BELTS

From top to bottom:  Louis Vuitton, Armani, Gucci, and Yves Saint Laurent

 Belts are essential, to say the least in a man’s wardrobe.  One with a nice buckle does it for me, all I am missing now is the Hermes H buckle and I’ll be set.  First I must lose this weight, as I am sure they do not make a belt to fit me.  I’ll have to look into that, no, I want a belt for when I lose this weight and keep it off.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Twenty-seven years ago my doctor told me, “You have AIDS, and have five to seven years to live, may God bless you”, and just left me alone in his office.  I walked up and down Lexington Avenue before going home to East 9^th Street, this was February 17th, 1985.  Shocked, but accepting, I said to myself, bitch you deserve it (though no one deserves this) and within two months I was accepted as a postulant in the Order of Camoldolese Hermits of Monte Corona, to get right with God. Up till then I lived solely for William Anthony. I stayed with the Hermits for a minute and in 1991 left and went to Albuquerque, New Mexico to die where I was dying for the next 12 years or so.  I spent 18 years dying and still I am not dead, so in 2002 a very dear friend said “I am sick of watching you do nothing, why don’t you go to work” she even had a job lined up for me.  This started my journey in Social Service.

Ten years ago if you had asked me what do you see yourself doing in five years?  I would have straight up told you to kiss my ass, because I don’t have five years!  But now I have a five year plan.  My CD4 are 712 and viral load is UD undetectable.  I am back in University finally getting my degree, doing fabulously in Brooklyn, New York *though going back to LA* as now, I do have a five year plan.  I am painting and my plan is to have a solo Gallery Show of my work.  I love Fashion and am now a full time Fashion Blogger, I got married, LIFE IS GOOD!

So lift a flute of Champagne and toast to life and the living of it.

ARMANI RISTORANTE

 

Had a divine dinner at Armani’s, I had the Prosciutto with Melon Balls to start off with, followed by the Cornish Hen with Broccoli Rabe, ending in three scoops of very rich Ice Cream.  The Prosciutto was awesome!  A bite of the Prosciutto followed by the little Honey Dew Mellon ball and the flavor of the Prosciutto just explodes in your mouth.  The Cornish Hen was seasoned just right, I love Broccoli and the Broccoli Rabe was fantastic!  Now, I do not eat sweets of any kind and found the Ice Cream to be a bit too sweet and very rich.  Other than that, the experience was fabulous. My waiter that we always had no longer works there, alas.  With the meal I had, and I forget the name, a Red Italian wine, it was not a Chianti, that I know. 

I brought my camera to take pictures of my meal, but was too embarrassed to do so; I did not want to draw attention to myself.

UNGLAMOROUS

Fashion Blogging isn’t as glamorous as people tend to believe; often it is just like this!  Sweat suit in the middle of the night blogging, because this is my passion, and this is what I feel I should be doing.  Oh, you can bet when I am in the City it is to the nines, but sitting here in Bay Ridge, alone at night doing what I am doing now, there is no glam.  Just wanting to share some fashion news.

The Nicholas K. show was inspired from the deserts of Arizona.  I called it cowboy chic as the models donned cowboy hats for most of the show.  The show started off with a lot of black but ended up being very neutral in color, I especially liked the Green Sherling coats.  As for BCBGMAXAZRIA, did not like the color blocks in the collection, did however, like the patchwork fur accents on collars and sleeves of his creations.  Richard Chai,  LOVED IT     I loved the black and grey stripped designs, paired with socks, truly old school there.  Todashi Shoji, OMG this was the most beautiful collection to start off Fashion Week, flowing, beautiful feminine creations.  Just wish I could be at the shows, rather than live streaming them, oh well.

IFB CONFERENCE

 

The IFB (Independent Fashion Bloggers) Conference was a blast!  The conference lasted for eight hours, where they spoke on such subjects as; What are Bloggers Worth, Media goes Mobile, Your Blog, Your Dream, or Just the Beginning, and finally How to Make Your Blog Irresistible.

I took copious notes; so much information was being thrown out!  Unfortunately, my dumb butt forgot my camera, but I had my mobile camera *not the same*!  I met some very interesting girls.  There were only a handful of male bloggers in attendance, and for some reason we did not speak, which was odd.  You would think we would gravitate towards one another, not the case.  I networked, handed my card out to several people, and had many photo ops.

Overall, HAMILTONMODE, me, is a brand and seeing that I am a full time Blogger I need to blog at least three times a week, and as far as money, I should not be scared to ask for money for what they call sponsor posts.  The minimum should be around six hundred dollars up to one thousand.  Jennine Jacob IFB founder said those bloggers living in New York City should have no excuse to not have advertisers, as all the major brands are stationed here.  Video Blogging is a must or Vlog in this day and age, and finally we need to engage our readers and vice versa.  Well, I like to keep my post under 250 words, the only sad part about IFB Con was the gift bag…I can’t use a thing in it, not a girl!

 The Panel, with Karen Moon of style Musee, Macala Wright for FMM, Tom and Lorenzo, Bryanboy and on the end Aliza Licht of DKNY

Me and Blogger Mary Chung photo op for Dersign Within Reach...