Tatted UP!

The other day I had a thought...in 10-15 years from now what will the world be like.  I thought of the mohawks, the guys wearing skinny jeans, the preteens who wear a face full of make up and then I thought about the TATTOOS. In 10 years from now the younger generation of today will be the older generation tomorrow and what will that look like?

In today's world having a tattoo is very common, almost expected.  Teenagers are getting them, older people are getting them, middle age people are getting them, its almost scary just how common tattoo's are becoming. Wheather its the tramp stamp or the full back design the tattoo industry is really making a killing right now.

When I first got my tattoo at 18 it made me unique.  Everyone wanted one but back then few people actually got it.  As bad as it sounds I got it as a mark of Independence. For me it was a rebellious act that paved the way for me start making my own decisions.  It was not a form of  body art or a silly act of having a boyfriends name on me, it was simply something cool to do so I did it.

Looking back, I would have made a different choice and did without the tattoo, but in today's world a tattoo is a form of expression. Its body art.  It can be a canvas for an artist, a declaration of love for a parent, child or lover, or it could be a symbol of something memorable.  Either way I wonder what the work force will look like when the teens of today are adults running major corporations with tattoos peaking from sleeves, pantyhose, wrists and necks.

A few weeks ago my best friend attended a wedding and as he recapped the highlights for the day he told me how appauled he was at the number of overly detailed tattoos peeking out under beautiful gowns and dresses. Tattoos that went from the right shoulder all the way to the left.  Tattoos that boldly decorated cleavage and necklines.  And lets not forget the tattoos that subtly peaked out on ankles and feet. 

While I am indifferent to how others decide to design their bodies, I wonder if the world has gone too far with the tattoos.  If teens are averaging 1-3 tattoos now, what will it be like in 10 years?

          What do you thing of the tattoo epidemic? 

           Do you have one and has the world gone too far?

10 Things I Love About New York

I spent the 4th of July in New York and the past few days have been amazing. As a recent resident of North Carolina, New York will always be my home.  It is absolutely hands down one of the best cities on earth to live in.  If by some anomaly you have never been to New York before you are truly missing out and must plan a trip ASAP.  With that said, I thought it would be fun to highlight the top 10 things I personally love about New York.

1. EVERYTHING is for sale.  There is absolutely nothing you cannot buy in NY.  If New York does not have it then it does not exist lol.
2. THE CITY NEVER SLEEPS- there is always something to do at any given time.  Parties, beaches, lounges, restaurants, boutiques, bookstores, bars, parks, theatres, coffee shops, pool halls, free concerts, museum parties, tea lounges etc.  You are only bored in NY if you choose to be, because the options are endless.
3. ITS THE BEST PLACE FOR FASHION- If you are like me and love to have new looks but need ideas, you can always find them in New York.  Whether its 5th ave, the Village or Harlem etc, everyone makes a statement in how they dress; and, on any given day you will see some of the best and worst displays of fashion.
4. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-  The subway runs 24 hrs, and the trains are always filled with people coming and going.  Yellow taxies also run all night as well as buses.  I love the fact that you can get around at any hour without actually NEEDING a car.
5. THE STREETS WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOU.  New York will toughen you up, make you street smart, yet still leave you with a little bit of a heart.  The cab drivers are crazy, there are homeless people every where but the truth is, if you pay attention and learn quickly you will never  ever be a sucker in life.
6. IT NEVER GETS BORING- There is always something new. No matter how long you have lived in New York there is always a new sight to see or a new place to go.  A new restaurant, a new stadium, a new island, a new park, there is always something that you have not seen yet.
7. OPPORTUNITIES ARE ENDLESS- If you desire to be a singer, a actor, a rapper, a artist, a musician, a writer, a entrepreneur, a designer etc, New York is the place to be. I can't explain WHY but I can tell you that New York is where dreams are made.
8. BROADWAY- Whether its a play, a musical, the ballet, the symphony or he Rockettes, the shows on Broadway cannot be beat!  Even if you can find the same show playing at your local theater, New York gives it a different touch of elegance. Celebrities show up, red carpets are laid and who knows, depending on the show it is possible the First Lady could very well be in attendance.
9. THE BROWNSTONES AND LOFTS-  To sum it up simply, think of Carrie's Bradshaw's brownstone with the beautiful hardwood floors ,and double door bathroom on that quaint little street.  Now think of the upscale, luxurious, fabulous lofts you have seen on shows like Gossip Girl. The brownstones and lofts in New York are amazing.
10. ITS LIKE ONE BIG PARTY- No matter what you do its fun! Solo or with a group, even if you are simply laughing at a crazy person, New York is a party within itself.  Everything is an event to remember and the air is just filled with spontaneity, excitement and opportunity. The party never stops.

