RIP Harvey Korman

I just learned that Harvey Korman died today. I'm very sad.
I will rent a Mel Brooks movie in his honor. Perhaps High Anxiety. Check out this great clip. Forward to 3:30.

I...CAN...HARDLY...WAIT........

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.

It comes out tomorrow.

I've looked at every picture I could find. I've read every single spoiler.

I know - BAD!!!

But Sex and the City comes out TOMORROW!!!!!!

I don't usually buy into hype, but this is BIG.

(No pun intended.)

It feels like Christmas is coming.

For once, I don't care about reviews. It's simply a must-see. I must see it several times.

I drudged up a clip of my favorite SATC scene yesterday for Mel's blog.

Check it out

My favorite scene is not Carrie and Big being all romantic-like. Quite true to form (my preferred type of humor is silly absurdism), my fave is Miranda being sexually harassed by a sandwich.


Miranda: That sandwich out front is saying sexually explicit things to women as they walk by.

Sub shop manager: What did he say?

Miranda: "Eat me.”

Manager: Yeah, he’s a sandwich.

Miranda: No, he didn’t say it in the sandwich way. He said it in the sexual harassing way.

Manager: Lady, he’s a sandwich.

Six Degrees of...ME!

I can actually play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with myself. I am actually connected to Kevin Bacon by only TWO degrees. Can you believe it?!

My friend Mary Ann in Akron is/was John Belushi's first cousin. John Belushi was in Animal House with....a pre-stardom Kevin Bacon! (He was the Omega House's paddle boy/pledge.)

And, I can link myself to George Clooney by three degrees:

Bob Noll was my favorite professor at John Carroll. Bob created a local show for WKYC called Hickory Hideout. A girl named Kathryn Hahn was on the show and grew up to star on Crossing Jordan with Miguel Ferrer, who is George Clooney's cousin.

HA!

It's a little stupid, yes, I know. But if nothing else, it's fun to brag about at parties!

Can YOU connect yourself to any stars?

I swear I am being followed by Randy Travis

DISCLAIMER: I am the very opposite of a country music fan. There is absolutely no reason for any of this. But it's so crazy that it commands a blog post....

I have some really whacked out dreams at times. And I had one a few weeks ago about Randy Travis' mansion in Northern Italy (looked kind of like Venice, but it wasn't!), his current girlfriend, his ex-wife (mind you, I know almost nothing about this guy), and some people I haven't seen in years. Not only did it include weird people, the place where it was located even had a name - it was on the Carpathian Sea. (In my dream, I was actually reasoning that the SS Carpathia is the ship that saved the Titanic's passengers, so it made some kind of sense in my subconscious.)

The dream itself was weird enough, but now I am convinced that for some strange cosmic reason, I am being followed by Randy Travis.

Seriously, I swear I haven't even heard his name in a decade, BUT --

- I was reading a novel that same week and a character turned on the radio and a Randy Travis song was playing.

then...

- I was watching National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets this past week - and he is IN THE MOVIE. Of all people, it was him playing at the president's birthday!

THEN....

I was driving downtown today and passed a billboard for Caesars Windsor. You can guess who they were announcing will be playing there.

I can assure you, I am NOT a closet Randy Travis fan and I cannot tolerate country music. And if I DID like country, his is definitely not the music I would choose.

If anyone wants to take a stab at why I am suddenly a magnet for Randy Travis, please tell me!

And none of that stuff about the Law of Attraction - you attract what you think about. He was never even on my radar! Unfortunately, now he seems to be EVERYWHERE and it's freaking me out!!!

Why oh why can't it be George Clooney?!?!

Sad about an old friend....

I went to see the new Indiana Jones film last night. Being a huge fan of two of the first three (I didn't like everyone else's least fave - can you guess?), I couldn't wait.

I was excited to see my favorite character, Marcus Brody, the very smart but very lacking-in-common-sense curator of the museum that houses Indy's treasures.

< RIP Marcus

One of the first things I said during the movie was "Where's Marcus?," anticipating him doing or saying something utterly stupid. Then a couple seconds later, Indy explained that first Marcus had died, and "then Dad." Sniffle, sniffle.

Not for Dad, mind you. Sean Connery chose not to come back from what I read, but no Marcus? Waaa.

I even quoted the actor, Denholm Elliott, to the people I was with. He once said once that making Indiana Jones movies earned him far more than 40 years in the British theater.

I went home at nearly 1am (went to a late showing) and looked him up on IMDB and found that Denholm died in 1992 of AIDS.

Interesting....but still sad. I didn't know he was dead.

