Maria of Po Campo + Malaika & Me

Tuesday after work I met-up with my LadyBiking friend Malaika and Maria of Po Campo.

We met up at Trailer Park lounge. Yes- I really like that place. Look at how cute the front of it is.
And it's convenient from work. And they have tater tots.

Me and Malaika spotted some really cute Transportation Alternatives Bike Ambassadors.
(This was before Maria got there.)

We told them we were hatching a grand plan to start a campaign to get the West Side Greenway lit better for night times. There are parts of it that are very dark  and Malaika says there's a big sink-hole in the 90's that's poorly lit. Like around where the streets of the 90's- like 97th street, etc. would be. We are going to contact our gov't officials - city councilmen - whoever.


Malaika, Maria, Julie/Me.

We talked bike routes, brushes with danger, plans for rain gear and fall glove purchases we have in mind- Serious bike talk. Quite the meeting of the minds. I should have taken notes, but I was busy drinking beers and eatin' tator tots.


Maria gave Malaika one of the Po Campo reflective bird pins - it works!
Maria lives in Chicago and HUB had loaned her a nice vintage Schwinn to use while she's in town.

It was a very nice little meet-up. I'm so glad we did it, thanks, girls!

Malaika only rode on the sidewalk for about 8 feet and I love this pic because it's so New York to me.



I love this helmet multi-tasking. We had very little table space.

Summer Streets

I found out Summer Streets is bad ass. Car-free streets are a real treat and I'll be doing this again next Saturday. I went to give something to Liz (right,) hung out a little while, met Ross and then Sheryl and Amanda showed up.


This photo shows that our little gang is meant to be, because we represent a variety of slut-shirts: We've got see-thru, itty-bitty and choppy-trashy. All the slut-shirt bases are covered.


I got into it at 72nd Street, immediately felt the amazing warm blanket of a car-free street and really enjoyed myself down to 23rd street. I got off here to attempt to see some galleries in Chelsea.


I would never ride here but Summer Streets treated us with this opportunity.
I don't know what this is called - It's the upper-roadway around Grand Central. I actually avoid biking around Grand Central for the most part. 

I found some gorgeous wild flowers in Chelsea. I spent a little time there. There were big bumble bees and butterflies in there! I don't see that stuff much in NYC. I've never been so delighted to see a bumble bee!




I had a power-snack then found out the galleries I wanted to see were on summer hours. Bust!

Yep- I was trying to see the Jill Greenberg show - Glass Ceiling. Luckily, I am on summer hours at work myself and will catch it on Friday.

For the first time I felt the courage to go into Commes De Garcon.

I sprayed my tote bag with perfume! I felt like I was 12 again.

Then I went to get an Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Ball. I had half Peaches & Cream (my mom's favorite) and half coconut cream.


This was a good summer Saturday for sure, and I realized I'm getting much better at navigating the West Village. Maybe I'll get sick of bicycle exploring Manhattan and branch out to Brooklyn more.

My Lady Gaga Concert Review/Swoon

After I heard Scissor Sisters were opening for Lady Gaga, I couldn't shake the irrational desire to go to the show. I even slept on the idea of going through with it. Sometimes I say to myself "If you're still hot for this tomorrow, then look into it." And that's what happened.

I typically find whatever tickets I want online/Craigslist sometimes, but this was tricky. Gaga was sold out. I went over to Madison Square Garden after work and discussed my options first with scalpers, then the box office, then back to the scalpers. I wondered if it was worth it and I felt regret sneaking up on me when I would walk away from MSG, so I decided to stay. (I really liked her interview with Anderson Cooper.)

Scalpers won- I was walking down the street (toward KMart if you're familiar :) ) and a non-scalping gentleman offered to sell me his extremely expensive ticket and a bidding war broke out betwix the three of us. The scalper won my money. (Sorry guy!)

Then the scalpers got into an argument about which one of them was getting "my sale" which tells me this scalper gang was working on commission! Scalpers on commission. Wow.

No one even announced the Scissor Sisters, they just came out and started playing. Jake had on a really hardcore gay outfit, but his body is in amazing shape. I've seen him once and maybe twice and both times I just blew him a kiss. Ana Matronic looked gorgeous- she had like a blue outlined eye. They thanked Lady Gaga for hiring them out and stated that they've never played MSG before. So sweet. So sweet of Gaga to invite them! She's winning my heart...

There was a break after Scissor Sisters and some of the moms I was sitting by with young girls were getting antsy about staying out late on a school night and I was right with them!

I also felt so dorky because when I got dressed for work this morning, it was 17º and I was running late from the start, so I barely wore makeup. My hair is extra dorky and I had to do a ton of fittings today, so I pulled a dozen or so turtle necks on and off over this helmet/hair.

