Artist of the Week (week 86)

Before you go up in arms, ranting about how you're over hearing Michael Jackson's music whenever you turn on the radio, tv, or walk into a bar, lemme just say that I --in my little sheltered work environment where I spend 10 hours of my day-- have still not come to terms with his death and have consequently been rocking out to MJ round the clock. His music was the kind that both my parents and I enjoyed together. No joke, when Zsa zsa came to the US, she learned English from watching horror films and by rockin' out to Michael's albums. He's been a part of my life since I began listening to music.

In my final effort to lay the King of Pop to rest I'm posting one of my fave MJ songs for this week's AoTW. I promise I'm not antisemitic (as many thought MJ was when the song first dropped in the 90s). I just digg the beats.

Hair-brained scheme. Fail.

Amazing: Getting the doctor's okay and finally "running" (read: light jog) for the first time in nearly 2 months.

Neat: Running past the Real World DC House at 10pm and seeing the cast on the front steps filming.

Pathetic: Totally vom-bombing during the run and feeling miserable the rest of the night.

This is what happens when you go to Happy Hour and get the genius idea of going on a night run with your roommate. Hair-brained scheme FAIL.

On wrap dresses and drag queens

Let's get right to it, bbs. Cause I know you're dying to know what ridiculous dress concoction I pulled together after winning the travelling dress raffle and eager to find out who the next winner is.

I opted to create my own signature wrap. SuziQ and I experimented with several styles, but ultimately it was one that I tied on a fluke that was most....flattering (?).

The best part of this experience was the opportunity to accessorize uniquely. K recently bought me a bull pin for my birthday which I incorporated into the dress.

Creative, no? Whatever.

The girls and I had planned to check out a new brunch venue. The catch? It was a drag queen brunch, much like the one they host on Sunday's at Perry's in AdMo. We were very excited for the new drag lunch location, and I figured a ridiculous outfit, such as the wrap dress with all it's colorful patterns and glory, would be the perfect thing.

SuziQ was the first to see me in the dress since I met her for the walk over to brunch. She thought it was flattering and un-preggo looking which, if you remember from my earlier post, was difficult to avoid. Win. She also thought the bull pin was a great addition to the dress.

We met Athanasty and Buntz at brunch. They both had similar reactions to SuziQ: surprised that I was able to pull of an un-preggo look and impressed with my use of accessories. I was hoping to get more feedback from the strangers dining at brunch, but the drag queens outfits attracted way more attention than mine (naturally). Regardless, this dress was a fun one to wear for all the pictures we took. See, if you didn't know this about my friends and me-- Drag Queens Love Us!!

No, seriously. Just look at SuziQ playing bff with all the queens.

I nearly died when Lady GaGa's song "Poker Face" came on and a DQ walked out to sing. AHHHmazing!

So fierce.

Brunch was not only wildly entertaining but also delicious. My brie and spinach omlette was top notch. And bottomless mimosas for less than $12 is a hot bargain. So hot, in fact, that I am not going to reveal the location of this brunch cause I wanna keep the scene intimate as I plan to go there once a week. There were less than 30 patrons in the establishment, which meant prime attention by the DQs and food service.

Sorry, loves.

Now on to the raffling. With the help of T-Rex (my dinosuar pinata- yea, I have one, so what?) I selected a name from all the commenters on Fridays post. And the winner is.....drumroll......

M. From DidThatJustHappen.

Congrats to M. Looking forward to seeing what you pull together.

Gift Day Friday: No really, a tangible gift this time!

Back in April, K bought a convertible wrap dress off Ebay. The item description said that the dress could be worn 4,7312.8 different ways, or something like that. Being the thrifty person she is, she made the purchase and then set off an adventure to figure the damn thing out. And an idea was born. This dress would be raffled off to a fellow blogger who would receive it and it's companion instructional DVD, find a look that works for her (or him. No one's judging). The new recipient would wear the dress out and post a review before raffling it off again. Think of it as the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress," or some shmick frack like that.

k wearing the traveling dress

PLT was the first winner of the traveling dress and did a mighty fine job sporting it at a BBQ. She then raffled the dress off, and lucky old me won the next round. So here I am on Gift Day Friday, recapping for you the night that I tried to learn how to wrap this dress.

plt doing a twirl to show her style

It all started with the dress, an instructional DVD, and a bottle of wine. Buntz and I arrived at SuziQ's apartment- the venue for our dress wrap tutorial. Because SuziQ bought a similar dress in NYC a year ago, I figured she was the perfect person to assist me in my dress wrapping adventure. And because I needed someone to document the challenge, Buntz joined in the fun.

