diadochokinesis

Oh, as much as I snark on Lu for being pretentious, Ramona with her delusions... Throw Sonja in there too. Sonja is the oblivious delusional. Like, she believes her own delusions now. Ramona is the persuasive delusional. She is going to beat you with her delusions until you throw up the white towel. Lu is the pretentious delusional that is just trying to pretend that she is Mommy Warbucks when she is really Miss Hannigan. Although, really, if we were to recast the Housewives as characters from Annie, Dorinda might be the Miss Hannigan. LOL.

Ugh, the shattaf. I have a friend whose child is now terrified of going to the toilet after he went to a friend's house and their nanny used the shattaf on him. Plus, I still think it is unhygienic (which one of my Egyptian friends thinks is hilarious). The problem with that though is that Lu has been acting this way since the very first episode in Season 1. She started off with this personality. This hasn't been an evolution in reaction to the other's personalities.

LOL. If it helps, villas are just houses over here. Could also be a townhouse. If it is one story then they call it a bungalow. You could say they are... pretentious!

I had a bidet at my previous villa. I mainly used it as a mop bucket. LOL.

Lu is one of those friends that has to always have everything be picture perfect. She can't stand for there to be an imperfection in her life. Her relationship with Tom is a great demonstration of that. I think Lu knew the relationship wasn't great but she thought it was doable. You saw glimpses on her face during the reunion where she began to realize that there were serious problems in the relationship and they were visible to others. I'm wondering if she would have kept up the facade if not everybody else noticed. In some ways, she is this cool no effs given personality but in other ways, she is an insecure person who craves validation from others. That is where the pretentiousness comes in. She is living a Barbie Dream House life and going through the motions of what she thinks that looks like. She sometimes relaxes and lets it go and that is when we see the Real Lu. I like the Real Lu and wish we saw more of that. Anywho, I think that is what bugs Bethenny about Lu. We all know that Bethenny is a big personality and all about living the truth. So it irritates her when she sees that Lu is over there living a lie on reality tv. I'd have the same reaction. Hell, I'd probably be worse with calling her out about her various lies and inconsistencies.

God, I loved that Elie Saab gown. Talk about a defining moment in a designer's career.

That's what I've always liked about Carole. She is kind of always just sitting back and watching it unfold and laughing quietly to herself. She doesn't take the show super-seriously.

But I can also understand where it would make Carole uneasy about introducing Lu to any future friends. Carole has an eclectic group of friends that range from non-famous to famous. Would Lu consistently ask Carole's friends things like this? It would make me uneasy. Ah, I can't believe I forgot Michelle! I thought I had put her in and then checked and I forgot her! I loved the one she wore at the CBC dinner. Let's face it. Lu needs to be known as Countess of Pretentiousness. That's what bugs so much about Palm Beach, the yacht, the penthouse... It smacks of pretentiousness. We saw it in Season 1 with "educating" Bethenny on how she was supposed to introduce Lu to the driver.

I think it was more of how Lu presented the idea. The way it was told to Carole by her friends was that Lu said that she would basically be good for the brand to advertise it. I don't know if you follow high fashion but Naeem Khan but his gowns are worn by some big name celebrities (Jane Fonda, Karlie Kloss, Mandy Moore, Kate Hudson, Hilary Swank, Lucy Liu, Diane Kruger, etc). So, it was pretentious (yep! The Countess being pretentious!) for her to assume that wearing his dress would give him publicity. He has publicity coming from legit non-reality celebrities wearing his dresses to the Oscars, Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, etc. The Countess with her Life & Style crowd... It doesn't really play to Naeem's clientele list. His dresses start at $4,000 and he currently has a blouse on clearance at Neiman's for $1200. No offense to Life & Style readers but that isn't their demographic.

