Celeb Sighting: SJP

Last night we went to this show, and we had a celebrity sighting worth writing home about.

It's funny that I worked for the lady who dressed the SATC ladies the during time they were working on the SATC movies, but I never saw any of the four main characters up close - I saw some in the street filming but that's it, I think. I saw the clothes up close. Some of the clothes accessories may appear in my nightmares indefinitely.

Last night this changed. We saw her come into the theatre, smiling, looking for her friends.
She sat down right in front of me. She is beyond tiny. The Sex and the City fan in me said "Wow, I can leave NYC now." 
I remember back in 2001 & 2002 in my college apartment, we were one of the few homes that had HBO. People were pretty much sworn to silence to have the privilege of coming over to watch on Sunday night when a new episode premiered. This was before DVR's and everything you saw on TV being online the next day.

Seeing her felt much more casual than it would have ten years ago.


I was wearing this:


And Matt looked like this:


And the show was amazzzzing! 
She clapped enthusiastically throughout - sometimes with her hands held up high over her head.
Had I gotten near her, I would have simply thanked her for supporting Obama how she's doing. Love 4ever. 

Biggest Monday

Monday was HUGE for two reasons.

1. I was filmed for a reality show. Not some bug-eating-fear-factor crap either, but a pilot for a show about Girls who ride Bikes in NYC.

2. I saw My President, Barack Obama in the flesh, up-close for the first time.

This is what I looked like for both events:


Filming was fun, but it rained on us and my 20 minute commute was 2 hours because we would do stuff over and over and they would shoot me from different angles. There was also a still-photo photo shoot in the middle. Some neighborhoodies have stopped me to ask what this film crew was all about. That's fun.
I hope the show gets picked-up by a network.

Here's Dom, who accompanied me on my ride to work until we got totally rained out, the cameras were in danger, and we parted ways.


This is what the marquee looked like on the New Amsterdam Theatre for the blessed event of the evening:


I can't even explain how good my seat was. It was on the aisle, about 15 rows back and the dudes in front of me got up during the good stuff so my view was so clear, I could tell you what Barack's tie pattern was like. It was dreamy.

Sure, I rode an overnight bus to his Inauguration but I was soooo farrrr awaaaayyy then. It was more about the solidarity and magic of the day. For all my life I can say "I was there!" Millions of people on the National Mall and you could hear a pin drop. But that's an old story not totally related to this big Monday I had.

I'm so glad I went to all of these events.

Met Rooftop - Cloud City

Friday of Memorial Day weekend I met a few friends on the Met Museum's rooftop beer garden/bar. I highly recommend this. We're probably going to go again.



Panorama!


Malaika!


And it's finally summery enough to wear this guy I got at a thrift store in Arkansas last fall for $4.50




Tips: Don't wear a skirt because you can walk in the sculpture but it has a glass floor and don't drink immediately, because they won't let you inside the sculpture if you're getting twisted. 

Pushit. Pushit Realgood.

Part of the romance of living in New York City, for me, comes from going to stuff like this.
Except for the Bridget performance, we didn't know what we were going to get, but it was all good. The ballet was impressive. I like edgy dance performances.









It was so hot. Neal was working the box fan.

Bill!

I've had a lot of Bill Cunningham sightings. I think I know where he lives, I definitely know where he goes to work and I've seen him several times on my bicycle commute.
I see him on streets in the 50's near 6th and 7th Aves. most often. 

This is what I was wearing today - I think my purple ($20 Bisou Bisou at JCP) pants caught his eye. He certainly caught mine is his blue jacket but I didn't make eye contact as I know he's all about the candid.



To my knowledge, this evening he took my photo for the third time.

First time: Gay Pride Parade 2011
2nd: 5 boro bike tour right after I snapped him
3rd time: This evening along 6th ave. near 48th

My previous two pics totally went in the garbage. I hope one day they put all of his photos online like the Patrick McMullan website and we can buy them.

Either way, it was very exciting in that just seeing him is a celebrity sighting in itself and the exciting fantasy of showing up in On The Street in the NYTimes is fun. Here's to hoping the third time is the charm!

Yes, of course I'll be buying the paper this weekend. 