First we popped in the DVD, and took about 10 minutes just to calm down from all the laughter that resulted from the porno-inspired music playing in the background. Don't believe me? Watch:





M'kay, so. Once the models were done prancing around and showing off the 4,7312.8 ways to wear the dress (and once SuziQ and I had a few glasses of wine under our belts) we began wrapping. Buntz operated the DVD, pausing and dishing out instruction on how to recreate each style. Let's just say I underestimated the level of difficulty for execution.

der, my facial expression could not be more slow

We started simple, trying different strapless style options. These proved to be the easiest, but as SuziQ noted several times- we looked preggo! Like "forshizz up the spout," undeniably preggo. In fact, by the end of our session, SuziQ threw the dress down in defeat, calling it her preggo dress that she will keep on hand for when she starts procreating.

baby bumps

Unhappy with our bulging bellies, we moved onto other styles. Buntz quickly figured out the steps to make various skirt options. She took the reigns and wrapped SuziQ in a long skirt option that seems practicable for beachwear.

buntz- dress wrapping enthusiast circa 2k9

Determined to find a dress option I could reasonable fashion around this city, I eighty-sixed the DVD and attempted my own creations. The most realistic result was actually quite figure flattering, and I will probably default to it for when I debut the dress this weekend.

wtf do i think i am? a model, that's what.

I just gotta be careful of accidental uncontrolled move of my limbs. Otherwise my ninnies might start popping out.

boomshakalaka

The best part about the traveling dress is the quest of learning and mastering a wearable style. The girls and I had a fun time guessing how the women executed each dress option. The bottle of wine and the porno music provided the added entertainment.

So now it's on, bbs. Gift Day Friday- in which you enter a comment below and enter yourself in a chance to win this dress. I will be debuting my fashion this Sunday at Policy's Drag Queen Brunch, after which I will post the reactions to my ensemble and reveal the next winner of the traveling dress (on Monday morning). All you have to do is comment to this post by midnight on Sunday and you too could have the opportunity to jam out to some porn music, wrap yourself up in this colorful piece of fabric, and have a funny story to tell of your own. Contest is not restricted to female candidates-- ahem, I'm talking to you, JFo. You're totally welcome to enter yourself in this raffle and pass the dress on to M so long as she provides an adequate recap. Same goes for other gents. Give the dress to your girl. Or try drag for a night. Totally acceptable.

Good luck to all contestants, and Happy Friday bbs!!

Tainted: One TFLN and Urbandictionary entry at a time.

Don't look up the word felching.

Don't do it! Don't you dare. Even tho I've made is so convenient by linking the definition here.


Ugh, you had to go and do it, didn't you?

How disgusting is this concept? Seriously, how does one gain any pleasure by being a felcher? Or being felched? I'm sure the question you're really dying to ask is, "Mb, how on Buddha's beautiful earth did that word enter your vocabulary?!"

Well I'll tell you, bbs.

Buntz! I blame her and her addiction to TFLN. Because homegirl had to drop by the website. And had to read this recent entry:

(+44): Last night we were drunk and talking about rude things, I mentioned felching and had to explain it to everyone. Everyone was disgusted and asked how I knew about such filth and I told them you told me. Don't get mad. Also a quck heads up, you might get gifts of straws at work,


And she had to go on urbandictionary and look it up.

And, because she was utterly grossed out and apalled (rightly so) she had to share this story with me. And now my life is forever tainted. Ew. Taint. I can't even say that word without squeaming a bit.

For other out-of-left-field, tummy turning, vom bombing TMIs, head over to the palace of duuurty wonders: LiLu's pad.

The best valentine I ever got...

When PLT tagged me with the Keepsake Award, I didn't hesitate for a minute on what item I would select as my favorite keepsake. In fact, the item I've selected will probably suprise the giver of the gift more than anyone else.

The rules of the keepsake award are simple:
1. Post a funny or sweet keepsake that tells something about you.
2. Pass the award on to 10 other bloggers that you think are keepers.

Almost anyone can attest that I'm a sentimental packrat and hold onto anything of value. My favorites, of course, are the things that people have made for me. And that's why, when tasked to blog about my favorite keepsake, I immediately went to my college photobox and pulled out this.

Doesn't look like much, right? Just a roll of paper.

Here's another angle:




Getting a better idea of what this is? No, probably not. Well let me tell you.

Valentine's Day. 2004. My college roommate, Spoogy, gave me a rolled up strip of paper-- a scroll-- in lieu of a Vday card. On it, she listed her favorite things about me and our friendship. She wrote:

[Mb]- my roommie, sidekick, wife, partner-in-crime- how do I heart thee? Let me count the ways:

She went on to list 15 things that could inspire 15 individual blogworthy stories. Since I want to prevent this post from being too lengthy, I'll highlight my favorite items on the list.


12. we wear leis and pearls when and where we want

Spoogy and I were (and still are) infamous for our spontaneity and creativity when it came to dressing up in costume. Outrageous attire was not reserved for Halloween only. In our dorm room you would find leis, long string of pearls, oversized sunglasses, silly hats, and various other items for accessorizing that would be sported on the regular. Once we even went to the Starbucks on campus in prom dresses, claiming that we just came from an exclusive party. I've always appreciated Spoogy's love of randomness, and seeing this item included on the scroll of paper let me know that she thinks the same of me.

