Monthly Archives: May 2010

Fashion Friday: Things You Should Never Consider in Regards to Sex (in the City)

By Ashley Hammen

Thursday, May 26, 2010, 12:01a.m.  I was among some of the most excited women in the city of Los Angeles, sitting in a reserved seat at the AMC Century City, waiting for the much-anticipated sequel of Sex in the City to begin.  I refuse to give a full review of the movie, because to me, it was two very different things:  It was a story about four unforgettable friends and it was a look book of stunning fashion collections.  I will say that four friends remain unforgettable and that the fashion on the screen will blow your mind.

I sat with one of my best girlfriends, Jac, gossiping about what we anticipated would happen during the course of the film.  It is not this moment, however, that I find myself wanting to gossip about.  I want to talk about the fashion.  And by fashion, I mean the ridiculous trends I saw on women entering the theatre.

Now, I’m an advocate for theme nights and I am all for having a blast with your girlfriends, but as I sat in a pair of leggings, flats, and a comfortable top, I found myself wanting to yak over the amount of women I saw sitting in their movie theatre seats, with stilettos perched on the seat ahead of them.

I pondered this thought the entire movie and the advice I offer comes in three parts.  I find that this advice will not only help you enjoy the movie more, but help distract other patrons less.

  1. Movie theatres are freezing, as is LA these days.  As much as you may think skirt season is upon us.  It isn’t.  Remember as you are sitting there in your itty-bitty mini, everyone is looking at you and they are not thinking, “Wow, that is cute!”  They are thinking, “Wow, that girl must be freezing….and I can see her underwear. Awesome.”
  2. When you walk into a movie theatre, you immediately sit down.  Shortly after, the lights are dimmed and by the time you leave the theatre, most people are on their way home to go to bed.  No one is checking out your five-inch heels.  And if they are, once again, the thought immediately turns to discomfort and distraction, not style.  It’s the equivalent of wearing a winter coat to the beach. It simply isn’t the right time or place for that particular piece.
  3. You are not Carrie Bradshaw, and Los Angeles is not New York City.  The fashion of these two cities is completely different.  I am all for those who want to stand out and express themselves, but that is not what I saw in the women sporting tight, mini dresses in the theatre last night.  I saw a lot of ladies trying to be like another woman.  Embrace your own fashion and the more laid back Cali style.  At 3:21 a.m. when the movie is over, you are going to be happy to be relaxing and not trying to teeter down an escalator in your Jimmy Choo’s.

With this being said, it is an absolute DO to see this movie.  Get all of your best girls together and enjoy a night out.  However, when getting dressed, please remember that you are YOU and that you will be sitting in a semi-uncomfortable seat, in a dark theatre. When the lights come up….be the one who is fashionable for the occasion, not the girl who is being judged at the pay-for-parking booth :-)

Don't let this be you!

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The Sweet Potato Queens

I have taken it upon myself to begin my own book club.  It consists of any books with the word Queen in it.  Now, I don’t know exactly how many books those will entail, but I know it is at least one.  The  Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big Ass Novel  written by Jill Conner Browne and Karin Gillespie.    

TSPQ ( The Sweet Potato Queens) is a novel tracing the lives of 5 friends from Jacksonville, MI.  A story of finding ones self, love, hopes and dreams, TSPQ are a staple in  the LAQueenPin’s lifestyle. 

The book starts off with our narrator Jill first meeting red-headed Tammy their Junior year of high school.  Tammy is the daughter of a service maid and lives in a coach house in the rich part of town.  Just because you live in the wealthier area, won’t necessarily mean you will be accepted by those people, as Tammy finds out.  Jill, along with Patsy, Mary Bennet, and Gerald try to turn a bad situation good and create the Tammy Club.  They mimic their homecoming court, become a part of their senior homecoming parade and by the help of a sloppy hand, go from the Tammy Club, to the Yammy Queens, into the Sweet Potato Queens.  And thus an era is born.

Through out the novel we see this man and these women transform themselves through good and bad.  Through marriage, adultery, AIDS, fame, scams, and betrayal these five characters individually touch you and bring you to a time in your life where you could relate. 

The thing I loved most about this book was printed on the last page. 

