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Living today – in the moment – has become my “thing” lately. I could elaborate but let’s not get boring, shall we? Anyway, if I don’t live in the moment, all the things I’m pumped about next year will be here before I know it and the little things will pass me by. In fact, so much is coming my way in 2010 that I’m already exhausted thinking about it all. Oy vey.

In no particular order…

10. No specific target date has been set, but I will be officially debt-free. Feel free to hate on me, but I’ve worked hard at it.

9. Celebrating my sweet-as-a-peach niece’s first birthday.

8. Shortly after that, celebrating one whole year with my love bug.

7. Fingers crossed that the Phoenix Suns will once again rock GM Place with another exhibition game during the pre-season, a game at which I will be screaming, yelling, cheering and jumping up and down in my jersey.

Photo: taminator on Flickr

6. TORONTO! Or, you know, a suburb-thereof. I really need to see this lady again. (Except let’s not hang with those guys, okay?)

5. Seeing John Mayer in concert on April 1 for the second time. (Don’t be surprised if I disappear for a few months after the show. It’s my hope that I’ll charm my way backstage, after which he and I will embark on a passionate and heartbreaking love affair. I suspect we will exhaust each other by summertime.)

Photo: Flickred! on Flickr

4. Love thy self: I’m one of those people who incessantly say “I want to…” and then never actually do it. I want to cook more gourmet food, drink more wine, have more parties, take more day-trips, rent a car sometimes and do anything and everything that makes me happy.

3. My first visit to New York City. I plan on leaving my heart there.

Photo: miss604 on Flickr

2. Get sporty. I don’t miss going to the gym but getting active makes my heart go ga-goong in more ways than one. I want to join a co-ed drop-in basketball league or just hit the courts with friends. Bueller?

Original Photo: Fernando Ariotti on Flickr

1. Embarking on the next decade of my life, a trip that someone special to me will also be taking this year.

Your turn: tell me what would make for your “Perfect ‘10″. Feel free to make this a meme.

For almost the entire duration of our friendship, Rebecca and I have dreamed and giggled about visiting New York City together. Finally – finally – the trip planning has been set into motion, and with Rebecca’s recent whirlwind trip this week, my stoke meter has been spiking. Though our girls’ vacation to the Big Apple isn’t going to happen until May, 2010, it doesn’t hurt to scout out a bit in advance.

Photo: Miss604 on Flickr

While we’ve agreed to rely more on spontaneity and avoid the usual tourist traps and a packed itinerary, there are certainly a few things I need to do and experience.

1. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise to take in the views of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

2. Eat a pretzel from a different street vendor every single day (I love warm, salty pretzels)!

3. Visit Times Square at 1:00 a.m. to snap pictures.

4. Cruise across to Staten Island on the free ferry (and maybe “enjoy” an infamous Staten Island iced tea).

5. Take a deep breath from the top of the Empire State Building.

6. Aimlessly wander Greenwich Village to find something unique for each of my special someones.

7. “Hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes…”

8. Allow my darling Meghan to drag us to her favourite places and allow her to set me up with she-knows-who (and I won’t forget, Megs).

9. Buy myself a charm bracelet at Tiffany & Co. and have it engraved with the date to commemorate the trip

10. Devour a tasty lunch in Central Park in the sunshine.

I have no doubt I’ll probably put on a few pounds from all the tempting food. I know for certain I’ll drink a lot of coffee; sleep is overrated and I plan on making the most of our week there (even if it means heading out on some solo excursions). And fingers crossed, this is where we may be staying. We’re checking out our options, but those rooms sure would make from some cute photo shoots!

Twiggy. Jackie Kennedy. Madonna. Gwen Stefani. Princess Diana of Wales. These are all names that have, at one point or another, been synonymous with the term “fashion icon.” One name that will be found on very few lists is Sue Charlton.

In my previous post, I took you to the time in my life when I became captured by New York City by way of the film “Crocodile Dundee.” It wasn’t only The City That Never Sleeps that caught my impressionable 6-year-old eyes. I was captivated by the sophistication and daring nature of the film’s heroine, Sue Charlton.

From the first moment she appears on screen, we are shown a woman who clearly epitomizes a fresh face with an even fresher fashion sense. While at the time I was too young to appreciate the details, now as a woman in her 20s, it’s all that I notice.