Hair Show & DIY Salt Spray

I'm going to be a hair show model in about ten days. I'm super excited because I love to get professional hair & make-up. I really love to learn about hair & beauty from professionals.

I'm going to be in this show for this salon:


Yes- after my sessions end, I am going to soak up the convention.

Viva on the Left, Kate on the right. This is my lock-up spot for this salon. I love the cafe balloons. VIP.


Yesterday, I got the message that the owner wanted to see me again and speak to me about the show.
My hair went on a job interview. The owner ratted the ends of my hair with his fingertips and I fell in love. I spent a lot of time at work today trying to re-create what he did.

Tonight I went and met the stylist in charge of me for the show and he gave me a thorough cut and talked about his plan for my hair for the show. I am definitely getting my hair cut twice and colored once and a conditioning treatment before the show, then I get completely done-up for the show both days... I think. It's unclear if I'll get styled exactly the same both days.

I loved tonight's cut. I love my blunt bangs. After he did them, he taught me how I can maintain them myself.


I am really happy how every hair person who's dealt with me lately, including these guys, and the lady who did my hair for the NYPost are very supportive of me cutting my own hair. They're really happy for me, and that makes me glad I cut it myself the past couple of months.

My guy tonight also confirmed that my DIY Salt Spray is Awesome. Never buy salt spray again, guys. Make that stuff at home. 

How to make it? Take a bunch of sea salt and mix the heck out of it in HOT water so the salt dissolves and then put a little leave-in conditioner in there and mix it some more. You could also smash the salt with a mortar & pestal if you're fancy. And add fresh lemon juice to make it a little sticky. 

He told me another more complex technique that we can get into if we hang out and you care. You need actual ocean water from the beach. Maybe after Memorial Day and I can visit the beach I'll do a blog post tutorial. 

He also taught me what I should do after I put in dry shampoo. I've been using dry shampoo incorrectly it seems. I just brush it out. You're supposed to blow dry your hair a little bit too. I'm excited to try it and find out but until that hair show, I don't think I'm going to do much to my hair myself at all.

YES! I absolutely ran into the bathroom to take pictures of this done hair...

My face was/is tired. This face has been on the go for 12 hours.

I had to smash it with my bike helmet. Safety before Beauty. 


Safety before Beauty!!! 

Old NYC Tales - Fashion Show Experience

These stories are old, but I wanted to re-visit them in the spirit of Fashion Week. 

My first fashion week in NYC was Sept. 2007. I was working for Pat Field. I was not popular or seen as like, cool, or fashion forward.  I was just a worker bee. A co-worker was styling a (fashion) show and he invited me to the Peter Soronen show/presentation. A presentation is a low-key fashion show. 

It was low-key, but beautiful. I walked-in, checked-in and was given a ticket-slip that said I had standing-room spot. I was happy to be in the room. It was my first New York City fashion show! Very pretty stuff in a classy setting. It was held in some kind of fancy club on 5th Avenue South.

For my next show that afternoon, I arrived at the location and saw a pretty big line. I had RSVP’d but I was not on the list. I was panicked. I wanted to get in there so bad. I started seeing faces I knew, but no one could help me get past the people at the door with those clip-boards and walkie-talkies. Humiliation and anguish were feelings I was having as I stood in that line.

I got saved when my drag queen friend who barely knew me walked by in her tulle glory and grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me in through the doorway with her. Clip-boards be damned! We were marching in.

Miss Tobell is the drag queen who saved me from that line of sad, angry people. She immediately turned my sadness into anxiety when she parked us on the Front Row. I was not even allowed in the door- How was I going to last on the front row?!?! I just knew I would be found out and kicked out. I was freaking out that I would be not just kicked out, but kicked-out from the front row in huge room full of people. (Miss Jay from ANTM was there and someone talking about her brought this tangled web of a story to my mind today and I decided I should type it up.)

I was riddled with anxiety further when celebrities started taking seats near me. Puff Daddy walked down the runway and took a seat diagonally from us. I was so fucking scared of swift and certain public humiliation. I saw Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters. I love him! I had no idea what to say, and was already walking the plank of ultimate embarrassment, so I just blew him a kiss. He caught it. I died.

This was before Kelly Cutrone was a household name, I think. She looked like a cancer patient (no offense to cancer patients) She had her head wrapped in a turban, her face was pale and haggard and she had the utlimate clipboard/walkie-talking combo. She was coming for me. Fuck!