I was going to keep on living and loving my own life and I wasn’t going to settle for anyone else, no matter how scared, tired, or needy I happened to be….

Yes you can take this literal. and get that our female has had a rough time in the love department. 

Or, you can also take it in a non literal way.  You can realize that our female is finally at a point in her life where she no longer will give up on her hopes and dreams.  She is willing to keep striving for them regardless of how long it may take or how difficult the road may be.  Whether it be in love, her career, her friendships, or in everyday circumstances.

We can learn a lot from TSPQ.  This town and industry that we live in, they have no problem shutting their doors in our faces, or making us think we aren’t worth the position.  But it’s not just in Hollywood.  It’s all over.  Everyday we are faced with difficult obstacles and moments where we just want to give up.  But, if we do like TSPQ and keep on living and loving our life, we will see that we will end up alright.

xoxo.

mel

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Fashion Friday: Hats Off to You!

By Ashley Hammen

 

 

 

Have you ever gone into a stylist and requested a small touch up, i.e. highlights, a trim, or maybe a couple of layers?  Now have you ever gone in with one of those intentions and come out looking like a blown out Playboy bunny?  Welcome to the last three weeks of my life.

 I know hats may seem like an odd topic to start off my weekly blogging with the Queen Pins, but they have honestly saved my life (okay maybe just my ego) the past few weeks.

 Hats have been an ongoing and ever-changing trend throughout the years, coming back heavily for women around 2003.  The newsboy and military inspired caps came into the picture first and were made famous by numerous celebs and pop stars, however, today, their popularity is fading.  Below, find the description of the current trend-setting noggin covers and how to wear them fashionably for numerous occasions.

 The Beret or Slouchy Beanie:  This hat is inching its way out, due to the fact that it is a bit more fitted for cold weather, but since LA is currently enjoying some gloomy weather, the look is perfect for day or a casual night.  This knitted fave should be worn slightly back on your head, exposing a forth of your hair-line.

 The Bowler:  Stars like Rachel Bilson made this cap a keeper the past couple of seasons.  Similar to the fedora in shape, but with a smaller rim and much rounder bowl, the cap is usual worn in casual settings- think skinny jeans and a tee.  The hat can be bought in a variety of colors and can be worn on top of the head or slightly pushed back. 

 Floppy Beach Hat:  Let’s hope sometime soon the sun makes it’s way back to LA and we can start doing what we do best….hit the BEACH!  Fashionista Heidi Klum and numerous others have been seen bopping around all of the hottest vacay spots donning oversized floppy beach hats.  These hats are not only stylish, but an uber-effective sun protectant.  So throw on that bikini, slather on some sunscreen, and throw on this fun summer fave.  And hey, if LA doesn’t warm up, just use it as an excuse to take a summer trip!

 The Fedora:  By far and away the most popular hat of the past two years, the fedora is a trend for any look.  Coming in every color and style, this hat can be worn with big earrings for a night out on the town or thrown on for a bad hair day quick fix.  My strong recommendation is to hit up Eugenia Kim’s new line for target at www.target.com.  One of her famed hats (and of course one that I have been sporting the past couple of weeks) was recently featured in UsWeekly!  The line is not only adorable, but completely affordable.

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Just SWIM

You can and will be surrounded by people in Los Angeles. You will be bombarded by the glitz and lights. You will become so desensitized by the giant billboards and movie posters being thrown at you, you’ll quit noticing them. You can be surrounded by 20 of your closest friends and feel more alone than ever. L.A. does that, it’s the nature of the city. It’s what brings you in and what drives you out.

You will find yourself waking up in tears because this isn’t what you signed up for. It will make your incredibly high self-esteem plummet into a self hating, not thin enough, not pretty enough, not talented enough monster.

L.A. will eat you up inside and force you to do things you would never do otherwise. It’s a living, breathing city that fights to take everything you think you know and turn you into something you’re not, without a chance to claw your way out. Gasping for breath, being blinded by the sun.

I lived in the Midwest for 22 years. The Midwest was all I had ever known. Leaving it was something so exciting I couldn’t handle it. I drove my SUV out to L.A. with everything I could fit into the backseat.

