Yesterday I got two new presents in the mail–copies of the final, hardbound SUN-KISSED, and galley copies of MISTLETOE.

I love the cover of SUN-KISSED, I like to think of the girl on the cover is Jacqui and one of the hot new boys she meets this summer. (I think the one on the cover is Duffy, who is blond.) I had SUCH a fun time writing the book, and when I re-read it last night (which I do with all my books that I get final copies of), I was transported back to…no, not the Hamptons, but all the nights I spent right in front of my computer, conjuring up all that fun. And reading bits aloud to my husband–he helped a lot with the three new guys, and all their goofy jokes. And a huge debt to the guys at CollegeHumor.com, who inspired them.

Last night I also TORE through MISTLETOE, which has four holiday romance stories from four fab YA writers (moi included). I absolutely LOVED each story–Aimee Friedman’s is soo cute–about finding love in an unexpected place, as is Hailey Abbot’s (which is also about how college changes friends–very right-on, I thought) and Nina Malkin’s story is so hot and sexy! The book comes out in October and I like to think that the kids on the cover are Brenden and Kelsey from my own story, The Christmas Choos.

I also made a great deal of progess on the first 30 pgs I’m showing my editor on Blue Bloods 2: Masquerade. I always try to do a major polish before I show any of my work to anyone, but I’m really pleased with how it’s looking right now. (Ah, brave last words!) One of the things I was struggling with writing the sequel was that I felt I had put SO MUCH effort into making the first book great, I was really, really worried I had nothing left for Book Two. Like my brain was drained. But it’s been almost a year since I turned in Book 1, and in that year, my brain has thankfully come back to life (at least for Blue Bloods purposes!) and I’m so into the story again. PHEW!

When the writing is going well, everything else seems to fall into place. I notice I’ve been sleeping better since feeling better about the book. There are so many nights I just toss and turn because I was so worried about how I couldn’t get the story going. But now I’m so energized and sleep like a baby. Thank God!!

For those going to the book party–see you next week! And for everyone else, I’ll have the full recap when I return!

xoxo
Mel

Actually, Blue Bloods’ publication day was yesterday. But it STILL wasn’t shipping from Amazon. Thankfully, it is now! Have you ordered your copy yet? 🙂

Right now I am madly trying to polish the first 30 pages of Blue Bloods Two for my editor (a progress report) before we meet for lunch next Monday.

And I thought I would take the time to answer some questions readers have been sending in:

-When does Blue Bloods 2 come out?
-Right now it is scheduled for April 2007. I know, a whole year away. I’m sorry! It just takes a long time for me to write the Blue Bloods books, and my publisher needs at least ten months (they prefer a year) for marketing and pre-sales. But I promise it is worth the wait!

-When does Au Pairs: Sun-Kissed come out?
-June 1, 2006 is the official publication date, but it will probably be in stores a week or two before then.

-Is there an Au Pairs 4?
-Right now, no. I have no plans to continue the series for now. I know, I know. But I am working on a HOT new series called SOCIAL LIFE, which is coming out next summer, and it’s about three girls who zoom around the world in a private jet, and their adventures on the “international social calendar”–you know, the one that says one *must* spend New Year’s in Aspen, Spring in St. Barth’s, July in St. Tropez, and Christmas in Palm Beach. 🙂 It’s going to have all the fun, shopping, hot boys, scandal, gossip, social-climbing and intrigue as the Au Pairs, but with a new cast of characters I *know* you will love. Also, this is going to be a paperback series–I know a lot of you guys have emailed me saying you love to buy my books but hardcovers are expensive–we listened! And this one is coming out in paperback. Yay!

-What is Angels on Sunset Boulevard about?
-This book is about a cute tomboy girl from the Hollywood Flats, and a handsome preppie boy from Bel-Air, who discover a secret cult in Los Angeles that is exploiting and manipulating teens in the city. There’s a lot of L.A. club hopping, crazy parties, sexy drama and West Coast adventure! It comes out this December. Yay.

And in other news..

WOW. The Kaavya plagiarism story just keeps going doesn’t it? I am so curious to see what Meg Cabot says about it in her blog (which I am addicted to). She has such a great, funny take on the whole situation.

