amarante

I thought the Palm Springs house was fabulous and really nicely updated. Obviously going to be purchased as an BnB because of the need for large bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Also the home they purchased was drop dead gorgeous and would rent at a premium. The third home was pretty dated and definitely wouldn't command a premium and even in terms of a family vacation home, it wasn't that attractive. Even though the guy was a contractor, managing major renovations from a distance is a recipe for potential disaster. The show didn't specify but most of the towns surrounding Palm Springs don't permit short term rentals. I think the two decoys were out of Palm Springs. They didn't mention exactly where in Palm Springs the home was but proximity to the core of Palm Springs would have made it desirable. I don't believe for a nano-second that a family in Seattle would be buying a vacation home in Palm Springs for their own use. I live in Los Angeles and it is a viable option as a vacation home for those in Los Angeles because it is about 1 1/2 hours or less away which means that you can easily go there for even a weekend. I used to go to a spa there a lot and leave LA early in the morning and get there in time for their early morning hike in the mountains. But the reason I went there a lot was because it was easily drivable - The thought of regularly getting on a plane to fly somewhere mentally exhausts me - I can't imagine regularly flying to Seattle for multiple weekends.

It is a chicken and egg thing. The royal family doesn't send their kids to boarding school when they are 8 anymore. Not a fan of Stanbury but like Prince Charles he didn't subject her kids to boarding school when they were 8. It is the nature of most boarding schools to not see kids frequently because boarding schools are often somewhat at a distance so how is a young child supposed to get there and back for a two day weekend. Sending a kid to boarding school in high school is a completely different thing although it also isn't done that much anymore. My cousins went to boarding school in high school because their local public school in a rural district was terrible but there is no comparison between 14 and 8 in terms of being sent away from home. Also - boarding schools (even high school) are sometimes not the best environment for teenagers because they can get away with a lot more if they want to.

I really hate the brides and their entourage with their fake "shtick". They think they are cute and I think they are ridiculous. But I agree that "snack bride" was among the worst. She must have really searched for something that would be that stupid. Also I think she especially looked stupid because she was on a segment with the lovely sisters. When they first came on I was prepared to despise them and assumed one or more would attempt to take over the appointment and veto the bride's aesthetic vision. But they really surprised me. While they obviously had ideas of what was flattering I got the sense that what was most important was that the bride loved her dress. They were obviously so happy that the bride found a beautiful dress that she loved. They didn't even need their sad story to make them very lovely sympathetic bride and entourage. Genuine true love among all of them. I do wonder how they were so wealthy though. Between the venue, the $10,000 dress and the expensive entourage gifts. Not that I begrudge them but just wondering what the back story would be.

Not generally. My first "adult" apartment was a loft in Greenwich Village which had a really nice loft space since the ceilings are 14 feet or so. Now that I think back on it I NEVER could have lived there past my early 30's as the idea of going down the ladder in the middle of the night strikes me as death defying. It is more than enough to stumble towards my en suite at 3 AM. 🤷🏼‍♀️😄 I also eye two story homes with a bathroom on only the top floor with the same horror although I didn't think twice about it when I was in college and shared a house with three other girls with only one bathroom on the second floor.

I also thought a three story townhouse was the wrong choice for an middle aged woman because chances are she is going to "age" out of that home relatively soon when the stairs become too painful. I also thought it was odd that the daughter even cared where the mother was moving since she was going to med school in a year or so. I had absolutely no interest or input in the home my parents bought after they retired and moved out of my childhood home.

I agree as I don't like the nude patent leather shoes by any brand. Nude colored shoes in a matte leather are quite nice though as they give a visual illusion of elongating the leg and are slimming versus dark shoes which cut off the visual line. Of course "nude" depends on a person's individual leg color so I was referencing light tone skin legs that would blend in with a light cream or beige shoe. But if one is going to splurge on designer shoes, Vuitton seems an odd choice.

Someone or all of them or the prospective groom had money I suspect since the bride also said her budget was $10,000. Their venue looked as though it was also pricey and I imagine that they would have a large guest list as well which generally means a costly wedding. Odd they splurged on Vuitton shoes as Vuitton isn't particularly known for their shoes. It would have made more sense to splurge on Louboutin shoes and Manolo Blahnik still makes the shoe that Carrie wore in her original Sex & The City wedding.

I should have clarified that I loved the original look with pants as it flowed - as shown in the two versions on Say Yes they looked bulky and spoiled the lines of the original dress.

It seems to be the same mindset as people who are incredibly busy but buy a second home which they have to fly to in order to relax. I am much more relaxed napping in my home with a good book or a bingeworthy show streaming than shlepping somewhere to "unwind".

