looking towards the Minuteman

In the same issue as their article on travel by bike train, the Boston Globe also ran a good piece about the Minuteman Bikeway by Shira Springer.  It definitely made me wish the Minuteman was a lot closer to here, or that the bike paths close to home were a lot more continuous and developed.  We have great access to the Muddy River bike path (it's pretty much right outside our ), but then you get dumped into the Fenway after a about a mile (which is useful, but not exactly relaxing).  Heading the other way up the Emerald Necklace, you can get to Jamaica Pond, but after that you get stuck again.  I wish there was a more continuous path that lead to the Charles and the shore, but I don't know if that'll ever happen.  The Minuteman offers an 11-mile path, which seems like a good way to spend a pleasant afternoon.  Without the car, I never ride my bike just for fun--bicycle is how I get from place to place, rather than just a way to get exercise or get outside. 

Bike Explorations: dreaming of Cape Ann

The Boston Globe ran a great article last month in the Explore New England section about a bike trip I'd like to take, one that seems both fun and affordable.  Stephen Heuser wrote about taking the bike car on the commuter rail up to Cape Ann and exploring Gloucester, Rockport (one of my favorite places), the North Shore.  I'd sure like to give this a try next year (it's just not going to happen this fall).  I definitely want to talk Tracy and the kids into trying the bike train--I just love the idea of it.

RelayRides. Possible alternative to Zipcar?

At a recent Boston green festival at Government Center, I came across a new company, RelayRides.  They're a carsharing company/service that works sort of like Zipcar--you reserve a car online, pay a certain hourly rate, and drive.  The big difference is that RelayRides doesn't own the cars--they're owned by your neighbors.  In fact, if you own a car, you can join up and start renting out your car.  They provide the insurance.

Their web site is pretty detailed.  On the surface, it seems like a good model.  It's a way to make a lot of cars available for sharing, people who own cars get compensated, and the company makes some money but doesn't
have to own a zillion cars.




I know there are tool sharing and other kinds of sharing sites out there, but this car site is the first I've seen in the Boston area.

Has anyone out there tried this yet?  Let us know.

Make or Break?!

Hey Dolls,

How are we? Well I hope.

So, I was speaking to a friend of mine earlier as she called me crying. I was deeply worried about her until she explained her reason for crying, all over a guy she is dating. "He came over last night randomly and I was in my pajamas with no make up on. He sat next to me, smiled and told me I looked beautiful!!"
My response, "Ok babe, so why on earth are you crying?!" Her response, "I don't know whether he means it or he is lying!"

You see, as girls, of course we get paranoid when it comes to men. To be honest, apart from make up, hair and shoes, men worry us the most. When it comes to a situation like this, how can you know if a man is being genuine or is lying?

Why would they lie? Well, in my opinion, and this is after going through and meeting a fair share of guys in my time, I have known quite a lot to lie. This may be if they have other things going on, E.G another woman or if they just want to get in your knickers.
Why would they tell the truth? Well, maybe they really like you. Maybe there are decent, genuine guys out there who do not just want to get into your knickers.

I was quite interested in this so I asked 10 girl friends for their opinion.
I asked the simple question.. "If a man tells you that you are beautiful with no make up on when you are just lounging around is he lying or is he a keeper?"
5 girls said keeper, 5 said lying. Here I was, thinking I would get that one answered, but it was a tie. So I asked 5 guys. Complete mixed reviews. A great response from one boy friend of mine was great. he said "To be honest, if she was ugly, why would I want to get her into bed in the first place?" WOW! Honesty from a guy! Brilliance!

After thinking about it, I guess it really just depends on the guy. For instance, the guy my friend is dating, I have met. He is lovely! (I asked him if he had a brother, he said no, boo hoo!) He comes from a nice family and is a sweety guy and I think he genuinely likes my friend. I told her she must keep him. If on the other hand, he was a bit of an idiot then yes, I may have told her to break it off.

So have I just proven something? Can men be decent?! Wow! Only kidding, I know my fair share of really decent guys. I guess for some girls, it isn't everyday a guy tells them they are beautiful and especially without make up.

So, girls.. Remember, always believe in yourself and know you are beautiful, inside and out. If you believe it, you will give off an aura no man can deny!

I would love to hear your opinions on this.. remember you can email me at blogdoll21@gmail.com or on twitter @IlanaVak..


Lotsa love,

Little Miss V..xx

The only way is...

Hey Dolls,

Hope you are all keeping well..

Well, what was up with this weekends television programmes? Lets first of all start with The X Factor.. One of my favourite programmes. I become a religious watcher. I have to watch the beginning auditions, bootcamp and live shows, to be honest I am obsessed. On Saturday night I voted for Nicolo and Aiden, my two favourites. I was honestly gutted to see Nicolo go on Sunday. I do not think he deserved to go. He had so much more to give and even Simon Cowell said it.
If anything, Diva Fever should have gone. As much as I like them, they aren't going to win or get a recording contract, they are a bit of a joke. Talking of a joke, what is going on with Wagner aka Vugner aka Pirate of the carribean. He can't sing let alone speak in English. She bangs got turned into She BUNGS! I just do not understand how a talent like Nicolo goes when that stays. Who in their right mind voted for the pirate?