Throughout my first year living in L.A. I packed my bags 57 times, called “home” everyday, cried myself to sleep the nights the Xanax wore off before I fell into REM sleep and missed everything and everyone I had ever known. Thinking constantly, “Just WHAT am I doing here? WHY am I here?”

Yes, I was going through a lot of personal issues as well as trying to adapt to a new environment. But that aside, WHY was I here?

I AM here because I have dreams. And though I think I am the farthest from the dreams I have right now, I’m a lot closer to it than most people my age. I took that jump. I uprooted myself and left everything behind, to build a new life. I chose to put marriage and a family on the back burner and focus on my career and for me that’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ll never again wonder “What If…”.

“How’s Cali?” is the question I hear most often. Well on the surface it’s great. It’s always sunny here and the weather’s great, mmmm traffic sucks though. It’s hard to get past the surface in such a surface oriented city.

But really…Cali IS pretty great. I do or see something EVERYDAY that someone back home doesn’t. Oh, no big deal those are just mountains on the right, see ‘em everyday. Oh that, that’s just a TV show being filmed. And that? That’s just me passing Disney and WB studios on my commute home. Psh, everyday life.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in Hollywood gossip and the vanity of it all. To repeatedly primp yourself in that store window.It’s nice to take a step back sometimes and realize why God put you here. There’s a plan for everyone and while it may seem like it’s taking forever to get anywhere or at a point that you’re happy with the direction it’s going in, it’s going to get somewhere. God has already made life easier in L.A. by putting people in my life that save my sanity everyday.

I’m coming up on my two-year anniversary of being in L.A. So the point of this blog was to reflect a little on those years. How the first year was full of being homesick and longing. While the second year was spent getting my bearings and figuring out how to actually live in this place and call it home without cringing. The past two years have been a challenge to say the least. But I have learned more in those two years than I have in most of my life.

With that being said -

Andrew McMahon says it best, with a song that will make me cry until I can’t breathe on bad days and sing as loud and as out of tune as I can on good days.

Just keep your head above…

– J

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Chicago.

I miss Chicago today.  I miss everything that city stands for and all the people that help make it the greatest city in the world.

xo,

mel

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That’s a Wrap On CLMT Season 1!

It has been a very productive past 5 months for those boys we love in Scratchframe. They’ve written and  shot 8 shorts, all for Craigslist MasterPiece Theater and revamped the site for said launch. We couldn’t be more proud of the work they’ve done (and the work we’ve done for them on some of those shorts).

This past weekend Eric shot the last episode of Season 1. Knee deep in fake blood, we were able to be on set for this one. The shoot went great and everything looks good.

Some pictures follow from the day.

Pretty Epic I’d say…

Jess and Brittany on set w/ Christine (a friend of the LAQPs)

Such a good splatter!

Check out this week’s episode – Written and Directed by the fabulous Kevin Faber and Jess did the Production Design for this it as well. It’s guaranteed to make you laugh!

http://www.scratchframe.com/CLMT/ep3.php

Don’t forget to keep checking back every week for a new episode. These boys have got it goin’ on!

Love,

LAQP

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To All The New Graduates Out There

Congrats on graduating!  Welcome to the REAL WORLD!  Where the economy sucks and people are fighting tooth and nail for ANY job they can get!  Even if it’s not in the field they graduated in!  Where all those student loans you paid no attention to for the past four to six years comes back to haunt the shit out of you!  Where all your mail only seems to consist of BILLS BILLS BILLS that YOU need to pay ASAP!  Welcome to eating 10 cent packs of noodles because you can’t afford real food, or “the good stuff” as I like to call it.    I used to say “I can’t wait to graduate!  I will have some much time to do so many fun things!  I won’t have to study and be stressed all the time.”  Well, that’s not true!   So, throw up your grad cap and welcome to HELL! 

I’m sorry, was that negative?  I didn’t mean to for it to be.  Well, maybe a little…  But really, being an adult BLOWS.  And this is what I would like to do to all of you new graduates out there that are so excited to be done with school:

But in HAPPY news, check out this BEAUTIFUL illustration Miss Margo Murphy did in honor of her sister’s graduation!

"Graduate" By Margo Murphy

In all seriousness, I’m very proud of you all and welcome to the adult world.  I wish you all the best of luck.  Unless you and I are up against each other for the same job.  Then: GAME ON, BITCH!