I really identified with the character's well-meaning cluelessness and stupidity.

If you're wondering who and what I am talking about, watch Raiders or Last Crusade again. He is fantastic comic relief...yet somehow adds an air of authenticity to the movies.

"Marcus would get lost in his own museum."

Well, at least something cool happened with the Marcus Brody statue in the new film.

P.S. The movie was great. So amazing to see Indy back again!!!! He could have just stood there in the old costume - or even joined the Nazis (or Russians). But if they play the Indy theme, I'm totally there!

My Own Private Epiphany

As I previously mentioned in my "Shop Like a Caveman" article, I am working with a heavy duty nutrition doctor. Despite being an avowed vegetarian since the age of 8, I have always known something is wrong with my diet. I've taken out dairy, sugar, Aspartame, caffeine and preservatives over the years, but nothing seemed to work. I always had headaches.

I added more protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin B-12, whole grains. Nothing helped.

And I could just tell for some reason that the headaches were chemically-induced, but nothing I was doing was helping.

Until this past weekend. When I happened to Google "wheat intolerance."

My symptoms were all there!

- Canker sores (which I've struggled with for most of my life)
- Joint pain
- Headaches
- Acid reflux
- Generally feeling unwell

It's hard to diagnose because the symptoms usually manifest 2-3 days after eating wheat products.

Turns out whole grain products are one of the worst things I could eat.

Then I revisited Eat Right 4 Your Type, a book that was massively popular about 12 years ago. When I read it, I recall discovering that as a Type O, I should be eating meat, meat and more meat. As a serious veg, my answer was "no way!"

Then people started coming out saying it was junk science, so I completely disregarded it.

Of course, that's when I thought I was invincible.

Whenever I don't feel well, unless I'm dying, I just get on with things. I don't stop to dwell on every little headache or body pain.

But recently it has become rather annoying, and I just knew something wasn't right.

It's the wheat.

So now it's out of my diet and I am starting to feel better.

Unfortunately, it took me 30+ years to figure this out!

Also, Eat Right 4 Your Type mentions that Type O's have the strongest stomach acid of all the blood types. That may explain why I have acid reflux which is so bad that I don't even feel it - but it is wreaking havoc in my esophagus.

Ugh.

TV Fun Today

I went with my mom, Aunt Carol and Leslie the Search Guru to sit in the audience of That's Life with Robin Swoboda on Fox 8. We had an absolute blast!

L-R Dick Goddard, my mom, Robin, Aunt Carol and me

I especially enjoyed being able to sit there and relax! When I'm in a TV studio, I'm used to being one of the ones on camera!

Shopping - Caveman Style

Most people know me as a fashion expert. And for some reason, they always seem to want to tell me what they don’t like about shopping. I hear a lot of the same laments again and again:

“There’s so much stuff in the stores. I get overwhelmed.”
“I go right to the clearance rack so I can buy more!”
“I have a lot of clothes with the tags still on them.”
“I’ve wasted so much money on clothes over the years.”
“I bought a (top, dress, skirt, pair of pants, etc…), but it never looked right on me. But I never got rid of it.”

Do you see yourself above? I bet you do. Once upon a time, that was me too.

That is, until I learned to shop like a caveman.

I know what you’re thinking….last year, Kristen was a rum-swigging fashion pirate (arrrgh matey!) and a CSI solving style crimes, and she has those imaginary (but very pesky) monkeys living in her closet. Now she’s a shopping caveman. Am I crazy? Well, maybe. But hear me out!!

I’m working with a nutrition doctor, who told me that I should only be eating what I would find if I lived in the Metroparks - or if I was a caveman. It goes along with the sage advice I read a couple of years ago in a book called The Origin Diet. The message is that our bodies have not evolved to be able to eat what we find in the grocery store these days. We’re still programmed exactly like our ancestors who lived millions of years ago were – to eat fish and wild game, plants and fruit. Not sugar, processed foods, hormone-infused cattle, pigs and chickens, or even grains. There were times of feast and times of famine. And the only sugar found in the caveman diet was when they would find honey on occasion – and they had to fight the bees to get to it!

It doesn’t help our cause that we don’t have to canvass miles and miles of forest to forage for food – too many of us are couch potatoes, and it explains why so many people in our modern world are so overweight.

We have access to too much food – and it’s too easy to get to – we just drive to the supermarket. You can find food in thousands of varieties, and it comes to us from all over the world.

Now just replace the word “food” above with the word “clothes” and the word “supermarket” with the word “mall,” and you have the reason why most of us have far more clothes than we will ever need – and why most of us make a lot of poor choices in what we buy.