Can some one please tell me who the stylist is on X Factor? Who ever she is, she needs to go back to fashion school. I mean, really doll? Paige walked out looking like Jazzy Jeff with a mix of MC Hammer with those trousers and Diva Fever looked like me when I was 6 with my flourescent bike shorts. I have decided I have a lot of love for Aiden. His performance of mad world was incredible. The only other person I have heard perform that song brilliantly was Adam Lambert on American Idol. Aiden sang it great. My only thing about him though is watching him. He looks uncomfortable, like he is straining on the loo! I cannot wait for big band week where Paije will be given a big Frank song or Stevie Wonder. He needs to be doing these big Luther or Marvin Gaye songs to really show his potential.
How great did TreyC Cohen do!? I like her a lot. I just do not like her name. Was her mum on crack when she named her? What was wrong with Tracey love? No, let us be different and call her TreyC..
Ok, what was with Storms hair? To be honest, I look at him and feel creeped out and now that hair makes it worse. He is in his late 30's and is trying to get so much attention? I did like his eye make up Saturday night but it just is not him. Storm, you are not a boy George impersonator. Grow UP!
Is it wrong of me to fancy Louis and Harry from One Direction?! I mean, they are only 18! So cute though.
Does anyone else out their want to kick Cher Lloyd in the face? The main reason I cannot bare her?? Her facial expressions and twitching. It is so off putting to watch. Now I know a lot of people do not like Katie. I personally did not like her Lady Gaga tribute act look on Saturday night but her Save song on Sunday was great and she did herself justice.


Ok, so who watched "The only way is Essex" on Sunday night? All I can say is OH MY GOSH! Umm, seriously, was it real? I am a big fan of the Hills, but kids, you are from Essex. The acting was worse than in Hollyoaks. I was appauled. It started out with Mark "im Jack Tweeds best friend thats how everyone knows me" Wright and his friend Arg going to the gym. Nobody needs to see you two mongrels attempt to work out. You then see Lauren and her irrelevant friend go to a Beauty salon. Lauren was Mark's bitch for nine years. How did she prove her love for him? By having his name tattooed on her Vajayjay. How do we know? Because she whipped down her thong and showed her beauty therapist who was spray tanning her. If it looked good I wouldn't mind but the girl showed the whole world her stubbly, ingrown, rashy nuni. Only an Essex Bird hey! We saw another girl, Sam have her vajayjay VAJAZZLED! For those of you who do not know what that is, it is having little diamonte stickers stuck to the area above the vagina.
We then met Amy, a completely ORANGE girl with the worlds most annoying voice. We met Amy whilst she was doing a photo shoot for a wedding dress company. Did anyone else notice the weird looking creature that was with her? I thought I was having a nightmare. That should not be let on TV. We then saw this whole bunch of patheticness at a club for Laurens birthday where her man of 9 years made her feel like a prat. Well love, nothing new there.
Best bit of the programme? Seeing Mark's nan do his ironing, she was cute bless her!

One of them was quoted saying "People from London wish they were from Essex." Right, well I am from London, and the last thing I wish is to come from Essex. The best thing to come out of Essex was... ummm... Nothing? You see dear, in London we have the London Eye, River Thames, Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, Madame Tussads, Hyde Park, Oxford street shopping and much more. What do you have? Faces nightclub, girls who are orange with fake eyelashes and vagina tattoos, boys who slick their hair to the side and fake tan, oh and Gants Hill round about.
I am looking forward to seeing next weeks episode just for the pure laugh factor!

I would love to hear comments from you guys. You can leave comments on here, you can get me on twitter @IlanaVak or email me at blogdoll21@gmail.com

Hope you enjoyed reading.




Lotsa Love..

Little Miss V..xx

20 Incredible Digital Art HD Wallpapers

A Mad Man Without a Car (in a good way)

There's a fun article in Sunday's NY Times about Vincent Kartheiser, one of the stars of the hit show, Mad Men.  He lives in LA and doesn't own a car--he gets around by bus and subway.  Maybe someday it'll be cool after all.  I found this interesting: 

“They’ve done a study and they’ve found that people under 30 no longer view cars as status symbols or even positive things,” Mr. Kartheiser said. “They look at them as pollutants.”

Maybe I'm younger than I thought (at heart, anyway).

Old enough to be his mother!

Hey dolls,

Hope you are all keeping well. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who reads my blogs and is very supportive and to everyone on twitter who re tweets my blogs to people around the world!

Any way, todays blog is about a programme I watched on TV last night that has damaged my soul a bit. It was called "old enough to be his mother." This programme was all about young men who are with older ladies. Now, I am 22 and even I have had a toy boy (quite recently actually) and yes it is fun, but how is that life?

In the show we met Edna and Simon. Edna is 71 and Simon is 31. A nice BIG 40 year age gap. What goes through the mind of a young man and makes him think, "hmm, she is so beautiful i wish she was mine." Does this happen? Surely that is not normal. You are a 31 year old man. She is grey and wrinkly. In the show it showed them having a shower together. This was something I was not keen to see but only reason he was in there with her was to hold her up!
Don't get me wrong people, I am all for people finding love and their soulmates but can a woman born in the 1930's really have so much in common with a man born in the 70's? To anyone who watched the show, you would have seen that Simon is an organ player in church. He smiles and plays with the kids according to Edna. To me, that is a bit freaky, especially as Simon to be honest, does not look all there. Simons words "I was a virgin until I met Edna at 30. She made my life complete. Before meeting Edna, I wanted to end my life. My life was not worth living." Now I heard that and yes, I did feel sad for the guy, but what is it that Edna has that a woman of your own age doesn't? Saggyness? Maybe that is Simon's fetish. He is into wrinkles and sag. Amen to that. Everyone to their own hey!
I do wish Simon and Edna all the happiness in the maybe 5-10 years left of their life together.

I would love to know your thoughts on this. Please leave me comments or email me at blogdoll21@gmail.com or add me on twitter @ilanavak

Lotsa love..

Little Miss V..xx