She's helping Puff Daddy or whatever his name is today find a seat. I'm sweating bullets. Kelly came for me, and luckily, Miss Tobell tried to cover for me and I didn’t get kicked all the way out, I just got moved to the next row. I was moved so Nigel Barker could have my seat. I was still very scared this would repeat and repeat until I was standing against the wall in the back.

Lucky for me I didn’t get moved again. There wasn’t time, the show started! This show was major. Super bright lights, loud music, Jenna Jameson and Amanda LePore walked the runway- It fulfilled all my NYC Fashion Show Fantasies. I even got gift bags! As the show was emptying out and people were just leaving these cute canvas bags under their seats, I scurried and picked up at least four of them.

A montage of that Heatherette show - Remember, this is September 2007 and Heatherette is no more, I think.

A couple fashion weeks later, (that means about a year and a half) I went into a show as a gang with my co-workers, no problem getting in the door. We were very early and took seats on the front and second rows. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t last on the front row and I was right. A guy came with none other than Nigel Barker to deport me to the 2nd row. My friends went nuts because they remembered that time at the Heatherette show when Kelly C. removed me so he could have a seat.

He was very sweet and apologetic and gorgeous and he took this group photo with us. Fast forward several more fashion weeks. I had moved up at PF and started running her website. I had been working through events that the PR companies who manage fashion shows were also at, and now some of those clipboard door-workers recognized me and knew my name. Having a clipboard person know your name and motion for you to come in the fashion show feels absolutely fucking amazing.

Getting to go backstage and see the tables of jewelry and shoes lined-up is super fun stuff too. To be wearing a nice dress and not be working yourself also felt really good.

Here I was at that time. I look so confident! I'm actually star struck. This was my first up-close with Mr. Showbiz.  Sure, I saw Beyonce and all these other celebs but this one revs my jaded engine. 
I'm wearing a .99 thrift store collar necklace and a DVF pleated wrap dress. Some things never change.

I’m really glad I had my little time of going to fabulous stuff. I’ll never forget it!

How to get involved with Planned Parenthood NYC

I volunteer for Planned Parenthood, and often get asked how to get involved. This is the path I took. New round of trainings starts soon and here's the info. 

The PPNYC Activist Council is a great opportunity to make a difference, gain some skills, and build your resume while meeting other fun, like-minded New York City pro-choice activists!

New members are introduced to the Activist Council in 4 trainings. Once trained, members are free to decide what types of projects and issues interest them most. Beyond the monthly meetings, the level of time commitment is up to each person. The training for new members always fill up fast - RSVP Here. 

You have to attend all 4, super-informative, interesting and inspirational trainings. We always had/have Two Boots Pizza for dinner. It's amazing to be around such like-minded, intelligent people. It's mostly young women, peppered with a few guys. The energy of being around such progressive group is invigorating. 

I forgot that I never wrote a post about how awesome it was to march with Planned Parenthood in last summer's Gay Pride Parade. I meant to do a big post because it was such an awesome day and weekend, but I never got around to it. It was just too much, I guess. 

It was extra-specially electric in NYC that weekend, because the Friday before the parade, same-sex marriage became legalized. 

I've been meaning to get a video of Elspeth and me telling the story of how Bill Cunningham took our picture at the parade after I screamed his name right in his face "BILL!!!!" Because I know he's very hard of hearing. 

The picture he took of us would have looked something like this: 

PP went with a Sports theme and our get-ups were like badminton themed and shirts said "Serving up Safe Sex, Pride NYC" something like that. It was fun to wave our racquets of rainbow birdies around while we marched. Elspeth's girlfriend told us that our Planned Parenthood gang was one of the few groups that got cheers from the parade goers. 

We really did hand out high-fives the whole way down the parade route. We felt loved. 

Here are Els. & Allie maxin' and relaxin' after the parade. 

Same-sex marriage got legalized the same day me and Elspeth saw Florence Welch twice in one day. 

Me and Els met at 5am to see Florence on GMA here: 

Then we went back later that night to sit and listen to her concert in the same spot. 

Even Bonnie went! She loves Florence and other red-heads in general. 

Best weekend of Summer, no question. 

