Swimsuit Season (noooooooooo)!

Hey people!

Check out the feature I put together about swimsuits for ambermag.com! Great advice from the experts for EVERY body type. I really enjoyed this project and I hope it helps!

I'm Too Old for The Warped Tour

Sooo...

Where do I begin? The beginning? Fantastic idea!

While it's not easy to make friends when you spend most of your time in front of a computer blogging about your irritation with skinny jeans being around for yet another season, I've met some cool people through my internships. One of those people happen to be Jamella (yo girl)!

Anywho, Jamella and I have tried to hang out and enjoy our time in this awesome city together. She told me about the Warped Tour taking place in Uniondale, NY and I thought why not? I've never been and it beats staying home on a Saturday.

After getting some work done for the boss lady, I put on what I thought was concert-appropriate attire (for someone who is too vain to be sensible). Donning a khaki hat, gray halter from Plato's Closet and a cute floral skirt from Target, I was ready to rock out like Penny Lane.

Let's fast forward through the ridiculously long commute to Uniondale shall we?

I get to this incredibly normal suburb (they have a Bravo there) and stroll up to the venue of the festival/concert and two of the vendors asked if I was there to pick up my kids. Blank stare. I'm sorry, what? Me? Really? Wow. This is going to create so many issues .

Once they saw the look of shock on my face, they asked me how old I was? I answered with a bit of an attitude but don't judge me until someone asks you if you have teenagers when you're only 23. The men (women wouldn't be so cruel) ofcourse backpedaled and told me I looked great but the damage was done. I am officially on a strict anti-wrinkle regimen.

Moving on...

I meet up with Jamella and we walked around a bit before heading over to the stage where one of her fave bands were playing. I should probably mention now how young everyone around me was. I'm not talking 18. People, I'm talking hormones, braces, acne and underage drinking. I was among adolescents, jail bait, kids. Yes, children. I had to be one of the oldest people actually attending this event. No wonder why those men thought I was middle-aged; they were surrounded by preschoolers all day.

Anyway, we squeeze ourselves in with the rest of the crowd and wait for Breathe Carolina to get on stage. When they did, everyone went wild. I'm not really familiar with any of the bands on the tour so it was cool to hear some different stuff and I was really enjoying myself. Then something happened. It was confusing really. Still is. I'm not sure what to make of it.

The guitarist/ keytarist Josh spit into the audience.

Spit.

And he was really into it too. His whole body participated as he inhaled and cleared his throat to really let a good one out. And it traveled quite a distance as well, not hitting the girls in the front but the girls behind them.

My time in New York has shown me that there's an art form to spitting. Since people here insist on spitting on sidewalks, on the road, outside of cabs and in the subway stations, I've had time to study different techniques. It's something to do when I forget my ipod. Sometimes I get lucky and I'll have a spitter on the actual train.

But back to the spitter on stage.

I was shocked that he spit. I was FLOORED when I heard the squeals of joy his snot-hawking elicited. What the hell is wrong with America's youth?

Moving on to the next band we saw, Escape the Fate. Well before they came on stage, me and Jamella were waiting - with more children- and then I felt something wet splash on my arm. I freaked. A little. I thought it was spit. Irrational? Maybe under normal circumstances.

Turns out it was water (I'm hoping). Besides the water splashing, actual bottles started descending from the heavens. Along with trash, barbecue sauce packets and everything else that had any weight at all. I was the lucky recipient of a bottle stuffed sock. It hit me on my head. See, the children around us were so bored that they decided to pass the time by throwing things into the crowd.

Because that makes time actually go faster.

Once the band came on stage, the bottle throwing stopped and they started a mosh pit instead. Me and Jamella elected to skip the moshing and watched the band's performance from the safety of the back.

I once again started listening to the music and I liked them. Then the lead singer had to go and ruin it by asking all the ladies in the crowd to climb up on a guy's - any guy- shoulders and let the band see their boobs.

And some girls did.

I've been holding it in but I have to ask: what the fuckity fuck?

The concerts ended and Jamella and I headed to the golden arches for some grub and then made the long journey home.

And that was my first Warped Tour experience. I obviously didn't love it but I had a great time hanging out with Jamella. I always love meeting new people and it was fun doing something different. But you won't be seeing me at another Warped Tour anytime soon.

Old folks like me are better suited for venues with a no - spitting policy.

Here are more pictures; video to come!

Anyone feel like fast food (there's some illegal substances involved for your time)?

Hi everyone! How’s everyone doing? Good? Great, okay let’s do this blog thingy. I have more than five projects due preferably before tomorrow morning so we’re gonna do a quickie, fast food style.
Well my friends, the rain stopped so yay to that. Thank God, I couldn’t take another day of bad hair and soggy flats.
I still love it here and I’m now working on my plans for the big move in December. My expenses aren’t really going to increase surprisingly so yay to that as well.
But who cares about that stuff? Let’s get to the good stuff like getting offered cocaine and being propositioned in the same breath (I have so much respect for multitaskers).
I was in serious need of some bad dancing that couldn’t be blame on alcohol consumption so my temp roomie Dave, his boyfriend Jesus and I headed to the East Village to a club called Pyramid. We met up with their friend Charlie and Shola met up with us later. Anywho, we’re standing in front of Cock… and this guy comes up to us and says something. I’m thinking the guys know him or something but noooo. Turns out he was trying to sell us "the powder". Ofcourse the guys turned him down and then he looked at me and asked if I was gay. I was tempted to say yes.

