Top 5 S&G Blog Posts of All Time

My first ever post on Sugar & Gravy was on August 1, 2008 - over 4 years ago.  I've had a few different blogs over the years (including a LiveJournal back in the day!), but S&G has stood the test of time like no other.  I was reminiscing recently, looking over different posts I've written over the years, and I realized that on Blogger you can see how many times each post has been read.  Let's ignore the fact that I've had this blog for over four years and only just realized that... Anyway, I decided to check out and see which posts made the top 5 most read list, and now that I know, I'd like to share the results with you.

Without further ado...

Sugar & Gravy Top 5

1. Naomily: Ultimate Satisfaction - I wouldn't call this my most memorable blog post of all time, nor one that fills me with a sense of pride, but still, it doesn't really surprise me that this is my #1 most read blog post.  Why doesn't it surprise me?  Well, because for a period of 2-4 weeks, I Google/YouTube-searched the word "Naomily" on a daily basis.  Pathetic, I know, but there, I said it.  So, having once been a Naomily-obsessed individual, I probably would've fallen upon this blog post, too, if I hadn't written it myself.  I hope Naomily fans all over the world enjoyed it.
2. Sex and the City: In Review - This was an important, well-researched, lengthy, and satisfying post to write.  I'm glad to see it made the top 2.
3. Today I Am Entertained - References to the MBTI, Audrey Tautou, and "Hoarders"?  How this managed to be so widely read, I'll never know.
4. My trip to France - This was one of my most annoying posts to write because of all the photos I included with it.  However, I planned to write it from the first day I arrived in France, and it was a great way of ensuring that I documented my experiences as I travelled.  I also worked hard to distill my experience into highlights, which was tricky, but satisfying.  Very pleased this was well-read.
5. Lastly, My Shameful Secret - This was a fun post to write and I'm delighted that it was read by so many people.  As much as the tone of the post is tongue-in-cheek, I really did carry my "shameful secret" around with me for a while (7-8 years, to be exact), and though I would often joke about it, it really started to get to me.  This post was cathartic, and also motivational.  Knowing that at least some people were now aware of my inability to drive, drove me (ha!) to achieve this goal.  Like I've said before, accountability really motivates, so thanks for reading!!!

As a bonus, I thought I'd add two honourable mentions, so to speak.  Two posts - both Waterloo-related - that I really enjoy: Ode to Waterloo & Niko Niko

Sex and the City: In Review

When I told an acquaintance that I had just ordered the entire series of "Sex and the City" (SATC) on DVD, she was shocked.  She thought that SATC was a "hetero" thing, as in something that could only be enjoyed by heterosexuals.  That had never occurred to me.  And for the record, I don't like SATC because of Stanford and Anthony nor was I drawn in by Miranda's attempt at being a lesbian in season 1.  I love SATC because of the characters, the writing, the campiness, and a myriad of other reasons. 

I just love Sex and the City.

That's why I ordered it.  Over the years it has given me countless hours of enjoyment and pure entertainment, and I wanted to be able to experience that whenever I wanted.  When the package arrived, I squealed, and immediately started watching it.

Here's the thing - I've seen every episode of "Sex and the City", and I've watched many seasons in chronological order, but I've never sat down and watched the entire series from beginning to end.  However, that's what I've been doing over the past month or so, and it's time to share my thoughts, comprehensively.

I love Sex and the City because it is what it is.  You can make all the statements you want about what these women are, what their lives are, and what you think of them, but at the end of the day - the show is what it is.  It's a cross-section of a specific subculture of straight, single women in their 30s, living in Manhattan, and trying to find love (or not).  You can pick and choose how to relate to them (or not), but at the end of the day, it's entertainment.  It's witty and outrageous writing, occasionally laugh out loud funny, occasionally gut-wrenchingly emotional, but always entertaining.  It's taboo topics shoved right in your face; shocking you, exciting you, and making you think, "I thought I was the only one who did that!"  It's about seeing three very different women connected to one another by the anchor, Carrie Bradshaw.  Carrie is her own person but also an amalgam of the other three, wanting love, great sex, and also to make fun of it all!  It's unlikely that Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte would've ever met, never mind become lifelong friends, but somehow they are, with Carrie solidifying the group with her accessibility.  We can appreciate the revolutionary nature of SATC, we can relate to the characters, we can laugh at the jokes, and we can cry at the romance, but again - it just is what it is, and that's what I love about it.