The phrase "I Love New York" did not come from nowhere.  There are so many reasons to love New York if I haven't convinced you, go see for yourself.

For my New York natives and re-locators, what are some of the things you love about New York?

White Collar vs Blue Collar

At a recent dinner with the girls I was accused of being "classist".  I was horrified that my own line sister would say such a harsh thing to me especially since I felt that comment was 100% incorrect.  The snide comment originated during girl talk when I was telling the girls about some of my exciting and not so exciting adventures of being single.  I mentioned that the "new guy" was blue collar and how much I hated it.  I liked the guy yes, however his blue collar tendencies NO!

What are blue collar tendencies you ask? Ok, I will tell you, just keep in mind this is my blog my opinions
 ;-) 

-Inability to plan, dates/dinners everything is last minute preferenced by "I'm spontaneous".

-Inability to dress appropriately for the occasion. Dinner date includes me dressed up in an after work outfit and him in jeans, a shirt, and sneakers even though it is a Thursday at 5:30.
-Inability to be assertive in everyday life usually taking the more laid back approach, thus making me make all the decisions.

So what are white collar tendencies, I am sure you are wondering.  Well white collar tendencies usually include a man who will always be dressed correctly for a date, he will always have a plan and we will usually have a pretty decent allowance for dinner.  The drawback, is that white collar men can sometimes be playboys, workaholics and sometimes just too arrogant/self absorb.

Nonetheless, for the purpose of this blog I want to explore the psyche of the blue collar man.  Their good traits usually include: humbleness, kind heartedness, and hardworking.  However, despite these good traits for me I have always found it somewhat challenging, to date a blue collar man.  The saying fail to plan means you plan to fail was very prevalent in my house growing up.  So at a early age my mom has always taught us to plan.  Even if I do not have a solid plan out loud I have one strategized in my head.  These days when it’s time to go out, it is not a foreign thought that the guy will leave the date for the night up to me.  The place, the activity, the time, everything. Which leaves me to wonder what happened to the days when men were go getters and had a plan in mind and all us ladies had to do was look pretty and be ready?

My experiences do not apply to every man and it is indeed possible that the results have no correlation to ones career path. However, it is what I have witnessed thus far. My most recent encounter included my blue collar date asking me if I wanted to share an appetizer as the meal? Yes folks the meal.  Now maybe this could have occurred with a white collar guy but I don't know if I believe that.

Share some of your thoughts and experiences on the white collar vs. blue collar man? I am curious to hear your thoughts.

Summertime Fine

Having a crush is always an amazing feeling no matter how old you are. Whether it is a celebrity crush or someone you see everyday that  feeling of "what if" is priceless. As the summer draws near I fugured it would be fun to list MY personal Top 5 Summertime Fine Celebrity Crushes:

Clearly I like the same type of men lol. Who are YOUR Summertime Fine celebrity crushes???

Everybody Needs Something

 Have you ever seen someone and you know they are just going through it.  You want to help but you don't know what exactly to do.  You want to say something but you also don't want to pry.  So you wind up doing nothing and before the day is over you have totally forgotten about it. Meanwhile, the person you was concerned about earlier has drifted throughout the day feeling ignored, unimportant, insignificant and maybe even worthless. Maybe your words, your concern, your desire to give them a hug could have changed the course of their life that day.

 I never want to be the person too caught up in my own agenda that I looked right past the lady on the train with tears in her eyes.  Or the man in the break room that has been looking down and out for the past week yet everyone ignores him.

Everyone is struggling with something, loneliness, disappointments, fear, pain, hurt, death something.   Some of us are strong enough to bear it others are not. In your saddest moments if you are not careful your mind will make your temporary situation seem permanent. Your mind can make your hopeful situation seem hopeless. People have taken their lives because things just seemed too much to bear.  I have always wondered about Marilyn Monroe,  Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, did they share their grief but no one heard them?  Did their cry for help go unnoticed?  I guess these are answers we will never know.  But what I do know is that a empathetic ear goes a long way, a hug can make a difference, a soft tone and words of love can be encouraging in the worst situations.

Going forward I will make this my agenda, to open my eyes and my heart to others who may be hurting inside. I do not have the perfect solution for every problem, I might not have a solution at all, but if you read this and you wonder if anyone cares know that I do. Know that I pray everyday for those that hurt inside.   If you read this and want to reach out to me leave a comment, follow me on twitter or send me a email and we will figure it out :)

I included the song below because it always makes me smile. We are all in need and we all want the same thing.  I truly hope this blog helps someone.

