You can find there beauties over at the Duchess Dreasm Etsy Shop

Something OLD, something NEW, something VINTAGE and something YOU.
They can all be found over at the Duchess Dress store over on ESTY.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DuchessDigs

Doing it in the Park...

While out on a hair product hunt in the BX yesterday, my girl Wandee and I stumbled upon a Park Jam up on 105 street and Lexington...


I rained here in NY yesterday so most of the dancers couldn't really go in hard like they wanted too but a those that did dance, went hard!

They were seriously getting it out there...I heard there was a much larger group before the down pour of rain and that dudes were spinning in the middle of this huge puddle of water...
Mad I missed that!

Brother man right here damn near took out a few teeth...


This dudes shirt said, "I May Not Be Made of Stone, but I Damn Sure Can Rock!"




And this well behaved lil' cutie was in the crowd rocking his pink studded collar...

I'm was seriously feeling this dudes t-shirt. On the back it said, "The Struggle Continues".



And then as an added bonus on my walk to the train I got an eye full of great art work...




This flick gave me a serious flash back to African dance class back in the day...

Funga alafia, Ah-shay Ah-shay. Funga alafia, Ah-shay Ah-shay.
Funga alafia, Ah-shay Ah-shay. Funga alafia, Ah-shay Ah-shay.

That's the song we sang as we came out on stage...It means welcome and blessings...



Ahhh, the melding of so many cultures...LOVES IT!


These are just a few reasons why



Here are few video of the performers...Enjoy!

Lena Horne Passes at 92

R.I.P. Lena Horne

Lena Horne is in one of my favorite movies, Cabin in the Sky (1943).



Check it out if you have time. Great film.


Lena Horne was born in Bed Stuy Brooklyn on June 30, 1917 and passed yesterday, May 9, 2010. She attended what is now Boy and Girls High School (Formerly Girls High School on Fulton street, Brooklyn but dropped out before graduating.

She started performing in New York's Cotton Club at 16 years of age. As well as being a serious triple threat (singer, dancer and actress) she had strong political views and was black listed in 1947.

Here's a great time line of her life.


Here's a clip from when she was on another of my favorite TV shows, A Different World. She enters at 1:33.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKk8xS4iPJI&feature=related

Here is the rest of the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcp9JFvEQAk&feature=related



I love her line towards the end...

The best thing about living is being able to keep on doing it!

.

Change Gon Come...to Brooklyn...

While on my way home from the post office yesterday I saw this.

We're almost there when it come to these prices...


On the bottom it references an exhibit being held at
MoCADA
(The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts),
in Brooklyn called:

The Gentrification of Brooklyn:
The Pink Elephant Speaks

I went to the opening reception for this exhibit back in February.

You can check out some flicks from the exhibit by clicking here,
but trust seeming them for yourself wouldn't be a bad idea
and MoCADA has a great gift store.


I went with my girl Laalita, who is a true wealth of info on all things.
You can check out her blog for inexpensive and fun things to
do the next time you're out in LaLa Land.

www.laalaland.com/



MoCADA is located at 80 Hansen Place
(@ the corner of S. Oxford St.)
in Brooklyn, NY 11217.

Lately, while rolling around my neighborhood I've seen these
random .

I'm not sure if this is related to the exhibit as well,
but it definitely make you say, " Hmmm"
It was about a block from the one above.


From the pesticides maybe???

Disco Fever...Nails...

Lately I have been in a serious PARTY mood.

So I decided to throw a party on my nails...
Ever time I look down I smirk a bit and think of Disco Fever...

I opted to do the opposite on the other hand,
so rhinestones on the pointer and black peacock inspired design on the ring finger.





Tools:
Toothpicks & everything you you see below.


The rhinestone wheel I found on eBay for about 3 bucks with shipping.
There are a total of 1,200, 100 in 12 different shapes.
That's like 100% times cheaper than what you'll find in your local beauty supply store in NY.
I saw 10 for $1.99.



Tips:

*If you don't want to use nail or crazy glue ( I don't) to adhere the rhinestones to you nails , just dab a little clear polish onto the completely dry nail with a toothpick and then press rhinestone into place and finish with a top coat.

*If you don't have bottle of the thin brushed silver polish for designs you can just place a dime sized dab of your silver polish onto a sheet of paper and make the dots and swipes with the tip of a clean toothpick.

Have fun and be creative ladies...
Don't let these Teeny Boppers & Whipper Snappers
try to bring the 80's and 90's
back without showing them what's really good!

Halloween Revisited....Gaga-rific!

Today I woke up hungover like Vanilla Ice over a balcony this morning.

I didn't get to party like I really wanted to, but my girls and I stayed up way past curfew chatting it up and sipping on the sauce and boy oh boy am I paying for it now.

By the way, I freaking love my friends. They helped me immensely with my costume and did my make-up since I am totally clueless in that department. Thanks SoyJoy & Nika!

Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a few shots of my full Lady Gaga costume...