Meaning no disrespect to inhabitants of Western Pennsylvania but is there really a market for a "bistro" selling diet food? I live in Los Angeles and while there are vegan restaurants and you can certainly find some type of vegetarian dish at almost any restaurant, I can't think of a single restaurant that serves "diet" food suitable for weight loss although one can of course get low calorie/low fat entrees at most decent restaurants by asking them to hold the sauce and grill or whatever. However the reality is that restaurant food tends to be loaded with fat and other high calorie items because it makes the food taste good. If one watches Top Chef one can see the copious amounts of fat and butter that are used - I love the shots of when the chef is spooning butter over the steak that is sizzling in the skillet :-).

Granted I don't find tattoos densely populating a body to be particularly attractive, but I see that I am not alone in finding the bride's tattoos particularly wretched looking. Perhaps someone can explain what the aesthetic vision is when someone does that to their body - and on parts of the body which are going to be on display wearing *normal* clothing. It is ugly now and I shudder to think of what her arms will look like in 30 years when the age has taken its toll. And yes - those overskirts are really hideous. Maybe they look more "integrated" with the actual dress but both of them just made the lines of the dress look off and the bride look lumpen. I would think that if one had the need for a "flowing" dress for the ceremony a full skirt would make more aesthetic sense since it would look integrated. There have been a few of those styles and they looked normal. The style the bride chose reminds me of those stupid "at home" pants that women would wear in the 1950's with a half skirt worn over the pants. Luci wore them sometimes in I Love Lucy and Auntie Mame also wore them in Auntie Mame - I think the episode when she had redecorated the apartment in a vaguely Asian motif. Randy has talked a lot about his mother but I can't recall his ever mentioning his sister. That would have been a special relationship because the sister would have been old enough for her to be more than just a sibling. Losing a sibling is hard. I wasn't super close to my brother and he died as a relatively young adult. You lose your past because if it is your only sibling, there is no one else who experienced your childhood. I would have loved to have been able to reminisce and figure out our parents from a more *mature* point of view.

Many corporations will pay all moving expenses which could include closing costs or other costs associated with purchasing a home. I think it would probably be difficult to get people to move unless covered all the costs of moving which can be significant. Obviously taxes aren't relevant to the government but a private corporate would be able to deduct the expenses from their corporate taxes and the employee would NOT have to pay taxes on the value of the "benefit" since moving more than 50 miles (I think it is 50 miles) means that one is entitled to deduct all moving expenses from personal income taxes.

And of course there are the ones who claim that the space is boring or cold. Isn't that what one's personal decorative choices are supposed to be for?

You can always pay 6 months or so up front and I am sure you can find a rental if that was indeed the issue. I realize that the storylines are arbitrary and made up - the people who bought a place have no doubt been living there for a good period of time. Of course I can't imagine any scenario in which I would move to a tropical "paradise" and open a yoga studio or wellness retreat. Are there really a significant number of people who pay to have yoga instruction on line. I would assume that with yoga someone would want an instructor in person to help make sure I was following appropriate form.

I am not saying there might not be a reason to purchase a home for economic reasons like increased reimbursement for corporate moves especially if one has familiarity with the area. My comment was based more in terms of a typical HHI scenario where there is no job and they are planning to start a business. I am prudent and so would want to preserve my nest egg rather than purchasing and having no nest egg to fall back on or am saddled with a property that is hard to unload. I own a place but I am also not someone who has a compelling need to own a home if it didn’t make logistical or economic sense. I realize story lines are fake and the HHI have most likely been living in their home for awhile but the storyline of them claiming they are sinking everything into the “move” is so patently ludicrous and if actually true, the people are fiscal idiots. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Prefacing by stating that I KNOW the storylines are fake but I don't understand why some of the patently ludicrous storylines continue to be used. Why on earth would someone move to a place they have never lived and use all (theoretically) of their savings to purchase a home. In the unlikely scenario of my moving to a rain forest to open a yoga retreat, I would want to preserve as much of my capital as possible and so I would rent a place until I was confident that I would be living permanently in the place and had sufficient income to support myself for the foreseeable future. I also feel this way about moves in the domestic version of HH. I can't imagine moving to a strange city and purchasing a home without living in a rental for at least a year to get a feeling of where I actually wanted to live.

Vulture does fantastic recaps of this show as well as all of the HW franchises. Brian Moylan does NY and BH and he is brilliant This is an excerpt from their recap of the current episode https://www.vulture.com/article/real-housewives-ultimate-girls-trip-season-2-episode-5-recap-the-ultimate-thirst.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vulture - July 8%2C 2022&utm_term=Subscription List - Vulture (1 Year)#_ga=2.169290788.462827494.1657116569-1209174497.1656623774 Like all fights in late-stage Housewifery, the Jill and Dorinda fight is about the show itself. Dorinda thinks that Jill is mad at her because she wouldn’t film with her as a “friend of,” and Jill is mad at Dorinda because she thinks fame ruined her. I think fame ruined both of them and they hate the least attractive parts of themselves that they see in the other. They’re both fame monsters and they’re both thirsty, but the difference is that Dorinda has acid in her mouth and sprays it on everyone when she gives them a tongue lashing. She’s like one of those frogs you lick that’s supposed to make you trip, but when you lick her she just pees on you, like the frogs in her yard.