LUV,

Britt 

*Note To Reader’s:  Britt is not usually this bitchy, and she is usually quite pleasant.  Please don’t judge.  And if you do, GAME ON, BITCH!*

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When is old too old?

So I find myself writing this blog slightly hung over still.  At 1:30 in the afternoon!   And thus how the topic came to mind.  How old is too old to drink? At 24 years old, I never thought that three beers would cause the nasty hangover I had this morning.  Now, I know that it probably had to do with a variety of things, how much or little I ate, exercised, slept; I have heard it all.  But three beers? Maybe I should explain how the night lead to this mystery….

Last night my bestie Vee and I went to a Brazilian Futbol Nike Event in Hollywood.  It was a free drinks, free food, had to be on the list kinda thing.  Cool right? Well, it began at 7pm and as we all know LA traffic, that means in order to be in Hollywood by that time, we should have left 15 minutes ago.  Giving no time or thought for food, Vee and I ventured off to the unknown.  Upon our arrival, I give the Nike people my name and headed towards the drinks. Belvedere had sponsored the event so of course we were going to indulge.  Thinking we would be able to nibble on something, we grabbed a drink (raspberry belve’ + blue Gatorade) and began to prowl.  PROWL= scope out the scene as a jaguar would his prey.

1 piece of fried yucca.  That was our dinner.  FUN!  Not.  So noticing that this free food is really consisting of only fried yucca and weird fried meat, we grab one more drink and head out.  Mind you, these drinks, yes are strong, but NOTHING to fall over.  We are fine.  As we are heading downstairs to the ladies room, we hear the Brazilian Drummers drumming their way down as well, we realize that the Brazilian Futbol film is about to begin. We don’t even finish our drinks, we just leave. Egghh… I am sure it was wonderful and heart warming and enticing, JUUUUST wasn’t in the mood for it.  (Not saying I will NEVER watch it, I am sure I will, just not last night)

Luckily, Hollywood and Vine is home to DILLONS IRISH PUB.  Perfect.  We go in, grab a table, order some humus, I order a Hoegardden, Vee orders a vodka tonic, and we are good.  But let’s be real, I am a Queen Pin, Vee is a friend of a Queen Pin, we aren’t going to get just ONE drink, we order another.  Some friends of mine stop by, we engage in conversation, laughs (at this point Vee and I realize we are low on drinks ahhhhh!), order another round, we’re having a good time. 

But, being the responsible people we are, Vee and I decide to call it a night, and head home.  Perfect.  BUT on the way to the ladies room I take a major spill.  Not on a puddle of water.  Not going down stairs.  BUT ON A RAMP.  Not to mention, I had a paper napkin attached to my boot.  HOT MESS. 

Flash forward to this morning.  Hangover.  Why? The drinks were perfectly spread out through out the night.  I got plenty of sleep.  Ugghhh… another mystery to be sent to Unsolved Mysteries.  (is that show still on!?)

xoxo,

mel

…ps after reading this again, I realize, I had 4 1/2 drinks, not just 3 :( maybe that was it?!

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Lord GAGA?

It has been quite some time that have been blown away.  So when it happened today, I HAD to share.  Not only is this kid young, but he is proud of his gift and wants to share it.  Damn! Speechless, and that never happens, I’m a blogger!

Greyson, I am no record producer, nor do I even work in the music industry, but I can tell you this.  YOU HAVE AN AMAZING GOD GIVEN TALENT.  Keep it up, you will go far.

For your viewing pleasure: Greyson Michael Chance performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”

xoxo,

Mel

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2nd Episode of CLMT Premieres from our Friends at Scratchframe

Our fave boys have premiered the 2nd episode in their webseries Craigslist Masterpiece Theater (CLMT).  The Queen Pins very own Jess Greske was the set designer (and if you look closely, you can see her in character throughout the short.  She is such a good method actress).  Once again, we are so proud of our boys (especially Andrew Dickieson for writing and directing this short) and look forward to helping them out more in the future!  Now, please click the link below to enjoy You were A Cat.

http://www.scratchframe.com/CLMT/ep2.php

The LA Queen Pins

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