NKOTB + BSB + Single

Photo borrowed from here

If you've ever caught yourself sitting there thinking, "I wonder what New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys have been up to?" have I got news for you! Prepare to have your inner 'tween swoon. These two (dare I say it?) washout posses have not spent the past 15 years moping around, nostalgically reliving the days of their heightened stardom. They've been hiding out in a secret lair, perfecting a magical formula that even Beaker wouldn't attempt (Well. When they weren't cruising, that is.)

So what's this formula, you ask? Why it's the recipe for one SUPRA ULTIMATE boy band, of course!

Photo borrowed from here

They've finally released their first combined single as a SUPRA ULTIMATE boy band, and lucky for your ears you can hear it right. now. What do you think of "Don't Turn Out the Lights" ?

Ugh! RIGHT as we were about to post the song, it was ripped away from all the Internet! Apparently the song was leaked and wasn't supposed to have been released yet. So sorry to put you through all that, but we're going to post anyway just in case you still find the news interesting. Again, we're sorry we won't be able to expose your ear drums to the lovely stylings of this new SUPRA ULTIMATE boy band.

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Want to See Something from Space?

Mercury

This is the very first color image of Mercury ever taken.  You can see more photos from the Messenger mission here.  This is the first probe to orbit the closest planet to the sun.  Pretty cool stuff!

from the 2008 flyby of the craft

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The Wolfpack in Print

Yesterday we showed you a pretty awesome Harry Potter poster thanks to the people at Collider.com.  They have a fancy blog that pays the bills so they were able to go to Cinemacon in Las Vegas (Formerly called Showest) which is basically a convention for theater owners to see footage of upcoming blockbusters and the marketing materials that go along with them.  This is smart since it's the theater that determines where it puts the giant cardboard cut outs of Kung Fu Panda 2.  Well yesterday the first teaser poster from The Hangover Part II was released and thanks to them we've got it to show you.

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Paging Lois Lane

Yesterday it was announced that three time Academy Award Nominee and one time Buffy the Vampire Slayer guest star Amy Adams was cast in the role of intrepid reporter Lois Lane in the new Superman reboot directed by Zack Snyder. Superman: Man of Steel is also produced by the great Christopher Nolan.  Amy Adams is a good choice and she has shown extreme diversity in her Oscar nominated roles.  She will be joining Henry Cavill, who we recently reported is playing the title role, as well as Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Ma and Pa Kent.  They say the film will take a darker tone a la Batman Begins so maybe she will take the role in a different direction that Terri Hatcher.

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Hey there Harry Potter

WAAAAAY WAAAAAY BACK in November, we had our first post.  It was all about the first part of the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  By the way we loved it.  We would be remiss if we didn't pass along the first poster for Part 2, thanks to the people of Collider.com we can do that for you.

 

 

Maybe Voldemort is just jealous of Harry's nose.  Whatever the case, we're super stoked about this summer flick, if you remember Part 1 was originally going to be done in post production 3D and they scrapped that.  Don't be surprised if that happens with this one either.

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Happy Birthday Mr. Spock!

A few days ago we wished William Shatner a happy 80th and now it's also Leonard Nimoy's 80th birthday!  Best known for playing Mr. Spock on the original series of Star Trek as well as the first 6th movie plus the most recent, we also hope this man has another great 80 years!

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Keela Can Sing. Can Your Dog?

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Happy Birthday Captain Kirk

Today is William Shatner's 80th Birthday.  The Priceline negotiator is best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series and the first seven films.  Here's to another 80 years of birthdays for William Shatner!

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A Knot is to be Tied

Mallory here and Justin and I are very excited to let everyone know that, as of St. Patrick's Day, we are ENGAGED! We've already received overwhelming support from our friends and family and feel so blessed and loved by all the wonderful, caring people in our lives. For all those wonderful, caring people in our lives that we don't get to see regularly, I thought I'd go ahead and share how it all went down.

