylor Swift someday (anyday now) and needed an album cover pronto. I decided to have some fun with my pink guitar and tried to make it a little glam/rock and roll by adding a sparkly mini-dress…Enjoy!

2.    Think of something that you can get for a dollar. Wendy’s recently expanded their value menu to include a small frosty, a crispy chicken sandwich, and fries (each only 99 cents). But ten minutes later, the value chicken is gone! I found something for one dollar that will be around in ten minutes, is inedible, and I think is pretty stylish. Check out my ladybug scarf! I don’t usually wear bugs on my clothing, but I happen to think ladybugs are pretty damn cute! You can tell me this scarf resembles something a flight attendant would don, but I’ll still wear it!

3.      Who knew, Eileen is a ballerina…NOT! This picture is for all the people that never really won trophies, and do not have framed awards of theirs permeating the house. Whenever people see this, they—for some reason—think that it is a trophy. I painted it myself at a place called “Plaster Gallery,” around three years ago. I picked out a ballet shoe because it looked pretty easy to paint. Why do I keep it around? I love the little spurt of excitement I get when someone asks if I am a ballerina.

4.      Who doesn’t like a bargain? I especially love, LOVE bargains. Whenever I buy something at a really good price I find myself talking about it all week long…(maybe I should try and change that about myself). If someone expresses any level of favor in something that I am wearing that was extremely discounted, I tend to bark out the price before even introducing myself. These boots, which will probably turn out to be extremely painful, is one of those items. (They were more than 60% off!)

5.   My last 'thing' is actually not even mine. I am dedicating 1/5th of this post to my super evil and super talented little sister. She is extremely creative (and mean), and I am hopefully an inspiration to her originality (not her grouchiness), she borrows my clothing on a daily basis if not more. She is actually in the process of making a skirt made of stuffed animals. She unstuffed all of my old beanie babies and household stuffed dolls and sewed them together making this cool and slightly creepy skirt! She accidentally unstuffed a Webkinz very dear to my other sister's heart. It was then that my mother's skills as a surgeon were tested (even though she is not a surgeon) as she tried to recompose that poor, cute little pig. 

Hwyl fawr, (Goodbye in Welsh)

Eileen 

Firenze

I can almost say that the most exciting part of going to a foreign country is the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. At this point in your trip, (if you are me), you know a lot about a certain place that you’ve never seen with your own eyes in real life. The suspense is practically unbearable and to make matters more interesting, everything seems to be coming into your mind just a bit slower, assuming you took a red-eye and got zero sleep like me. By choice of course, too many movie options!(I am beginning to think I am the main character in Eat Pray Love)

            My trips have always made me realize that there are two types of people when it comes to the first day in a new city. There are those that look forward to tucking into the hotel's (hopefully comfy) bed for a few hours midday in a European city to “catch up on some sleep” (losers—Ace Ventura style, La-hu-se-hers…if you think I am out of my mind right now watch this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kz7YUdy-Cg). The second type, (perhaps the better—I’ll say I’m kidding even though I’m not really), are the people that will throw on the sweater-dress and stockings closest to the opening of their suitcase and search for a shop open between twelve and two (finding a shop open during siesta= not easy/near impossible). Unpack? Ya, right. Hopefully I made it obvious which “type” I belong to.

            Growing up, I would idolize the hotel rooms that would fill the last few pages of Conde Nast Traveler. Typically the last page would show an image of a gorgeous suite with an enormous, sweeping window facing the most iconic landmark of any given city. I’d hope that someday I’d stay in one of the rooms featured in the magazine. As soon as I walked into our mini-apartment, besides for noticing that it was the quintessential Florentine decorated pad, I noticed that we had huge windows that were a mere fifty feet away from the walls of a Florence Cathedral/Duomo. There was nothing obstructing our view, nothing (besides for cold glass) standing between me and the Duomo. The only downside about my “Room With a View,” was the pack of punks/teenage boys (I make it as if I am not a teenager myself and I do enjoy dressing punkster occasionally) chanting at the top of their lungs at 12 midnight. But that is what we get for choosing to stay in one of Florence's most busy piazzas. 

My view

            Day one was unfortunately shorter than I had expected. We landed in Florence at 1 PM and were out and about by 2! We toured the Florence Cathedral, saw the David as well as many other Michelangelo masterpieces at the Galleria dell’Accademia. By the way, let me get this off of my chest once and for all…why don’t any museums let me take pictures inside! (Common Uffizi Gallery!). We had a delicious first dinner at a restaurant called Yellow Bar, right near the cathedral. This was when I realized why I love Italian people. Girls on dates were eating entire pies themselves! I am exclaiming in praise, not in shock…(they also manage to stay thin while doing it). I ordered a Pasta alla Carrettiera, which was so spicy I probably drank three giant water bottles by myself.

