She Loves You and So Do I

366 Project Update

2012-01-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

Here's another 366 project round-up. I think I'll *try* to do a weekly round-up to kind of help me stay on task and not get all discouraged. Help me keep my creativity flowing!
Since I've already done the first 15 days post, I'll start with the 16th until now...

While I'm aware you've seen some of these already, it doesn't hurt to re-post!

I'm trying to do little things like take different ways home for some different scenery or using other apps instead of just the Hipstamatic. But when I do use the Hipstamatic, I've been shaking it to randomize the settings since I have a tendency to stay with one particular lens/film combo. I've also been keeping an eye out for different camera apps to try out as well. I'm really excited about the photos now that I've done my upgrade! The last photo (of the Nike shoe boxes) is the first photo with my new phone and I think it looks great! Especially after I ran it through the Cross Process app. It's like night and day! I love it! I can't wait to share more photos!

Project Runway All-Stars: Good Taste Tastes Good : The Recap

2012-01-27T09:04:00.001-05:00

Ugh. Can I just say that last night's episode was bumming me out? I mean, whose idea was it to have the designers get inspired by flavours of gelato for the 6 hour challenge? Weird...

First of all - Jerell was talking shit about everyone and then he makes this Fruits of the Forest thing

Um okay Jerell. If you had styled it differently, it would've looked better. AND I'm so glad he gets a reality check next week because, seriously, why is he there if he hasn't been in the top or bottom yet?

Sticky McStinkface (AKA Mila) was in the TOP 3? What? Bizarro. Her Milk and Sour Cherries (apropos) lazy t-shirt dress was in the top? Yuck.

Why? The colours are all lame and this poor model looks terrible. The judges even told her the accessories were too heavy.

Austin's was so vanilla. I mean, yes his flavour was Madagascar Vanilla Bean but this shit is seriously boring.

Rami's head was clearly not in the game because I don't know what to call this.

Lime-splosion works, I think.

Kenley, I've seen this dress a thousand times at the thrift store and at Target.

It's cute. It will always be cute. But for the sake of the competition DO SOMETHING NEW

April took a cute approach to her blueberry flavour but her execution in what hurt her in the end.

I don't care what anyone says - this dress is cute. Yes, the back is too short and yes, it's slightly unfinished but it's pretty. The purple tulle over the blueberry blue was beautiful! It definitely should NOT have gone home over this mess:

Kara must really want a baby since she keeps making maternity wear. How on Earth did this stay?! Honestly, I thought Sweet P was back in the workroom! What in the world?! Even Isaac said, "Is she all-stars material?" I'm with you Isaac. I guess the producers know about our drinking game rules (Drink when someone cries or looks like they're going to cry).

Anthony's Green Tea dress was cute but it was little too structured for this challenge.

I think it's great that he can construct clothes. Awesome. But you don't have to do it so much. And those angles don't really play well with the flowy skirt. I get the hard versus soft thing but since your inspiration was the gelato melting, you should've made the "cone" skirt a little sharper and the "gelato" top a little softer. Just sayin

Mondo's would've been drinking game worthy if we had said to take a drink evey time someone said "Caftan". If we did that, I don't think I could've gone into work. Ouch.

While it was a very literal translation of a cantaloupe, it works! I like it! It was cute and flowy and all the ladies loved it. Great job Mondo! Caftan caftan caftan caftan.

The winner two weeks in a row - Michael! While I'm glad he has won 2 challenges, this dress looked a little too easy.

Not hating on it or anything but it reminds me of that scene in Sleeping Beauty when the Fairy Godmothers are trying to make a dress for Briar Rose without using any magic.

Brush up on your Spanish!

I'm just saying. It's a pretty dress, yes, but I think the colour was a weird choice - even for grapefruit. Either way, good job Michael!

Next week, the All-Stars have to go around the city and find their Muse. I can't wait! That sounds like a very interesting challenge indeed!

Project Runway All-Stars - The Live-Blog: Good Taste Tastes Good

2012-01-26T20:19:00.001-05:00

Project Runway All-Stars - The Live-Blog: Good Taste Tastes Good

Jean Paul Gaultier's Couture Spring 2012 Show

2012-01-26T13:02:00.000-05:00

Giant, unkempt beehives. Larger than normal winged eyeliner. This was Jean Paul Gaultier's inspiration for his Couture Spring 2012 show.

While "Amy Winehouse" and "Couture" don't seem like they would go together, they actually made a great pair. I love Jean Paul Gaultier and I think this was a wonderful show - including having everyone's favorite male model: Andrej Pejic

Beautiful show!
Read the full review here
See the show here

I finally get my Wavves Starter cap!

2012-01-25T13:12:00.001-05:00

I was one of the unfortunate few that missed out on the white Mishka x Wavves Starter caps. It was a very sad moment for me as a Wavves fan. Lucky for me, I'm tracking the "Wavves" tag on my tumblr (not creepy at all) and I saw this post - promting me to search the interwebs.

BOOM! Here's the link!

I will be the proud owner of this beauty soon

Get yours before they're sold out!

GPOYW --> Getting girly!

2012-01-25T09:41:00.000-05:00

I found a way to incorporate my Oxfords and my glitter collar today! I'm so happy the way my outfit turned out! I've been getting non-stop compliments from everyone on my ensemble - especially the collar!

I was also able to upgrade my phone last night so I could rock my sweet sweet Jolie Petite case!

It's also getting lots of compliments!

I'm feeling extra girly today! Too bad I can't dress like this all the time. Maybe before each filming, I should pick a day to be extra girly at work. No one ever expects that out of me since I'm always in casual clothes. Sounds like a plan!

More collars? Yes, please!

2012-01-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

This post had me thinking about collars. Since I have a new glittery collars in my jewelry arsenal, I got to thinking...What kind other glittery things could I *try* to replicate? Hmmm...

One article pointed me to this lovely beauty

My version would be without the tie-thing that resembles something else...

And that necklace got me thinking about another collar piece that I've been in love with FOREVER: The Satine.

Though The Satine is based more in filigree and bigger diamond pieces, I think I'd like to attempt this in vinyl first and then see if I can try it with stiff felt for the neck piece and incorporate some wire work for the open work on the chest part - or vice versa: stiff felt first then vinyl? Or I could keep with the stiff felt and use a dressmakers pencil to trace out my shapes and then glue rhinestones in the filigree open work?

That is a BIG project! It's also a project I've been talking about doing FOREVER. A few years ago, I bought some wires and cheap plastic beads for my mock up and I didn't get too far. I even thought about taking a metalsmithing class just so I could recreate this in silver. Oy.
This necklace haunts me. I love it more than any other jewelry piece I've ever seen in my entire life. It comes to me in my dreams (I swear), it pops up randomly in my head, I even reference it for when I'm talking about extravagant pieces. I mean, how could I not?

Let's see if my collar-making skills are up for the task this year. If not, there's always next year!

Jolie Petite - The Most Kawaii Cases EVER

2012-01-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

I forgot how I stumbled upon these cases (probably Tumblr.........) but I absolutely fell in LOVE with these custom phone cases from Etsy seller Jolie Petite! At first, it started with a small FB request to my old man since he was hounding me about what I wanted for Christmas. I sent him the FB page pointing him to the query about custom cases. I told him if he wanted to get me anything, he should get me a custom Hello Kitty iPhone 4 case. Mind you, I don't have the iPhone 4 just yet but I was hoping to get one for Christmas. I still don't have one since I can't stop long enough to actually go to the store and upgrade my damn phone but I will now because guess what two beauties showed up in the mail?

That's right! My super kawaii Hello Kitty phone cases! He did it! He actually ordered them! I honestly didn't think he would because they are very over the top but just look how adorable they are!!

Now I HAVE to upgrade phones so I can get these on as soon as possible!! Too cute! And you know what else she makes?

iPad cases!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I'd LOVE to slap this baby on my iPad 2!! It would definitely stick out at meetings, that's for sure...
I'm so excited! I can't wait to run to my local Apple store and finally upgrade my phone! Sure, the upgrade will benefit my 366 project with better photo quality but it's the cases I'm more excited about!! (Is that bad?)

To get your very own custom cases, click here
To "Like" Jolie Petite on FB, click here

Some photos from over the weekend...

2012-01-23T14:30:00.000-05:00

Friday

Saturday

My shirt from Threadless came in! I'm in love with this design! Buy it on sale here

Sunday

DIY Detachable Collars

2012-01-23T09:02:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing quite a few tutorials online for detatchable collars for a while now and after I liked one on Pinterest the other day, I decided I would finally try my hand at making one!

The first source of inspiration - Marlena's tutorial at Rookie. It was the first one I'd seen and I loved the Peter Pan candy collar!

Source

The other source of inspiration - the sparkly Peter Pan collar and the pointy gold collar at Refinery 29.

Source / Source

The final source of inspiration - this cute pearl collar that I first saw on Pinterest.

Source

After mulling over all the collars and assessing what materials I had available to me, I decided I would use up my white rhinestones on a black felt Peter Pan collar.
I simply followed the directions to the pearl collar for the stencil and the rest just fell into place! I just lined up my rhinestones along the edges and glued them down with some good ol' hot glue.

It still needs one little piece and that's just a matter of me finding my grommet tool so I can put some grommets in to tie the ribbons to tie it on and I'll be finished!

The second collar was made the same way except instead of the Peter Pan curves, I added points. I traced it onto some silver glitter vinyl, added jump rings, chain and a clasp and BAM! Cute glitter collar!

I'll admit - my real source of inspiration for finally making the jump was a pair of shoes I've been wanting for a while but I finally bought them - these cute Oxfords from Target.

Now to style them...what better accessory than a cute little collar to dress these shoes up or down! This look might even fit into a Mondo-inspired look. We'll see...
I'm trying not to go too retro with this theme or too Lolita but the Peter Pan collar makes that a little hard to avoid. Maybe it can turn into a not-too-preppy look for Spring? I feel like the shoes need knee socks and pleated skirts but I'll turn this into a Make It Work moment and see if I can break that preppy barrier...

Do you have any favorite items that inspire you to design accessories around them?

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Dsquared2 FALL2012 Menswear

2012-01-20T15:49:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to leave this here...

Read the review here

Project Runway All-Stars: Patterning for Piggy - The Recap

2012-01-20T08:41:00.000-05:00

Squirrelfriends - last night was wacky. Almost too wacky for Project Runway but you know what? It was still a fun episode! Miss Piggy and Eric Daman (stylist for Gossip Girl!!) were the guest judges and yes, there was a karate chop in there...
What was funny about last night was how much people took it too seriously. I mean, it was meant to be a FUN challenge! And let me tell you, Kara's freakouts are starting to get on my nerves. Lauren pointed out that she didn't remember Kara being that needy/whiny on her season and you know what? I don't remember that either. Since when does she need THAT MUCH praise? Oy vey...
She totally almost melted down over some gloves and shoes that Austin took. "I showed Joanna the whole story yesterday!" Ugh. What are you, five years old? And with all that whining and Austin giving in, her outfit was not that cute.

In fact, the gloves hurt the styling. That was a little too much pink for me - especially since there was a subtle pink in the piping. If she had let Austin keep the gloves, it would've been fine.
Speaking of Austin...What. The. FUDGE.

Those gloves are all wrong and I agree with the judges - the grey for this was totally not working with the pink. I don't have a problem with pink and grey but this particular combo is weird. The bows? Ouch. The dress would've been better without the gloves and bows, honestly.
Another weird combo? Austin's own outfit.

He's got the "Gay Matador" look DOWN. His personal outfit could've paired well with Rami's model. Check it.

Rami had a case of "taking it too seriously" last night and Miss Piggy...loved it? I felt like she was kind of standing in for Michael Kors with her comments but the only difference is that she meant them in a nice way. She said this was like a candy store exploded. And she loved it. She also called it garrish and over the top, or something like that, but she meant it in a nice way, of course.

Mila's look was like she was designing for Avril Lavigne ca. 2002.

What the hell Mila? Austin NAILED IT when he called Mila's aesthetic too "severe". What a great word. It's so severe. And for some reason, the striped sleeves reminded me of Kurt Cobain and my high school years. Not in a good way either.

Gordana deserved to stay over Mila's, personally. Although it looks like she made a night gown, it's still cuter than Mila's for sure.

I don't think this was that elimination-worthy but oh well. Sorry Gordana :(

Mondo's styling was a liiiiitle weird (WTF is up with that hair!!!) but the dress was cute.

I was kind of hoping he would've made an outfit close to something he designed for Fashion Week so that he could inspire Eric to take some clothes back with him to the Gossip Girl set for Blair or Serena. Oh well...

Kenley's looked like raw bacon with her giraffe print but it was a cute silhouette. Oh yeah, it's the same damn silhouette she keeps doing over and over and over and over and over and over...

And over and over and over and over and over...

April's was cute. Definitely a step up from her period mess last week.

Good job April!

I declared Anthony's dress as "Grill Marks" because of the stripey fabric but I guess the judges were too distracted by the feathers to make that connection. Oh well. Cute dress though!

Jerell surprised me this week! Throughout the episode, every time Jerell came on screen, I kept saying, "What are you even doing there Jerell?!" But then his dress walked out and BAM! Gorgeous!

Super cute! This would be cute to take to Gossip Girl that's for damn sure! Nice one Jerell!

And finally - the winner. Michael C was redeemed from last week with a win this week. Sure his dress looked like a "present from Kermie" (says Miss Piggy herself) but I thought the bows looked more like bacon strips.

Or maybe I just wanted someone to make an outfit that was food-related because there was so much comedic gold available last night! SO MUCH!! But it was cute and everyone loved it and I'm glad he finally got his win. I hope he doesn't let it go to his head...

The karate chop came when the Eric was making comments about clients being self conscious about their ears or something and Miss Piggy was like, "Look, let me tell you that there is nothing wrong with me! I'm perfect!" Well, she didn't say it like that but she basically said that and then she straight-up chopped Eric! LOL

GURL WHUT?

Bitch please...

Last night brought the LOLZ for sure. Next week looks like a doozy! Diane von Furstenberg! WHAT. Six hour challenge? Double WHAT. I'm sure there will be LOTS of tears so please stock up for the drinking game!

Until then, have a good weekend!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway All-Stars: Patterning for Piggy - The Live-Blog

2012-01-19T20:00:00.001-05:00

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=83d74cf07f" &amp;gt;Project Runway All-Stars: Patterning for Piggy&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

What I Wore Today: Mondo Style

2012-01-19T09:48:00.001-05:00

In honour of Project Runway All-Stars being on tonight, guess what special package arrived for me?

Does that bowtie look familiar??? How about the silhouette?

That's right - it's a Mondo Guerra sugar skull shirt!! I had ordered it last week and was looking forward to it arriving last Thursday but I accidentally had it sent to my Mom's house (it's a habit) and she told me about it today. Either way - IT'S HERE NOW!!

I'm not one for "What I Wore Today" posts but I had to do one today since...well...you know...So here it is - my first "official" What I Wore Today post...

I'm keeping it basic with jeans and my Mondo shirt. Originally I had planned on something bigger and better for this outfit but we can't wear shorts to work so...dark blue denim it is! My galaxy nails are holding up pretty nicely as well. This is also the third time I'm wearing my hot pink chucks.

I mean, they're totally appropriate right? And I was *trying* to channel my inner Mondo to make good on my promise:

So...here's my first "official" attempt at a Mondo bouffant:

With my inspiration photo as my phone background, I think I'm off to a good start BUT I will try harder. This was like one of my regular bang sweeps but I did tease a little base and I hair sprayed it to itself (which I'll probably regret during my workout later). Not too bad for an impromptu bouffant!
I've also been looking for an excuse to buy purple (or any colour jeans, really...)

And I think my Mondo tee is my in! Honestly, I think I'd only wear the purple jeans with the Mondo tee but I could expand on my colourful pants wardrobe and buy accordingly? Who knows! The possibilities are endless!
Maybe I can put something together for a certain PR All-Star's viewing party - after he gets auf'd so it won't be weird...

