I miss Brazil, I miss my family and so wish I could visit again soon. This photo was taken during my 2004 trip to Rio when my mother and I were browsing around a huge alley market. This spice-lady had her little table of spices for one to buy them whole or have them ground up in that little mechanism she has in front of her. I wish I hadn't cropped the image so poorly. A better composition of that turquoise plate with the green and red peppers(?) next to that old grinding machine would have been great.
Anyway I was reminiscing, knowing I will go again, just hopefully soon. See other photos from that trip here and here.
It's been a crazy day running errands and making things happen. One of those things is meeting up with a screen-printer to finally have the hair posters printed. I'm doing small limited edition runs and hope to have them available for purchase soon. I'm really excited and can't wait to see them completed. Thank you for all the emails and comments regarding your interest in the artwork. Keep checking in for updates on the project.
Good morning beautiful people, I hope you had a lovely weekend. Today I would like to share some things going on with Fly. So here is the first edition of Fly Updates.
AphroChic at Design Philadelphia - Design Philadelphia is a week-long event featuring exhibitions, parties, and lectures celebrating all forms of design. One of these such events is the AphroChic party at Design Within Reach. We'll celebrate the launch of the lifestyle brand and also have a panel discussion called The Designer’s Lounge: Culture and Design in the Modern Home. I was invited to be a part of this discussion and would like to invite everyone to come through to browse, chat, eat, and drink. See the details here.
Mini-Webisode 2 - The first one was so fun to do that I am working on another one. This mini-webisode will be up this week.
Fly Sponsors - Interested in promoting your product or services on Fly? Email me for details.
Twitter - Are you on Twitter? Follow me for real-time updates on Fly related stuff.
I'm so excited and honored to be a part of this upcoming Design Philadelphia event. If you live in or around Philly definitely RSVP. I'd love to meet you. Read on for all the details:
On Saturday October 10th, AphroChic will launch a new collection of
sustainable pillows and apparel at DesignPhiladelphia. The party begins
at Design Within Reach with cocktails and a yummy soulfood-inspired
dessert bar to celebrate the new line. Then it continues with a
fabulous panel, The Designer’s Lounge: Culture and Design in the Modern
Home. The panel will feature a distinguished group of designers and
bloggers:
Jonathan Auty, Regional Director of Sales East Coast, Design Within Reach, www.dwr.com Angela Hays, Visual Merchandiser, www.angela-hays.com LaQueanya Henry, Moderator, Owner & CEO, Elegant Weddings & Events By Design, www.elegantweddingsbydesign.com Melinda Lewis, Creative Director, Get Togetha, www.gettogetha.com Kristen Lubbe, Philadelphia Contributor, Apartment Therapy, www.apartmenttherrapy.com Andrea Pippins, Founder, Fly, flygirls.typepad.com
Simple pleasures from busy weekends: 1. A bright pink tank I bought from H&M last Friday that I want to wear everyday. 2. Cute plates from The Clay Studio pot sale, each piece was $1. I had to keep from buyiing too many. 3. Hydrangeas from the market, so sweet. 4. And a turkey burger overflowing with goodness, next to a pile of sweet potato fries (my favorite) from Sabrina's Cafe
The response to my M.I.A. post was amazing! Thank you so much for your comments and words of encouragement. I REALLY do appreciate it. I know there are many inspiration blogs out there and tons of internet destinations to overwhelm your senses, so I feel so grateful that you all allow Fly to be one of those creative distractions you support regularly.
I promise, I have plans for that image (and the other images that accompanying it) and will post updates as it comes into fruition. So thanks again, I love all the feedback I can get.
Oh, and thanks so much for the well wishes with the job search. Maybe I should start a section on Fly documenting that whole process. We shall see.
I'm so happy yet sad because I'll miss my salon in Brooklyn :(. Finally a wonderful salon right here in Philly that I am completely comfortable with. Everyone was extremely professional, friendly and sweet. As soon as I sat down for my consultation I felt that I was in good hands. With natural hair you have to be extremely gentle and patient (especially with clients who have a lot of hair like me), and they were all that and more. It was a very good experience.
Are you a natural living in Philly looking for a great natural hair salon? Check out Salon Vixxen on Fairmount Ave. and ask for Sharita. Thank you for the referral Rakia!
Today my plan was to head up to Brooklyn to get my hair done at my favorite salon, Creations. Sadly, some things came up for school and I couldn't make it. But my hair is in desperate need of some TLC (trim, deep conditioning, etc.) and a style change (I'm getting it pressed). So I'm trying a salon referred to me by Rakia. If you're an avid Fly reader you know I've had some bad experiences here in Philly, but I won't give up because going to NY everytime I need a trim is tough. So here is my before. Check back later for my after. If you don't see the after it means I was displeased. Eeeeeeek, I'm scared, but wish me luck! P.S. I know what you're thinking, "dang she has those earrings on AGAIN?"
Today I will be glued to the TV as I watch the inauguration festivities, and probably kicking myself 1,000 times over for not going home to be a part of this historic event. I debated and debated but finally decided I would rather watch the ceremonies in a cozy space with friends, drinking hot chocolate while tears of joy stream down my face (instead turning into icicles on my chin). Cheers to change!