So I was chilling at The Lady Gaga show in this outfit feeling like a straight-up Mom who should have been escorting teens to the show. You can't see my face - that's why this pic is small. It looks worse than a no-makeup look.


Gaga is AMAZING! Such a performer! I'm not even the biggest fan, but maybe I am now. I was so happy I got myself together and went to this show. Really early on in her performance I thought "I totally support this crazy little girl."



I walked away very happy that I supported her tonight. I hope she's a gender-studies or feminist studies character for generations to come. I love her encouraging her fans and how humble she seems and her telling stories of how she wanted to be "The bitch singing and dancing on the stage"

I love how she commands that all of her fans be confident and free.
Her singing was excellent and soulful at times, and she pointed out that she would never waste our time and money by lip-synching.

It was also kind of amazing that late in the show (The fake blood was on her and all the dancers - I knew they wouldn't turn around and get to a clean place) no one was leaving the show early. It's a Tuesday! People paid fucking attention and I believe they respected her too much to leave before she was finished putting on her show.

It was SOLD OUT. Packed.

The whole thing was being filmed for an HBO special which will be out in May.

I bought a light-up bracelet that I think is going to be a swell momento; but actually a great light for my night time bicycle riding! I've been thinking of alternative lights. Alternatives to traditional (fugly) bicycle lights!

Hair/Buying Stuff/Wearing Stuff

My hair was uncooperative Friday evening, but I didn't want to wash it and start from scratch. It looks much better in these photos than I felt wearing it. I did not fully believe in this hair.



This is MAC Full Fuchsia Lipstick- But it's from a seasonal collection and is now discontinued. I was going to say you can buy Amplified if you need a color just like this, but Amplified appears to be discontinued too.

But wait- my skin looks AMAZING! I've been using Pond's Cold Cream (Seriously and I started using it before it was a story line on Mad Men, so I've been using it for months. My grandmother uses it and I think she's had the same beauty routine since she was 35 and her skin looks great, and she's now 87, so I'm going with her plan.

I don't let "soap" or anything soapy get on my face, and Ponds is like $7 dollars and it's got the goods to dissolve all my crazy mascara and eye-liners. I'm using this Olay Moisturizer with SPF 20. I rarely wash my face at night. Sometimes I moisturize my dirty face at night. Yep, I just admitted that.



So yeah, the hair is all back.

Then today it's all, like, down in the front. I felt more confident with this, but it looks crappier in pics.

Thursday was my last shampoo and Monday will be my next. 


Saturday mornings lately, Matt plays basketball with a motley crew of scientists. This is a great time for me to do whatever I want.

My itinerary went in this order with great success at all points:
1. MoMa - Film Screenings of: Nine from Little Rock, which was awesome because it was 4 years after the big show-down and it showed that they all went to college, Karl Hess: Toward Liberty - It was cool to learn about him and see his cool house he built by himself, and A Year Toward Tomorrow, about the VISTA volunteer program of the sixties.

2. Andy Warhol's Polaroids of Celebrities at Danziger Project.

I went through another small gallery over there in Chelsea, but I didn't notice the name.

3. The MAC Wonder Woman pop-up store.

4. Unplanned SoHo shopping at Roxy/Quiksilver and CB2.

I saw a sale sign at the Quiksilver store. I don't see many girls/ladies wearing Roxy in New York City, but I've loved it for a long time so I do- Even though I've clearly read articles stating that they expect my age group to grow up and start buying the Quiksilver Womens line, but they don't seem to have that at the Quiksilver stores in the city.

I got this Roxy Nick of Time coat for much cheaper than they have it online. I paid $40.  I already have so many coats but I'm able to retire two coats because of what this one does. This one is a CHAMPION Dime Piece because it's going to provide major visibility when I ride my bicycle! I swear I notice drivers being nicer, less aggressive, and more polite when they can clearly see that I'm a girl.

On the Roxy website, the color is called Rose and looks like a demure pink online, but this thing is bright and its going to have me feeling extra safe on the bike.

This awesome GUESS Jeans Sweatshirt marked 1990 is an Arkansas Thrifted/Goodwill piece, that I got on my last/December trip to Arkansas. I'm so happy I did such a great job cutting the neck out of it to make it more girly-sexy style. It's little kids size.

All day through my movie, galleries and shopping I almost always had on all my coat, scarf, etc., so I almost forgot what I had on under there.

I also wore my Sugarbunnies McDonald's Happy Meal watch to show that I'm serious.

