Who's RAD? Lynn Messina!

Or is it Chrissy Gibbons here? Ack! I don't know.

Hmm...I guess I'll just refer to Chrissy/Lynn as the same person. So from now on, they are one and the same. Don't get the confused!

Lynn is the author of Chrissy's story in case you were wondering.

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Random Q&A:

If you won one million bucks, how would you spend it?
If I won a million dollars, I'd buy a larger apartment and put solar panels on the roof of the building. Then I'd rent a villa in Tuscany and invite all my friends and family to stay for a week or two (although maybe not all at the same time).

Complete the sentence: "This is a disaster!" I exclaimed, "I can't believe ___."
...I turned my hair into a mass of gluey mushiness. Why did I ever think pouring an entire bottle of peroxide directly on my head was an OK thing to do?"

What is the strangest thing you have ever done? (Please keep this appropriate!)

One of the strangest things I've ever done was go to Puroland, an indoor Hello Kitty theme park in Japan. It took us hours to get there from Tokyo but we had to make the trip as my husband and I are huge fans of the Kitty. (Most prized possession: a toaster that imprints the face of Hello Kitty in your toast. Use white bread for best results.) The place was wild: From the outside it looked like a cross between a Morman tabernacle and a Vegas casino and inside it was like a movie sound stage. The air was scented and smelled sweet like chocolate. We were not only the only Americans there we were also the only people over twenty without kids, so everyone looked at us funny. An artist from California who worked there even asked us where our kids were. But we had a blast. We saw an amazing acrobat show that seemed to pit good against evil and ended with a golden flying unicorn. I'm not sure what actually happened because the show was in Japanese but you gotta figure a golden flying unicorn is a pretty good indication of a happy ending. We went on a Sanrio version of Disneyland's It's a Small World ride, with all the Hello Kitty characters merrily singing in little dioramas ending with Hello Kitty's wedding! But the coolest (and strangest!) part was Hello Kitty's house. It was tiny but neat, with white trim, and inside you could watch tv shows about Hello Kitty's family. That's when I learned that she is in fact British and that she not only has a father but he wears a silk smoking jacket and smokes a pipe. (Now, if only they could imprint *that*onto toast!)

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the guest blog:

This post is weeks overdue and my sincerest apologies to Rachael for taking so long. I assumed it would be pretty easy to find something to blog about but it turned out to be really hard. Some aborted efforts:

Marc by Marc Jacobs by Marc Jacobs canvas tote: On my way home from work, I saw a woman carrying this bag and was struck by the vanity and repetition. I know vanity and repetition are the hallmarks of great designers (Michael Michael Kors, Ralph by Ralph Lauren, Lauren by Ralph Lauren) but this seemed to be taking it to a whole new level and I imagined a new line called Jacobs by Marc Jacobs by Marc by Marc Jacobs by Marc Jacobs. Like an echo chamber. But here I ran dry.

Be Reel Savvy trailer contest voting: The deadline for my trailer contest was August 15, and I assumed the voting would be up and running a day later. Or two days later. Or—I don’t know—three. But such expectations are completely irrational when your programmer is on a
three-week, cross-continental road trip with his family and when you call to say, “Hey, what’s going on?” (though you really mean, “Hey, when are we going live?”), you discover that he’s just
checked into a Days Inn in the Black Hills and is on his way to see Mount Rushmore with his two sons, so you can’t bring yourself to ask anything other than “Hey, aren’t the Badlands cool?” But from here it turned into a rant about powerlessness and sightseeing.

Vanilla ice cream: Of late I’ve become obsessed with cheap supermarket-brand ice cream. My first favorite was Associated because their vanilla tastes just like the vanilla in the center of an ice cream sandwich. Yum. But then I got White Rose vanilla and realized I’d been completely wrong. Their vanilla tastes just like the vanilla in the center of an ice cream sandwich. I could go on (next up: America’s Choice) but that’s probably not very interesting to the unobsessed (or
those who like chocolate).

So I’ve decided to fall back on something familiar. On SavvyGirl.us, the protagonist of my book blogs about items she finds on the giveaway table at Savvy magazine. The giveaway table is here editors put promotional products from publicists and manufacturers that they don’t want. Sometimes really crazy stuff shows up like a lump of coal that’s supposed to work as an air purifier and sometimes really great things appear (I snagged a brand-new pair of Pumas last year.) The SG blog is fictional and made up of the best stuff I found over a year of checking
the giveaway table at Self magazine, where I work. But here is a list of items that are on the giveaway table at Self at this very moment.

*Clean & Clear Morning Burst Oil-Absorbing Sheets. Per package, “Instantly removes excess oil. Won’t smudge makeup. Invigorating fragrance.” I’m not sure if my forehead is oily enough but I open the package anyway. The strips are powder blue and plasticky. Neat. I press one against my forehead and—presto—two oil smudges appear in the shape of my fingers. I try it again and this time the strip becomes completely clear. I can actually see my fingers through it. Super neat (but gross).

* Professional Formula Breath RX Sugar-Free Breath Mints. Per package, “Scientifically fights bad breath where it starts with Zytex.” (According to the ingredient list, Zytex is eucalyptus oil, thumol, zinc chloride.) Like the oil strips, they’re power blue. Unlike regular breath mints, they don’t taste very minty. I don’t know what eucalyptus tastes like but I’m now fairly certain I don’t like it. I spit it out and chew a piece of Orbit CitrusMint gum to get the icky flavor out of my mouth.

* 2 six-ounce bags of Hershey’s Kisses packaged in silver and brown for Christmas. One bag says “naughty.” The other says “nice.” They taste like Hershey kisses but are especially delicious right now because it’s almost lunch time and I’m starving.

* The unusual assortment of self-help books (The Keeler Migraine Method: Groundbreaking, Individualized Treatment from the Renowned Headache Clinic) and fiction (Shelter Me by Juliette Fay), totaling 22 in all.

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Thanks Chrissy/Lynn! That was fun, and of course, you shouldn't worry about being late. Everyone misses a deadline every now and then...right?

You can visit Chrissy online at her website: http://www.savvygirl.us/ or you can see Lynn's soon-to-be website here: http://www.lynnmessina.com/