A New Trend Has Arrived

A birthday celebration where no one gets older.

Welcome to the genius idea of a half birthday.

This was something my girlfriends and I concocted way back in elementary school, but only implemented until now.

When I turned 22 I was in Melbourne. Although my trip through Asia was like one big birthday bash, it just wasn't that same without all my New York friends.

So six months later, on April 17, I decided to throw a bash at my brand new (and unashamedly narcissistic) apt for my 22 and a half B Day.

So what do you do on half birthdays?




Drink Champagne, of course.





And match your lipstick with your girlfriend's earrings, err I mean, hang out with friends.

It was soooooo good to see everyone, but unfortunately the party goes through a bottle of champagne and some Jager (I sealed my fate buying the Jager), I wasn't really seeing much of anything...




Except bedtime.

Heads down.

Lights out.

And good night.

Hey, the best (half) birthdays are generally the ones you can't remember.

Cheers to that!

Vogueing in Kuwait

You can take the girl out of Manhattan, but you can't take the Manhattan out of the girl... even in the Middle East.

I went to Kuwait to speak at the Foundation of Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain's conference on the role of the media in teh dialogue between Arabs and the West.

Got that?

But no worries, I'm a multi-tasker. Not only did I learn from some of the most amazing journalists in the world, I also did some serious shopping. :)

Here's my nice lil' vid on the fabulous experience:



For more information, go to this website: Al Babtain Website

Blogging Kills

In this New York Times article, blogging is "reportedly" a very dangerous job.

Three high profile bloggers have suffered heart attacks, two of which have been fatal.

The heart attack survivor was 41-year-old Om Malik, who I have a special place in my heart for when he branded me as a "sassy blogger" after I broke the Rolling Stone social network story.

I do agree with the article that the 24/7 demand for news on the internet is a cause for worrying stress, err, fatal stress.

But I can't imagine blogging to be more stressful than, let's say, being a lawyer or an I-Banker.

I would bet 20 bucks (and I'm broke- so that's a lot of money for me) that a higher percentage of people die from heart attacks in the law field than the blogosphere.


Mario Lavendiera of Perez Hilton made a good rebuttal to this on CNN yesterday that blogging should be about passion for the stories, not money for posts. The stress comes when you are forced to write, instead of wanting to write. That's the beauty of blogging, it's a form of self expression for writers you can't really find in other forms of journalism. People who go into blogging to make money should just become a lawyer or iBanker, at least you'll make some real cash before you have a heart attack.

Welcome to Kuwait (Fendi Hijab Not Included)

For those people who thought I was:

a) crazy
b) lying
c) totally cool (ok, maybe that's just me)

Here is proof that I did in fact go to Kuwait this week:





Voila!

And what did I see when I first stepped off the plane?

Americans

&

McDonald's




True, most of the Americans were contractors on their way to Afghanistan (and I thought I was brave to go to Kuwait!), but it still felt good to not be the only blond in the airport, even if I was the only female blond...

But I digress.

First impressions of Kuwait:
Sure, people were dressed very conservatively (burqas included), but I knew it was gonna be a cool country when the woman taking my visa was wearing a Fendi headscarf and more blue make up than Christina Aguilera.