Here is also where I have an issue with the previous poster's opinion... Why is it that Bethenny has to put up with abusive behavior just to get him to stop? Hoppy is responsible for his actions. If he wants to be mad, fine. Be mad. But you don't go around harassing via email, shouting threats in front of your child's school, etc. Bethenny shouldn't be the one giving in because that just perpetuates Hoppy's behavior. He won't magically stop. Instead, he will keep up the behavior to get something else. It is like when people are being blackmailed. They pay the terms of the blackmail but it doesn't go away. Instead, the blackmailer comes back wanting MORE money. As for everything else going on in this thread... Geez louise. 1) Carole has gotten it from Trump supporters on Twitter. People (in general, not specific to this board) are very quick to say that one side always attacks the others when it is actually both sides perpetuating it. Hence my previous post about both sides need to learn to discuss civilly and stop just shouting at each other. 2) Let's not attack Bethenny by way of making assumptions or allegations about Bryn. It is just low class and I would like to think we are all above that. You can not like Bethenny without dragging Bryn into it. 3) Lu and her problematic history. She does have a history of being demeaning towards the "help". She has a history of being tolerant of intolerance which is just as dangerous, if not more so, than actually being intolerant. People need to start identifying racist behavior and calling it out rather than going, "Well, it doesn't directly impact me so I'm just gonna ignore it." 4) More people voted for HRC than for Trump. I can't believe we are still having this disagreement. He won the electoral college. He did not win the popular vote. 5) Bernidette's behavior has been inexcusable and there is no reason why Bethenny should put up with it. We made the painful decision to cut my husband's parents out of a relationship with us after 5 years of emotional abuse from them. We thawed a bit after we had our daughter and they were allowed supervised visits with her twice during the first year of her life. They would generally get 2 visits a year with her until we moved overseas but they have never been allowed to be alone with her. It is our job as her parents to make the decisions as to what is best. We decided that being around grandparents who showed that they would always put down their son was not healthy. We wanted her to know that we would always love her and never think that we would talk about her the way her grandparents talk about their son. That's our prerogative as her parents. I just asked my husband this. He thinks he was 7 or 8 when he could identify when his parents were drunk. His parents were alcoholics so he was able to tell at an early age when they were hammered.

I'm a hair detective. LOL.

Dude, I live in the Middle East and managed to vote in the election. If I could manage it, Tins has NO excuse. I hate the whole "it isn't my thing" because it is ALL of our thing. It is one of our fundamental rights as a U.S. Citizen. and as women, we fought way too long and way too hard to secure that right. Also, unpopular opinion coming... I hate the whole "don't discuss politics in public" rule. You know why? Because it led to the shit show we are currently dealing with. You should discuss politics in public. You should discuss politics with friends. More open and civil discourse needs to take place for America to find a middle ground. If we would spend more time talking WITH each other rather than shouting at each other then a lot of good could happen. As long as we refuse to discuss politics (or just engage with idiots online) then we will continue on this downward spiral. Y'all have fun. My happy butt will stay in the Middle East until at least 2020 but possibly for four additional years.

It might technically be a penthouse but usually penthouses in NYC mean something a bit more impressive. It isn't a 1 bedroom on top of a midrise (I think the building is only like 13 floors). Lu likes to put off this impression that Tom is wealthy when he isn't. He doesn't have a place in Palm Beach, it is West Palm Beach. Yeah, he has a penthouse technically but come on, it is a 1 bedroom on top of a teeny tiny building. The yacht is a rental and Lu's boat at the the Hamptons is basically a dinghy.

Ok, just finished.... I'm giving a side eye to those who wanted to keep their votes a secret... Yeah, we know your secret. SHAME! I'm hoping Tins has turned her drinking around and that the whole relationship with Scott is working out. I think he is a good influence on her (minus the whole possible sketchiness of being a Housewife groupie). Carole and Adam... I think they are still together but have just redefined the relationship. Like, they are together but not putting a label on it. I did that when I was younger with a guy that I was with for 2 years. We were together, did everything together, all of our friends just assumed that we were in a solid relationship. It was just something that we never defined. We tried to actually define it and make it a real relationship and it was horrible so we went back to the undefined and it worked for us. Part of the reason that it worked though was that it was really a "meant to be" relationship. We both went on to marry different people. He's been married for over 15 years and I've been married for 10 years. So, who knows what is going on but I'm cheering for those two if for no other reason than to spite Lu. LOL. Bethenny... Unpopular opinion but y'all know I like her. I feel for her. She said that she is fine with whatever the outcome from the court case is which I respect. Sonja... I'm on Team Rental Frenchie. LOL. Yep. I held my daughter back because the birthday cutoff here is weird. You just have to be 5 by December 31 to be in kindergarten. My daughter is a December birthday so I held her back. Although, I just googled and Bryn's birthday is May 8 so it isn't too late. Some will hold back though for maturity or developmental reasons. Other parents will hold back thinking it gives their kid an edge in the higher grades if they are a bit older.

Oh, Tamra is imperfect. We all are. I do believe she apologized to Alexis a couple of seasons ago (right around the time she became a Christian). I don't really believe she dragged Vicki into her marriage issues with Simon. I haven't rewatched that season in a couple of years but it always struck me as more of Vicki meddling in Tamra's marriage. I think Vicki is the type of person that has to be the most important person in your life and it is all about how you can serve her. She was threatened by Simon and she instigated a lot of the drama there. Naked Wasted was just beyond. I was absolutely disgusted by Tamra during those years. I couldn't stand her. I have seen improvement in her behavior through the years. She is still a hothead and tends to fly off. I just don't see the vindictiveness quite like what we used to.

There is question about Peggy and her cancer. The story keeps changing. We've heard cancer and pre-cancer. Her mom had breast cancer but Peggy doesn't have the BRCA gene. Here is my thoughts on the difference between Tamra and Vicki. Tamra now seems to be sorry for the way she acted in the past and trying to be a better person. She isn't perfect, she still slips up, but she is trying to be a better person. Vicki hasn't ever even given a sincere apology or owned up to her part in any of this. I'm much more willing to forgive a truly repentant person than someone who just keeps going. It is my same issue with Ramona. Our school buses here have seat belts. We also have nannies on the bus in addition to the driver. I don't think the city buses have seatbelts though. Heck, it just finally was made law on 1 July that people need to put their babies in car seats.

I'll put it on my list! But what, Zaatar w Zeit isn't good Levantine? LOL. I tend to try the food when I go to brunch.

Yeah, you get some overlap with the food. I think that is where some people will start throwing in Cyprus and Armenia into the Middle East is because you will get some of the Levantine food influence in there. I'm not a Levantine foodie though. I'm ok with some shwarma and the kababs can be ok but some of the other stuff? Meh.

Usually Armenia is classified as Eurasia. You will sometimes find a random person that throws it into the Middle East but it isn't by the majority of people. I'm an American who doesn't live in America. LOL.

I can't with Lydia. I didn't really like her the first time around either. But when she was talking about her birthday and said it wasn't always great on their wallet to spend that amount of money but she expected to be celebrated, I just wanted to delete the episode then and there. Then she keeps trying to get Vicki and Tamra together which ok, I do believe it is Production pushing for it but come on... The women have no reason to forgive Vicki who still believes that she was the wronged party in all of this. Meanwhile, I literally got up to let my dog out and watch to make sure he pooped (or else he will run off in the house and do it) rather than watch this. I literally chose a shit show over RHOC.

The hair looks too thick to be Missy. I'm thinking her hair was on the thinner side. Same shade of blonde and the texture looks close though so really, I have no clue who it is. What I do know is that is so tacky. He just announced the divorce 1.5 weeks ago. There are ways to get together with one of your side pieces without it being obvious. He either really wants to stab at Lu or he is just stupid.

My personal belief is that it was based off (on Lu's end) on her desire for companionship. I don't believe it was about love. She just saw someone that she liked hanging out, possibly had great sex with, and just decided to marry him. I have no clue what his motivation was. During the first 10 minutes or so, she flips her shoe up towards the camera and it is a big white sticker on the bottom of the shoe.

LOL. It drove me nuts!

Ok, I didn't say you said she had anorexia. I clearly referenced you stating that she was "severely underweight" which yes, is assigning a label. You labeled her as severely underweight. I'm saying this as a person who people always felt free to comment on my weight--skinny shaming is just as bad as fat shaming. You were making a comment about tendons (not bones) in her hand which is a normal anatomical structure and attributed their prominence to being "severely underweight" which it isn't.

I know that Bravo does usually have them dress to a theme. The year that Lu wore that awful dress from her collection was metallics. If I remember correctly, there was a blind item about Heather not wearing a dress fitting the theme and it angering the producers.