Proposal Idea? You Can Pay For That.

Image source SocietyBride.com

It’s not news that ever since the invention of a little thing called YouTube, Facebook, Vine, etc., that oversharing has become the norm – especially when it comes to big life events, like proposals. I can’t count on my fingers and toes the number of proposal videos I have seen go viral in just the last few months. I get it, love is cute.

So with the pressure to have the biggest, baddest, most shared proposal in all the land, companies have sprouted up who will take, well, all of the effort out of the stressful proposal-planning process. Some offer just the creative idea (personalized to the couple, of course) for $300-500. Prices go up quite a bit for the planning and execution (one woman claims to have clients spend up to $50,000)! Some companies have pre-planned packages based on your locale (picnic on Boston Common for $590, Napa Valley wine tasting tour for $3,300, for example).

Kudos to these companies for satisfying a demand, but I just can’t fully support this. Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but someday, when some crazy man decides he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, I want HIM to decide how he proposes. I don’t want to find out that a few chicks trolling Pinterest curated one of the biggest moments of my life. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy and dramatic; it just has to come from the heart…not the wallet.

Posted by Erin D

Smile You’re on Camera

Truth be told, I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Not a boyfriend from another girl, not a single piece of candy, term paper, tube of lip gloss, test answers or anything else that kids are stealing these days. So when I hear stories of people who steal others’ identities as a way of life I have to wonder – where’s the justice? Does karma ever catch up with these people or do they just lollygag through life as someone else until the credit cards are maxed out and it’s time to pick a new name? For many this is probably the case, if they keep their spending low enough and random enough. But for one of these thieves, things panned out a little differently.

As the story goes, in 2011 a photographer named Jessamyn Lovell had her wallet stolen from SF Camerawork a San Francisco gallery. As the unaccounted  charges started rolling in, Jessamyn decided to depart the typical path of someone in her shoes and, with the help of a private investigator, tracked down Erin Coleen Hart, the woman who had stolen her identity. What started out as a plot to confront the thief turned into a creative opportunity for Jessamyn. Rather than confront Erin, Jessamyn followed her and documented her daily routine through a series of photographs.

Images source petapixel.com

These photographs, along with others, were used in Jessamyn’s exhibition titled “Dear Erin Hart” which was displayed at SF Camerawork September 3 – October 18, 2014. Moral of the story, while not everyone ‘gets theirs’ so to speak, this story has cemented me in my ways and has made sure my streak of never stealing will continue for years to come. And for those who aren’t similarly deterred, don’t forget to smile – you never know when you could be on camera.

Posted by Gillian

Who Says You Can’t Have Fun With Your Food?

It’s a Monday night and you’re at home, cookin’ up some dinner. You look down at your cutting board and think, “Meh. If only my cutting board were more exciting…Then I would be so much more eager to cook up deliciously nutritious dinners!”

Well my dear m.blog readers, your thoughts have been heard and your dinners are about to get a whole lot better. If your Etsy addiction wasn’t bad enough already, you now have even more reasons to shop! Designer Dave Stencil (do we think that’s his real name?), the man behind CuttingBoredom, has created a full catalogue of witty film and music inspired cutting boards that are sure to brighten up even the most unused of kitchens. All of his creations are handmade to order with the finest of walnut and maple wood and – more importantly – are sure to make you crack a smile when thoughts of making dinner are on the backburner. His custom categories include movie/music parodies, personalized engravings and more. While I fully encourage you to spend copious amounts of time scrolling through all of his impressive designs (*Cough. Non-work time, of course), I’ve included a peek at some of my personal favorites. Let’s play a game of guess that film, shall we?

Because at one point or another, the 6-fingered man haunted all of our dreams.
Sometimes the perfect dinner requires a little bit of magic.
Don’t be afraid to flaunt your belly shirt while you cook on this one.
Purchasing this cutting board is one decision that you won’t immediately regret.
Do you know what they call a cheeseburger in France?
Images source Etsy.com

Ready, set, shop! Or should I say – chop! Your dinner guests will surely thank you.

Posted by Amy

The Love for Chrissy Teigen Continues

Let’s face it, celebrity reality TV shows generally suck. Dancing with the Stars is so 2007, Celebrity Apprentice was never interesting to begin with, and what even is Celebrity Big Brother?! Altogether, that segment of television remains lame… until now.

Introducing the newest celebrity reality TV show—Lip Sync Battle. Ever caught Jimmy Fallon’s “lip sync” Tonight Show segment? Yeah, well this is bound to be that on CRACK seeing as it is hosted by LL Cool J and the beloved queen of social media, Chrissy Teigen.

If you’ve been following her Instagram account, you’ve known that they’ve been in production for a few months, as she’s documented her uh… journey.

At first, things seemed to start off well…

Image source Instagram

Then it got a little dangerous…

Image source Instagram

Well that escalated quickly…

Image source Instagram

Chrissy then became a Belieber… (not gonna lie I jumped on the Belieber train after watching “Never Say Never”)

Image source Instagram

Then she reminded us that she’s a regular human, just like us…

Image source Instagram

The show is set to be a hit, featuring big stars such as Anna Kendrick, John Krasinski, Dwayne Johnson, J Lo, Jimmy Fallon and more. It airs April 2^nd on Spike TV and I sure as HELL will be watching!

Posted by Emily

 

5 Reasons Empire is Worth Your Time

You must’ve heard the buzz by now…FOX’s new show Empire that just wrapped Season 1 is all the rage. At first I wasn’t interested…sure I got in to New Girl for a hot second, but we all know ABC series are where it’s at. However, after intolerable begging from my mother to give the show a chance, I conceded. And oh em gee am I glad I did. Here are just a few reasons you need to binge-watch this show immediately:

1. The All-Star Cast
The gang’s all here! Hello Cuba Gooding Jr., Jennifer Hudson, Raven Symone, and the chick who played Precious back in the day. The acting in this show is FIRE…and every time a new character gets introduced, the reaction is always “they’re in this too?!”

Image source Fox.com

2. Naomi Campbell plays a Mrs. Robinson
I mean, this sub-plot is just too good (read: amazingly awkward) not to love. The older woman that seduces the naive, immature favorite son in the family. I think he’s supposed to be 21 at the most? Gotta hand it to her though, Naomi is still hot as ever at age 44.

Image source hip-hopvibe.com

3. The ridiculously crazy (but I kinda love it) style you’ll see on Cookie
There are no words; just see below. SPOILER ALERT: She loves fur and animal print.

Image source NYdailynews.com

4. It Gets Real
While at its core Empire is basically a soap opera infused with hip hop and R&B performances, it touches on a lot of heavy, relevant issues in today’s society. Mental illness, homophobia, racism, the drug game…definitely earns my respect for highlighting things in a serious way without making you feel like you’re watching NBC’s Breaking News.

Image source trashtalktv.com

5. The Music

Image source mtv.com

So good. Like, you should record an album IRL good. Luckily, while we’re waiting for that to drop, we have all of these gems from season 1 to hold us over.

Posted by Iman