A { Monkey } Dressed in Silk

Ombre is Calling

monoenseda — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:50:14 +0000

The last time I got my hair done professionally was…. Christmas… ha! I’ve been refusing to pay for my locks only because there are more important things that my money needs to go to. Many, many things like rent, bills, student loans… money for leisurely activities like going out and drinking. Therefore hair has not been a priority for this whole year but now it has gotten to the point where my messy tresses and roots are screaming for some much needed TLC. Not to mention how my split ends don’t let me sleep at night. They give me nightmares.

My beautifying hair day is on Tuesday and I cannot wait!!! Über excited. Even though I haven’t done anything exciting with my head of hair I’ve been wanting to get it colored in a special way, I want it dip-dyed! Ombre hair has been calling my name for a while now and I think it’s time to do it already. I Googled ombre hair a while back and had saved a couple of images I liked. I especially love Sarah Jessica Parker’s hair here. I want exactly that.

I’m bringing this to my hairdresser.

Or…. I could Gaga the shit out of it…

I would too. Don’t dare me!

Happy almost Friday!

Filed under: { Beauty }, { Celebs }, { Fashion }, { I want! }, { Inspirations }

Oysters and Oysters and Beer. Oh my!

monoenseda — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:32:51 +0000

This is embarrassing how late I’m posting this but whatever! Lol.

Two Saturdays ago my lovely girls and I went down to Stone street for the annual Oyster Fest. I always worked when it happened so I was really excited to go this year. Yay for me! If you have never been to this part of town make it a must. It’s a tiny cobble stone street down in the Financial District lined with great bars and restaurants. A great place to go when the weather is warm since the best seats are out on the street. Very relaxing and so much fun to go with people you love.

Enjoying pulled pork sandwiches!

Oyster Fest has a much different dynamic. The tiny street is lined with tarps offering amazing goodies and not to mention the crowd of people boozing and binging. Music is blasting and the energy is fun. Needless to say, we had a blast!

I was so excited to go that I packed my good camera for what I thought would be a fun shoot. I took photos for about an hour feeling great and happy that I was getting good shots of the food and my friends. After this hour I decided to review them. Did I mention how excited I was? So, I turn on my camera only to find out that I had been taking ZERO photos… Zilch! Yeah…. I didn’t have my memory card in. FAIL! So all these pics are curtesy of my friend Nicole…. which I instagrammed (made up word?). I complained about it for about 10 minutes… Then I got over it.

Bottom line: we had fun. I <3 oysters 4 evah!

Happy Friday my friends.

Filed under: { Favorites }, { Yummy! }

Yummies

monoenseda — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:50:37 +0000

As you all know, the east coast was attacked by a hurricane this past weekend. All of New York City stopped on Saturday as the MTA took precautionary actions and shut down all public transportation at noon. It was a total inconvenience because everyone was confined to their neighborhoods and apartments. I mean, I wasn’t cabbing it anywhere! I save my cab rides for late night transportation.

So with all this time and nowhere to go what else is there to do…? ….Cook and EAT!! Lots and lots of food to eat… I think everyone gained the Irene 15. My brother and I made some very delicious meals all weekend but the most exciting one of them all were my Cookies & Cream cupcakes! That’s right! They’re uh-mazing. I recommend.

Recipe from 500 Cupcakes

I absolutely love this recipe but usually make half of it. I don’t want to end up eating them all!

_____________________

for the cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 cups self rising flour (Presto)

1 tsp. baking powder

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

10 crushed Oreo cookies

for the frosting

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

pinch of salt

10 chopped Oreo cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare the cupcake pans with aluminum or paper cups. With an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs until combined then add the remaining ingredients, except the cookies, and beat until smooth and pale, about 2 minutes. Stir in the Oreos.

Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Then remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, beat the confectioners’ sugar, salt, and butter with and electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Fold in the chopped cookies leaving some aside to top the cupcakes with. Serve and eat!

Makes 1 1/2 dozen.

_____________________

It’s almost the weekend and it looks like it’s gonna be good. Enjoy it!

Filed under: { I <3 NY }, { Yummy! }

Brooklyn Flea

monoenseda — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:50:56 +0000

Hello lovelies! Since everyone on the East coast is stuck at home while we bear this crazy storm, I thought what a great opportunity it was to post my flea market adventures from last week. Yay!

Last Saturday my girlfriends and I decided it would be a great day to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market in Fort Green. I had never been to this part of the borough and I have to say that I loved it. The area is adorable with plenty of cute places to grab a drink or bite not to mention how beautiful the houses and brownstones are! They have this elegant air about them, blocks covered in trees and buildings with ivy… My kind of place. It was a gorgeous summer day that made for a pleasant walk to the market and more than made up for the annoying weekend commute (thanks MTA!). Let’s just say it took all of us away too long to make it there… just sayin’.

The minute we enter the market we all spot the same thing: ice cream cart! Naturally, we go straight to the line, which was long by the way. Blue Marble Ice Cream had an amazing assortment of flavors: coffee, dulce de leche, and blueberry (say what!?). Soooo delicious! A good start I would say.

Here are some of the little things that caught my attention…

I was loving on all the furniture.

I really wanted this… lol

Who doesn’t want a dinosaur necklace? I don’t. But I do want a squirrel mug, with the rhino plate.

I really fell in love with so many pieces of furniture that it’s not even funny. Walking around the market made me feel as though I needed to have a house to decorate. Well that, and also the fact that two of my boyfriend’s friends just bought a house. Seeing them fixing it up and making it their own has me thinking of how I would want my home to look like. I think a well rounded mix of modern and cozy country home is where I’d take it. Clean and fresh with a punch of contemporary…. Look at this amazing piece… I. Want.

Spectacles!

Tie clips for the fashionable man

Maria’s wooden tape measure treasure.

Even though I saw many things I wanted (that’s odd), I’m broke so, I knew I was going for the sake of window shopping. But my friend Maria saw something she had to get! It was the little nerd inside her saying she had to buy it. What is it? Well, it’s an old school wooden measuring tape. She explained that engineers back in the day didn’t have the fancy ones they use now. It looks pretty awesome. I thought it made a great giraffe. Wall art!

Besides the obvious things you find at the flea market: antiques, clothing, accessories, junk; there was an incredible assortment of yummy goodies. The girls got some delicious homemade pop from the guys at Brooklyn Soda Works while I went for the ice cold bubble tea! Not to mention the other good stuff that was around: lobster rolls, pulled pork sandwiches, asia dogs, tacos, grilled corn, porchetta, and much, much more. I didnt get to try any of it but everything looked and smelled amazing. It’s a definite must-go if you want to do something different on the weekends.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Now I must go and start moving things out of my window’s way before the hurricane arrives… you know… just in case something flies straight into it shattering into a million pieces while water uncontrollably gushes in. I live right in front of the water ya know! Lol… Safety first people!

Be safe, happy Saturday!

Filed under: { Favorites }, { I <3 NY }, { Inspirations }, { Travel }

TGIF!!

monoenseda — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:36:26 +0000

Thank God its Friday people!

Even though I’m working on Sunday, I am still very excited that I’m not tomorrow (woo!) and that I get to have a little adventure with my girlfriends at the Brooklyn Flea. This promises to be fun: food shopping, walking in the sun (or clouds, who cares its summer!). Needless to say I’m excited. Pictures soon to follow.

Speaking of food, if you live in New York you should take advantage of restaurant week. Many places have extended their Prix fix menus until September 5th! Click here to see a full list of participating venues and to make reservations. Last night a good friend of mine and I had a wonderful dinner at David Burke’s Fishtail in the Upper East Side. The food was aaaaammmaaaaziiing and they gave us a cute little parting gift!

It’s a doughnut peach! Lol

I had the Ahi tuna appetizer which was marinated in a spicy ginger soy sauce. For the main course I went with the scallops. They sat grilled to perfection on top of a spring onion puree… one bite and it melted in my mouth! ….For dessert I had the Peaches & Cream: a little tower composed of a half peach topped with mascarpone cream and finished with a refreshing raspberry sorbet. I couldn’t have asked for a better summer meal. Yum!!!

As the summer starts winding down I’m trying to make the most of what’s left. What will you be doing this weekend?

Happy adventures!

Filed under: { Something }

Children’s Lingerie: Cute? Or, just plain wrong?

monoenseda — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:11:25 +0000

Not so long ago there was an article on Fashionista.com about a 10-year-old French model, Thylane Blondeau that was causing controversy with the good ol’ Americans. Why do you say she’s raised our eyebrows? Well, it was her recent photo shoot for French Vogue in which she’s made up like a grown woman, stiletto clad and all. This trend now has people asking: “Has the fashion industry taken it too far with the youth obsession?”. Not only that, but people are attacking Blondeau’s career and criticizing how she has modeled topless (gasp!). While the topless thing is really a cultural issue that the French see absolutely nothing wrong with (I mean, there’s really nothing there to see), people are really outraged. The New York Daily News wrote:

Such images also raise concerns about child predators, Paul Miller, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, told ABC, “Any creepy child pornographer could plead ‘artistic license’”, Miller said.

You can read some of the reactions here.

Now, the other thing that’s raising eyebrows is a new Lingerie Company… for little girls. Yes, Jours Après Lunes makes “loungerie” (thats what happens when lounge wear and lingerie make a baby). The concept doesn’t really bother me as much as the photographs for their catalog do. Little girls as young as four modeling matching bras and panties with large bouncy hair and strands of pearls hanging from their little necks. Well, you be the judge.

My question is: why aren’t people just as outraged about Child Pageants… now those I think are creepy and just wrong! I mean, how is this any better??

Filed under: { Art }, { Fashion }

Louboutin’s Ballerinas

monoenseda — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:04:24 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Christian Louboutin

There is no question about it, Christian Louboutin heels are the most distinguishable designer shoes. You can’t turn the page of a magazine without seeing some celebrity donning the red heeled beauties. He makes any woman’s legs look like they’re worth a million. So there was no surprise when Mr. Louboutin saw the ballerinas of the English National Ballet (ENB) he went on to create the ultimate heel.

At eight inches high, these Ballet heels make me dry heave with excitement. I mean, they are killer! And I wish I could be able to just try them on or have them on display in my living room. Unfortunately for me, these super heels were auctioned off to charity which benefited the ENB.

Lucky…

Happy Hump Day!

Filed under: { Accessories }, { Fashion }, { I want! }

Free of Sunburns (…Well Not Entirely)

monoenseda — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:22:36 +0000

Let’s talk about h0w amazing my Shiseido sunblock works. Even though the summer started ages ago, I hadn’t gone to the beach yet! So….. yesterday a bunch of my boy’s friends and I made our way to Long Beach. Which, by the way, is probably the nicest beach in New York (sorry, I’m spoiled!). It was a gorgeous and sunny day with no clouds, and you know what that means….. SUNBURNS!!!

I brought my trusty Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection Lotion with SPF 38 and it works wonders. It smells fantastic and is absolutely not greasy. The lotion has a thin consistency so it just glides onto your skin effortlessly. My problem now is that I didn’t use it on my entire body, just my face and shoulders, so you can just imagine how the rest of my body feels after a full day of lounging and playing volleyball. Let’s just say certain parts are lobster red. I’m still happy as can be though, my face and shoulders have a sun kissed glow. All thanks to my sunblock! Yay!

Happy Monday!!!

Filed under: { Favorites }, { Travel }

I like my juice green… very green.

monoenseda — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:43:59 +0000

I recently have become obsessed with vegetable juices, and I’m not talking about no V8 crap. I’m talking about real vegetable juice squeezed from fresh vegetables. I remember the day I was introduced to green juice. I was working at the store in the West Village when a customer came in slurping happily to a mysterious cup of green liquid. We struck conversation and form that moment on I was convinced that the elixir to life was contained within that very cup. She educated me on the benefits of juicing and having a good juicer for that matter. Mind you that before I met her I was considering doing a juice cleanse, so I was very curious and interested. Turns out she is a vegan and life food instructor and Holistic health counselor… jackpot! No but seriously, she is an amazingly graceful person full of energy and life, you get it just by talking to her. Check out her site!

In search for a juicing place, I found a great oasis for fresh juices in the West Village called Juice Generation. They are amazing and have the most delicious juice concoctions and smoothies, not to mention they will make you a customized drink. But getting juice there all the time can be costly, especially for the girl-on-a-budget like me. So…. a couple of weeks ago I found a great juicer on sale and bit the bullet! It’s easy for me to tell you how amazing you feel after drinking this juice. Every time I drink it in the mornings I feel alive, alert, satisfied, nurtured… to name a few. So I want to share what I think is the secret to a long life. Cheers!

The Ultimate Green Juice

2 cups kale
2 cups parsley
1 cucumber
1/4 bunch of romaine
1/4 bunch of celery
1/2 an apple
1/2 a lemon
add garlic and/or ginger to taste (I love it with plenty of ginger!)

PS- the weekend is almost here. Yay for summer!

Filed under: { Favorites }, { I want! }, { Yummy! }

Finding Inspiration

monoenseda — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:08:10 +0000

I’m sitting here in front of my computer trying to figure out my day and I have no idea where to even begin! Given that I couldn’t even sleep last night I find myself today with no direction and it has me frozen, so I put on some Beethoven Symphony No.9 to see if it sparks any inspiration or direction at least.

… so far nothing.

Well, since I have nothing new to ponder upon I think I can tap into things that have inspired me in the past few days. I was going through my photo library and stumbled upon a show I saw two years ago. Here at the Daryl Roth Theatre in Union Square is Fuerza Bruta. If you haven’t heard of Fuerza Bruta then you must click here and get tickets to see it because there are showings all over ! The experience is unlike anything I have ever seen, in simple words the show embarks the viewer in an adventure that revolves around having the most extreme visual and sensorial encounter the viewer could ever experience. All your senses will be tingling! Everyone from Beyonce and Jay-Z to Pierce Brosnan and Jude Law have experienced this amazing spectacle and whenever I think of my experience I feel excitement. GO SEE IT!

So with this in mind I must get to creating or at least doing something productive today.

Enjoy your Tuesday lovelies!

Filed under: { Art }, { Inspirations }