Green with Envy

American Museum of Natural History’s Green Benefit Dance
As an old fashioned girl the idea of attending one of nyc’s benefits tickles me pink.
Get a chance to wrangle a gorgeous dress from my bursting closet?
Have my hair and makeup done by my good friend Agata Helena (917-687-0235)?
Flirt with the young, hip, and fabulous in 212?
People watch/outfit ogle?
Count me in!
Highlights included:
Running into pal vanity fair scribe Rebecca Guinness,
Fugly 80’s sequin mini dress on Meredith Melling Burke of Vogue-when bad fashion happens to talented people
Gold haremesque sequin pants
Gabi AsFour and the AsThree hippie entourage
Yigal Azrouel looking sexy and single!
The star TIGHT WHITE HOT STRAPLESS jumpsuit looking amazing on an unidentified blond.

How I cut my bottom line

So New York is an expensive city right? It's also home to the $8 manicure and sample sales galore. In September I decided to do a little budget planning for myself. I took a good look at my finances and decided what needed to get the ax and what changes to implement:
quit the gym-using my home gym equiptment and dvd's
started walking everywhere
cut down on metro and still very few taxis
sold my car-that in turn set off a nice domino effect of no gas, geico, tolls, parking, parking tickets, maintenance, repairs, and car wash
super diligent about grocery shopping-carrying them myself so that I buy more and asking myself to every purchase, 'do I need this?' and 'what for?'
health insurance-I would not recommend this but hey I'm healthy
restaurants to once a week unless invited
eating at home for most meals
mastered the breakfast spinach, potato, onion, bacon frittata which feeds me for 4 breakfasts
bringing snacks and water almost everywhere I go to avoid buying unhealthy and expensive food
bring 'picnics' to the movies
doing my nails mostly at home
replacing personal therapy with group fellowship
switching to an acupuncturist with a 'community rate'
still no cable or internet subsciptions-too much entertainment in new york living
found a hairstylist that is amazing but only charges $45-hello I love LES
fashion wise only buying items that have been deemed a 'hole' or missing item-truth be told as a stylist I am pretty well covered in this department
no more books on amazon-I joined the library and discovered not only great books but dvd's for free
sidenote: the library is a whole new special world in new york...very different from the fashion crowd. What I cannot figure out is that if the library lets you take out 30 things at one time for free, why are there guards and checkpoints? Who would steal what is already free?

Toledo no show

I have always paid attention to indie designers. Truthfully I would chose RED MASALA over Gucci. Last year if I had mentioned the designer Isabel Toledo to a friend I would have gotten a blank stare. Today thanks to Michelle Obama wearing her creations even my little 12 year old nieces have heard of her. She was supposed to participate in a fashion panel tonight titled 'power and fashion' as part of the graduate center with Guy Trebay and Gabi AsFour. I have looking forward to this event-I plastered the poster on my fridge and added it to my calander on my CURVE. So sad and dissapointed upon my arrival to find it had been rescheduled to April 8th.
I bet Isabel got a much bigger speaking engagement now that she's famous.

This Lady Launched too Soon

The funny thing is that even though I am an “old fashioned” girl I have always been an “early adopter.”

The truth is…when I opt to ‘launch’ I get it out of my system and fast…but timing is everything. For example…in 1999, I created a website that was a cross between firstVIEW and Patrick McMullan, documenting fashion and nightlife. I ran around Boston with a Sony digital camera that took floppy disks (remember those things). So after 3 years of toiling, many late nights, massive internet traffic, and a sense of mini celebritydom, I poured everything into getting REAL and launched my baby… PROVEREAL.com. Irony being a strong suit of mine, I then up and moved to NYC, translating the entire virtual experience to real life. I was too ahead of the times to squeeze one advertising dollar out of the business. As my former boss said: “No one’s ever gonna buy a dress on the intanet!”