ANYWAYS - I hope to take my original outfit idea for this shirt out and about sometime soon. Until then, join us TONIGHT for Project Runway All-Stars live-blogging fun!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Nicholas Hoult Appreciation

2012-01-18T09:19:00.001-05:00

So...Nicholas Hoult, huh?
Remember that time I said Tony wasn't my type? I'm talking about Nicholas Hoult's character Tony Stonem on the British TV show Skins, of course. And while Tony still isn't my type (I'm more of a Cook gal - like Tony's l'il sis), Nicholas Hoult kinda is.
At first, I wasn't really digging his look. I guess as Tony, he pulled off the arrogance really well and made me dislike him for being such a jerk. He was the type of guy to take advantage of the weakness in women for cute guys. Yes - what a cliché. BUT Tony seemed to always win on the outside. At least his friends (and viewers) knew what was up.

But enough about Tony. His time is over. Let's talk about the sparkly-eyed young lad in A Single Man. Cool. Confused. Open. Honest. These were the things Kenny was. And Tom Ford's lens perfectly captured that spark in his eyes. The wanting. The yearning. The eagerness. The honesty. If you haven't seen A Single Man, do yourself a favour and watch it. I don't know why it took me so long to see it but thank goodness I finally did!
Even during the Oscar buzz around A Single Man, I still wasn't convinced about Nicholas Hoult. To me, he was still Tony. Arrogant, rude and just an all-around selfish person. That is - until I kept seeing these photos floating around my Tumblr dash...

Well...hello there! I knew Tom Ford would recruit you for some sort of a campaign after working with you on A Single Man but...Holy Mother! You are quite the handsome devil! I guess the Tony vibe was putting me off. You know, because those guys are assholes but that was all I had to compare him to! Until now. Guh.
I think I prefer him better as a model. AND I think he would've made the Prada show a little more...handsome. He could've replaced Garrett Hedlund - who was painfully out of place.

He could've rocked out ANY of the looks - especially these two:

That's okay. The Prada show was still wonderful. And I'm sure Nicholas has walked in a few shows anyway.

I can't wait to see more of him although I have to admit: I'm not too jazzed about that new zombie movie he's in. While he's a swoon-worthy zombie (which is a thing now?), I'm not crazy about a swoon-worthy zombie seeing as zombies are my worst nightmare coming true.

We'll see how that one plays out...

In any case, I take back all the mean things I said about Mr. Hoult and hope to continue seeing him in more films and more fashion campaigns.
Cheers to you, Nicholas Hoult!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway All Star and lead singer: Kenley Collins

2012-01-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

You guys! YOU GUYS! When did this happen?! Project Runway All-Star / Crazy Cat Lady Kenley Collins has a band!
The band - Jetblack Bullseye. The sound? Well, their Myspace says they're "Pop / Rock / Soul" and from what I've heard, that's a pretty accurate description but I invite you to be the judge...

You go Kenley! I've been on a girl band / lady lead singer kick ~~(since I'm recording an album no one will ever hear)~~ and I applaud you! Keep the dream alive! Make all your crazy music, li'l lady! Rock out with those handsome fellas!

Maybe you'll go on tour? Maybe you'll play The Earl or Drunken Unicorn? If you do, I'll have plush cats ready to join the party! (And I mean that in the nicest way possible since I am a fan of yours! XOXO)

What do you think, readers? Will you be adding Jetblack Bullseye to your playlist any time soon?

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Prada F/W2012 Menswear Runway Show

2012-01-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

We're no strangers to actors walking the runway during Fashion Week and at Prada's Menswear Fall 2012 show at Milan Fashion Week, there were some familiar faces rocking the red carpet runway.

Aptly named "Prada Presents: Il Palazzo. A Palace of Role Play", the show featured "a parody of male power". Fabrics and patterns were not as they seemed...
*Read HERE for the full review*

But while Miuccia Prada dazzled with her striking patterns and Steampunk / Edwardian / Sherlock Holmes-esque style, some famous faces stood out...

I am (and always will be) a fan of Emile Hirsch. He looked absolutely charming in this outfit.

How I've missed you Emile!

Adrien Brody KILLED this outfit. The red glasses, the red jacket, the slicked back hair and the walk. THE WALK.

I feel like a romance novelist thinking of ways to describe Adrien Brody here but I'll spare you...

Always the badass, Gary Oldman showed everyone how it was done on his turn down the red carpet runway.

Just look at him! He's making that outfit his bitch and although it might be constructed out of inexpensive material, it looks like it's worth $1,000,000,000. He is owning it. And look at that snarl. Perfection. No wonder he ended the show. BAM.

Also in this show, I think I've found my latest inspiration...

His name is Lessandro Reyniers and he is WORKING that look.

You can see the complete collection here
See the video of the show here
You can see the other gifs here (with Tim Roth, Jamie Bell and Willem Dafoe)

You know who was missing though? Nicholas Hoult and Jamie Campbell Bower...They would've added to the handsomeness. Yes I am aware that I've said some not-so-nice things about Nicholas Hoult but after watching him in A Single Man and seeing his l'il face plastered all over my Tumblr dash from when he did that Tom Ford campaign, I must say he is quite the handsome fella! But I will save that for another day..........

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

366 Project - The First 15 Days...

2012-01-16T08:30:00.000-05:00

So this 366 project is underway and I feel like I'm having more fun with it than the last one I did. Why? I don't know. I guess because I'm more comfortable with my iPhone camera? More comfortable with the Hipstamatic perhaps? Let's see...

              This year                                         2010










I have to keep in mind that I didn't start the last 365 project on the 1st, so the dates aren't lining up but that's not the point.

I feel like with the addition of apps like Instagram and the Hipstamatic Disposable, not to mention all the other film packs for the original Hipstamatic, the possibilities are endless for this year's 366 project! I'm really looking forward to finishing it! The last one I did started feeling like a little bit of a chore on the harder days but I feel like I've been becoming more and more ambitious lately and I think that this 366 project will be streets ahead of the last one.

So...now that we've compared the first 15 days, let's see how the rest of the 351 days stack up this year! I can't wait!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

To see the last 365 project click here

To see the latest 366 project, click here

Project Runway All-Stars: A Night At The Opera recap

2012-01-13T09:32:00.001-05:00

Last night, Lauren and I ventured where we have never ventured before: an actual Project Runway viewing party hosted by ATL's own Anthony Williams! WHAT?! Yes, we were there. What, no photos? Unfortunately, I felt a little weird asking for photos. Maybe on our next visit but I just wasn't feeling it last night.

The challenge, though.

Oh! This challenge! Opera dresses! Sweet mother of baby Jesus! THE DRESSES!!! Badgley Mischka! This challenge!

I kind of want to start with my most favourite dress of the night but then the rest of the post wouldn't be worth reading so I'll start with the middle-of-the-road kids.

Like every girly-girl, I love me a good poofy dress and Kenley delivered just that with this cutesy pink marshmallow of a gown.

I'll admit - I was a little afraid she would go overboard with the polka dots but she reeled it in to make a cute, over-sized bow. And I can't get over how well the colours worked with her models' skin tone. Well done Kenley! You didn't take the pin-up route and it worked! She was still a Barbie Girl, though...

Mila's was okay. I wasn't razzle-dazzled by hers but it was well made and she did a good job.

The slit was nice and the styling was great. Sleek, simple and chic. Nicely done.

Rami didn't take the Grecian Goddess route that we thought he was going to take. I even went as far as holding my napkin up and declaring it Rami's dress (I bring teh lolz).

I guess he's not trying to be Mr. Drapey this time around which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Honestly though, I feel like he's made this dress before. I still like it but I think the structuring went down a little too far. He could've stopped right above the hips and it would've been nice. Meh - either way, it's a great dress. High five, Rami!

Maybe it's because I just watched Tom Ford's directorial debut last weekend but Mondo's dress kinda reminded me of a mix between Julianne Moore's dress in A Single Man and Aubrey Hepburn. AND I LOVE IT.

Yes, I'm Team Mondo all the way but I really do love this dress. As RuPaul would say, this is ELEGANZA, darling. The train/cape is gorgeous. The silver accents - perfection. The collar is wonderful and I just adore the hell out of it. Unfortunately, this was a middle-of-the-road entry. That's okay, you'll get 'em next week Mondo!!

Gordana. GIRL. You worked it out this week! OMG! I LOVED this look!

The styling was gorgeous! This girl looked like a true, classic movie starlet. I know that wasn't the challenge but it's so elegant, classy, sleek and just so beautiful! It was beautiful work by Gordana this week and I seriously cannot wait to see more of her stuff. I feel like we've made a constructual (is that even a word?) connection and I never want it to end. I bet MK would've said some nasty things about this but I don't care! This is beautiful.

I will kick off the section I'd like to call "Preggers Prom Dresses" with Jerell's dress.

Jerell. Seriously. WTF? This poor girl looked like she was comfortably preggers. Like the way Posh Spice looked when she was spitting those babies out.

Why, dear Jerell?

Why did Kara take the preggers route? I thought she'd been stepping up her game a little but the poofy-ness of the waist line was another baby bump, I thought.

She had the same problem that Sweet P had - the fabric would've worked if it had been a shorter skirt with the poofy-ness. I think, at least.

Speaking of Sweet P...

The construction was great on the halter but the poofy skirt was too much. If she had cut it short, it would've made a cute party dress. Oh Sweet P. I love you, I really do, but this was sorta bad - for the challenge anyway. I think if you really liked the colour of the top, you could've made a really cute form-fitting dress with the same material. No flowers necessary. Sorry, Sweet P :(

If those were the preggers dresses, April's was the after-birth. Yes, I went there. It was like a bloody mess all up in there!

I'm sorry but that dip-dye technique does NOT work for everything. Gutsy move, though, I will say. Since the sound was kinda not working at the place, we couldn't hear a lot of commentary but I did hear one of the All-Stars say something along the lines of "If she wants to sabotage herself, that's on her" or something like that. Yes, this was a risk but I'm almost glad that she took it because I feel like sometimes we get all caught up in their fabric choices and patterns that we forget they can actually dye their own stuff! I have a lot of respect for that since I helped my sister dye some things a few times. It's harder than it looks!

On to the top 3.
I'll start with last night's host - Mr. Anthony.

Girl. Girl, seriously. Holy boobs. Holy EVERYTHING. This was the dress I was expecting from Rami but I'm so glad it came from Anthony! Holy mother of God!

I LOVED the jewels! I loved the sleeve! I loved the styling except for the black gloves. I thought they were a little harsh with the white dress but OMG - stunning. I think the judges didn't like the jewels or something because I read the word "vampy" in the closed-captioning. I'll give it a re-watch. I wanted to congratulate Anthony but I just was NOT feeling it last night. I don't know why. Maybe next time...

I'll go to the challenge winner next because I'm saving the absolute BEST for last.

Austin won. While this dress was pretty, I didn't think it should have won. I thought Anthony's should've been 2nd at least! This one was okay.

The shape was nice and complimentary to the model. The criss-crossed gold was flattering and the sheer black was a nice touch but compared to Michael's dress, this was all right.

Michael's dress was the stuff dreams are made of. ELEGANZA TO THE MAX. Couture. High-fashion. Gorgeous.

Some people would disagree and that's fine but you cannot deny the fabulousness of this dress. I mean, come on! The feathers! The jewels! The body-hugging shape! The high collar with the feathers! It was perfection. The belt was a great touch - especially on the back!

OMG! I really loved this dress. Like, I love it in the way I love Joshua's man-cleave. Yes, I love it that much. I dare say I might love this dress almost as much as I love Mondo himself. WHAT. No, that can never happen BUT this dress is...I can't even find the right words. This dress is simply gorgeous and I'd LOVE to see on the Red Carpet somewhere. LOVE IT.

So there you go. I hope to get a better watch of last night's episode this weekend so I can hear all the critiques and work room commentary. I'm sure it was good - especially with this particular challenge. Next week looks like fun and I think it's more evening dresses, if I'm not mistaken. Like I said, I'll know after I watch again.

Maybe we can alternate live-blogging and viewing parties? I don't know. That's a lot of $$$ but it was fun because the girl sitting with Anthony was chanting "Sweet P has got to go" which was hilarious. Maybe she can help elevate the viewing parties to "Rocky Horror"-level viewing? That would be AWESOME. Then our "WHAT"s wouldn't be so out of place when the wrong person wins. We'll see! Reality TV is definitely better in groups!

Until next time!
-Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

PS - Happy Friday the 13th!

The Beautiful People

2012-01-11T09:52:00.004-05:00

I am haunted. Haunted by beautiful creatures.

Ruby Aldridge and these GORGEOUS glasses

**Can ANYBODY tell me who makes these beautiful glasses?!?!?!!

Eliza Cummings

Andrej Pejic

Arizona Muse

Ugh...these people are so beautiful, it's ridiculous.

Those are new-ish haunters.

Here are some that will NEVER get old...

Nathan Williams

Jack O'Connell

Darren Criss (of course!)

Mondo Guerra

Natalie Dormer (as Anne Boleyn)

My Prada sunglasses!!!

This has been a post.

Hipstamatic Disposable - Sharing cams is fun!

2012-01-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

Hipstamatic Disposable - you are AWESOME!! I love the filters and the customization of the amount of FX you can have on your photos!

You can have a little or a lot

These two shots were taken with the El Mario cam that I was sharing with fellow Flickr-er Sideburn Bob. He was the one who prompted me to take part in the 366 Project for this year! But I think it's an even bigger deal that I'm sharing cams with other friends because I'm giving him an Atlanta perspective while he's giving me a Copenhagen perspective! I love that! I love the aspect of sharing different parts of the world with each other! Heck, sharing different parts of the same city is pretty awesome!

There are some downsides to this app, though.
There's no Flickr Sharing within the app. *Sad Face* Flickr Sharing would've been awesome! I get that it's "base" is in Facebook and there's sharing that way but I'd prefer Flickr Sharing since I like all my photos there.

The other downside is in the Hipstamart

Some cameras are unlimited - which is AWESOME (unlimited Unicorn MG!). Other cameras are limited. Limited cameras range between 9 cameras for $0.99, 36 cams for $1.99 or 99 cams for $3.99. While those prices aren't terrible, it kinda sucks that you get a limited amount. I told myself I wouldn't get a limited camera but I kinda fell in love with the features of the Foxy X69.

Shallow depth of field? Sweet! I love that with the Loftus Lens. I'm glad it's an option with the Hipsta-D. Yeah, I caved and bough it. I might cave and get the others but I'm holding out for unlimited cams for all soon! *Fingers crossed*

Anyways - I was thinking that I could maybe try spicing up my 366 project with the challenge of using a single camera and taking a photo per day for the first 24 days of that particular month but I won't be able to post them until the camera is finished. This is where the Flickr Sharing would be extremely useful. I'm still thinking about it...

All in all, the Hipstamatic Disposable is a pretty cool little thing. I saw an article on their FB page about a band who shared Hipsta-D's for one of their shows. Pretty neat!

I feel like it's helping me think more creatively while sharing cams with other friends. What types of photos can I take to make it fun for everyone?

Check out my slowly growing album on Flickr and let me know if you have a Hipsta-D so that we can share a cam!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway All-Stars: Return to the Runway mini-recap

2012-01-06T16:11:00.003-05:00

Well, I wasn't sure about wanting to live-blog Project Runway All-Stars since I'm still very much upset about the outcome of this past season of PR but in an impromptu FB thread, it was decided: Project Runway All-Stars will be live-blogged!

After some (minor) technical difficulties on my end, Lauren came to the rescue and set up our console for all the blogging fun! It was so nice to catch up on all our favorite and not so favorite contestants from seasons past! Just look at how fierce everyone is!

Is it me or have Rami's muscles gotten BIGGER? Yowza! How you doin'?! And has Mondo's hair gotten BIGGER?! LOVE IT!! Austin's molester 'stache...not so much. Kara is looking as fierce as ever and Kenley? Well, Miss Collins is keeping her signature retro glamness up but she's still got that Brooklyn accent, so...there's that. I still heart you Kenley! Crazy Cat Lady Kenley!

