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First and foremost, Motion City Soundtrack released a killer single this week called "Inside Out." I highly recommend that you listen to it and buy it. And by all means see it live because it will make you shiver with delight. Weird? I DON'T THINK SO.

P.S. The cover art is rad too!

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My new year's eve plans are SET.

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Pinterest helped me pick out my latest iPhone case. I pinned several while shopping and one of them garnered close to 100 repins, the one I'm now holding that photo above. It felt like a sign, and kind of like a vote. Now that I have a sweet case and I upgraded to iOS7, I feel like I have a brand new phone. This feeling will likely last until the new iPhones begin appearing...tomorrow.

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I think GIFs are the only thing getting me through Fantasy Football this year. I'm losing terribly and it's my singular solace. So far I've been posting a lot of cats and Seinfeld GIFs on the message boards. They are mostly sad reaction GIFs.

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I get listless sometimes without a word from you. And then 4:30 rolls around and my inbox goes from " " to (1) and for some reason 27 words are all I need to brighten up again. My productivity skyrockets.

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Last night I came home and made coconut chicken curry from scratch. It came out a bit bland, but I am going to rev up the spices next time! I suppose I write these things down here for posterity's sake. I have a serious aversion to non-professional photos of food, so you will not see any photos of my cooking projects. All I have for you are words, reader!

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Last night Jesse, myself, and a few friends went 'round to a new bar in the neighborhood. It's selling point was really the fact that it had prosecco on tap. This is the second bar this week I've seen that boasts this feature, and if this is a new trend, consider me ON BOARD.

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I think tonight I'm going on a movie date with myself, one of my favorite activities.

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Oscar de la Renta, J. Mendel, Ralph Lauren Spring 14

Fashion-related musings as of late:

I'm glad to be able to miss most of the craziness that hits the city during New York Fashion Week, but now that it's over I can gaze at all the pretty things. Here are my favorite three Spring 14 looks above - Oscar de la Renta, J. Mendel, and Ralph Lauren. For maybe the first time ever my favorite collection was Ralph Lauren and my least favorite collection was Marc Jacobs. Anybody want to link me to their favorite looks?

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In the interest of staring at pretty things I can't afford, I started a board on Pinterest called "My Fantasy Life." There are things I simply cannot do in life: dye my hair lavender, borrow designer couture, get invited to events in which to wear expensive gowns, etc. So I pin things on this board and add a little narrative to each pin ("I'd wear this to the BAFTAS, to present the best actor award to Colin Firth."). Call me delusional, I probably am.

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I usually wear a classic red lipstick...like, everyday. But I think for fall, I'm looking for a deep, dark red. Any suggestions? The Tarte Matte Lipsurgence crayon in Fiery is my current favorite classic red, by the way.

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I'm a serious fan of the Brooklyn jewelry company Catbird, and there's been this recent trend for midi/knuckle rings (those rings you wear between your first and second knuckle instead of at the bottom of your finger). Since Catbird is a little out of my price range just to try something trendy, I decided to buy some cute not-real-precious-metal midi rings and they're okay so far. I've never worn much jewelry (everything I usually wear are gifts from my husband, nothing I picked out). But I may upgrade to some Catbird midi rings in the near future...

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You discover a new blog that you instantly love for its layout and style and voice and then you click the 'about' button and realize that the woman who writes and designs the blog works for the same company as you. You do a quick search and figure out her last name. You open your company's global address book and type in her name and find out that she works two floors below you in a completely different department. Hey oh!

That was me last week. My eyes are peeled for the blogger on the elevators.

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THIS WOMAN AND HER PARIS APARTMENT. And her life, in general. Le sigh, am I right?

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One final, non-fashion related anecdote --I think I got that good news. I think I got The Call.

When I imagine you I think of that room.

One of my favorite albums of all time is The Con by Tegan and Sara, and though I didn't like their followup entitled Sainthood, I still get excited for new music. It's probably mostly due to my subscription to Rdio, but more on that later. The only song I'd heard off Heartthrob previous to its release was "Closer," and it's a catchy electronic tune. It really set up what the album would sound like -- and it's pretty good. I have some issues with some of the songs - there's a few sounds I cringe at (particularly the intro to one song) and some lyrics are quite plain and seem uninspired in comparison to what I know these two brilliant women are capable of. The beats are fun though, and I did some cleaning tonight with them as my soundtrack. My current favorite track is "Drove Me Wild." After a few days of listening, I'd give Heartthrob a solid B.

