Photo booth pictures! Lara Eurdolian (me!), Mex and the City Creator Erika Mercado, and "The Moogie Man"
Mex and the Cityis a very cool cultural website and blog created to promote the free thinking, enterprising, and artistic efforts of young creatives in New York City. Created by Marina Garcia-Vasquez, Iris Avelar, Ruby Vizcarra and Erika Mercado, it is a blog that speaks about the increasing Mexican culture in the New York landscape in a fun and personal tone.
Basically they are the authorities on all things Mex in this city and throw incredibly fun events. Last night we celebrated their one year anniversary at the Hous Projects, a very cool space decorated in their blog posts! So creative… It was a hip crowd, toasting with delicious margaritas by Milagro tequila, bonding over photo booth
While I do consider myself a New Yorker (we’re going on our 10th anniversary in September!), truth be told I’m originally from Boston. Well technically Belmont, a little suburban town all of 15minutes outside of Boston. I don’t really have a lot of Boston pride, except for when it comes to Red Sox-Yankee games, otherwise the only thing I think Boston has on us is cell phone service on the train. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to visit, I just wouldn’t want to live there again.
Although after a decade of trips home, only in the past month have I ever stayed at hotels (which is so unnecessary, especially since I think my dad’s new house could qualify as a hotel). Although by doing so it’s been a completely different experience. Last month I was at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge (for a wedding), and this past week at The Colonnade in Boston. This past trip has somewhat changed my stance that I maybe I could live in Massachusetts again if The Colonnade was my permanent
Abdi Assadi. Check out his book, Shadows On the Path
Fashion designer/icon, Norma Kamali is on a wellness kick. Well more then a kick, it’s a way of life. I mean look at her, she’s definitely doing something right (it’s probably the Organic Avenue diet and all of those Physique 57 fitness classes). Back in September she hosted “Conversations”, a dialogue on wellness solutions with notable speakers including, Twyla Tharp, Horst Rechelbacher, and Abdi Assadi, which I was very lucky enough to be apart of. She’s additionally has been hosting various wellness events at her store (sign up for her mailing list to stay informed). Her latest, featured a speech by Abdi Assadi, spiritual advisor, acupuncturist, and author of Shadows On the Path, on intuition.
Abdi Assadi, Norma Kamali
I was first turned on to Abdi Assani over a year ago by my former roommate (and best friend) Mike, who ordered me his book, after I was going though some distress. Probably some ‘what’s my purpose in life crisis’ or freak out over my 16th breakup with my boyfriend at the time. If you’ve ever met Mike, you’d probably recognize his endurance level for any type of bullshit is at 0.05% –and even then, he’s probably only tolerating that much out of friendship. Mike was one of the lucky individuals who got through Abdi’s waitlist, and gets to see him professionally. An endorsement from Mike has more value to me than 3 Michelen stars, so needless to say, I’ve been
Sean Parker, a co-founder of Napster and founding president of Facebook (or as many of you know him as Justin Timberlake’s playboy role in The Social Network) is engaged to singer-songwriter Alexandra Lenas.
I know this because I was at his not-so-recent 30th birthday party at his beyond amazing home in NYC (that’s a funny story for another time), and the blog post I wrote about it has been blowing up! So naturally I googled him to see what all the excitement was about and there you have it, his engagement.
And now for a little walk down memory lane, back to December 2009 at Sean’s 30th birthday…
some people I don't know, Lara Eurdolian (me!), Sean Parker, and someone else I don't know
Where the end of the night concluded with this outstanding group picture I’m in. Unfortunately, I have no idea who any of these people are (minus Mr. Parker) or why we even took this picture. Then again, who care, very few can throw a party the way Sean Parker can, so you just gotta roll with it.
I was invited to Boston for a few days, so I seized the opportunity to work-from-awesome-hotel (The Collanade!) and clear my head. NY, I love you but we need a few days apart. My hotel’s location is so absolutely perfect, that I’ve been pretending that I live here. (Did I mention I’m originally from the Boston area and my parents live all of 15minute away?). I know, super lame.
I woke up early this morning walked across the street to Copley Place, grabbed a tea and did a little window shopping. I had to go before the shops opened out of fear-or-bank-account-withdrawal.
The highlight was this amazing Louis Vuitton bag. Le drool. I can’t find it on their website so I can’t offer any additional details — I even searched under “Best bag ever!”. LV, what gives?
Nail polish powerhouse, Essie has teamed up with TOMS Shoes in support of the shoe brand’s global campaign, One Day Without Shoes (April 5th), which helps raise awareness of the millions of children at risk for disease and infection as they grow up without shoes. As most of you TOMS Shoes as the do-gooder shoe company where for every pair purchased, a new pair is donated to a child in need of shoes.
