"Gentleman, Start Your Engines!"

Tonight it is a race against time to get this blog up and meet the challenge deadline of midnight. I'm counting on this challenge to bring my writing back to life. Right now it's road kill, bleeding profusely and barely moving on the side of the cyber-highway.While I know that today the pen weighs ten tons, tomorrow will be easier. That is just the way it goes with writing.

When I first started to blog in 2005, my blogs read like diary entries - Really juicy stories of an exciting New York life. I didn’t proofread or spell check, there was rarely a point, and the writing style was inconsistent and, well, pretty much sucked. Over time that changed.

With practice, stories began to emerge with beginnings, middles and ends. I established a consistent voice and developed my writing style. Publishing daily really elevated my writing and I hope that this challenge will have the same effect.

Writing has been a safe spot most my life. When I was a troubled teenager, I wrote through a lot of my more difficult life stories. I poured my anger and shame into wide ruled pages of a spiral notebook that I hid under my bed. In my twenties, I cataloged every love, every date and every painful moment of rejection. My early thirties are saved in a file on my desktop marked “Daily Log”.

Since I stopped blogging daily, I keep my daily log filled with stories, feelings, ramblings, rants and prayers. I write them as if no one will ever read them. I don’t try to tell a story, I just try to fill the page and in the process empty out every negative thought or fear being harbored in my brain. I also use the pages to be grateful and appreciate all the gifts in my life. Writing outside of the safety of my log is a little bit scary. Am I ready to let the outside world back into my fragile heart?

I don't know if I'm quite ready, but it's time to just jump. Over the years, writing has been my very best friend. Sometimes I stray, but she is always waiting for me with open arms whenever I wish to come back. It’s been a tough year and I need her more than ever.

Let's get blogging and see where this challenge takes us!

A Fashion Rant for the Fellas

As we all know, there are many sartorial sins committed each day throughout our fair city. Don't even get me started on the fact that leggings are now being accepted as a reasonable substitute for pants... that's for another time. What I'm here to address is my biggest fashion pet peeve, and this one is being perpetrated by our male counterparts. I am talking about Oakley-style sunglasses being worn with a business suit or any other form of street clothes.

Every day I walk around this city and I am constantly presented with men in their dress shirts and khakis, strolling to lunch or wherever, donning a ridiculous pair of wrap-around performance glasses such as one might wear to, say, cycle in the Tour de France. Gentleman, may I ask... do you put on running shoes with your business suit? I didn't think so. Seriously, unless you are headed over to Citizen's Bank Park to field fly balls on your lunch break, you should consider purchasing a second pair of sunglasses, something appropriate for non-athletic pursuits. For instance, no one has ever gone wrong with a pair of classic Ray-Ban aviators.

Shopping can be a pain, but it can also be fun... especially when you are searching for something that has the ability to make you look like George Clooney or Daniel Craig, instead of A-Rod hanging in the dugout. And there are many stores in Center City with a selection to satisfy every taste and facial shape. Try Macy's for a wide range of brands and price points, A/X Armani Exchange or Banana Republic for something urban and sleek, Urban Outfitters for the hipster or hipster-at-heart, or Modern Eye at 13th and Walnut for the unique and fashion-forward.

International fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld with his bear doppleganger, also named Karl.

I do not advocate buying a cool pair of sunglasses for your Mini Me, but to each his own.

I am aware of the frustration that might be associated with buying a second pair of sunglasses. You might be thinking, "the ones I have are perfectly fine; they block the sun, and don't fall off my face when I get tackled or hit by an errant pitch." But why not consider them like shoes, or really anything else in your wardrobe, in the fact that not every item serves every purpose. And believe me, you will look more handsome and more pulled together. I will certainly thank you, and I have a feeling the ladies in your life will too.

Why this post might have been late but isn't.

My son woke up at 5:55 this morning. As he crawled into bed next to me I gave him a big kiss--mainly because he usually wants breakfast NOW and can't be convinced to eke out another hour of snooze. So, we woke up around 7 and I rushed him off to school via car share. He goes to preschool in South Jersey, but that's another story. Traffic sucked on the way back in, but I managed to park (in a lot) and get into my doctor's appointment by 9:15. Back out by 10:00, prescription in hand (again, another story). I have the car for another 2 hours, so off to Ikea I go. On the list: a wicker cat tree and a kitchen cart. I get these, plus three bookshelves from the as-is section.It is important to note here that I had a Prius. Paying for it all makes me want to curl up all fetal, but then I realize I have 45 minutes to get the car back. I back into the loading zone and a dude helps me get the biggest bookshelf in. I realize I'll never get it into the apartment. Then I realize I won't get the other two shelves in anyway. Plan B: they hold the big shelf there, and I take the rest. (fingers crossed I can make it back tomorrow!). Now I have 20 min to get back home, unload, and drop off the car. 10 minutes left and I'm still in South Philly, so I call and add another half hour. I get everything into the hall of my building and park the car back in its spot: 2 minutes early for the original drop off time. Sigh. Anyway, back home, I take all the stuff up to my place, and begin assembling. This requires a total rearranging of the downstairs, which involves moving a lot of books. The cats love the tree. I love the kitchen cart. The two smaller shelves work great although I no longer have room for my tiny tv. 5:00. Time to shower, shave my legs, try on seven different outfits, do my hair, do my makeup, eat a yogurt, and head to Pistola's for a political fundraising event, which I'm squeezing in before the opening of Grey Gardens tonight at 7:00. So the fact that I'm sitting here typing this entry ON MY IPHONE, at the bar, shows my dedication.

Also, I dropped the largest bookshelf (an Expedit, you know the one) on my toes. I don't think they're broken. I'm wearing heels regardless.

Scandal Gosselin Style

The season 5 premiere of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" on Monday drew 9.8 million viewers, which was a record for the TLC network. With the scandals swirling around the marriage of Jon and Kate Gosselin, people could not resist to see the drama played out on television

The bodyguard, mistress, and hair scandals are just a few of the juicy backstory that punctuated the first episode.

Now how can we here at One Fine Philly capitalize, er comment on this story of a family in turmoil in nearby Berks County, PA. We can learn from the Gosselins, in that scandal will create a deluge of attention.

And that attention may be converted in cash, which means that One Fine Philly can stop working and devote our time to blogging full time. And we all know what blogging full time brings.

In the interests of boosting readership, I've decided to disclose a few choice Philly-themed tidbits about myself. These disclosures may shock, but they are here to educate. I hope you use them to feel superior.

Disclosure one: I am a Philadelphia schooling failure. I dropped out of Drexel University's accelerated nursing program. My rotation at Hahnemann's labor & delivery unit was the worst kind of hell I had ever experienced. I became barren from the experience, as my uterus fled the state and is living under an assumed name.

Disclosure two: I am a big liar. I tell people I attended Live Aid in 1985 as a fetus in mommy's tummy. But really I was 15 and long out of the womb by then. And actually my parents wouldn't let me go. But I redeemed myself (sort of) by dancing my face off to Def Leppard during Live 8. The kids around me were horrified.

Disclosure three: I am a stupid criminal. After some imbibing at the now defunct West Philly Walsh's bar, I and five others were arrested at 30th street station for defacing a Coors light billboard. It was our 4th outing to the same location at the same time of night. Cops were waiting for us. But in the paddy wagon, we got a good laugh when Bernie dubbed us the "Coors six pack."

Day 2 - Blogger Challenge