even on sale, sigh

Nadia Fucking Tarr! I first found out about her through my previous job. My boss carried Nadia's signature Butter by Nadia wrap dresses. I got myself one on mega sale and wore it all over St. Thomas. I would never wear it in the city. Too bright! Practically naked!

But, even on sale, I can't even own a sleeve:(

a spade is a spade

My upbringing was in an upper middle class town in Connecticut. I will admit it. This town has gone through  a huge transformation since the 70's, where a bunch of artistic hippies grew into conservative label whores. Money does that to people. Not sure why. Look at the history of Richard Hayne of Urban Outfitters. He went from building houses in Alaska, teaching the natives English, to donating a shit ton of money to Santorum. Hippies get tired of being hippies and want to make money at something, I guess-so technically they were never really hippies...

Anyway, label whores. I was in high school when Kate Spade designed her first line of handbags. Everyone had one. The girls that couldn't afford them went to Canal Street to buy fake ones. This desperate need to fit in saddened me. So, being the little deviant devil that I was, I completely ignored this company (and let's be honest, anyone that wore it). I never looked into who they were or what they were about because I thought I knew.

Then I heard whispers of them selling. I thought even worse things. Many designers have sold their souls. This is nothing new but it sort of played into what I thought of Kate Spade and co. in the first place. Complete sell outs. If you're tired of what you do, how can you sell your name, let someone else use it for profit and just walk away? I mean 59 million dollars would make it easier, for sure.

Next, I had read that Andy (who is David Spade's brother, btw) opened a design firm/storefront. I looked at the site and became utterly confused. It was cool. How was this possible?

Then, when I saw a feature of their home on The Selby, I started to wonder. Who the fuck were these people? Really?

Turns out, they're just people. Pretty smart people, actually. This interview here and here says quite a bit. I'm still not impressed that they sold out. They're no Calvin Klein, you know what I'm saying?

Even though they have nothing to do with the company whatsoever anymore, I actually went to katespade.com for the first time ever and saw things that I liked. I won't buy them but, they're ok.

 

am i crazy....

or would this look really amazing painted some ridiculous color?

$50 on craigslist. Too bad it's in some weird part of PA that is 2 hours away by car.

But seriously. What color?

  

I've always dreamed of having a vanity. Odd, I know, since I barely look in a mirror. Maybe because I was raised by a woman who taught me to only wear roses on my cheeks and a little mascara, I am fascinated by the process of grooming. Or maybe it's because when a woman chooses to groom, there are so many little bits and bottles to the process that she would really fucking love a beautiful piece of furniture that she can sit at and have it all at her fingertips. She being me. Of course.

My Aunt Rachie has one kinda like this in her basement:

How about a crazy color painted vanity? Ok.

Or more modern.

Le sigh.

overwhelming enough on land

I remember going to see a Franz Ferdinand show in Williamsburg many many years ago. I stood in line to enter a huge space that was called Volume on North 13th Street. I went with my sister. The minute we walked in she grabbed my arm and told me we were staying right there-by the door. "There are only 2 exits!" she informed me.

I have never been comfortable at a show since. The thoughts of fires, stampedes and such consume me every time. I had never even thought about it until that fateful show with my sister. Funny thing is, that venue closed-for that very reason. Exits. Not enough of them. Damn, my sister's smart.

So this:

...is making my stomach churn. The wonders of Coachella will now be taken to the sea. You and +2500 other music revelers can be stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean together. Well, it's not really the middle of the ocean. It is only going a day or two out from Florida.

I have never, in my entire life, ever wanted to take a cruise. For fun. So dumb. Boats are for transporting. Like trains, plains and automobiles. I would take a boat from here to Spain or something, if it were the cheaper option and I had all the time in the world.

I don't love boats. Or water. Or bridges, for that matter. Boats do this:

And this:

Plus, who could forget this:

Did you know that throwing a whole bunch of dirty people on a boat can spread sickness? No? Well, it can. The most hilarious news article title. "Sickness puts the ooze in cruise." Think about it. A whole boat full of people drinking. A lot. How much shit can a boat contain? Seriously.

