-41-

Sup snitches-
Hope you're having a super rad Thursday night, I know I am.
If you're like me, you probably scour the internet in search of the latest hip blogs, silly buzzfeed posts and stalk old friends on facebook... just kidding/no I'm not, (we all do it...right?)

ANYWAYS, my beautiful friends have started a small clothing concierge company and my god are those girls awesome. It's called Reynolds & Rowe and they are just so freakin' cool. They're your go-to girlies if you're in a wardrobe dilemma. Girlfriends will hook up you and dress you accordingly, whatever the occasion may be, they've got you covered. They cater to all, guys, girls, moms, dads, babies, puppies, (that may be a lie) but nonetheless whatever form you come in, they'll help.

The ladies of R&R may be small in stature, but both are well equipped with HUGE amounts of talent. R&R is going to be a BIG success. I promise you, these girls are indeed going places.

Soooo, with that, if you find yourself on this fine evening in need something brilliant to look at, do me a solid- change your life and check out Reynolds & Rowe.

You'll thank me later.

Love you both, I am very lucky to have you fashionistas in my life.

Best,
Yours truly

R&R

-37-

This is a lil shout out post to my very talented photog friend Andrew Kelly. AK wears many hats but he is especially nifty with his camera. He takes some sweet pictures of weddings, friends, babies and, OH YEAH, he also snaps pics of a little band called The Lumineers!
Don't know if you've heard of them? I kid, I kid!
Check out his awesome blog and portfolio HERE! 

Great job AK! 

Downtown, Petula Clark
Monday Morning, FleetwoodMac
Back In The High Life Again, Steve Winwood
Classy Girls, The Lumineers

-22-

 This next post goes out to someone very near and dear to my heart. While I have been stuck studying my little bum off she's out making great strides in the world and graduating from college. I am so proud of my best friend Mandelbaum. She has worked so unbelievably hard and I feel incredibly lucky to have her in my life.

Mandelbaum and I have been friends for a zillion years and to be honest, I'm not sure I particularly remember the moment we met. All I know is at a very young age she had her face buried in the New York Times, read books like The Bell Jar, explained to me what SKA music was, (she said it was bands with horns) and someone would send her letters pretending he was in the civil war. I just followed her around.

She is crazy smart and just wants to save the world, (I really think she will!)

She has an amazing family, a brilliant brain and a beautifully-nerdy heart. I love her for it. Although, I was a little freaked out when she started instagramming pics of her pet rat...RIP.
It's not everyday that you find lifetime friends, and I know I am going to sound like a total cornball, but I can't wait to see where life takes us. I want us to be trendy old ladies and our kids will be friends and *sigh* we'll talk about the olden days.

She likes reading, traveling, Star Wars, earth, Liz Lemon and being a vegetarian.

She's a pretty cool kid!

Cruising through Endor

But while you wait, check out these jams!!

History's Door, Husky (Just saw them live, good fun!)
Lay Low, Shovels and Ropes (My favorite song right now)
We Can Be Strong, Willy Mason
So It Goes, Portage
Bobby, Youth Lagoon

-21-

So this week was maybe the craziest week of all weeks. Hurricane Sandy came pummeling through the Northeast leaving millions without electricity. Manhattan was eerily quiet and abnormally dark. I traveled uptown and camped out at Sam's apartment during the storm. We stocked up on dry foods and lots of bottled water, all ready to brave Sandy together. We kept busy more or less, did some yoga... more like TRIED TO DO some yoga, stuffed my face with Honey Nut Cheerios, and played lots of Boggle. We took full advantage of this "Hurri-cation" (get it?) and watched lots of movies, walked around, (when it wasn't a torrential down-pour with 80 mph winds) and obviously ate a lot!

When I was finally able to make it back down to my apartment, I was relieved to find that my building was fortunately up and running, however, my internet was all messy. I called my mom with every intention to complain about my internet woes. Before I could even begin to drown her in my sorrows she started to tell me about all the people we know who are dealing with the aftermath of Sandy. Family whose houses are in shambles, friends with destroyed roofs from fallen trees and neighbors whose cars are totally mangled from the flying debris. She said that she and my dad were keeping positive, that they are alright, just without power. She practically sang the following words into the phone, "Problem or inconvenience...right?" And just like that, I felt like the biggest ass. I'm over here with a cold refrigerator, hot water and lights while some people don't even have a home to go to. I could not believe I was being so ridiculous, that something as insignificant as getting on the internet seemed like a big deal to me. I very quickly, shut up.