The State of My Hair... is Strong!

My hair was in a very good place today. I recently got it colored after putting myself on SalonApprentice.com To my surprise, I quickly had someone reach out to me who worked at a frighteningly fancy salon. Of course I was ecstatic to take the appointment. Fancy hair at rock bottom prices is probably my favorite bargain-y thing about NYC.

Since I was seeing a stranger-girl,  I made this diagram of times where I liked my hair and styles I was into. A mood board for hair! 


She just gave me partial highlights and a couple low-lights and a gloss. I can't tell you how much I paid because it was a scandal of cheapness, like, OMG! so cheap and wonderful.

While I got this hair worked on, I read the original Girl Scout handbook from 1913 and was delighted at how feminist it was. And it constantly reminded me of The Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook, as in, open your windows and be healthy and don't be excessive. Do good deeds. You can be anything you want to be, but have some sense.

Then after my fancy hair appointment of course, I had to ride my freakin' bicycle in the rain. Right after I figured out how to get out of Bergdorf Goodman after-hours. Yes, I was a little scared. - About the Bergdorf part.

Riding in the rain in this pink jacket is the story of my life lately.

I wear a helmet to protect my fancy hair color.

A Sea of Light

The first day of the New Year was fantastic. We rode our bicycles...


Our lunch ran really late and I had a special event to attend. I thought I was going to a small, dark, theatre, so I wasn't uptight about my outfit.

Even the day after New Year's Eve... still so many people.


Turns out I was going to a private penthouse party in a fancy doorman building and I was terribly under-dressed. I was greeted by one of my lovely drag friends. I was thankful I knew someone.

The event was small and intimate and mysterious. I enjoyed everyone who I spoke to while we waited for the performance to begin. This made me feel even deeper belief about what a truly good-hearted person the host and performer was- The fact that she surrounded herself with lovely people affirmed my admiration and confidence in what a nice person she is.

The view from this apartment was pretty spectacular. It overlooked a very flashy part of Times Square and yes- there were blackout shades installed.


The performance put me in a place where I wanted to turn myself into a sponge and absorb every moment. It was very This is my New York City life. And I wanted to remember everything about it. I loved the anticipation of the performance. The excitement of waiting for the hostess to appear! The seriousness at which the boys she had assisting her carried out the steps of the performance: A special mix cd was to be played promptly at 5:30, candles were to be lit at 6pm sharp... 
I did not take photos because I didn't want to be rude and we were being photographed. We had been advised that this would all be video taped and I didn't want to trash it up by taking pics with my little pocket camera. 

We were instructed that we could watch the performance on the television screen, or we could watch out the window. We were on the 25th floor. The hostess did not appear in person - she first appeared to us on the TV screen.  She was live downstairs and it was a thrilling treat. She had on a dramatic gold cape and was carrying a big lighted ball in her hands.

She walked to the TKTS red, glowing stairs and gave a really lovely speech about re-dedicating herself and her life as an artist. We were cheering for her and reveling in our love and admiration and just a little bit hoping she would not be arrested for breaking past the barricade and going to the top of those red, glowing stairs.

Remember- an apartment full of people were watching this unfold live on a tv screen upstairs.

When she made it back to the apartment the crowd burst in applause. I told her she really is a sea of light and I think she thought I was being corny, but I wasn't at all. She really is a positive energy and a ray of sunshine in everything she does.

It was a very magical way to start the new year. 

Sultana, on the left was the assisting "hostess" who greeted me at the door and fixed us all cocktails and the real hostess and performer is Linda Simpson on the right.
I'm happy that I told her I have Blind Faith in her entertainment value and I was so happy to attend this festivity.

The performance was video taped and if I find it online I will share it, because it was really cool and precious and it really did make me want to morph into a sponge and record all sights & sounds for a few minutes.

It made me looove my New York City life. Appreciate. Soak it in. This is your life. 


Then when I came out- it was raining. The drug store was closed and I did not have a garbage bag. It wasn't that cold so I even stopped at some pretty windows and took Kate Middleton's photo. 



Even though it was dark out, I thought I would appreciate the eye-protection the sunglasses would give and I sure did! 

I didn't have to ride very far in the rain. It was also amazing to enjoy our mild weather and be physically comfortable riding in rain in January.