We see this phenomenon again and again so I imagine there is a kind of person who is so used to lying without anyone ever refuting it that they don't even realize they are lying. It is really the only thing that can explain it. I could be wrong but we don't see this kind of reality denial with the more self aware housewives like Bethenny. It might also be that some of these women don't get as drunk as others and therefore are more in control of their actions and remember what they were doing. Jill never drinks and I don't remember Bethenny ever being filmed being shit-faced although obviously there could have been times but I think for the most part she was very aware of being filmed and not wanting to lose control. My personal experience with people who lie habitually is that it is based on a combination of factors. Most people don't really listen that carefully and/or don't remember stuff. Most people have no desire to confront someone and tell them they are lying unless it is a personal issue that needs to resolve. Some types of people like celebrities and politicians have sycophants surrounding them who validate their lies. Who in Dorinda's world would actually want to tell her she is lying except in a reality show where you are being paid to be in someone's face. Her daughter isn't going to want to face the wrath of drunk Dorinda; John certainly wasn't going to and the rest of her circle consists of paid housekeepers and casual friends.

My understanding is that Richard died of cirrhosis of the liver based on what I read. So that marriage might have been quite something with two alcoholics - I am envisioning some kind of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf with Dorinda as the angry drunk and Richard in the Burton role. I think Dorinda is missing the lifestyle she had with Richard in London in the same was as Sonja misses the Morgan lifestyle. It is hard to believe that anyone who married their second husband late in life and was married for about six years really is still emotionally grieving their "great love". Dorinda was lucky that Richard bought her Bluestone and that her BRAVO salary enabled her to keep the place.

I think Jill was splitting hairs as in one of her confessionals she said she would never have invited BRAVO to film the funeral inside and the actual funeral wasn't filmed. As to who initiated the filming outside - who knows - as it was in the "news" when it occurred in terms of Betheny showing up and there were pictures of them outside by sources other than BRAVO and I assume there was video footage. I don't remember how much of Bethenny and Jill being filmed was actually on that episode or if it was just chiefly some shots of people milling around outside.

I think we are all used to fakety fake stores on HH and the stories on HH International seem to be more fake than the domestic version. Regarding the Nice woman I am not buying for a nano-second that she is expanding her tax practice by opening up a branch in Nice. I haven't seen my tax accountant in person for years. Everything is done by email and then a telephone conversation to go over. Her explanation of lower tuition prices was equally ridiculous - she is in California and there is an excellent state system. No need to set up residency in France to afford tuition. And then do a year abroad as most upper middle class college kids do. I would assume the place in Nice is some kind of vacation home but I can't imagine how teenagers sleep in those Murphy bunk beds. They look worse than the beds in a jail cell. I have seen built in bunks in beach vacation rentals but they are generally intended for young small children. Perhaps she is using the "excuse" of setting up a branch office as a way to write off all of her travel expenses as a business expense because there is no other rational explanation for why she needed to buy a horrid place completely unsuitable for a family with kids in a vacation spot.

Another couple whose move to Mexico seemed completely inscrutable. I have no idea why people feel they need to move to unwind. Why can't people decompress their own homes. Not that I have a particular urge to live in Gilroy but I would be as able to "relax" there as I would in a condo that seemed more suitable for rental for a week on a vacation. Also when he said he was a "cloud engineer" who had a job where he could work remotely I was assuming his budget was more than $200,000. I thought all of the choices were rather strange for a couple with theoretically four children plus a grandchild. I don't get it because you could move to a condo with a pool in the US and live a peaceful "resort" life style and be closer to your family.

Even more self indulgent my friend turned me onto bacon that is enclosed four slices to a plastic package. You put the plastic package sealed in the microwave and nuke for about 2 1/2 minutes or so and have fresh bacon slices with no mess and just the right amount of bacon odor. Perfectly satisfies the bacon lust especially since the larger package can be frozen. Unfortunately it is not often in stock as I guess there are supply chain issues :-(

I also am not understanding how she glommed onto that interpretation. I also think that many people equate "meat" with beef or pork and therefore eat chicken and/or fish but will say they don't eat meat or don't eat much meat. It isn't a rigid stance they are taking but more based on the guidelines that say a healthy diet doesn't include huge amounts of red meat every night. I don't eat much "meat" either and can go for weeks without having beef. If I were in a situation where there was a bacon buffet I would definitely indulge. Probably because cooking bacon is so messy - especially for one person that it would be a rare delicacy for me.

Or the home which someone has abandoned mid construction. 😂🤫