I’m also a little annoyed with all the chick-lit slamming going on in the Kaavya coverage. There is this conception on the part of the “serious” writers of the world that chick-lit is something anyone can do in their sleep. I’m sorry, but it is REALLY hard to be funny and entertaining. It is a craft, like anything else. It requires work. But it is ALSO a lot of fun. I can’t tell you how many times I sit at my computer and just GIGGLE because the scene I am writing strikes me as so funny.

For instance, in Sun-Kissed, I describe Mara’s high school graduation where the class had to sing the Class Song, “Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson” because their real choice “American Idiot by Green Day” was banned by the administration. Can you just imagine a class full of seniors half-heartedly singing the lyrics to “Breakaway”? How FUNNY is that??? When they really wanted to sing American Idiot?? LOL.

I also have to share that when my friend Jennie (my best friend from college) read the book and came upon this sentence, she GUFFAWED and yelled across the room, “They SANG Breakaway?? That is hilarous!!”

Don’t worry, I’m a huge fan of Kelly Clarkson and mean no offense. But you know, the whole “Class Song” deal is kind of ridiculous… We had to sing the Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire at my graduation. “We laughed, until we had to cry, we loved, until we said good-bye.” Blecch!

And the whole scene is inspired by my husband’s story that for his eighth grade graduation, they had to sing “Greatest Love of All” after their real choice, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was banned by the administration. The funny thing is, Mike said that after the class voted on Bohemian Rhapsody, the music teacher went out and bought the music so they could all practice. (The teachers had never heard of the song.) But once they saw the lyrics, which open with “Mamma, I killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, now he’s dead”–they immediately put the kibbosh on it.

What strikes me as so funny about this story is that the schools always GIVE you a choice– a vote–democracy!–but when the real voice of the American teen is heard–Bohemian Rhapsody please! American Idiot!–they SQUASH it and make the kids sing some asinine song instead.

Although at my high school, the sad story is that all the popular girls CHOSE the St. Elmo’s Fire theme and made us all vote for it. And like sad little sheep, we did…

Oh well, at least it makes for a good scene in a book. See, it’s just one sentence, but there is so much HISTORY behind it. 🙂

Ok, back to work or my editor will have my ass.
xoxo
Mel

Woohoo! I just got back from The Grove (see, I told you I go there ALL the time – in fact, I shop at the Anthropologie, and one of the sales clerks once asked me, “Hey, did you write that book Fashionista Files?” It was SO COOL!)… and at the Barnes & Noble, they have Blue Bloods out already on the shelves!!!

YAY!!!!

I cannot BEGIN to tell you how exciting it is to see your book on bookstore (and library) shelves. It is simply a dream come true. It honestly, never gets old for me. One day I would like to see the books in one of those cool cardboard stands (I hear they are doing that for Sun-Kissed!). I won’t know what to do with myself then!

And I checked on B&N.com where you can now order it–and it’s number 227!! WOW!! (Remember that sitcom 227? With Thelma? When I was in high school my family watched it every week!)

Ok, so yes, all writers check their rankings. Obsessively. If any writer says they don’t, they are LYING.

I’m just tickled beyond belief, especially since I haven’t even sent the nudging email to all my friends and relatives to buy my new book (but oh yes, it is coming people). So that means it’s my readers who are buying it–yay!!

Again, if you are in the New York area, and would like to come to the Book Launch Party for Blue Bloods and Sun-Kissed please email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for an invite!!

I also want to tell you about a few books from my friends/colleagues…

BASS-ACKWARDS AND BELLY-UP – by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. Liz is a dear friend of mine from college, and her new book is about four girls who take the year after high school off to follow their dreams. It’s a really funny, sweet, and entertaining read. I highly recommend!

DRAWING A BLANK: Or how I tried to Solve A Mystery, End A Feud, and Land the Girl of my Dreams – by Daniel Ehrenhaft – Dan is also a friend from college. His mystery series THE WESSEX PAPERS is one of my favorites. He’s a really funny, engaging, and quirky writer. I haven’t read this book yet, but I KNOW it is going to be good.