All fun and crazy prizes aside, someone had to be sent home. The challenge: use items from a 99¢ store to make a look that paired with the look they brought to represent their current designer aesthetic. Mondo KILLED but it was Rami who won - which doesn't bother me because in ye olde Project Runway lore: who ever wins the first challenge usually never wins the season. Nothing against Rami. While his jacket was a little bizarre up top, the rest of the outfit was cool. BUT not as cool as Mondo.

Yeah, I'm all for Mondo this season. While I love the other designers, my heart still belongs to Mondo. That's just how it is.

Elisa was sent packing with her "sacred geometry" look. While I do believe in Elisa's beliefs, I will say that with fashion, I'm truly superficial.

While the short shorts were well-constructed, I agree with the judges: you shouldn't have to explain your designs and unfortunately, that was her downfall. Sorry Elisa! Your exit was graceful and lovely.

I may or may not have freaked out during the season preview because one of the guest judges is none other than my l'il N*E*R*D heartthrob Pharrell Williams!! I can't wait to see what that challenge will be like!!

Who are you excited about for PR All-Stars?

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway All Stars: Impromptu Premiere Live-Blogging

2012-01-05T21:21:00.002-05:00

PR All Stars: Premiere

366 Project for 2012

2012-01-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

It had not dawned on me that this year is a leap year until I was invited to a 366 group on Flickr. I hadn't been looking to start another photo-a-day challenge until this realization so I'm feverishly back-tracking my photos to January 1st. The only gap I can find is that I didn't take a photo on the 2nd and if I did, it's on my Unicorn Hipstamatic Disposable app - which I still have 15 shots left to take before I can see any photos!

Right now, I'm having mixed emotions with the app because, while I love the idea of sharing cameras, I hate that I can't see anything until it's done. I guess I'm feel more of that anxiety since I know I took some photos with it yesterday (while it was being all crashy-crashy) and I can't submit them to my 366 project until I'm done. And who knows when that will be?! Just kidding. I guess I can take some filler photos to get them all out so that I can have those. Ugh. I hate that I have to do that.

I guess I should've thought about the 366 project first. I mean, I had every intention to do it but I wasn't really feeling it - until I got that invite. It was the push I needed to challenge myself this year. And on top of that, I have some added pressure: the person who invited me to the group also invited me to share a Hipsta-D camera with him as well so...I'm feeling the pressure for some neat photos! Not to mention I felt like I lost yesterday with the whole crashy business. Not to worry though! While I was recording some music, I had my phone updating in the background so I'm hoping to get some shots worthy of sharing very soon!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Here's a link to the set on Flickr!

Cameras, cameras and more cameras!

2012-01-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

While my aunt was visiting from NYC last week, my Dad and I took her to a few antique stores around town. Nothing was really catching my eye...until I passed by a small booth packed with nothing but vintage cameras!

SO

MANY

CAMERAS!

It was beautiful! I want to go back and see if that B&H One-Nine is still in working condition...I'd like to *try* and shoot something on film (since I've never done that before). I was thinking about maybe looking into getting this at some point this year but I really need a little something like this.

Decisions, desicions

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Happy New Year to all!

2012-01-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I hope you all had a wonderful new year! Here is my first "Official" photo of the New Year:

I had every intention of putting that through Instagram after I had taken it with the default camera but then I realized that I've never taken a photo in the Instagram app - I've always taken it with the default and then I'd run it through Instagram later. Why not try something new on the New Year?! Here's my first in-app Instagram photo of the New Year:

How exciting! I'm glad it turned out pretty. I wanted to keep with the sparkly idea for the New Year.
Yes, I wore my sparkly heels but I altered the outfit a little...

I saved my "LOVE" shirt for our annual black eyed peas and greens dinner and I made my "Out with the old ghosts" t-shirt based on a few designs I had seen on the web.

The first inspiration was this shirt that I had seen on Pinterest:

And that post led me to this shirt:

I follow A LOT of DIY/Craft stuff on there and I'm constantly "liking" different things but keeping my "re-pins" to a minimum. I could NOT pass this one up - especially since I saw some shirts like this at the mall. I didn't do the glitter/glue combo since I already had glittery fabric paint that I LOVE to use.

The next inspiration was a post I remembered from a while back from my favorite DIY fashion blogger: Marlena at Self Constructed Freak. Once I saw this shirt, I knew I HAD to do it.

Thank goodness she made a tutorial for it because I never would've had the patience to figure out on my own - even though it's quite easy. I'm just really impatient and if I can't visualize it on my own, I'm screwed.

Needless to say, I didn't do the crop-top version of this but because I bought a larger-than-normal shirt, I had enough fabric to cut off the the bottom to use for the ruffle sleeves - which I ended up having to take OFF since my sleeves ended up connecting, which I thought was awesome, but it added a lot of bulk to my armpit area.
While the ruffle sleeves were a cute addition, they just were not working and sadly, I cut the whole sleeve off and started over with the original sleeve of the t-shirt without the extra ruffle part. Once I re-sewed the ruffled original sleeve back on, I felt a little better about it. Especially since I brought the sleeve in a little more when I cut the sleeves off. I think that was the main problem. I guess I hadn't factored in that I was working with a larger-than-normal t-shirt, so there was going to be some bulk. I ended up taking it in an inch on each side. I wanted to take it in more but I didn't think it would be ready by New Year's Eve and I didn't want to risk messing it up by accident.

Yeah, so all that talk about my skeleton shirt and guess what - I only have ONE photo of it and that's with the OLD sleeves! I with all the holiday hoopla, I totally forgot to take photos of my holiday outfits! Gah!! Oh well, here it is in it's bulky sleeve glory:

And that's BEFORE I tacked down the ruffles to connect at the armholes...
At least there's proof that I did do it but I had to make it my own!
The outfit still looked like this on the bottom:

But because I knew I was going to be running around (which I did A LOT), I brought a sparkly pair of flats with me. But you'll be happy to know that I was wearing my heels at midnight and I wore them during the midnight rituals:

The Midnight Kiss
Eating 12 grapes (one for each month - if you get a sour one, that month will be "sour" but all mine were sweet!)
"Crossing over" into the new year with: a backpack (to travel in the new year), money in your hand (for prosperity) and making noise (to chase the "old ghosts" out)

It was very noisy, extremely hectic but ridiculously fun! The only ritual we didn't do was going down to a four way intersection and throwing pennies while making a wish for the new year in each direction. Come to think of it, we haven't done that one in a while. Oh well. Maybe next year?

Are there any traditions you do for New Year's?

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

New Year's Resolution #1: Be Girly

2011-12-27T17:46:00.001-05:00

I wasn't planning on having any New Year's Resolutions but I've been toying with the idea of getting more "girly" ever since I spent a weekend with co-workers during a massive work event. I've never felt so un-girly in my entire life! When I laid out my toiletries, I felt like such a tomboy. First of all, I had them in a freaking plastic Target bag and I had the basics: toothpaste, tooth brush, deodorant, basic soap, basic shampoo and conditioner, a hair brush and that's pretty much it. My fabulous roommate had the cutest toiletries bag, perfumes, body sprays, and more girly things than you could shake a stick at. I felt like such a punk. But you know, my job is very physical and there's really no point in me getting all dolled up - especially on that particular weekend since there was a lot of eye-rubbing, camera time (behind the camera), virtually no sleep and lots and LOTS of running around. I had to switch rooms on the last day to an even girlier set of girls and I just felt so...so...well let's just say I felt like even less of a girl - even though I had to get dolled up that day for the work-related after party.

I made a choice then. I decided I would make the effort to be more girly. Like, body spray girly. Like, more glittery girly. And you know what?

I'm failing. Well, I'm not failing too bad but I'm not doing as well as I had hoped.

And that was in August.

I've been thinking all this time about what I could possibly do to be more girly. I got a cute toiletries bag (which is girly but edgy, I guess) and today, I made a HUGE milestone.

I decided that, for New Year's, I will wear as many cutesy, girly and sparkly items as I can to help catapult me into girly-ness. Not for anyone else but myself.

The only reason I'm pushing this is because my style isn't defined. Sometimes I like gothy things and sometimes I like girly things and most times (because of work) I like to be casual so I feel like my style tends to be disjointed and a little all over the place. I'd like my styles to combine successfully but still be able to work. Like, say, my co-worker friend.

With her in mind, I went on a mini shopping spree and acquired the following items:

Yes! I've purchased some glittery heels! The lift is 5 inches and I've been running around the house alternating between silver stilettos and pink wedges.

Mind you, I'm no stranger to heels but I usually take them off after about 20 minutes. I've only been to one party where I've had to keep them on all night and it was terrible. This time, I'm making myself keep them on for longer than just 20 minutes and I WILL be taking my sister's advice: if your feet hurt, keep drinking! Don't mind if I do.

I even put together some potential outfits.

This first one is a potential outfit for my Dad's birthday dinner tomorrow night.

I might get rid of the H&M necklace for the final look... Is it a little showy? Yes. But I want to wear the wedges as a "starter" before my New Year's Eve outfit:

This outfit actually has some meaning to it. I want 2012 to be filled with love, light and prosperity so I wanted to showcase those things with the things I'm wearing - the "Love" t-shirt, the anchor necklace which symbolizes my gratitude for all the people who have been my "anchors" in my life and the silver sparkly shoes (and sparky toenail polish) for prosperity. Why? Why not?! It will be an entry to my newfound girly-ness and the glitter reminds me of money and diamonds. A stretch? Mayyyyyybeeeee but why not have fun with it?! (Not pictured: my pink glitter and animal print bracelet.)

So there you have it. My first, concrete New Year's Resolution for 2012. Like I said before, I have zero regrets for this year and I'm hoping 2012 will be bigger and better than this year.

Love and light to you all!

What are your New Year's Resolutions for 2K12?

Katzi

S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

American Horror Story - A (short) recap of the crazy

2011-12-22T10:09:00.002-05:00

Can we please talk about the craziness that is American Horror Story?
Let's start with the beginning.
I was afraid that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk had lost their "crazy" after Nip/Tuck was over and Glee began. There was no room on Glee for the level of crazy that was Nip/Tuck. Enter: American Horror Story.

Thank goodness! I was afraid that with all that pent up crazy they were holding in, Glee would have that one "very special episode" about a Columbine-esque murder and the entire cast would go down in flames - but no - they spared us and used all their saved up crazy for AHS.

**If you haven't seen the show, I urge you to stop right here! Don't spoil it for yourself!

You had to be a total fool to not know that, at some point, the whole Harmon Family was going to die in that house. I saw it coming in the first episode. But how they were going to die was going to be the fun part.

I will say that Violet's death was particularly upsetting for me since I had been enjoying her ghost boy/living girl romance with Tate. I mean, who doesn't like Tate?

He reminds me of the type of kids I hung out with when I was in high school - which just so happens to be around the same time as Tate is in high school. I love that he's, like, this weird Kurt Cobain-ish kinda guy who wears over-sized sweaters and has shaggy hair and has a glimmer in his eye that is just so 90's.

Yeah - what of it?

His romance with Violet was just so...so...like what every teenage girl wants. Well, I guess I can only speak for myself at this point about that. But who knew that this would be Violet's demise?

It was such a twisted romantic moment when Violet took all those pills and Tate dragged her to the bathtub to make her puke it out. I thought she had made it but I was sadly mistaken. Those two episodes shook me up BAD. Especially when the one when Violet found out she was dead. Such a sad, sad episode.

Wife/mom Vivien died during the birth of her demon children.

She was preggers with twins! Wait - not twins but two babies! With different fathers! There's the Murphy/Falchuk signature crazy I know and love! Who were the fathers? Why, Tate (yes, he raped her in a gimp outfit - which was kinda hot - the outfit, not the rape) and her husband Ben. Ben's baby was stillborn while Tate's baby...well, he killed his baby sitter at the end of the season finale so...ya know...

Creepiest kid EVER

There was a small part of me that wanted Ben to be the last one living at the end of the season. You know - here's this therapist making himself crazy by staying in the house where his family died. I thought that's what was going to happen at the start of the season finale but that's not how Ryan and Brad play. Ben was killed by ghosts (after a suicide attempt). And he was killed in the craziest way possible!

Yes, that's the demon baby you see. Vivien and Violet were urging Ben to take the baby and leave the house to escape the crazy and on his way out, here comes his crazy mistress and the murder-reenactors to kill him once and for all. It's a lot to explain but it's wild and I was not expecting this at all! I was half expecting Ben to die a spectacular death in the season two opener but I guess not...

What will come of season two? Obviously they're going to scare tenants out of the Murder House for seasons to come. Or is this it for the Murder House since it's up for sale IRL? Meh - that doesn't mean anything. You know this show has got to on for a little while. We love it too much!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Have some holiday cheer with Glee!

2011-12-16T15:12:00.000-05:00

This week has been full of manic ups and downs and I think I need some cheering up. What better thing to cheer me up than performances from this week's Glee!
I hope these make you as happy as they make me.
Enjoy!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

2011 Regrets - What are yours?

2011-12-14T12:53:00.000-05:00

Twitter has an interesting trending topic at the moment: #2011regrets.

While I realize it's mostly for shits and giggles, I saw some RT'd by some of the people I follow on Twitter (through my personal account) that were really quite serious - which made me happy. It also made me wonder: Do I have any #2011regrets?

Personally, I think I'm regret-free this year.

I went on a bunch of great (and not-so-great) trips this year, I was able to see my nieces twice, I had experiences I never thought I would have, I met some great people and although this last half has been a bit hard for me, this year has been good overall.

Sure, I might set my expectations high at the beginning of the year but you know what? That's all part of the process. The Oscars will always inspire the filmmaker residing within and then my creative juices bubble over with ideas ranging from silk screening, hair dyeing, tattoos, skate videos, photography and everything in between, I've decided that my new motto for 2012 will be this:

After all my mortality reality checks this year, it is important, now more than ever, to live life to the fullest and express gratitude to all those around you. Especially the ones closest to you because you never know when the time might come...

Do you have any regrets this year? Will you promise to live your life to the fullest and express gratitude for everything in your life? I hope you will because I find that to be the most rewarding.

Thank you, readers! You're awesome!

Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

How a day around Atlanta turned into a newfound inspiration

2011-12-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

In October my friend, and fellow Videographer, Jeremiah and I rode around Atlanta to gather some footage for a top secret music video project. The results were quite amazing and we just so happened to shoot on the same day as the Little 5 Points Halloween parade and we took a chance at going to the Belt Line Skate Park.
We had never heard of the skate park and I had only heard it mentioned once by my old man's friend - who was visiting from Colorado. So we thought, why not?
While there, there were quite a few people skating around - including some little kids. We wanted to try and use the crane Jeremiah had acquired - which we did - but it was better to shoot most of this type of action all hand-held.
There was one guy who stood out of the crowd of skaters not only because he didn't really care that our lens was pointed at him but because he was good. He asked us what we were shooting for and we told him it was going to be for a music video but I butted in and promised a skate video of just his footage - to go along with the photos I had already sent him.
A few months went by and I finally was able to get to his footage. It all fell into place, really. The first song I picked just happened to be a Wavves song (surprise, surprise) and it fit. "So Bored" fit the lazy last days of Summer vibe I was trying to channel. I was afraid our talent would get offended at the song choice but I think he liked it. Every other song I tried didn't quite fit...

Anyways - here is the video in all its glory:

Let me tell you, it was crazy fun to edit and I hope that we all get together soon to collab on some sweet footage because I have discovered that our skater friend has other talents that I would LOVE to get footage of. No, I won't tell you what they are because I want them to be a surprise! I think I might have found my newest inspiration to get me out of my rut and start start creating again!
Thank you my dear friend!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

PS - check out the photos from that day here!

Fun Times with Tim

2011-12-02T08:08:00.001-05:00

To honour Tim, I have decided to post this video I made of him beatboxing into my iPad. It was right when I first downloaded the Garage Band app and I discovered the sample recorder. While we were transferring work-related files, we recorded some tracks. Technically, I didn't do anything except record Tim having fun with my iPad and it was hilarious!

I kept all the tracks with the hope that one day we might've finished them but I guess they'll stay the way they are...

I miss you Tim.

