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Her and Lebe did something last night and her mother agreed about Her and Lee My ears!!!

This listing has a blueprint of the unit. There are two floors - this links to the main floor with the garages. You would drive your car into the garage on the ground floor and the elevator would take you to the apartment and there are spaces for four cars that you would drive into https://www.compass.com/listing/18555-collins-avenue-unit-5205-sunny-isles-beach-fl-33160/553002771425930257/

Alexia’s old apartment sold on December 15, 2023 for approximately $10,5000,000. It obviously wasn’t sold when it was being filned so who knows what the real reason was or when she moved, It was 10,000 square feet which is massive even for a single family home. 🤷‍♀️ Since she doesn’t live there, I assume posting the listing is okay https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18555-Collins-Ave-APT-5201-Sunny-Isles-Beach-FL-33160/247680773_zpid/

I think the issue in Miami just like it is in other hot markets like Los Angeles or Manhattan is that there is a shortage of AFFORDABLE apartments (and houses) and no shortage of ultra expensive apartments. In Los Angeles you can easily find a one bedroom for $3500 or $4000 in desirable areas but difficult to find an affordable apartment. There are a few ultra high end apartments in Los Angeles but for the most part people rent a super high end house for $40,000 or so. Manhattan has much more of the lifestyle of having super high end condos that are rented for huge amounts of money. But again - someone who can afford to pay a lot wouldn't have problems finding an apartment. You wouldn't need to pay $40,000 as you could find something for $5000 or $6000 - the issue is that amount is not affordable to most people.

It is up to the producers as housewives on all franchises have barred other housewives from attending events they are "hosting" They can't bar anyone from any of the trips even though these are theoretically "hosted". Marysol and Audriana are unique as they are for all practical purposes housewives and not friends even though they aren't holding anything in the opening credits. I don't know why it is structured this way but they are in every episode and are major cast in terms of interactions and story lines. The trips away are all paid for by production and the "hostess" is just picked by production for whatever reason they have. The events that housewives throw in their homes or at local venues are paid for by the individual housewives - but often they get free or reduced pricing from suppliers for promotional benefit as their names are either mentioned or they are credited in social medial posts by the housewives. I suspect that is the source of all of the gifts that Marysol had at her event. It is sometimes a major storyline - in RHONY the women got pissy with Jenna because she was gifting them with items that she had deals with and on the most recent UGT, people were pissed at Kelly because they thought her gifts were also a way for her to get paid for promoting items she had deals for.

Alexia lived in an extremely large condo - as I recall it had two floors. They might have gotten a deal on it because Alexia said their rent was less than the $40,000 for the unit they toured in this episode. Really rich people do NOT rent unless they are sent someplace on a job for a limited period of time - e.g. people working on a film will rent. People like Alexia rent for the same reason that people lease cars - the monthly payments are lower and so you can pretend you can afford more car than you can really afford. And I don't know how Larsa can - with a straight face - say that someone should not depend on a man for their income. As IF she didn't have most of her money because of a marriage. And I think most mothers would not stay in Miami if their high school daughter was in Los Angeles. Larsa has no pressing reason to be in Miami except to be on a reality show.

I think Luann really has lost that pretentiousness and now only uses it deliberately as a shtick but doesn't take it seriously. I think her life with the Count must have been a bit difficult and stifling for her even without the whole issues of his having mistresses. I would imagine that he never lost an opportunity - especially at the beginning of her marriage - to school her on appropriate behavior befitting her status. I actually found the whole idea of a Count in a country that has no royalty to be hilarious. I mean the whole idea of an aristocracy is ludicrous but at least in a country like English it is still a real thing.