And lest you think I only plug books by CC’93 alumns..

IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY – by Ned Vizzini. Ned was a colleague from my New York Press days. He was this cool, high school sophomore who wrote these great essays about high school life in New York City. A very thoughtful and smart writer. The book is moving and life-affirming and a must-read.

I must say, it’s really fun to go to a bookstore and see books by friends and colleagues. It makes me feel like I am part of this cool group of writers, even though most of the time I am just by myself in front of the computer.

Anyway, I have to go and work on BB2 now, my editor wants to see some pages, and by golly, she’ll have some to see before we meet in New York in a week!

Have a great Saturday everyone!
xoxo
Mel

This is probably of no interest to anyone but me… but as I have been reading about this plagiarism scandal, I thought about how every time I write a new book, I always check to make sure I haven’t plagiarized…myself!

For example, when I was writing Sun-Kissed, the third in the Au Pairs series, I was worried that I was reaching for too many of the same phrases I’d used before, like “retail therapy” and “caramel-colored tan”. I know, totally frivolous right? But I’ve noticed that in my writing, I do tend to reach for the same descriptions so I make a concerted effort to make sure each detail in each new book is new one.

But, I mean, how many ways can I describe a hot boy?? 🙂 Luckily, I got over my foggy mental block about describing hotness, and as you will see, there are three new delicious, gorgeous boys in Sun-Kissed who are hot in totally different ways. Thank god I had so many crushes on people in my youth! Thank Heaven for Hot Boys!

xoxo
Mel

How much do I love reader reviews?? LOTS!!! Especially when they are good! Here’s one I found on Sebcobooks.com (a student review site – very cool!)

Book Review: Blue Bloods
Author: Cruz, Melissa de la
“I was quite cautious when I began reading Melissa de la Cruz’s, Blue Bloods. Having been aware that the story was about vampires, I thought Blue Bloods would be your typical anti-sun, blood sucking vampire tale. Well, I was wrong. Blue Bloodsis no doubt about vampires, but Ms. de la Cruz contradicts and explains everything you have ever heard about vampires. Basically the story focuses on the lives of a few select teenagers who all happen to share a secret; they’re all part of a group of vampires called the Blue Bloods, who landed at Plymouth after voyaging on the Mayflower. Now in present day New York City, these teenagers have discovered their pasts and are facing new dangers that they never knew existed. There will be a sequel to this book that I anxiously await. This story has many twists, turns, and surprises. I’ve never really enjoyed vampires, but this book expressed a completely different view on how they live and what they’re all about. The word choice in Blue Bloods is a bit advanced and there are even some phrases in foreign languages here and there. I think because of the uniqueness and manner of Melissa de la Cruz’s story, a variety of open-minded readers (who are willing to check a few words in the dictionary) can sincerely enjoy Blue Bloods.”
–Alison Fanizzi, North Syracuse Junior High School, North Syracuse, NY

Yay! Thanks Alison!

And thanks to everyone who has emailed saying they loved the book. It really makes me happy to hear that.

Because I am soooo ill. I just have been feeling sooo sick lately. It’s so awful. I have a stomach virus I think, and ugh, it’s just been killing me.

I’m also kind of sick of the Kaayva Viswanathan/plagiarism scandal. I feel sad for her. I’m sad for Megan McCafferty too–I’m sure she feels totally violated. (How else can a writer feel when this happens?) And she’s a fellow Columbia College grad, so I am totally in her corner. (Roar Lion Roar) But I am also sad for Kaayva, of course she deserves contempt for what she has done, but also pity, I think. The pressure she must have been under–writing a novel AND doing a full load of courses at Harvard? It doesn’t excuse what she did AT ALL. When I first read about her huge advance, and her youthfulness, I thought, wow, she is superhuman! Now it comes out she is just human.

When I wrote my first novel, Cat’s Meow, I had to take three months off of work to do it. I couldn’t do it while still working, so I just could not even imagine how anyone can study for school and put a novel together.

Right now I write full time and even then, it’s never enough time to write a book…

But anyway, like I said, I’m kind of sick of the scandal. It just adds to my feeling of nausea. It’s all just so yucky and sad.