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Post-Thanksgiving Hangover

2011-11-30T10:39:00.001-05:00

Post Thanksgiving trip to NYC breakdown:

Drunken shenanigans
Breaking Dawn Part 1
Bar hopping...with my Moms
Bad news - no - the WORST news
No sleep
Friendly arguments
Family
Friends
Tantrums

Let's start with the trip. Mom and I had to get up at 4am to be at the airport by 6 to make our 7am flight. The flight was short - which is good - but I felt like a zombie the whole time. That is, until I got some food and booze in me.
Thanksgiving was a total riot! I loved it! I had so much fun with the New York crew and I would love to do it again! One of the (many) highlights was the photo booth my step-sister did! I wish I had posed with her and my Mom and my aunt and uncle but it was really hectic and I'm surprised everyone made it up there for a photo in the first place!
As the night wore on, I got into what I thought was a friendly argument with one of the cousins about movie directors. He took it seriously. I took it drunkenly. And I liked it because he was SO upset. The argument started rooted in the truth: I'm not a Von Trier or Aronofsky fan and my love for the industry came from short form music video and experimental videos. One of the (many) music video directors I rattled off happened to be McG, which brought up the topic of the Charlie's Angles movie franchise. How on Earth could I use this to my advantage? Of course! Say that McG can get better performances from his actors than, say, another least favorite director of mine: Quentin Tarantino. So he's not my fave director. SUE ME.
ANYWAYS - the argument got so heated, even though it was obviously (or so I thought) a joke that we had to call it a night. At 2am-ish.
No sleep night number 1.
Friday was fun. No hangover, more leftovers than you could shake a stick at and plans for Breaking Dawn Part 1. I almost said I didn't want to do it because we'd be bar hopping with some of the kids from the night before but after an attempt at a disco nap, I decided "What the hell. Why not". After the movie, we asked the Moms if they wanted to join us - to which they said YES.
We headed over to the Stonewall Inn for some gay pride action but all we saw were some hot bodied dancers and people gettin' sleazy in every dark corner of the club. AWKWARD. Especially when you're with your MOM. Next, we went to Fat Cats - which was the hipsteriest of all the hipster places I've been to and you know what? I liked it! It was HUGE! There were ping pong tables, couches, chess tables, beer pong tables (I think) and there was live music! It was a great place! The only downside is that they don't serve liquor. We had to ask for more sake (wtf) in our cocktails to feel the buzz but it didn't matter. That place was really great! I highly recommend it! It was at Fat Cats that I discovered my Moms enjoy PBR and Miller High Life. WTF?! Bizarro!!
After that, we hit up this piano bar that started out wack but the drinks were really strong and after a shot of Patron, everything was pretty cool.
After last call (which is 3:30am in New York), we decided to hit up this Cuban diner for some greasy food. They were playing techno and there was this guy in the booth next to us who started freestyling over the beat with things like "Put your hands up", "Everybody say 'Yeah'" and such and what do the Moms do? They do it. They started dancing and moving to what the dude was saying. It was pretty freaking hilarious.
After that, we cabbed it home and walked in the door at 5am. Yes, we partied with the Moms until 5am. Hilarious! Not so hilarious was the phone call, voicemail and text I got at 7:30am.
No sleep night number 2.
At 7:30am, my co-worker called me to tell me that we had lost a friend and fellow co-worker the night before. Our buddy Tim, who had been in Memphis to do a photo shoot, had passed away on Friday. At first, I was still a little drunk and didn't really know how to process it. As Michael told me the details he knew about what happened, I scooped up my little niece (who happened to be awake and wanted to know what I was doing in the studio) and started crying. After a tearful conversation, I crawled back into bed with my other niece ans started crying some more. She kept asking me what was wrong and I couldn't really bring myself to tell her - even though she's old enough to know. Needless to say I didn't sleep after that and I was a zombie all day. To keep my mind off of things, I went with the family to the High Line - which was beautiful but I was in such a daze that I didn't stop to take too many photos. My aunt called and we talked a little but I didn't tell her about Tim because I didn't want to get upset. Then we went to our favourite Puerto Rican restaurant: La Taza de Oro. We also made a quick trip over to the Chelsea Market - which was awesome! I had only ever seen it on TV so it was nice to see in person. After that, we came home and packed for the two day road trip back.

It was a whirlwind of a trip! It was a great time, as always, I just hate what happened to Tim. I mean, what the fuck...I'll post more on that later.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday and please be sure to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. You never know what may happen

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Gonna go back in tiiiiime - Music Edition!

2011-11-15T09:08:00.001-05:00

While I was looking for some music from my past to load up on my iPod (because I like to drive myself crazy), I found some other music from my past that I was really stoked about finding!!

First up: The Last Chucks

I first met Mike Last of The Last Chucks at 513 when they played with the Teen Idols (I think...) one out of many many times. My ice breaker with Mike was talking to him about the gorgeous Bettie Page tattoo on his shoulder. I was a nervous kid back then and I was trying to play it cool since I didn't realize the Last Chucks were from Atlanta, so I thought I'd never see them again unless they came back on some whirlwind tour (with the Teen Idols probably). Little did I know Mike and Carter would collaborate on many, many projects over the years...I shot them A LOT - photo and video. I have the photos ready to be scanned, I just need a working scanner...The videos are lurking in a box somewhere, unfortunately. I'm still on the hunt for those...

Next up: Das Manics

This was a bittersweet find for me since this was one of Nate's bands. I saw them a few times at old Lenny's and I feel like I have photos somewhere...The frontman is the every-so-dreamy Matt Matson - who is an old friend from high school. I would say how he used to dress back then but I'll spare you. I'd like to say he's like a fine wine: he was really good looking in high school but holy mother of god - he's super hot now.
*Funny story: One time I went to visit Matt at the mall. It was around Christmas time so it was crazy packed. We were walking around and I said we should poke into Victoria's Secret to maybe find me a present for my boyfriend at the time. Being the good sport that he is, Matt indulged me and let me try on some bras and corsets. While I was in the dressing room, he knocked wildly on the door. Half dressed, I opened the door to him telling me that Usher was in the store. I peeked around the dressing room door and sure enough, Usher was in the middle of VS with a crowd of girls gushing all over him. Being silly teenagers, we yelled "Fag!" and ran into my dressing room, laughing hysterically. One of the VS clerks knocked on my door and scolded us for being in the dressing room together. I got dressed, didn't buy anything and we were on our merry way. Ahhh...mall adventures circa 1998!

Next up: Devastator

Devastator was a band with my friend Skot. Although I only got to see them once or twice, I really enjoyed their music. I will try to post some MP3s somewhere since I can't find anything on the interwebz about them. They were pretty awesome and some of the nicest guys I've ever hung out with.

That leaves me with one last gem of a find: The Number Ones

Believe me, I have NO shortage of photos of this band and they, too, are with the Last Chucks photos waiting to be scanned. This band evolved from so many incarnations it's not even funny - and they didn't stop with The Number Ones either. The last incarnation of Carter's many bands (in Atlanta) ended with The Lazy Indians and Forever Men. Honestly, in all my photos, I don't think I'd be able to tell the different incarnations apart but they were all equally awesome (except the Beercans - that was not my particular brand of humour back then). This is one of two Number Ones tapes I should have in my stash. John says he might have the other and I would kill to have those tracks purely for selfish reasons. One of my best memories was when the Number Ones played at 513 on November 4, 1999. They were opening up for the Lillingtons and, unbeknownst to me, I was standing next to a Lillingtons band member. Carter dedicated a song to me in their set and I got all googly-eyed and sugary. The Lillingtons guy was like, "What's that all about? Is that your boyfriend?" Breathlessly I said, "Yes" and he was like, "Aww! You guys are so cute!" "It's our one year anniversary," I let him know. He shook me by the shoulders in a playful way and was like, "Happy anniversary! You guys are fucking cute as shit!" The whole time, I never took my eyes off of Carter and it was one of the best, most saccharine moments ever in my life.

The song he dedicated is on the other tape. . .

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Inspiration in an unlikely place

2011-11-14T08:04:00.001-05:00

A few months back I bought some canvases to try and make something like this for my "home office"

Full tutorial for these here

It wasn't working for me because I still had to stencil out the FCP logo and all that fun stuff but my heart just wasn't in it. Thinking I could get it back in the game, I kept the canvases stashed away until I felt like making AE and FCP related art. Sadly, I couldn't get myself to so the project was abandoned. I liked the idea of having blank canvases, though. My old man likes to create too. I was hoping that seeing them around would give him a much needed boost to start creating again...

Feeling down and lonely on Friday night, I stayed up and watched some movies on Netflix Instant hoping the sadness would creep its way out of my mind but instead, it burrowed its way into my heart. I didn't sleep much and we spent much of Saturday out of the house - which was a good thing since I needed to escape. All day I found myself humming my new favourite song: "Poor Lenore" off of Wavves' "Life Sux" EP.

Let me tell you a little something about this: I was really upset that I had missed this EP coming out in September and I was even more upset that I haven't been keeping up with Wavves. Not only does Nathan Williams remind me of someone very specific in my life (in a weird, parallel way - with all the pain and misunderstood-ness) but I love the band and I love seeing Twit Pics of him and Bethany. Their playful photos remind me of something I once had - which is good and bad all at the same time.

MOVING ON

Before I let myself get swept up in the Nathan/Bethany romance of a lifetime, I put my headphones in and put "Life Sux" on repeat. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. While each song is wonderful and catchy and just plain awesome, "Poor Lenore" is the one that kept sticking out to me. So in my dazed and sleep deprived state on Saturday, I had this crazy idea: what if I made some Victorian style silhouette of a girl looking sad with a fancy filigree frame around it? Okay...now I was getting somewhere. I found a frame I really liked, traced it (iPads make decent light tables) and got to work on reworking the frame (so that it wasn't a direct copy)

After that, I tried looking for silhouettes that fit this "Lenore" girl I kept seeing in my head. I woke up early Sunday morning and started taking photos of myself to see if the silhouette was working. It did at first but after awhile, I felt like it was too Barbie.

I can't help it if I decided to give my silhouette bangs and accentuate my beauty mark. This also reminded me of Sleeping Beauty - which I will reserve for another day

So I went back to the drawing board and sketched my frame for what felt like the billionth time

Then I started Google searching more silhouettes.

I found this one and liked it but the more I stared at it, the more Laura Palmer-y it looked to me

I kept looking. And looking. I found one that had a nice shape, traced the back part and was stuck on the face part of the silhouette. Where was I going wrong? Should I find a portrait of Nathan and alter it? Should I rework the Barbie-looking one to make it fit? Why should I force it? The inspiration was there...but where?

In Bethany, of course! I searched and searched for profile pictures of Bethany and I found one of her singing. Then I found a great one from the "Crazy For You" video and there it was - a silhouette worthy of being inside the frame!

After the billionth trace of both the silhouette and the frame, I had it! My "Poor Lenore"! I decided I was going to silkscreen it to the canvas instead of doing my freezer paper technique since the last one went horribly horribly wrong.
I went to get my transparency made at FedEx and guess what? I forgot that my lines were a little too thin so the silkscreen burn didn't go the way I had planned. Oh well. Yeah, I was a little more upset than that but I went back to the drawing board (again) and traced over my lines to make them thicker and darker. "Poor Lenore" is getting made, dammit. I tweeted it, @replying Wavves on it on purpose as a kind of promise to finish it - no matter what it takes. If it takes multiple failed burns before one is perfect, so be it. "Poor Lenore" will be made.
And I was thinking of getting the first lines (that are featured in the ribbon on the frame I drew: The world's a liar) tattooed on me somewhere. Yeah it's melodramatic, I know, but I would like to look back on it one day and say, "Yes, yes it is." Or I can look back on it fondly and say, "Remember that time I made that Wavves-inspired art piece and Nathan totally bought it from me?"
Ha! I have a crazy imagination! Well since it's out there...Universe, help a sister out! Meeting Nathan Williams would be a dream come true! Not gonna lie - I was fantasizing about going on tour with Wavves to make, like, a mini tour diary or documentary or something. I hope that's somewhere in the near future but how do I get it started? I'll find a way. I just hope that my own fears don't stop me from going through with it...

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show - Preview before the big show!

2011-11-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show happened on the 9th and I've been seeing photos from EVERYWHERE on the internets. I was going to wait to post them until AFTER the fashion show aired on CBS (November 29th at 10pm) but I can't wait, so here they are!

I'm loving these Victorian-inspired looks. The boots, the cameos, the lace - GORGEOUS

Miranda Kerr rockin' the $2.5Million+ Bra! Gorgeous!

The Swarvoski Elements wings are AMAZING!!! I cannot wait to see them walk down the runway along with these beautiful feather wings!

Adorbs super hero / comic book gals! I'm sure there's more and I can't wait to see them all!!

ZOMG! How Heatherette are these Pink looks?! I'm in LOVE with the neon wings! So cute!!

This post is a clusterfuck of photos, I know, but I guess I won't have screen caps until the fashion show airs on 11/29. Mark your calendars! I know I did! It comes on CBS at 10pm! Don't forget! Nicki Minaj, Jay Z, Kanye West and Maroon 5 all perform as well, so you won't want to miss it!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

(photo source)

Rebeling for the sake of my lost youth spent in the background

2011-11-10T16:53:00.000-05:00

Okay - call me a hypocrite. I don't care.

In 2009, I wrote a little blurb about Cassie and her undercut.

I had some very Mom things to say about it too - including such greatest hits as:
*Comb-overs are awesome?
*It's going to take FOREVER to grow back
*It's not going to grow back pretty

Well, guess who was going through an existential crisis last Friday and decided she would "cut the crazy out" of her hair?

THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE

Yeah. And what? I ain't even mad.

Honestly, I had a little one inch piece already shaved in and Malcom (the stylist at Toni and Guy) said, "If you're going to have an undercut, you need to go all the way. Are you ready to go all the way?" Um...hell yes. Why not?! I can't dye my hair until all the damaged parts are cut out (Thanks PA...) so cutting my hair is the next thing. Besides, I always seem to cut my hair when I'm suffering so I guess you can say that I'm suffering pretty hard since I had to shave half of it off...true story.

Apparently Hayley Williams had the same idea:

photo source
Does that make us besties? Yes, yes it does...LOLZ. Hayley, you rock!

I guess you can say that I'm trying to catch up to my younger days. Do I smell a mid-life crisis coming on? Maybe. But I feel like I was such a fucking square when I was younger - this realization has become very clear to me now on more than one occasion - and I think I'm trying to rebel. To a certain degree, that is. It's just hair. It grows back. Just like the pink hair, this will pass. I don't want to call it a phase but whatever it is, it's temporary. And I'm pretty sure the pink hair will return, just maybe not so all-over. I can't take that much maintenance. And because mortality has been on my mind since I decided to make this trip, I feel like my motto will now be: You only live once. I've also been living by No Regrets since my Mom and I had an in depth conversation about that a few years back...I guess I'm a late bloomer but you know what? I'm embracing it.

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Klaine Kisses and Doin' It

2011-11-09T09:56:00.000-05:00

Last night's Glee was quite possibly the cutest episode of this season so far! Although new Warbler Sebastian came on a little TOO strong to Blaine (who wouldn't?!), I thought he was totally adorable. Blaine was totally swoon-worthy throughout the entire episode - yes, even the drunk parts - and Kurt was just as precious as ever.

I couldn't help but think of my first time. I felt like Tina while she was talking about hers. My first time wasn't as perfect as hers but it was definitely memorable and makes a great story!

I'll admit I could've done without Rachel and Finn's story and I LOVED that Coach Bieste got some action last night! And I was wondering if Damian McGinty's brief cameo in last night's episode counted as one of his 7 that he won from The Glee Project. It better not because I heart him too much for him to just be in the background...

I was also wondering why Atlanta doesn't have a club called Scandals! I would love it! Geoff said that we should open one and we could offer 1/2 off drink specials for Project Runway viewing parties - which would elevate from live-blogging to UStream video blogging (YESSS!) - and we could have Drag Race viewing parties and themed drag nights. That would be my ultimate drag fantasy come true!! I would LOVE IT! Universe, it's in your hands to help me make this a reality! I want this!!! I need this!!!