DISCLAIMER: We will soon be back to our regularly scheduled blogging. Not to worry, Have You Been There will NOT turn into a wedding blog.  (We'll reserve blog posts for only the most exciting of wedding details. Promise.)

Unbeknownst to me, it all started about a month ago when Justin decided he was ready to take the plunge (a.k.a. buy the ring). In a tornado. The last I had spoken to him that stormy day, we had decided he would come over to my house after work. As I was leaving, I called a gazillion times to no avail and decided he'd been sucked up by a tornado and was somewhere between here and Oz by now. I was just beginning the process of mourning the sudden loss of my boyfriend when he finally answered the phone. He told me he'd ended up driving around (in. a. tornado!) while he was waiting for me and didn't hear his phone ring. Convenient, huh?

Being the traditional Southerners that we are, the next step was to talk to my dad. From what I understand his answer was more or less, "of course." Justin was feeling good, and my mom was stocking up on bridal magazines. I was clueless.

About three weeks later it was game time. St. Patrick's Day happened to coincide with the date of the ring's arrival and Justin (being the adorable six year old that he is) could. not. wait. This time, however, it was my turn to not answer the phone. I wasn't out buying myself an engagement ring in a tornado, but I was at work learning a new task. I returned to my desk to find five missed calls from him. I called him back. "I'msosorry!Areyoureadytogotolunch?"  "It's ok," he answered patiently, "I'll pick you up." I ran downstairs, hopped in his car and began thinking about the amazing peanut butter and jelly english muffin sandwich I was going to make when we got to my apartment for lunch.

I whipped out my phone to play my newly rediscovered Words With Friends app. I looked up from trying to figure out whether "dag" would pass as a word to see that we had passed the street that heads to my apartment. When I asked where we were going (assuming he had gotten distracted by the sight of a plane or dog (as he is known to do) and missed the turn) and he ever so nonchalantly replied that we were going downtown. Like, "oh no big deal" like, "oh you know, downtown" like, "la la la." It was definitely nothing like "we're going downtown to get engaged." I way fooled.

Normally at this point in the car ride the "What do you want?"/ "I don't know, what do you want?" conversation would ensue, however this time I was not asked what I wanted. I was being taken somewhere. This should have set off a red flag, but by this time I was thinking about the letter I was going to write to Mr. Words With Friends explaining how "dag" is in fact a word and where are my six points? We found a spot and parked and I headed left in the direction of the restaurants and he grabbed my hand and headed right in the direction of... the river?

Again I asked where we were going and again he cooly convinced me nothing was up, even though it should have been absolutely clear that something was. I tried not to think about it. He took me to the bridge, walked me out to the middle, did the whole "kneeling and proposing thing" and I boohooed. Like, he took a photo right afterwards that I'm not even going to include because bawling is a very unflattering look on me. The rest is history. That is if history is defined as "frantically trying to find a venue, set a date, decide who to invite and where to register." I'm not sure, I'll have to ask Mr. Words With Friends...

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Erin Go Bragh!

Just in case you don't have a dad who says this to you every March 17th (we are O'Neals after all!), you can find the meaning here.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun St. Patrick's Day!

We want to hear what your plans are! Tell us in the comments!

All photos borroed from here.

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"Taking Off The Pounds" Cake

I mentioned in this post that I've never really been one to pass up dessert. However, that doesn't mean I'm not one to try and watch the calories. After a somewhat long and definitely zoo-filled weekend I found myself jonesin' not only to eat something sweet, but to bake something. I opened up the pantry to see what I had to work with. Not much. I called up my go-to reference for baking healthy(ish) desserts and found that this cream cheese pound cake recipe was basically screaming my name. I decided to jazz it up a little using some frozen blueberries I had to make a glaze and sub out a few ingredients to decrease the calories even more.

Pound cake originally got it's name from the ingredients that typically go into it. One lb. of eggs, one lb. of sugar, one lb. of butter etc. which explains why it's so absolutely rich and tasty. This recipe incorporates whole wheat flour and egg whites to make it a bit lighter while the (reduced fat) cream cheese keeps it rich. That's what makes this losing pounds cake!

