Alex

Alex's Episode Blog

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ALL NEW! Season 3: Episode 2 Blog - Alex's take

This was the first episode in three years that Simon and I had to pause so that we could regroup and prepare ourselves for the next scene. Wow!!

We had a great dinner with Mario & Ramona, and we all nearly died when Simon and Mario showed up looking like twins - gotta love John Bartlett! I didn't remember whether Ramona had invited us to lunch or not, as I had opened two stores for STA the week before Labor Day, but as I'd been having such a good time with her we were happy to say yes. We all hoped that Jill and LuAnn would join the party, and with a little encouragement Mario called LuAnn and left a voicemail.

When Jill called Ramona from LuAnn's cell, I thought she should have announced that LuAnn was listening as well. One of my biggest pet peeves is lurking eavesdroppers, and anytime I have to put someone on speaker, I let them know who's in earshot. Wow. Just - wow.

Cut to the next day at Ramona & Mario's - you could have blown me over with a feather when Bethenny addressed the logo I'd done for her. I was really surprised for a number of reasons. First, if it had only been about the logo she didn't owe me an explanation. Companies sometimes try out one idea and then go in another direction - sometimes they come back to you and say 'can we try it this way instead,' and sometimes they don't. What had angered me last year was not really about the logo at all. In the off season we'd disagreed about something behind-the-scenes, and rightly or wrongly she was really mad at me and also at Simon. I felt that because she was angry, she borrowed the fact that my logo wasn't the one she went with, and used that as a weapon to attack me professionally and Simon personally. When B apologized for not using the logo, I tried to explain that I wasn't really upset about the logo not being used but all the drama surrounding it. That didn't really come across; however, I did appreciate her desire to clear or at least start clearing the air. After the discussion we proceeded to have a great afternoon.

There were a couple of reasons I decided that we would stay at Ramona's house. First, we were having a really, really good time. After Bethenny and I (and then Bethenny and Simon, not shown,) had talked, we concentrated on just having fun. We played bocce, ate ourselves silly and relaxed. The few minutes that viewers saw of course were the gossip about LuAnn and Jill but overall we really didn't spend too much time talking about them that day. It wasn't about drama, it was about fun. Second, I had a bad taste in my mouth about something Jill said the previous day. On the phone the day before, Jill tried to get me to cancel on Ramona altogether and she said 'I know you would rather be with us.' Even if it were true, which I'm not sure it was, that was a really, really presumptuous comment. I did want to make sure Simon got a chance to see Jill & Bobby, but frankly I didn't really want to leave a party where we were having a good time, to drive in the opposite direction in Labor Day traffic and be dragged into drama. I did feel conflicted in the moment because I'd promised we would stop by, although had I been privy to the call between Ramona & Jill the decision would have been a no brainer.

We couldn't just no-show at Jill's, so I called her. I apologized and suggested we get together back in the city. Funny what happens after you hang up the phone!

This season is going to be so juicy; I cannot wait for the next episode!! In the meantime, you can find us on our family website, Facebook and Twitter.

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Season 3 Blog

Season 2 Blog

One thing that frustrates me about the reality genre is the inability to provide an authentic soundtrack to the goings-on in our lives (remedied in 2010 with our book - of course). Having been one of those who made mix tapes for myself and my friends throughout middle and high school, I was excited when last year the network asked us to put together a playlist. I spent several hours on it, and have no idea what happened to it - if those were ever put on the site I didn't see it. There's never enough time these days to obsess over the perfect playlist, so here's an alternative: I went into my iTunes and scrolled through everything in alphabetical order... here's what stood out. I would not recommend playing these in order as they don't really go together, but in my opinion they are all listenable and in some cases brilliant. This doesn't include any classical or opera, but if I put lists of those on the site people might think I was pretentious - bwahahaa. ** denotes a song with lyrics some will find objectionable.

For Today I am a Boy Antony & the Johnsons

Body Movin' Beastie Boys & Fat Boy Slim

Army** Ben Folds Five

Army of Me Bjork

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps Cake

Suffragette City David Bowie

Marching Bands of Manhattan Death Cab for Cutie

Never Enough** Eminem/50 Cent

St. Jimmy Green Day

Wind it Up Gwen Stefani

The Loved One INXS

Tulane Joan Jett

Rubberband Girl Kate Bush

Supermassive Black Hole Muse

Pills New York Dolls

Don't Look Back in Anger Oasis

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) The Proclaimers

Every Morning Sugar Ray

I Hope that I Get Old Before I Die They Might Be Giants

Cornflake Girl Tori Amos

Pleasantly Blue 4 Non Blondes

I sat down to write an updated bio, and kept thinking about a good article out recently about Facebook, navel-gazing and people disclosing too much information. See #12.

I am really happy that Antony & the Johnsons have a new CD out, even though I don't have it yet.

The only time I've ever been tongue-tied in the last year was when meeting the late great Tim Russert.

If you catch me in the right mood, I might sing the entire score of City of Angels for you.

Scuba diving is a serious passion - I'm only at Open Water now but plan on going all the way to Master.

90% of the people in the world don't get it. The 10% that do are laughing merrily. Sometimes I'm in one group and sometimes the other.

I don't like Puccini. As much as I love opera, do not invite me to go see Boheme.

Strauss, Wagner and Fat Boy Slim make me really, really happy.

I can't believe it will be ten years ago this May that Simon and I met. It seems like yesterday.

Prior to doing RHoNYC, my entire reality TV-watching experience consisted of one episode of The Bachelor back when Tricia-somebody was on it, and about five minutes of bad audition outtakes for American Idol.

Am trying to get used to using a Wacom tablet but I'm still better at drawing with a mouse.

In high school I was kind of like Tracy Flick in Election.

Facebook is everyman's reality show, and I can't get enough of it. It's great to be able to share an online aside with someone you haven't seen in years.

Rachel Maddow is fifteen kinds of fabulous.

Although the city is architecturally random, the sculpture The Destroyed City, in Rotterdam, is really moving.

Along the same lines, I remember standing in the grounds of Dachau and thinking what an a-hole I was to not have fully absorbed the horror when growing up, reading literature by concentration camp survivors. In that moment, I thought simultaneously that it was disrespectful for me and others to be there, and also how important it was that the grounds were open for people to come, and to have to just the same realization I did.

The Sunday after 9/11, Simon had finally accounted for his missing guest, the stranded guests had been able to leave, we had gotten through the evacuations and the weird bomb scare. We sat in Madison Square Park with Starbucks and the Sunday Times, and began to read all the condolence ads placed by the nations of the world - their simple words of solidarity and support. That was the first time I cried.

This is getting maudlin. Let's talk about shoes. Current favorite pair is a black patent leather stiletto with a cut out in the arch.

Had two drug-free births, and let both boys wean themselves.

A memory that stuck with me was being 5 years old, talking to an adult and being amazed at how condescending she was being. When I told my Dad later he listened without judgment, thanked me for waiting to tell him in private and agreed. I decided then that if I ever had children, I would parent them, not patronize them.

I'm very pedantic - oh, I forgot, this is supposed to be a list of 25 things people don't already know about me. Oops.

Was in a cab at a red light the other night and in the next lane was a bus with a poster for the show. Surreal. My head on the sign was bigger than my actual head. Even more surreal.

I love it that a new project is forcing me out of my Illustrator comfort zone and back into Photoshop.

One of our cats is named Madge, after the Palmolive lady. She does this thing with her paws that reminds us of that old commercial.

I eat pretty much anything doesn't eat me first, though feel much better for having given up soda 5 years ago.

If I were a children's book, I'd be Skippyjon Jones.

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