Aaaaaaanyways...the She Loves You Tumblr is joining in on "The Morning After" gif posts from last night's episode so, I'll duck out of here and continue the reblogging of the cutest gifs from last night. And just so you all know, I haven't been this giddy about an episode of Glee since Kurt and Blaine's first kiss! Memories!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Finale Part 2 - The Recap

2011-10-28T13:02:00.000-04:00

No words can describe my feelings about last night's episode so I will just leave these photos

Joshua and Viktor were totally robbed. There's no way Viktor should've been third.

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Finale Part 2

2011-10-27T20:32:00.003-04:00

Project Runway: The Finale Part 2

Project Runway - the Finale Part 1 Recap

2011-10-21T09:24:00.000-04:00

It was the Fashion Week showdown last night and I can't help but be upset. Yes, even though Joshua was the first one picked to show at Fashion Week (congrats Joshua!!!), I'm still upset. Why? Hmmm...let me wonder...oh yeah - because Anya got a shitty critique and she still gets to go.
Yes folks, the "twist" was that all four of them will get to show at Fashion Week. Ugh...
The designers were given $9,000 and 5 weeks to make a 10 piece collection. Out of those 10 pieces, they had to pick 3 looks to show the judges to determine who would make it to Fashion Week. About half way through the episode it was clear they were all going so it was pretty much pointless watching the rest of it.

Onto the looks:

Here are Joshua's looks - which were an insane 180˚ from what he had shown Tim when Tim popped in for his l'il visit.

I'm not crazy about the goggles/glasses things but I do like the jacket. And I like the mesh over the print on the tank top

MK was hating on the "Modesty Tab" but you know what, some people need that Modesty Tab, MK. I think it's a cute little hint of bondage (since I know Joshua likes to add those elements to his looks)

This look is one of those "great from the front but nightmare in the back" pieces. MK almost let out his signature yelp at the sight of the back of this catsuit thing but thank goodness he spared us. I will say that if Joshua tweaks this just enough for Fashion Week, it could actually look pretty great.

Onto Viktor

The judges weren't fond of the zippered leather pieces on the skirt but I LOVED it. I thought the print was great on its own, sure, but I really liked that leather detail. I felt like it added a little edge to the softness of the print

This top was great with all the mirror pieces. Great attention to detail. The jacket fit well and the pants had an interesting look that wasn't too distracting, I thought

Oh honeychild! That jacket! Even Joshua said: "That jacket is everything". We all love that damn jacket! Even Heidi had to try it on! It was a bit much over that pretty dress but DAMMIT that jacket is TIGHT AND RIGHT.

Up next: Kimberly

Kimberly took her styling tips from Lady Sovereign but at least Lady Sovereign looks good. Sorry Kimberly but this is not a good styling choice for you. You wanted Urban Chic but this missed the mark.

This skirt was KILLING me. The shape was all weird in the front and I HATED the back. This poor girl's ass looked worse than Joshua's catsuit ass. Yeah, I said it. And MK liked it. I can see why but, really, MK? Really?

This is definitely not working for me. I like the dress but the Lady Sovereign styling is NOT right for this. It's just not complimentary at all. The gown was great but that side pony braid is not appropriate.

Finally, Anya's

The easy-breezy deep v that Anya is known for. Give me some fabric and I can make this damn dress too. Mine would need a Modesty Tab, though.

My beautiful season-long model crush was horrifyingly put into this ill-fitting bathing suit (which was reminiscent of Wretched's granny panties last season) and even the judges pointed out that this poor girl looked terrible. Makes me sad. But on the plus side - she looks gorgeous with her hair pulled back. WERK

Ahhh - the gold dress. This golden disaster of a garment. If Anya's lack of sewing skills weren't apparent before, THIS is the garment that will show just how unskilled she is. It's gathered all wrong. There's puckers where there shouldn't be. It's a mess. And the judges HATED it.

Yes, the judges gave Anya the night's WORST critique but she still gets to show at Fashion Week. Ugh. Why?! I guess because she's pretty and Heidi isn't ready to move on yet. I don't know! Last night snapped me right of my great mood and put me right back into the terrible state of mind I've been trying to avoid all week. Oh well. Hopefully next week's finale party will bring back my faith in Project Runway but we'll have to wait until then!

Katzi
S.LY.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blog - Finale Part 1!

2011-10-20T19:01:00.001-04:00

Project Runway Finale: Part 1

Star Slinger in ATL!

2011-10-20T09:59:00.001-04:00

I didn't realize last night was going to be so cold so I didn't dress accordingly. As I stood outside and shivered, I listed to conversations being had by kids who were at Drunken Unicorn for the first time ever - which made me wonder: What was my first ever Drunken Unicorn show? I can't remember but I can say that I've seen almost everything there and the excitement that the kids were feeling about seeing Star Slinger was so great that I was getting all giddy too.

Star Slinger was one of my first ever Tumblr friends. I'm always happy to get reblogs from him and even happier when he posts tracks. I had this idea in the back of my mind that he might remember me from Tumblr, so I decided I'd use that as my intro - at the complete risk of sounding like a fangirl (which I totally am). Not gonna lie, I was expecting to be a little star struck when I sat down with Star Slinger last night at Drunken Unicorn but instead, I felt like I was talking to an old friend (and yes, I was completely star struck too). I called him by his real name and said, "I don't know if you know me but we blog together on Tumblr" to which he said, "I know! You're Katzi! Thank you so much!" I was beyond ecstatic that he remembered me even though I haven't been on Tumblr that much lately. I was totally fangirling but I had to reel it in. He was saying that I have been there from almost the beginning and I said it was amazing to have seen his progress so quickly. He's the coolest, mot chill guy and it was great talking with him. It was even cooler when kids came up to him while we were talking to tell him how awesome he was. Crazy!

After the initial shock of "OMG I'm talking to Star Slinger", the show was really great! I didn't realize Time Wharp was from Atlanta. I need to check that kid out more! His set was the perfect start to an amazing show.

I have to say, I only knew Shlohmo from the Friends of Friends comp and Star Slinger, so I wasn't expecting the awesomeness that was Time Wharp and Shigeto. Shigeto blew me away! That kid played live drums over his loops! Crazy!!

His set was pretty chill too and I started getting more and more into it.

I got a little bold and decided to try and make it front and center for Shlohmo. Done and done. He opened up with Aaliyah - which was fucking amazing - but as I scanned the crowd, I saw more blank stares than I thought I would - which made me sing out even louder!
His set was the perfect lead in to Star Slinger.
I maintained my place at the front of the stage and jumped up during the last song. That shit was crazy! He got the whole place going NUTS!! It was the most fun I've had at a smaller venue in a long time and I was so happy that Star Slinger was FINALLY in town and getting his music out there for more people to experience. It renewed my faith in Atlanta's music scene. I saw so many smiles in the crowd when I was on stage and it made me so happy that there's at least one genre of Atlanta music fans that can get over themselves and just enjoy the fucking music. It was amazing! I want Star Slinger to come through again! Maybe next time he'll let me buy him a shot or two...

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Savages

2011-10-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

I went to visit a good friend of mine in Louisville this past weekend and was invited to take some shots during his band practice.

They're called Savages and if you live in the Louisville area, I strongly suggest you check them out because they're pretty fucking amazing.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the bassist or the drummer's names (sorry guys!) but I will say that they're all awesome.

You might recognize him from Atlanta's The Lazy Indians

This pedal box was super impressive! I couldn't take my eyes off of it!

Check out their Bandcamp and if you see them on a line up - GO. You won't be disappointed.

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Finale Challenge

2011-10-13T20:37:00.001-04:00

Project Runway: The Finale Challenge

Project Runway: This is For The Birds: The Recap

2011-10-07T09:43:00.000-04:00

ZOMG - What in the world was up on the runway last night??? Now I KNOW Heidi & Crew are on drugs! I will not stand for Anya's antics anymore! With all the help she has been getting from everyone else in the workroom, how dare she deny help to Joshua and then try to distinguish it as "tangible" and "intangible" on After the Runway. WTF Anya?! What is wrong with you?! Don't you realize that the "intangible" help you're receiving is what Joshua said it was - they paid money for that kind of education - which makes it "tangible" for them but not to you? Who the fuck do you think you are?! So you learned to sew 4 months prior to the competition. Good for you. Do you feel like you should win this because you're making some sort of statement? The only thing this is showing me is that you're making a mockery of the whole Project Runway franchise. Sure there have been worse contestants than you BUT they all knew how to construct garments properly. You just sit there and throw some shit together because you know Heidi and you have some modely companionship going on and it's sickening.

I can deal with the fact that Gretchen won last season because even though her clothes (and her attitude) were shitty, she could still construct the damn outfits without anybody's help. You send out garments without fasteners and you're constantly asking for construction advice. Why should you get the win? You don't deserve any of it. Everyone else works harder than you because they all know Heidi and Nina have the biggest boners for you. Your designs are uninspired. All they look like to me is "Meh, this should be easy construction because I don't know how to make anything else but I'll skew one thing and the judges will think I'm making a new twist on an old design element". No Anya.

On that note, let's see Anya's Raven inspired outfit:

Congrats on styling your model after your own personal style, btw. As if we couldn't see your extreme narcissism enough already...

She went head-to-head (in a "shocking" runway twist) with Laura:

As far as a head-to-head challenge, Laura did take it too literally but I don't care. I'd still pick hers over Anya's

Next up: Joshua's parrot inspired outfit

Joshua went head-to-head against Bert (or Birdt LOL):

Taylor Dayne's outfit was in the bottom - even though Heidi liked it.

Heidi, do you realize that every time you praise terrible designs, I grit my teeth so hard that my molars will probably be ground down to nubs by the end of this season? Good job.

Next up, the Viktor and Kimberly smack down! Kimberly was unraveling for most of the episode but she finally got it together and decided she was out for BLOOD. Viktor's to be exact. She wanted to make it her mission to take him down a few notches and...it worked!

Kimberly's Grecian Goddess silhouette:

Viktor's Grecian Goddess silhouette:

If I had to pick, I'd pick Viktor's over Kimberly because I really like the gathered fabric. I'd take off the feathers though. They're making me crazy! I'd make him molt that dress. Kimberly's is too Real housewife of Beverly Hills Pageant Night. Especially with the peek-a-boo boob - or should I say peek-a-boob. Heeeeyyyooooo!! I'm on a roll!! It's my birthday today. That might be it! LOL

Anyways - the runway was very upsetting last night but at least they got one thing right - Bert was auf'd. Bye bye Berty!! (Ha!) That After The Runway show was brutal to watch too! I mean, why the fuck would they bring Laura back to trash on designers she hasn't worked with? Why did she get all Mommy on Joshua?! Ugh. It was a disgusting display of Laura's irritating attitude that made me dislike her on her season. I thought she was irritating because of her pregnancy but turns out she's just that irritating all the time. Super... I stand behind Joshua's comments regarding Anya - even about their friendship or whatever you want to call it - but I especially stand by his comments to Laura B about her shitty ass comments about his attitude. So what, girl! You had a pretty terrible attitude about another competitor's construction - remember how you tried to call Jeffrey out on his pleats??? Yeah...you did that. You almost got him eliminated over some petty ass shit because you were intimidated by him and we all know how that turned out.

Okay - I'm done with this runway drama for today. I want to start enjoying my birthday!!
Have fun today and I hope to see you all at Pride Atlanta this weekend!
XOXO
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blog: This Is For The Birds

2011-10-06T19:02:00.001-04:00

Project Runway: This Is For The Birds

Sunday Funday: Decorating Woes

2011-10-03T10:43:00.000-04:00

My old man and I have been together a long time. Like, a really REALLY long time and one thing we haven't really done is settle anywhere.
By "settle" I mean decorate. With the assistance of my Dad, we've been homeowners for a few years now and we still haven't settled in. I've got photos in frames, he's got artwork printed and I keep buying Missoni for Target house-related items (I can't help myself). Okay, not just Missoni stuff but I do keep buying housewares. Whether it's a shower curtain (*cough*Missoni*cough*) or a Klimt print from Ikea or random blind box items from Kidrobot, we have a lot of stuff but it's not any where in the house - except just taking up space.
While I was visiting with my Mom, we watched a few HGTV decorating shows which got me thinking about how we need to do stuff with our stuff. Then I remembered those really awesome Jonathan Adler pillows that I lusted after forever but never got...

What if I could design my own set of silhouettes and combination freezer paper stencil plus screen print them on these boring ass Ikea curtains we got forever ago? Hmmm...
I tired to explain it to the old man but he wasn't getting it. I Googled different items (which probably made me look like a monster) and got to Photoshoppin'. The old man still didn't see it. Ugh. I told him I'd print it out at a larger scale to see it big picture and to see if he'd like it.

I printed it this morning and BAM - sweet ass art piece!

Obligatory photo of me holding my print - shot on my iPad with the Incredibooth app

Personally, I think that might be a little too much for the curtains BUT I think I can frame this and it would make a nice art piece for the space!

I have to admit - I was pretty inspired from walking around Castleberry Hill during Flux on Friday night so this weekend was a great motivator to finally get our house organized and decorated.

Now if we could only stop arguing over everything, I think we'd be fine. Aaaahhh...the joys of relationships and homeownership. Gotta love it

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: Sew 70's Recap

2011-09-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

OMG! Last night was so upsetting to me! I can't even believe what happened! I thought Anthony Ryan had the least offensive outfits last night but I guess the judges weren't on my side. BUT - I didn't want Joshua to go home either! Who should have? I don't know. Bert's were pretty boring, to me anyways, but the judges LOVED them (of course).

The challenge was to do a sophisticated 70's look (even though we ALL had enough of the 70's after last week's challenge...ugh...). Then they threw in the beloved second garment! So - two sophisticated 70's outfits to send down the runway. Let's see how they did.

Bert's first look:

I want to know how Bert manages to make this gal look like Taylor Dane EVERYTIME

Bert's second look:

This, to me, is SUPER BORING. Yeah, so the front is muted and the back is a contrasting colour but the guest judge (Miss Piperlime) kept saying how much she LOVED the metal detailing on the waist tie. Whoop-dee-doo. Wake me up when another look comes down the runway please.

Anthony Ryan's first look:

Honestly, this girl looks like any random hipster. I imagine her living in Seattle or Colorado. Maybe even New Mexico?

Anthony Ryan's second look:

Very granola-ish BUT still not offensive

Kimberly's first look:

This poor girls' boobs look like they're straining against that fabric! And too much of that fabric is very matronly, I think. Eww!

Kimberly's second look:

I don't mean this in a bad way but the top reminds me of the pattern my Mom used to make tops for my nieces. My nieces who are under 10 years old. My nieces who are cute little girls. My nieces who are not adults and wearing these kinds of tops. Don't get me wrong - I like that style but it was a little much for me.

Viktor's first look:

Who's ready to go on an expedition to Africa?! The snakeskin shirt says it's ready! Of course the judges had boners for this look...

Viktor's second look:

The judges also had boners for this dress too. Ummm...it was made well but I wasn't crazy about the snakeskin since it was in the first look already AND Viktor made a matching bow tie for himself AND he wore snakeskin shorts. Overkill much?

Laura's first look:

I still stand by my ~~drunken~~ decision last night - I like this look! I like the mitered chevrons on the top! I don't think it looks prisony at all, judges. AND I like the print on the bottom WAY better than Kimberly's pattern for the midriff top. Just sayin'

Laura's second look:

This look was "meh" but I like the fabric she chose for the top! I kinda want to see her use it again.

And now we arrive to Joshua. Risk-taker. Excuse-maker. Outfit-justifier. Tale-spinner.

Joshua's first look:

The tuxedo shirt was nice but it was very 80's. The pants were all wrong and I'm not alone here. MK let out that girlish scream for the backside of the pants and I did too.

Eww. That's a crazy butt back there. And the print is NOT helping.

Joshua's second look:

The judges hated the print (of course) but I liked it (of course I did). And this look isn't very 70's either. It reminds me of the early 90's for some reason. Hmm. Don't know why.

