Real Housewives of New York Week 6 Recap

This is a rough episode for me to blog because one can’t keep it real without commenting on the sloppiness of Sonja Morgan. It is tough because I like Sonja. In the interest of full disclosure, I know Ms. Morgan. I have met her, been in her home, worked on a project with her, and know her to be a smart, funny, and lovely woman.
I wish people could see Sonja at home with her child, or talking about the pain of her divorce. I wish people understaod how successful she was before she married into the Morgan dynasty, and what she gave up during her marriage. I wish they could know the truth about her life as a single parent co-parenting with a man of power.
Sonja has a tragic yet inspiring story. She is more than what we see on this show and the truth is this show is not doing Sonja any favors. Sonja isn't doing Sonja any favors. I hope Sonja will share her true story one day because it is fascinating. I hope she gets out of her own way and knows she has my love and respect.
I write about reality TV with humor and truth. I am occasionally harsh, always honest, and at the end of the day a fan. I'm not paid to blow smoke up anyone’s ass. I have a job to do and the reason this blog is loved and hated is because I write without worrying what people will think. This was hard to write but not hard to keep it real.
The entire group is going to Atlantic City to celebrate Ramona’s birthday. I am pouring a cocktail and the show hasn't even started. Heather, Kristen, and Dorinda are at Sonja’s house to take a limo to Atlantic City. It is cold and raining but Sonja has asked an intern to instruct the women to wait outside rather than in her home.
Heather loses her shit and decides to talk about Sonja being a drunk she has rescued. Heather is a bitch, which is interesting since she calls out everyone else for being bitchy. I get she is offended and I would be too, but dumping on Sonja is not necessary and makes Heather look bad because we know Sonja is sloppy without Heather.
Ramona appears saying she used the bathroom so something is not kosher. This is bad editing to make Sonja look bad and it is unfair. The limo finally arrives from around the corner where the producers have had it waiting, and the ladies get in the car and wait for Sonja. LuAnn and Carol are meeting them there, but Bethenny joins them.
Bethenny is late and apologetic, but Heather is pissed. Heather is being a twat. This is not her first trip with these women, or her first ride on the production train, so she needs to shut up. Sonja says she is running late because her sister in unable to fly from Nashville to watch her daughter. I call bullshit. Her sister wasn't coming.
Why would her sister call the day she was to be there to say she isn't coming? That makes no sense. Sonja’s story is silly and even if it were true, there's no reason she couldn't figure it out with the women in her house. Let them in, put the kettle on, take care of your shit, and move on. It wasn't nice to leave them out in the cold.
Sonja gets in the car like she's done nothing wrong and tells Heather they need to be speaking to travel together. Heather wants an apology and Sonja wants to move on and give Ramona a nice birthday. Bethenny is holier than thou but very funny as she pours herself some Skinnygirl ass juice. Dear Lord, that shit tastes bad.
Heather is yelling at Sonja, telling her they're not friends. Sonja ignores her by looking at her phone, then Ramona loses it and tells everyone to shut up because it is her birthday and she needs to relax. She acknowledges Bethenny is under stress, which is hilarious, then Sonja jumps on the stress bandwagon with them.
Kristen is not sure what stress Sonja is talking about and I again wonder why Kristen is on the show. Bethenny tries to end the madness telling Sonja to apologize. She does, sort of. Heather doesn’t hear her and Bethenny states she is growing tired, to which Sonja responds she growing more tired. Sonja has perfect comedic timing.
Bethenny and Sonja are talking and Sonja is goes on and on about Dubai or some other bullshit and it is hard to believe her level of delusion. Bethenny is trying to help Sonja but it isn’t working. Bethenny has to pee and tells the driver to pull over on the side of the road. Really? Not one gas station on the way to Atlantic City?
Bethenny is looking for hand wipes and Dorinda tells her the wipes will hurt her vagina. Ugh. Bethenny pees outside and it isn't cute. It is actually her MO and wasn’t cute years ago either. Ramona tries to pee but has performance anxiety and can’t do it. This is just sad. That Bethenny is resorting to this type of TV is pathetic.