Check out these pics from people all over the world and Washington, celebrating this special day. Click here to see more. Via NYTimes.com
Hello people! Welcome back. It's officially 2009 and a time for new beginnings and new efforts to fulfill those New Year's Resolutions. Last year my goal was to be on top of my emails. It's a year later and I still need to work on that resolution...badly :). But one resolution I am excited about was inspired by that new Jim Carey movie, Yes Man. I haven't seen it but the premise is pretty clear: Jim Carey plays a man who spent his whole life saying no and misses out on too many great opportunities because of this, so he changes and starts saying yes to any and every thing. Well, I've decided to do the same, to say yes to every and any thing in reason. So far so good. I actually started this concept a month ago and I have already been places, met great people, and had a lot of fun because I said yes. So I encourage everyone to say yes to fun and new experiences. Times are hard, money is limited, but hey we're here and we have to live. There's so much to learn and so much to see and at the end of the day, it's really ok that you didn't get through all those emails, get in the bed early or didn't make it to the grocery store. Make that call to an old friend, go ahead and take that hour lunch you were invited to, and use those rolled coins to buy that book so you can be apart of that book club. Have fun!
Hi everybody, I decided to take this week off to regroup, catch up on some emails and focus on eating that Thanksgiving turkey. This is a fine moment to say thank you all so much for supporting this site, for leaving your wonderful comments and sending me great messages. For those who honor Thanksgiving Day, enjoy, stuff your face and remember to be thankful.
If you're looking for something to do after conquering a few pieces of that sweet potato pie, you can catch up on all 10 webisodes here. Visit Fly archives and see early posts here. And visit some of my favorite blogs:
As you probably noticed I try to avoid the topic of politics on Fly but after this weekend I had to post my Obama experience. After a long week of constantly going and going I really just wanted to sleep in on Saturday morning. But when I found out Obama was going to be doing an early morning campaign rally close to me, I decided to forgo the luxury of lounging in bed all morning and got up to finally see him in person. And I did. I rolled out of bed at 6:45 am, got on my bike and met with my friend to ride over to where thousands of other people were congregated to see this amazing man.
I was so excited even though, initially, we were too far away to see the podium (first pic). But somehow we migrated closer and I could finally see him, and I saw that smile — I was simply in awe. The energy was so positive and pure and all I could think about was his safety and praying that God protects him. I thought about all the pressure he must be feeling and all the strain this must be having on his emotions, his family-life, and his love-life. Not to mention the physical stress of flying here and there constantly speaking, hugging, signing, waving, and answering the same questions over and over again. Granted he signed up for this but no one could ever prepare him (or anyone) for all that it takes to campaign for such a prestigious title.
And yet he was there, standing before me at 8:30 am smiling brightly, genuinely, and sincerely. Saying his words with passion, humor, and charm and igniting a crowd that had been waiting for him since 6 am. It was incredible and the most inspiring way to start a beautiful Saturday morning.
Check out these Obama blog pics from the other Philly locations he visited.
More than 20,000 people went to see him at 52nd and Locust.
Despite the busy life I've been living lately I try to squeeze in a little fun. This rainy weekend I met up with Rakia to check out a Philly event called Canvas Clash, which was held in Love Park. Artists came together in this space to create art while people watched and browsed around listening to music. Then I visited The Loft Tradeshow which featured the wares of Philly fashion designers and boutique owners. Elena of Bus Stop Boutique showed off her wonderful boots which are made with leather and quilt swatches, dang I can't remember the name of the brand but I so wanted to take home a pair. And I loved the jewelry by Heebie Jewelry (bottom two pictures), the earrings are really cute. It was a good weekend and even great to be out and about even in the rain. (Oh and I've been really trying to do more with my hair so I wanted to share a picture of my new little hair-band I made with some fun animal print scrap fabric.)
Here are some photos of fashion shows, outdoor parties, dinner, art functions and other randomly captured images all from the summer. These pictures were edited from their original posts, but I still wanted to share. See more here.
Hopefully I won't get in trouble for sharing this picture, but with the summer gone and kids going back to school I thought it would be fun to share this class photo I came across recently. It's from the second grade which seems so long ago. My mom was still dressing me up for school photos, which I know I was frustrated about when recess came and I couldn't do much in those white patent leather shoes. By the fourth grade class photo (which I still have as well), I was dressing myself and it looked like it. I had on some Alf converse knock-offs and a weird short-set that looked too big for me, I guess it was my way of experimenting with fashion.
All this to say, whether it's back to school, work, or home from partying it up all Labor Day weekend, welcome back.
I'm taking a little break from Fly next week, and will be returning after Labor Day on Tuesday September 2nd. I'll return with Webisode #9 and many more posts. In the meantime check out some of these goodies you might have missed or may want to revisit. Oh and before I forget, PLEASE register to vote if you haven't already. I registered through the Rock the Vote site and it was super easy. Now I've made it even easier for you, you don't even have to leave Fly to fill out the form, just click the widget on the top left corner of this site.
Last week I went to a networking event thrown by Rakia for the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). It was held at the Vivant Art Collection gallery which is a beautiful space located in Old City Philadelphia. I can be really shy but I forced myself to go up to people and talk about Fly and make new connections. It's funny how after going up to one or two, the rest are so much easier. It was a really great event, thanks Rakia!
If you have yet to fill out the Fly Survey please do so by end of day Friday July 18th. If you have, thank you so much for your time, the information collected has been and will be extremely helpful in the future development of Fly.
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