"Problem or inconvenience" refers to a story I was told the summer I was 16 years old. A very wise individual read this small anecdote to myself and my group of friends. It changed our lives. I then read it to my mom, she said it changed hers. Maybe it'll change yours. 

Sigmund Wollman's Reality Test

by Robert Fulghum

It was the summer of 1959. At a resort inn in the Sierra Nevada of Northern California, I had a job that combined being the night desk clerk in the lodge and helping with the horse-wrangling at the stables. The owner-manager was Swiss, with European notions about conditions of employment. He and I did not get along. I thought he was a fascist who wanted peasant employees who knew their place. I was 22, just out of college, and pretty free with my opinions.

One week the employees had been served the same thing for lunch every single day. Two wieners, a mound of sauerkraut and stale rolls. To compound insult with injury, the cost of the meals was deducted from our paychecks. I was outraged.

On Friday night of that awful week, I was at my desk job around 11 p.m., and the night auditor had just come on duty. I went into the kitchen and saw a note to the chef to the effect that wieners and sauerkraut were on the employee menu for two more days.

That tore it. For lack of any better audience, I unloaded on the night auditor, Sigmund Wollman.

I declared that I had had it up to here, that I was going to get a plate of wieners and sauerkraut and wake up the owner and throw it at him. Nobody was going to make me eat wieners and sauerkraut for a whole week and make me pay for it and this was un-American and I didn't like wieners and sauerkraut enough to eat them one day for God's sake and the whole hotel stunk and I was packing my bags for Montana where they never even heard of wieners and sauerkraut and wouldn't feed that stuff to pigs. Something like that.

I raved in this way for 20 minutes. My monologue was delivered at the top of my lungs, punctuated by blows on the front desk with a fly swatter, the kicking of chairs and much profanity.

As I pitched my fit, Sigmund Wollman sat quietly on his stool, watching me with sorrowful eyes. Put a bloodhound in a suit and tie and you have Sigmund Wollman. He had a good reason to look sorrowful. Survivor of Auschwitz. Three years. German Jew. Thin, coughed a lot. He liked being alone at the night job. It gave him intellectual space, peace and quiet, and, even more, he could go into the kitchen and have a snack whenever he wanted to - all the wieners and sauerkraut he wished. To him, a feast. More than that, there was nobody around to tell him what to do. in Auschwitz he had dreamed of such a time. The only person he saw at work was me, the nightly disturber of his dream. Our shifts overlapped an hour. And here I was, a one-man war party at full cry.

"Lissen, Fulchum. Lissen me, lissen me. You know what's wrong with you? It's not wieners and 'kraut and it's not the boss and it's not the chef and it's not the job."

"So what's wrong with me?"

"Fulchum, you think you know everything, but you don't know the difference between and inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire - then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy."
"Learn to seperate the inconveniences from the real problems. You will live longer. And will not annoy people like me so much. Good night."

In a gesture combining dismissal and blessing, he waved me off to bed.

Seldom in my life have I been hit between the eyes so hard with truth. There in that late-night darkness of a Sierra Nevada inn, Sigmund Wollman simultaneously kicked my butt and opened a window in my mind.

For 30 years now, in times of stress and strain, when something has me backed against the wall and I'm ready to do something really stupid with my anger, a sorrowful face appears in my mind and asks, "Fulchum. Problem or inconvenience?"

I think of this as the Wollman Test of Reality. Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, and lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference. 

Good night, Sig.

Stay safe everyone, good luck with getting back into your regular routines and if you can check out the music below!

Take a listen!

Runaway, Mr. Little Jeans

Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith), Crystal Castles

Angels, The xx

Never Mess With Sunday, Yppah

Oblivion, Grimes

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

-16-

I am so excited to write this post for a number of reasons:
1)It's Friday
2) I'm that much closer to being done with school
3) It's about my beautiful friend, Jess

Jess and I met in the Menswear program at FIT. She immediately stuck out to me as the sassy Latina chick with big hair. I instantly wanted to be her friend and as soon as that happened was dubbed the name Lil' Whitey by Jess and a few other we hung around with.