How in the world does Kelly have any kind of success as a real estate agent. I realize that a lot of the high end success is based on personal connections which she does have and being a real estate agent doesn't require a lot of intellectual ability especially in New York where you are required to use a lawyer for every transaction. However how does she function as she seems to lack any kind of coherence. I thought the projection and lack of self awareness was astounding. I think Kelley was the one who was thinking about branding and social media clicks. Of course the others all have their agendas but less blatantly so. Luanne and Sonja really can't do much that is off brand as they have their brands and people enjoy the dynamic as in Crappie Lake. Ramona seemed subdued and I would imagine she is just trying to get by as easily as possible and collect her $250,000 check. I actually thought Dorinda was fine as I didn't find her mean spirited in the way she had been in the last few seasons where she was vile to Tinsley for no reason and her drinking seemed completely out of control. I think she did well in terms of redeeming herself after the pause. I don't mind Dorinda's fashion as she obviously likes somewhat unique stuff and she wears it well. At least she isn't covered in head to toe logos like some of the other franchises but is actually selecting clothing. Maybe I have weird taste but I really liked the sequin pant suit that looked like crocheted squares from a few seasons back.

Last night Dr. Wendy of the four degrees obviously missed basic grammar in getting her elementary school "degree" No Doctor Wendy - Her and I is not grammatically correct. As in "her and I went to the movies". It just grates on my ears like chalk on a blackboard - imagine saying "her went to the movies" ETA - Perhaps I should give her half credit as she didn't get it totally wrong as in "me and her went to the movies"

I also don't understand all of the Lisa sympathy. She married him for money - he was horrible when they married - horrible during the marriage as depicted on the earlier seasons and how surprised could she possibly have been that he left her for a newer model. The babies accomplished her goal as he is on the hook for serious child support payments for at least the next 18 years. Probably more since wealthy people are generally expected to support their children through college and graduate school as it is customary and even spelled out in the final agreements. She has moved on quickly - and lucky that there was a rich man who was willing to fund a 40 year old - not being ageist but just that she is no longer a trophy wife to a relatively young guy like Jodie is. Perhaps he likes the spotlight of dating a D-list celebrity so the cost of subsidizing her lifestyle is worth it. I genuinely can't imagine why a guy without issues would be willing to put up with her constant talk of her ex.

Based on my knowledge of New York social history of this time, Oscar is the equivalent of a Lord and not having actual financial expertise but is essentially handling his mother's estate in the same way that Lord Grantham was managing his inheritance. That is large the point of the antagonism between the Old Money who largely looked down upon the new generation of Robber Barons who had acquired their "new money" based on their talents. New York City in particular has always had this kind of dichotomy until all the barriers between Old Society and New Money collapsed in the past decade or so. Never has the show depicted Oscar as actually working at his profession and attempting to increase the size of it - except here where he speculated in the most hair brained of ways. New York City was always a bit unique - the South preserved the genteel ruling classes after Reconstruction ended; Boston was always old money where the Cabots spoke only to the Lodges and most of the other American Cities didn't have old money - Chicago didn't have any kind of old money society Hog Butcher for the World, Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders:

Oscar was easily swindled because he wasn't really a banker or a finance person. He was a "gentleman" in the same way someone is a gentleman farmer. He managed the family money and perhaps because of that had an "office" in the bank that actually employed "crass" people who actually understood finance. He was meant to contrast with someone like Russell who as a self made financial genius who not only knew that the railroad was non-existent but also made it his business (no pun intended) to understand "businesses". Even though his specialty was railroads, he would have had a keen understanding of other industries because of the impact on his own businesses. Downton Abby's Lord Grantham was similarly swindled out of all of his wife's dowry and was only saved because he was allowed access to the entailed estate so long as he agreed to run it in a more businesslike manner. Not that people aren't still snookered by scams and schemes today, but theoretically there are some regulations so that the worst of the stock abuse is rarer than it was - still you have Enron, Wework, Theranos, FTX and Madoff to mention the largest and most notorious of recent history.

