Oh What a Week

You know, I started this blog with the intention of posting something new every day. I would love to say that’s going to happen but I just don’t know. This week was INSANE. Insane, but in a good way. In a “wow I can’t believe I get to write every day man I’m tired yay the sun is out and my mommy’s here I’m going to take a walk omg it’s fleet week hello sailor yes $35 for a crapload of organic and vegan food god I love this country whoa that dress is supercute aww cute babies everywhere central park is so not overrated and David Moon is awesome I’ve never seen that before and they have a Indian restaurant in this neighborhood too” kind of way. Like I said, it’s been a long week. I'm gonna do the bullet thing. I can't communicate any other way right now.

• My mom flew in for my sister’s graduation so Shola (one of my other sisters) and I got to spend some time with her. Well, Shola spent time with her. I was busy, frantically rewriting blog posts. My mom managed to take me away from my laptop long enough for us to get lunch in the hood. This place Las Pollitos is a very yummy Mexican restaurant across the street from the apartment. I don’t know what I ordered but it was vegan and it was good. Yes, I’m behaving again.
• So I usually shop at Whole Foods and Publix for groceries. Shola took me to Trader Joes, a cheaper version of Whole Foods. While they didn’t have the biggest vegan selection, they did have the basics and I only spent $35 for groceries that will last me about three weeks. Yay!
• It’s really beautiful outside and it has been for the past few days. And I’ve been inside for most of it. So when Friday came, I didn’t care that the sun was already down for the day. I was just excited about going anywhere, let alone some fancy schmancy party. Cocody Productions hosted a party with Nollywood NYC at Le Cirque and the boss lady sent me to cover it for the magazine. With Shola as my plus one we took a taxi to the Upper East Side. The party was fun; I was a little nervous about getting enough photos for my review but I think I did okay at the end. The yellow cab ride back home was even better. Who knew a person could check people.com while waiting in traffic?
• Saturday was jam packed with stuff. With Shola leading the way, I did my laundry, saw a postal worker delivering mail door to door, made a key for the apartment, stopped at the bank, came home, headed to Manhattan , met up with Shola’s friend Amber and her boyfriend Dave at their friend Dave Moon’s AMAZING apartment across the street from Central Park, headed to the park, chatted a bit, got ready to leave, got on a very busy train to head back to Brooklyn, saw some sailors, ordered some Indian food, bought some wine, watched a depressing French film and passed the hell out. I feel very accomplished.

Stay tuned for a post this week about Dave Moon, the artist who lives in the coolest apartment I’ve ever seen.

Some stereotypical tidbits about the city

I’ve been here for less than three days and I’ve already learned a lot. For example, a lot of those stereotypes about New York are true:

Small bedrooms – My sister’s room is ridiculously small. Not Orlando small, when you have trouble practicing feng shui because of the big screen TV, desk and king size bed in your room. No, it’s small like I can’t cross the room without climbing over a twin size bed. I’ve heard about claustrophobic NY bedrooms before but I always thought it was an exaggeration. And I was so wrong. But the bedroom can’t take away from the rest of the apartment. The living room and kitchen are spacious, a lot of light comes in and the neighborhood is in an awesome part of Brooklyn. Who needs a car when the bar is across the street?

Tap water that doesn’t taste like ass – New York tap water is drinkable. It actually tastes good. As a former employee of a water treatment company I used simple facts to lure people into buying water filters. Fact: NY has the best water in the nation; Florida: not so much (we’re second to last). I won’t drink tap water in Florida unless it goes through my Brita first. When I got to my sister’s Brooklyn apartment, I had some water and it tasted ass free so I’m sold.

NY pizza is amazing – Yep, it sure is. Really good. I’m not supposed to eat pizza. I gave up animal products more than a year ago. Dairy = Big no-no. But I’ve never had NY pizza before so I gave in. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but I remember the ricotta and spinach slice I ordered. That’s the culprit in the photo above. I’ve been paying for that slice since I ate it but I can’t say it wasn’t worth it.