And now, Anya. Let's take a moment to talk about her last night. The budget was a slim $100. Not a lot, right? What happens? Anya loses her money at Mood and ~~one of the producers ran away with it~~ they can't find it. Tim gives her the option of working with muslin and to ask her fellow designers if they have extra cash left over and none of them do - except Anthony Ryan. He was generous enough to give her $11 and some change he had left over and the other designers give her scrap fabric they might not be using. Except for Viktor: "What? It's a competition. I'm not gonna help her". I'm with him and against him one this one...Then, for the bombshell of the second look, they have a budget of $50.

Anya's first look:

Can you feel Heidi's lady boners? Yeah, me too.

Anya's second look:

I'm not a fan of this one. The proportions are off. It's too large and it makes her bottom half look HUGE. Eww. Can you feel Heidi's lady boners for this one too? Yeah, it's gross.

But guess what - surprise - Anya wins! Please excuse my extreme excitement. *Yawn*

Sadly, Anthony Ryan was sent home. It was him and Joshua on the bottom and I didn't want either of them to go! If it had been up to me, I would've sent Bert home with his disco roller girl hot shorts and silver-tipped rope tie on the biggest snooze dress since Olivier's clothes. I was so upset! How?! Oh well. What's done is done. I have a feeling we're not done with Anthony Ryan. He's too good!

Until next runway!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blog: Sew 70's

2011-09-29T19:01:00.001-04:00

Tonight's episode sounds like what happened last week: The 70's. Let's hope our designers get it together tonight!

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=f501f9416d" >Project Runway: Sew 70's</a>

DIY: Bokeh Kit

2011-09-28T15:16:00.001-04:00

Since I've been spending most of my time uploading videos today, I decided to take a gander over at Photojojo for some new goodies (like this time lapse camera I'm checking out). The one item I kept going back to was the Bokeh Kit.I've been keeping a close watch on it and I finally declared: "I can do that!"

So, with videos running in the background, I got a paper cup that fit perfectly over my lens and cut it to a decent size.

Next, I grabbed some scrap paper from our plotting printer, cut the circle the same size as the bottom of the cup and cut a shape on the paper.

Luckily the scrap paper was already a dark colour on one side!

Next, I cut the bottom out of the paper cup and inserted one of my sweet cutouts

(This doesn't look quite as cute as the Photojojo kit but it works!)

I had to experiment A LOT to get a good idea of what it was supposed to look like and an office setting isn't quite the best for this...

I kept wondering if there was some sort of light source I could shoot that would give me the desired bokeh effect and it turns out - it was right in front of me (as always). I have a glitter lamp at my desk that I love to shoot all the time. I turned my lens towards it, messed with the settings and behold - little stars were appearing!

Then I messed with the flash!

Then I tired my Space Invaders cut out!

FAIL. So I went back to the stars!

I have no problem entertaining myself when I have to stare at progress bars all day! Don't get me wrong - I'm totally working but I'm multitasking :)

AND - I'm not saying to not get the bokeh kit, I just wanted to see if I could do it. I still might end up buying the kit (or asking for it for Christmas) but at least I know I can make them too!

EDIT:
I made a heart template!

I could do this forever...

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Star Slinger x Green Label Sound

2011-09-28T08:41:00.000-04:00

My fave Tumblrer and music producer extraordinaire, Star Slinger, is the featured artist on Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound! Fuck yeah!!

I know you'll all download his track off the site AND check him out at Drunken Unicorn on October 19th! I know I'll be there!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Blink, My Chem and Matt and Kim rocked my face off!!

2011-09-22T20:49:00.000-04:00

I'm not gonna lie - last night made me feel a little old.
As an early birthday present to myself, I went to see My Chemical Romance, Blink 182 and Matt and Kim at Lakewood Amphitheater. What a show!! I've seen MCR and Blink a few times but I had never seen Matt and Kim and it was AWESOME!! They were so hyped up and got the crowd going - it was amazing! I loved it! I kind of wish I had seen them the last time they were here at a different venue. Not that there's anything wrong with Lakewood... I wish their set was longer! It was so much fun!

MCR was amazing, as always. It was nice to see the Blink Bros getting into Matt and Kim and MCR. (I forgot how bro-ish Blink fans are.)

How did I forget that? Oh yeah, the last time I saw Blink 182 was around 10+ years ago. At the same venue too! LOLZebras. I will say this: Blink 182's visuals are insane! I loved it! I loved the whole thing! The cartoonish cameras, the moving screens in the background - all of it was amazing!

And the best part about it: after they had played a decent sized set, Tom DeLonge said, "Okay, we're pretending to leave but we'll be back in about 5 minutes". Then a huge drop cloth came down and they were gone. Five minutes later, there was this DJ mix playing in the background and then we all heard Travis Barker's crazy drums. Then, we all SAW Travis Barker at his drumset but it wasn't on stage, oh no, it was ABOVE IT. WHAT THE WHAT??!?!? That shit was crazy!! His drumset was on a mechanical arm that came down from the ceiling and hovered over the crowd! I had put my PowerShot away since I figured I was done getting blurry photos (damn that camera!) so I got my phone out. After about 15 seconds with my phone I was like, "You idiot! Get the other camera so you can zoom in!" So, I grabbed my other camera and shot away.

I wish I had a better camera. All my MCR footage is blurry and this video does NOT do this performance justice. This was probably one of the better shows I've been to in a long time! I had so much fun and I was sad when it was over. Oh well. All good things must come to an end. Until next time, kids! I hope all 3 bands come back to ATL really soon!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway Live-Blog: Image Is Everything

2011-09-22T20:37:00.001-04:00

Project Runway: Image Is Everything

It's Almost Glee Day!

2011-09-19T15:32:00.000-04:00

We've all been waiting for it and it's almost here: the return of Glee! I can't wait! I saw this cute article on their Facebook page - but it wasn't the article that drew me in, oh no. It was this dreamboat:

HNNNNNNGGGGGGG

And to make it worse (well, actually better), I went and looked for more of these school portraits and found these gems:

LOVES IT!! How great does Lea Michele look?! How dreamy does Chris Colfer look?!
They're all great but these are my faves out of the bunch. Okay you caught me - I love all of them but I didn't want to over do it. If you want, check out the full gallery here!

I can already say this: I have MAJOR hair envy. Just look at how great Dianna Agron looks with pink hair!!

I can easily say that I'm supper jealous of her fierceness. Maybe I'll have to bring some pink back to my own hair - whether it's a track or if I get adventurous enough, I can try dyeing my hair again. I might not risk it since it's still on the mend.

Tomorrow is the day, my dears! Get ready!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Sunday Funday: Arts & Crafts, Ancient Aliens & TC: Just Desserts

2011-09-19T08:19:00.001-04:00

So far my weekends have been pretty chill and I ain't even mad. Today was even more chill - which has been good and bad.
The good: I've been really productive! I had a vision, of sorts, for my outfit for Wednesday's excursion and I jumped out of bed to make it. What is it? It's a hot pink shirt that I bought a while back to put a metallic Pegasus iron-on transfer. But alas, the transfer didn't make it. Why? Because I had bought an animal print dye kit that needed to be explored. The zebra stencil was calling my name so I accidentally mixed up some blue, got my shit together and mixed up some black and sprayed my little heart out to something horrifying: the spray nozzle was super splattery! I hadn't counted on that at all because I had left a lot of the fabric exposed - which made a clear line around the stencil. Oh well, too late to turn back right? Luckily I had started on the top right shoulder area and I worked my way down in a diagonal - ending on the bottom left. It actually looked pretty neat! Like a zebra printed tire track! Along the way, I added splatters and dye drops to add a little something to the design.

And that was only yesterday.

This morning, I jumped out of bed with a vision of stencils that lived in the middle of the zebra patterns. My first thought was to burn a screen but I didn't have the patience. I guess I wanted something more...instant. So I gathered my thoughts, cut a rather large piece of freezer paper and very carefully traced out 4 of the same stencil. While it took a toll on m y back, I was happy to do it this way because if I had done a silk scree, I would still be working on it now...
Anyways, I placed it very daintily on my shirt and ironed away. Then came the fun part: painting! Each stencil got its own color so I took my time and carefully colored each stencil with silver, blue, yellow and green. I let it sit for a couple of hours and realized something was missing: another stencil. Ugh...my back.
I sucked it up and cut out another stencil. While I was working on this fifth and final stencil, I happened to be watching Top Chef: Just Desserts. While I'm a fan of the Top Chef franchise, I wasn't too jazzed about Just Desserts until I heard about a contestant who has a very distinct name: MINE. This contestant is named Katzie. Granted, she has an "e" at the end of her name but still - that's my name !
And since I missed the first part of the show, I gathered that they had a Willy Wonka challenge and guess what? Katzie won! It was neat but really weird to hear my name on tv. I haven't heard it on tv since that one set of Sailor Moon episodes with the four sisters (and one of them was named Katsy). LOL. I did what I thought I should do: I ran around yelling, "I won! I won! Thanks Gail, Hubert, guest judge who I don't know and rockabilly host guy!" That's what people do when reality show contestants have their names and win, right?

After that, there was NOTHING on tv. Nothing. So what do I do? Turn on my trusty Nexflix Instant and watch a mini marathon of Ancient Aliens. that really made time fly by. Before I realized it, I had cut my shirt, stenciled one more thing with the cutout of the last stencil, splattered more dye and visualized what I would do once my shirt is done setting - which will be in about 4 more hours. Hopefully it will be everything I was thinking of and hopefully I'll be able to get it done by Wednesday morning!
Where am I going on Wednesday? It's a surprise. All I can say is that I wish my brother was joining me...Oh well. Maybe next time?

The bad thing about my chill weekends is that I'm antsy and all I want to do is dance! Obviously, a night out is in order. The other thing I want to do is sleep in. Not just on the weekends, I want to sleep in every day. If only...

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: What Woment Want - The Recap

2011-09-16T12:32:00.000-04:00

He did it! Joshua edited his aesthetic, left the attitude at home and freakin' WON! I know he techincally won the New Balance challenge but in reality, Viktor was announced first and then Joshua's name was called but who cares - he has 2 wins now!! Good for you bb!Last night's challenge was fun! It was boyfriends/husbands describing looks for their girlfriends/wives to the designers. It was full of hilarousness, awkwardness and lots and lots of boob talk - which made Olivier a little upset because his client kept saying his wife had HUGE BOOBS but in actuality, they weren't that big. See?

I'll admit that the top does tone them down a bit but, believe me, they're not as huge as the guy made them out to be.

More after the jump!

Laura got a client who said she wanted to feel like a Barbie - which was perfect since Laura IS Barbie! Aww! A match made at the Malibu Dream House It's very "Real Housewives of _____" but it works

Kimberly has made this same style outfit 3 times already

Personally, I think she's relying on the style that won her the Nina challenge. Kimberly, I know it won and all but it's getting old. Sorry :( It definitely showcases her ability to be cohesive so it's not all bad. It's just boring for the challenges, that's all.

Bert's was BARF. I mean, look at it

That poor woman looked like a bad version of a Real Housewife.

Anthony Ryan disappointed me a little with this outfit. Don't get me wrong - I liked it BUT it could have been better, I think.

This dress from Anya that the judges dubbed "Gallerina" was pretty bad, I think.

Like I've said before, this one-sleeve thing is KILLING ME. It looks terrible! Especially if you have great arms like this woman does - which Nina pointed out. Why on earth would you slap one arm on a silhouette like that?! Why would you have tassels on that?! The belt thing plus the sleeve with the cut on the skirt makes it weird. I was surprised this was in the top.

Viktor had the weirdest: Hipstery and snobby-ish - like a more asian Pharrell Williams had a baby with Farnsworth Bentley who is in a relationship with a generic hipster girl who has a cleaned up Kreayshawn-esque haircut.

Ouch! Where is this coming from? I guess these kids annoyed me more than I thought...That's why they were dubbed "Belle and Sebastian". LOLZ
Anyways - props to Viktor for making her clothes that looked like they came straight from her own closet. Kudos to you, sir.

I'm surprised she didn't pop the lenses out of those sunglasses.

Okay - I'm done.

Onto the winner: my dear dear Joshua. He really turned it out last night. His client expressed that his ladyfriend likes simple, clean clothing and we all know Josh likes it LOUD and CRAZY.
He managed to tone it down and take it all the way!

With an LBD of all things! AND his client was so in love with the dress and the thought of that dress in other colours that I think she was ready to leave her man so that she could run away with Josh to have little dress babies all over the place! And you know, it wouldn't have been Joshua's true signature if he hadn't put that splash of colour with the shoe choice. LOVES IT. Great job Joshua! Maybe you'll be back in everyone's good graces? I hope so...

Next week looks like it will be another doozy - MENSWEAR!!!! Finally the menswear challenge!! Maybe Anya's lack of skill will start to show? Who knows. Heidi will probably find some way to keep her as long as possible.

See you next time!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The live-blog: What Women Want

2011-09-15T20:19:00.001-04:00

What Women Want

Holiday in Jacksonville

2011-09-14T07:54:00.000-04:00

My old man and I took some time for some serious R&R last week and all I want to do is live by the ocean forever. It was amazing! Jacksonville isn't exactly the touristy spot like, say, Disney or something but it has what we wanted: nothing. We wanted a nice, chill place to spend the last days of summer being lazy and Jacksonville was perfect.

Neptune Beach is the BEST. The water is fantastic and because of the tropical storms on the way, the surf was AMAZING. It made me want to learn how to surf. For serious, y'all.

Our other favourite place is Saint Augustine. I was so moved by the architecture of the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now known as Flagler College) that I spent quite a few hours researching the history of the oldest city in the U.S. NERD ALERT I know, but it's beautiful.

All I kept thinking about was: imagine Flagler College the way it was before - when it was a hotel. A super fancy monocle worthy hotel. According to our Ghost Host (on the super fun Ghosts and Gravestones tour), you didn't pay for a room a the Ponce de Leon by the day or week, you paid for the whole season! When we go back, we're definitely going to take a tour and see if we can truly imagine what it was like as a hotel.

Another tour I'm glad we did was of the beautiful lighthouse. Yeah, it was quite the climb but it was totally worth it! On the Ghost and Gravestones tour, our host talked about my favourite Ghost Hunters episode involving the lighthouse while we were on the grounds right outside. We couldn't go in because the lighthouse has a separate ghost hunt tour thing BUT just standing outside and hearing the stories was enough for me to get creeped out - especially after what TAPS found in that particular investigation. I took lots of photos on the ghost tour but here are some shots during the day tour

It is as gorgeous at night as it is during the day. What a beauty! And it has such crazy history - just like the rest of Saint Augustine.

We spent some time at the Castillo de San Marcos as well. I wanted to walk around the grounds this time since we didn't last time we were there (in 2008, I think). There's a rich history of war all over and I'm glad they have managed to capture that and keep it for the rest of us to enjoy and appreciate

Sorry all the photos here are from my iPhone - I took TONS more on my other camera that I'll be posting to Flickr soon (including the ghost tour pics!) Keep an eye out for those!!

Until next time!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I

PS - Looks like TAPS co-founder Grant Wilson is looking extra dreamy for the Syfy banner ad for this season of Ghost Hunters.

Why have I stopped watching?! I need to get back on it!

Project Runway - Can't We All Just Get Along: The Recap

2011-09-12T15:44:00.001-04:00

I'm back from a lovely week in Jacksonville! While it was great fun, reality hit us when we were driving home and realized we had to be back to our normal lives. Ugh. How can I be a beach gal forever??? *Le sigh* (Check out our photo antics here or wait for a photo entry later this week!)

At least I'm all caught up on the Project Runway fun and can I just say

JOSH-U-A, what in the FUCK is wrong with you??!!?!? You have totally embarrassed yourself AND all the people who have been tweeting your tag for Fan Favourite (like me).
What's up with the mood swings, bb? Is there some bipolar action you're hiding from us?

My brooding sweetheart. I know there's good in there somewhere...

...At least I thought there was and then I saw this shirt:

KA-POW. Um...what is that? Joshy, you were right - that shirt would totally distract the judges from Team Nuts & Bolts. It sure as shit has distracted me. BUT the more I look at it, the more I like it - only because you have serious man-cleave happening and I like it.

No - I LOVE IT.