I mean really; why do people go around asking that question? It’s like me going up to a random person and asking if they’re straight.

Anyway, said no and he said I was “fine” and asked what my name was. I then did what I always do in situations like this (ha, cuz it happens all the time) I put my arms around Charlie and Jesus and said I was with my boys tonight.
On to Pyramid, where 80s music played and people danced with abandon. Let’s put it this way, I didn’t look like a bad dancer among this group : )

It did have me thinking about crazy encounters when going out. What's the craziest thing that has happened to you during a night out; when all you wanted to do was knock back a few and drop it like it's hot?

P.S: How funny is it that I'm at a bar in New York and the bartender is a blonde-haired boy displaying his O-town love for the world to see?

I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

Have you guys seen Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yet? Wasn't it bananas?!?!?

My god, talk about information overload; by the time I watched the midnight showing, I was swimming in wizardry. To prepare for the 6th movie me and my temp roomie (who is a HUGE fan) had a Harry Potter marathon. It was insane but so much fun; a great way to spend a Tuesday. Amber decorated the living room and made butter beer.

Then we got dressed up - cuz that's how we roll- and went to see the movie. We were scared of missing the previews so we were pretty much jogging. The theaters in New York, btw, are huge. Our theater was on the NINTH floor. Is this weird? Maybe not to you but I'm not used to having to run a marathon just to watch a movie!

Click here for more pics.
What did you guys think of the movie? Yay or nay?

Goodbye Michael

Okay so I'm not a superfan when it comes to Michael Jackson but I cried a lot during and after his memorial. When I think about those kids, my heart breaks. It's such a sad situation. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone.

The memorial was happy and sad. Some people wore shirts, one man went all out and dressed up. But imo he looked more like he was channeling Elvis.

People cried and sang. It was hot, then it rained, then it was hot again. But everyone kept on watching. It felt unreal. I really can't put the experience into words that will adequately describe the whole thing.

So much of my childhood is connected to Michael Jackson's songs. I know a lot of you can relate. It's funny; I truly can't pick a favorite Michael Jackson song. I love Beat It, Smooth Criminal, Scream, the list goes on my friends.

I want to share one of my favorite music videos with you. It happens to be for a Michael Jackson song.

RIP.

Click here for photos from the Harlem Memorial I attended.

Everyday I'm Hustlin'

Have you guys seen this? Hilarious!



Lol,I crack up like an idiot every time I watch that clip!

Anywho, in case anyone is questioning my hustle, here's a bit of what I've been up to for Lovelyish.com.

A 4th of July Freakshow

Hola amigos! How did everyone enjoy their fourth of July festivities? Did you go to the beach or bbq at home? Did you blow something up? Oh the great American way...

I usually don't do much for the 4th of July but decided I wasn't staying home. I'm in New York bitches! What the hell am I going to stay home for?

No, I went out in the hot weather and walked my ass off (literally, I do believe I dropped a size on Saturday). While this great, magical place we call NYC offered up such entertainment as Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest 2009 and fireworks, I opted for the unbeaten path and went to the International African Arts Festival with my sister Shola and her awesome friend Shuf. It was a lot of fun; I haven't laughed that hard in public in a long time! And the pieces (jewelry, clothing etc) were incredibly authentic. I'll be featuring a lot of the artists in future blogs so keep your eyes open for that. I also had amazing food (it is me); vegan red velvet cake, vegan meat pies.

It was an all around good time and I'm glad I had a chance to go.

On Sunday, I met up with a friend at Coney Island. The first thing we did was attend the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. It was really entertaining in that campy way and I think they were going for that so mission accomplished.

The highlight of the show was definitely Heather Holliday. The cute as a button chick swallows swords and breathes fire; every guy's dream girl right? Serpentina's set was a snoozefest! She came out on stage looking wasted and proceeded to walk around with her disinterested snake.

Moving on to the rest of the day; am I the only one who didn't realize Coney Island was on the beach? The place was packed but it was beautiful out; great 4th of July weekend weather. People were even fishing and they were catching everything from crabs to cat fish to empty bear cans. But they weren't throwing these poor animals back which made me think: are they actually going to eat what they caught? I mean cool... I guess. Why not? Ignore the third eye that fish has, it probably has nothing to do with toxic chemicals. I actually saw one man using a chicken lap as bait because that's normal. Let's forget evolution and the food chain and feed a chicken's carcass to a fish. Yep, makes sense. I'm sorry, I know I'm getting all "tree hugger" on you guys. It's a free country.

You couldn't pay me to put a toe in that murky water though.

P.S. Here are some pictures if you'd like to sneak a peek