I love Sex and the City because of what it did with the characters over 6 seasons.  Like any well-written and - let's face it - HBO show, Sex and the City steered clear of being linear and predictable.  Having watched it over and over again, I have come to really appreciate what it made the characters face.  

All Charlotte wanted was the perfect man and a family with him.  One day her white knight (Trey) arrived and things seemed perfect.  Then they got married... and it turned out he had a bit of an erectile issue.  Not so perfect.  Then that issue got fixed, and then it turned out that the one thing Charlotte felt destined to do - have kids - was an area she had challenges in.  In the end, they got divorced.  The dream of the perfect man and the perfect family?  It was not so perfect.  Then Charlotte, in the divorce process, ends up with her divorce lawyer -- a bald, chubby, Jewish man with a hairy back.  This was not the man we imagined Charlotte with, yet he is the one for her, and who doesn't love Harry?!

Samantha finally falls in love at the end of season 1 - something we didn't think we'd see her do.  James seems perfect and Sam loves him... until she realizes he has a very small penis.  She tries to make it work, but it doesn't.

Miranda - aside from Samantha - is the character we least expect to have a baby.  But lo and behold, she does, to Charlotte's dismay.  She treats Brady like an object/accessory a lot of the time, but then we see moments of tenderness, and can tell that against all odds, Miranda really loves her child.

 Carrie's looking for love and a man to marry, and she finds Aidan, who seems absolutely perfect.  Carrie wants so badly to want him and need only him, but despite him seeming to be perfect in every area, they're just not meant for each other.

This 4-5 examples and some of many of these kinds of moments on SATC.  You never get it spoon-fed to you on this show; you have to watch as the opposite happens of what you expected, and how the characters deal as a result.



I love Sex and the City because it makes your emotions run the gamut.  I thought to sum it all up, I'd list my top 5 favourite funny moments and my top 5 favourite emotional moments.  Here they are!

Top 5 Funny Moments

1. When Miranda calls Steve in season 6 to ask him on a date.  She leaves a voicemail, which she has carefully written on a notepad beforehand, but the whole thing ends up horribly.
2. When Carrie goes out to brunch with her new (not Stanford) gay friend, Stanford runs into the two of them and realizes what's going on.  He's wearing a bright green suit and shouts at Carrie, "I'm green with envy!"
3. Samantha grows out her pubic hair when Smith requests she do so, and to her horror she finds a gray hair.  She decides to dye it but it ends up bright red.  She declares to Carrie, "I'm bozo the bush!"
4. When Carrie finds out about Big's fiancee, Natasha, and to comfort her - in the way only friends can - everyone agrees that Natasha is a totally "bullshit name".
5. This one might only tickle me, but lastly, when Samantha dons a pair of reading glasses when looking at the menu at the coffee shop one day.  Carrie teases her, "Are those the ones you get at the drugstore next to the BenGay?"  Samantha looks indigant: "How dare you?  These are CHANEL!!!"

Top 5 Emotional Moments

1. When Charlotte has a miscarriage, she sits on the couch, not moving, not eating, and just looking miserable and depressed.  Then she watches an E! True Hollywood Story on Elizabeth Taylor and is inspired by her struggles.  She dons a gorgeous pink dress and emerges from her apartment to go to Brady's 1st birthday party.
2. When Miranda decides she'll try to believe in love after Big actually comes to meet Carrie's friends when Miranda figured he wouldn't, and so she runs outside and catches Steve in the rain and kisses him.
3. When Samantha ditches Smith at a party at one of Richard Wright's hotels to have sex with Richard.  She says, "You go play with your friends, and I'll play with mine." She goes on to have totally unsatisfying sex with Richard that leaves her feeling awful and dirty.  There is an amazing shot of her looking totally defeated in the elevator afterwards, and then the doors open to Smith sitting there waiting for her.  He says something along the lines of, "I just wanted to make sure you got home safe."  Sam bursts into tears and says, "I hate myself for doing this to you."  Then we watch Smith help her out of the hotel.
4. When Charlotte is at the Jewish singles night at the synagogue when her and Harry have broken up and she runs into him there and makes a declaration of her love and he proposes [this I could find a video clip for].
   
   
   
   
5. When Carrie wakes up to a post-it from Berger, reading: "I'm sorry.  I can't.  Don't hate me.", she emotionally and dramatically (and effectively!) knocks a vase of pink carnations off her table that Berger had brought her the night before.

FIN.

Manicures & High Heels

In advance of my upcoming review of "Sex and the City", the entire series, I wanted to write (as promised) of how manicures and high heels make me feel.