How does going a day without shoes make a difference?
Through change! And it gives us just a very, very, very, microscopic taste of what children in developing countries go through barefoot for miles to go to school, get clean water and medical help.
Essie created a special limited edition nail color, in the signature
From the same owners as 1 OAK and Butter, Scott Sartiano and Richie Akiva opened the new supper club, The Darby. I have to say I didn’t have high expectations for the restaurant. I read some review on Eater where a guy went there and was charged $2 extra for getting his drink on the rocks. When the website asked the GM for the explanation he said,
“Drinks with ice get a bigger pour…We charge more because we use more alcohol for a drink served with ice. We’re not charging for the ice…Clearly, this person doesn’t go out much and doesn’t know how things work.”
That basically translated to me as this is a totally douche restaurant that wants to be sceney and needs to get over itself. Needless to say it wasn’t my first choice, but I had a friend in town from France and was not going to miss out on the welcome dinner.
Before even stepping foot in The Darby, I received an email confirmation for my party of 8 saying “On Friday and Saturday evenings, a $25 per person Entertainment Fee is added to all Guest checks.” Reading this only drilled my original suspicion in further. Here’s the thing, places like The Darby in
Susan Sarandon and Mary-Louise Parker Host a Benefit for Hope North
While generally my Sunday nights consists of sweats, my laptop and takeout (it’s a joyous ritual), I had a more exciting night planned for the evening. Susan Sarandon and Mary-Louise Parker we’re hosting a benefit for Hope North, a boarding school in Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other victims of the country’s civil war. I posted the invite so hopefully some of you made it and bought tickets in advance since the event sold out! That’s quite a feat considering it was hosted at 13,000sq ft table tennis social club, SPiN New York.
And apparently the line (even for ticket holders) was out the door and around the corner—I somewhat anticipated this type of reaction considering besides our lovely celebrity hosts, Rufus Wainwright, Josh Ritter, Jesse Malin, Joseph Arther and Martha Wainwright were all playing. I devised a not-so-solid plan for my date and I to crash the VIP cocktail party to avoid any unnecessary crowd shenanigans –I am the club’s #1 member. My club card should come with some perks… although even then I needed text message verification from one of the owners and contemplated an attempt to sneak in through the back (always a solid fall back plan). But for the record, I did buy my tickets and donate to the raffle.
I look like a deer caught in headlights w/ Judah Friedlander
I had a great time and played a lot of ping pong (Charlie Mars walked by my match and heckled me with a Steffi Graf comment). I appreciated it. And seriously what better way to hit then with great live performances in the background. The last time I saw Rufus Wainwright live was 2005 at Sundance and I LOVE HIM. I was hoping he’d sing Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, but it wasn’t in the line up.
The Benefit also had an awesome silent auction –I wanted the autographed Soup Nazi picture, but a friend, Roxy won it so I compromised with getting a picture of the picture of the Soup Nazi.
Tucked away in the basement of Lavo, John Frieda hosted a private screening for the premiere of his short film “The Decision” starring Katie Holmes. While guests got settled inside, the red carpet was buzzing with excitement and as fans gathered outside to catch a glimpse of Katie Holmes, and other high-profile guests including several of the NY Housewives, Tinsly Mortimer and Julie Benz.
First off Katie Holmes is stunning. I was at the bottom of the stairs checking my coat as she walked in all tall and lanky with this amazing white blazer and black pants on looking so tasteful and natural. Her hair in was down in loose curls and her skin was glowing. Shortly after she was seated, Elle’s Creative director, Joe Zee gave a short speech and introduction to the film. I was expecting Holmes to say a few words, however other
You may have noticed some recent updates on my site, one of which is my fancy new AVEENO/Recyclebank partnership badge. Well I have some exciting news, I’ve been asked to be a RecycleBank and AVEENO Ambassador!!! I’m one of 25 hand picked bloggers to receive this honor and as a result I’ll have access to products, events, and the inside scoop on both these great companies to share with you.
Part of my Ambassador perks (I love saying that!) was an all-expense paid trip to LA to cover this year’s Independent Spirit Awards. Unfortunately, I had a wedding that day (I REALLY love the bride), so I had to turn it down. Fortunately, I was still accepted into the program and as of this week had my first orientation.
If you’re not familiar with RecycleBank, you should check them out. They are all about motivating people to take actions that have a positive environmental influence by offering rewards for individuals making greener choices.