Thanks for stopping by.

http://youtu.be/o8YxxmFTPdk

Name That P♥lish

Ladies when you have those girlie moments and you buy things like nail polish, have you ever paid attention to the names of the polish? The other day my girls and I was strolling through the brightly lit isles of Sephora and I came across the nail polish section. Amongst rows and rows of nail polish from Dior to Nars, to Sephora by OPI, housed a rainbow of beautiful colors. As I scanned through the polishes they ranged not only in colors from nude hues to neon colors but the prices ranged as well. From $9.00 to $48.00 you could paint your nails any color you could possibly think of. What was more mind boggling than the price of the polish was the NAME of these polishes. The names of these polishes was absolutely absurd yet hilarious. Some of my favorites were: Naughty is the New Nice, Teal We Meet Again, Go My Own Way, I'm Wired, What's Your Point-settia? and Shinny Dancer.

You have to laugh at some of these names because although they are catchy the correlation between the colors and the names just never connect. My weird observation at Sephora made me curious to see the name of some of my favorite polishes at home. This is what I found: Girly, Love Letters, East Village, Sparkling Personality, Steel-her Heart,Scandalous, Let Me Go, Black Lingerie, Park Avenue, Get Nude Now, Goin to the Chapel, Fashionista, Meet Me On The Star Ferry, Nice is Nice, Bahama Mama, Only Gold For Me, Tyin the Knot!, Fed Up and Espres-so Yellow. The list goes on and I honestly had to stop myself but how do they come up with this stuff. Until today I never knew I owned yet alone wore "scandalous" or "I'm fed up" nail polish! While its all in good fun as I read back the names of some of these polishes no color in particular comes to mind. For instance, what color is East Village? (green). What color is scandalous? (its fuschia glitter) and what color is I'm Fed Up? (its neutral go figure).

The theme in the marketing strategy is consistent. The names are flirty, fun, and humorous with a hint of realism. I suppose wearing "I'm Fed Up" gives you extra girl power throughout the day. Wearing "Sparkling Personality" makes you extrovert of the year. I am tickled by this and I believe I should be on the nail polish name committee. Here are some of my very own names I would love to see on a bottle of nail polish: I Hate Monday's, I'm Over You!, A Mimosa Please, Working Late, I'm getting a divorce!, Flirting with 30, Meet Me At the Bar, I'm Having a Baby!, Lets Wait, American Idol, Hail Me a Taxi, Date Night, I'm Taken, Smiles and Stilletoes, and I Love Boys. Call me crazy but I think I have a niche for this :-)

If you could name a nail polish what would it be?

High End Vending

Whenever I travel, I always make time to check out the airport and see what interesting stores they have. My travel buddies usually find my airport obsession annoying but for me, its exciting and I ALWAYS find something interesting.

My most recent discovery though was not your usual airport store, it was a high end vending machine. We are all familiar with the Best Buy machines that sell Apple products. Well the Best Buy vending machines have nothing on the Get Set to Jet Set machine. This vending machine carries high end on the go items like Juicy Couture bracelets, Iphones, LAMB clutches, Beats by Dre headphones, Kheils products, digital cameras, designer sunglasses and scarves to name a few. I was so excited by my options I wanted to buy everything. The machine is designed to be convenient for last minute gift ideas, as well as high end travel necessities like electric tooth brushes, underwear and Bliss spa toiletries.

For travelers who are idle and looking for something to do in between flights the Get Set To Jet Set is a perfect way to pass time. I fell in love with the cutest little gadgets. My first choice was the Lady Gaga, Beats by Dre headphones. I was tempted to get the head phones but they was priced at $190.00 so I declined. My second choice was the Beaniebot Power Speaker which is a little robot speaker system which allows you to listen to any MP3 Player or mobile phone without headphones. The robot comes with (2) little beanie hats that you can switch up and it has about 2000 milliwatts of audio.

Overall I was pretty impressed with my $25.00 purchase. The sound quality is great, its compatible with all devices that have a headphone input, and it is really just a cute and much need accessory to my assortment to gadgets.

If you ever find yourself wandering around the airport trying to pass time, look out for the Get Set to Jet Set machine, I am sure you will be as impressed as I was.


What are some of your favorite airport purchases?

Why Don't You Love Me? Maybe Cause Your Dumb!

Judging from the release date of this video I am a few YEARS late, but a classic is a classic so its never too late to review greatness.

I heard this song before but untill now I have never seen the video. My first thought when I saw the title of the video is "Who the hell could not love Beyonce?" Yet, truth be told, I am sure at some point in Bey's life there was a knucklehead who just wouldn't love her the way she wanted him to.