Has anybody else listened? Thoughts?

In other music-related news...

>> She & Him announced their album will be released May 7th! And they will have a summer tour! HOORAY! Thanks to Emily from NeverBeenHeard for letting me know at the same moment that I got the She & Him newsletter in my inbox! (Also, her music blog is rad.)

>> Jason Tate, founder of AbsolutePunk.net, wrote about why he prefers Rdio to Spotify and I have to agree with him on all counts. For myself (unlike Tate, my job is not 'music'), I think Rdio has piqued my interest in music again; I might not have checked out Tegan and Sara's new album on release day had it not been available to stream on Rdio. I know for a fact I never would have checked out the Nashville soundtrack without it. By the way, Rdio sends me e-mails whenever a new song by the Nashville cast is added to streaming - these are great e-mails to receive.

>> How convenient, Rdio is currently offering up to six months of their service for free. Go forth and check it out. Thanks to Erica for giving me my own free subscription for three months originally!

>> Speaking of AbsolutePunk.net, I signed in today and realized next month I will have been a member of that site for ten years. Dude, I feel old. I remember when I first signed up as a sophomore in college, it was to read stories about Midtown, Dashboard Confessional, Drive-Thru records (and their owners), Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, etc. OLD. Yet, the site is still relevant, and that makes me happy.

>> Besides Tegan and Sara, I'm also listening to The Lone Bellow's new self-titled album. They are great at harmonizing, something I witnessed last Monday night when I saw them play a live acoustic set at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. Talent! Check check.

What are you listening to? I'm always looking for recommendations!

The way my brain works and random links.

Last night was finally a relaxing Friday. I ate Jesse's Thai food leftovers, poured us each a hot cider and whiskey, and settled in. He eventually went to a show in the city, and I watched Nashville and Parenthood, which are two great shows if you don't watch them. Then, since Nashville was created by Callie Khouri, and she wrote Thelma & Louise, and that was directed by Ridley Scott...I decided to watch Prometheus since I'd gotten the blu-ray for Christmas. (Yes, this is how my brain works.) However, my decision to turn off all the lights and snuggle into a blanket on the couch proved disastrous: I fell asleep half an hour into the movie. I awoke two hours later during the credits. Woops. Will have to watch again sometime soon.

Here are some other things in my brain waves this week...

J.J. Abrams officially directing the new Star Wars movie ...as the story that definitely surprised me.

Mainly because he said he never would a month ago, and the fact that because of this I defended my opinion to Jesse back then that why would he mire himself in another franchise with similar fandom? Of course, my number one choice would have been Ridley Scott. Yes, that guy again. I love Abrams, but he has an aesthetic and quality to his films and television shows that is great, but do I want to see two similar-feeling franchises about space? We'll see. I like the levity of Scott, but I do trust Abrams. We'll just have to see.

M. Ward declares new She & Him record ready to release this spring ...as an album I didn't even know was in the works in order to anticipate it!

I'm a huge fan. Liz can attest to this... I mean, we spent an entire weekend together in two cities seeing them play shows. Also, this. So, it's going to be called Volume Three, I would guess?

I'm just going to leave this here right now ...as a story that's really just about technology and our time.

Dating was different in the '90s. I wrote a whole (unpublished) short story on the theme, because something happened to me that was pretty similar to this article. I don't know who's reading, but for those that I've read, I usually begin to admire from afar, forgetting the reasons why I sought you out in the first place.

LETTERBOXD ...as my new favorite internet thing.

Thanks to Michelle for telling me about it and sending me an invite!! Basically, and I've been saying this for years, I've always wanted a site like Goodreads for movies. Goodreads is a fantastic way for me to keep up with my reading and my friends' opinions on books I've read or want to read. Letterboxd does that for films, and it's got a great design. I'm slowly and surely keeping up with my DVD collection blog of personalized reviews, but what about all the Netflix movies and in-theater movies I watch? For Christmas I got a Film Moleskine, which I love, but with Letterboxd I'm able to make lists and keep track and friends can check out what movies I loved or disliked. It's fantastic! DO YOU HAVE IT YET? BE MAH FRIEND!!! I have two invites left for now...

Miniature pencil drawings by Marie Harnett via The Film Experience