Ew.

Let's just break down the potential cost of possible sickness and sinking. Mm'ok?

Total cost for 3 day cruise to Bahamas

• Airfare from NYC to Ft. Lauderdale Jet Blue round trip (as of 7/21/12) $300 
• Room to share with 3 other idiots (bunk beds??) $500
• Service fee (this includes gratuity tips) $200
• Drinks for me (if say, 12 hours a day of drinking, I drink a beer an hour and the beers are $7) $250
• Drinks for Ely James (he says he would drink 3 beers an hour!) $756

$1250 for me. $1756 for Ely James. $3000 for us both to go together and be stuck on a boat. With drum circles and shit. Funding a right wing organization.

Our 2010 trip to Coachella

• Round trip airfare for 2  from NYC to Palm Springs with convertible car included: $800
• Coachella VIP passes (thank you ohmyrockness) FREE!!
• Camping for 2 inside the Coachella campgrounds: $110
• Two nights at the ACE hotel, newly opened: $178
• Drinks (only had about 10 each of their $7 heinekens in the course of 3 days but drank plenty of margaritas at Las Casuelas) ???
• Having the freedom (sort of) to come and go as we pleased: fucking priceless

Maybe $1200 total for the both of us. Plus it looked like this:

Through researching for this post-I found that there are tons of these cruises.

The 2012 Mayhem Cruise

Monster of Rock Cruise

ShipRocked 2012

Rock Legends Cruise

Finally, the only cruise that I actually knew existed before delving into all this.

NKOTB Cruise

Just imagine it. A whole boat full of NKOTB fans. Looks something crazy eyed like this:

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

I wonder who will guess the correct numbers, onboard the SS Coachella, for the following events:

• falling off the boat
• getting kicked off the boat (by authorities)
• getting kicked off the boat (by an angry person)
• getting gastronomial whatever
• overdosing
• sneaking in an under aged child
• sneaking in a pet (snakes on a boat?!!)
• bottle cuts (or is it a glass free zone?)
• sexual conquests
• cigarette butts consumed
• etc. etc. etc.

i didn't make a title for this. what?

There have been some changes for me this year. I only work in a retail store about once a week. The rest of the time-I have no idea what it is I do. Technically, I am the boss lady's assistant. Not assistant to design. I don't do that. Assistant to what?

I order supplies. Like ink for our printers. I order other things when we're out. I had to take a deep breath when I put in a reorder for some shoes. It was almost $4000! I wrote up an order for next fall gloves and shit for over $30,000!! Geez. I know that's small potatoes or whatever compared to the big boys out in the retail world. Imagine the order Best Buy makes from Apple. Must be insane.

What else do I do? Deal with vendors for returns. This one lady, Mary, is remotely working down in Florida and has failed to get the order right over three times. Must be a hard life, Mary. Now she is not responding to me at all. Grr. You shall feel the wrath of Adarae, Mary, you shall.

Um, I write checks. It is just all so weird. I'm used to seeing results to my efforts. I'm used to knowing how to keep myself busy. When I'm behind a desk with nothing to do-it's fucking boring.

The one perk so far, getting a style of bag I have wanted for a long time-at cost!

The inspiration of said bag:

That's right. A leather bodega bag. But for over $200? No thank you. I'll just continue to use the plastic ones to pick up my dog's poop.

From the company that makes the most light weight amazing wedge on the planet comes this bag:

The most light weight amazing wedge on the planet is so affordable at $100. This is $500?? I guess it must be real croc.

But the bag I ended up getting at cost:

A leather Baggu bag! Did you know that their headquarters were right in Williamsburg? On Wythe Avenue? Neither did I until I put in this order. Crazy town. No seriously. Williamsburg is full of crazies. That wonder the streets without any awareness of anything around them. But that's a whole other story. Kinda like the Halloween or Williamsburg tumblr. Just crazy.