They really do sell everything here – You can buy an iPhone on the side of the road or have your shoes shined while you wait for the train. You can even buy porn in bars and on trains. Yep, my sister’s roommate was approached by a sweet old lady who walked into the bar offering “cigarette , porn, cigarette, porn” the way a vendor would yell “hot dog, beer, hot dog, beer.” Once you agree to buy something she asks “man- woman, woman- woman, man -man?” and apparently she goes to the different trains to offer her goods as well. Wow…

Everyone looks so put together – I feel strangely underdressed every time I leave my sister’s apartment. You have the hipsters in their fedoras, plaid and leather and you have the Blair Waldorf wannabes (or the inspiration behind the character) toting around their Chanel 2.5 quilted bags. Everyone has some semblance of style. I love it; it makes “people watching” feel like an impromptu fashion show.

There hasn’t been a dull moment and I’m completely enamored right now. It could be the change of scenery or the exciting internship or the 10 different restaurants down the street or all of the above. I even enjoy taking the subway! I’m going into the city on Monday to research an article. Hey, maybe this time I won’t get lost…

First day of internship in the big city!

It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to get an editorial internship in NYC forever; I applied to almost 200 in the last two months. It was disheartening not hearing from anyone and I’m naturally whiny when I stress so you can imagine how much fun my family and friends had hearing me cry about my “nonexistent career.”
When I got my first internship, I was ecstatic. Xanga.com is this network where people (mostly teens) can submit personal blogs. My job is to edit submitted posts and create my own for the Xanga websites. I don’t officially start till June 1st but I’ve been writing for them since April. Check out my blog for Datingish.com
I applied to more publications even though I had an internship for the summer (I must enjoy being overworked). The editor in chief of AMBERmag.com, an online beauty and fashion magazine, emailed me. This resulted in a three day happy dance that lasted till I bombed the phone interview. By some miracle of God, I got the internship anyway and left for New York two weeks earlier than originally planned. I finally met the boss lady in person yesterday.
What can I say about the boss lady? She’s intimidating even though she’s a lot nicer than I thought she’d be. She’s a fantastic dresser and an authority in an industry I’ve wanted to work in forever. She’s cool. After my CMS training I headed to Varick Street for a meeting with an organization Ambermag is sponsoring an event for.
My job was to take notes during the meeting and contribute ideas for the fundraiser being held in honor of World Aids day. I was pretty impressed as I sat in a room full of teenage girls, listening as they debated over which celebrities should host their event. These girls opted to skip the Soulja Boys of the world for “socially conscious” celebs. One girl mentioned actor and activist Hill Harper. Rosario Dawson, Wyclef Jean, Hillary Duff, Kerry Washington, Pete Wentz and Mary J. Blige were also brought up. NO ONE wanted Rihanna because they felt she was no longer a good role model for women. Interesting, no?
So yeah, that was my first day. I’m excited about both internships but the Ambermag one has more to do with what I’m interested in; I get to interview artists, designers and photographers and write about everything from pop culture to the best boutiques in New York. So I’m pretty happy. The boss lady has given me a lot of responsibilities and she trusts me so I’m determined to make up for my lack of experience with my kickass work ethic and my star intern qualities : )
Here’s to not royally screwing up.

Costume Institute Gala

Hey hey hey!

Check out the blog I wrote for lovelyish.com about my favorite event of the year!

Who was the best dressed at the Costume Institute Gala?

Bands that rocked and still do

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No Doubt managed to make my whole day yesterday! They were the latest musicians to perform for the Today’s show Toyota Concert Series. I knew they were back together but actually seeing them perform made it real. It looks like this is the year of old school tours. With Britney touring as I write this and Michael Jackson prepping for his moon walking return, it seems everything old is new again. And with Green Day and Blink 182 prepping for their comebacks, it looks like I’ll be doing my happy dance for a while. What’s even better than bands that that used to rock? Bands that used to rock and still do! No Doubt performed “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak” and they KILLED it. Seeing Gwen Stefani rock some Bantu knots and jam old-school made my heart flutter. No one pulls off California skater girl quite like Gwen and red lipstick never looked nearly as hip until she came on the scene. Don’t get me wrong, I love Gwen Stefani the solo artist but nothing touches No Doubt in my eyes. It’s nice to know they still got it.