Here's hoping for the magical times to continue... 

Who goes to that stuff?

If you stayed home New Year's Eve and watched the Carson Daily & Ryan Seacrest specials, you might wonder "Who goes to those pre-taped concert things?" 

Me and my friend Sarah did! Back on that night about 2 weeks ago.


While it was not in our plan, we are Roots fans and we were happy to join-in. They played a couple of songs, and I wish I knew their music better to give a better digest.


Because he's absolutely precious, Quest was hanging out signing a bunch of drum sticks and tossing them into the crowd. I love that man!


This was such a fun night before a bonus Roots concert got thrown our way. Great catching-up, pretty great weather... just random and fun and lovely.

Happy New Year! I think it's going to be pretty magical.

On the tee vee! 

The Fun will wear you out

I'm exhausted. I've been having too much fun. I've stayed out late the past three nights and the past three nights have been school nights. Bad! I'm exhausted. But it was fun.

Sunday afternoon, I finally got to meet cute Sharon of NYC Taught Me. It's a Mommy Blog that teaches me things. She's very small and sweet. We met at The Guggenheim to listen to Isaac Mizrahi read us Peter and the Wolf. The Julliard Ensemble plays the music. We had great front-row seats. There were really neat-o balloon sculptures by Jason Hackenwerth hanging overhead and we got a good exercise in stretching our imaginations. It was a neat experience.
We were both polite and didn't take pictures.

I think they wanted all the little chillin's in attendance to vacate the premises after the Isaac show, but I knew how we could shimmy on up to the rotunda to take in more of the Cattellan exhibit.

We killed some time so that we could enjoy the Christmas music program that started after-hours. While we were in line, the curly-haired, teenage son from Big Love was in line near us and that was exciting because I watched every single episode from day one.

The Christmas music was special. The choir/ensemble started singing from opposite sides way up on the rotunda. They walked down... it was great.

See the song books? They started up high and moseyed down.


It was free and it's over til' next year, but you can go ahead and pencil it in on your Google calendar and be happy with yourself when you discover it next year :) It's an annual event in about it's 10th year.

After all that Guggenheim goodness I made Matt come and pick me up so we could meet our friends on the west side for a late dinner. It was THE COLDEST WEATHER HE'S EVER BIKED IN. It was really really cold! We stiffly rode our bicycles across town and met Al & El for dinner.

 He's burrowing his face at a stop light. He was cursing me into his coat. 

He just made some comment about how much warmer it feels when you stop. Poor baby.

I was bundled up and it was still really cold. It was in the twenties. Ouch. I put on a brave face because this it was all my fault. 



 Staying out til almost midnite on Sunday is a recipe for disaster.
 Monday night I had my work holiday party. It was a karaoke party and I hid in the corner then sneaked out. I hate karaoke. 

Tuesday night I had a really special reunion. Sarah was my segment producer when I was on Martha Stewart. She spent the day with me, getting me ready, keeping me from stealing things, etc. I've kept in touch with her all these years - Almost 5 years!

She agreed to be my date to the John Waters Christmas special after Matt bailed on me for one of his many work holiday functions. (He actually won a pretty big award last night at his party - resident of the year.)

Sarah met me at the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store in Times Square I love that freaking store. It's open til midnight. I got an amazing t-shirt- Hello Kitty is eating a HAMBURGER on an American Flag. It's way too tiny for me, but I'm going to cut it and wear it. The magic is in the message.

Me and Sarah had a hard time finding a proper dinner at BB King's.
The bulk of our dinner came from this bucket.
 

The Show was fantastic! John Waters was much more rehearsed, I felt, than when I saw this special 2 years ago.
 

After the program, we walked to Sarah's office. She needed to collect some things and I wanted to keep talking.






































We stopped and showed this nerd suit gentleman some love. We had a lot of questions for him. He has a business degree and a website that I just can't remember. Dressing up in a crazy get-up is a career in New York City. 

He said he went to business school and we believed him because he had those prop-glasses to share with his patrons. 




It was super-fun to sit in her office and catch up! Times like this make me glad I'm so dedicated with keeping up with people I really enjoy.

Sarah gave me this little green guy and I was happy to put him on my bike.
I hope he stays for a while!