So it’s the last Monday in January; a fact I realized as I was on my way to Manhattan for my internship this morning. I commute from Connecticut to Manhattan every Monday (and did it twice a week all last year) and absolutely love it. Of course there are negative aspects of it– you know the loud talker, loud snore-er, and of course the loud chewer (notice how all train things deal with noise!)– but all in all it’s an experience that has taught me quite a bit about life and work in general.

Anyway back on track…as I braved the horizontal rains and signed into my work computer I was blown away by the date. JANUARY 25th!! Where did the month go!??! Just a month ago I was celebrating Christmas! I can’t believe it, and yet I can.

What have I accomplished this month? Well, I began this column (which is totally a lot of fun to write and I hope, a lot of fun to read!), started a serious job/apartment hunt, and am trying to live my life my way. I’ve been keeping up my gym resolution AND actually using my Reebok Easy Tone shoes.

And that brings me to my topic of the week– advertisements that get you to buy things and then poof! the things actually work!

I’m a sucker for advertising. You’d think that, as a journalist, I would be able to see beyond the image presented and detect what’s real and what’s fake…well, no that’s clearly not true. I love love love shopping and therefore love seeing the ads companies and brands come up with to get people like me to keep buying. Because, after all, that’s the trick– keeping me shopping when I have already bought so many things. And Reebok succeeded about two months ago when I decided that these hideous shoes were actually for me.

I love shoes, perhaps more than I love shopping. Love in this case is such a subjective word because clearly I don’t love my shoes like I love my family or my Dee Dee (more on her next week!), but man do I like ’em! I digress…so I saw this awesome commercial about getting better legs and a better butt. For someone like me with curves but no butt worthy of Beyonce, a better butt is a fun thing. And anything that augments my 5-day a week gym habit is always great, so I shelled out $100 for these hideous sneakers, because they are uglllyyy! Okay that’s unkind, but they are not pretty shoes. And I like pretty shoes. I actually yell at my mother because she is the queen of weird and bizarre (and ugly!) sneakers and yet I bought my very own pair, however, my ugly shoes actually gave me a better butt in the two months I’ve been wearing them.

How did I discover that? Well, I walked past a few windows today and mirrors in Manhattan and was shocked to see how straight I was standing and how almost-Beyonce worthy my booty was. I will keep shaking what my momma gave me (or actually what my EasyTones gave me!), because it’s only going to get better right?

What’s the moral to this story? Sometimes buying or doing something outside your comfort zone is okay, and it might even pay off in the long run.

This week’s beauty tip: wash your hair with conditioner only once a week to give a shine. I’ve been doing this for about two weeks and it really looks better AND it’s actually growing quite quickly!

That’s all for this week…remember always have your opinion heard, whether it’s the last word or not.

xoxo V