So, moving on lighter topics!!!

Check out the hooters on Katherine McPhee last night huh??? Mike and I (who are huge Taylor Hicks fans) couldn’t get over the cleavage-baring dress. Yikes! I thought there was a little more of McPhee than we should have seen–and the split up to the thigh on the gown was also distracting. (Was it just me or were buttons popping out as she walked around the stage?)

Part of me totally admired her for wearing such a sexy dress, (I LOVE the cut-down-to-there style, it’s very sexy–but I think it looks sexier on flatter ladies–more Kate Moss-y and Euro), and another part of me was totally apalled. What was she thinking? It was WAY too tight and too revealing I think.

We’ve all been watching Idol thinking of her as this nice-girl-from-Sherman-Oaks and then she throws the twins at us! LOL. But I thought her rendition of the Whitney Houston song was pretty good.

But like I said, we’re Taylor Hicks fans. Mike thinks there is a conspiracy on the part of Idol producers to get the audience to vote against Taylor, and I quote my husband, “They don’t want a fat, goofy, gray-haired guy to represent American Idol.” So they are pushing for the more attractive and savvy Chris Daughtry. But I disagree–I think fat, goofy and gray-haired is exactly what we want in an Idol! Don’t you think?

We were walking in The Grove (an outdoor mall in L.A. where you can find us, oh, about four out of seven days of the week. Ok! I know it’s a mall. But there are so few places you can just park and then walk around in in L.A.) about a month ago, and we were coming out of the movie theater and all the people on the street (the fake mall street) had their camera phones out and there was this HUGE buzz of excitement — I haven’t seen anything like that ever! And I thought, oh my god, it has to be a huge star–Tom Cruise?? But lo and behold, it was Taylor Hicks! He seemed really flattered by all the attention, he posed for a lot of photos and was smiling at everyone. Looked like a real nice guy.

My book party is a week and a half away, and today I promised I would try on the dresses I’d been planning to wear to the party to see if they still look as fab as I thought they would when I bought them, oh, a year ago when I finished the book!

I’ll keep you posted…

UPDATE: So I tried on the dresses. And the Marc Jacobs dress still works, but the Diane Von Furstenberg is not looking so good. Sigh. Also, the thought of changing in the middle of the party just sounds like an inconvenience. So, I have decided on a third option.

I bought this Sass & Bide mini dress which is black with yellow piping, which I have never worn, from Diavolina in L.A. about eight months ago ($590), when I was shopping with my friend Katie. I think I will wear that to the party instead of the Marc Jacobs. It’s black = goth /vampiric enough for Blue Bloods but it also has yellow and a floral pattern = sunny and summery enough for Sun-Kissed. Actually the perfect option! I will post pictures of the party so you can all see what it looked like. I think I might even wear it with my new Skinny Jeans ($68 at Urban Outfitters), and my nude YSL platforms ($149 from $395 at the outlet). That’s a fun teen look, I think… Kind of inspired by the Lindsay Lohan outfit of loose Chanel blouse, skinny jeans and platforms..

xoxo
Mel

Just got back from Palm Springs, which was lovely. Spent Friday by the pool, sunbathing, then Saturday went to the outlet in Cabazon–Gucci, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada!

I haven’t been shopping in so long so I was soooo excited when we got there. I immediately wanted to buy everything. But in the back of my mind was our continuing house-hunt so I had to restrain myself.

In the end, I only came home with some hot nude patent-leather chunky-heel Yves Saint Laurent platforms. They are SO this season (even if they were um, last season) and I can’t wait to bust them out when I am in New York in two weeks. I always have to have new shoes for New York. What was it Joan Didion said? Something about how New York City makes the “good” clothes you’re brought from home seem suddenly really cheap. So I come armed to the city everytime I visit. As a former New Yorker, I have to pay my respects!

My only complaint about the outlet stores is that Gucci is SO picked through, and everything at Dior was sooo label-lover and very 90s. Blecch. They need to restock with some good stuff. The YSL outlet is the only one that is consistently rewarding to shop in. I hope I can get to Woodbury Commons while I am in New York — that is a GREAT outlet –Chanel, Frette, Dolce & Gabbana. Yum!