Butseriouslyfolks - I was a little scared of Josh in this episode. He has some issues he needs to work out, sure, but shouldn't take it out on others. Especially on poor, poor Becky.

Becky has been this season's whipping boy (err...girl) and it hurts because, yes her designs might be a little plain but I see the potential. She has more potential than, say, Olivier.

I said it.

Why? Because! Olivier has been consistently boring and his collection at Fashion Week (I'm NOT spoiling anything since the 9 remaining designers ALL showed at Fashion Week - see here) is TERRIBLE. The styling is awful, the colours are gross (I'm not a fan of earthy tones, btw - sue me!) and all the looks are boring - except for maybe 1 or 2...but that doesn't excuse the terribleness of it all. Ugh.

That being said - maybe Becky might not have turned it out during Fashion Week....eep! Sorry Becky!

I don't know. This season is rough. Mondo was such a design high after the post-Christian lull. Anthony Ryan might cure the design woes - but his Fashion Week collection was a little rough for me - except the blue arm and the Fifth Element vibe. I'm not feeling the glasses, AR, I'm a little over that look.

I will say this about Joshua: the blog-o-sphere is saying that he's using his mom's death to get sympathy points and while I believe that that's certainly true, I also believe that he hasn't made peace with the loss of his mother. Yes, it was two years ago and I know that's, like, FOR-E-VER for some of you folks but I've been catching myself lash out like that only because I find myself thinking about Nate sometimes and I get all bipolary. Sure, Nate wasn't related to me but it was a loss just the same. I'm not looking for sympathy votes from anyone and I still get all weepy and cranky because I find myself thinking about the fact that he's gone. It's all unconscious too - I never realize I'm thinking about him until the realization hits me that he really is gone.
I'm not making up excuses for my dear Joshua and I'm not justifying his behaviour either. I'm just saying that I understand the reason for his blow up both for the competition and away from it. I wouldn't put it past him to use that to his advantage (even though it is kinda low).

Until next time!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blogging: Can't We All Just Get Along?

2011-09-08T21:06:00.001-04:00

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=4122ff615a" >Project Runway: The Live-Blogging: Can't We All Just Get Along?</a>

Projet Runway: The Art of the Matter - The Recap

2011-09-02T14:54:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately I missed the first half of the show - I was having dinner with my bestest best friend in the entire universe - but I was able to catch up on the last half right before the runway show and can I just say WTF BERT?WHAT THE MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS IS THIS THING???
And Heidi, getting crazier by the episode, loved it. She LOVED it.

BARF

Thankfully, there were other inspired outfits that walked down the runway...

Becky made a nice return to the competition (after her spirit was almost snuffed out last week)

Cute, right?

Anya and her damn patterns. Can she make a garment without patterned textiles? I'm not sure...

Bryce made a weird straight jacket thingamajig

Joshua C had the MOST inspiring painting to work with and although I really enjoy this outfit, it was not right for this challenge

Kimberly's bird dominatrix - which I really like

Joshua M's tree. So cute (although "cute" shouldn't belong in an avant garde challenge...sorry bb)

PS - the initials on the bottom are for him and his mom. Cuteness!!

Olivier's Valium dress

SNOOZE

Viktor's "safe" dress

Laura's updated Belle dress for the new alt version of Beauty and the Beast
PS - Becky's hot model is here so I guess they get switched around...Of course she is OWNING this altDisney dress!

And last but certainly not least, the WINNER: Anthony Ryan!!
After last week's emotional roller coaster involving AR, Laura and yucky Bert, I'm so happy that Anthony Ryan won this week!! Take that Heidi! You were going to send him home!! I bet you're really glad he stuck around because imagine what Cecilia would've made...Ewwww.I'll be out of town next week but I will *try* to make it for the two teams of 5 challenge that's coming up! I'm not excited to see Joshua M tears but I am excited to see Joshua regulating on Bert! Shut him down, Joshua M! Shut him down!! Maybe Joshy will pull out another shirt with sleeves on it? Who knows!
Of course, you all know I LOVE the spiky studded shoulder harness!! I want one!!

Sorry Josh C, I had to "X" you twice :(

Anyways...Dragon*Con is this weekend. I'm going to pop in - in costume this time! It's all finished. I need to iron my shirt, blazer and tie because, you guessed it, I'm going as Blaine Anderson from Glee! Originally I wanted to be Nurse Joy from Pokemon but I didn't have time to look for those elements so I was thinking about what could be done quickly and awesomely and the Dalton Academy uniform was pretty easy to make. I need to do some slight alterations for Halloween but I'm really happy with how it turned out! I'll be sure to post some pics later!!

If you're in Atlanta, please find me and say hello!!

Until next time...
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blogging - The Art of the Matter

2011-09-01T16:44:00.002-04:00

Project Runway: The Art of the Matter

Project Runway: Off the Track - The Recap

2011-08-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

Now that the craziness of the Summit is over, I can return to Project Runway Land. I have to say: this was a very emotional judging for me. I admit it - I cried.
It could've been exhaustion from the crazy work weekend. It could've been because Bert was a ginormous asshole. But I have to say that I was actually scared that Anthony Ryan was going home!
What is wrong with Heidi? He makes ONE bad outfit, meanwhile Danielle is scraping by with multiple terrible outfits - where's the justice?! Oh, and remember senile old Bert being confronted by Anthony Ryan and Laura about what they were going to say on the runway and Bert calling AR a fucking liar to his face in front of EVERYONE - that, my friends, was really LOW. But I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from Bert the Jerk.
Cecelia finally kicked herself off (thank God) and in a shocking twist *gasp* they brought Joshua C back! The Joshuas are together again!! But Joshua C broke the curse of coming back and being re-eliminated in the same episode by really turning it out this challenge - I was impressed!

The challenge was to design clothes that could be worn with Heidi's shoes for New Balance. The winning outfit would be sold exclusively on Amazon.com. Wowee zowee! Let's see how the contestants did...

Anthony Ryan had been consistent with great clothing all season long and this one look almost sent him packing (which would've been extremely unfair but thank God he's still here)

Anya

Becky (and her super gorgeous model)

Bert

Bryce

Danielle

Joshua C

Joshua M

Kimberly

Laura

Olivier

Viktor

In another shocking twist, Viktor's outfit with the super hot to trot motorcycle jacket AND Joshua M's maxi dress both won the challenge - which was great because Joshua M really proved himself as a team leader. Yeah, his tactics were a little mean but you know what - he made it work. Love it! The tank tops are flowing now!

Now, I must sadly return to work and focus on a very important article of clothing: my costume for Dragon*Con this Friday! ATLiens, I hope to see some of you there!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blogging - Off the Track

2011-08-25T19:56:00.002-04:00

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=f93d5bf123" >Project Runway: The Live-Blogging - Off the Track</a>

Project Runway - All About Nina: The Recap

2011-08-22T11:13:00.001-04:00

On this episode of Project Runway, Becky (New Peach) was right about Anya because Anya has no sewing skills, no fashion skills and basically no tailoring skills and she's just kind of flying by with whoever will help her. Viktor was right about her because there's going to come a challenge where she's not going to get any help from anybody and she's going struggle and her "fast learner" skills won't be able to help her. I feel like someone should have pointed out that she had received help from the other contestants. I know it's been done in the past - our designers helping each other out and all - but this time, it was like straight up "Let me show you how to do this since you have no idea". I think it's worse than having pattern books stashed under your bed - but that's just me. And I can't believe she's in the lead for fan favorite! WTF??!?!?!?

Enough about what I think about Anya, let's talk about Nina!

Nina was the princess of this episode! Awwww! Too bad she hated pretty much everything. Nah, I'm just kidding - she hated mostly everything, not everything everything.
Let's see how our fair contestants held up...

First up: Anthony Ryan

Remember, these poor contestants didn't have much to work with - Nina likes basics, she doesn't like a lot of colour or texture. So basically, she likes it simple. But simple isn't always easy. I think Anthony Ryan did a good job with his colour/fabric choices even though Nina said she didn't want a sea of black and grey on the runway. Job well done, Anthony Ryan!

On to "fast learner" Anya

First off, she picks a yellow printed fabric Nina hates and what does she do? She gets AR's help to dye it. Sweet, sweet AR. He helped her dye the fabric and Barbie helped her sew it. NO ONE said anything about that at judging and guess what? This bitch is in the top 3 without so much as a thank you to the people who helped her. Gross.

On to Bert

Dammit Bert - I want to like you, I really do, but you're an insane asshole. You talk shit to everyone about their designs and you come up with the MOST BORING LBD of the night. Mr. I've-Worked-For-Halston, I expect A LOT more from you. I'm over you, Bert. You are not impressing me one bit.

Next up: Bryce

Interesting take on a dress for Nina but keep in mind that she's always bitching about skirts being too short. This might be a little to short for Nina's tastes (and the hem is awful) but nice job anyway. Still boring, though.

Next up: Becky

I don't know if the actual runway show was like this but Anthony Ryan showed first, then Becky - the dreaded use of the same fabric was back to back! Yikes! But you know what, they both worked in their own ways and I kinda like this look. Not for Nina but for someone else. Good job, New Peach! And New Peach had the advantage of having the most gorgeous model of the bunch. Meeeeowww!

Up next: Cecilia

Everything in the world is wrong with this. Everything - including Cecilia's bad attitude. She obviously gave up. Barbie even told her to go back to the runway and tell the judges she has given up. But what does she do? She stays. Ugh. Why punish us with her bad attitude?

Next is Danielle:

This looks like an outfit Nicole Kidman would wear in one of her period women-wearing-pants movies. Michael Kors put it this way: Joan Crawford St. Patty's Day Party. As great as that sounds, I don't think MK meant that as a compliment. Too bad, because that sound fun...

Oh, Olivier

How bland. How boring. How are you still even there? Do you have some kind of pixie magic? I thought I would like you but ever since the pet store upset, I'm really not impressed. You stole your win from Anthony Ryan that day and I must say that I an very upset with you. Good day, sir.

Viktor...

I don't think Lady Gaga-esque square shoulder pads are quite up Nina's alley but way to step it up after the drapery mess you had to deal with last week...

Laura obviously has a thing for sheer, Judy Jetson-style skirts.

The arm ribbons are a nice touch but what on Earth makes you think Nina would wear this? Especially when there's a slight chance her ass would be hanging out at some point during the day. It's a cute outfit but it's not for Nina.

Let me pause right here and say something: Nina made it very clear about what she wanted and all of these designs (including the winning one) were not really up Nina's alley, I thought. But I don't know Nina personally so I'm not really a good judge of style for her but I think Ive seen enough episodes of Project Runway through the years to know what she will and won't wear...

Moving onto Julie

This should not have gotten her sent home. Sure, it's frumpy and not very Nina but at least she didn't give up - unlike some other people (*cough*Cecilia*cough*). Too bad Julie is gone because now, we won't get to hear Joshua's lovely voice say, "Oh Julie, Julie Julie" anymore.

Speaking of Joshua...

That orange would not be my first colour choice but I love this. Of course I do. I love everything Joshua makes. It's not very Nina but I think it would look like a dream on Heidi. Just sayin'...

And now for the winner of this challenge...
Kimberly!

In her consult with Nina, Kimberly expressed she didn't want to make her signature pants that everyone knows and loves but Nina insisted (which turned into a hilarious drinking game) and look - she has the winning outfit! It was a beautiful outfit, yes, but it didn't have quite the same pizazz as it did when Nina wore it. (Sorry Nina!)

So there you have it. Princess Nina's episode. Awww. I wonder when they'll do a Michael Kor's Menswear challenge. I think that might acutally kill the designers! But they're crazy enough to actually do, I'm sure.

Until next time, here's a Joshua's Eyebrows Appreciation photo

I'm experiencing such major brow envy that I actually went and had my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever this past weekend (even though I tweeze them myself). The lady just shaped them up for me but I think I'm going to go to an actual brow sculptor next time because, girrrrrl, I want these eyebrows.

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live-Blogging - All About Nina!

2011-08-18T20:39:00.002-04:00

Project Runway: The Live-Blogging - All About Nina

Project Runway - Go Big Or Go Home: The Recap

2011-08-12T08:48:00.000-04:00

For all the readers that joined us last night, I'm really sorry for all the technical difficulties that we were experiencing on Cover It Live. It was terrible! My posts were delayed or not even posting at all and I'm guessing that was Lauren and Geoff's problem as well because some comments seemed a little delayed. So, I do sincerely apologize for that. Hopefully Cover It Live has their act together next week.

On to the recap!

Team Challenge night and oh what a night it was! The models were on stilts!

Can I just say that I'm totally in LOVE with Joshua M? He's HAIRlarious (as Lauren said last night) and his idea of bedazzling is AMAZING. Michael Kors was hating on the bedazzling but I think it worked for Team Joshua/Julie's "romantic matador" look.

As much as I love that look I will say this - the one sleeve thing is killing me!
Case in point: Team Kimberly/Becky

First of all, this model looked like she was walking on "borrowed stilts" (I think I remember hearing that on the show) and she was NOT working it at all. BUT I will agree with Heidi that the whole outfit was cohesive and looked like a well thought out look.

Team Cecilia/Danielle - What the fudge popsicles?

What is this? This weird ass abomination was in the TOP 3. Top 3. What?! What kind of bizarro night was last night? It sounded like they got props for working with difficult material - which, you know, counts for something - but come on?! This Grandma outfit? WHAAAAT??!?! No. Stop it. The hair is gross, the colours are OLD and the poor girl looks matronly. Hmmmm...sounds familiar from last season - except all the matronly outfits were in the BOTTOM, not the top. But the bizarro didn't stop there...

Team Viktor/Bert was where it got catty.
Bert is a whiny, know-it-all old person who was like "It's an Elizabethan collar. Geez, read a book Viktor." Then, he picked out all this curtain fabric to make a dress that wouldn't even make it on The Tudors and in his final act of proving to be the biggest asshole on the show, he throws Viktor under zee bus during judgment and the worst part is that the judges say that Viktor should take the blame for the whole outfit. WHAT??? Viktor was trying to put his input in but Bert kept shutting him down. Why didn't they watch that before judging? Ugh. I felt sorry for Bert before but now, I don't really care for him. His designs are boring (see last week when his lucky ass was saved by having immunity) and this week, he really amped up the shittyness by dicking Viktor over and making this

Ew.

Team Olivier/Anya - the battle of the accents. Their outfit was meh. It was good enough to be safe

Poor Team Fallene/Bryce. What the hell?
The idea started out strong but Fallene (aka Failene)'s skills for cutting on the grain (serious business, people) proved to be a problem for freshly-out-of-school Bryce. I don't think I've ever heard that debate come up on Project Runway before. Not in recent seasons, at least. And if it has, I don't remember it. But nevertheless that was the outfit's downfall. Failene is self-taught which sounded like it was annoying Bryce since he had just been to school for fashion and maybe he thought Failene was cheapening the whole competition with her non-skills? Who knows. At least her Fascinator was HOT.

And finally, the winning team: Team Anthony Ryan/Lauren.
This outfit was strong and the movement was dreamy. The feathers were a beautiful touch but that red was a little too much for me. It worked, though, and the judges were totally wowed by Barbie's vision that she has immunity for next week.

Dark Ballerina lost, so Failene went home - which is a shame since she became part of our drinking game. Oh well. Here's our updated list:

If someone cries - Drink
If The Button Bag of Tricks is there - Drink
Tim says "Thank you Mood" - Drink
Tim says "Make it work" - Drink
If we see Swatch at Mood - Drink
If someone makes a Jetsons reference - Drink
If Joshua wears something other than a tank top - Drink
If Michael Kors says something about a "crazy crotch" - Drink
When Heidi says "Under zee bus" - Drink

And many, many more...stay tuned for the updated rules next week since...

...the designers get to design for Nina Garcia which should prove to be VERY exciting. In all the previews, she all "No. I hate that. No. No. No. No. No." I can't wait!