We tried to get artsy...

I was pooped after my performance...

Night Night!

And here are some of the cuties I saw while on roaming the streets during the day.

I really think this dog posed for me...

Way Way Way Back Wednesday...Forgotten Men

Every once in a while I will get into a serious old school kick and last week I was in full Black & White Movie Mode and watched TCM (Turner Classic Movie channel) in excess.

One of the movies they played was Gold Diggers of 1933...Try and catch it (or it) if you're in a old movie mood.

I just love how straight to the point they were with the film titles back in the day.

It has some great themes running through it though and all the high drama and over the top fashion of most good classic films.

I wont tell you the full premise but a few scene really struck me. In one, the ladies (or girls as they were called throughout the movie) changed into chastity belts and the leading man was handed a old school can opener, spun her around and began ripping the back open so he could get a feel...Times were a changin'. That was probably seriously risqué for the 30's. And I guess they have fully changed now...

Forget women not wear pants because it was improper or unladylike now they can just wear panties and a tank to the club and still not have a dude offer to buy them a drink. Think about it ladies.

Anyway, this song really struck me..."Remember My Forgotten Man". I mean it can be interpreted different ways but but it came on at a time when I had not heard from a friend in the military in months. I was just about at the stage where you start going on line and looking for the names of the casualties and it reminded me again that we are at 'war'. Though the news never discusses it unless it is a feel good story or some solider fighting to come home to his sick infant...OK No Mini Militant Rants today...enjoy!

No Sex in the Arab Champagne Room...

Who knew they got it in like this...and I bet that's the Arab Uncle Luke they're bumping in the background...I wonder if he's saying Doo Doo Brown in Arabic???

Arab Champagne Room

I know they are hot as the dickens and dag those dudes look bored as hell...Give 'em a little ankle action or something...Dang!

Oh My...

I'm not even a fan of chocolate but this looks tasty...

I think all the gel in his hair must have blinded me
because I never even realized the brother was fine.

It's a Small World After All...

So the other day I was walking home. As I'm strolling along I saw bunch of antique doors.

That's not Eddie, that's one of the two Fred's that work there.

I just so happen to be in the market for a new door so I was very happy. I saw a door that was pretty much perfect for the doorway I needed it for but it was on hold for someone.
Damn, Damn Damn...Florida Evans style.

I talked to owner, a very nice retired fire chief named Eddie. He assured me that he would let me know if the person he was holding it for fell through and that he would look through his huge stash of antique doors for something else that would fit my threshold.

So I come home excited and decide to give him a call letting him know that I am willing to pay more than his asking price and go to bed.

Today I get up and go to breakfast with a friend and on our way back we are near Eddie's door shop so we stop by. He tells me that the man who wanted the door already put some money down on it so I start go through his huge stash.

While doing so, I see a statue that instantly looks familiar to me.

(Small World Instance # 1)

When I was young a friend of my mother, from Nigeria named Moses, would leave some of his art work in our front yard. I assumed as a form of advertisement. It must have worked because people always asked about them.

As a matter of fact on Labor Day this year a guy came and spoke to a friend of mine and mentioned how he "lived around here back when there were statues in the front yard".

From time to time Moses would change his pieces but this was the first one. She's older now and shows the wear and tear of the years but I remember it instantly. After this on he gave us an iron statue of two men playing the drums to display. That was my favorite. We still have a hand chair he made, but someone damaged it and it has a broken a finger or two.

I end up buying an adorable jewelry chest (which plays music) and a chair...each for FIVE DOLLARS!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

Since Eddie's place is pretty close to my house we decided to go pick up my mother and let her take a look around. When we get out of the car she bumps into one of her friends she hasn't seen in years (Small World Instance # 2). They speak and exchange numbers and she proceeds to look around. When she comes out one room to go into another and sees a man and his father. She asks one of them, "Where do I know you from?", and he responds that they worked at the same job many years ago. (Small World Instance # 2 1/2). They speak for a while and we come on home.


Once I get home I started to try to clean the chair. I quickly learned that that's not going to be an option and I'll just have to sand it...luckily I got a great hand sander from the Goodwill for 10 bucks.


As far as the jewelry chest, you can't really tell but it is missing a door. I removed the piece that remained were it broke and put the screws back in because they were closer to the color of the wood than the wholes that were left behind. I cleaned the whole thing and replaced some of the fabric in some of the draws.

I already put some of my jewelry in the chest.




One of the draws wouldn't close all the way so I took the back off in an attempt to figure out why and found a broach, a 60's style plastic ring and some other random items including the name and address of the woman who owned it. I just so happened to be on the phone with my aunt (same green thumb aunt) and it turns out the woman lives IN her building and she knows her (Small World Instance # 3).

Crazy right...I am going to tape the sticker I found to the bottom as a little reminder...


Today Was A Good Day!

Moral of the story...Thrift shopping is the Bees Knees and ALWAYS be nice to people, you never know who they may know.