Junk food looks yummy in the package, doesn’t it? But if we eat enough of it….it definitely doesn’t look good on us. Likewise, “junk clothes” are just that - clothes that may look great on the hanger – but not so great on us. Or they’re clothes we like and plan to make an outfit with “someday,” but we don’t. Or we buy them because they’re on sale or just plain cheap. 

Whatever way they get into our closet, they’re just adding extra weight – and no substance.

Other times we buy clothes just because we’re momentarily “starving” – we may be thrown into a panic because we have to go somewhere special and we need an outfit. We normally end up settling, don’t we? It’s rarely an outfit we love and want to wear again and again.

Cavemen didn’t have options like going to the cupboard for a bag of Cheetos. And if they were starving, they looked for the most nutrition-packed food they could get their hands, spears or clubs on – whether they found a patch of berries or a mastodon.

It can be so easy to gorge ourselves – filling our closets and sometimes spending way too much – because there are thousands of items to buy at any given department store or discount store smorgasbord.

But realistically, how many clothes do we really need? Let’s learn from the cavemen!

1. Go hunting for Mammoths!

A caveman would innately conserve his resources – mainly time and energy - looking for the “big kill.” He would pass up a rodent for a mammoth because it provided greater sustenance for a longer period of time. Likewise, if you can learn to identify a “mammoth” (an item of clothing that is classic, high quality, and looks great on you), you will be happy to wear it again and again. Twenty rodents (or twenty pieces of “junk clothing”) will never equal one mammoth.

If you learn how to only “slay mammoths,” you will conserve your precious resources too – your valuable time, energy and money!

Go ahead. Slay a mammoth!

These are two of my mammoths – and no I am NOT talking about LisaMarie (left) or Wendy! If you know me for long enough, you will see me wear my teal BCBG sweater set with the ruffled collar and my

white casual jacket with yellow, red and orange flowers. Year after year, they are my trusted go-to pieces. They look great and make me feel amazing.

2. Stay away from the Bees!

Research tells us that most people living in western societies are truly addicted to sugar. We use it as a form of self-medication to temporarily boost our mood and make us feel better. Isn’t this how a lot of us would explain our need for “retail therapy?” Hey, we feel great briefly – until the momentary high is gone - or until we get our credit card bill. Or in the long-term, when we clean out our closet and realize just how much we spent on stuff we don’t even like. If we can learn to control the desire to buy clothes mindlessly (i.e., not putting sugary “junk food” into our wardrobe), we will only raid the hive on those rare occasions when we know exactly what we need - and when we have a plan to outsmart the bees :) 

3. Remember, Cavemen are the Best Shoppers

To shop for clothes wisely means that you look first for Colors that look great on you. If the color works, next check to see if the item of clothing looks good on your Body. Wear clothes that flatter you – the size doesn’t matter! And if your item passes the first two checkpoints, the Style should fit your fashion personality. And if it does, then you’ll know you have a mammoth cornered in the cave, er, I mean in the dressing room!

So go ahead, my fellow cavemen, indulge your primal instincts. Grab your spear and hunt for the right pieces for your wardrobe. Go to several stores if you need to. Get out of your comfort zone, but don’t outspend your budget. And definitely don’t settle for rodents!

P.S. Leave your fur pelt at home – or hope you don’t run into a member of PETA!

My gang and I are having a SATC movie premiere party!

Buy your tickets HERE.

RSVP HERE.

Here's a fun Sex & the City Fashion Quiz!

What I'm reading

I knocked out Flesh and Bone by Jefferson Bass and Dan Brown's Deception Point very quickly (good book!). I haven't picked up Beauty Confidential again yet, even though I keep looking right at it on my bookcase.

Instead, I want more fiction (weird!).

I bought Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell and The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. The latter is a fantasy about Freud being called in to help with a murder investigation while visiting New York. I liked The Devil in the White City, so I though I would try this one.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and Gram!

To celebrate, we are going to my aunt's today for dinner (whew! Thank God we are not going to a restaurant - seriously!).

Then on Wednesday, my mom, gram, aunt and I will be in the audience of That's Life with Robin Swoboda. We never do anything like that anymore -- the last time may have been to go to a Morning Exchange/Sea World event when I was in 1st grade!

So I am looking forward to it!

Click here to read my really silly column from Mother's Day last year.

KK: Fashion Savant

I was at Macy's this morning with a client I love working with. We were in a big dressing room with what turned out to be 52 pieces of clothing on a big rolling rack. She mentioned her 6-year old fashionista daughter would love to do what I do - in a few years, of course.