See you in the work room next week!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: The Live Blogging - Go Big or Go Home

2011-08-11T20:20:00.000-04:00

Project Runway: The Live Bloggng - Go Big or Go Home

Project Runway: The Live Blogging - My Pet Project

2011-08-04T20:15:00.000-04:00

Project Runway: My Pet Project

Project Runway Season 9 Episode 1: Come As You Are - Mini Recap

2011-07-29T13:29:00.001-04:00

Last night was brutal! I was a little late to the live-blogging party but I'm all caught up and all I can say is: Wowzers, this will be a very interesting season...

Can I just have a moment for my bb Gunner? What the popsicle sticks?! I thought I had you all figured out - the 21 year old fresh faced designer with new ideas and silhouettes. I mean, isn't that what got you through casting?! That poufy medieval-style skirt, right? I like it. Not for myself but I still like it

I don't know. I guess he shouldn't have opened with that Kentucky Derby dress. Maybe they thought back to Kane and realized that Kane did the crazy ultra-girly dress circuit the best. I don't know. That still doesn't make sense, though, because they now have an actual beauty queen on the damn show.

I feel like Anya has made a joke out of the whole thing by declaring she had only learned how to sew 4 months before the show. And Tim was impressed with skills. WHAT SHOW IS THIS? The one thing I will say is that even though she just learned how to sew, she had completed garments - unlike those of Santino Rice. BAM. But I'm not going to declare that too too early because next week, she might be getting a piece together and have open seams come runway time. One can only hope, right? Does she get on anyone else's nerves, too?

After what I read over at Tom and Lorenzo about Viktor, I indeed, did NOT forget his answer to the model question. Let me bring that one back for ya:

What do you look for in a model?
Size 2, long blonde hair, light-skinned, tall (6 feet), nice bone structure, a little figure (proportionally), LIPS and knows how to sell the garment.

UM...NO. And when he was holding up his pieces to be judged, I was all "NO, Viktor! Stop it! Stop it now!" I just...I just can't. Model answer aside - I just can't. Sorry.

Ugh.

And Rafael. Poor, poor Rafael. I kinda felt his elimination. Especially once those pants hit the runway. OUCH.

No. Just........NO. Sorry, bb.

Maybe next week will perk up a bit (especially since they won't be designing with their jammies) and we'll the the FULL CRAZY we all know Mormon is packing. Yeah, I can see it in your eyes, Joshua C.

Let's raise a glass to our eliminated friends

Until next time, friends!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway: Season 9 Premiere; The Live Blogging

2011-07-28T20:24:00.002-04:00

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=3277e4fea8" &amp;amp;gt;Project Runway: Season 9 Premiere; The Live Blogging&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

Tonight's the big night!

2011-07-28T09:32:00.000-04:00

Join us here for all the live-blogging fun!

See you tonight!
-Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Project Runway Countdown: Meet the contestants!

2011-07-21T09:27:00.003-04:00

Since I'm going crazy counting down the days to the premiere, I figured we'd take a moment to meet the season 9 contestants

Amanda - 24, NY, NY

Anthony Ryan - 28, Baton Rouge, LA

Anya - 29, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Becky - 38, Portland, OR

Bert - 57, Los Angeles, CA

Bryce - 26, Portland, OR

Cecelia - 34, New York, NY

Danielle - 26, Minneapolis, MN

David - 29, Boston, MA

Fallene - 29, Denver, CO

Joshua C. - 29, Snohomish, WA

Joshua M. - 25, Sunnyside, NY

Julie - 35, Grand Junction, CO

Kimberly - 35, Brooklyn, NY

Laura Kathleen - 26, St. Louis, MO

Olivier - 22, New York, NY

ATL-ien Rafael - 27, Atlanta, GA

Serena - 31, Brooklyn, NY

Viktor - 30, New York, NY

And last, but certainly not least: Gunnar Deatherage - 21, Louisville, KY

You might be asking yourself, "Katzi, why on Earth did you screw up the alphabetical balance and save Gunnar for last?" If you know me personally, you wouldn't be asking that question. I mean, his name is fucking GUNNAR DEATHERAGE. WHAT. THE. AWESOME NAME. Whether it's his real name or his stage name (his "When I'm not designing, I'm ____" is being in a band. J/K - he's a hair stylist WIN!), I dig it.

Who do you think will be in or out?
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Dear Starz, Why are you killing the show I love?!

2011-07-13T10:55:00.002-04:00

Starz is great. First they came out with the bloody and extremely epic Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The show was sort of comical, in the trying to capture the spirit of 300 kind of way, BUT it brought out the secret blood lust in me. The desire to watch scantily clad men fight each other to the death was high. And having a sexy cast didn't hurt either.
Lucy Lawless was amazing as Lucretia, Andy Whitfield was incredible as Spartacus and Manu Bennet was swoon-worthy as the Champion of Caupa, Crixus. Everyone else was wonderful, too. I can't forget the rest of the amazing cast Spartacus had but there was one thing that hurt the production of the second season and that was the illness Andy Whitfield was battling: non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I'll admit, the compromise pre-quel season 2, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena was a little hard to watch since Andy Whitfield was not included at all and it seems as though Andy Whitfield has passed the torch to Liam McIntyre as the new Spartacus. While Spartacus: Gods of the Arena was still epic and bloodier and sexier than ever, I still missed Sparty himself - even though Gannicus had won me over by the season's end.

With all that going on, I understand Spartacus can't be the same without Andy Whitfield but I would much rather him rest and fight the good fight and make it through before he over-works himself. I am getting excited because Katrina Law is tweeting about behind the scenes antics on the set of Spartacus and she has said that Liam McIntyre will be joining her and other members of the cast at Comic Con this year! YES!! I kinda wish I was going ~~(to see Manu Bennett up close and personal)~~.

But there was a void. A blood thirsty void that Spartacus left. It needed to be filled and Starz' other original show, Camelot, fit that bill perfectly.

While Camelot wasn't as bloody or as full of nakedness as Spartacus, Camelot was - for the lack of a better phrase - FUCKING AWESOME. I've seen the Merlin tv movie, I've seen most of the King Arthur movies (not Russel Crowe one though...), I've read the books (a long time ago but still) and I LOVE the Arthurian legend. Camelot captured what all the other tv movies and regular movies couldn't.
Camelot's cast was gorgeous too. Jamie Campbell Bower - abandoning his seat with the Volturi to become the boy king and the always flawless Eva Green - showcasing her smoldering sultry-ness as Morgan Pendragon. Those two alone were enough for me

I mean, look at them! Gorgeous, young, talented, badass...And then Starz had to throw in Joseph Fiennes as an even more badass version of Merlin

And on top of THAT, Starz had to throw in Clive Standen as Gawain, a warrior living on the outskirts of Camelot who gets recruited as one of the King's men.

We liked to refer to Gawain as the "Andrew WK of Camelot".

Le swoon

Besides the insanely sexy cast, Camelot reignited the Arthurian legend in me.While I remember key bits and pieces from the legend, Camelot made them that much more entertaining. Especially the Lady of the Lake story and the sword in the stone. Both are familiar stories but Camelot gave them the Starz twist. Not to mention the "killing" of Morgan Pendragon and the "birth" of Morgan le Fay. But one thing was missing: Lancelot. Sure, Leontes was like the Lancelot we all know but his story was downright awesome. And they kind of left it open for season 2 as they were putting together the legendary "round table" that Lancelot would be coming.

But alas, Camelot will NOT be picked up for a second season. WHY STARZ WHY???!?!?! Don't wimp out because of Game of Thrones or ratings. You have what those shows don't have: Accessability to MORE viewers via Netflix Instant after the season has ended. I'm sure a TON of viewers have been watching via Netflix Instant (including me). Is there no way to monitor those views? I read (here) that one of the challenges of filming Camelot is conflicting schedules with the cast but you know what, if viewers can wait forever for Spartacus, we can wait forever for Camelot. We don't want to but we will. I know I will. I love Camelot and I want more. LOTS MORE. I want to see the story progress with all the characters we all know and love. And I want the introduction to Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table! Give it to me, Starz! Why would you let the season end in such a cliffhanger and then not renew it?!?!?!

I am truly devastated.

I guess I'll just have to re-watch season 1 on Netflix Instant. And stare at this Gawain gif forever

This gif lives here

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Body Politik's Super Secret Video Project

2011-07-11T11:30:00.001-04:00

Onisha asked me to help her shoot a video for Body Politik over the weekend and while I was capturing the footage this morning, I was really pleased with the results!
I can't say much about it except we were lucky to have the two performers we had:

The lovely Martina

And the very talented Adam

Both were total champs during the shoot and gave me some great material to work with! And as a bonus - we found out that, with a little moving around, we can turn Onisha's bedroom into a makeshift studio space.

I also found out I need more lights but I'll cross that bridge the next time I come to it...

We tried to take some behind the scenes shots but amidst all the chaos, we were only able to take a couple

Thanks to everyone that helped and I hope to have something ready to post soon!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Atlantic City - the final day in NJ

2011-07-06T10:11:00.001-04:00

Oh Atlantic City. Your wonders are many and extremely entertaining.
We went to a psychic and for a half tarot reading, she was VERY thorough. Here's the breakdown:

I don't like taking orders from others too well and I should think of my own business...
A change of address is coming soon
When asked if I thought about having children, my reaction was a hearty laugh followed by "No no no no nooooo". She laughed and said to expect children very soon. How soon? I'll find out I'm preggers in NOVEMBER. Lolwut?? Aaaaaaaand I'm supposed to have 3 kids - 2 boys and 1 girl. Ummmmmm NO
Marriage is on the horizon around the time I'm 33/34 (not too far away) even though I was *supposed* to get married when I was 28. Again, lolwut?? She asked me what happened and why I didn't get married then and I didn't have an answer.

She said someone around me is very very jealous of me right now so be aware of that. I kinda sense what she's talking about, actually...
And I smile with my face but my heart is sad. Hmmmm...
She also said that I'm feeling particularly lucky today and I should expect a lot of money coming to me today. Yeah, so what do me and Cassie do? Gamble. Do I win? Not really. I evened out quite a lot so it wasn't a total loss...

Fun fun fun. Actually, I wouldn't mind going back to that same gal and having her do a full card reading - just to see what else she can find out about me...
Good times! I was impressed with the "Las Vegas of the North East"! I'd love to come back and spend a full day and night gambling some allowance money (away from my savings account - far far away) and partying it up, seeing some lights, checking out a show and all that good stuff. Hopefully that will definitely be on my horizon very very soon!

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

As with all good things, my trip to Jersey has come to an end

2011-07-05T01:42:00.001-04:00

And what a trip it was! I got fireworks on the very first night at Seaside Heights. Got something airbrushed. Went to the Secret Stash AND the Clerks Quick Stop (yep, you're never going to hear the end of that). Liberty Science Center. Experienced a Drag Show at Asbury Park. Rock and Roll Karaoke. Bro Central. Good ole family fun. Work-related things (obvs). Participated in 2 classes back to back (apropos). Watered down Seaside Heights club scene. Beach, beach and more beach. And the most important thing of all: quality time with Cassie. Although the kitchen karaoke might've been a little too much but I think overall, I was a pretty good house guest. I hope she's not totally sick of me already! Especially because I think I talked her face off about the View Askewniverse and all the nerdy things in my life. I guess all the office dish I gave her was fair.

This trip was non-stop and I loved it! I'm almost sad that it's over but I am kinda missing my old man back home and I'm pretty sure he's kinda missing me too. And I can't wait for all the goodies that are awaiting me at work. Can you just feel the love? Me too.

Tonight, we celebrated the 4th by watching 10, yes 10 fireworks shows from Union Beach. I was so amazed that if you're on any shoreline here during a holiday like 4th of July, you can see fireworks shows happening at the same time at multiple beaches in New York AND New Jersey. It was amazing! We were able to catch 5 simultaneous fireworks shows the other night from the Clam Hut - which was crazy - so having 10 shows tonight at the shore was beautiful! There's NOTHING like that in Atlanta...

I also learned what a zeppole was tonight. And a zeppole is freaking delicious. I wish we had those readily available in Atlanta...*le sigh*

I also learned that I suck at carnival games. I tried but I guess I'm not competitive enough. I think Cassie is competitive enough for the both of us. That's why she won us two cheetah/leopard stuffed animals.
Meet Sebastian.

So this is it. My last full night in Jersey.

Since I'm flying out of Atlantic City tomorrow, we're going to *try* and get up early to get to AC early enough to have a little of the AC experience - which I'm really excited about. That way, I can get my Mom her mandatory magnet and maybe get a little something for a co-worker who was supposed to join me but couldn't. Let's hope I don't get caught up in Eli Roth's Tumblr. That kept me up for a good few hours last night (and so did the Red Bull vodkas)...

Happy Fourth everyone!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Jersey, Jersey I am disappoint

2011-07-04T02:05:00.001-04:00

Jersey?! What's going on? Last night was fun. I got the watered down version of Jersey Shore-style partying at Windansea with DJ Encore - who gave me a sort of shout out with "ATL in the building" and a CD (which I can't wait to load up on my phone when I get home for some in-office listening)...but tonight...Jersey, I am very disappoint.

First we partied it up at the UB house with the family for a soggy pre-4th of July bar-b-que (which was a little overwhelming) but it was still fun. Then, we did a little karaoke in the kitchen after everyone left. Well, me and Cassie's old man did some karaoke and probably irritated Cassie a l'il bit...then we decided to go out with Cassie's friend who was partying in Red Bank. Good old Red Bank. Home of the Secret Stash, of course. But what awaited us was something I would never flock to back in the A: bros. Lots and LOTS of bros. It's Jersey, so that's to be expected but...not like this.
We met up with Cassie's friend at The Downtown, a place whose upstairs area (where we were) reminded me a little of the layout of 529. But what was going on upstairs was truly a sight to behold: Rock and Roll Karaoke with a live band. Yes, a live band. Sounds awesome, right? It kinda was. The guitarist reminded me a little of Doc Hammer but he looked like he was totally hating life all night. Like, "Okay, that guy decided to be a smart ass and request Sweet Child O' Mine so I have to play that fucking guitar riff..." Poor guy. And the crowd - not the type of crowd I would party with back in Atlanta that's for DAMN sure.
Anyways, people were enjoying themselves while I watched the guitarist expressing a little of how I was feeling at that point but I was still having a good time since I was doing something I wouldn't normally do. Expanding my horizons - always a good thing. But then these bitches started talking shit to Cassie for some reason - even though they were the ones who couldn't stop bumping into people as they danced around like drunken fools (to be totally expected). Now, I know Cassie can take care of herself, absolutely, and I was too busy working off my all day buzz by focusing all my concentration on the situation that was slowly unfolding in front of me - hoping that there wouldn't be a fight. While all of that was going on, I didn't realize that I did my old high school fight move of moving my high profile ring from my ring finger to my middle finger (for maximum face damage to the unsuspecting victim). Luckily there was no fight, even though the girls kept point at Cassie and flipping her off. Cassie handled it like a true lady and for that, I salute her. But I told her that it's kids like that that make me not go to places like that and that's probably why Doc Hammer's dopplegänger was hating life too. I hope he got paid some good money for that gig...

But the whole time I've been here, Cassie has been having me compare the places we've been going to here to places in Atlanta and I have to say that I couldn't find an equivalent to The Downtown because that's not my scene. At least with Paradise I could say it's like Jungle, Funk and Standard is like Junkman's Daughter-ish but the way it used to be before it was in the building it is now, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash is my new mecca BTW, Windansea is like a mashup of MJQ and dress code clubs (like Opera or Cosmo/Lava-which I don't go to) and then there's The Downtown. It was like Athens threw up in there. I was kinda wishing we were back at Windansea for some party rock shuffling.

But I guess there's always "those girls" everywhere - which is what I told Cassie. There can't always be winners. Like I said, at least I did something I would never do at home unless it was somewhere I would normally go. I don't know though. I bet there's a place like that somewhere in Atlanta - live rock band karaoke - I just have to find it and check it out for myself...

Tomorrow is my last full day in Jersey so let's see what the mood will bring. Hopefully I'll get more love because I'm still reeling over the negativity from Paradise and tonight. Yikes! Maybe I didn't get enough sun so some beach time is definitely in order...

Happy Fourth everyone! Stay safe and spread the love! <3 <3KatziS.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Here's some rock and roll karaoke antics for your viewing pleasure: