Ooh la la...

Monday night I headed to The Red Lion to see some of New York's finest musicians perform. I made it just in time (no hassle for parking either :) and thanks to Lady Ann (Ruckert) I was fortunate enough to get a seat right up front.

Skip Brevis, Galia Arad, Jake Holmes, Kirsten Thien, Chris Tedesco and Bruce Gordon all played and sang on that balmy night in NYC.

From left to right: Chris Tedesco, Kirsten Thien, Jake Holmes and Galia Arad

Skip Brevis & Bruce Gordon (fellow Leo :)

I particularly enjoyed Jake Holmes' monologue about getting or being old; too funny.... and Galia's "missing the city and you" song which had me all teary-eyed.

 

Jake Holmes during his monologue

Galia ~ beautiful inside and out

Chris Tedesco plays a violin as though he's actually playing heart strings...absolutely beautiful!...here he is on guitar however, performing with his wife (and baby in tow :)

There was also the young L.B. Winter.

An excited little girl with absolutely no sign of stage fright and a promising career ahead of her.

I was sitting there smiling, tapping my foot and thinking "what could be better than summertime in NYC, enjoying great music and company?", when my thoughts were suddenly broken by someone calling my name "Mandy, get up there!"
It was Ann...and before I knew it I was up there, onstage, singing along for the finale with these same musicians whom I love and admire. At that moment, it had just gotten better :)

Here's Ann, who hosts the SGA circle...

...and who as Skip says, "Kicks our a**" to make sure we strive to be the best musicians we can be.

On my way home I listened to Galia's new cd "Ooh la baby" which I FINALLY got my hands on, and trust me, you should too!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/GaliaArad1

Vajazzle my vajayjay???

Today I learned about Vajazzling. Ever heard about the Bedazzler? Well apparently Vajazzling is the same concept, but instead of putting rhinestones on jeans and accessories etc, you can now have Swarovski crystals, designs and even tattoos DOWN THERE!!!!
Where????
YES DOWN THERE!!! You'll LITERALLY be able to call them ' the family jewels'.

At first I thought the girl who told me was kidding, then I googled it, and low and behold there it was...SEVERAL links about Vajazzling! Jennifer Love-Hewitt apparently is a big fan of this and there was even a "How to" video on Youtube!
As I was trying to wrap my mind around this, the girl continued her story and told me about a salon in NJ that actually does this (that's where SHE first learned of it)...and get this....THERE'S A FULL MENU, laminated and all! She said there's a variety of ways to design your 'goods'. You can get the fully monty (lol) rhinestones from your navel alllll the way down, or just accent certain areas.

So my next question is "WHO invented vajazzling?"
Who sat there and decided one day that their genitalia should have dye, or glitter, or rhinestones for that matter? And ok, one could think that somehow this might be interesting to explore, you know, jazz up your sex life, be creative and all that........ but then what?
Firstly, how do you walk into a salon and order that? "Hey yes, good morning, I'm here for a pink mohawk with some glitter and oh yeah one side of the rhinestones all around it please...thnx!", or do you say "I'd like a #3 with a 5, 6 and a touch of #7"...I mean how DO you do that?
And what about the vajazzlers? I thought OBGYNs had it bad, but how do you break the news to mom and dad? to anyone? "yeah I design vajayjays for a living"...how do you complete a form, a job application, a medical record.... under occupation? Vajazzler!
How is that even comfortable for your vajayjay? How do you wear underwear with all the rhinestones? SHOULD you wear underwear with it? And if you don't, did you have it designed for show and tell? "Hey look what I had done today?" (raises skirt, sparkling and proud).

I suppose being a vajazzler is an honest living (BRUTALLY honest if you ask me) and apparently people out there think their vajayjay should have as much bling as Paris Hilton's pooch, but my visits to the OBGYN and trips to Victoria's Secret are about all the extra special treatment MY vajayjay is ever gonna get!

When it's okay to be a TWIT...

If you're like me and you've recently entered the world of Twitter, you might feel like a complete TWIT! How do you spell lost? M-A-N-D-Y!
My friend, Ana, tried to convince me that it only seems complex at first, well as I write this I still haven't figured out exactly how to "tweet" at best, but I am going to learn how to use one of the most main streams of social media today.
Almost everyone you know is using some form of social networking: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TweetDeck and so much more. I even saw it on the news! The NEWS NETWORK itself said "find us on Facebook". Clearly this is the stage we're in with technology.
I attended a seminar that dealt with all different avenues online. The featured speaker was Mitch Meyerson. He has been a guest on Oprah, author of 9 books (the most recent which I purchased is "Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars") and was really loaded with a wealth of information for Online Marketing etc.

Facebook, Twitter and even Youtube are such a big deal these days that a part of the seminar was dedicated solely to those!

With Mitch Meyerson at the seminar

So while you check out Mitch's website, http://www.mitchmeyerson.com/, I am heading over to my Twitter account.

Remember, you can find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mandyjb1

Check me out on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mandyjoseph

or......drum roll please.....FOLLOW ME ON Twitter: http://twitter.com/mandyjbennett1

See ya there! ;)

When a storm is approaching...what do YOU do?