Bertha is a permissive mother as compared to Alva Vanderbilt on whom the character was based. Consuela (Gladys in real life) was locked in her room until she agreed to break off her secret engagement with Winthrop Rutherfurd - who was New York society but not the kind of grand marriage Alva wanted. Consuela was forced into a loveless marriage with the Duke of Marlborough but eventually came into her own and they ultimately divorced after 25 years of marriage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consuelo_Vanderbilt The Rutherfurds remained prominent in New York society and I actually worked with WR the III or IV when I spent a bit of time in the Trusts & Estates department of a New York white shoe law firm. It was there that I learned that the Social Register was not just an expression of speech but an actual book listing those people who were approved to be in the right circles. Some of these people had no need for a phone book (pre internet days of course) because anyone they would actually need to contact was in the Social Register. Winthrop Rutherford married Lucy Mercer who was one of FDR's mistresses.

It is really hard to be precise about social classes translating neatly into economic reality because so much of what we associate with "wealth" in 2023 was so much less expensive then. By upper middle class I would compare to partners in one of the large white shoe law firms. Many of them - at least until recently were in the Social Register and lived in large coops on Park Avenue. Their children went to private school. They were members of the Maidstone Club and/or Piping Rock Country Club. They often had summer homes. They were wealthy but not on the level of the new "robber barons" - or more accurately the masters of the universe of the 1980's like the Gutfreunds or the Milkens. Susan Gutfreund was a bit like Turner as she ascended to the heights of nouveau rich-dom from her lowly start as an airline stewardess who snared a rich older man. In the brief, wild-spending days of her Nouvelle Society reign, Susan Kaposta Penn Gutfreund—airline flight attendant turned socialite queen—cultivated her taste for things French and fine. Night after night, on the arm of her husband, John Gutfreund, head of the mighty Salomon Brothers investment bank, she would sashay into soirees dressed in opulent Christian Lacroix gowns. She bought the rarest of French perfumes by the quart—as if they were motor oil or milk—and filled the salons and boudoirs of her homes in New York City and Paris with priceless French antiques. Indeed, gazing at the sumptuous beauty of a room full of 18th-century French furniture she’d bought, Susan reportedly whispered to a friend, ”If it was good enough for Marie Antoinette, it’ll do for me.” Pauvre Susan. How could she have known that before long she would come to share not only Marie Antoinette’s furniture but, save for the guillotine, her fate. For almost a decade her husband, known throughout the world’s financial districts as the King of Wall Street, ruled as a ruthless and near-infallible wizard. But on Friday, Aug. 16, snared in a still unfolding scandal of deceit and dishonor involving his company’s illegal purchase of U.S. government securities, Gutfreund, 61, was forced to resign. https://nypost.com/2021/01/16/inside-wild-auction-of-john-susan-gutfreunds-empire/

Caroline Astor lived in a home that had a brownstone facade but it was on Fifth Avenue and had four bays. The brownstones on side streets were smaller and less grand. It was built in 1862 by her husband - when that section of Manhattan was fashionable. She later moved into a mansion built by her son in 1892 - which was located on Fifth Avenue and 62nd Street as the more uptown areas became fashionable. I am not saying that Agnes was poor - far from it. But she wasn't wealthy as compared to the Robber Barons or even the Astors. The Astors had significant fortunes as well as being old money. It is why Oscar needs to marry a rich heiress because there isn't enough money for him to really live a deathly lifestyle. Caroline Astor's daughter would have enough money in her dowry to purchase a title. Her dowry was $2.5 million which adjusted for inflation would be $75 million in today's dollars. Oscar was looking for a bride who would bring a similar dowry.

There was a clash between the old money who were not nearly as rich as the Robber Baron who made their fortunes after the Civil War. The Van Rijns would have been descended from the original Dutch settlers and it was their lineage rather than their wealth that provided them with their high status. Nit very different than what occurred in the Old South where the original plantation owners retained their social clout despite their relative poverty. Wealth would not enable one’s daughter to participate in Charleston’s Saint Cecilia Ball for example. T

That would be a fine match in Bertha's eyes as the son would be marrying extremely old New York aristocracy and so there would be immediate admission into the heights of New York (and Newport) society for their children. There would be no point for a male to marry into the English aristocracy since it was the impoverished males who needed the money in order to keep the estates going - it was transactional.