I did a lot of reading by the pool (I got brain dead from putting together those 30 pages for the ANGELS on SUNSET BOULEVARD promo) and discovered some really great books.

DOING IT by Melvin Burgess – Have you guys read this book? It is AWESOME. It is my new favorite teen book. It’s about three guys, Dino, Jonathan and Ben, and how they are obsessed with, you know, doing it. The story is really great- so funny, so real, I literally felt sick reading it because I was so jealous. It just captured that highly hormonal excitement of being a teen so well–and the lovestory between Jonathan and Deborah is SO sweet and HOT I was really into it. I really felt put to shame, something that is hard for an author to go through–who was it who said, authors read everything with either “a grinding envy or total contempt”–it’s all envy and admiration over here.

Which brings me to the next book I read:

LUNAR PARK by Bret Easton Ellis — I’ve been a huge fan of Bret Easton Ellis. Him and Jay McInerney and Tama Janowitz were the writers I read when I was in high school, and their books made me want to move to New York and become a writer. (Even if Less Than Zero is set in L.A.) All I can say is WOW! This was a GREAT book. The writing was hysterical, it was really inspiring. And the ending is everything they said–so moving and deeply felt. It was a total pleasure to read–I love how MEAN and FUNNY he is… something you don’t get as much anymore. The book is about a character named “Bret Easton Ellis” – a famous writer who moves to the suburbs with his movie star wife. It’s a horror story – like a Stephen King book, but also filled with satire and sex and insidery things about publishing. I couldn’t put it down. I was really inspired by how this is his sixth book or something, and it’s definitely his best. (So maybe we writers get better as we age? Hopefully!) If you like mean, funny books that are also sad and moving, read this book!

Some books I wasn’t so hot for:

The Wonder Spot by Melissa Banks. Eh. I kept waiting for the book to take off and it never did. The main character was so annoying. It’s interesting that I really liked the mean/deplorable/druggie character of “Bret” in Lunar Park and yet I couldn’t bring myself to like Sophie Applebaum who’s supposed to be “just like us” at all. I thought the book was boring and not particularly well-written or observant.

The Shadow of the Wind: Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I bought this book under the recommendation of a good friend who is a manager at Border’s. She RAVED about this book and I was so excited to read it. There are like pages and pages of raves from all the book establishment papers–The NY Times, Washington Post, etc. And what is it? Just an overhyped Spanish soap opera. I mean, puhleeze! I really thought it was just cheesy trash hidden underneath this so-called “lyrical” prose. Blecch. I was definitely underwhelmed.

Like most avid readers, I always have to finish a book even if it’s bad. There are very few books I haven’t finished, it just seems such a waste not to finish them. Did anyone read The Historian that Dracula book that came out last year? Hated that. It was SO BORING. Dracula only appears in like, the last twenty pages, and hello, didn’t we all put together that Helen was related to Dracula like, four hundred pages before it is “revealed”?

I buy most of my books from this great used bookstore in Cleveland (I know, how weird right?) Mike and I go home to Cleveland where his parents live twice a year, and I buy like, fifty to sixty books every time we go. I only buy new books that I really want from Barnes and Noble and Borders if I *must* have them and will then pay full price. Like, I just bought Zadie Smith’s On Beauty and Joe Keenan’s My Lucky Star. And I get some free books from my publishers once in a while, although I tend not to read YA books so much because I just don’t want to get too influenced by other writers.

What else I’ve been reading:

Ooh, in my stack from Cleveland I found The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet. I’ve never read any Hammet so I read it, and I REALLY enjoyed it. So I went and bought The Thin Man too- the one with Nick and Nora Charles, the fabulous detectives. The Hammet books are so fun because there’s all this great cocktail drinking in it and I love all the “hard-boiled” dialogue. Like Sam Spade calls all the chicks ‘babe’ and ‘sweetheart’ and it’s so retro macho.

Anyway, we’re getting ready for our Open House now so I should go. I have to put together some pages of Blue Bloods 2 Masquerade for my editor before we see each other in New York, so I need to work on that now.

xoxo
Mel

More great reviews of Blue Bloods!

This one is from Booklist…yay Booklist! Thank you!!

de la Cruz, Melissa. Blue Bloods. May 2006. 298p. Hyperion, $15.99 (0-7868-3892-2).
Gr.
912. Like the power brokers that are their parents and ancestors, members of the popular clique at New York’s Duchesne School are Blue Bloods, continually reincarnated vampires endowed with preternatural beauty, charisma, and strength. The plot revolves around several teens, unaware of their heritage, who begin to manifest their true natures during a terrifying spate of vampire-to-vampire violence. At book’s end, nonconformist Schuyler has emerged as heroine, having discovered a rift in Blue Blood history that lays the groundwork for forthcoming books. Grafting the chick-lit sensibility of her Au Pairs books onto horror themes, de la Cruz introduces a conception of vampires far different from stake-fleeing demons in traditional horror fiction, coupling sly humor (What, the Committee was just a front for a bunch of blood-sucking B-movie monsters?) with the gauzier trappings of being fanged and fabulous as well as bundant references to the taboo-laden taking of human familiars, a procedure with overtly sexual overtones. Although the novel isn’t sure quite what it wants to be (Satire? Beach read? Gothic saga?), many teens will savor the thrilling sense of being initiated into an exclusive secret society. Jennifer Mattson

In answer, the book is a satiric gothic beach read. LOL. I totally get what the reviewer is saying though, point well taken!

So excited for the book’s release! Here’s what I was thinking about when I was writing Blue Bloods, and if you like these books (and um, some TV characters and celebrities), you will like Blue Bloods too…

VC Andrew’s Flowers in the Attic
Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
JK Rowling’s Harry Potter
THE OC’s Adam Brody
Mary Kate Olsen
Sex and The City

All those things went into the blender, and wrrrrrr…out came Blue Bloods!

Here’s what I am thinking when I am writing Blue Bloods 2:

Man, I need a nap.

This is always what I am thinking when I work. That I should be napping. And when I nap, what I think is, damn, I need to work. It never ends…

Did you order your copy yet?? Not that there’s ANY pressure at all. 🙂

xoxo
Mel

The other day I received a wonderful present in the mail–the final, hardcover copies of my new book BLUE BLOODS. There is really nothing that warms an author’s heart as much as seeing a new book in print. And just like a proud parent, I thought, they’re GORGEOUS!!!

You can’t tell from the pic of the book cover I have posted on my profile page, but the vampire bites on the girl’s neck are actually embedded, there’s a deep puncuture on the cover, so that they feel REAL. It’s so massively cool. And I love the New York skyline with my name in silver foil. WOW! Craziness.

I’m actually re-reading my book right now as I’m writing the sequel, just to make sure I know exactly where I left off. The weird thing about Blue Bloods is that I have almost no memory of writing it, I’m like, damn, when did THAT get done? It always feels like my books are put together by accident, I always work at odd hours, and just here and there, bits and pieces (although now that memory serves I do remember slaving away at the computer for days at a time at a writer’s office that I go to).

The final book has a different ending (just a fuller one, not a different outcome) than the galley, so if you guys have read the galley, the final book is actually much richer and I urge you to reread it if you can stand it. 🙂 I think the final book has 20 more pages than the galley.

I have noticed you can buy Blue Bloods at B&N.com now, but not yet on Amazon. I haven’t been to a bookstore in a while, so I don’t know if it’s out there yet. The publishing date is May 1st, so it might be a few weeks yet till it hits the stores.

The book is a little different from my Au Pairs books but I have heard from several readers who love the Au Pairs that they love Blue Bloods even more–so please give it a try even if vampires aren’t your thing. It’s a story about some really beautiful girls and yummy boys who just happen to be immortal.

In other news, I put together the first 30 pages of Angels on Sunset Boulevard because my awesome publisher S&S is going to print a little promo copy to put in the giftbags of the book party coming up. So those of you who make it to the party will get a sneak peek of my new book that’s coming out in December!