"When a storm is approaching, an eagle senses it and flies to some high place to await the winds. As the storm hits, it spreads its wings so that it catches the wind and is lifted above the storm. As the storm rages, the eagle soars. It does not entirely escape the storm, but it uses it to lift itself higher. When the storms of life come, use them to lift yourself up and soar like an eagle."

I don't know who wrote that but I thought it very profound. When YOU go through storms in life, what do you do? Do you get tossed about in the winds and break down? Do you anchor yourself rigidly in place hoping you do not break? Or do learn life lessons and move forward?

What do YOU do?

The Tooth Fairy

This morning as I read my sister-in-law's blog about my niece losing her tooth and being paid by the tooth fairy, I was reminded of MY dealings with the infamous fairy.
When I was younger I couldn't WAIT for my teeth to fall out so I could get PAID! I could care less about how I looked running around toothless, I was getting paid!
My son on the other hand is a totally different species. When HIS teeth fell out he wanted to keep them! (Clearly not my kid!)
I never wanted to feed into all the myths of Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and all that stuff, but it's hard to evade those things when your kids go to school or you have family members who love it more than the kids themselves. When you see YOUR kid looking forward to the fat guy sliding down the chimney, or the bunny that lays eggs, you don't wanna be the jerk who disappoints them. So what did I do? Yup you guessed it!
His first introduction to the Tooth Fairy was in pre-school. He excitedly told his teacher that morning how he'd lost his tooth (proud of his rite of passage) and before I could gag her and throw her in a closet somewhere, she said those deafening words "So you're gonna put it under your pillow for the tooth fairy?"
I....WAS...MORTIFIED!!!! I wanted to say 'no, I'm gonna hold YOU under a pillow!" but at that moment I had to focus on the confused look on my son's face and gasp, explain about the Tooth Fairy!
That night we put the tooth under the pillow and he woke up in the morning to a wrinkled $5 bill (hey it was all I had on me at the time ok?) But my son was upset! Where had the tooth gone? Why did he have this money? HE was mortified! I figured by the time he got to school and heard the other tooth fairy stories he would be alright. Of course as soon as we walked through the door the same teacher sachays up to us again (as if she HAD to follow up on the tooth!) and asks "so did you get money for your tooth last night?" which upset my son all over again as he explained what happened. Meanwhile she's telling me about inflation because back in the day HER tooth fairy didn't give her "no 5-dollar bill!"
So that night he put the money BACK under the pillow for the tooth fairy to bring back his tooth. I have never seen a child so happy to redeem a dried up crusty old tooth, but like I said CLEARLY not my child!

Fast forward to 2010 and we go to the movies (I won't say which one in case you haven't seen it yet) but in the movie they discuss the tooth fairy, and then he asks "Mom, are YOU my tooth fairy?"  I actually felt the wind knocked outta me. What do I say? Perpetuate the lie?  Just tell the truth? I mean he's old enough to know...but wait! What if he runs outta the theatre crying, or worse GOES ON OPRAH AND TALKS ABOUT HOW I'VE LIED TO HIM AFTER ALL THIS TIME!!!! I take a deep breath and say "Shh let's watch the movie honey, we'll talk about this later"
Thankfully he hasn't remembered....yet!

Summer Summer Summertime!

Hey YOU!

How's your Summer so far? Tried anything (or anyone) new and exciting? Just relaxing and enjoying lazy days? Reading? Travelling? What have you been up to? 
Well so far mine's GREAT! I mean my hair is notwithstanding this humidity and my body is certainly not beach ready (unless a dumpling in a 2-piece swimsuit is the new trend) but hey, I am so enjoying my Summer!
Family and friends in town for the 4th of July brought laughter, love, late nights sharing stories and most importantly GOOD FOOD!!!!

Some of the fam pictured here

On my way to a cookout

And the HEAT?? I asked for it and I sure got it! Two days ago we experienced 102 degrees; yesterday we had a record high of 105! Ok so I wanted a hot Summer but that was a little TOO hot, even for me! (My friend, Mich, would keel over after reading this, not only from the heat, but also because it is never hot enough for me! lol)

And what's part of Summer fun? Boys!!!
Here's mine with a nice bruise on his forehead after he fell outside while playing...Aye Dios Mio!

Summer's only just begun!

Finally saw FELA!

Ever since this play hit Broadway I've wanted to see it. The rave reviews and the fact that Jay-Z and the power couple Smiths are Producers, sparked my interest.

Well I FINALLY saw it and in a nutshell, FELA is PHENOMENAL!

The choreography is electric, the set design transports you right into the heart of the play and the music?? All the flavors of Africa, the Caribbean and more. You will wonder when your hips got a life of its own!

It's an incredible story about the life of Fela Kuti and a MUST-SEE!

Bill T. Jones (choreographer extraordinaire) was right there in the audience too...have I said how much I heart NY?

This holiday weekend was supposed to be the last of the show but it has been extended till 2011, so guess what people? YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GO SEE IT!

Sunset on Broadway