Jess was always full of smiles and explained to me all the things a girl should look out for in life. Boy problems, girl problems, city problems- you name it, Jess prepared me. She is an incredible multi-tasker- Girl was workin' it back in the day! School, a job, sewing homework and making time for family and friends.

Jess and Matias make their first public appearance together

She moved last year out to California for an incredible design job and she has come so far from being the sassy Latina chick running around NYC! Don't get me wrong, she still is that sassy Latina chick, but she will have to juggle one more thing in her busy schedule...

...A BABY!

Matias Ramon will be arriving in a mere 67 days and I can hardly wait! I do partially feel responsible for the birth of little Matias. No I did not get Jess preggo- that is impossible! BUT I did sorta kinda set her up with her other half.

Her BF was also in the Menswear program with Jess and I. He wore glasses. I thought he was cool. I remember sewing my life away with him, he was impressed by my rap skills and surprised that I was singing the old stuff, (Nice and Smooth, NWA, older Beastie Boys, you knowwww.) Jess told me she thought he was cute. A lil' bit of Lil' Whitey's magic and they are two happy little clams, peas in a pod, the peanut butter to her jelly, the cookies to his milk... I think you get the point. Of course there is more to that story, but that story is their story, so I'll leave it for them to tell Matias someday!

They are going to be amazing parents and I am so excited to see their beautiful future together. I also can't wait to meet Matias! He is going to be the tall, dark and handsome type- look out ladies!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate to close on a sad note, but the world said goodbye to a legend. RIP Adam Yauch, you were amazing, thank you for your music. 

Adam Yauch, The Beastie Boys

LISTEN!

Brass Monkey, Beastie Boys
Intro, M83

Comes Let Go, Xavier Rudd

Breathe Me, Sia

-13-

For those days you just want to stay in bed. Unfortunately, the constant ring of my roommates alarm is forcing me awake from my rather pleasant slumber. Even more unfortunate, it doesn't seem to be waking her up!

Outside there are overcast skies and it's just windy enough that you need a jacket to be comfortable. There are some places where cloudy skies are beautiful, however, the city looks pretty dismal when everything is gray.

I'm generally a morning person, but today I don't want to be. Projects to work on, books to read and possibly a trip to the gym.

But hey, everything could be worse.

I spent the night at Sam's apartment and we ate all the food left over from my mom's photo shoot: spinach salads with cranberries, rosemary, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and Italian dressing, thin sliced focaccia bread and grilled asparagus, eggplant and zucchini. We topped the meal off with an assortment of  dark chocolates, one of which was lavender, (changed my life) different sodas, (Sam had organic rootbeer, and black cherry. I had pomegranate ginger ale and lemon lime) and finally keenwah crackers. It is actually spelled quinoa but people do no know how to pronounce it, so the brand is spelled the way it sounds. We watched Water for Elephants, listened to great music, (I played her all the covers from post 11) and we became completely entranced by the amazing smell of the fresh rainfall coming through her window. Sounds cheesy but it's so nice.

I didn't even mind walking in the rain

Listen up

Champagne Supernova, Matt Pond PA

I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Death Cab For Cutie

Giving Me a Chance, Gotye

Starálfur, Sigur Rós

-10-

--> I have totally been slacking on this whole blog bit, but today we make a change! I am really, really, REALLY going to try and get into a routine of doing it everyday… and by everyday I mean every week.

I have literally been up to my eyeballs in work. School tends to feel like quicksand, you just get pulled deeper and deeper in and just when you think you’ve shaken one limb free…I don’t know…you’re still screwed cause you’re in QUICK SAND! Okay, okay, maybe it’s not quicksand more like a flytrap. The sticky ones that hang from the ceiling and flies get stuck in them and die. I’ve seen a girl get stuck on one-not pretty. Besides, school is supposed to be tough but I just keep telling myself, one more year, one more year-it’s become my mantra.

However, my life does not just consist of me wallowing in my sorrows, full of self-pity by the amount of homework I have. There is some good in my life. No, not good, GREATNESS!