From her leather safari gloves to her over-sized hats, gauzy scarves to hip and high-waisted belts, Linda Kozlowski’s Sue Charlton appeared as though she’d stepped off the pages of any Vogue magazine in 1986.

In reality, Sue would’ve needed both a trunk and an iron in the Australian Outback to rock what she rocked, but that’s entirely besides the point.

In fact, 22 years later I’d still like to raid the wardrobe closet from that film. Well, at least some sections of it…

This is one dress that never ceased to completely fascinate me as a child. It was bold, red, daring and showed a lot of skin. With all those cut-outs, I could never, ever figure out how her panties didn’t show. At that age, it never occurred to me that a woman would go out in public without panties. And while I don’t know anyone that could – or would – wear such a dress today, I applaud her regardless!

In the final scenes where the girl gets her man, we are all witness to something I still cannot get over to this day. While running from the Plaza Hotel to the nearest subway station, Sue ditches and discards her perfect leather pumps in an effort to start sprinting. Some men are worth a mad dash, but surely she could’ve tucked them under her arm or something. They were probably Prada!

It’s certainly true that much of what came from Sue’s’s closet in 1986 should remain there, and only perhaps half of her pieces could translate to 2008. However, there is no denying that she was on top of the garment game. Sue Charlton may not be a conventional fashion icon – nor one that many even know – but that which she dared to wear still echoes today, and that is truly making a statement.

All photo captures from the film “Crocodile Dundee” are credited in their entirety to Paramount Pictures.

When I was a very little girl, one of my favourite movies was “Crocodile Dundee.” While my fascination with that film still endures, it was also the beginning of a love affair that, to this day, has yet to be consumated. In it, the main character takes his first trip ever and finds himself in New York City. And as Mick Dundee landed in The Big Apple for the first time, I was instantly thrust into a stunning world of fast cars, big fashion, style, sophistication and distinctive people.

It was love at first sight.

Photo: Matthew Field on Flickr

To this day, I have yet to set foot in New York City. Growing up, travelling was never an option for my family, so I never was bit by the travel bug – even once I hit my 20s. On my own, it’s an entirely different story. If I’m going to do New York, I’m going to do it right.

Photo: wallyg on Flickr

For several months now, Rebecca and I have been tossing around the idea of a girls’ trip. She spent a weekend in NYC a few years back during her stint in Boston, but it was certainly not enough. Everyone that visits the City says there is never enough time, not enough hours in the day – it’s impossible to see it all. And in truth, I don’t plan on seeing it all. I know that would be an impossibility.

What I do plan on is experiencing the City. Tourist attractions and “traps,” as they may be, are designed to lure in those from far away and woo their money from their fannypacks. I’d much rather spend my days there with Becky wandering the streets, snapping photos, buying that which is unique rather than cliche and making a trip there all my own. The only real question is: where do we start? The island of Manhattan is roughly 13 miles long by 2.5 miles wide, but in that area, the possibilities are endless. I want to know the place that gave Sue Charlton her class and her edge.

Photo: James@mannequindisplay.com on Flickr

The tentative plan at this point is to head East sometime in May, 2009. So this is where you who have been to NYC come in: where do we stay, eat, shop, wander? I want to find the unique treasures and the places that will make the trip both memorable and exceptionally special.

*Don’t scroll down if you’re planning on making SATC: The Movie a surprise!*

For all of you faithful readers of my blog, it should come as no surprise to any of you how highly I am anticipating the upcoming Sex and the City movie.

My friend Meghan lives in NYC’s West Village and has been e-mailing me updates and scene sightings. Just a couple days ago she was witness to an exchange between Carrie and her flambuoyant and fabulous friend, Standford Blatch. She was also quick to mention that snow-making machines were brought in, turning the West Village into a Winter Wonderland in October.

Not much about the plot has been revealed other than the fact that Big and Carrie are apartment hunting and paparazzi shots of Charlotte show what looks like a might large baby bump.

However, one of the greatest spoilers as of yet was revealed through a photograph that People magazine published this morning on its website.

Picture courtesy of Perez/Abbot/INF on People

After all, what would a Winter Wonderland be without a lot of white? Let’s just pray that Aidan doesn’t burst through the doors at the moment of truth.