Mike and I are off to Palm Springs for the rest of the week, I can’t wait to hit the OUTLET stores–they have a Yves Saint Laurent outlet there–maybe they’ll have the Muse bags?? Mike has some work in Palm Springs and I get to go along with my computer and write by the pool…

I feel slightly guilty for blogging when I have books due so I will sign off now. The sequel to Blue Bloods awaits, as does ANGELS.

xoxo
Mel

So Mike and I are selling our condo, which means that during Open Houses, when the public is invited to view our apartment to see if they would like to buy it, Mike and I have to make ourselves scarce.

We were supposed to go to Brentwood to go look at some houses but Mike felt too tired after cleaning the whole place (our cleaning lady couldn’t come this week, but Mike actually cleans better than she does–ladies, take it from me, marry a man who cleans!! You know how they say women marry men like their fathers? Well my dad is also a cleaning freak. My mom hates to clean, so my dad cleans (AND irons!). He used to be a big time investment banker, my dad, but now he works from home, so he is the house husband and he cleans. Mike and my dad joke that they will have a cleaning contest one day to see who cleans better. Both of them swear they are the Mr. Clean Champ!)

This whole tangent makes me realize the reason I can’t relate to all those new books out about housework and how women hate it, (like that new Caitlin Flanagan book) because in our house the point is moot. Mike cleans. I don’t. Am I the luckiest wife in the world? Possibly!

Anyway, so we left the apartment and went to the Grove, where we saw Friends with Money. I knew the moment we bought our tickets that Mike was going to hate the movie. He hates all talky movies, but I was curious about it and I’d read so many reviews and the article in Salon where the reviewer says he not only felt for the characters, he was worried about them, and he saw himself in them. I usually love movies about angsty urban people and their tiny, tiny, tiny little problems so I went.

So we settled in, and at first, I was totally entertained. I loved the ambiguously gay husband, who reminded me of Simon Doonan (so cute) and I loved that the screenwriter couple were building an addition to their house, and all the cozy dinners they go to with friends. But then, the movie just started to get kind of annoying… like Jennifer Aniston can’t get a date? Puhleeze. And the couple played by Catherine Keener and the guy who looks like Timothy Dalton but isn’t, how we’re supposed to sympathize with her because her husband is a jerk? I actually was rooting for the husband. I thought her character was SO annoying. Like, puh-leeze, you knew you were going to block your neighbor’s view with that ugly addition! Don’t act like you di’int!

And since Mike’s an architect who practices in LA, he pointed out all the incorrect things in the movie, like how the architect tells them they need a “special permit.” There’s no such thing. And no one can just put up an addition like that, you need to get a variance from the city, which involves a public hearing, where anyone in the neighborhood can protest it. It’s just absurd, Mike says, that they would just build it without one.

I really am not one of those people who are smarter than the movie. It’s just, I’m married to an architect.

And really, I go to the movies to get entertained, not annoyed. I guess I should have known. I usually keep away from things that will annoy me, like some people, who are annoyed by stories of girls partying in the Hamptons should keep away from my books.

I *like* the fantasy Hollywood romantic comedies… with the fabulous production values and everyone looking so gorgeous, like Must Love Dogs and that one with Uma Thurman where she dates the young guy, I can’t remember what it was called right now–I loved those. Everyone in this movie looks awful. It was just hard to watch.

And ok, so back to Catherine Keener’s character’s jerky husband. She is basically divorcing him because he never asks her if she is “Ok” after she hurts herself–like when she burns her hand, or bumps into a table. And she confronts him, and he says, well, why don’t you just say you’re OK? “You’re OK, right?” And she says, that’s not the point. And I just sat there and thought, WHINER! I told Mike the reason I rooted for the jerky husband was because he reminded me a lot of him—Mike. Mike NEVER asks me if I’m OK after I bang my foot or whatever, and he never says God Bless You when I sneeze.

Now, if I were a character in a movie, like say, “Singles” that Cameron Crowe movie where the girl is really mad at her boyfriend for never saying God Bless You when she sneezes, I would think Mike is a jerk. But Mike is NOT a jerk. Some people just don’t do that, some guys don’t do that, and life and relationships are just not that simple and black and white.