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Lions and Tigers and Penguin Videos. OH MY!

Video editing by Justin, music by Mallory, photos by both!

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Just Blending In

Jacket - Zara, Shirt - Forever 21, Shorts - Forever 21, Bracelet and Necklace - gifts, Shades - Target, Boots - Campbell, Bag - Marc Jacobs

... with the zebras. This weekend Justin and I totally embraced our inner child and spent our Saturday at the zoo. Justin's a great zoo buddy, because he oh-so-adorably turns into a six year old as soon as we step through the gates. That and he's much better at navigating than me. Left to my own devices, I'd most likely find myself circling the flamingo exhibit for hours before crying until a zoo employee helped me find my way out. (Wait. What does it say about me that a six year old is a better navigator than me?) 

"Where am I?"

I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away from the (awesome) post we've got coming up tomorrow, but I still wanted to share my zoo outing outfit!

What do you think? Did I do the zebras proud?

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How to Help the Japanese

Just as everyone else is, we are deeply saddened by the events in Japan over this weekend.  We thought we would pass along this link Google has set up.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Japanese people in their time of need.

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Born in the U.S.A. (...And Then Expanded to Help Those in Need)

Erin and Max of Suno. Photo from here

Not to get all preachy, but if there's one thing I know (and it's quite possible that there is ONLY one thing that I know) it's that most of us have it pretty good. Of course life's never going to be perfect, and these times especially aren't ideal, but there are cultures who live off of less than most of us could possibly imagine. Last summer I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to a Brazilian favella and meet some of these people for myself. Do you know how much they would have loved to have had jobs that utilized their talents and treated them fairly? To work hard to cultivate a better living situation?

ENTER: Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty, proprietors of the New York-based fashion line, Suno. These two burst onto the fashion scene with their Fall 2010 fashion week apparance and have only gained notoriety since. This pair of New York clothiers, decided not to take the traditional route to clothing production. In fact, the one they chose is more difficult than the typical "outsource production to China or Europe" road taken by so many labels. They took their assembly of fabrics and clothing to Kenya to help "develop these other small economies as well as nurture the talent there."

Suno Spring 2011 from here

Now that doesn't mean they set up sweatshops in these developing countries to procure cheap labor. Osterweis spent over a decade hoarding textiles he had collected from his travels to Kenya, and finally decided to invest in a company that could employ the local talents. He would treat the workers fairly, foster their craft and send tailors to teach the locals new skills. In return he got beautiful, hand-made textiles with which to produce his line. It was a situation which could only be described as win-win. They've since expanded to India where all of their embroidery and beadwork are hand-crafted.

I first learned Suno's story thanks to a March 2011 Vogue, but they've gotten recognition from the likes of Elle, Marie Clare, InStyle, Lucky, W, Glamour and plenty of others. And for good reason. Their clothes are spot on for this spring. They've totally utilized the prints trend in a way that doesn't blend in with all the florals and aztec prints we've seen from so many other designers. But don't think they're a one trick pony riding out the main trend that fits with their established style. Beatty has made it clear that there will be no African prints in their Fall 2011 line. It makes me super excited to see what else they can come up with!

Above Suno photos from here.

Now, don't think just because I've lauded Suno for doing their part to help developing countries that I can't appreciate a good ol' American-made brand. I was very proud to learn of Edith A. Miller from that same Vogue. Would you believe it? Nancy Gibson and Jennifer Murray are two ladies who appreciate a good tee shirt. They appreciate them so much that they hunted down a family-run Pennsylvania knitting mill which, up to that point, only produced men's tees and talked them into producing a line for women as well. Thus sprang forth Edith A. Miller. I definitely wouldn't mind having one or two of these hanging in my closet to pair with... well just about anything! 

O.K. since you twisted my arm, here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip to Brazil. But only since you asked so nicely...

 

 

 

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