Mary Poppins and I are hitting the road in a few hours.
Destination: Colorado Springs.
We are visiting cherished friends who are in the medical business.
The medical marijuana business, to be precise. It's legal there.
Naturally, we'll provide trip notes.
Sherri is now an even hotter brunette. She and Ian hadn't previously met. Naturally, they bonded like gangbusters.
Please visit her at Three of Cups Lounge in the East Village or The Trash Bar in Willamsburg/Brooklyn. She'll take good care of you.
This is Ian's best NYC pal, Justin, shown here rocking the tip of Ian's foxtail, which I broke off in a blaze of ham-handed glory.
Justin accompanied us on most of our adventures. He's deliciously irreverent, gut-bustingly hilarious, refined, sings like an angel and is easy on the eyes. Instant family. Love, love, loooove this man.
Finally, feast your eyes on my newest amigo, Erasmus. Magnificent in every single way. Hearty congrats to his lovely parents, Nancy Rawlinson and Lucas Thorpe. Well done, my friends.
"A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men." ~ Martin Fraquhar Tupper
Visiting with Nancy and Raz just before heading to LaGuardia was a perfect ending to a perfect trip. I was so happy and mellow from awesome baby energy that I didn't stress a bit over traffic, an über-greasy driver who flirted shamelessly, airport madness and the demise of my Au Bon Pain breakfast sandwich that escaped from my hands, plopped onto my dress, then slid off the slinky fabric and onto the not-so-sparkling terminal floor — bon appétit!
And bon voyage.
Love and thanks, Ian. See you soon.
Beautyphiles, prepare to swoon... This white behemoth is the GM Building, a 50-story, 705-foot office tower facing Fifth Avenue at 59th Street. It's one of the few Manhattan structures that occupies a full city block. Estee Lauder headquarters is located here.
There's a company store located in the depths of the building. It's a mythical place where you can find ridiculously-incredible (try up to 80% off, thankyouverymuch) deals on Estee Lauder products and their affiliates, such as Origins, MAC, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, Ojon and more.
What's the catch? You have to be an employee. Sorry.
Bumble & Bumble is an Estee Lauder company, dahling.
After getting cleared by copious security, we navigated our way through the foreboding-yet-fabulous halls...
...until finally reaching the (drumroll, please) Company Store! I didn't take any pics inside the store because it seemed forbidden, but here's what it was like: Angels strummed harps and sang in perfect pitch. Gorgeous, shirtless, straight men took turns carrying my basket. Nirvana, at last!
Yeah, I know... I took it too far with the straight part. But I had you going with the harps and such, right? Riiiiiiight.
Truth: It was small and basic. Very no-nonsense. And chock full o' great products at literally unbelievable prices. I found myself living what is normally something I dream about on a very regular basis. I'm not kidding. I frequently dream that I'm walking around a beauty or apparel store with impossibly-low prices... that and another one involving a Sea World visit in which Shamu leaps out of the pool and bites me, but that's another post entirely. Anyway, here's my haul:
"Sweet dreams are made of this." ~ Annie Lennox
The Tent at Bryant Park is now the Theatre at Lincoln Center, home to the American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera House. Last year, the city promised to provide a bigger, fancier location to house the event. Seems they made good on that promise. It's lovely.
Guests enter on a red carpet into the lobby, which is jam-packed with booths, swag and hype. I got suckered into posing at the Mercedes-Benz display. Ian was asked to join me, but he scampered away. Thus, the display model stood in as my date.
No, I'm not wearing a boa. It's a vest. A vest made entirely of oh-so-delicate feathers, courtesy of Ian. Speaking of that friend of mine, feast your eyes on how gorgeous and slender he looked at the show.
A bit blurry, but you get the idea: Hotness.
Here's a shot of one of the press pits. They're reviewing live feed from the shows happening in separate rooms inside the complex.
The Behnaz show was fabulous. See next post for my pics.
Feast your eyes on this sweet set-up in Ian's living room.
My two days of solo urban exploring were awesome. Managed to take all the right trains. The GPS system on my new phone is kind of the best thing ever.
Friday: East Village, SoHo
Saturday: Rockefeller, 5th Ave, Central Park
They were skating to 50 Cent. Can't win 'em all, I suppose.
I also did a Times Square lightning round last night whilst cabbing to meet Ian at work. Highly efficient.
Last night, we dined at this killer Indian hole in the wall that positively dripped with strand lights. Fab.
Now we're preparing to venture out into what's expected to be the warmest day of my visit. 50 degrees. There's that number again. 50. There must be magick afoot.
That's actually his book. He's down with the Cottage Witchery. And if I don't hurry and get off this computer so we can go eat breakfast, he's certain to cast a spell on me. If I trip and fall in front of gobs of movers and shakers at the fashion show tonight, you know who to blame. Ian Dorey, your new name is Dorlock.
UPDATE: During some shopping after breakfast, the total of one of my purchases--including tax--came to an exact $50. WTF?!?
Here I am in NYC. Fashion Week 2011. Five-star fabulous, dahling. My host, Ian, is a colorist at Bumble & Bumble in the Meatpacking District. I went straight there from the airport. Here it is. Check out the view in pic #6. That's where I set up camp for about an hour last night while Ian finished up with clients. The view doesn't suck. Lovely staff. Isis King, the transsexual contestant from America's Next Top Model, is a desk clerk. Here she is.
Hotness, no? Then we grabbed some way-too-fattening dinner and headed to Trash Bar in Williamsburg, where mi amiga, Sherri, bartends.
She's the saucy dame second from left. Yeah, the one in the miniskirt, exposing her midriff. I told you: Saucy.
Today, I'm in urban explorer mode while Ian works. Please don't let me catch the wrong trains.
William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 - September 4, 1995)