A less popularized view of Michelangelo's David

            During our second day we toured small villages in Tuscany and Siena—about an hour outside of Florence. On our way we stopped to take pictures in front of Piazza di Michelangelo—a.k.a the view from which every tourist who visits Florence takes a picture in front of. There is a good reason why…it is simply beautiful! Our guide explained the very interesting (and everlasting) rivalry between the people of Siena and Florence. The people of Siena despise those from Florence. Not only is their architecture more medieval and traditional, their mindsets still are as well! The Duomo of Siena is a direct response, more so challenge, to the Duomo in Florence. (If you ask me, the façade and interior of Duomo of Siena is much nicer). After strolling through the winding, narrow streets of Siena we were ready for some lunch at the Piazza del Campo. I was craving my second bowl of pasta in Florence. I actually ended up ordering a soup/meal called ribollita that was on almost every menu in Florence. It was an extremely tasty vegetable-bean soup, thickened by the mushy bread mashed inside of it. Even though I kind of made it sound gross—it was delicious. After, we took a scenic drive to Saint Piano for wine tasting in Chianti. One of my favorite things about Tuscany (besides for the never-ending hill-tops and the rich greenery) was that the entire region seemed to smell like a giant fireplace/ski town, without the snow (Thank God!). Later that night we had an amazing dinner at La Giostra (fried artichokes..yum).

     

            By the third day we were ready for shopping (and art)! We started off at the Uffizi Gallery and saw some Botticelli, Titian  and more then we headed over to H&M…and I know what you are thinking, “They have the same stuff everywhere.” There is just something about being in a foreign country that makes it all more exciting. We shopped at many other small boutiques like Ethic and Patrizia Pepe. Dinner was at an unnamed tourist trap that had the best desserts I ever tasted in my entire life!

            Wednesday was one of my favorite days, for we hit up the “Shoeseum.” Yes, someone combined my two favorite things—fashion and museums—and made a place as beautiful as heaven. It was Museo Salvatore Ferragamo featuring life size shoes and an extremely interactive learning experience. I could probably write an entire blogpost about this place, but I wouldn’t want to bore anyone to death (if I haven’t already). We also had our best meal of the trip on that day. Take a picture of the gnocci at Osteria Santo Spirito (as I did below) and you can make almost anyone’s mouth water (as you will right now). We also had a meal at 4 PM (which is totally acceptable since we were “walking around so much”—ya right) at Caffe Rivoire where the hot chocolate resembles and tastes like hot nutella.

One of the things that I loved about Florence was the sense of relaxation and simple idea of taking one’s time. I am most certainly not a relaxed person. But there is something that makes me want to be relaxed when I’m in Florence. I mean, even the faucets are on a three-second delay as if they are trying to say themselves, “why does water need to come out so fast?” But the absolute best thing about Florence is that you think every meal was “the best meal of your life” until you have your next! The worst? (it’s only fair) Every dog in town seems to have a bad case of diarrhea (sorry for the grossness).  

 

M.I.A (not the pop-star)

        I have good news and bad news. Bad news first, I have not been blogging as often as usual  : (  Good news is, I am off to Florence, Italy tomorrow night and will be working on a ginormous post as soon as I return!  Wishing everyone happy holidays (not for me, Chanukah was a few weeks ago…)! 

       Part of me cannot wait for my favorite radio stations to stop playing Christmas music…the tunes are just too catchy!

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock…LiLo saves the day down below!

Love (English this time), 

   Eileen 

Viewer Discretion Advised...Seriously

 My (one-way) relationship with Steven Meisel, my most favorite fashion photographer, began in my sophomore year of high school, when my art teacher assigned a photographer to each student. We were required to do some research on our subject, but more so, the assignment was to imitate the style of the artist. To my luck, I was given Steven Meisel (it was fate that brought us together!). I got right to it, I called up a friend of mine, Freda, and had her model for me. It wasn’t that simple. I finally saw the brainpower behind snapping the perfect cover shot.  I won’t lie though, it was pretty fun. I was going for the whole “celebrity eating disorder” topic. I thought it was slightly controversial, but not too controversial that my teacher would be weirded out. Outfit-wise, I knew we were depicting a starlet. 2/3 pieces of her outfit belong/ed to my mother (I do not know where either are now). The dress, a sparkly BCBG frock from circa 2004. The shoes, Steve Madden, also from sometime around 2004. Last but not least, the silver leggings are mine, American Apparel. When it came time for makeup, I realized how much fun it is to make someone have a black eye by purpose. It was kind of like a “smoky eye” gone bad…very bad. We took red lipstick and just smudged it all over the lower half of her mouth. Then, we thought, what better place to shoot this than in my bathroom! As a finishing touch, we added a little plate of cake and cookies but mid-photoshoot, I took some cake and smushed it all over her face (can you say “let them eat cake!). Check out the photo below…

Call me a cheeseball, but my theory to photography (not like I’m good at it) was always that the talent in photography doesn’t lie in simply photographing something beautiful; it is photographing something ugly and making it beautiful.  In the world of gorgeous models and expensive clothing that is a hard theory to live by as a photographer. But my pal Steve always makes it work. His images are not merely a picture of a 5 foot 10 beauty in a $10,000 dollar Balmain dress. They are crossing boundaries and going places every photographer wants to go, but is too scared to. By challenging social taboos, Meisel made ‘controversy’ his middle name.  Meisel shoots for US and Italian Vogue, as well as designers such as Valentino, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Calvin Klein (almost everyone). Oh ya, and he’s like best friends with Madonna (jealous!!!). Enjoy.

 

 

 

 "Make Love Not War"for Italian Vogue

Last but not least my rendition of Steven Meisel's work: 

Sinceramente (Italian), 

Eileen