I suspect that Oscar needs more money although obviously he isn't destitute. By the standards of the day, the Van Rijns live relatively modest life styles in their brownstone - they would be the equivalent of upper middle class and not rich. Keep in mind that up to WW I domestic help was extremely cheap and even middle middle class people would have domestic help full time. The reality is that prior to labor saving devices it was extremely hard work to keep a house clean, to cook and to perform other domestic chores. No vacuums, no refrigerators; coal fireplaces created lots of soot in homes; no washing machines; no electrical appliances like a mixer. There wasn't even an eggbeater at that time as it wasn't patented until 1884 so imagine how hard it was to cook a meal on a temperamental stove fueled by wood or coal.

Of course the South after the end of Reconstruction was worse than depicted. The reason segregation lasted so long was because of the terrorist tactics that were employed - lynchings and cross burnings. The Klan ruled and all of the petty despots like the county commissioner were essentially free to rule their fiefdoms without any control. And it lasted well into the 1960's - if not longer. Southern Trees Bear Strange Fruit.

I think one of the issues with Wendy is that her behavior seems completely inauthentic and just "off". It is like she is attempting to be "iconic" and so has planned certain behavior and statements and then she brings them out even if they make no sense in terms of fitting what is actually going on in the moment. The truly iconic moments on any of the franchises seemed to flow naturally in the moment. Close Your Legs To Married Men - Who's Gonna Check Me Boo and others. I also would hold the theoretical Dr. Wendy with four degrees to a higher standard in terms of what she is wiling to do in order to make money. Unlike some of the other housewives who need the show money, Dr. Wendy would have a perfectly fine fulfilling life without sacrificing her dignity and reputation.

I can't believe that anyone would take Wendy seriously for any kind of intellectual job because she is presenting herself as unhinged and not fit to be a professor or a commentator. Anyone actually signing up for one of her classes - if she is even actually teaching - would be watching their unhinged professor gyrating and essentially stating that someone is jealous of her SOLELY because of her fake tits and other physical characteristics. In terms of the dispute, it is utterly ridiculous but then I don't believe either blessings or curses have any impact. Without singling out Catholism, if you accept any kind of religion, why not believe in voodoo or flying monkeys because they are all equally unbelievable. Who knows what the actual truth is - but based on what was actually on the screen, Nneka appeared to be rational and Wendy morphed into an unhinged lunatic.

It was the Wedding of the Week in today's New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/style/tinsley-mortimer-robert-bovard-wedding.html I hope they are very happy - especially the children who lost their bio mother so young.

Yes you can be a very attractive woman and still be a doctor, lawyer or college professor. However - in my personal experience - most professional women don't dress in outfits in which their oversized fake breasts are being squeezed out of their scanty outfits. Ashley always presented herself as having relied on her looks as a way of earning her living - by marrying a rich old man. Nothing she wears or how she presents herself is at odds with how she has always been on the show. Showing up with her breasts exposed at a First Communion brunch is on brand for Ashley.

The difference was that Dr. Wendy presented herself as a serious academician with multiple degrees. She then morphed into someone who was somewhat vulgar in terms of naming her new over sized tits; naming them; wearing ill fitting clothing to emphasize them as well. It was a complete morph in terms of the kind of "respect" she was demanding from the women in the first season. Karen said it all when she essentially rolled her eyes at what Ashley was going to wear. Ashley has nothing but tits to attract her meal ticket. Not that smart women who are professors and political commentators can't be attractive but in general they don't present themselves as squeezed Into clothing resembling underwear.

It was done to mutually benefit the women since it was going to be aired. Mary is only a friend this season so she only gets paid if she is actually in an episode. She hates going to any of the events so this was probably a "scene" that was relatively non-objectionable to her. Heather gets a scene where she is guaranteed to appear in a relatively favorable light because she doesn't take Mary seriously since she knows she is an ill-mannered lunatic.