New York State of Mind..

i have returned from my much needed lil holiday in my second home, the big apple..a bit rested and more inspired than ever..and hopefully you will soon start to feel that effects of thus...

some of the things that i did..

i took a boat load of pictures...some are here and some will be here..

i went to the wildly successful NYFW Mixer put on my Lianne Farbes of The Makeup Girl and Paul Baranda of Beyond Beauty Basics and met some cool people and especially left with a very high opinion of Karen Robinovitz, the lassie holding down the reins of Purple Lab {which by the way premieres on HSN tomorrow, 2/18}. we only spoke for a moment but she was very sweet.

i attended the show of my longtime friend and brother for life, Tim Dillinger and his group SoulKiss...we hadn't seen each other in like 3 yrs ago when we spent thanksgiving in San Francisco, so it was it was just soul stirring and fun to be in his midst and they jammed new, old, eclectic and brought the house down..

i also attended the Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence conference, which was a smashing success and congrats go out to all involved, especially the adorable public speaking shy Jennine Jacob...

i am behind in absolutely everything that i am or had supposed to have done and i am working to lasso in my to do...SOOO..if i owe you something..or said that i would do something with or for you or WHATEVER, it will happen..

trust..

running off to make it so..

Curvatude Fab Five - Love & Relationships

Today's Fab Five in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day consists of five links to online articles related to love and relationships.

First up: Can a sexless relationship work explores the idea of whether you can be happy and content in a relationship without having sex. Uhhh...

On the flip side is 8 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex. For one they say, It May Give You Healthier Skin...

And a new school advice column, the New York Time's Social Q’s answers some of its readers love queries in Love Takes a Holiday.

Susan Ball blogs "The Need for Love Films", an analysis of some well known {and not so} films and why the telling of their stories were important.

And Your Tango takes a fun look at love with the 5 Love Lessons from "Lost". And oh my the picture of Sawyer that accompanies the article..

Five Fab Out!

Go Red and Get Fed!

Friday February 5th is 'National Wear Red Day", the American Heart Associations (AHA) drive to bring about more heart disease awareness.

While most people might think breast cancer is the leading killer of women in the U.S., in actuality, heart disease is.

Supporting this cause is very important to me personally, as heart disease runs rampant in my family.

My beloved grandmother died from heart disease and my mom has had a heart attack, and numerous coronary angiograms and angioplasty and stent procedures and suffers from many other health complications due to heart disease.

I too am at serious risk for heart disease due to my cholesterol levels {as somewhat evidenced by the Xanthelasma around my eyes.

High cholesterol is one of the major causes of heart disease.

Here is a very simplified explanation of why from WebMD.

When there is too much cholesterol in your blood, it builds up in the walls of your arteries, causing a process called atherosclerosis, a form of heart disease. The arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart muscle is slowed down or blocked. The blood carries oxygen to the heart, and if enough blood and oxygen cannot reach your heart, you may suffer chest pain. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by a blockage, the result is a heart attack.

While there are AHA events scheduled all over the country thru-out the year, Wear Red Day is one of their big promotion days.

There are a lot of fun ways that you can join in on the cause with your family or even with your coworkers. 

The AHA has also once again partnered with Macy's and from February 3rd–7th, get an extra 10- 20%  off during The Wear Red Sale.

To save online, use promo code: WEARRED

To save in-store: Wear red or use your Macy's card and/or purchase a Red Dress Pin for $2 to get the extra savings. {Macy's will donate all Red Dress Pin proceeds to American Heart Association's Go Red For Women movement.}.

{see their website for all the details and exclusions}

So pull out that red dress, top, scarf, jacket, tie, pin, gloves, boots, socks, undies, whatever and mention the cause to everyone that you know and hit Macy's up to save as a little reward.

Or EVEN BETTER...pull out that credit/debit card and make a minimum donation of $25 via MY DONATION PAGE and as a thank you, I will send you a $25 restaurant.com gift certificate.

Now how could you refuse an offer like that?

Go RED for Women!

{Makeup & Beauty Monday} A Beauty Pioneer

Since today is the first day of Black History month and Makeup & Beauty Monday here on the blog, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to remind you of our most resourceful, creative black pioneers:

Madame C.J. Walker

And while I didn't have the time to really do a full out blog about the her and all of her accomplishments, the website created and maintained in her honor is chock full of information, so go and check it out.

She was truly a woman who could teach all us a few lessons about living above your current circumstances and going for your dreams.

As she noted: 

Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come; you have to get up and make them.

note: i started this post monday but didnt hit the publish button until after midnight, so...blah...blah..blah