I was introduced to two wonderful gentlemen through a friend. They had a vision that they wanted to start a brand that represented our generation. Their names are Matt and Brian Bank, two brothers who happen to sit at the top of my favorite people list. They are smart, funny and have incredible heads of hair, (eat your heart out Beiber). The boys discussed their vision for the brand and explained its back-story. The brand is called NAKD Apparel and it stands for Never Attempt Killing Dreams. They started saying it when they were younger and it sort of grew into their motto. NAKD is an homage to all the dreamers, the driven, the hopeless romantics, the individuals and the people just trying to make it. They want their clothes to grow with the customer and be worn by virtually anyone. They have bright color pallets but also neutral tones that cater to boys, girls, men and women.

Matt and Brian are extremely hardworking and steadfast in raising this NAKD baby, and I most definitely see great success in their future. Although they have just a few t–shirts and tanks to their name, NAKD already has growing fan base at Penn State University and is making moves across the Unite States. NAKD is loved by so many and I feel so fortunate to be part of the NAKD team!  
Keep an eye on their site because you never know when new stuff may appear!

Listen to these! (It’s Friday! Get hyped)

Back in the Day, Ahmad

Express Yourself, NWA (rip EAZY E)

Paranoid, Kanye West

11h30, Danger (skip through the first 15 seconds)

Calabria 2007, Enur

-6-

THIS IS A TRIPLE THREAT POST!
3 BIG things have occurred in the past few weeks. No no no not big, HUGE.
1) I turned 21!
2) I saw The Black Keys at MSG
3) I got to hang out with the most coolest up and coming band

So to start, I turned 21 and it was pretty cool. My license came in the mail and my picture looks like I ate everyone in the DMV just before they snapped that brilliant photo. Yes, I look like a cow meets Mrs. Potato Head but that beautiful mug is what got me into 13th Step on the Lower East Side. SO WHO CARES!?
I felt like hot shit, (excuse my french.) There I was, ridin' dirty, passing the bouncers because I LEGALLY COULD!
Earlier that day, I bought a fun little one shoulder dress from American Apparel. Paired that with black tights and black, suede, high-healed booties, Maggie and Sam did my hair and makeup and I was good to go.
Maggie looked stunning in a flowy Zara top, hot pants, and some crazy high heals. Sam kept it super chic in a little tank, tight jeans and pretty little flats.
Even though the weather absolutely sucked, (it rained) 13th Step was packed with people of all sorts. I had an assortment of people wishing me a Happy Birthday and then they looked really shocked when I told them it was my 21st. They thought I was 17... They also told me "It all goes down from here." (Real encouraging world.)
I could not have been happier with how the night went and I was so stoked to be out with the people I care about most, friends old and new!
We somehow found ourselves at a Taco Bell and then ended up at Sam's apartment.

Me-Maggie-Sam

It was a fantastic birthday!

BLACK KEYS TIME!!

My dad had given me tickets to see The Black Keys for Christmas, (BEST DAD EVER!) I was so excited to go, but with the hype of being 21, I almost forgot about the concert completely. Because Sam is a fellow Auerbach lover, I asked her to come with. Minutes before the show we chowed down on some eggs n' toast and sprinted to MSG! High on life and butterflies fluttering in our stomachs we skipped up to the tippy top level of MSG where we unsuccessfully could not find our seats. We ended up sitting in some random row that most definitely belonged to someone else. Well, we never actually sat, but nonetheless, danced in front of someones seats. We swayed to the sweet, sweet sounds of the sexy Mr. Dan Auerbach and the awesomely awesome Patrick Carney. I know I wasn't there, but it seriously felt like we were transported/teleported/whatever-ported back to the 1970's. There was a screen behind them with there faces enlarged but other than that, nothing crazy fancy. It made you appreciate the music that much more. They played all of my favorite songs and I was practically peed my pants when they started playing Thickfreakness, it was so freakin amazing! We then managed to run down, past the ushers and guards, used our charm on some taller gentlemen and squeezed our way through a few drunk couples until we were very, VERY close to the stage. Well...not that close, but close enough. The boys came back out for an encore and in all the screams, shrieks and hootin' n' hollerin' an enormous disco ball was lowered above the stage. They began to play Everlasting Light and that's when it happened. I cried. It was so beautiful and I just got lost in it.

It was such an awesome night and I was even more proud of myself that it was a Monday, and I was out!