I was a tomboy for all of my early years.  You could maybe still consider me one, I don't know.  I was the only girl at the boys' birthday parties.  I played hockey.  I frowned when my first pair of underpants had flowers on them (true story).  I put up an enormous fuss when told to put on a dress.  You get the picture...

As a result, despite growing up with 4 sisters, I missed some so-called crucial steps to "being a girl".  I could barely put my hair up in a ponytail at 14, I got dresses only for occasions that required them, and I think I applied mascara for the first time at 18.  Once again, you get the picture...

When I was in Turkey in the summer of '09 (can't believe it's already been that long), I told my mom and sister, who I was travelling with, that I wanted to quit biting my nails.  I'd been biting them (as you might remember) for at least 14 years, I would guess, and so it was a big undertaking.  The goal was to not bite them on the trip and reward myself with a manicure on the second leg of the trip in Abu Dhabi.  After all, where else would I get my first manicure???

The experience was in a word - and I'm not really exaggerating here - profound.  I never really got it.  Why paint your nails?!  What's the point?!  Do people think of you differently?  Does it make any difference at all?

Well, I can only speak from my own perspective, but yes, yes, yes.  It does make a difference.

Somehow, it makes me feel prettier.  I look at my hands and rather than just various shades of pink, I see these colourful nails that stand out and transform my fingers.  I feel elegant.  I feel more grown-up and professional.  I feel like people might think differently of me; that I take care of myself and take pride in my appearance.  Superficial?  Maybe... but also not, because the prettiness I feel goes deep.  I don't mean pretty in the shallow sense; I mean a full-body feeling of confidence and power.

[And as a side benefit, getting manicures really helps maintain the health of my nails and keeps me from wanting to bite them... 'cuz they're so pretty.]

I experienced the same thing recently when I bought my first pair of real high heels.  By real, I mean an actual heel (not the hilarious kitten heel), and not just plain, but with a bow and other ornaments.  I put my feet in them, stood up from the bench at the shoe store, and pulled my pant leg up.  My leg was completely transformed.  It looked more muscular, more feminine, and more defined.  My posture was different.  I felt different.  When I walk around in heels I feel tall and powerful, elegant and poised.  Once again, I know it may sound superficial, but it doesn't feel superficial.  It feels real, the feeling has depth, but at the end of the day I don't need to qualify it, I just need to enjoy the transformation.

On the reading list -- Still finishing up When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (loving it!  15 pages to go), and then I think I'll follow that up with The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (which has nothing to do with the film).

Post to come -- My thoughts on the series "Sex and the City" in its entirety & What's the deal with rc-4?

My Media

15-30 minutes and I'm already in withdrawal.

In TV: I finished season 2 of Sex and the City, which means since the summer's beginning I've watched season 6, 1, and 2 (in that order... I don't know why). I'm LOVING IT!!! but season 3 isn't done downloading yet, so what do I do? People always say, "Why do you download? Just stream it!" I'll be honest - that's not my style. I don't like searching through Megavideo and Yidio links trying to find something of quality. I like to wait it out and then have on-demand television (and not have to worry that pausing an episode will result in some buffering issue or something).

In movies: Speaking of SATC... I saw the movie. If I hadn't been on a SATC-watching marathon over the past 2 months, I wonder if I would've reacted differently to the movie. As it is, well... I actually don't know what to say. Overall? It was pretty bad, and I'm not saying that because of the "racism and stereotypes", because I haven't exactly wrapped my head around all that yet. It was because of the writing - it was BAD! I mean, the television show has many, many, MANY moments of bad writing, but those moments are offset by a lot of good quality stuff. The movie just didn't have that. The story was tired, the puns and quips were embarrassing, and even the acting was pretty bad. Never mind the fact that those women (except for Charlotte) are looking like hot messes these days. Glad I saw it, nonetheless.

In music: Die Antwoord. I'm all about them. They're sick. Check it!

YES!

I'm working my way through sixth season of Sex and the City. It's not my first time seeing it, but it's always a pleasure to watch!

I just watched this scene with Charlotte emerging from a short depression and channeling Elizabeth Taylor. I think this may be her best fashion moment on the series. Work it!







*EDIT* The only issue is that a few episodes later, the Russian buys Carrie a gorgeous (Oscar De la Renta, I believe) dress to wear to the opera and it's extremely similar. Carrie - get over it for 2 minutes and give Charlotte some time to shine, wouldja?