This video provokes a humbling moment for all woman as they reminisce to that one guy who would just not love them back. Bey hits it right on the head when she says:

"I got beauty, I got class
I got style, and I got @ss
And you don't even care to care
Looka here
I even put money in the bank account
Don't have to ask no one to help me out
You don't even notice that
There's nothing not to love about me
No, no, there's nothing not to love about me
I'm lovely
There's nothing not to need about me
No, no, there's nothing not to need about me
Maybe you're just not the one
Or maybe you're just plain....... DUMB"

The lyrics and quirkiness of this video just makes you smile because you have to love Bey, just like someone HAS to love you. The moral of the story is there is NOTHING not to love about you, maybe he IS just plain DUMB!


Would love to hear your feedback, what are your thoughts on this video?

A Presidents Dream- We Love You Mr. President

I came across this video yesterday and I was overwhelmed with pride and joy. President Obama has done great things as our nations leader, and he has done it with class and humility. His achievements will never be forgotten as they have changed America for years to come. When a man has a dream and acts on it......he truly can take over the world.

Thank you Mr. President!

From Blogging to Vlogging*

In efforts to explore all my options.....in the upcoming weeks BkVixenGoneMd will be venturing into the world of Vlogging. I have some great topics for discussion as well as helpful DIY tips. If there is something in particular you would like me to Vlog about feel free to share and let me know. I am so excited about this new venture stay tuned for more information to come, this is going to be fabulous.

Is The Media Too Invasive?

I recently saw a Facebook link to an article regarding Beyonce's miscarriage. A few days later I came across another article titled "Beyonce Breastfeeds!!!" Both articles was a little odd to me because neither of them warranted a story. If Beyonce did indeed suffer a miscarriage is that something that should be exposed and read for entertainment by the world? If Beyonce breastfeeds Blue Ivy, will every woman who breastfeeds going forward become a noteworthy subject matter?

The media has exploited deaths, love interests, finances, sexual pasts, marital status of celebrities etc, and it seems as though no personal moment is off limits. Its fun when the media gives us celebrity fashion sightings or stories like guess who is dating who now, but to delve into a miscarriage is going too far.

I recently watched a repeat of Oprah's interview with Whitney Houston. Whitney confessed that when she signed up to be a star she never thought every moment of her life would automatically become open to public scrutiny. "I did not sign up for that" said a saddened Whitney.

If we as regular everyday people hate to have others in our business, I can only imagine how it must be for a celebrity to have every moment of their lives exposed for gossip and possible mockery on shows like Wendy Williams or E!

As the general public we are limited to how we can fight "over exposure" however, we do have the choice to be selective in what we choose to be entertained by. The old adage do unto others as you want them to do to you seems fitting. All media is not good media. Give people the same privacy you would like even if their a celebrity.

Do you think the media goes too far?

Confessions of A Stagnant Writer

To my loyal readers I must first apologize for my absence. I have not read or written a blog in at least six weeks.

What bothers me the most about my absence is that I have not forgotten about writing. It is not as if I never had a free moment to write because I have. The problem is that while I have thought about my love for blogging daily, I have also been battling the affliction known as writers block. If you are a writer and have never experienced writers block it is something I would not wish on any writer.

Writers block is like a itch on your back where you just can't reach it to scratch so it keeps itching and irritating you until you loose your mind. You try scratching with hangers, you ask other people to scratch it, you even find yourself squatting up and down against the edge of a wall in a desperate attempt to conquer the itch. Yet, no matter what you do, how many people you ask to scratch it or how hard you try to ignore it, that itch will torture you until you finally find a way to scratch it.

In the world of writing this fearless torture is synonymous to writers block. You think about writing, you want to write, yet when you try, you come up with nothing. Draft after draft you see words on paper and you realize you have written nonsense that even you would not want to read. Unfortunately, until I am hit with an idea that inspires me to write I am burdened with a guilt that makes me feel I am not investing in the one thing that make me the happiest, WRITING.

I could say that my job requires so much more of me, that I no longer have as much free time on my hands as I used to, but that would be an excuse. The reality of it is, if I can give my job 60 hours a week, I owe at least 61+ hours to invest in myself. Clueless as to where all these hours will come from in a week I will fight this block that has been stagnating me and I will dedicate time and invest in my writing, even if the subject for the day is How to Fold Socks! The first step to recovery is admission...today I admit to my stagnation and distraction and today I vow to change.

Do you find yourself in a similar situation? If so, what is your plan to transform your stagnation to progression?