I don’t know, maybe it’s because we are basically happy people. I was lucky enough to come from a happy family, and while we have had some sadness in our lives (illnesses, immigration issues, etc) we always looked on the bright side of things. We are a positive people. So I guess I just don’t relate to all the angsty whining in movies like Friends with Money.

I was just thinking of how Woody Allen’s movies are about angsty urban people and their tiny tiny problems, and how I love those–because the NYC apartments they show are just sooo drool-worthy–and hello, did you not love Match Point and that gorgeous London flat? And the family estate’s library where everyone sits around and drinks G&Ts? Swooon.

Friends with Money had none of that–nothing to aspire to, nothing to emulate. Nothing that really showed the fun side of life. Oh, except for that one scene where the ambiguously gay husband has lunch with his new ambiguously gay friend in the friend’s house, which had a fabulous pool and garden. (During this point in the movie, Mike and I turned to each other and said, “Oooh. We want that! How much do you think it is?”)

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is, take a guy who cleans over a guy who says Gesundheit anyday…

I just remembered what else I wanted to share, so, I’m writing Blue Bloods 2: Masquerade… and the other night we happened to catch Phantom of the Opera the movie on cable. So now everytime I write my book, I sing gleefully to myself…

“MASQUERAAAAAADE…Paper faces on Paraaaade….MASQUERADE…Every face a different shade..MASQUERAAADE….”

And then I giggle madly. Like I’m doing now.

It’s so cheesy! And now Mike says I should change the title of my book. But we’ll see. I kind of like it even if it reminds me of that song…

Happy Easter everyone!
xoxo
Mel

Yesterday I went to Urban Outfitters for the first time in, I would say, about four years. I used to live near an UO in the West Village, and every time I walked home from the subway, I would stop by and buy something. Everything from Urban Outfitters seems to be priced around $40-$60, and if it’s on sale, even cheaper, so I would stock up on ski sweaters, fur-trimmed tank tops, artfully torn vintage t-shirts, and the like.

But there comes a time when you realize you have become TOO OLD to wear clothes from Urban Outfitters. It happens when you look in the mirror and you realize are no longer the 22 year old urban hipster chick and cannot pull off the tight tank top, checkered punk pants, thirty butterfly pins in your deliberately dirty hair, black Converse sneakers and blue nailpolish look anymore but rather a 30ish chick who looks better in designer clothes because they are cut roomier (an undisputed fact–one of the reasons designer clothes are more expensive is that they actually have more material to them) and after a certain age, dirty hair just looks gross and it becomes necessary to pay $60 a pop for a blowout before an event.

But I always feel fond of Urban Outfitters. For a long time, even though I shopped there, I always thought that store was just for posers–for people who didn’t know how to shop at thriftshops and the Salvation Army, and wanted that grungy look without having to dig through discount bins to find it. Was I a self-hating shopper? Possibly.

Nowadays I just think it’s a convenient place to find the latest trends without paying through the nose for them–like the SKINNY JEANS phase that is so hot right now. I have been meaning to buy a pair of Earnest Sewn or those Tsubi jeans everyone is talking about. I also wish I still had my black straight Gap jeans from 1989 that were totally skinny and stretchy in my closet. Yet I sold it to a girlfriend back in college when I needed cash. I was always broke in those days, and people always coveted my clothes, so when I needed a little money, I would sell the clothes off my back. (I sold the jeans for $40, $10 more than I paid for them. In my other life, I am a stylist!)

But there was no need to buy the $300 skinny designer jeans after all, because they have a very decent version at Urban Outfitters for $68. I think they’re just the house label, they don’t even have any label on it that I can find. And once the skinny jeans trend passes (which it will, eventually), at least I’ll have only spent less than $100 on it…

So can I still get away with wearing skinny jeans? I could be a grown up and just wear some “flattering” jeans for my “shape” as the fashion magazines advise us to, but I say, to hell with that kind of thinking!

I remember when I was covering Fashion Week in New York, the coolest chick there was a British fashion editor in her 50s (or possibly 60s) who dressed like the coolest teen–she always wore the destroyed t-shirts, artfully deconstructed denim, and wore her hair in a shag. She certainly didn’t dress her age.

Dressing one’s age–where’s the fun in that? Bring on the skinny jeans!