#3
I grew up  in a fairly small town, and our only little claims to fame was that Jesse McCartney went to our school and that Marc Zuckerberg went there at some point. However, that is all going to change very soon! The Enthusiasts are an up and coming band that are rocking this world. Joey, Dylan and G are probably the three coolest kids you'll ever meet and I feel very lucky to be friends with them! I have them to thank for introducing me to The Black Keys, Jay Reatard, (RIP...right?) The Pixies, (I think) and The White Stripes. Well, I was already a fan of Jack and Meg, but they idolized Mr. White a little too much, so I'll give them the credit.
Anywaysss, Dylan messaged me to tell me they were playing at The Cake Shop and to come show my support. So I grabbed my most bad ass Frye boots, a T-shirt with bald eagles on the front and Maggie and headed down to The Cake Shop. It was so awesome getting to catch up with old friends-*sniff, sniff* we're all so grown up! We grabbed some drinks, hugged and chatted and then the boys finally went on to play their set. THEY KILLED IT! I was so impressed with their performance and found myself cheering, screaming and dancing around with Maggie. Joey plays guitar and sings with so much soul, I loved the way he played his way around the room. G swayed and played ever so smoothly managing to never bump into Joey the entire time. Dylan rocked out on the drums and had a few of the ladies swooning when he took off his shirt! They have so much passion for what they do and I strongly suggest you pay attention to them because they are going to take off. I was so in love with their performance I decided to make them my first male doodles of the 10pm blog!

I was inspired by their style, from Joey's jean jacket embellished with rhinestones in a giant "E" on the back, G's clean cut look, to Dylan...well... showing some skin, I doodled them!
Check out their site and listen to their music! It's pretty sweet man!

It's been an eventful March, that's for sure. Oh and Jerry O'Connel got on the subway today while I was on it!
Good week, no no, great week!

Keep on Keepin' on

GO LISTEN TO

Down in Mexico- The Coasters

The Go Getter- The Black Keys

Magic Mirror- The Enthusiasts

The Happy Song- Otis Redding

-5-

 

The next person I'd like to share with you is my bad ass roommie Gina. Gina and I met our first year at school and instantly clicked. We discovered last year that in some way we were related... CRAYZAYY! Gina studies Intimate Apparel and is a master at her craft. When it comes to her style and design aesthetic she is such an individual. I have the utmost respect for her breaking the mold of what lingerie should look like.  Her designs are intense and super sexy. Keep an eye out for this chick, she's got talent! 

Gina layers a lot of her  clothes and always mixes and matches outfits.
Oh yeah, and she rocks a sleeve. This girl is super awesome and I am so happy she is my friend let alone my cousin or something! She's my favorite Vegan!

Look at that bad boy!

Songs for G-Baby
Under The Bridge, RHCP
Renegades of Funk, Rage Against the Machine
Dance with The Devil, Immortal Technique (Not gonna lie, they scare me, but she likes em')
Loving You is Killing me, Aloe Blacc

-3-

Ask me why today/yesterday was so awesome...go ahead ask me!  Yesterday I helped my dear friend, Maggie, move into her new apartment. Yes it was far, and yes this woman has accumulated so much STUFF in her lifetime,  and yeah, no one wants to help ANYONE move. But it was so much fun getting to unpack her new room and finding all the "lady" stuff she has. She purchased the most charming beaded dress from a vintage store. It is super sparkly and and decked out in pearly/silvery beads and baby sequins. Obviously we instagramed that ish before we hung it up on her wall.

lady lady

After spending countless hours of untangling necklaces and inhaling what could be considered a lifetime supply of girl scout cookies, our lovely friend Sam graced us with her presence. I've only met her three times but she is great. She's tall, gorgeous, has a great head of hair and made me cry because she had us laughing so hard! Ate more cookies, some broccoli, chocolate and Doritos, (I know...don't judge) needless to say my poor little belly was not happy with me. So we ventured down to Sam's apartment, which by the way...is so cute. We drank Smooth Move, (be careful, it tastes kind of funky and you'll be in the bathroom for a while... Smooth Move... Get it?)  read inspiring quotes and talked about the happiest days of our lives until we passed out.

Sam has an amazing closet, I just love all of her clothes! Everything she wears is so flattering on her.
She has the most amazing Lauren Moffatt Coat!

LISTEN UP!

Songs for Sam

 Redemption Songs- Bob Marley and The Wailers

If I Ever Needed Someone- Van Morrison