They finally arrive and Ramona is overly excited. Ramona, Sonja, and Dorinda share a suite. Bethenny has her own, Heather, Carole, and LuAnn are in the another suite, putting Kristine in the other single. Poor Kristen. Even the ladies don’t see the need for her. The girls relax while Heather floods her bathroom with water.
Heather is complaining about Sonja to Carole and LuAnn while Sonja is gassy with Dorinda and Ramona. Oy vey. We're 20 minutes in and I’m done. Everyone is getting ready to go out, Bethenny is pouring herself another Skinnygirl ass juice. Kristen brought two mismatched shoes and calls it fashion. Bless her.
Heather is an hour late and Bethenny calls her out. Heather denies being late and it is hilarious. Heather is an idiot and this night is not going to end well. They order booze and dinner is on. These women are mean to each other and it is sad they keep coming back for more. Fame whores crave public humiliation.
Kristen is wearing two different color shoes, Carole is wearing ears, and nobody appears to be wearing a bra. These women look fabulous, but at their ages a little inappropriate. Bethenny is wondering why everything has to be so hard in the group and I wonder the same thing. These women do not like each other.
Sonja tells Bethenny she was in PR all her life and Bethenny shuts her down. Bethenny is harsh, which I love, but she likes the sound of her own voice too much and goes on too long. She is being mean to Sonja, which Sonja needs, but certainly not at dinner and certainly not after Bethenny just said how mean everyone is.
Bethenny is yelling at Sonja to take a Xanax and everyone is listening to her. Sonja starts crying, Ramona tries to make things better for Sonja but it is too late. Sonja is clearly tipsy, Bethenny has really bad timing, LuAnn jumps in like the bitch she is, and it is sad that everyone gangs up on Sonja then claims to feel bad.
Ramona says she misses wearing her ring and LuAnn says Ramona is nicer without Mario. LuAnn is spiteful and Dorinda is lovely. Sonja and Ramona play Blackjack and Ramona says they should join their friends, but Sonja wants them to stay on their own. It is sad. Sonja is harmless and deserves more from these morons.
Sonja and Ramona go dancing, then the girls join. Carole looks ridiculous and Sonja is full on drunk flashing her vag on stage. Oy vey. Sonja is talking about being in PR again and Bethenny tells her she can’t listen to her rhetoric anymore and gets up and walks away from her. Sonja is on an island alone with these girls.
Everyone has bailed on Sonja so Dorinda is going to get her to bed. Sonja is talking rubbish and trashed. Sonja feels rejected by everyone and tells Dorinda everyone is mean to her. She then shares she parties with Madonna and JFK Jr.. Dear Lord. Dorinda reminds Sonja John John is dead and walks away from her.
Sonja needs new friends. Dorinda tells Sonja money speaks and wealth whispers. Amen. Cut to breakfast and Sonja breezes in fresh as a daisy and everyone is amazed by her continuing delusions. Sonja goes to Bethenny to apologize for the night before and Bethenny decides to have a heart to heart with her.
Sonja says she misses her husband and family life. She's been divorced for years and while I understand how hard it is, enough. She is a broken record and if she thinks for one minute being drunk and sloppy has anything to do with barometric pressure she needs more than therapy. Bethenny crosses a line in 3…2…1.
Bethenny tells Sonja she needs to stop mixing alcohol and prescription drugs. Sonja says she is taking vitamins and there may be a bad reaction. Bethenny is not a therapist and more importantly, if Bethenny really cared about Sonja, she wouldn't have this conversation on camera. This is now the Bethenny show.
Back to the girls, Heather says she could not care less about Sonja, but she is still talking about her. Kristen says Sonja’s tears are fake, but Luann says they’re not. No tears, no crying, but there were tears. Back to Sonja, she tells Bethenny she is choosing to not be in a relationship until her bankruptcy is over.
I call bullshit. We have watched her chase a relationship for years so this makes no sense. Sonja lives in a fantasyland brought on by stress, delusion, and depression. She'll be fine but only if she separates herself from these gutter pigs, and stops drinking. Bethenny tells Sonja she needs a therapist.
Sonja is not hearing anything Bethenny says. Not one word. Nobody will ever help Sonja until she helps herself. I believe in her and hope her day of freedom comes soon. Next week we’ll watch more Bethenny than is needed. Her shows were cancelled for a reason so Bravo needs to let her go and keep it real.