He Snagged Me

This tree grabbed my attention with his beauty.

It was warm enough on Friday for this light leather jacket. Knee-high boots are great because I rotate my pedals with my shins to get ready to go at stoplights. The boots protect my legs better. I wore these Levi jeggings twice this week.

This was 5 days of bicycle commuting to work in a row, and that feels awesome! No interruptions from rain or *far-off social activities keeping me from riding. Riding through Central Park in the dark has been pretty fun, but I am still not satisfied with my bicycle light situation. Friday my clip-on headlight fell off at Broadway & 38th and cars ran over it and it exploded all over the street and people on the corner collectively "Awwwwed" on my behalf.

Before going home, I stopped at a bicycle shop and got a 2-pack of Knog clip-on lights and a front basket. This new basket is a style that a lot of girls have that hooks onto front handlebars. I wanted a front basket to carry my purse. I want it up there so my eyes are on it at all times and I can rifle through it to check my cell or camera when stopped of course.

Friday night Matt and I rode around Central Park to the Upper West Side to go to TJ Maxx & Michael's to get some craft supplies for a competition I'm entering.

We did not dress warmly enough and it was miserable! We saw the most beautiful skylines but I was way too cold to even think about stopping to take pictures. We also saw the fattest raccoon we've ever seen. We did stop to look at him. It's many degrees colder in Central Park than on the streets at night, and I need to learn to be better prepared for that.

Martha Stewart Stitch Fest

I saw Queen Martha again at Stich Fest for her new book - The sewing craft encyclopedia. I thumbed through it quickly and do not think my bead necklace craft is in there. So unfortunate!

This is Martha's 71st book and the 4th Martha Stewart book to belong to my household. Nothing saves me as much as The Homekeeping Handbook. I'm going to have to buy another copy because mine is signed. I need to save the signed one for my bestest grand-daughter.

So the event was $30 and you got the book (retail $35) with the price of admission, plus a goody bag a the end.
It was open bar and I went straight from work. I was starving. I don't remember but I think I got pretty drunk.


There were so many older ladies I was worried about all of them boozing. It was reckless for me too because I was so hungry. Empty-stomach wasted is a bad form of school-night drunk. We were accosting the hors dourves girls as soon as they would appear from behind the curtain. One adorable elderly lady had her wine in one hand and her cane in the other.

There were vendor stations - people showing fancy sewing machines and crafts. None of it was too much my bag. Like, who will actually buy this? I think the appeal of this display was finding out how much this beast costs:


I did like the Gutermann thread display:





The space was really neat. It was in Chelsea. There's this event hall in the middle and offices/cubicles on the sides separated by a sheer curtain. We could see the worker bees working:


Back in the inner-working of offices and show-room type space, I spotted these old modeling photos of Martha.


She breezed through the event pretty early on- I was actually getting a drink at the bar, and she was really close, taking photos of the cute bar-tenders. She is so tall and strikingly beautiful. Her dope diamond studs were sparkling. Dazzling me.

This Craft was the most impressive thing:


Even cynical Matt should be impressed. I feel like I haven't seen him in a few days. I went to this Martha party, then last night I went to a birthday dinner and this morning I'm actually on a bus riding to Baltimore to see my cousins.

Here was my outfit:

I'm happy that my new job allows me to wear pretty much whatever I want. I'll keep it cute. Some of my boss-ladies dress very "White-woman chic" - I like.

I wish I had gotten a friend to go to the Martha event with me. I was a little lonely, but I did get approached by some staff. They were serving as little hostesses and they asked how I heard about the event (Martha's twitter) and I told some of them I had appeared on the show.

I saw Darcy Miller the Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings. She is beyond a little person. I thought I could kill Nicky Hilton with my bare hands because of her tininess but Darcy is that tiny but much shorter. You could put her in a duffle and steal her. Scary! Sometimes I'm glad I'm a "big person" as PF called me once.

I am very happy that I was able to tell her my feeling that Martha loves her "The Most" I didn't go on to say "She loves you more than she loves her own daughter, Alexis." But Darcy responded really cute and made me repeat it to a group of her co-workers nearby like a little parrot. I was happy to oblige.

This is them - I wasn't cool enough to ask Darcy to take a pic with me. That's my regret of the evening.

If Martha is my mother, Darcy is my sister.

Here's the loot of my goody-bag spread out on the bed... I was so drunk because I was STARVING at the end of the event that I was ravenously searching for a snack.

No snacks.

Look at what my animal/child has been doing during the day while we are at work- I swear to you I make the bed every day. Small spaces require it. And I have to walk on the bed to get my clothes out of the wardrobe and I trip if it's not loosely made.