8. tambourine

Um, kay. So apparently, tambourines are my thing. I stole one for SuziQ recently, but she is not the first person to be gifted with one. One Christmas in college, I bought Spoogy a tambourine. As a musician at heart, she adored the instrument and kept it at close hand. The tambourine would come out whenever we needed a study break, pregamed, or played our favorite game...which really wasn't a game. It just involved turning up the radio and watching MTV on mute while laughing insanely as the song and music video attempted to sync up. You've never truly laughed until you've watched a rock or country music video while listening to "Country Grammar" by Nelly.

Even now, when I see the word tambourine written on that scroll, I'm reminded of how lively my life has been. I've been blessed to be an energetic and creative person who comes up with wacky gift ideas or activities that bring joy to the group as a whole.


2. you kept me after i peed on your shoes by the shuttle stop...

Yeaaah, that smells like a TMI post, right? In short (and I've mentioned this before) Spoogy is a stealth pee-r. When the girl's gotta go there is no stopping her. Whether its' in some parking lot at Dewey Beach or, in one case, on public transportation, she's gonna bust a move and release. The first time I ever witnessed Spoogy's sneaky pee habit, we were waiting for the campus shuttle to take us to our dorm freshman year. Keep that in mind. Freshman year. This means I knew her for less than one year.

We were waiting for the shuttle for what seemed like entirely too long. And unfortunately there was no bathroom available because it was late at night, and everyone knows that unlike the big apple, "D.C. sleeps alone tonight" (2 pts to anyone who can identify that reference). We tried to find a nearby spot to pop-a-squat, close enough to the shuttle so that if it pulled up we wouldn't miss it. But we were in the wide-open, too far from an alley or parked car to give us shelter. So, as any sane college student would do, Spoogy leaned up against a building and I covered her with (what I remember to be) a coat as she did her quick-business. It wasn't until after she had done the crime that I saw the pool of pee surrounding my foot. Homegirl peed on my shoes. And yet, I kept her around. Cause that's how we do. Some people have blood brothers. I have pee ponies.

I guess, what this item means is that the bonds I share with people run deep. I've said before that I'm overly caring, to a fault sometimes. But this means that if you're in my inner cirlce, I pretty much have your back for life and I'd like to think that people I surround myself who share that sentiment.

So there you have it, bbs. That's my keepsake and what it says about me. Now tag, you're it:
1. Gilahi
2. JFo
3. HeadBitingPrincess
4. Chelsea Talks Smack
5. Miss Scorpio
6. PaulBeck
7. KtMac
8. Existenceet
9. Malnurtured Snay
10. DC Princess

Artist of the Week (week 85)

Gotta love the Brooklyn born bands, no? Well I do. Mike and Kim. MGMT. These are other BK bbs I've highlighted in the past. This week, I turn to TV on the Radio. The band has seen significant airtime within the indie circuit, but I fell hard for them after hearing a remixed version of their song "Dancing Choose" in a spin class...of all places. As I cranked those pedals, they layers of beats and bops kept me pumped and moving. I recommend any TVotR remix to anyone looking to spice up their workout mixes (ahem Miss Scorpio, this might just be the perfect motivation for 5k training). Here's a remix of "Staring at the Sun."

The "reality" craze in DC has started

Would it be mildly immature or coolly mature if one were to leave a DC establishment purely on the basis that the Real World Cast arrived?

I haven't yet decided how I would handle a run-in with the RW cast and crew. If I had to guess, I would say my decision to quietly slip out of the scene versus chatting up the cast about every subject this side of the sun (like I've been known to do with strangers) would depend on my level of sobriety.

Real World: DC started filming just this past Friday and already there are hundreds of tweets and fb statuses documenting the arrival of seven eight strangers in the District. AntiRealWorldDC has done a phenom job posting regular updates, capturing the arrival of cast members at the house to the first nights out in DuPont Cirlce. The usual suspects and I discussed the possibility of running into the cast months before they even arrived. Most of us agreed that a run-in with RW is inevitable since we are out and about like regular rock stars. I went further to suggest that we would be more likely to end up on camera due to a physical altercation than a love/lust connection with a cast member. Let's be real. The DC cast is rumored to be far less sexciting than it's Vegas and Cancun counterparts. If I wanted to hang with frumpy cookie-cutter wankers I'd go to Smith Point in Georgetown (waving good-bye to the few readers I may have just offended there).

Believe it or not, I'm not a masochist. I avoid such places like the plague. So again the question begs, "Would you leave a bar/restaurant/party if the Real World crashed it?" I'm sure I'd stick around the first time or two to see the train wreck piling up, but I wonder how long until it gets old and this town gets over the RW craze.....

Your thoughts?