Say yes to the dress, but no to the fake

Christine Stachurski said yes to the dress - and then the dress turned out to be a fake.
"You get this thing in the back of your mind that says it's probably too good to be true and I should have listened to it," says Stachurski, 37, of Fontana, California.
The bride-to-be, who is getting married on Saturday, had been duped in a way that is becoming more common as consumers order discount dresses for weddings, proms and other special occasions from web sites.
The dresses don't come cheap, so it's easy to understand the drive to find a bargain. The average wedding dress cost is now $1,281, according to a survey of 13,000 brides and grooms released in March by TheKnot.com. Dresses that cost upwards of $3,000 are not unusual, and prices can go far higher.
Those who want to pay less go can go to a well-established U.S. retailer with an online presence, like David's Bridal, or sites that sell used couture, including Tradesy.com, NearlyNewlywed.com and oncewed.com. You can also go to a well-regarded local consignment shop.
But many shoppers are falling prey to counterfeiters operating through foreign-owned websites. An estimated 600,000 dresses were illegally sold in the United States last year, according to the American Bridal and Prom Industry Association, a trade group.
Stachurski and her fiancé were in the bargain market because they wanted to keep their beach wedding a low-budget affair. When she found the perfect dress for $136, she felt lucky. It even arrived on time.
But once Stachurski opened the package, she found the dress was not only a wrinkled mess, but was also mis-sized, had raw edges, bunched up fabric and other obvious flaws. "As my fiancé said, 'It looked like a drunken monkey put it together with a stapler.'"
After the seller, a China-based website, told her they would accept a return if she would pay the $90 shipping charge, PayPal agreed to refund the transaction. Stachurski ended up just going to the mall and buying a casual dress off the rack. An email from Reuters asking the site to comment about the issues was not answered.
LOTS OF TEARS
Stories about brides scrambling after getting a counterfeit dress are common, says Steve Lang, chief executive officer of the bridal dress company Mon Cheri Llc and president of the American Bridal and Prom Industry Association. He often hears of broken-hearted brides and prom-goers, with tales not only of missed weddings or proms, but also people who have had their identities stolen and their credit ruined.
"A dress that sells for $2,500 you can order for $195 and you expect it to be the same? Horrific differences," Lang says.
The association has been aggressively pursuing the counterfeit sites, winning a court order earlier this year that halted about 1,100 foreign-based sites and froze nearly $1 million in PayPal transactions alone, Lang says.
The problem had been accelerating at a break-neck pace, says Roanna Rose, owner of TJ Formal in Joplin, Missouri, who has been monitoring the scam sites for the association. When she first started keeping track in 2011, she had a list of about 150 suspected scam sites. The list now totals more than 7,000.
Some are particularly enterprising, Rose says. One counterfeiting site even used photos of the inside of her very own store to appear legitimate, she says.
"I had a huge online business and it dwindled down to nothing," Rose says. "I blame the counterfeiters."
HOW TO SPOT A FAKE
Warning signs abound for dresses that are not real. Seeing a big discount on a name-brand dress, or promises of inexpensive custom orders, are the biggest warning signs. Wedding dress prices are largely controlled by the makers and distributors, industry officials say.
Before ordering, be sure the site or retailer is on a list of authorized sellers of the dress manufacturer, the bridal association recommends. Consumers can also check reviews posted to the Better Business Bureau site or to forums such as RipoffReport.com and SiteJabber.com.
Also, be sure of the origins of the site. Consumers have far more protection when buying from U.S. vendors. Nearly every site on the bridal association's watch list is based in China, says Rose.

But not everyone who buys a cheap dress online is getting scammed, Rose notes. She actually has had customers come to the store to ask to get measured so they could buy the cheap fake online.

Round-up: Glamour on wall street

The Australian beauty has definitely stolen the show in this white Grecian Armani Prive ensemble.
The stars at the recent premiere of The Wolf of Wall Street in New York have definitely lived up to the hype with their glorious fashion choices. Ditching the gloominess of snow-capped winter in the state, our favourite celebrities showed up in exquisite gowns, trendy cocktail dresses and graceful suits. Undoubtedly in awe of their fashion sense, we round up our top picks of the evening:
Camila Alves
Matthew McConaughey’s better half sizzles on the red carpet in a figure-hugging crimson lace dress by Dolce and Gabbana. The voluminous loose waves and smoldering eye make-up surely makes her stand out in the crowd. Her pointed lace stilettos are to die for! We must say Matthew is one hell of a lucky guy!
Leornardo DiCaprio
The Inception star looks dapper in a classic black suit and matching tie. With a slicked-back hairdo, sexy stubble, killer smile and a chiseled bod enhanced by a well-fitted suit, Leo has us simply drooling over him. There is no doubt that this guy is a perfect combination of good looks and talent.
Margot Robbie
Hubba Hubba, actor Margot Robbie looks drop-dead gorgeous. The Australian beauty has definitely stolen the show in this white Grecian Armani Prive ensemble. The black leather panel around the waist lends an edgy touch to the elegant gown and she adds a quirky touch by sporting a pair of spider earrings. The retro hairdo completes her flawless look.
Matthew McConaughey
The hunk with unconventional looks, actor Matthew McConaughey is an eye candy in this gray/silver suit with a matching tie. With the slick, spiky hairdo, courtesy celebrity hairstylist Patrick Melville, and those heart-melting dimples, Matthew looks suave and sharp on the red carpet.
Cristin Milioti
Unlike her contemporaries, actor Cristin Milioti chose to wear something more cocktail party-appropriate. While her Peter Pilotto Paloma dress is fun and flirty, the dizzying pattern is more suitable for the spring season. Nonetheless, with her spot-on hairdo and subtle make-up, Cristin is definitely giving us fresh vibes.
Jonah Hill

Actor Jonah Hill maintained his reputation of being quirky and fun. He sported a navy suit and a white shirt with a spread collar. However, it was his floral patterned maroon tie that caught our attention. We won’t say that we are fans of it but it’s good to see Jonah making an effort!