More early adoptive examples: Back in college, I was the first in my dorm to have a MAC SE (Apple’s inaugural desktop), the first in my posse to own a Palm PDA, and more recently the Blackberry CURVE. But all my pioneering isn’t without hazards, like my chronic wrist problems due to a decade of overusage of devices with keyboards and teeny-weenie buttons.

So what’s the latest trend for this old-fashioned-early-adoptive-victim-of-technology? UNPLUG! Yip… this girl has even outlawed all cell phones from the bedroom, even at night. Why so stringent you ask? Well, only since you ask…I once was hooking up with a guy in Miami at 3 am and he took a phonecall on his StarTAC mid -…er …ehm…launch!

REALITY CHECK!

I don't know about you but I kinda think this whole recession may be a hard but healthy dose of medicine that the world needs. What happened to a world where if you wanted something you had to earn the money? Our reliance on credit has been disgraceful. I was taught by my family that if you didn't have the money, no manolos for you! It was pretty simple. But in the last 12 years I have witnessed the most ridiculous things. CEO's driving companies into the ground all the while enjoying cushy salaries. The inflated bonuses that allow wives to indulge in $1200 shoes and $16,000 watches. Then CEO's turn around start another company and raise capital from the same stupid rich people they borrowed from in the first place.
I say bring back the hard earned dollar! The company that was built over 30 years not 3 years who believed in good value.
Now as a fashion stylist I'm not against fashion and I enjoy the eye candy that vogue and w provide, I just think the whole luxury market has gone a tad overboard.

cutting cost in this economy. thinking smart

My Mother used to dish out advice about how my Great Grandmother "Gram" could scrape every last micro ounce out of the mayonnaise jar. This concept seemed foreign to me growing up in the 80's in Marin County. At school the 'cool' girls had the whole line from ESPRIT..But my Mother explained that during the great depression housewives were very frugal and to wast was a sin. 'Waste not want not'. 

In today's climate that concept is now making a lot of sense. With my beauty products I'm squeezing out every last but-sometimes to comical measures. Cutting tubes open to rescue the last drops and using travel samples up before buying new big shampoo bottles. 

Here is a list of some changes I have implemented in my household (of 1)

-using totes for my groceries-whole foods gives a whopping 10 cents back per bag

-using extra plastic shopping bags for garbage bags-since when did garbage bags merit $10

-cooking lots of meals at home

-making massive pots of soup and freezing them in single size portions

-walking to places in the city when possible

-shopping in my closet

-looking at my pantry and filling in the blanks-what can I make with quinoa???

-using this concept of filling in the gaps to closet, pantry, and fridge

-unplugging all appliances when not in use (thanks oprah for this tip)

-questioning myself on every purchase-do I really need polka dot gloves??

-buying sparkling water in bulk and a cheaper brand

-coupons for items I usually purchase

-if I do eat out-lunch is a better bargain

-avoiding daily habits such as starbucks, soda from street vendor, gum, ect.

Thats about it.

If you have any suggestions I would love to hear it.

In times of economic crisis

I heard this joke last week.
"I'm not worried about the economy. I've put all my money in high maintenance women."

Ipods-Friend or Foe

I love my red ipod. But I have found that when I wear my ipod in public it is a bit like walking around in a personal bubble. At first this sensation is kinda addictive but then I realized that it actually takes me away from being present in the moment. On the subway when I'm not wearing it I feel shut out of everyone else's lives. Everyone else seems to be rocking out to their ipod to shut out the world. I guess it makes it easier to deal with the icky parts of the subway..the smell...the people you don't want to look at...the panhandlers...the performers who are not very talented. But it really removes you from the beat and vibrancy of the city. The good with the bad. How is a single girl to meet anyone at the trader joes or whole foods when everyone is shut up in their little ipod world. Not easy to start a conversation. The iphone has made this phenomenon even worse because it gives new yorkers an excuse to play with their phone at every minute of the day. What would happen if you were to miss an important text/pix/facebook status update/email/blah blah blah. I think all this new tech is tearing us from being human, being present, feeling our feelings.
How do you feel?