I told her that ever since I was a little kid, I have always been a fashion savant.

For some reason, I have a photographic memory of everything I have worn over my entire life to every major and minor event. And I can usually recall what everyone else wore as well. This goes back as far as first grade.

I am assuming that isn't normal!

My client mentioned that it must have been in the cards for me to have this career. Man, how true is that?!

Not only do I love what I do - I truly enjoy making people look and feel amazing - but I have these crazy, almost preternatural abilities where clothing is concerned. I have a Rainman-like memory for clothes, and my ability to put outfits together in my head and visualize what a person will look like in them is a little freaky. I can select a big rack full of clothes and normally, my client will love 95% of what's on there.

Part of being a style consultant is having color, body line, fashion personality and brand knowledge. What seems to differentiate me from everyone else who does what I do is a sixth sense about clothes and the people who wear them.

I cannot really explain it, but the more I work one-on-one with people, the more thankful I am that I have this unique gift. Not only because it differentiates me from the competition, but because it truly benefits my clients and ultimately, it saves them a lot of money!

Update - PETA wants jockey suspended

Here's an update to this post. Of course PETA needs to get involved. They are always well-intentioned and always half-crazy.

From the AP -

NORFOLK, Va. (May 4) - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky's racing authority claiming the filly was "doubtlessly injured before the finish" and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles' death is investigated.

The letter to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority also sought a ban on whipping, limits on races and the age of racehorses, and a move to softer, artificial surfaces for all courses.

From the Lima (OH) News - Dressing Thin

I was quoted in this fabulous article along with two of my fellow image consultants, Erica and Sarah. Check it out!

Slimming Style

This is why I hate horse racing.....

....and any sport involving animals.

I've written here before of my love for animals. While I am not a horse enthusiast by any means, deaths caused by horse racing bother me terribly.

Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby and the winner wasn't what made headlines. It was the runner up:

Filly Eight Belles euthanized on track

Visions of Barbaro came flooding back, along with another horse being euthanized on the track last year....at the Preakness? I can't remember.

Is it really necessary to put these horses through this? They train and train and then one wrong step or loss of footing and they're done. Not only are they finished with racing, but they're also finished living. They can't be saved and have to be put down immediately. Barbaro was a rare case where they tried for months (ultimately in vain) to save him.

This really bothers me. And to think how much horse racing goes on around the country...and around the world - and how much money is tied into it.

My parents' dog is a former racing greyhound. The life of a racehorse is probably heaven compared to what life is like at a dog track. And for years, when greyhounds finished their use as racers, they were euthanized. When I look at Tina, my parents' dog, I just can't believe how anyone could do that.

I just...I can't stand animals being used in sports. And don't even get me started on the "sport" of hunting....

Q104’s Fabulous Sex & the City Contest

My friends at Q104 are having an amazing Sex and the City contest. I know a lot of us are big fans and cannot wait for the movie – so here is an opportunity to win tickets AND some amazing SATC-inspired prizes, including a shopping spree at Beachwood Place – accompanied by your own professional wardrobe stylist – yours truly!

Please read below – you only have TWO DAYS LEFT

to register, and the contest starts

THIS MONDAY!!!

Q104 wants to send you to see the Cleveland SNEAK PREVIEW screening of Sex and the City on Wednesday, May 28^th at 7:30pm at Regal Richmond.

To win, all you have to do is sign up to play “PICK YOUR PRIZE - SEX AND THE CITY EDITION” on Q104.com. If we call your name at 8am, 1pm or 4pm, you have 20 minutes to call back and win not only tickets to the screening but also some of the prizes you told us you wanted to win!

Click HERE to register!

Mosquitoes Prefer Blondes!

So THIS is why I get eaten alive every summer!!!!!!

Why do certain people attract mosquitoes? The mosquito is usually attracted to a person by scent and temperature, but sometimes also by looks. Just like gentlemen, mosquitoes prefer blondes. It's possible that blondes are simply more noticeable to mosquitoes than brunettes.

Adding fuel to the fire, I seem to be allergic to mosquito bites because they turn into huge swollen pink welts on me and I'm in agony until the swelling goes down.

My grandma (also a blonde) also seems to get bitten more than most people. This explains a whole lot. We'll need to watch out for my little blonde niece Marissa this year too.

Before summer, I need to do some research on avoiding bites (Off! works to an extent for me) and treating bites...or I'll just buy a brunette wig and stop smelling so darn yummy!